Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category
Galvany 180
Galvany market has not been renovated since its early construction about a hundred odd years ago. So you can still find some of the original construction including stained window glasses. The market has a very neighborhood feel with mostly locals shopping here. 
Quimet, An old fashioned bodega
A sweet wine that no amount of soda could help. A super salty and vinegery anchovy that was great in contrast.
Masclans, Since 1881 at Galvany
 Fifth generation grocers |
 Specialize in salt cod |
 Salt cod salad |
 Hors d’oeuvres in making |
 Salt cod, scallion, pepper, olive and olive oil |
 Salt cod and cured tuna hors d’oeuvres |
 Salt cod |
 Cured tuna recipe from Morocco, looks like ham. |
Looking for Pajareros at La Boqueria Market
French music has now stopped. Someone is playing TV loudly. I thought I heard what sounded like a bunch of unhappy ducks, maybe on their way to Boqueria market themselves. Sounds of shutters closing and water jets from the cleaning trucks rise above the sounds of TV.
Bar Central, La Boqueria Market
It is two in the morning. French music is coming through the windows. We have a tryst with the Aborigens at nine in morning for a early morning walkabout through non-touristy markets of Barcelona. Today we were on our own at La Boqueria, the touristy market off Las Ramblas. We took our landlord’s advise and ate at one of the shops towards the back of the market. An order of sea food platter, fried padron peppers and a big fat cuttlefish. Sea Food platter came with shrimps, langoustine, mussels, baby squids and a couple of different fish steaks one of which was somewhat overdone. The fried padron were not much different from our own grilled version. The cuttlefish hit low on the edibility scale.
Mam i teca, fitting in with the locals
Small family run restaurant with a wide selection at the bar.
Thanks to serious jetlag, we are up at 11 pm wide awake. So we joined the locals for a spot of dining. Much thanks to our personal foodie advisor (PFA) from Aborigens, we stepped into Mam i Teca, one of the oldest Slow Food restaurant in Barcelona.
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Bar Lobo, first meal in Barcelona
Neighborhood restaurant, food not too shabby, comfortable patio seating.
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A 60 minute egg
After watching David Chang on season one of The Mind of a Chef, we gave in to the temptation and bought ourselves a makeshift sous vide machine (DorkFood temperature controller and a slow cooker). And here is the first 60 minutes egg at 143F as per Lucky Peach’s Egg Chart.
60 minute sous vide egg at 143F, yolk is runny but slightly thickened
Served on a bed of butter sauteed home grown chard, chard prepared like nettles in nettles and egg recipe, slow roasted tomatoes prepared like in tomato raisins recipe, and shavings of parmigiano-reggiano.
The egg is to weep for, with happiness of course. However there is a real hint of sadness too, popularity of sous vide will change the meaning of “hard as 20 minute egg”.
Crepe fix in Paris
Bacon and egg galette
Located in Montparnasse, Cafe Josselin co-exists with several other creperies within a 300 ft radius, but Josselin is heavily croweded and others no so much. To avoid long queue during lunch hour, arrive at noon or earlier. Inside, it is warm and cozy – like a busy brewery. Service is fairly prompt and very soon you will find yourself sipping a dry cider.
Galettes and crepes are pretty much alike except one is made from buckwheat and other from regular flour. Galettes happen to be my favorite buckwheat concoction. Although, my mom-in-law’s buckwheat paratha stuffed with spicy potatoes is not too far behind. Galette should be crisp and lacy like an Indian dosa. The nutty flavor of buckwheat is perfect counterpart for butter. Not that galette needs any sprucing up, but I decided to order mine with bacon, egg and stuffed onions. My husband ordered one with ham, egg and stuffed eggplant caviar. Both were excellent, far nuttier and crisper than the ones we had at Breizh during our previous visit.
 Cafe Josselin |
 Apple Cider |
I love sweet galettes as well – buckwheat works really well with orange and chocolate flavors. If I had paid more attention to David Lebovitz, I would have asked for a sweet galette at Josselin. But since I hadn’t, we ordered a basic crepe flambe to share which unfortunately was very forgettable.
The numbered duck (Le número de votre Canard: 1115233)
La Tour d’Argent, a restaurant by Seine in Paris with a view of Notre Dame.
