Also in Brighton. I don't know what Ambrose and I were thinking... But out of all the English restaurants we could have went to, we went to a small tiny French restaurant ... I am tempted to say that this restaurant was called La Marinade.... But the menu looks so different I think they have changed ownership. http://www.lamarinade.co.uk/
What is shown in this picture is a house clam chowder and mussels in a tomato sauce.... It was okay, very pleasing to the eye.
Hummus Bros. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. http://www.hbros.co.uk/
This my jewel that I found in the Soho district of London, in this picture is stewed beef on top of hummus, a roasted aubergine (egg plant) salad and mint and ginger lemonade. I still have my "give chick peas a chance" pin.
For London I found everything pretty expensive. For budget eating I would recommend getting the salads, sandwiches and hummus from Tesco which is a convenience store they have there.. If only we had one here!!! www.tesco.com Good food does not have to come from a fancy restaurant. I do not discriminate!
We also went to a bunch of English pubs and the pub food was okay. A bit too greasy for me but a dish I recommend are Toad in a Hole. It is pastry folded into a rectangular box with sausages in the box with gravvvvyy.. Also for fish and chips I recommend getting them at stands so they serve them to you in newspaper. Remember to sprinkle lots of malt vinegar!!
A drink I discovered there is Pimms. Absolutely refreshing on a hot day! Not really sure what the liquor is but it is really good mixed with ice tea with slices of strawberry and cucumbers in it. Or even when it is mixed with Lemonade.
Pimm's website:
http://www2.anyoneforpimms.com/Gateway/?Lang=en-us&BrandId=SO&RefUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww2.anyoneforpimms.com%2fTemplates%2fStandardContentTemplate.aspx%3fNRMODE%3dPublished%26NRNODEGUID%3d%257b8A0A0143-E18D-41BC-959D-144B50D6DBB2%257d%26NRORIGINALURL%3d%252f%26NRCACHEHINT%3dGuest
So bare with me... On the Europe trip we just went around Europe with a tour group then backpacked on our own... So the pictures go from city to city.... Laisse aller en Paris!
This is Pomme de Pain. Eating baked goods in France is a must. I find that the butter, water (it has gotta be Evian??) and flour is different there. Any baked breads are just a delight to have there even a simple baguette there is unlike anything you can taste in North America. My other favorite French pastries are Gougeres (Cheese puff pastry), Croissants and Crepes with Nutella. Back to the picture... Pomme de Pain is like the French McDonalds. It is fast food with a variety of baguette sandwiches and french fries wedges with Fanta of course.... Fanta's equivalent in North America is like C Plus... but for some reason, I never crave C Plus here but I always crave Fanta when I am in some foreign country...
Shown here is the Ham and Cheese sandwich, we went to the Champ Elysee location (Near the Arc De Triomphe)....
http://www.pommedepain.fr
Another place that is not hard to find on Champs Elysee is Culture Biere
http://www.culturebiere.com/
You get to order a Sampler of beer and it comes with pairings. My most memorable pairing was Pomegranate seed salad with Shrimp. I believe that pairing was to go with the white beer.
This is one of our splurge meals. We wanted french oysters. Yes, some of the shells are empty. I totally forgot to take pictures until after I ate a couple. This place is called La Bar L'Huitres.
Like in the magazines on Parisen streets you can see ice displays outside of restaurants with oysters and seafood sitting on ice. When you get there you need to order the Plateaux!
French oysters are different, They are sweet small and flavorful. My favorite is dipping the oyster in a shallot and red vinegar dip. We went to the restaurant in Saint Germain.
http://www.lebarahuitressaintgermain.com/
To Beaujolais....
This is one of my favorite parts of the Contiki tour, we were living in a chateau in the Beaujolais Wine region and we got a map to go to a picnic spot. In our baskets were Brie cheese, Beaujolais wine and Baguettes. We didn't end up eating all the Brie or we were all too polite to take the last bit... the town dog ended up taking the rest of it... *shakes fist*
No... I know what you guys are thinking.. No he is not dead... and no we didn't eat him... He is just taking a nap. Who wouldn't take a nap after eating a whole slab of Brie? The surroundings were beautiful there... Look at this picture!
The lilacs came in all different colors there....
Next up... Nice, France.
Apparently nearby there was the Cannes film festival and George Clooney was there! But I didn't see him, so to make up for that Ambrose and I went to eat a nice meal.... might as well eat like a celebrity right?!
We went to Nice for a couple hours and this is what we ate...
Fois Gras pan fried in duck fat, with toast and a lemon sorbet on the side (for palette cleansing).
Salad Nicoise, This salad is native to the Nice region. With a Dijon dressing and salty Anchovies on top. Normally there is tuna in this salad but I love this version!
Carbonara.. the best I have ever had.
Sorry, I don't remember this restaurant's name... I just remember it is outdoors with an outdoor canopy on this street of restaurants.
