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Kitchen Therapy

31st Jul 201931st Jul 2019Leave a comment

Everyone has shit days. Some of us combat that with a nice, long bath. Some go for walks, inhaling the fresh air. Others just curl up in bed.

All I want to do is bake. It’s what makes me happiest and is the perfect distraction.

Yesterday afternoon I went a bit mad and decided to complete 9 bakes one after the other. I don’t think I initially realised that this was going to take me a solid 7 hours from 4.30pm to 11.30pm, and had I known, I might’ve stopped myself, but sometimes not knowing what you’re getting yourself into is a blessing in disguise. After all that hard work, you reap the rewards – in my case, staring at 9 delicious sweet and savoury treats, ready to feed to everyone around me.

My supermarket run was slightly OTT and this isn’t including the ingredients that I already had at home. Does 5 packets of ready rolled puff pastry seem slightly excessive?

Bake number 1 was a BBC Good Food recipe for naan bread – something that I can easily freeze ready to defrost as a tasty side dish later down the line. The dough seemed to go to plan, and seeing it grow in size was incredibly satisfying.

I still can’t really believe how easy the naan was to make. Simple ingredients mixed together into a dough and kneaded and then dry fried and rubbed with butter. They smelt amazing, and looked exactly as they would from a restaurant or supermarket.

The nigella seeds give a really subtle yet tasty flavour, and these were softer than any naan I’ve ever had before ( and that was the day after they were baked). I highly recommend trying this recipe out yourself so you, too, can marvel at how surprisingly straightforward it is!

Next up we have a semi-failure. I tried a recipe from Nadiya Hussein’s new cookbook ‘Time To Eat’ and was aiming for a Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream. Let’s have a look at how it went down…

So not a complete disaster! The caramel was the main issue. It didn’t quite come out right (to be fair I’ve never tried to make it before…), and it saturated the puff pastry base with its seeping syrup. In terms of flavour I loved it, the bananas were tasty, the caramel was delicious and the chopped hazelnuts were a worthwhile addition.

The ice cream fuck-up, however, was most definitely my fault. I’d forgotten that the point was to whip the cream so when I ran out of cream I added some greek yoghurt as a substitute. This then meant that it wouldn’t actually whip to the point of forming soft peaks, but I decided to freeze it anyway and see what happened. It has set to an extent, and actually tastes lovely with its hint of cardamom, but it’s not quite what I’d call ice cream.

Moving on to one of my favourite images of the 7 hour bake. Another BBC Good Food recipe and this one’s for mozzarella stuffed crust pizza, to which I chose to add chorizo and basil. Like the naan, the dough was really easy to make, although it didn’t puff up like the naan. It was quite tricky to try and seal the edges of the crust to hold the mozzarella in but these seemed to stick down once they were baked.

Not quite as photogenic once baked, but it is all about the taste really. More mozzarella and less tomato would’ve been good but the dough was so fluffy and delicious. The mozzarella in the crust seemed to disappear slightly so I’d pack that in a bit more if I were to bake it again.

Switching right back to sweet, and returning to Nadiya, we have the choc bar puffs. Simply put, a square of chocolate encased in puff pastry and sprinkled with cocoa powder. There really isn’t anything more to it than that. Super quick to make and couldn’t be any easier.

They were really tasty, but nothing mind-blowing.

Now on to one of my absolute favourite bakes. We’re sticking with Nadiya (because she is wonderful) and it’s her meatloaf roll. Inside we have beef/pork mince with hard boiled eggs lined up throughout and all that wrapped up in puff pastry.

Cutting through the crisp pastry to see the eggs perfectly lining the centre was so unbelievably satisfying. Not only that but the flavour was beautiful. Before wrapping the whole thing up, the pastry is painted with slightly diluted marmite – I only tried marmite for the first time last week and found it very odd-tasting, but the watered-down flavour brushed onto the pastry tastes amazing, and you’d never know what it was.

We now come to one of the ugliest bakes of the evening but by no means the worst-tasting. This BBC Good Food recipe was slightly dodgy in terms of making the pastry from scratch (or it’s just me…) but the filling was beautiful. Ignoring the burnt, mismatched crust, the centre of the pie stayed wobbly and gooey. It is ridiculously indulgent but such a delicious treat – so delicious (I hope) that a lovely user from the Olio App (anti-food waste app) came to collect half of it to take home for himself.

Can you believe I’m still going at this point? No? Me neither, but we’ve only got 3 left. And this one was cute. I love Le Creuset kitchenware, and I also love anything miniature so this tiny individual dish has always been a favourite of mine. I used it to create a BBC Good Food Pork, Apricot and Pistachio Pie. I have to admit, this is the only thing I haven’t yet tried, and it’ll be my dinner this evening, but it did smell wonderful. I love the combination or pork, apricot and pistachio, with the sweet dried fruit and crunchy nut combo. I have confidence that it’s going to be a very enjoyable meal…

Penultimate dish! We’re going all out now with triple chocolate cookies, dark, milk and white all in one. Now these were supposed to be gooey, but they struggled to set at all with the quantities of ingredients the recipe suggested, so whilst they are delicious, they’re pretty messy and fall apart quite easily.

