And please let’s ignore their slightly phallic appearance. You can use a regular popsicle mould but if you’re like us and you have very limited freezer space, then I highly recommend the use of the Lékué silicone ice lolly moulds (I’m not being paid to recommend these!). I bought mine from Spain a few years ago and they’re just brilliant – they’re leakproof and easy to clean and they can lie flat in your freezer. They look like Calippos!

Mango Lassi Ice Lollies

I found that about half a mango made about one ice lolly/popsicle. I used one and a half mangoes and got three ice lollies. Puree your mango flesh along with a heaped tablespoon of regular or Greek yoghurt per half mango (that’s all I had but regular yoghurt will also do) and add water until you get a pour-able consistency. Pour into your popsicle moulds and freeze.

Upon arrival at Lymington (we took trains, changing at Brockenhurst), I dragged us both first to The Buttery for lunch where we split an order of scampi and chips and then the finest Bakewell tart we’d ever had.

The Buttery
19-20 High St
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 9AD

Here was the reason we went to Lymington – wide open spaces, forest trails, long walks by the sea…

…that lead to pubs by marinas (this was The Mayflower) where they served things like a Cumberland sausage sizzler with perfect chips and delicious Caesar salads topped with salmon fishcakes.

The Mayflower
King’s Saltern Road
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 3QD

On the Sunday, after a morning stomping about the Buckland Rings, we headed for The Walhampton Arms for a massive Sunday carvery lunch … well, hehe, for me as Blai went for a lighter roast trout option.

Carvery for me ask the way! To go with my choice of roast beef there were at least four types of vegetable, stuffing balls, sausages, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and plenty of gravy. And homemade horseradish sauce!

The Walhampton Arms
Walhampton Hill
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 5RE

Soon afterwards, we happened upon a pick-your-own strawberry farm. Can you believe that Goodall’s Strawberries has been growing strong (ha!) for over 100 years?

I think we did pretty well! We gorged on those big sweet strawberries for two days.

If you’re planning on going to Goodall’s for strawberries, hustle on down as their season ends in early July, I believe.

Goodall’s Strawberries
South Baddesley Rd
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 5SH

But on our last day, we returned once again to our favourite place in Lymington, The Buttery. One round of generously filled fresh crab and shrimp sandwiches and a slice of delectable coffee sponge and we were sorted for lunch.

We also brought home a whole boxful of their goodies – their lemon drizzle is highly recommended.

All in all, it’s a pretty pleasant place to spend a long weekend. Oh, I almost forgot! Get some locally made New Forest Ice Cream. That top scoop was Millionaires Shortbread…shortbread, caramel and chocolate swirled through!

It was a much needed trip and thank goodness the weather was good! We didn’t have time for it this trip (we were too busy exploring all the local public footpaths) but crabbing seems to be the thing to do at the old quay.

All my photos from this trip can be seen in this Flickr photoset.

Tapas Revolution is owned by Spanish-born and El Bulli trained Omar Allibhoy. He first worked at a number of restaurants upon his arrival to London before launching El Pirata de Tapas (he is still executive chef there). In 2010, he opened his own place – and that place was Tapas Revolution. During our meal, he took the time to inform us about the tapas we were eating as well as answer our questions about his time with the Adria brothers. He is extremely friendly and welcoming and clearly very hard working as he dealt with us while ensuring that all his other customers were also taken care of.

How thrilled I was to see horchata on the menu! And yes, while everyone was sipping on cava and sangria, I happily stuck to my non-alcoholic horchata. I’m always glad to see interesting non-alcoholic choices on menus.

Our tapas dinner was going to feature items off their soon-to-be-launched summer menu and started off with one of my favourite things ever: Jamon Iberico de bellota de Guijuelo.

Pan Con Tomate (the Catalan pa amb tomàquet) was delicious with excellent olive oil drizzled on top. I draped my ham on top and… sigh….I’m drooling as I type this.

Gazpacho de sandia was a unique spin on the traditional cold soup, here with the addition of watermelon.

Boquerones (anchovies) were fat and fleshy and fantastic.

Croquetas de gambas, vieira y tinta de calamar (prawns, scallop and squid ink) were the most unique croquetas we’d come across and I loved their striking black interiors. Delicious too.

Calamares Fritos (fried calamari) were freshly fried and I loved that they included the tentacles (so many places just serve the rings).

Pulpo a la Gallega is a traditional Galician preparation of boiled octopus and potatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika and the version here was excellent.

Croquetas de Jamon were another, more traditional, version of their croqueta and equally as good. It’s always good to see a well made classic.

I was surprised that we were served Fideuà, the Valencian noodle classic that’s cooked similarly to paella. It’s just not a common dish in tapas bars here (well, at least I’ve not seen it) and it was quite good here with plenty of seafood scattered through the noodles.

Espárragos con romesco were nicely grilled asparagus but unfortunately the Catalan romesco sauce was too vinegary and not nutty enough – the traditional preparation has a great balance of nuts, roasted chillies and tomatoes. This I think was the only dud of the evening.

Pinchos Morunos con mojo picón were grilled beef skewers served with a spicy sauce from the Canary Islands. Well, I say spicy but it’s mild for us and perhaps it is spicy for Spanish standards! These were great and were possibly the most popular tapas that night (not for me…you can’t take my heart away from jamon and croquetas!).

Of course, what else were we going to have for dessert but Churros con chocolate! We dunked these cinnamon dusted fritters into a milky hot chocolate and after those were gone, I drank that chocolate straight up.

Overall, an excellent and very fun meal. The prices are in line with other tapas places in London – each dish costs between £2 and £7. The location of the tapas bar does make things a bit noisy and a bit draughty but hey, it’s in a mall and allowances must be made.

How wrong it turned out we had been about this place! It turns out that mall tapas can indeed be very good (this almost reminds me of the fantastic eateries in Asian malls). Thank you very much to Omar and Emma from Neil Reading PR for the invitation!

There’s also a second Tapas Revolution at Bluewater.