It is hard to not be enchanted by Tour d’Argent. I confess I was a just a touch concerned upon arrival. The downstairs seating area, with its mini-museum display of table settings of the bygone days, was a bit tired looking. However, a quick champagne, hors d’oeuvres and an elevator ride later we are seated at the table of the main dining area where all my concerns disappeared. Dining area is shiny with slivers, crystals and chandeliers. Rapidly, the room started filling up. We were seated at the center of the room. From where I sat, the view of Notre Dame was occasionally interrupted by Jeeves like accoutrement of the servers. Facing me was the duck press station, where an old gentleman went about the task of meticulously pressing ducks. I would have described it as an assembly line process were it not for the exaggerated rituals associated with the task.
Number of servers far exceeded the number of guests. While their movement in and out of the kitchen seemed chaotic, service at the table was a well choreographed dance. A couple of waiters coordinated placing the food on the table while the senior of the two took time to describe the food. A similar coordination took place when plates were removed from the table. Pacing was perfect. Nothing felt hurried, nothing felt delayed, no ho hum moment. One particular ritual felt quaint in this age – my husband’s menu had the prices and not mine. Wine pouring on the other hand could only be described as elaborate. A lot of deep inhalation, swishing and slurping happened before we were served ours.
Day 2 in Paris
Our last visit to Paris was in the interstice between summer and spring. We had tired ourselves walking the greater part of two weeks. By the time my mind was made up about walking up the stairs of Notre Dame church, my feet had defected. So we decided to climb the stairs early on in this trip.
Christian Constant’s Les Cocottes
Christian Constant’s Les cocottes, near Eiffel tower.
This time it was only a week’s stay in Paris. It was colder than last time and a lot less sunny. Not much appeared to have changed for Les Cocottes in two years. We were still one of the first people to arrive at the restaurant and were seated at the same table as last time. The restaurant had filled up rapidly with tourists and locals. I usually decide between tourists and locals by their shoes. If attired in something comfortable and ugly, I put them in the “tourist” bucket. Right in my line of view was an petite old lady who appeared to be a regular. She sat at the counter and ordered a range of different cocottes, and ate with a gusto any young foodie would be proud of. Next to us sat a young dame in red stilettos with a large pet dog at her heels. She had an appetizer and a glass of wine for meal. I am always grateful that there is something to look forward to as we age!
For starters we ordered a cold tuna, eggplant caviar and tomato jelly. The dish arrived in a jam jar shaped glassware with tuna layer sandwiched between eggplant and tomato jelly. Richness of tuna was well offset by the smokiness of eggplant resulting in a refreshing and flavorful dish. For entrees, I ordered the langoustine ravioli. Perhaps I was dreaming of Robuchon’s ethereal langoustine ravioli, and I shouldn’t have.
Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds
Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds at Tate
I didn’t really know much about Ai Weiwei‘s art until I walked into the exhibit at Tate’s. They had a conical pile of porcelain sunflower seeds in the center of a featureless room, cordoned off with a security guard watching over. The accompanying information said that the seeds were individually hand-painted by hundreds of Chinese artisans! At the time, the display evoked nothing. But the pile of seeds stayed in my head and made me curiouser and curiouser.
Globe Theater tour in London
 Globe theater from Millennium bridge |
 Model of Globe theater |
Visiting Globe like a bystander is perhaps just a little sad. Completely omitting the trip would have been even sadder. I chalked this one up to one of the downsides of visiting London in the winter. It helps a little if you pretend it to be a reconnaissance mission. So, what is it that you can actually see if you are not attending one of the theater’s productions?
View from St. Paul’s Cathedral
If there is something fantastic about a winter trip to London, I will say it is the view from the top of St. Paul Cathedral’s dome. The timing works out rather well in winter when the last admission coincides with sun down. Here are some of the photos we took from up there.
Eating out at Seven Dials, London
Aside from Dishoom that serves reliable roomali roti and chicken tikka, there are several nice eating and drinking spots near Seven Dials. We could only sample a very small subset. Monmouth coffee was one. According to a reliable local source, while tea shops are on the decline, coffee shops are on the rise in London. Monmouth may have been the one that started (~1978) the micro roasting trend. Being perhaps the grandaddy of the business, they didn’t seem quite the coffee police as Blue Bottle or Four Barrel, very few coffee shops are. But they have a large selection of single varietals and brew a good espresso to make a coffee lover happy. The one at Seven Dials attracts a hipster crowd, there is always a long line, tables are shared, and you can get a croissant to go with your coffee. I do think they need some chocolate-y stuff to go with their coffee, say crepes or biscotti.
Neal’s yard dairy has excellent British cheeses and they import Poilâne bread. Like Cheese Board, they let you taste before buying and the staff is super friendly. We bought a variety of cheddars and even some Stilton. You really can live on Poilâne, Stilton and Monmouth coffee if you so wish.