……………………………………………..

Picture this. It’s half 11, I’ve been on my feet rushing around for 7 hours, the kitchen looks like a bombsite, and 7 hours of cooking has produced sweltering heat. Then finally, I take my last bake from the oven, I wait patiently for it to cool, before topping it with buttercream and the honeycomb I’d made 6 hours earlier.

The absolute relief. The satisfaction. The pride. I felt everything. I was excited and couldn’t really believe what I’d just done. And the last one was pretty good to be fair…

We’re finishing back with Nadiya, but this is from her earlier cookbook, ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’. It’s a banana sponge with peanut buttercream and honeycomb. The honeycomb struggled to set properly so it’s sort of improvised but still tastes good.

This is one of the lightest, most moist sponges I’ve ever managed to make and that’s impressive considering by this point my scales had had enough and would no longer even turn on. I therefore had to guesstimate all the quantities but looks like I got it pretty spot on.

I did then, suddenly find myself looking round the room thinking ‘What on earth have I just done?’. But I felt good, I felt productive, and I had well and truly taken my mind off of the less pleasant things that I had to think about.

Whatever works for you, find it and run with it. When you have a bad day, throw yourself into whatever makes you happy, whatever calms you, whether it’s active, indulgent or just plain lazy.

The kitchen is my therapy. What’s yours?

¡Comemos!

Camino

25th Jul 2019Leave a comment

When it comes to food, the excitement, for me, comes from variety.

Variety in terms of the food I cook at home, the places I dine at, and the types of dishes I order. That’s why tapas reaallly does it for me. You order a range of dishes to share, giving you bursts of flavour from everything from seafood to meat, cheese to veggies – nothing is off limits.

We decided to try out Camino for the very simple reason that it has a branch at King’s Cross, and we needed to be close to the station that evening.

Camino had been on my list for some time, but to be honest it had kind of been lost somewhere waaay down, and certainly wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. When I looked at the menu however, I got excited. There was so much that stood out to me and so ended up really looking forward to it.

They have a lovely courtyard and bar area, and another outdoor seating section by the restaurant itself. As it’s tucked away from the street, sitting outside in the warm weather is very relaxing and not at all noisy.

I was disappointed first off not to see a traditional sangria on the menu, but we did go on to discover that they did have their own version of it. Despite being sceptical it was lovely, and really refreshing.

Normally I’d go wild on the mains with tapas but we decided to stick to 4 dishes as I already had my dessert planned out…

First up was the cheese platter, featuring 5 different cheeses (including manchego and picos), a fig and almond slice, chilli jam, quince jelly and walnuts.

The cheeses were all nice but nothing exceptional. I did massively enjoy the chilli jam though and definitely felt/tasted the nice little kick of spice afterwards.

The picos (blue cheese ball) was definitely the stand out but as you can probably gather from the picture, the other four cheeses were very similar in appearance and texture and there weren’t huge differences in the flavours either.

We also went for the octopus on a bed of beetroot and chickpea puree. It’s not the most tender octopus I’ve ever had, but personally I’m not a huge fan of the cold Spanish Galician octopus, so this was more to my taste. The puree was nice, but again, no outstanding flavours. The best thing about this dish was probably the beautiful appearance. I think the large chunks you can see are swede which I don’t often eat, so I’m not confident on how it should be cooked but I think I would’ve given it a bit more time to soften.

Next up is one of their specials – the pan fried squid stuffed with black pudding (morcilla). Black pudding as a food can be quite divisive but I absolutely love it. In this case though I didn’t feel that it particularly enhanced the dish. The squid was cooked nicely but wasn’t massively flavoursome, and the accompanying sauce, again, was just ‘nice’. Once again, the presentation was probably the highlight.

By far my favourite tapas dish though, was the standalone black pudding dish (because you can never have too much). The texture was lovely – I’m not keen on chewy black pudding but this was soft with a delicate flavour. I challenge any meat-eater who wouldn’t normally eat something like this to give it a go, it really is delicious.

Since the day that I booked our table, I had probably been most excited for the desserts. After stalking their IG account on numerous occasions, I had worked out exactly what I wanted to try.

Originally I had ruled the churros out, as I’ve had them in a fair few places and I thought ‘How different can they be? I’ll try something else’. That, however, was before I saw their beautiful ‘churros sundae’ special, with a white chocolate mousse, melted chocolate and raspberries. It looked so attractive I couldn’t say no.

Admittedly it wasn’t quite as pretty as I had seen on social media (a common observation), but it tasted good. I have had better churros – I prefer them less on the crunchy side but it was tasty nonetheless.

By far my favourite dish of the meal was our final dessert – the drunken banana bread. I absolutely love banana bread but never really think of it as a dessert; it’s more commonly seen on breakfast/brunch menus.

This particular one was so incredibly light and moist, soaked in Oloroso Dulce, with goat’s curd mousse, popping candy and dulce de leche (like caramel) sauce.

Definitely a case of save the best ’til last.