Tapas Revolution
The Balcony
Westfield London
Shepherd’s Bush
London W12 7SL

The little place has a menu posted outside on the window and inside on the counter. Everything costs the same per skewer and there’s a good variety of meats (mainly processed) and vegetables available.

Inside, there’s just room for a few people to order over a counter. In the back, all the ingredients are lined up on skewers or awaiting skewering. A plexiglass window stands between you and a bubbling cauldron that seems to only be filled with chilli oil, chillies and Sichuan peppercorns. Don’t worry – it’s not too bad! That day, we split a pork luncheon meat (read: something similar to Spam) skewer and a fish ball skewer since we just had lunch.

When your order has had its time in the jacuzzi from hell, your skewers are dumped into a foil takeaway container and sprinkled with chopped spring onions and coriander. There may have been a sesame based sauce available as well but I’m not entirely sure.

The heat was a lot milder than I expected but they were still delicious. Can’t go wrong with Spam in chilli oil. Now, while I say that the heat wasn’t too bad, I did notice that the chilli oil doesn’t cling terribly well to Spam and fish balls. If you were to order the Chinese leaves, for example, my experience has been that those wrinkly leaves provides lots of little nooks and crannies for burning red oil to hide. It’s probably not clear yet but I love the skewers and I love the concept and I wish that there were more sunny days in London in which I may wander down to Chinatown and munch on street food like this.

In addition to the skewers, the little shop also sell massive baos which are also available to eat next door at Baozi Inn. While I believe this is the first chuan chuan xiang place in London’s Chinatown, a competitor has already opened around the corner on Gerrard Street so…time to try them too!

Chuan Chuan Xiang
(next to Baozi Inn)
Little Newport Street
Chinatown
London

They have a great lunch deal – £4.80 for a dish of rice or noodles with a free bowl of their daily soup. We chose the char siu on fried hor fun which came out looking quite plain but turned out to be some well fried hor fun topped with a generic Asian brown sauce and some quite good sliced char siu. A bit of chili oil (excellent stuff) and it was a great dinner. The accompanying soup (pork bone, carrot and tomato) was a bonus.

I wanted to try a dish that I’d only heard about online – ‘LSE fan‘ (or ‘LSE rice’, about £9.50); the story goes that the dish was either invented or made famous by an LSE student. On our queries, our waiter informed us that it was a honey and black pepper pork served with egg fried rice. It turned out to be more of a triple eggy delight – egg fried rice, fried egg and the honey and black pepper pork was topped with an additional eggy sauce. It was definitely over-the-top, excellent and certainly almost enough for two.

Their drinks are very good there – here’s a milk tea and an iced lemon tea.

Sadly, a second, more recent visit wasn’t as good. One of their specialties, Hainan chicken rice (£7.30), had overcooked chicken breast but tasty enough rice and accompanying chilli sauce. A little more care, though, could have been taken over the presentation of the rice.

I wanted to try their crispy noodles. Fried noodles with mixed seafood (£8.00) turned out to be mediocre noodles in a wading pool of gloopy (albeit well-seasoned) sauce.

It all seems to be a bit hit and miss. While it’s likely we’ll be back to try their beef brisket (thanks for the rec, Lizzie) and their hor fun in eggy sauce (two dishes I’ve heard good things about), as in most places in Chinatown, service left a lot to be desired. Depending on which waiter you get, service can be acceptable or miserable. Why do they do that? And poor Blai is extremely upset that by default, they gave him a fork when he sat down!

Old Town 97
19 Wardour Street
London  W1D 6PF

However, the process didn’t go entirely smoothly at first. I made the amateur mistake of confusing masa harina and masa arepa. Both are corn meals made of precooked corn but only masa harina is made of corn that’s undergone nixtamalization (it’s cooked in an alkaline solution) and is the correct one for making corn tortillas. Just to confuse things, the side of the package of masa arepa that I purchased first (PAN brand) states that it can be used for tortillas too. I bought my masa harina from the Cool Chile Co. (Maseca is also a famous brand).

On our first go at making corn tortillas, we pressed them using a heavy pot…quite painfully and tediously. The next day, I went straight out and bought a proper cast iron tortilla press (again from the Cool Chile Co.). Oh, how it makes life easier! Fresh corn tortillas are pressed so quickly and without any effort whatsoever! I can’t believe I’d been buying corn tortillas (sometimes taking up precious space in my suitcase when I was travelling back from the other side of the Atlantic) when they’re so easy to make at home!

Corn Tortillas

Take 2 cups of masa harina and mix with a little less than 1.5 cups of warm water. Mix together to a dough – it shouldn’t crumble (too dry – add water) or stick to your hands (too wet – add masa harina). I read somewhere online that it should have the texture of play dough and that’s truly how it felt. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat a cast iron or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Take a plastic freezer bag and cut two circles of plastic out of it – they should be big enough to line each side of your tortilla press. Take a small golf ball sized nugget of masa dough and roll it into a ball. Place in between the plastic circles and flatten in the tortilla press (I like mine quite thin – it’ll be about the size of the palm of your hand, I think). Peel off the tortilla and slap into the hot pan. Cook for about 30 seconds on the first side, flip and cook for a minute on the other side, flip again and cook for another 30 seconds. On the final side, the tortilla should start puffing up – pressing down on the tortilla can encourage it. Take out of the pan and cover with a clean dish towel. Repeat with all the masa.

You can eat tortillas with any meal, of course, but it’s most fun to make tacos at home. I slow cooked a lot of pork shoulder the first time I made tortillas, shredded the results and used that as a very simple filling for tacos.

Slow Cooked Pork for Tacos

1.5 kg pork shoulder, cut into chunks
juice from a large orange
2 bay leaves
1 chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours (mine only is set to high – it’s a rice cooker – though I reckon perhaps low on a regular slow cooker for 8 hours is also ok). Take out the meat and shred with two forks or your hands. A lot of liquid would have come out of the meat – I used some of it to moisten the shredded pork. Serve with corn tortillas.

