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Post by mich64 on Jul 28, 2021 23:10:35 GMT
We have been out once so far in 2021, for a brunch a few weeks ago. My breakfast meal (eggs/sausage/homefries and toast) was not the best, which is hard to do, but Mr. M.'s club sandwich and fries looked delicious. We have a wedding this weekend, the meal will be outside under a tent (hope the weather forecast holds!) where up to 100 people are allowed to gather under current rules. The meal is being catered by one of the restaurants owned by my friend. We look forward to going but also nervous as I have not been doing well in crowds as of late.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 29, 2021 2:23:20 GMT
Gosh, Cheery ~ over a year without getting to eat out. I'm glad you all persevered & it's sounds like a fun time. Mich, the wedding sounds lovely. Maybe you can arrange beforehand to be seated somewhere over to the edge of the tent where you won't feel hemmed in and can observe the festivities without feeling overwhelmed. Hope the weather holds and that you have a really nice time. A lovely friend took me out today. We chose a place neither of us had ever been & it turned out to be the perfect choice. It's upstairs over the main square & has four huge windows open over the square. We got a table in one of them & it was the loveliest sensation of being right up in the trees. I started with a salad of mixed greens surrounding a very generous pile of diced cured salmon, all of it enhanced with gorgonzola and some avocado. My companion had shrimp ajillo, which was beautifully presented in a hot ramekin on a plate with rice, a little salad of lettuce and onion. My main dish was chiles stuffed with crab and my companion had salmon and steamed vegetables. We each had the house wine, mine a very subdued red and his a rather flinty white. We had quite good coffee afterward before finally deciding to ignore common sense and order cheesecake, which was rich and authentic -- something not often found here. I had to take part of mine home because good grief, it was all a lot of food, even though delicious. One of the reasons I liked the place is because it has that old-fashioned "brown" restaurant feeling to it -- dark woods but not gloomy, with a long mirror on one wall and the wonderful windows letting light flow in. www.tripadvisor.co.za/ShowUserReviews-g150801-d5612563-r686119153-Tr3s_3istro_Restaurant_Oyster_Bar-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
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Post by lagatta on Jul 29, 2021 15:30:25 GMT
Bixa's meal sounds lovely, but the one I most crave is Whatagain's. We have fine mussels here and other interesting marine creatures; the sticky point it the Belgian frites. Our frites/fries/chips etc are rarely as good, or as crisp, though we certainly have decent potatoes.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 29, 2021 15:37:01 GMT
Very few cultures know about "double frying." I was always fascinated to watch my grandmother make frites, how she knew exactly when to remove the batch from the preliminary frying and then she would just look at the oil heating up again to know when to plunge them for the final fry.
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Post by bjd on Jul 29, 2021 15:51:45 GMT
Yes, I learned to double fry in France and remember some Americans who had come for a meal being surprised by it.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 29, 2021 22:46:50 GMT
Odd, I also learnt to double fry, and it was simply normal. I don't feel quite ready to resume it now, and miss proper frites and banh mi.
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Post by mich64 on Jul 30, 2021 0:34:47 GMT
My mother-in-law taught me to double fry. I probably went through at least 4 deep fryers through the early years of our marriage, making fries probably 4 times per week. I no longer own one. We rarely have fries these days, when we do I keep a bag of frozen fries and put them in the oven with a spray of olive oil and shake of seasoned salt. Not nearly as good as the double fried I used to do.
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Post by bjd on Jul 30, 2021 6:37:12 GMT
I don't have a fryer either. It was such a pain to clean that basket. But I do make oven fries, using fresh potatoes. A bit longer than store-bought frozen ones, but at least I know what I'm getting: a bit of olive oil, salt and a sprinkle of paprika for colour.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 30, 2021 11:51:35 GMT
I got rid of my inherited cast iron fryer when I bought a Moulinex electric fryer, but that was a pain to clean, too. Nevertheless, I almost always make only fresh fries now and can't stand the frozen ones, including McDonald's and the other fast food chains. At least the kebab places make fresh fries in Paris.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 8, 2021 21:15:25 GMT
I discovered Batifol (from the verb batifoler, to go from one to the other, without weighing the consequences), in front of Gare de l'Est, Paris. Excellent price quality ratio : it is good, quite good actually, and cheap, quite cheap. Thanks to my friend who brought me there.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 5, 2021 16:00:03 GMT
Oops. Lots of water passed under the bridge here. (Do you use this idiom in English ?).