Fortunately, Camino isn’t too pricey – tapas often gets a rep for being pretty expensive but Camino really isn’t too bad.

Overall, it was a good meal, with a couple of great dishes. I had been expecting more than two of the six dishes to be great to be honest, and I wouldn’t be desperate to rush back, but there definitely wasn’t any bad food at all. It would’ve been great to go in a party bigger than 2, simply to be able to sample an even wider range of dishes, for example, the Iberico pork and fideua that had also been on my hitlist!

If you want a relaxed meal, in a lovely outdoor setting this summer, Camino could be the place for you. Don’t wait around as the current specials are only on the menu for a week or so longer. Get a move on and…

¡Comemos!

Big Mamma Group’s ‘Gloria Trattoria’

21st Jul 2019Leave a comment

Restaurant review numero tre and it’s a popular one. Gloria was opened in Shoreditch by the Big Mamma group earlier this year and people went wild over it. Queueing for crazy lengths of time to get a table was standard, and the same thing is now going down with their newly-opened sister restaurant Circo Popolare.

It’s sometimes nicer to let the hype die down a bit before you visit somewhere, and although for me it wasn’t intentional, clearly I did go at a time when people were so busy obsessing over Circo Populare that getting into Gloria was actually pretty straight forward.

Before I get stuck in, I want to emphasise that my intention is never to rant and rave about a restaurant and put people off. There is a significant difference between a restaurant that serves poor quality food with subpar service, and a lovely restaurant, with well-cooked food and a good menu, but that on one particular occasion ends up serving up food that isn’t to your personal taste. My experience at Gloria falls into the latter category. I had heard so many positive reviews of this place before trying it myself, so please bear this in mind as you read on.

It’s super inviting, light and bright, with an abundance of plants and leafy decor both on the inside and outside. Be aware that you may end up sandwiched on a table incredibly close to the diners beside you (especially if there are only two of you), which I understand seeing as they are so popular, and ultimately this having more tables squeezed in means a shorter wait time, but it’s not ideal.

And so we begin. The starter. I have never in my life ordered Burrata before, and had reached a point where I felt like this was a bit embarrassing considering I think I’m the world’s most enthusiastic foodie. Having said this, I think I reminded myself why I’d never ordered it when it came. For me, a cheese lover, burrata just isn’t the same. IT HAS NO FLAVOUR. Am I wrong? Please feel free to enter into discussion with me if you disagree but I can’t work out why people seem to love it so much. On top of that, the creamier the burrata, the more it seems to be raved about, but for me, this just emphasises the fact that it doesn’t work as a stand alone dish.

There was more pesto than this, it’s just not visible in the photo!

It looks pretty, there’s no denying that. And at least this particular burrata came with pesto and some other unknown sauce as pictured above. But still that did not make it the wonderful experience I was hoping it would be. I should also mention that it was pretty big. This isn’t a starter for one, it’s definitely a sharer.

For mains I chose the truffle pasta, as I feel like both the truffle pasta and carbonara are praised fairly often on social media. I have to admit, Mafaldine is not my favourite pasta shape – it’s has the length of spaghetti but with wavy edges, and I found it slightly slimy. I got a lot from the truffle flavour, but similar to the burrata, I think truffle is kind of overrated. The subtlety of truffle oil on pizza etc can be a tasty addition, but when it’s supposed to be the star of the show like in this pasta I feel like it can be bit overwhelming and can get sickly.

Dessert was where my heart was well and truly broken. I had been so excited to try their famous lemon meringue pie with the giant, wobbly, fluffy meringue topping but this didn’t seem to be on their lunch menu, so instead, I went for my second choice of the giant profiterole.

Honestly I do not want to keep being negative but this was probably my least favourite course. First off, it really is giant – again, not a dessert for one (and that’s coming from me – someone with an impressive appetite). Sandwiched in between the profiterole pastry is ice cream, but it doesn’t have that lovely vanilla bean flavour you hope for; instead, it’s the kind of bland that you find in those flavourless school choc-ice bars. I had also expected it to be hot, with a rich, warm, fudgey sauce. In reality, the sauce was cold (intentionally so) and pale and seemed more like melted chocolate ice cream. It completely drowns the profiterole which was actually the only bit I semi-enjoyed.

Please do not ask me why this looks like a close up of something cooked up on The Sims – I don’t think I’ve done any kind of outrageous, unintentional editing. But yeah, just not the one at all. And I genuinely am sad to say it.

To be fair, the service was great and the bill really wasn’t bad, I had been expecting to pay a fair bit more, but I’m just sorry that I can’t be more positive about my experience of the food.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this meal just wasn’t to my taste. These things are so subjective, and had we been presented with carelessly prepared, unimaginative food and bad service, I would go in slightly harder with my review, but here that just wasn’t the case.

So, now’s your chance to make up your mind: burrata, truffle pasta and profiteroles – do they do it for you? If so, get down to Gloria, and…

¡Comemos!

Sticks ‘n’ Sushi

12th Jul 201914th Jul 2019Leave a comment

Today’s review centres on somewhere I’ve been desperate to try ever since I moved to London last year.