The pork is a bit plain on its own. Better is topping your tacos with some pico de gallo. Or if you’re pressed for time/ingredients, just chopped onions pickled lightly in lime juice.

Pico de Gallo

1/2 a small onion, chopped
1-2 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and chopped
a very small handful of fresh coriander, chopped finely
juice of half a lime
salt

Mix all the ingredients together and then chill until ready to serve (give it an hour, I reckon, for the flavours to meld).

Now you’re almost ready for tacos!

Set out some chopped fresh coriander, a salsa (I’m working on recipes but this was just a good canned salsa verde), perhaps some sliced avocado or guacamole, sliced radishes and lime wedges and you’ve got a taco party! Well, it was just for two in our case but yeah, a party!

The best part is that you’ll have plenty of pork leftover. I suggest frying up some of it in its own lard (the edges go all crispy…mmmmmm) and having more tacos! There will definitely be more taco adventures in my future.

At the masterclass venue, we were welcomed by Òscar Ubide i Marcet, the general manager of La Boqueria, who explained what happened at various hours of the market. And how the working hours for many at the market started early and ended with a breakfast – a breakfast that we’d experience at this masterclass.

Each place had been set with a glass of Campo Viejo cava…apparently the tipple of choice for market traders having breakfast!

Soon, a plateful of scrambled eggs cooked with mushrooms was set down before us and we helped ourselves to the roving bread platter to mop everything up. The only downside was the amount of salt in the dish; it was just a bit too salty though the eggs and mushrooms were cooked to perfection otherwise.

To my surprise, the chef responsible for our breakfast turned out to be El Quim de la Boqueria, of the stall of the same name – I’ve been wanting to taste his food for some time but never managed to make it there. But next time I’m in Barcelona, I’ll try to get there again! Anyway, that morning he explained how he made the dish with its five different types of mushrooms and a sweet wine reduction (yup, made with a Campo Viejo wine).

It was quite a treat to walk out again and encounter stalls from La Boqueria and we may have ended up spending quite a bit on Catalan pork products (my latest thing is the secallona, a dry thin cured pork sausage)! It was a great way to top up our Catalan supplies.

Thank you very much to Victoria at Weber Shandwick and to Campo Viejo for the invitation! Please do bring La Boqueria back to London again!

I wish breakfast burritos were more of a thing here in the UK; in the States, even McDonald’s serves them (they also have biscuits but that’s a rant for another post)! Luckily, they’re easy and quick to put together. Quick enough for a weekday dinner!

Breakfast Burritos

In a frying pan, fry some chopped onions and perhaps some chopped bell peppers until soft and then add meat (chorizo, breakfast sausage, ham, bacon – chopped), maybe some chopped leftover potatoes too. I used chorizo and some tater tots first baked in the oven. A couple of tomatoes wouldn’t go amiss here and when it’s all almost done, perhaps some wilt down some spinach in the mixture. Salsa and jalapeno peppers are good too. Beat a few eggs together and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Pour it all over the mixture in the frying pan and throw in a good handful of grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese. Gently fold together until the mixture is set. Take off the heat.

In another pan or in the oven, heat a flour tortilla or two until warm and pliable. Pile on the egg mixture and fold up like a burrito. Eat with salsa or hot sauce.

And sure, they’re also good for breakfast, brunch or lunch!

The first restaurant was La Bodeguita, situated inside the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. I visited with my friend Roxanne for lunch one Saturday and bizarrely, we had to wait for them to open (much later than stated on their website) and then we had to eat our lunch in a freezing cold dining room (they didn’t seem to have their heating on). Still, we pressed on.

Of course we had to try the Colombian national dish of Bandeja Paisa (£12.10). This was a huge platter of rice, pork belly, spiced minced meat, sausage, fried egg, fried sweet plantain, avocado and a small arepa. This was accompanied by a giant bowl of beans cooked with pork.

I would have been happy with just the rice, delicious minced meat, egg, plantain and avocado. Sadly, both the pork belly and sausage were overfried and much much too tough. The arepa (corn cake) was small and too dense but I would learn later that this seems to be typical of this kind of small Colombian arepa (unless all Colombian arepas in London are rubbish). The bowl of beans were fine but was much too big and we barely made a dent in them.

We also tried their recommendation of Cazuela de Mariscos (£11.20), a creamy seafood stew served with rice and fried green plantains. This was very good, all creamy and flavorful – the only downside was that the dish was distinctly cephalopod heavy. There was the occasional tiny morsel of fish and then the one grilled prawn on top and then lots and lots of what was probably a default frozen “seafood mix”. With some carefully chosen seafood, this could have been a glorious dish.

At the end of our meal, the staff did notice that we were freezing and kindly gave us some shots of aguardiente to keep us warm for the rest of the day!

La Bodeguita
Elephant and Castle shopping centre
London SE1 6TE

In the west, Donde Carlos is a recently opened restaurant on Goldhawk Road (I’d heard that previously they were in the back of a shop nearby?). It looks a bit like a conservatory in the front, which is great for those of us who like lots of light with our meal! Blai and I visited for Sunday lunch and we were surrounded by lots of Colombians who already all looked like regulars.

Jugos (£2.20 each) – one blackberry and one passionfruit – were delicious fruit juice drinks blended with water (optionally, milk). I had tried one in La Bodeguita but they had not asked me if I’d prefer water or milk and just gave me the default milk (I don’t like milk!).

Unlike La Bodeguita, there were no seafood dishes at Donde Carlos. There are main courses, empanadas, arepas, desserts and even a Colombian breakfast. We tried again the Bandeja Paisa (£11.00), here served with rice, fried egg, salad, pork belly, steak, chorizo, arepa and yellow plantain. Like at La Bodeguita, the little arepa was very dense and not very exciting (I need to try their other larger arepas – perhaps those would be more moist). However, the rest was very good – the fried pork belly and chorizo were significantly better than those at La Bodeguita. The salad was also delicious though I missed the avocado. And that steak? Yum.