British food in London
Great Queen Street Pub, an easy walk from the British Museum
British food, for the rest of us outside Britain, brings to mind fish and chips or bangers and mash. But if like me, you have grown up with Tuppy Glossop’s midnight adventures with steak and kidney pie, you wish a cook as good as Anatole who can make you just such a pie. Now with the revival of British cuisine and gastro pubs, someone just may serve you one.
Desi food in London
 Dishoom, dishoom ... |
 Dishoom with its seventies look |
 Fried calamari with a set of spicy sauces |
 Shish Kababs and roomali roti, what else ... |
 Chicken tikka |
 Naan with Keema |
A few blocks from Seven Dials, is an Indian restaurant named Dishoom. The sound of a punch landing on your opponent in Bollywood movies has the sound “Dishoom“. Kids when mimicking fights do it with the sound effect “dishoom”, “dishoom”, … So there is indeed something endearing and playful in the name. The restaurant exudes hipness, although like any other Indian restaurant the service is a bit languid. Walls are decorated with an old world charm of mirrors and pictures of Bollywood movies and stars. You can watch the tandoor in action while waiting for food. We ate here a couple times and really enjoyed the “roomali” roti with the shish kababs. Roomal is Hindi word for handkerchief. Yes, sir, these breads are indeed as thin as the handkerchief. The dough is similar to naan/pizza and they are hand rolled like pizza, swirled in air to get the thinness and briefly cooked in the tandoor. I haven’t seen roomali rotis served in Indian restaurants in US. I found the food to be competent but the menu is limited to typical North Indian dishes that westerners associate with Indian food.
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Fast food in London
Pret a Manger sandwich and crisps
It is now a little over two months since our London trip. I hadn’t meant to slip so far behind in my writing but it has happened. I can only hope that the memories have aged like cheese! We had stayed in a tiny but super-cute apartment in London, which was practically on top of the Neal’s Yard at Seven Dials. I am pretty sure that on a summer afternoon, an open window in the apartment will bring in the mingled aroma of aged cheeses from Neal’s Yard Diary. We didn’t open the windows on account of the cold but we did breakfast on their cheeses and their imported Poilâne’s bread.
Eggs and toast – never had it this good …
Eggs and toast
Following serves 2:
Soft boil couple of eggs, preferably from organically fed and farm raised hens.
Cut up two slices of fresh sourdough bread into thick cut french fry style pieces. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil on a pan and saute these bread slices until golden and crackle-y.
Crack open the top of your soft boiled egg, add some fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper, dip the fried bread sticks in the yolk and enjoy.
Cup of espresso at the end with a slice of pannetoni is nice but not absolutely essential for a great start to the day.
Vin d’Orange
Homemade Vin d'Orange
Found a DIY Vin d’Orange recipe on NYT. Substituted rosé with white, used ceylon cinnamon instead and skipped the vanilla bean – ended up with something that is nevertheless wonderful. For a recipe as simple as this, quality of ingredients is definitely critical including the quality of rum. Best time to make this is when the oranges are tree ripened. Our version is made with Cara Cara oranges. It is a delightful summer drink when mixed with carbonated water.
This summer in India, we found a variety of refreshing summer drinks. Oh Calcutta in Kolkata served a thinned buttermilk and Keffir lime mocktail, and a roasted green mango vodka cocktail.Visit to friends gave an opportunity to try out FabIndia‘s sweet and salty drinks – lemon ginger, aloe vera, amla (gooseberry), and fruit punch. Keep an eye out for my experiments with buttermilk and Keffir lime.
London in 4 Hours
When: 1 pm on a weekday
Where: Paddington, London
Why: An 8 hour layover in Heathrow
How: Heathrow-Paddington Express
 Looking towards Italian garden from Queen Anne's alcove in Hyde Park. Traffic included a few joggers, a handful of tourists, a couple of hobos and an office goer. |
 5 minutes later ... The office goer had a great sense of timing. He managed to duck in and out of rain rather effectively. |
The best thing about a short layover in Heathrow may be the Paddington express which takes you to the heart of the city in a mere 15 minutes. We had planned to explore the area around Paddington – Hyde park, and Oxford street neighborhoods – by foot. Our general strategy as we stepped out of the station was to find our way to Hyde Park, walk along the Serpentine to work up an appetite for fish and chips, for which we had narrowed down a couple of gastropubs. The sky looked partly cloudy and the ground looked fairly wet. On account of Mr. Weatherman’s promise of a cheery and bright 72 degree day, we were ill equipped for any potential rain. Hand in hand, my better half and I stepped out on the streets towards Hyde.
Locomotoring 