I spent about 20 years convinced I didn’t like sushi, with the idea of eating raw fish just not sitting well with me. That all changed however, when I was living in Brazil.

If you’ve read my Top 10 Foodie Experiences in Brazil post you’ll know that perhaps surprisingly Brazil does fantastic sushi due to the large Japanese population. To be honest, I do have to put my change in opinion in part down to the fact that Brazil does amazing fried sushi and we all know that literally anything fried tastes delicious.

But even for those of you who are still not convinced, don’t give up on Sticks ‘n’ Sushi just yet. It prides itself on being ‘A sushi restaurant even for those who don’t like fish’. Although they do offer some cooked chicken sushi dishes like maki rolls, the main selling point for anyone not a fan of seafood is the ‘sticks’. Their sticks are mini skewers that come in an incredible array of flavour combinations, some of which you’ll see below.

We went to the Covent Garden branch (there are quite a few all around London) and the first thing you notice is how dark it is. In the main restaurant section it is so gloomy (assuming this is supposed to be ‘atmospheric’) and all the decor is black and dark-coloured. Clearly some people like this ‘mood lighting’ but tbh it’s not for me. The sushi bar downstairs is still pretty dark but the bar benches are lit up and you can at least see your food and dining partner.

The menu itself is pretty cool. It’s a photo menu that shows beautifully colourful (and accurate) images of what each dish looks like.

So onto our order…

I ordered the Hell’s Kitchen rolls – tempura shrimp with avocado and spicy sauce, topped with tuna and bbq (8 pieces). For anyone who’s concerned about spice levels, although I love a bit of heat and can handle it pretty well, honestly, these were not spicy at all. The puffed rice tempura on the prawns adds a really lovely crunch and the bbq injects some extra flavour.

The second lot are the Hotate Kataifi (6 pieces) which are scallops with miso aioli, trout roe and cress. They were absolutely delicious and the aioli was beautiful.

Despite being a sushi restaurant, the sticks, for me, are the most exciting and unique part. With 18 to choose from, it’s so hard to narrow down which ones you want to try. There are meat, fish, veggie and vegan options so there’s something for everyone.

And here they are in all their glory…

Starting on the far left, we have the duck breast with panko and wasabi caesar. For us, this was the only disappointment of the evening. The duck was pretty tough and didn’t have much flavour. Having said that, I hate wasabi, but yet found that the wasabi caesar was beautiful. They’ve ensured that the wasabi flavour is pretty mild for those who aren’t fans, and eating it as a mayo like sauce makes it so much more enjoyable.

Next up is the absolute favourite – goat’s cheese wrapped in dried ham. The cheese was unbelievably oozy, it’s honestly the most incredible texture in your mouth, and the salty ham adds to the flavour. Next to that is the teriyaki duck hearts. Now, please don’t be put off by the idea of hearts. I tried chicken hearts for the first time a few years ago, and yes, I was definitely weirded out by the idea of it. Ultimately though, I eat meat, and so what difference does it make eating one part of the animal over another? Better to ensure that nothing goes to waste, right? Anyway, they tasted just like any other kind of standard meat and the teriyaki is sticky and slightly sweet.

So, photo number 2 we have firstly the free-range pork with yuzu miso. The meat was cooked well, not too tough, and I enjoyed the sauce too. Second to last is the emmental wrapped in bacon – realistically can you ever go wrong with cheese wrapped in bacon? No, absolutely not. Not quite as oozy as the goat’s cheese one but still delicious. And then finally we have the scallops wrapped in bacon (bit of a theme here…). Lovely scallops, lots of flavour. Fab.

Okay, so I feel exhausted after that stick breakdown. I’ll quickly add that despite not having photo evidence, we ordered the fried cauliflower with black truffle goma on the side. Coming from someone who supposedly doesn’t like cauliflower, trust me, it’s good. It’s kind of odd being served on top of a pure black sauce – definitely looks like something you shouldn’t be consuming, but I promise it’s safe! The truffle sauce really is lovely.

Before drawing to a conclusion, we obviously have to touch on dessert. I say obviously – I guess it’s easy to overlook dessert at sushi restaurants but Sticks ‘n’ Sushi have a fab little menu where you can try 3 mini desserts for £10 (There are 8 to try overall).

The top one is a coconut rice pudding with passionfruit coulis and this was my least favourite. The texture of the pudding was actually decent and the coulis was tangy and sharp, so there was nothing wrong with it, I just preferred the others.

The middle is a white chocolate mousse with raspberry topping with liquorice. I hate liquorice so that was the only downside but I knew what I was getting myself into, it was no surprise. There’s also only a very small amount of liquorice flavour coming through so it’s still perfectly edible even if you’re not a fan. The rest of the dessert was lovely though, and the white chocolate didn’t get sickly – probably avoided by the sharpness of the raspberry on top. BUT, the star of the show 100% was the chocolate fondant with oozy salted caramel centre and peppermint topping. I really didn’t think that a dessert from a restaurant so focused on mains could be so impressive but it was very indulgent and wonderful-tasting.

