Spicy hot chocolate

One bar in Rome offers this brand of hot chocolate with 12 different tastes. I tried the spicy hot chocolate. It was very creamy but not spicy at all. Maybe spicy in Italian means different than what I used to.

Mirto Drink

I saw these berries in the countryside of Rome and later found out what is it.

“Mirto is a liqueur popular in Sardinia and in Corsica, obtained from the myrtle plant through the alcoholic maceration of the berries or a compound of berries and leaves. Myrtle grows freely in Sardinia.

Mirto rosso (red) is made with the berries and is sweet.
Mirto bianco (white) is made from the leaves.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirto_(drink)

Parmesan cheese with truffle honey

I tried it for the first time in Rome and I love it!!
Parmesan cheese with truffle flavored honey, simple but delicious! I have never thought about eating cheese with honey!

Medlar fruit

I saw these weird fruit in Brussels and bought 2 of them. But they were hard so I carried them for a few days till they got soften. I ate them like a fruit. They are dry but very sweet, perfect for making jams. In Amsterdam, I also saw a Medlar tree in someone’s backyard.

“Medlar fruit are very hard and acidic. They become edible after being softened ("bletted") by frost, or naturally in storage given sufficient time. Once softening begins, the skin rapidly takes a wrinkled texture and turns dark brown, and the inside reduces to a consistency and flavour reminiscent of apple sauce. They can then be eaten raw, often consumed with cheese as a dessert, although they are also used to make medlar jelly and wine."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespilus

Chicken with mixed nuts

What a pleasure when a guy cooks for me!
My Italian friend Roberto in Athen is a talented translator and great creative cook! He picked some existing ingredients at home and created this wonderful dish: chicken with mixed nuts. We enjoyed it with some salad on the sunny warm balcony, accompanied with Italian conversation in Athen! What an experience!

Salmon with red current cream sauce

I met Christophe (From Paris) through another friend. He happened to be on his holiday in Brussels, just like me. And he decided to create an interesting dish for me. Not only he knows everything about wine but also very creative when comes to cooking.

One pot with mushroom slowly shimmered down while the other side red current is melting with the fresh crème. I love the red current sauce: creamy, sweet and sour. Very interesting combination with the salmon!


On the side, a mix green salad with plum and cashew nuts. That is our luxurious holiday lunch!

Cow udders - Viva M’Boma

Viva M’Boma restaurant in Brussels is reviewed everywhere on Internet. It is true that they offers many “weird” dishes, such as: veal kidney, tripe, balls, pig feet, cow udders, etc. If you are looking for some exciting dishes, that is the place to go!

http://www.sensum.be/en/resto/show/viva-m-boma?Brussels


For starter, I ordered cow udders and really didn’t know what to expect. The udders came in 3 different forms: Pâté, thin slice and deep-fried. Everything taste just like normal meat. If they don’t tell you that were cow udders, you won’t even notice. Did we really pay 15 Euros for the cow udders?


For the main course, we had pot au feu (a French beef stew) and horse steak. The horse steak is the most tender I ever had. Same as the pot au feu, so flavorful! The bone marrow was heavenly rich and smooth, melt in your mouth!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-au-feu

Deep-Fried stuff in Brussels

A friend brought me to a night food booth for my first night in Brussels. He said that is local special: deep-fried sausage. I am not very convinced. But there were many locals waiting in the line to order some fried meat and French fries. For me it was interesting to see the place, but the food was not so good.

Rabbit in Brussels

I had a rabbit dinner at a high-ceiling bar-restaurant in center of Brussels. The rabbit is cooked very tender.

Marine Snail soup in Brussels

Near a Sunday flea market, I saw an old lady selling marine snail soup in a huge pot. The snails have been simmering just below boiling point for hours. They are a bit chewy with a lot of sea flavor. The broth is for sure a winner! Not only full of the snail sea flavor, but also a bit sweet and spicy. I would drink it everyday!

The vendor told me the receipt is a family secret. Basically it's the broth in which the whelks were prepared with lots of celery and a generous amount of onion and pili pili (hot chili sauce), bay leaf and thyme, etc. But it is true recipes vary with each vendor. White wine is optional.

