Food

Day 1, Prg.  Lunch, forgetaboutit. A nice pizza and a calzone, but, nothing to write home about. Even the beer was so so....

    However; dinner at Pizzerie Donna III was GREAT. The waitress was a 20something gal that spoke neither English, or, helloooo, Italian and was running the show at a local Italian restaurant. Forget the appetizers, they were fine but after discovering Montepulciano for 270 Korun [Crown] -about $13! and then finding Tagliatelle verde "Toscana"  [a spinach pasta with chicken, cream sauce, blue cheese, mushrooms & onion] & Tortellini "Donna" [a tortellini with parma ham, tomato-cream sauce & parmesan] and then bridging the language barrier with the waitress over what kinds of deserts they had and what were these local exotic liquors she was giving us samples of... well, the evening turned out to be totally fun, delicious and a learning experience... And that my friends, we will hope is the longest run-on sentence of this whole trip!   (Side note for the booze hounds: the liquors turned out to be a plum liquor that was , ok -small letters and a Czech rum, believe it or not, was fantastico! She unintentionally served it warm and we liked it so we ordered one for real. Where they get the raw ingredients for a good rum remains a linguistic secret for the time being...)

    Skipping ahead, sure the breakfast of  chocolate croissants and strong coffee was good and the kielbasa and beer for lunch was fine, but dinner! Well, dinner was 3' tall, in a glass cylinder and had a few plates scattered around the base. We've been walking past a beer museum/brewery/restaurant on the corner of the block we're on with some interest.. Then last night, after the Italian place above, we walked past and paid attention with a look through the window. These folks were sitting at the base of these towers of beer. 4 liters, or more accurately, 8 ~.5 liters -the size of a standard stein around here. There were choices galore of what to fill it with, but passing by the coffee beer and the blueberry beer was easy. We settled on a marriage of dark, unfiltered, unpasteurized beer from the micro-brewery 30' behind us and two empty steins... IT was a match made in heaven. Don't get me wrong, there was also dinner. Ryan had potato dumplings filled with smoked pork and sourkraut, I had a dish they called "drinkers zesty pork medallions with rice". They were both fine, but the real winner of the meal was the beer. Click the picture above to see a short slide show of the "Giraffe".

    Brugges, Belgium -I wouldn't ever have given it a second glance when I heard it was called Tom's Diner, but some fellows at the bar last night were so enthusiastic about the food was chanced it and had the best food of the whole trip so far! The chap rolling through looking at the camera was a mate of theirs who followed their lead and came in this evening as well....   [click the pic for larger version and the rest of the text if you like...]
   First appetizer was simply written, shrimp skampi [with tiger prawns], no mention for the pasta...  The sauce was a light chili cream sauce served on a bed of perfectly cooks fresh pasta... Totally delicious!  Ryan's app was phyllo wrapped Italian triple cream cheese. Baked and topped the whole thing with a really light honey sauce. Roast duck with a raspberry sauce was served with a baked pear filled with brandied currents
and potatoes au gratin. One thing I have noticed here [Belgium] is that the restaurants and bars take the presentation very seriously. The plates are always to hot to touch, the glasses, always embossed or painted with the name of that  type of beer and turned so that the logo faces directly towards you. It was interesting how many different shapes there are for the beers!

    "If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium"... and when in Belgium it must be
WAFFLES                          - CHOCOLATE                                 -MUSSELS??
That's right, the Belgians are famous for their mussels, in fact the way to order them is moules and frites fraiches. That's mussels and French fries to you American types... Steamed with yellow and green pepper slivers, onion, [garlic], leeks and lemon chunks, served with crispy fries and local beers, in the case Chimay blu -for those of you in the know... 

    Our dinning yesterday also included some tagliatelle with a peppercorn cream sauce served with smoked salmon as gentle as the cream sauce! and for street fair Ryan's [Belgian] waffle was smothered in fresh strawberries and [Belgian] chocolate. Mine was under a peak of fresh whipped cream and toasted, lightly candied walnuts!