So, there’s the food. A feast for your eyes. Bit of a quick moan before I sign off. Firstly, when I arrived I was asked if I’d like any water for the table whilst I waited for my friend. Was it was my fault for not asking at this point whether I would be charged for it? Anyway it was £4 which I only realised when the bill came. To me this is a massive pisstake – it’s pretty pricey as it is but with amazing food, so they really don’t need to take advantage by adding on such a ridiculous charge.

The other thing that I found mildly annoying was the service which I found slightly too intense for my liking. We had to stop our conversation a few times whilst waiters kept coming over, and when they bring your food they go through exactly what each dish is. Maybe some people need to be reminded, but I personally know exactly what I’ve ordered, and when you’re hungry and just want to eat, you really don’t want your waiter taking 5 minutes to reel off the names and ingredients of each of your 10 sticks (Not that the staff weren’t lovely though).

Anyway, review number 2 complete… go and book a table EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU DON’T LIKE SUSHI (but whatever you do say no to water) and…

¡Comemos!

Brazil’s Top 10 Foodie Experiences

4th Jul 201914th Jul 20194 Comments

Brazil – the legendary hub of world-renowned beaches, football, carnival and samba, but for the foodies out there, there are a world of culinary experiences not to be missed.

My top 10 are all based on my own experiences. If you’ve read my ‘about’ section, you’ll know that I spent a year living in Rio whilst studying for a degree in Spanish and Portuguese.

When I say ‘foodie experiences’, I’m going beyond your typical ’10 dishes to try when you visit…’. Yes, recommending the ‘what’ to eat is important, but where you eat it and when you eat it are equally as important and can really transform your whole experience.

So, if you get the chance to travel to this fascinating country, don’t let these foodie bucket list opportunities pass you by…

1 – Grab a refreshing, revitalising açaí on the beach

Many of us now recognise the açaí berry (ass-eye-ee) as one of the top superfoods nowadays and there’s no better way to enjoy it than through the delicious frozen pulp pots that you can find on more or less any street or beach in Brazil. Grab one from Ipanema or Copacabana and let the sweet treat restore the energy drained by the raging 40 degree midday sun. You can choose your own combo of toppings, often including granola, honey and other sauces, and fruits such as banana and strawberry.

2 – Test your limits at an all-you-can-eat meat feast

The rodizio is a common concept in Brazil – all you can eat for a set price, but it has more than just a buffet feel to it. In the churrascarias, waiters appear at your table with an endless cycle of every cut of meat you could possibly imagine. The challenge here is only allowing yourself a bite of each one so you can try everything without peaking too soon and filling up. Churrascaria Palace in Copacabana offers one of the most authentic, and not particularly pricey Churrasco experiences.

3 – Explore the country’s impressive sushi scene

One of Brazil’s lesser known secrets is that it has great sushi due to the significant Japanese population who live there – mainly in São Paulo. Traditional Japanese sushi has become infused with Brazil’s tropical ingredients creating an interesting fusion style. You can try it out in the Liberdade region of São Paulo, but if you can’t quite make it that far, Brazilian sushi restaurant Temakinho has two locations in London.

Banana salmon rolls at Temakinho

4 – Prepare your stomach for a hearty meal of feijoada

Brazil’s traditional dish feijoada is a delicious, and pretty heavy, stew of black beans and bits of beef and pork meat, including ribs, trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, sausage and jerked beef. I promise it’s tastier than it sounds. It’s normally served with rice, greens and farofa (toasted cassava), and is best enjoyed in a local botequim. Bar e Restaurante Os Ximenes right by the colourful Selaron Steps in Lapa, Rio, is the perfect place to indulge alongside the locals.

5 – Grab a salgado on the go

Salgado (literally ‘salty’) is a generic word for a savoury snack, often deep fried or served in pastry. There are hundreds of cheap, casual eateries on street corners throughout Rio where you can find a huge range of these kinds of treats. Favourites include folhados – a puff pastry pocket packed with fillings such as cheese or prawns, coxinhas – shredded chicken covered in dough, battered, and fried, and pastéis – thin-crust deep fried pastry with fillings such as chicken or palm hearts (palmitos).

6 – Visit a friend for a home-cooked meal

When it comes to foodie experiences, sometimes there’s nothing better than enjoying a quality home-cooked meal, prepared by someone who knows best. Whether it’s Moqueca in Bahia (tomato coconut fish stew) or frango com quiabo (chicken with Okra), it will be an experience you won’t forget anytime soon.

7 – Curb your cravings with an espetinho at a street party

Espetinhos are simple – a skewer of grilled meat or fish, most often prepared on tiny stalls that pop up during street gatherings all over the city. It might not be the most tender meat, or have the most mouth-watering flavours, but after a few Caipirinhas at midnight when your stomach is calling, there’s nothing more satisfying than this popular street food. You can grab one from around Pedra do Sal or Baixo Gávea in Rio after a night of drinking, dancing, music and socialising.