Sobrebarriga (£9.50) was the most delicious beef stewed in a homemade sauce and served with rice, salad, fried yellow plantain and another small arepa. The meat just fell apart at the touch of a fork and was utterly fantastic. Oddly, while the rice served at La Bodeguito was a long grain white, that day at Donde Carlos, they chose to serve a very short grained sticky white rice; I can’t seem to determine online what is the norm in Colombia.

We were again stuffed but perhaps because of the more reasonable portion sizes or because I was with Blai or because we said, heck, it’s Sunday lunch, we opted for a little dessert too. Brevas con arequipe (£2.50) were candied figs (brevas) served with a dulce de leche (arequipe). Both were excellent but the combination was tooth-achingly sweet – perhaps brevas with fresh white cheese would have been the better choice. Next time, I’m definitely trying their tres leches cake.

Donde Carlos
143 Goldhawk Road
Shepherd’s Bush
London W12 8EN

Good stuff. We’ll definitely be back to Donde Carlos (filled large arepas! Empanadas!) though I’d have to think twice about La Bodeguita. I do want to explore the Elephant and Castle area a bit more however as there are a few other cozy Colombian and South American restaurants in the area.

I love putting together this classic Indian snack: punch a hole in the hollow shell (the puri), fill with stuff, dip in the spicy water (the pani) and gobble whole. It’s a good and quick TV dinner!

On our first morning, we headed to Lanskroon to get one of their famous giant stroopwafels for breakfast. There was a choice of flavours but I had already decided as soon as I heard…coffee-caramel! While this stroopwafel was served cold, its waffle-biscuits still had a remarkable crispness to them. Delicious.

We also split a ham and cheese croissant, which they first heated up again in their oven in the back. Can any other simple savoury croissant taste any better than this? I think not.

The bakery’s cat did well to snooze by the electric heater on that cold day.

Lanskroon
Singel 385
Amsterdam

We got our first (and only, so far) taste of Surinamese food at a branch of De Tokoman near the Rembranthuis. It was a great surprise to us how much of an overlap there was with Indonesian food and how there was even a hint of Portuguese influence (they have a spiced salt cod dish). I’m certainly not going to attempt to describe this country’s cuisine when I barely understand the history of Suriname so I’ll link to the Wikipedia entry for now!

A lunch box of fried noodles, vegetables and babi pangang (grilled pork) wasn’t too inspiring but I think we chose poorly here.

Much better (excellent, in fact) was a broodje pom – a sandwich filled with the Surinamese speciality of pom, a casserole of spiced chicken and pomtajer root. The women working there were friendly and chatty and happy to explain any aspect of Surinanese food.

De Tokoman
Waterlooplein 327
Amsterdam

The next morning, we headed to Albert Cuyp Markt and wandered down the street perusing cheeses and herring and flowers in the freezing cold. Business seemed a bit slow that morning but I think that was again down to the weather.

Albert Cuypmarkt
Albert Cuypstraat
Amsterdam

We escaped the cold with lunch at Bazar, also along the the same street as the market. Again, prior to our trip, more than one person kindly recommended having a meal at this colourful Middle Eastern eatery in a converted church.

We launched on tender veal ribs and a lahmacun with cheese and washed it all down with lots of mint tea (with both fresh mint and black tea). Good eats in a fun place with a great atmosphere.

Bazar
Albert Cuypstraat 182
Amsterdam

I opted not to have dessert at Bazar (though they did look good) and instead walked out again to the market to visit the Stroopwafel man. Yes, another stroopwafel for us – and this time they were served hot off the iron.

When we chose one with chocolate, we elicited a highly unexpected ear-to-ear grin from him and the words “An excellent choice!” I think we may have been the first ones to order chocolate that day. The hot gooey stroopwafel with its extra chocolate syrup was just gorgeous. Highly recommended.

There just wasn’t any space for herring on our trip but we did find room for a bit of another fishy special, Dutch smoked eel from Frens Haringhandel on Koningsplein. Four thick pieces were stuffed into a soft bun and to our surprise, no sauce or spread was added. It certainly didn’t need it as the smoky eel was moist enough.

Finally, we also went one night to the Pancake Bakery for a Dutch pannekoeken dinner. It was terribly touristy but the pancakes being churned out were very good. I loved how the cheese in our savoury pannekoeken was cooked in and formed a thin crispy crust.

Pancake Bakery
Prinsengracht 191
Amsterdam

And that brings my series on Amsterdam to an end. As is usual, all my photos from our trip can be found in this Flickr photoset.

Now please tell me…is there anywhere in London that sells fritessaus?

We spent our last morning in Amsterdam at Cafe de Jaren, a beautiful cafe in the university district of the old city. There was plenty of space for us and our bags and suitcase and we spent a calm couple of hours here snacking and poring over their reading material.

Something we discovered absolutely everywhere in Amsterdam is the existence of verse munt thee on the menu. Fresh mint tea. This is fresh mint leaves steeped in water and strictly isn’t actually tea but a tisane. Honey is always offered with it though I think I prefer it as is. It’s something we became addicted to over there and that we’ve brought back to our home in London.

We took this opportunity to try their version of the Dutch apple tart too. While it was delicious, studded with raisins and topped with flaked almonds, it was served disappointingly cold and would have been about a billion times better warm.

If the weather had been more cooperative, we would have been able to sit in their terrace leading directly onto a canal. This would have been the view!

After killing some time in the shops and having more frites, we headed to train station to wait for our Thalys train to Brussels, where we’d connect to the Eurostar. Our first destination within the station though was the 1er Klas Grand Cafe, where we went in search of some light refreshment prior to our train journeys. The room was originally the first class passenger lounge in the station which explains how luxurious it looks!

The bitterballen at this cafe are sourced from the famed patisserie Holtkamp (we tried to visit the day before but they had an extra long queue thanks to it being Easter). Their bitterballen are considered to be some of the best in Amsterdam and they are indeed fantastic. Crisp crumbed on the outside, creamy meaty bechamel on the inside – our order of six were served with mustard and pickles. They’re fantastic bar snacks.