    The little bits of Belgian chocolate we've tried can not be discussed here as words are wholly insufficient... Suffice it to say that we have sampled often and well with no disappointments to report :))

    Brussels has turned out to be a gastronomic surprise, rather a broader selection of restaurants than we expected. Today, the closest restaurant as we were trying to outrun a sudden shower was a Greek place. The fair was fairly good, with one stand-out, FETA.  I asked Ryan what foods made him nervous and he mentioned liver and sweetbreads... we agreed on at least the later....  I mentioned some cheeses, like I thought feta was pretty scary floating in water and all looking like something gone wrong.... Well, my fears were concurred when he read on the menu that feta was a type of goat cheese, that I could handle. So, after tasting a little bit of his off of his salad, I ordered a piece.. They brought a 3" X 5" x 1/2" slice set in a few tablespoons of olive oil and covered with a few chunks of green and red peppers, few kalamatta [sp?] olives and a great marinated pepper. It was delicious and I am glad to announce that Feta has joined Blue in the list of cheeses I revere rather than fear!  It is 9:45pm and we're about to leave the hotel for an Italian place down the road that sounds pretty darn tasty... I will be back in a few thousand calories and report...  OK, it was, well, OK... I'm going to Italy in less than week, we'll talk about Italian food then...

   We ended up in Holland not Luxembourg. There are about a zillion restaurants here as well. A lot of Indonesian and Oriental ones in particular. So far a few scattered meals in Pizza joints and Irish pubs but last night we went to the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese place next to the Boatel. It was quite a place! The menu was easily 25 pages and the selections were quite extensive. We started with won ton leaves with a pearl of pork and spring rolls. Served with a sweet and sour sauce, both were tasty and but fulfilled my need for crispy fat, so I changed from the Pork with crispy skin to Beef flamb� with seasonal veggies. Ryan opted for the equally safe, beef Szechwan. In all very good and quite a beautiful place to eat. We were even treated to a nice thunderstorm while we were there which was a brief as it was intense... The picture in today's gallery is of the table next to us getting a rijstaffel [rice table] more on that when we have one in the next day or two.

   The day started with grabbing a late breakfast by the train station. They eat a lot of hard-boiled eggs over here; we had an egg salad with capers and a hefty strip of bacon and radish sprouts in an seeded artesian roll. With a coffee to join, we enjoyed the sandwiches while cruising the water on the Canal Bus.  I know, it doesn't sound that good, butt it was a better 'egg salad' than I've ever had!

   At last! A Rijsstafel (rice table), prepared in the right way and eaten in the proper manner is a real culinary pleasure. It consists of dryboiled rice and an indefinite number of sidedishes, (we had about 20) which are seasoned or not, sauces and little surprises to sprinkle or pour or dollop on top. All these little 'au gratin' dishes, laid out 6 or 8 on each of four little candle heated hot plates, overflowed the table; they had to set up a small folding table to hold all the extras... Restaurant Sama Sebo is one of the oldest and most famous Indonesian restaurants of The Netherlands and is world famous for their rijsstafel and so it was there we went! Wow, we added to the list of  stuff a few selections from the side menu, some Ikan Bumbu Bali (spicy mackerel) and some Sambal Goreng Tempeh (basically tofu in a spicy sauce). In all I can't do a rijsstafel justice, you have to do it yourself. Here's a picture of the one the family ordered next to us at the Sea Palace the other day... It's like you are a master painter and Sama Sebo has given you a big fresh canvas and palette full of paints and a bunch of brushes and palette knives and said, well be back later to clean up when you're done. You can take a dollop of this and put a little of that on it or next to it...

   My absolute favorite was called Serundeng, I will be making it and if you live on Maui will be thrilled to give you some (the recipes I found on line last night all make a pile of it). It is an amazing little dish with grated coconut, Onion, Thai pepper, Garlic, Galangal, Coriander, Cumin, Shrimp paste, dark brown sugar, Tamarind water, Lime, leaf & bay leaf. It comes out like semi-dry roasted, grated coconut but has a flavor sort of like garam masala, wow is it great! 