8 – Visit São Paulo’s Mercado Municipal for a mega Sanduíche de Mortadela

The Mercado Municipal is the most popular food market in the city, enjoyed by both tourists and locals. Head down to the covered indoor market for a display of the city’s most appetising treats. One of those is the giant sanduíche de Mortadela – French bread filled with Mortadela ham and optional extras including cheese, bacon and caramelised onion.

9 – Drink the night away with a Caipirinha or two

Brazil’s national cocktail, famous worldwide, is made up of cachaça (a spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice), lime, sugar and crushed ice. You’ll have to close your eyes as street vendors shovel in the sugar because there is HEAPS of it. Non-traditional Capirinhas can also be made with other fruits such as strawberry and passionfruit, and there is even a variant made with vodka (Caipivodka) instead of cachaça.

10 – Hunt your own dinner with Piranha fishing in the Amazon

Perhaps not one for the vegetarians out there, but what could be more exciting than catching your own dinner to then have it freshly prepared for you. After the absolutely non-existent foodie scene in the base city of Manaus, by the time you reach the Amazon you’ll be gagging for some decent food. Piranha might not be the tastiest of the seafood variety, but the process from fishing to plate is definitely an experience not to be missed.

So there you have it – a Brazilian bucket list to work your way through. When it comes to eating, context can make all the difference – the what, where, when, who with and whys. Our foodie experiences encompass so much more than just what we’re eating, and this can take you from a simple, average meal to an unforgettable gastronomic opportunity!

Been there, EATEN that.

29th Jun 201929th Jun 20191 Comment

You may or may not have heard about the latest foodie review app out there.

EATEN.

So, what’s new? What’s unique? Well, as opposed to many typical reviewing sites which tend to review restaurants on the whole, Eaten gives you the opportunity to offer individual reviews for each dish you have tried, including drinks.

For me, the idea of reviewing individual dishes instead of the restaurant/café/bar on the whole is so much more effective. How many times have you been somewhere and had an amazing main and average dessert, or something along those lines? What do you do in that scenario? Give the place a middle-ground rating? 3/5?

If you still don’t really know that it’s all about, this post will take you step by step through all the app’s interesting features, so without further ado, here’s my breakdown of everything you need to know to get you started.

First we have the ‘Explore‘ page. Here you’ll be able to view the latest posts, and most popular dishes.

You can see from the top menu bar that we also have a ‘Feed’ tab. This will show you all the reviews posted by accounts that you have chosen to follow.

‘Search’ shows you your current location, highlighting restaurants, cafés and bars around you that have received reviews, and it also presents a generic search bar to seek out specific restaurants.

You can change the location to select where you want to view dishes from. I currently have this set to ‘The World’ so that I can see every review that is uploaded, but you can choose a specific city if you wish.

You also have the option to select whether you follow a specific diet, with the options being vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher and gluten free. If you have selected one of these diets, only dishes that fall into that category will appear on you Explore page.

Once you come across dishes you like the look of, you can save them to your wishlist, and these will be shown on your Explore page as well.

Now we come to your profile. You can choose a profile photo and background image and below that the app will display your rankings locally and globally. I think this is based on the number of reviews you have written but don’t quote me on that.

Next up all your reviews are listed below, starting with the latest.

Below that is one of my favourite features. Your reviews are categorised by the type of dish they fall into. You can see that ‘dessert’ is my most frequently reviewed category as that comes at the top of my page. Once you click on a certain category, all your reviews are shown ranked from best to worst, and these ranking equate to a score for each dish.

Your local/global rankings even extend into specific categories i.e. ’13th in London for dessert’

Each dish must be ranked ‘Amazing’, ‘Really good’, ‘Pretty good’, ‘Just ok’ or ‘Not for me’.

The fact that the ‘worst’ category is entitled ‘Not for me’ says a lot about the kind of reviews the app wants to generate. It is not designed for people to berate establishments unnecessarily, and the ‘not for me’ category implies that you may not have enjoyed a dish, but in the sense that it wasn’t to your personal taste. There is no ‘awful’ category, as we well know that our opinions are entirely subjective.

Having said that if you have been massively disappointed, you do have the opportunity to justify your low ranking and explain why in a comments section which you can see below.

When uploading a new review the screen appears like so.

<——-

You first select a photo (some people haven’t uploaded a photo but these reviews tend to get ignored). To make life a million times easier for us foodies, there is an option to import your images directly from Instagram, and if you have tagged the location on Instagram already, this will automatically be filled in in the ‘restaurant’ section.

Then you must select the name of the dish, and then which category it falls into, i.e. sushi/pizza/ice cream etc.

Date eaten is automatically filled in from when the photo was taken on your phone but you can alter this.

Then comes your rating in one of the 5 categories. You can also rank dishes within the same category, for example, if you have 5 pizzas under ‘really good’, you can change the order to show which of those 5 was the best.

Finally you can add comments and hashtags, although this is not compulsory. For me, I do always prefer reviews that have at least one comment, as it explains the thinking behind how that person has graded their dish.

The last part of the app to cover is the restaurants’ personal pages. The vast majority of restaurants etc will have a page even if they don’t yet have reviews. The person to be the first to write a review for that location is said to have ‘discovered’ it as you can see to the right.

