I last posed about German Doner Kebab in September. I was in town today at the Weston Food Festival and I noted that it still wasn’t open.
Personally I think it’s never going to open
Illy Cortado
I had enjoyed the Capo Triestino I had had at the Illy Cafe up in Clifton. So on a recent visit to the area, I visited the Illy Cafe and this time I ordered a Cortado.
It probably wasn’t a Cortado, as this is a Spanish drink, and it wasn’t on the menu, when I looked. However the staff said they could make a Cortado. I took a seat and they brought the coffee over to my table.
It was a very nice coffee.
A disappointing chicken karaage
I was in London and looking for lunch, it was raining, so the Leather Lane street food market was struck off my list of possible places as I didn’t want to get too wet. In the end I went to K10 and looked over their menu of hot food.
I decided I would have the chicken karaage. Chicken karaage is inspired by Chinese fried chicken recipes, karaage is a delicious izakaya or bento box favourite, comprised of crunchy, deep fried pieces of marinated chicken.
My food arrived promptly and I took it back to the office.
The box was a bed of rice with chunks of deep fried chicken, chunks of cooked onion and pepper with spring onion and sliced chilli. This is then covered in a sticky sauce.
Alas, though I was looking forward to the dish, I was somewhat disappointed. The chicken was over-cooked and had dried out as a result of probably hanging around for a while.
The accompanying onions and pepper were better, though I think they should have been cut up into smaller pieces.
I also ordered a side dish of prawn katsu. What I got was panko prawns, on shredded cabbage and carrot, with a sweet chilli sauce.
Overall I was quite disappointed with the food and I think I would have preferred to have got wet and got much better food from Leather Lane.
Made some paella
I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.
I diced an onion and a pointed red pepper. In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off bacon lardons, and some diced chorizo. I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice.
To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.
This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.
I ensured that the rice was coated I added a splash of sherry. I then added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.
I added some more water as it cooked.
Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.
I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.
Breton Fish Stew
I was staying in Ealing and having been disappointed that Reineta was closed I went to Côte. Reality was I did walk around Ealing to see what else was there and looking at various menus. So, in the end I ended up at Côte.
I had the Crab Maison for my starter. I stayed with seafood and I had the Breton Fish Stew for my main course.
This is a traditional coastal stew from Brittany with mussels, prawns, squid, seabream, in a tomato, white wine and chilli sauce. It was served with some French baguette.
There was a lot of seafood in this dish, yes it was mainly mussels, and there was only a single piece of seabream. There were plenty of prawns and squid rings.
I enjoyed the sauce, it was though similar to a soup rather than a sauce. The seafood was cooked well and wasn’t overcooked, which I did think it might be.
The bread was two slices of sourdough baguette. I think I would have preferred a more traditional French flute type baguette over the sourdough slices.
I had wanted to try this dish for a while, and I enjoyed it. However it wasn’t amazing, so it probably wouldn’t be a dish I would order again.
To accompany my meal, rather than wine, I had a bottle of Meteor lager, which was crisp and refreshing.
Crab Maison
I was staying in Ealing and having been disappointed that Reineta was closed I went to Côte. Reality was I did walk around Ealing to see what else was there and looking at various menus. So, in the end I ended up at Côte.
I had seen the Crab Maison dish on the menu before, so was likely to be my first choice. I did consider the Steak Tartare, which was hand-cut raw beef, cornichons, mustard dressing, toasted sourdough baguette.
However I decided to go with the Crab Maison.
This was crab, avocado, cucumber, capers, shallots, mayonnaise, toasted sourdough baguette.
I thought the dish was beautifully presented, even if the crab was a little hidden away under the salad and sliced radish.
It was nice, but I was hoping for an intense crab flavour, which I felt was missing, and what crab there was, was overpowered by the mayonnaise. It was nice with the toasted sourdough baguette, which provided a nice crunchy texture to the dish.
I did enjoy the dish, but it probably isn’t something I would order again.
What do you mean it’s not open?
I was staying in London and thinking about going out to eat, I was reminded of a conversation with a colleague a few weeks back who had recommended Reineta in Dickens Yard in Ealing.
Reineta is a Spanish cafe and restaurant.I looked at the dinner menu on their website and the different tapas that were on offer.
I had already made my choice of tapas.
I liked the sound of the mushrooms casserole, made from wild mushrooms with shallots, parsley and mushroom cream and manchego cheese.
I also decided I would have the burned butternut squash with fresh cheese and black truffle.
I thought I would also have the mixed peppers, sliced potatoes and marinated octopus with “choricero” pepper.
You can imagine my disappointment when I went there to find it was in fact closed. It was only open for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I wasn’t in London on any of those days…
So no tapas for me.
Ramen
I made this homemade ramen.
For the base stock, I cheated slightly, and used a carton of Itsu ramen broth.
In the bowl I added some cooked rice noodles, pak choi, spinach leaves, baby corn, and some spring onion.
I used the itsu brillant broth which I heated up in a pan before filling the bowls.
After adding the broth I added a slice of slow cooked pork belly.
Beef Donburi
I was in Bristol and went out for a walk. It was quite cold, so I only made it a short walk. I did though make a trip to the Finzel Reach street food market. One of my favourite stalls was there, She Sells Sushi.
Virtually all the time I have food from She Sells Sushi, as I did on a recent visit, I have a bento box with the beef donburi and a hirata bao bun. This time, after promising myself every time on previous visits, I did have something different.
I had a bento box with crispy tofu in a Katsu sauce, along with a portion of beef donburi.
The beef donburi was slow cooked teriyaki beef rib on a bed of rice, topped with crispy onions and pickles.
This a street food dish I have had many times, as this was just as nice as I’ve had on previous visits. The beef was delicious and full of flavour. I also enjoyed the garnishes that enhanced the dish. Overall a really tasty dish.
Crispy Katsu Tofu
I was in Bristol and went out for a walk. It was quite cold, so I only made it a short walk. I did though make a trip to the Finzel Reach street food market. One of my favourite stalls was there, She Sells Sushi.
Virtually all the time I have food from She Sells Sushi, as I did on a recent visit, I have a bento box with the beef donburi and a hirata bao bun. This time, after promising myself every time on previous visits, I did have something different.
I had a bento box with crispy tofu in a Katsu sauce, along with a portion of beef donburi.
The tofu was served on a bed of rice with Katsu sauce, pickled carrot and crispy onions.
It was rather nice. I did enjoy the tofu, but felt that it could have been crispier. The sauce was tasty and I liked the carrot. Overall it was a good dish of food.