    Balraj Indian restaurant! Brint, I hope you like Indian food because we're going back there in a few weeks! At the risk of sounding like I have been hanging out with a 25 year old, it was awesome. We started with a mint Tikka (mint and tandouri marinated chicken), tender and tasty. We also had a semi-wilted salad (hot slightly spicy chicken on a bed of interesting greens with a honey and mustard dressing) called Chicken Chaat.  Ryan ordered a Chicken Mughalai, from the north of India. It was spiced with green chilies, coconut, almonds, cashews, raisins, fenugreek leaves, & Indian curry spices. It was spicy, complex and delicious.  Also served with saffron rice was my dish, Chicken Shahi Korma. Now this was my favorite and boy was it was great. Mildly spiced chicken in a sweet creamy sauce of cream, coconut, almonds, cashews, raisins, cardamom, pineapple and the ubiquities, Indian curry spices. It was both sophisticated and simple. It was great, they brought us some dal, which was fine but I was really grateful for the tortilla like bread, it was soft and perfect for wiping clean the nice old metal bowls dinner was served in.

Tapas Venetian style are called cicchetti... something truly Venetian I don't think you should live without is a dish called 'saor' It is an onion thing the Venetians originally did to preserve fish, now a days it is a gourmet topping for all sorts of things. We had it last night with shrimp, with eggplant and with a sardine, all three we great.  It is very mild and basically made with a bunch of thinly sliced onions, olive oil and bay leaves, cook it way down and, my guess is that you wait until it is mostly cooked and then add vinegar. There was some with red onion and some with white and some with yellow onions, they were all really delicious. The onion doesn't have a strong flavor [nor does the vinegar], indeed it is really rather mild, but it really yummy! Bonnie and Marcia found this little cicchetti bar down the street here in Dosodoro. You can get a single serving on a slice of baguette for 1E and they have about a dozen things to choose from. It cost 8E for a glass of white wine, a water and 5 different cicchetti things.

Alle Testierre last night was really great, really small [24 seats] and really cute and the food would have blown you away. My first course was baby soft-shell crabs [about 2.5" across] very lightly battered and served in a little puddle of olive oil, which, after the crabs were gone, made for spectacular dipping! Then a ravioli of eggplant and ricotta with chunks of swordfish, tiny caramelized grape tomatoes and a few little cubes of onion... wow. The main dish was shrimp [always served here with the head on and the rest stripped] in a tomato/cinnamon, slightly spicy sauce. Yummy!

With my desert they suggested a a really different wine [rather than a port] than I have ever had, it was Barolo Chinato [ Vino Aromatizzio -sometimes referred to as a medicinal wine because of its digestive qualities]. Other than the Nebbiolo grapes one of the main components is rhubarb root , add to that an infusion of quinine bark ("china") & numerous herbs and spices such as clove, coriander, cardamom seeds, sweet and bitter orange, wormwood and cinnamon, blend with Barolo slightly sweetened with cane sugar and viola, Barolo Chinato!! Really really interesting and while I didn't have any chocolate for desert he said it is an excellent partner with this wine... It paired very nicely with my Torta Fiche  -fig tort (click to enlarge).  Further investigation while still in Italy is assured!