You’ll see the location of the restaurant, the number of reviews it already has, how many different dishes these reviews cover and the average rating taken from those dishes.

Scroll down and you will find the reviews themselves.

So that’s pretty much it. I have had this app for just about a week now but I’m already obsessed. It’s still in its early stages so the number of people using it definitely hasn’t peaked yet.

I really urge any foodie out there to engage with it and add their reviews. The more people review, the more useful the app is on the whole. It’s super easy to use and has already extended my ginormous list of places I want to try, and more specifically, dishes I want to taste.

So look no further for your latest foodie fix and…

¡Comemos!

Chalida

28th Jun 201928th Jun 2019Leave a comment

It seems fitting that my first review is based on my first ‘invite’ (complimentary meal). This was a pretty big deal for me – no such thing as playing it cool, my friend and I who went were embarrassingly excited.

Located in Chinatown, Chalida describes itself as serving Thai tapas, street food classics and hot pot. We were seated in a large booth upstairs which was super comfy but I’m pretty sure I’ve since heard that now they save the upstairs tables for those having hot pot and downstairs for the ‘tapas’ menu.

Obviously, being over-excited we wanted to try as much as possible, so that we did.

Everything pretty much comes out at once, or at least it did for us, so dishes that we’d consider starters and mains were served together. This, however, could also be for the photo opportunities…

I really enjoyed the Mixed Appetisers – they consist of satay skewers, filo wrapped prawns, fish cakes and chicken wings. There wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy, although my friend wasn’t a fan of the fishcakes. The satay was beautiful, definitely my favourite. If you want a selection of things to try without getting super full, definitely go for this mini mixed platter.

On top of the Mixed Appetisers we ordered the Duck Pancakes which I kind of expected to be like traditional ones where you make the pancakes up yourself. Clearly they weren’t but they were really good – 2 large pancake rolls filled full of duck and a sweet plum sauce.

My contribution to the ‘pretending to be healthy‘ category this time round came in the form of chilli aubergine. It was a really generous portion, super soft aubergine and loads of flavour, so definitely one for vegetarians and flexitarians alike! I can deal with a lot of spice/heat but for those wondering about the ‘chilliness’ of it, I didn’t think it had much of a kick so I think you’d be safe!

Next up, let’s talk about the curries. They look like pretty small portions but there’s actually a lot more to them than you first think. My friend opted for the Penang Prawn Curry and the Beef Massaman was all mine.

Both were beautifully creamy with a good amount of prawns/beef. Flavour-wise the Penang was good but the Beef Massaman was so delicious. The cashews add a nice little crunch to the creaminess but this dish is absolutely on my recommended list.

Side Orders!!

Bao buns seem to be massively in fashion at the minute, and I’m not sure if they seemed slightly out of place on this menu, but I’m such a sucker for them, I don’t care. Seems to be a running theme of mine with the beef but I went for the beef bao (see image above) whilst my friend chose the fried chicken one. I really enjoyed mine – it was moist and tasty, but my friend did say the chicken was slightly dry, and had it not been for the sauce, it wouldn’t have been great.

Along with the Bao, we obviously had to have a rice dish to soak up all that curry sauce, so we went for the crab fried rice. Again, really great portion size, and my friend loved it. To be honest I’m not sure how crabby it was for me and seemed quite plain. I’ve definitely had better, cheaper fried rice but it wasn’t bad at all, still did the trick.

Aaaaaand… we reach desserts. I can confirm by this point we were on the verge of exploding, but dessert stomach and all that. And you can’t go to review a complimentary meal and opt out of dessert.

My friend chose the strangest-sounding thing on the menu. I’m sorry to say I can’t remember what it was actually called, and I’ve scoured the menu trying to find it but I can’t see the dessert menu online. Basically, it was something to do with butternut squash (yeah, weird, I know) and maybe custard vibes? Anyway this is it…

It really wasn’t to my taste to be honest as I found the textures pretty odd, but once again, my friend really enjoyed it.

This time round I went for the safer option of Mango Cheesecake (I am now on a mission to try all the cheesecakes in London to improve my cheesecake reviewer rankings on the Eaten app loool).

Mango isn’t normally my favourite fruity flavour but in this cheesecake it was wonderful. So incredibly light and sweet with beautiful presentation.

Overall a fantastic meal, with excellent service. Despite being invited to try their food, I would never big something up if it wasn’t worth it, and in this case I genuinely do want to go back.

It’s always interesting how subjective things are – as you can see from the review, my friend and I didn’t always agree on our positive/negative feelings towards dishes so remembering how personal tastes are likely to differ is key!

Whatever you do, don’t mention Spag Bol!

27th Jun 201927th Jun 2019Leave a comment

Here we go – my first proper blog post!!

I thought I’d start with something that incorporates both food and travel seeing as that’s what I’m most passionate about.

Back in April, I spent 4 days in one of the culinary capitals of Italy – Bologna, aptly nicknamed ‘La grassa’, or ‘The Fat One’. I hadn’t been to Italy since I was about 6 years old so I didn’t really have any memories of the country itself, let alone the food.