So i have been to some restaurants... Some i remember :
- in Tampere, Finland : fantastic pork and great vodka. - in Milano, a great tyrol restaurant, had a fantastic gulash. - in Paris we had a glorious fondue - in Belgium, we had a disappointing gourmet one and a good meal at a regular. - in Cavalaire 2 days ago a spectacular choucroute de la mer at Dolce Mare - in Venice we had a top meal in le bistrot de Venise, where they speak french too. - i had a very nice indian (adapted to european tastes) in Waterloo with one daughter. - a good one with another daughter, but where and what ? - some junk food along the highway...
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 5, 2021 17:01:25 GMT
I'm pretty sure that the number of your restaurant meals tops all of the rest of us combined. I'm rather jealous.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 5, 2021 21:23:57 GMT
- in Venice we had a top meal in le bistrot de Venise, where they speak french too. As well they should. Never eat in a French/Italian/Thai/Mexican... well you get the idea... restaurant where the language associated with the cuisine advertised isn't spoken. It won't be correct and is likely to be awful. edit to add: I think this mostly explains why US "Italian" restaurants are so frequently both inauthentic and awful. In the Jurassic Era when I was young, every big US city had a Little Italy where authentic Italian food could be got and where Italian could be heard spoken on the street everywhere. All of those are gone now, the immigrants have assimilated and lost most or all of their Italian language.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 5, 2021 21:58:30 GMT
As well they should. Never eat in a French/Italian/Thai/Mexican... well you get the idea... restaurant where the language associated with the cuisine advertised isn't spoken. The best Mexican meal I ever ate was in a restaurant in Bali with only Indonesians working there. (exception that proves the rule?) I confess that the totally excellent wine was from Australia of course.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 5, 2021 23:49:07 GMT
I'm pretty sure that the number of your restaurant meals tops all of the rest of us combined. I'm rather jealous. Between half and 2/3rd of my restaurants are on expenses, it helps... But i am never at home. For ghe moment i spend 3 nights out. It is way too much.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 13, 2021 17:01:36 GMT
I had lunch with two friends at my local covered market, the sort of place to which I would never go spontaneously just because it is so close to home. And it was actually chosen because we had a dog with us, which limits the possibilities. Anyway, it was a tiny Thai food stand with a few tables (they still checked our health passes). Our meal was remarkably fresh, as evidenced by the fact that it took them a certain amount of time to prepare it in front of us. Just 11 euros each for the meal (main dish + dessert). If I had to nitpick it would be that everything was spiced town to French tastes. If I had been alone, I probably could have obtained the properly spiced version.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 13, 2021 20:31:30 GMT
I had lunch today at an excellent little restaurant here in Anghiari run by two refugee sisters from North Korea(!) who mostly do a very Italian menu with a few interesting twists. After eating crap airport/airline food I was ready for a nice salad so I had their insalata nizzarda which was *exactly* what I craved. After lunch, I walked into the main piazza to get a newspaper and see what had changed in the two years I'd been away (pretty much zero, as I expected) and see if I might bump into anyone I know. Well as I was walking by my favorite bar/pizzeria on the piazza I heard my name and looking up saw Maurizio, the owner/pizzaiolo and after pleasantries promised him I'd be back soon to have my usual Napoli coll'aglio. It almost felt like I'd cheated on him by going to the other place, but I'll be back for my pizza, as promised, soon, maybe even tomorrow. I'll never understand how a town of only ~5000 people can have such a bounty of good places to eat but rather than understand I'll just enjoy the bounty.
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Post by bjd on Nov 14, 2021 7:24:51 GMT
North Korean refugees in a small town in Italy??! Obviously there long enough to have learned to cook Italian. Nice to be in a place where you feel at home.
I had some Thai take-out the other day in Bayonne: bo bun. Obviously freshly made because I had to wait while they finished preparing it, as well as popular given the number of us hanging around outside waiting for our food.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 27, 2021 10:48:40 GMT
I had 2 good restaurants yesterday.🍽🍽
Both to places i didn't want to go to. First was Chez Georges, an old charmless 🏚building along a main road. Been along that road hundreds of times and often said 'don't look good, i think I'll never go'. Inside it was surprisingly nice, with a big grill.🔥 I had a 1 kgm t-bone 🥩🥩🥩to share with a friend. Fantastic. Fries ok, salad inexistant. Took back the bone for the dog,🐕 she loves me.
