Tapas'd up at Barrafina

If you like the idea of a tapas bar serving fresh sea food, chances are that you will like Barrafina. This small L shaped bar opened in 2007 and judging by the queue outside its door, its pretty popular. The interior is quite compact, with stools dotted along the bar and the chefs cooking away in front of you. As there is no reservation you have to be prepared to wait, we ordered glasses of white wine, olives and  bread and deliberated on the specials.

I decided on the Carabinero and some Padro Peppers, the hubby went for the Octopus and Milk Fed Lamb from the regular menu.

Both the Octopus and the Lamb were quite good (I had a taste of both) but it wasn't as good as my Carabinero, I mean look at that big fat shrimp in all its red glory: cue picture of very happy me.

Of course while all this eating was taking place, I saw the person next to me order a Tuna Tartar. Just looking at it made me want to try it, but too late, the tuna's finished. But at that point I saw someone loading fresh lobsters onto the ice tray and I went for that instead. And it was a treat.

Nice and juicy with a light salad, the lobster was the star for me. Besides all the food and wine, the bar is also a great spot to people watch. You see a good mix of people and the atmosphere is buzzing. Watching the chefs get on with their food preparations is fascinating, sort of like a live cooking show.

We ended our meal with a much needed coffee and two Crema Catalans, caramelised on the outside and creamy on the inside.

If you are in and around London this summer, pop over for a visit. I visited the Frith Street one but there is a new Barrafina in Covent Garden too.

Lunch at Flesh & Buns, London

Since I have already written about Bone Daddies, let me now show you around its sister concern Flesh and Buns. If I have to choose from either of these two places, I would definitely go for Flesh & Buns. The place is bigger and brighter, the foods great and made in front of you (its an open kitchen) and you have a variety of seating options: sharing tables, booths and round tables if you go with your friends and family. Its also located near a very cute pet store which houses loads of interesting stuff, sort of Korean fashion for man's best friend. I bought a faux fur pink jacket for Lilly and she was quite a fashionista in our nook of the woods last winter. Anyways back to Flesh & Buns, here's what it looks like:

And here's the menu, lots of options for everyone. The drinks here were better than Bone Daddies or maybe my selection was better. Who knows but this meal was a success.

And one more thing, this place has interesting anime wall paper in the loo, so basically you have something to read while you pee or do the number two. I actually have an uncle who always checks the loo before ordering food in a restaurant, this would have been a good fit for him. When we went in the place was quite empty but slowly it filled up, a good mix of families, groups of friends and city types. So now to the business of food, we ordered a plate of sashimi and a whole load of sticky pork belly and fried sole as our mains.

 
The sashimi was good, the fried sole was better, perfectly crispy and great with a spritz of lemon on top. But the pork, aah it was heaven. I always have a soft spot for pork and this was awesome, sticky, slightly sweet with light fluffy buns to sandwich them in. The buns reminded me of the thukpas at Tee Dee, Majnu ka Tila in Delhi.

It does require a bit of an assembly job, but the end result is pretty awesome, so no complaints. Flesh & Buns do dessert as well but we were pretty stuffed by the end of the meal. No complaints though.

Ramen at Bone Daddies

This year has been a bit quiet on the travel front but I thought I would post a few pics from some of my previous outings. First up is Bone Daddies in Soho. My first impression is that this is a nice place to go during winters, mainly because of the seating arrangements, bar stools across the window and sharing tables for big crowds. On a hot summer night this would not be my first choice, but on a cold winters day, with reindeer noses and puffs of steam coming out of your mouth, it is your own cozy nook to enjoy a bit of good food. By the way, from the looks of it, this place is always crowded, and of course no reservation unless there is a big group. So hope for the best and be prepared to wait a bit. And dress casual, and girls, please no sack sized bags. Its pretty annoying when you have to share your teeny tiny table space with a big designer bag of the person seating next to you. or better still, invest in a handbag hanger, that way everyone's happy.

Back to food, we were pretty hungry and thirsty when we came in so we went for soft shell crabs and fried chicken.

Went for a round of cocktails which were passable. But the mains more than made up for any disappointment in the drinks department.

What I liked about the food at Bone Daddies were that broths were hearty and flavoursome and not some insipid liquid with strips of meat and noodles floating around. This was broth with heart, enough flavours to pack a punch and very very filling. A perfect bowl of satisfaction on a cold winter's night. 

Tray baked triple cheese toast : perfect for brunch

In my book cheese is always good, for tea as well as breakfast and brunch. Continuing from my last post, let me tell you about one of my favourite brunch food. The genesis of this recipe is part Nigella Lawson's triple cheese strata and part my need to create tasty dishes using the supermarkets marked down buys, which means stale baguettes and cheese thats at its end by date. This is a very flexible recipe, so feel free to adapt it to your own liking. The following quantities makes very generous portions for two people.

Ingredients

1 onion (Nigella's recipe uses spring onions, I use whatever is available, which more often than not, a red onion)

1 baguette

Choice of cheese (Mature cheddar is a staple, the rest depends on what I buy)

Sour cream (two generous dollops)

3 eggs 

Coriander (for garnish)

Method

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius. 