An apple pancake was accompanied by butter, powdered sugar and stroop (syrup) – everything you might want with a pancake. I’ve definitely developed a thing for the eggy Dutch pancakes.

And perhaps the best part of the cafe? There’s a house (cafe?) parrot – say hello to Elvis! The white cockatoo loves grooming and shredding bar coasters and the regulars love to have him on their shoulders!

Café de Jaren
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20 – 22
1012  Amsterdam

1e Klas Grand Cafe
2b (platform), Centraal Station
Amsterdam

There’s almost always a line there but it moves quickly. Choose one of three available cone sizes of frites and then your sauce (or combination of sauces).

We had our chips topped with mayonnaise and ketchup – mayonnaise was the way to go! The Dutch mayo (or is it fritessaus?) is supremely creamy and has a touch of sweetness that goes with the salty chips very well. The chips themselves were perfectly (double) fried – crispy outsides, fluffy insides. Why can’t everyone make fries this way?!

We went back on our last day when the weather had decided to warm up. This time, patatje oorlog (literally ‘war fries’) – frites topped with mayonnaise, satay sauce and chopped onions. It’s a crazy combination that works…and I’m drooling over my keyboard as I think about it. I was a bit skeptical of the satay sauce they use on chips in the Netherlands but this completely converted me. Sure, it’s a bit peanut buttery but it’s just so good.

One Dutch man was singing the praises of his chosen samourai sauce and that’s what I’ll have next time, I reckon!

Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx
Voetboogstraat 33
1012 Amsterdam

We dropped in quite early – about 6pm – and we found the cozy restaurant absolutely packed. We didn’t have to wait long for a table though. Customers were a mix of tourists (very few), young Dutch people out in groups, and older bachelors and widower (the largest group that early in the night). That last group was made up of regulars who went around from table to table socializing. I loved the cozy atmosphere, the hum of chatter from the regulars and the friendliness of the waitresses.

Prices are definitely in the budget region and we decided to push the boat out by first splitting a calamari starter (€3,75). These were from frozen but were excellently fried and the remoulade sauce alongside was also very good.

We split a Grandmother’s meatball (€7,50) and a pork schnitzel (€8,50) (after seeing it on someone else’s plate!) and substituted fried potatoes in place of the usual boiled (€0,50 per order). Apparently we had our choice of vegetables but we didn’t know and so were served the default boiled carrots and potatoes. Around the room, we also saw boiled spinach, beetroot and broccoli.

The meatball was fabulous with plenty of gravy for the accompanying chips. The schnitzel too was well fried and tender. You couldn’t ask for a more honest homely meal.

Desserts available were recited to us and even though our stomachs were strained after eating so many of those fried potatoes, we chose a pancake (€3,60) and a serving of pistachio ice cream (€2,60). The pistachio coupe was full of the old fashioned kind of pistachio ice cream which went down surprisingly easily. The pancake was surprisingly fabulous, being filled with a slice of vanilla ice cream before being covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

I loved the place and wouldn’t hesitate to return the next time we’re in Amsterdam (and there must be a next time to see the Rijksmuseum!). Gosh, I’m so hungry now.

Hap-Hmm
Eerste Helmersstraat 33
1054 Amsterdam

While researching Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam, I eventually decided to skip the usual places and go somewhere a little more modern. Blauw seemed just what I was looking for and had great reviews too. On the evening we arrived in the city, we ended up hustling to make our reservation due to a tram jam but luckily they held our table for us. The restaurant is made up of many layers of levels; to reach our table upstairs, we first had to go down then up!

Our table was already set with a generously filled basket of prawn crackers and two chilli-based dips. The chilli sauce was fine but it was the sambal that triggered childhood memories, despite the ingredients needing a longer cooking down. As we were absolutely starving after our journey (we took the Eurostar and changed at Brussels for a Thalys train to Amsterdam), we made short work of these.

Of course we ordered the rijsttafel (€31,25 per person) and after a while our table was set with a plethora of dishes (there were so many that our waiter had to come to our table twice to fill it up). (Do click through on the photo below to see all the dishes labelled in Flickr.)

It was made up of 18 different little dishes of a good variety of things. On the warming plate were pork, beef, and fish dishes – I loved the babi ketjap on the far left and the fish dishes on the right. The rendang served was also very good. And at the bottom right was the original Indonesian version of sayur lodeh and despite it looking all white and insipid, it was full of flavour – fantastic!

There were two types of satay – a chicken one with peanut sauce and a lamb one coated in a thick sweet kecap manis sauce (the latter is traditionally Indonesian and a variety I’d not come across before – I want to learn more).

Fried bananas, the famous Indonesian gado gado and sweet and spicy fried potato sticks (sambal goreng kentang) all made great accompaniments.

There were a pair of bergedil (fried meat and potato patties), a refreshing pickled cucumber salad, a sugared toasted coconut accompaniment called seroendeng, eggs in a spiced nutty sauce and fried tofu in a kecap manis based sauce. Two kinds of rice  - putih (white) and goreng (fried) - to eat with everything completed the meal.

We doubted our abilities to finish it all but we shouldn’t have worried! That’s not to say there wasn’t enough food – we were utterly stuffed! If anything, it just shows what pigs we are. While we could tell that the flavours of the dishes were muted (under the assumption that Indonesian food can be as highly spiced as Malaysian food), this didn’t stop us from having a grand time at Blauw.

We even managed to fit in a dessert. Es ketan hitam is the traditional black rice cooked with coconut milk and here served with a pandan ice cream. The dessert portion was a little on the small side for €7,75 but it was just right for two who had stuffed themselves on rijsttafel.

Service was excellent with everything explained to us, waiters happy to answer our questions, and our never feeling rushed. So, yes, I’d recommend Blauw for Indonesian food if you’re ever in Amsterdam. If you’re not up for all that food, you can order a la carte and each dish comes with the two types of rice, seroendeng, sayur lodeh, sweet and spicy fried potato sticks, and pickled cucumbers.