In the evening Mrs Whatagain invited us to a place we said we would not be back to. Le petit fils. They changed their menu and do now tapas like small plates. I had a fantastic half lobster 🦞and then way too small mussels. But having had 450 g of meat at lunch i was ok. My wife and daughter took another plate: the lobster🦞🦞 i insisted they must taste. With wine by the glass 🍷🍾🍸so well adapted to the meal. Very nice. Not cheap but not as expensive one might think by reading it 🍽🙂🍴🥂
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Post by whatagain on Dec 22, 2021 10:37:45 GMT
Ok so i had a few restaurants, one that i liked a lot in Milano, pizzeria bloddy good. One in Bordeaux, a wok, quite correct. A superb salad in Bordeaux in an old church now a cinema !
Then one with my daughters close to home, a thai we appreciate. The waiter is romanian...
Yesterday at walking distance from home we had a good italian. A fantastic carpaccio with truffles followed by 2 good large scampis butvthe great meal was the steak with gorgo zoka from daughter. A tiramisu della casa with a grappa to finish. All that with a primitivo but a bit too fruity for me. Great meal, great evening.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 11, 2022 5:30:45 GMT
I had a carpaccio von rind then a pikantes gulash in the house of Mozart, Vienna.
And a Cola leicht = coca light = diet coke. (Funny how many different ways !).
Very good. Apparently Mozart's house was quite big. A part is now a museum, a part is a hotel and the last part is a restaurant.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 11, 2022 18:18:13 GMT
Who knew that Mozart could also cook?! A prodigy, indeed.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 11, 2022 19:06:20 GMT
I almost decided to go out for mussels for lunch (it's the perfect season) but then I just went home and ate leftovers.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 11, 2022 21:22:57 GMT
I went to a syrian restaurant tonite. Not bad. Not great. More on the side of comfort food but with flavours we know less. The tea was outstanding though. Tomorrow will be junk airport food, made worse by Covid : 75pc of the so called restaurant are closed. No clients.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 11, 2022 22:02:42 GMT
Years ago I discovered that there are 7-11s (a brand of convenience store) in Mexico City airport. This means I can get a pre-made sandwich, or a fruit cup (ditto), and acceptable coffee for an economical price & take it to eat at the nearby tables. It's not high-class dining, but it fills the bill when you're eating just because you have to. I also discovered that Wings, which has several locations in that airport, will let you buy a token amount of their indifferent food and allow you to occupy/snooze in one of their booths for ages without ordering anything else if it's an odd hour.
I have spent many, many hours in that airport.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 12, 2022 20:18:42 GMT
When my family moved to California, I thought that 7-11 was a local chain and only discovered later that it is a Japanese chain. In later years, I learned to count on it throughout Southeast Asia. They are famous everywhere for convenience meals and their rating is not shabby.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 12, 2022 22:10:52 GMT
When my family moved to California, I thought that 7-11 was a local chain and only discovered later that it is a Japanese chain. In later years, I learned to count on it throughout Southeast Asia. They are famous everywhere for convenience meals and their rating is not shabby. No, 7-11 began in the US, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven
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Post by lagatta on Jan 13, 2022 0:43:04 GMT
Thanks, fumobici, I remember them if we crossed the border. In eastern Ontario at least, those things were called milk shops or stores, and didn't have such long hours, and here in Québec we had dépanneurs, some of which became major chains:
7-Eleven is similarly absent from the Quebec market due to its saturation by chains like Alimentation Couche-Tard and Boni-soir, and by independent dépanneurs. (wikipedia)
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 13, 2022 1:27:47 GMT
Japanese! This is where I had lunch today: www.instagram.com/tacoyakisachiiita/Pleasant, very plain place, although right on a busy road. It was noisy because of that & also because of the world's cutest but also loudest little girl who is part of the family that runs it. I enjoyed what I had, but my companion, who is not only from California but also spent 18 years in Bali, was slightly disappointed. He did agree that I chose slight better than he (I had that pink sushi thing + a gyobi soup), but I felt badly for him as he was so ready for the real thing of Japanese food. We both succumbed to a matcha cake slice (very much like cheesecake) topped with a small ball of black sesame ice cream at the end.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 13, 2022 5:06:03 GMT
Yes, butit has been Japanese for decades and is much huger in Asia than in the United States.
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