The last night in Venice and for dinner we took on an unknown, well, sort of. A friend had recomended 2 restaurants, one in Prague [we didn't go at the last minute] and this one in Venice, -to which we did go -at the last minute. Vino de Gigio was superb! The handed us a 20 page wine list I would loved to have dived into, but B is blanco and I am rosso... we had to settle for the by-the-glass wines, OK, but not great.. That's the end of the complaint form. Next up, what the did right, in short, everything else. The primi piatti  [first course, pupus, appetizer...] Prosciuto e melon, way way beyond what you normally get. The cantaloupe was perfetto and the Prosciuto was thin and paper and as flavorful as can be. My primi was fried cheese and white corn polenta on a bed of greens. We aren't sure perhaps it was a fontina, but it sure was delicious!  Next, pasta time; I ordered a penne with gorgonzola and pistachio nuts and Bonnie had a ravioli a  plin on cream of pumpkin with black truffle scorzone  -ravioli on a bed on cream of pumpkin with black truffle shavings... Unbelievable! Then onto a salad for B and another [a food feau pas in Italy] pasta dish for me. I had to try the fusli with asperigus and smoked ricotta.. very good, but after the first pasta dish, well, I should have quit while I was ahead...  Desert was tiramisu and a Venetian fav, Scappino or Sgroppino grapa, lemon sorbet and a bit of vodka blended into a concoction the Venetians usually try to keep to themselves...  The tiramisu was the best I have ever had and served the way it was supposed to be served, in a bowl -or in this case a large martini glass... Wow, what a great way to finish off Venice!

At last, it took a full week with Brint before I could get some food other than pizza, hamburgers or falafel. Well, almost, last night I dragged him into a Thai restaurant. He couldn't remember if he had ever eaten Thai food but last night made enough of an impression that I think he'll not forget in the future. We started with some chicken sate, done on a grill and lightly spiced, this sate came without being smothered in the sauce as it was served on the side. A nice way to serve it. Then I turned Brint on to coconut/ginger soup, some masman curry chicken with peanuts, potatoes and coconut milk and a spicy beef salad with cucumber and mint...  All of it was quite delicious and made an impression, perhaps not as unforgettable however as the 2 or 3 gorgeous Thai women that were in there -that weren't women... It's all in the Adam's apple, it is the only way you can tell, at least in a restaurant!

   Today was a good food all day! Breakfast for me, more lunchtime in truth, was turkey filet with blue cheese, paprika, red pesto [for which they wouldn't give up the recipe -she was quite insistent, however, there were sun dried tomatoes, garlic, onions, paprika, olive oil and something a little earthy and sweet, perhaps a hint of nutmeg], rocket [arugela], tomato wedges, pine nuts and walnuts. The whole thing was laid out on a nice roll and run under the broiler and beautifully plated with sprinkles of thyme[?] and 2 artful 12" chives...  Absolutely yummy!  The only regret was not torturing our Greek waitress into telling me what was the 'spicy' ingredient in the red pesto! Perhaps she will see this and send me an email??    click to enlarge...

   A little snack on the road today, actually on a bridge, was from The Stubbe family herring business. Herring, chopped onions and sweet pickles  served with a flagged toothpick on a piece of wax paper and it was just delicious. Not to fishy and perfectly complimented with the mild pungency of the onions and the sweet pickles. A surprising treat, Thank you Mrs. Stubbe [on the left behind the counter]

   Lunch pulled us into a little chain of eateries we've been passing all week, Wok to Walk, Remember those Ryan? They are all over the place and boy are they GREAT! You walk in and choose wheat, or egg noodles or rice, then toppings and then a sauce.  I choose wheat, tofu, mushrooms and coconut curry -hot. Brint had the same noodles with shrimp, peanuts and an oyster sauce. They have a wok blasting along over a huge flame [click to see it] and toss in a little oil and an egg, 30 seconds later in goes all your solid ingredients to which she adds some Japanese wine [sake] some oyster sauce, some sprouts and tosses and flips and woks it up! In less than a minute she slides the whole thing off through a special funnel and into your typical Chinese carry-out container and out the door you go. Totally hot, delicious and fresh as anything you could buy anywhere. It was just great and would be a flash hit in just about any market, mall or high traffic location.  We carried it 30' away to a pub, usually less than 30' but sometimes you just have to go the extra distance, ordered a few local beers [an unpasturized Eirdinger for me] and sat outside and watched the parade of tourists and freaks. This place, for those of you in Baltimore, is like Fells Point multiplied by 1,000. Well, that's what Brint said yesterday, today he said 5,000... but you get the point.