First I melt my cheese over medium heat. Once the cheese has melted, I take it off the gas. If I am using mozzarella, I just cut it into bite size chunks and add it to the hot cheese, it will melt anyway once in the oven. Nigella blitzes all of this in a food processor, I tried that a couple of time, but find melting the cheese works more for me. I then whisk up three eggs, add pepper, a bit of cumin powder, and a bit of sea salt (the salt quantity depends upon the kind of cheese used. Sometimes I skip this step altogether).

I then cut up the stale, slightly hard bread into medium sized round slices and arrange it in a baking tray like so. And sprinkle finely chopped onions or spring onions over it. 

Next, I add the sour cream and egg mixture to the melted cheese which should have cooled down by now. 

And then I pour the liquid over the bread and pop it into the oven for about 25 mins. I add a bit of coriander on top for a fresh hit and there, its done. 

This dish is easy to make but is a real treat. Its part toast, part cheese omelette in the best possible way. The original recipe is assembled overnight and kept in the fridge, I prefer mine this way as the bread  gives a very satisfying crunch. And it really works well as a lazy brunch, as you can see from the empty  tray. 

Comfort Food - Tenga Dal

UK should definitely register its Winter Flu as a certifiable weapon of mass suffering. Every year, come September, there is a deluge of cold and flu sufferer sniffling and sneezing their way through life. I myself have suffered through a particularly bad one last year which lasted for 18 miserable days. Apparently there was a bad viral strain doing the rounds last year. This year, it was my husband's turn to  suffer, and when you are sick, your taste buds off, nothing feels better than some good old comfort food. Comfort food by definition is a bit tricky, it depends on geography, family traditions and most importantly, taste buds. For example, my grandmother's roast chicken is the ultimate comfort food for me. An awesome dish, but a bit tricky to make when you have a fever. So since last year, I have been making my own comfort foods, borrowed heavily from my grandmother's cooking. A taste of the home but with no fuss.

First up is the Tenga mogul dal, or lentil soup. Nothing else will do for me when I have a running cold. Like all comfort food, this one too has a story. In Assam, lemon or lime also known as Kaji Nemu is an essential part of your lunch or dinner experience. The Kaji Nemu especially has a most aromatic smell and for me it is the most exotic accompaniment to any dish. When I was a child, this was often made at home with the fruit and the leaves used from our own lime tree in the back yard. I have since jazzed it up a bit for a bit more grown up version. Depending on your larder, this will either be kitchen essentials or something warranting a special shopping trip. For me its the former, so its an easy dish to cook.


What you will need

1 cup dal (you can use mogu or mosur)
A slice of lemon
1 stalk of lemon grass
A couple of frozen lime leaves (I get this from a local Chinese store, its not Kaffir leaves, just regular lime leaves. Although you can use Kaffir leaves as well)
Green papaya (optional)
1and 1/2 teaspoon regular cooking oil
Panch phuran or kalonji (optional)
Garlic

I rinse the lentils once and put it in a pan with 2 cups of water, papaya and lemon, lime leaves and lemon grass (also sliced into 1 inch pieces). I put this on medium heat, lid on for about 20 minutes. If you are worried about the water boiling over then partially cover the pan. After 20 mins, the lentils should be soft enough. Give the whole thing a good stir. This ensures that all the flavours get meshed in well.

If you want, you can fish out the lemon now and add a little water if you prefer a more soupy texture. The magic ingredient is actually the lime leaves, the moment you add this, this dal becomes a show stopper.

At this point I generally decant the cooked lentils into a bowl and in the same pan add the oil and panch phuran or nigella seeds and garlic. Once the seeds start popping, I add the lentils back in and season with salt as per taste. And your dish is ready. For me, the lemon and lime combo is a bit of heaven when I am down in the dumps.

Joe's Stone Crab, Miami

There's some sense in shunning touristy eating joints and gunning for a local gastronomical meccas when you are holidaying, but when a restaurant becomes an institution, you just have to go, touristy or not. And that was the case with us when we went to Joe's Stone Crab in Miami. Now this is a place notorious for not taking reservation, but, it is still jam packed with people patiently waiting for their turn to eat the famous stone crabs. A word of warning, dress up, really. I went there after a day on the beach and an afternoon hauling faux Cuban cigars (America has a trade ban with Cuba, hence all Cuban cigars are not made in Cuba but in-store factories in little Havana). So when we landed up at Joe's, the hubby was in wrinkled cotton shirt and shorts and I was in a sun dress circa 2008 and rubber flip-flops. And we were surrounded by a Pucci-Cavalli mass. And there's a difference when Europeans do designer beachwear, the vibe is more casual and boho-luxe. But the Americans, boy when they play dress up, its the every piece of hair in place kind. It's very disconcerting. I took comfort from the only thing I had going, a hot pink-red lip courtesy Georgio Armani Lip Maestro, this is something that every lip girl should try, the texture and lasting quality is amazing. And the fact that I still fitted into a dress bought five years ago.  