I feel like once you arrive somewhere completely new, it can take a while to get your bearings food-wise, and so often, your first meal or two aren’t the best. Day one for us was literally just a case of needing to be fed. Any food. Just give us some food. We’re in Italy so surely nothing can be that bad?

We ended up wandering through the Mercato di Mezzo, desperately looking for a light lunch bite rather than an indulgent, heavy meal. There was so much on offer but willpower was strong, trying to save ourselves for a big evening meal.

So Lunch Number 1 – two arancini (deep fried arborio rice balls for those who weren’t sure). I think one was saffron and peas and the other some kind of meaty mince. We also shared this incredibly light bread topped with tomato. It eased us in to Italian cuisine but nothing mind blowing to begin with.

Before we know it, it’s 8.30pm, freezing, raining, pitch black, and we’re incapable of following a map. It’s also a Saturday night where every decent restaurant seems to be fully booked. You know when you’re so hungry you just give up and accept that you’ll eat anywhere. Yep. That. So when we eventually strolled past a completely empty but very open restaurant, we didn’t care. We didn’t care what the fact that there was no one else in there might mean. We braved it… and this what we ate…

A slightly yellow-looking but actually very tasty Carbonara…

… and a delicious creme caramel type thing. Often I find the texture of these kind of things a bit gross but this one was lovely.

Moral of the story – don’t judge a book by its cover!

Day 2 –

We were told that Italians always start the day with a sweet breakfast, never savoury. So that was our excuse to try as many sweet treats as possible.

The soggy-looking red thing intrigued us most, and I’m always drawn to trying unusual foods.

The above was labelled ‘Sabidoni mostarda alchermes’ which we later discovered was a light dough filled with ‘mostarda’ or pear and quince jam and the colour and flavour comes from the ‘saba’ – cooked grape must. Despite their strange appearance they were delicious – a strong recommendation!

Okay Night Number 2 –

Had this one all planned out from the start. Ever since for Christmas I received the Lonely Planet 500 Ultimate Eats List, I had been checking out the travel bible’s top recommendations. There was only 1 for Bologna and that was Ristorante Da Nello al Montegrappa. Genuinely some of the nicest pasta I’ve ever had, in a classy, traditional setting.

First up is my Tagliatelle Bolognese. As the title of my post suggests THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE IN ITALY!!

In Italy, the type of pasta you have with a specific sauce is so important. The pasta shape is chosen based on how well it complements the sauce, so none of the mixing and matching we get over here. Traditional bolognese sauce isn’t thick and gloopy and tomatoey. It’s barely a sauce, and instead focuses on the minced meat so as to avoid overwhelming the pasta, which should be the star of the show.

However, even more delicious than this was Bologna’s other famous dish – tortellini. Unfortunately this was not my order so I had major food envy…

So simple but absolutely mouth-wateringly stunning.

On to dessert, which I have to admit, was not my favourite part of the trip 😦

We tried the traditional Torta di Riso and of course a Tiramisu. I’m not a huuuge fan of alcohol and both had strong liquor flavours so that kind of put me off. The texture of the Torta di Riso was also really odd…

When you remember you haven’t taken a photo after you’ve started eating

Torta di Riso… gooey and crunchy at the same time??

Okay we are now onto our final day. It’s Day 3. If you’ve made it this far, grazie mille.

Possibly the most exciting foodie day of all. We started the day bright and early with A FOOD TOUR. Oh yes, 7 courses of Italian goodness.

Breakfast was pretty standard – 2 small pieces of cake (unfortunately including the Torta di Riso that I’d already decided I hated the previous evening).

Next stop we headed to see the sfogline (women who make pasta). They produced the tiny intricate tortellini from scratch before our eyes and worked so rapidly it was unbelievable.

Following this we headed to a ‘Salumeria’ for a selection of cold cuts and parmesan…

Then we went back for round 2 of pasta, but this time from a fast-food style place, which for me didn’t seem massively necessary.

Finally back to the desserts and treats with Fiat chocolate tasting, balsamic vinegar sampling and of course, what better way to finish but with Italy’s wonderful gelato.

I would never normally choose to eat gelato/ice cream/sorbet over other desserts but this was super creamy and the flavours were stunning. I had one scoop of Cinnamon cookie and one of vanilla custard.

For our last evening meal, pretending to be healthy, we decided to seek out a fish restaurant and fortunately there was one just down the road from our apartment. At Il Pescatore, we shared a starter of octopus which was beautifully tender, and then both of us had the mixed grilled seafood.

We have prawns, langoustine, white fish, scallops, squid and potatoes. It may not look the most appetising but tasted wonderful (even the potatoes, which as you will probably get to know are MY LEAST FAVOURITE CARB).

Food was 100% the main feature of this short break. 4 days in Italy and not a pizza in sight. If you’re heading to Bologna any time soon, definitely check out the Lonely Planet recommended restaurant for your pasta fix, but other than that just get exploring! There are bound to be hundreds more hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.