It was a dine and dash... We were late for our bus and we had to run through a crowd of people at the restaurant to catch our bus. (They leave if you're late! Trust me I know! It happened to us in Rome! We took a cab to catch up to the bus and we tapped on the bus door while it was still moving!!)
Moving on to Italia!!!
BEST SEAFOOD SOUP. EVER. This tasty delight was found in a small dingy restaurant in Venice (??) I might have to edit this part later. I say that this soup is the best because you can taste that the seafood is fresh and the tomato base is very fresh as well. The seafood consisted of mussels, squid, octopus, prawns... Absolutely wonderful.
Florence.... http://www.eurocheapo.com/florence/features/cheap-eats-florence.html
We found a trippalo (food stand) and we ended up getting a cow stomach sandwich (lampredotto) and Florentine tripe dish (Triple a la Florentina). So amazing. I think it's better then the Chinese recipe. It's stewed in this tomato and basil broth I think...
Lampredotto
Triple a la Florentina.
Another must eat in Italy has got to be their gelato. Bring lots of wet naps because if you don't eat it quick your hands can get uber sticky. I don't know what happened to my picture of gelato but I had fresh fruit wedged between each layer. Gelato is good everywhere in Italy.. At least the few stops I went to never disappointed.
Milano....
Truffle ravioli with Truffle cream sauce
Around the Duomo di Milano there are a bunch of cafes, we went to a cafe for dinner and this is what they had. Truffle is this tiny piece of fungus that is found under ground by pigs... They are very expensive so this dish came in a very small dish. The smell and flavor of Truffle is very distinct and I love it. However, since this dish was so pungent I think it might have been cooked with the man made truffle oil. But it was sure tasty!!!
Cannelloni - small tubes of pasta stuffed with veal and ricotta bake in a tomato cheese sauce. The tomato sauce in Italy I find is different. Not as acidic...
I also had a side dish of cured Sword Fish but of course that picture is missing too... Sorry I don't remember where this was either..
My love affair with Espana
For those of you who know me you know that I loveeeee Spain. the food there is simple, beautiful and delightful with each bite.
Below is a picture of the sandwiches from a small bar. They are all sandwiches with some type of Pate in them. Like the Queso y Tomate sandwich translates to Cheese and Tomato pate sandwich. I must have had half a dozen different sandwiches here. I loved each one...
Tapas- Small dishes, variety of anchovies and toppings on top of bread
This is from a Tapa bar in San Sebastian that specializes in Anchovie tapas: Txepetxa
I loved going to the Spanish bars . What is great is that they have decent food to go with the drinks.
My favorite drinks are Sidra (Spanish cider where the bar tender lifts up his arm up really high he and pours a stream of Sidra into a glass), and my other favorite is Gin and grapefruit Schwepps (half and half). The way I see it, is that it is cheaper to drink then drink just water.
With the drinks they serve Tapas which are small dishes like the one above.
Another recommended tapas dish is the Gambas (garlic shrimp), Calamares, Chorizo and the Black Ink Octopus.
For those that also know I LOVE CURED MEAT! Proscuitto, Sobrassada, Wild boar, all of it.
This was the King's platter of Queso y Jamon. We had to pack part of it for later.. It was too much to take! We ended up eating the rest while we were leaving the restaurant. Another post will be up soon about my adventure at the Italian Center in Edmonton with Dean, Justin and cured meat.
Portugal. We went on a boat from Lisbon to right across the water to Azores and had this..
Cold Crab, It was so fresh, the claws were huge!!!! Wouldn't want to mess with it alive.
Hold your stomach.. The next picture looks disguisting
We had a plate of Barnacles! It is a shell with some chewy meat in it. (I know my description isn't helping) but they taste like little pieces of the ocean. Almost like Conch but not as chewy and they are salty. I liked it...
For dessert a must have of Portugal is the Natas. I lost this picture too. But I do have a picture of it from my Macau trip and my friend Tyler who has also visited Portugal has also sent me a picture of them... These pastries are like Chinese egg tarts but they are deeper and flakier shells with a custard in the center, while warm they shake some cinnamon on top. To die for!!! http://nataspastries.com/
Austria.
It's cold there. I was sitting in the Chalet waiting for my Contiki group to finish white water rafting... What is more perfect in a cold chalet then goulash soup?
Well... thank you for sitting through my blog post. I understand that it is quite long. I am not even sure on how I should proceed with my posts because there are a couple hundred pictures... So come back for more!
Final word on Europe... Holland was okay, we went to Amsterdam and my highlight would have to be the Heineken factory!
Food wasn't the best in Holland. I remember eating 'Space cake' in the Red light district and looking at the munchies they had everywhere. The pizza looked amazing there.. But if it next to a porno shop I am going to have to decline it. (NB. The space cake had no effect on me.. Or else i would have had some pizza)
On my next trip to Europe I think I am going to do a cheese pilgrimage! Who's with me?
Happy eating everyone.