Blauw
(Restaurant Blauw Amsterdam)
Amstelveenseweg 158-160
1075 XN Amsterdam
Netherlands

For Indonesian food in London, I’ve only tried the Indonesia Mini Market. Does anyone else have any other recommendations please?

Braised beef and daikon is a traditional Cantonese stew and most classic recipes online call for Chee Hou sauce, a ready made sauce of soybeans, ginger and garlic used for Chinese braising. I have no experience with the stuff and didn’t have any of it to hand but I did have a tub of white miso paste in the fridge. A spoonful of it went it and didn’t hurt it one bit. Melt-in-the-mouth beef, tender daikon, lots of thick sauce that’s perfect over white rice – this will keep you warm on the inside!

Braised Beef and Daikon
serves 4 with rice.

600-800g beef for stewing (like braising steak, shin, brisket)
2 tbsps oil
4 slices ginger
3 large garlic cloves
80ml Shaoxing wine
2 tbsps oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 heaped tsp miso paste
1-2 star anise
1 stick cinnamon/cassia
a sprinkle or two of white pepper
a small chunk of rock sugar
3-4 cups water
1 small to medium sized daikon
2 tbsps cornstarch

Cut up the beef into large chunks. Heat up a pot over medium heat, add the oil and then brown the beef on all sides. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for a minute or two until aromatic. Add all the other ingredients except the daikon and cornstarch and stir to mix. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat so that everything is just at a simmer. Half cover the pot and let it do its thing for about 1.5 to 2 hours. You want that beef to be tender.

Peel and cut the daikon into large chunks. Add to the cooking beef and then continue cooking all together until everything is tender. Mix up a cornstarch slurry by combining the cornstarch with cold water and then stir as much as you desire into the sauce to thicken it to your liking.

Serve with rice and other dishes if desired. Stay warm, everyone!

For £9, you get a starter and a main course. Of the starters, there was a red chicken (I suspect crispy chicken pieces in a gochujang hot sauce) and a seafood pajeon; I chose the latter. To my disbelief, this appears to be a full sized order! I really enjoyed this pajeon; unlike many heavy greasy ones I’ve had in the past, this was light and crispy.

My friend chose the third available starter – the Tomatofu, a salad made up of soft tofu, tomatoes and rocket leaves. From the way she cleared her bowl, I’d say she liked it!

For our main course, we both went with the Traditional bibimbap with beef bulgogi. The healthy outlook of the restaurant meant that it wasn’t topped with a fried egg (boo!) but it was still tasty with their accompanying ‘Kohot’ sauce (like the traditional gochujang based sauce). I liked that other sauces were also available – some were mild and would suit those fearful of heat.

Other main courses available in the set menu were the bulgogi, bo-ssam, baby chicken, grilled scallops or the jjigae of the day (that day, it was a pork and kimchi jjigae). I notice online now that it was supposed to include a tea or coffee but we forgot to get ours!

Overall, the food at Bibigo was pretty good – sure it’s not perhaps the most authentic take on Korean food but I don’t then that matters so long as it’s delicious. The lunch set is a great deal with very generous portions and I’d certainly recommend that. The only catch is that you’ve got to sign up for their “VIP club” but this does get you a card that also gives you 20% off their a la carte menu.

Bibigo
58-59 Great Marlborough Street
London W1F 7JY

For the bread, I used a recipe for a Basic Sweet Bread Dough from a book called Magic Bread by Alex Goh (though be prepared if you’re going to use it – it requires starting with a scalded dough that needs resting overnight). The recipe at that link gave me enough bread to create the massive wrap for my curry as well as a bit extra to form 6 buns.

I filled it with my usual chicken curry recipe (which I wasn’t entirely happy with this time…I was trying to reduce the amount of coconut milk in it so no sharing this time!) but any curry recipe will do. I used lots of greaseproof paper to wrap the curry (about 3 chicken legs, 2 thighs, some potato chunks and plenty of curry gravy) but in hindsight, some aluminium foil would have performed better to contain all that curry.

The bread dough was flattened to cover my entire baking sheet, the curry parcel was carefully placed in the middle and the dough sheet wrapped around it. A few pinches here and there to seal and it was left to rise before getting a shiny egg yolk glaze and a baking in the oven for about 25 minutes.

It is certainly an impressive thing to bring to the table! Slice up the top layer of bread…

…and unwrap the paper wrapped curry inside.

We tore into the bread like savages, dipping into the curry, grabbing chicken legs, getting curry everywhere. The bread recipe is brilliant – it produces a tender, sweet crumb not unlike that you find at Hong Kong style bakeries (I’ll be using the recipe again for another go at hot dog buns) which perfectly complements the spicy, creamy, coconutty curry. We stuffed ourselves silly.

Next steps for this? Improvement in a couple of areas. My curry recipe needs tweaking. I need to ensure that the layer of bread on top of the package doesn’t get too thin. I should also place it on the lower rack of my oven though this varies from oven to oven. But really, it’s all just another excuse to make this insane creation again!

The evening was organised as first a small travel fair with tour operators and hotels at mini stands followed by the cooking masterclass, which gave a few people the chance to cook and the rest of us a chance to watch the cookery demonstrations. Humberto Dominguez is executive chef of Kacao in Guatemala City and is also currently Ambassador of Guatemalan Gastronomy and he had flown into London for this event. He had developed all the recipes for the dishes we’d try that evening.

Tamarind Chicken was sticky with the addition of orange juice and honey and wasn’t at all what I expected of Guatemalan food.

The next dish was more in line with what I was expecting. Fish Ceviche is a dish that started in Peru but has since spread to much of South and Central America. I was told that Guatemalan ceviche includes tomatoes, something you wouldn’t usually find in Peru. You know what – it turns out I love the sour tang of ceviche and I desperately need more.

Fillet Steak in Coffee Sauce was not at all what I expected as it was creamy! Luckily, it was utterly delicious with all that sauce soaked up with white rice.

A Steak Salad had flavours not dissimilar to those of a Thai steak salad though this one was chopped up. It was certainly refreshing and like the rest of the dishes that night, easy to prepare at home.