Back to the restaurant, our wait time was somewhere around 30 minutes, pretty reasonable for a weekend I think. We we were ushered into the bar area, which was jam packed with fellow would be diners. We somehow managed to order our cocktails and squeeze into a corner and people watch. The hubby was a bit bemused by my fashion policing, especially my reaction to a pair of Louboutins on the spindliest legs and the knobbiest knees possible. Seriously ladies, baggy knees don't do a Léger dress credit. The cocktails were okay, I had better ones out on the Miami street, but the stone crabs, ah they were the jam. I didn't fill up on breads and starters which was just as well because the stone crabs are huge. We weren't very clear about the helping and ended up ordering for four people, but, nothing was wasted, trust me. One of the most helpful trick when you over order is to take some time out in between, sit, relax, sip your wine, and then, go for round two or three, as may be the case. 

For me, this was a stand out meal and I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area. Just make sure that the restaurant is open. Stone crab harvesting is legal only from the 15th of October to the 15th of May. And please dress up, not in a bandage dress, you are going there to eat, but in something that allows you to tuck in well. 

Where to eat: Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Ybor City

Do you watch cooking shows, I do. The Nigellas, Steins, Jamies and Blancs make regular appearances in my living room and both me and Captain ogle at the food cooked to perfection on screen. But one of my favourite show is the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives hosted by Guy Fieri. I love American food in all its excess, lots of flavour, no delicate knife-fork handling and huge portion servings. So while we were in Florida, we made a trip to Ybor. Actually what we had was a sort of comfortable road trip crisscrossing Florida. And while we were in Ybor, we made a trip to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company for a long and lazy brunch.

As the name suggests, Tampa Bay Brewing Company is actually a microbrewery. I remain loyal to my Desperadoes, so for me, more than the beer it was the food. Oh the food. To be honest, we ordered more than we could eat, but no complaints. In the DDD show, Tampa Bay's chef Ryan Kelly spoke of his cooking as "comfort food with a gourmet touch" and really there is no better way to describe it. For starters, we ordered the Cider Wings with blue cheese sauce. The chicken is tangy because of the cider but the sauce balances it out with its creamy sweetness.

 For my mains I went in for the Wild Warthog Thai Style Spicy Curry Mussels served over udon noodles. And boy was it good. Till date, its been the best mussels dish ever.

I forgot what the hubby order, either the Onion Porter Pork Chop or the New York Strip Steak, my guess is that its the steak.

My only meh was the dessert, I ordered the Cherry bread pudding which I had to get packed. the pudding was nice but I have had better desserts so that's not making it into my list.

If you are visiting that part of the world, haul yourself to Tampa Bay Brewing Company and order the mussels. And yes, you are welcome.

Where to eat - Burger & Lobster London

Going by the number of tweets and instagrams, I can safely say that Burger and Lobster has become a London institution. Concept wise its pretty neat, serve only burgers and lobsters with chips and garlic butter sauce, add a good mix of cocktails/beers/wine, and you will be guaranteed to never find an empty seat in the restaurant. Everything is for £20 (with sides) so price wise its a bargain in London. They don't take table reservation unless its a party of 6 or more so the wait line is huge. My suggestion is that you pop in before the rush hour, around 5-5.30ish in the evening, grab a drink and enjoy your meal in peace. Location wise, B&L have four branches, Soho, Mayfair, Farringdon and the City. I went to the Soho one and here's what I ordered.

I went for the Lobster instead of the burger and it came with chips, salad and garlic butter sauce. You need to get a bit grubby with your hands while eating this so don't be shy. I had a trendy Topshopy set on one side and a YSL and Chanel flag bearer on the other, and trust me, they were all getting down and dirty with their meal. So bib on and attack. 

Just a word of warning, this is not a place for vegetarians unless you are happy with chips and salads. Another thing I really liked about this place was that they never hurried us, even when there was a huge waiting line outside. Burger & Lobster is a lively place where you can catch up with friends or just unwind after a long London day. If you are visiting London or planning to, pop in for a meal. You won't be disappointed.   

Tapas @ Covent Garden

For me, a brunch is something to be shared. If I am eating alone I always end up ordering more than I can eat. And because I don't want to walk around carrying food all day, I end up stuffing myself and feel completely bloated. Thats why I love a tapas bar. And the Pix Bar wins it for me in terms of choice and price. I have only been to their Covent Garden branch which is quite cozy and on Neal Street which I love.

How it works is that you grab a plate, choose your nibbles with their sticks and head to the den. You will be given a glass jar to collect all your sticks. At the end of your meal the tab is counted against the sticks, small ones cost £1.95, the longer ones are priced at £2.95. Cocktails and drinks are to be ordered separately. I went for a watermelon martini and happily hogged away for the better part of an hour. Felt like a proper feast without the bloated feeling.

Tapas choices

Chocolate Mousse

Churros with Chocolate

I chose this

Plates get empty fast

Bacon & quails egg, stuffed pepper, summer fruits chantilly

Goats cheese and fig in the middle

Watermelon martini