I love that the final savoury dish shared with us was Guatemalan Hot Dogs, clearly a popular everyday snack. They are indeed regular hot dogs in buns but typical Guatemalan toppings include shredded boiled white cabbage, mayonnaise, avocado and a hot sauce made of chilies, onions and coriander. I loaded mine up with everything.

For dessert, there was rice pudding (and it turns out Guatemalan rice pudding is not much different from any other creamy rice pudding) and plenty of Guatemalan sweets. I’ve certainly never encountered sweets like this. Like most other Central and South American sweets, they are extremely sweet. That’s not to say they were bad! I loved the sugary red ball that was a tamarind candy – the tooth achingly sweet outer layer gave way to a tart tamarind centre complete with seed!

It was a fun evening and a good introduction to what to expect from Guatemalan cuisine; I’ll certainly be reading up more on it as well as the cuisine of its neighbouring countries. Thank you very much to the Guatemala Tourist Board (INGUAT) and Branding Latin America for the invitation. If you’d like a copy of any of these recipes, give me a shout and I’ll be happy to email them to you.

On my first evening, a Monday, after a delay to my Eurostar train and running to catch the earliest connecting train I could, I was happy to find that some restaurants were still open. I entered the Troubadour not too far from my hotel and was found a comfortable seat. No starter for me, I just needed something to keep me warm – Vlaamse Stoofcarbonade (16,00€) was perfect! That’s a Flemish beef stew cooked with beer and brown sugar. And the hand cut Belgian fritjes (fries) that accompanied it – oh, the beautiful sound they made as the waiter scooped up a few to place on my plate. Wow.

It’s not a bad place to stop for proper Belgian and Flemish classics. It’s not the cheapest place but it’s certainly reliable.

Troubadour
Tiensestraat, 32
3000 Leuven
Belgium

After dinner, I wandered around the centre a bit but had to give up after a while as it was getting colder and it was getting dangerously icy. The town is beautiful though and felt very safe with lots of students still up and about.

I didn’t think much of the light snow that seemed to be coming down and went to bed. The next day, I woke to this:

Yeah, not very light it was overnight. I was very cold and underdressed and now I’ve got a cold to show for it.

That night, we all went to Domus, a small brewery with its own restaurant/pub. Now this place was full of students as prices are relatively low. My Koninginnehapje (11,50€) was another Flemish classic – a creamy chicken and mushroom stew served in a puff pastry vol-au-vent. You get your choice of side dish to go with this – there are at least 4 potato preparations on offer in addition to pasta or rice. I had potato croquettes though I’m positive they were fried from frozen. 

Portions are huge here and this certainly filled me up. Desserts are pretty grim so I’d give them a miss (my speculoos ice cream was terrible). Don’t expect anything fancy – the food is very basic but the beers are good, I hear.

Domus
Tiensestraat, 8
3000 Leuven
Belgium

Apart from these two main meals, there was a lunch at a student mensa (not bad and quite cheap) and a catered lunch with a fantastic chocolate mousse. Only in Belgium!

My hotel warrants a mention as well. Hotel de Pastorij is a small 7-room guesthouse located right in the centre of Leuven. Rooms are generously sized and very comfortably furnished but what’s best is the fabulous breakfast buffet in the morning. There’s Yakult! And passion fruit (maybe not all the time)! And lots of other very very good things.

The weather cleared by the end of my trip and I was able to catch my train (delayed) home. If I had been stuck though, I would certainly have stayed again at this hotel.

I’d recommend a visit to Leuven – it’s only a short train ride from Brussels and would make a lovely day trip out. All the photos from my short trip can be found in this Flickr photoset.

While still choosing between the five or six dishes on the steam table by the window, my attention was drawn to the back of the restaurant where I noticed two women folding pasta. Turkish manti! It was decided – an order of manti had to be part of our lunch as well as a dish from the steam table that came highly recommended by our waiter.

A huge basket of bread and a generously filled pickle plate came immediately to our table which I nibbled on while I watched the women make manti. Roll out the dough, slice it up into little squares, a dab of seasoned lamb mince on each and then press press press to form the unique little star shaped dumplings.

Their homemade manti came slathered with garlic yoghurt and chili butter and was fantastic. The bread came in very handy to mop up the butter and yoghurt and the pickles gave a welcome refreshing acidity to counter the rich yoghurt.

From the steam tray came the highly recommended vegetarian dolma. Peppers and courgettes had been stuffed full of seasoned rice – delicious but a little bit of minced lamb wouldn’t have gone amiss. Perhaps we’ll try one of their lamb dishes next time.

Our bill for this fine lunch came to £13. I hear that this can be brought even lower if we had stuck to their soups (I saw a man at the next table slurp up a delicious looking lentil soup) which still come with all the bread and pickles. And if you’re lucky enough to live nearby, they’re open 24 hours!

Şömine Restaurant
131 Kingsland High Street
London E8 2PB

It’s certainly a cosy place! At the back of the ground floor is the tiniest and most crowded kitchen I’ve ever seen and every so often, flames would leap into the air. Slightly chaotic looking seating is available both on the ground floor and in the basement (I think we preferred the basement). Service is a bit iffy but when we had trouble with one waitress, we just grabbed the attention of another. The menu read like the greatest hits of Korean food and it was quite difficult to decide what we wanted.

One of Blai’s favourite Korean dishes is japchae, that lovely stir fry of clear and slightly squidgy sweet potato noodles with beef and vegetables. The version here wasn’t bad and definitely sorted out his craving.

My favourite of the night was the kimchi fried rice, full of lots of the aforementioned spicy pickled vegetable and topped with a glorious fried egg.

We wanted some grilled meat too and an order of galbi had us gnawing away at these tender short ribs. Chopsticks were not good enough – we used our fingers! (Apologies, I forgot to note the prices this time but I think the fried rice was about £8.)

Midway through our meal, it became apparent that we were missing out on something big the restaurant had to offer. Almost every other table in the restaurant sported a tabletop burner and on each burner was a wide, shallow pot bubbling away with something red and spicy. Korean hotpots! And they looked good!

We returned a few weeks later on a particularly cold day and this time with the express intention to have one of their hotpots to warm us up. Of their list of hotpots available, we chose their pork and kimchi stew (£24) – we were told this was sweeter and less spicy than their pork and kimchi broth and the only difference we could make out was that our pork had been marinated in a sweet mixture beforehand. This massive hotpot was brought to our table and set on top of a tabletop burner to cook together.

While we waited for the stew to cook, we also had a slightly stodgy vegetable pancake (£7.50) on the side to pick on. Stodgy it may have been but we still found it comforting in its own way.

After everything had bubbled together for a while and we’d ensured that all the meat was cooked through, it was eating time! In addition to the buttloads (there really was quite a bit) of marinated pork and kimchi in the stew, there was also tofu, courgette slices, mushroom bits, onion slices and daikon radish. Mmm, mmm, good. Each order is enough for two, I reckon.

Once we’d picked out most everything, we tossed in a side of ramyun (£2.50) to soak up all the liquid (they can top it up if it’s too thick). That almost did us in – we were stuffed!

The only downside? You will leave the restaurant stinking of Korean food. I kept smelling hotpot on my winter coat for days!

Assa
(there are two restaurants of the same name side-by-side – the Korean one is on the left, the Japanese one I’ve not tried is on the right)
53 St Giles High Street
London WC2H 8LH

Luckily, it’s very easy to make at home. All that’s needed is time and all the spices in your kitchen cupboards. The pork leg (I used a hock) is quite an economical cut too. Do keep the skin on your pork hock – it has a great texture after all that braising. Some recipes online have you fry your pork hock first but I don’t bother to keep things easier and it turns out just fine. Do serve this with lots of white rice and either a boiled green vegetable (I boiled up some spring greens) or pickled vegetable to have on the side. And the sauce isn’t optional – its strong garlicky tang helps cut through the richness of the pork.

Khao Kha Moo
serves 2-3.

1 pork hock (approx 800-1000g)
6 cups water
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark thick sweet soy sauce
1 large chunk rock sugar
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp five spice
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
4-5 sprigs coriander
5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

for the sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 large green chili
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsps rice vinegar

to serve
cooked white rice
boiled greens or pickled greens

Place the pork hock and all the braising ingredients into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to leave it at a simmer and then half cover the pot and let it braise for at least 2 hours or until the pork is starting to fall off the bone.

In the meantime, blend together the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.

When the pork hock is tender, remove it from its braising liquid and let cool enough to handle. Slice the meat (and the skin too!) and plate with the rice and greens, pouring some of the braising liquid over. Serve the sauce on the side.

This patisserie from Lille specialises in meringues covered in cream and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else sold there (I lie, they also sell a sweet bread called a cramique). But their meringues! They’re quite simple – little mounds or big cakes constructed of layers of meringue and cream. I first encountered them in Lille, where a long queue out the door of the shop attracted my attention; I did want one then but we hadn’t the time to stand in the queue that day. Here was our chance to finally try their confections.

This past Valentine’s Day, I purchased a small box of their smallest (two bite size) meringues for dessert that evening. There were five in total, one of each of their main flavours, and it cost £8.50 (oof). Their texture is fabulous – light crispy meringue and equally light flavored whipped cream.

As you can see, each little mound was also rolled in sprinkles of some kind. From left to right (in the photo above):

• Le Merveilleux - this seemed to me one of their most famous flavours with chocolate flakes and chocolate whipped cream too.
• L’incroyable – the cream in this little treat was supposed to be speculoos flavoured but sadly I could not taste it at all. It tasted mainly of the white chocolate flakes on its surface.
• L’impensable – this coffee flavoured confection was probably my favourite!
• L’Excentrique – this cherry flavoured one was Blai’s favourite. I would have like more fruity flavour but Blai loved that the meringue flavour came through best because of this reason.
• Le Magnifique – coated in delicious praline and this was the second favourite for both of us.

That day, there was also a caramel flavoured variety on offer. Ah, another one to sample next time!

I’ve only so far had a chance to try their smallest meringue confections (they come in a larger single serving size as well as big cakes) but what we had was delicious.

Aux Merveilleux de Fred
88 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LQ

They call it Blue Plate and they offer hot breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes there. My friend and I visited on a Sunday morning and grabbed two seats at the large communal table, the smaller tables were all already full. Their menu that day (I think it changes often) read like a dream – pancakes, grits, hash, hot meaty sandwiches. Diner food galore.

Johnnycakes with blueberries (£6.50 for a short stack – 2 pancakes) were thick, fluffy, cornmeal pancakes studded with lots of the purple fruit and served already drizzled with syrup. We, of course, needed more and helped ourselves to the little pitcher set out. As with all pancakes, they fill me up something ridiculous and I have no idea how anyone can put down more than two (and if you can, they sell stacks of 2, 3, or 4).

I can’t only have sweet for brunch or breakfast though – savoury is mandatory in my books. Cheesy grits with fried eggs and sausage (£9) immediately stood out on the menu to us and a bowl of the creamy, cheesy grits, studded with sausage bits and topped with fried eggs soon arrived at our table. And a biscuit! I think this was my first biscuit in London and it was a mighty fine one it was too. The grits went down a treat, especially with a bit of hot sauce. They’re creamy and comforting and about a million times better than a bowl of oatmeal.

Blai and I went back for brunch this morning. Blai was utterly rapturous about his cheesy grits and biscuit while I decided to try something else and went for the migas (£9.50), an excellent Tex-Mex mixture of scrambled eggs here with sausage, blue corn tortilla chips, onions, jalapenos and sour cream. There was also a good chunk of excellent cornbread.

The only thing missing there? Those bottomless cups of brewed coffee – they only sold Americanos here and only by the single cup (of course). There are freshly squeezed juices and smoothies and bottled American soft drinks also available.

They’re open 8am-6pm everyday and on Thursdays they stay open until 10pm. I’ll be back…often.

Outsider Tart
83 Chiswick High Road
London W4 2EF