Neuhaus - Gourmet Belgian chocolates

Gourmet Belgian chocolates: Neuhaus
You could buy it online, why wait?
http://www.neuhaus-online-store.com/index_en.htm

Brussels seafood restaurant streets

In Brussels’ center, there are many streets full of seafood restaurant. As a tourist, you can’t miss it. But also locals go there to dinner, because the high quality of the seafood. Pictures are more than thousands of words! How could you not being tempted by the waves of fresh seafood display?



I also saw a small white rabbit there with some black fur around the eye. Very cute! I do not think they would cook it, but don’t know why it is there? To attract more passing-bys?

Shit Coffee: Kopi Luwak

The world most expensive coffee is from the shit of Asian Palm Civet (a cat-sized mammal). The coffee is called: Kopi Luwak. In Brussels, a small cup of that coffee cost 9 Euros. Does it really worth it? Any coffee lovers should let me know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

“Kopi Luwak (pronounced [ˈkopi 'luak]) or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets.”

Natural is a wonder!

Desserts in Brussels

looks pretty! but i didn't eat any. I love the artful pastry!

Cheese Salad - Crottin de Chavignol (Brussels)

A perfect flavorful balanced lunch salad with raisins, nuts and cheese: Crottin de Chavignol. I am starting to love the cheese!

“Crottin de Chavignol is the most famous goat cheese of the many varieties produced in the Loire Valley. This cheese is the claim to fame for the village of Chavignol, France, which has only two hundred inhabitants.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crottin_de_Chavignol



And I like their mineral water bottle design.

Chicken in peanut sauce

There is always a risk to try restaurant randomly especially on holidays. I knew nothing about this African restaurant in Brussels’ African neighborhood, neither did my friend. I ordered chicken in peanut sauce (5 Euros). The peanut sauce is too creamy and heavy. I took them almost an hour to bring me this simple dish!

Tripe, Beef, Fish Tapas in Toledo

I randomly went into a bar-restaurant in the center of Toledo (a small town in Spain). It was almost empty besides few coffee drinkers because it was only noon. No one eat lunch that early in Spain! But I don’t care, I was hungry!

The waiter didn’t speak a word of English and there were nobody to help out. I can only point through the glass window to order food. It was hard to know what exactly I ordered.

The dish on the left is stewed beef with peas. Really tough meat!
On the right is a chunk of sea fish with roasted tomato as topping. The fish texture is dry and old. I only had one bite, what a terrible dish! What kind of fish is it?



The only dish I liked is the tripe, which is slow cooked in tomato sauce. Can’t go wrong with that! Really tender and flavorful.

Editable church

You can eat every piece of that church. Impressive work!

Snake and Sword pastry in Toledo

The pastries in snake and sword form can be seen everywhere in Toledo’s bakery. Quite interesting fit with medieval knights and armor souvenir stores.

Bakery in Toledo - 1

The bakeries in Toledo.

Toledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Spain

Sudestada Restaurant - Fine Asian Cuisine

Located at Modesto Lafuente, 64 / Madrid, Sudestada is a minimalistic decorated fine Asian restaurant. Every dish is prepared with interesting Asian ingredients and various fusion spices. From grilled meat to stir-fry, each dish is a present treat. I am surprised to see pig ear salad on the menu. As Chinese, I eat them all the time, but it may be a bit weird for other culture. The crunchy cold cuts of pig ears fits well with fresh salad.
Generally speaking, fine Asian food is more expensive in Europe. The average price is 30 Euros/person.

Student chefs - Public Restaurant

In Madrid, a friend told me that the restaurant Public serves very good food with economic price because the chefs are students from the cooking school. What a great idea! They could get hands-on experience in real restaurant kitchen and we could enjoy a nicely prepared dinner.

http://www.restaurantpublic.com/

For starter I had shrimp ravioli. For second plate I had beef cheek with mashed potato. Both dish are beautifully prepared and quite tasty. The most interesting thing I had is the dessert: Ice-cream in mojito with jelly cubes. It didn’t have alcohol taste. Instead, very refreshing and light dessert. Love it!

Vegetarian in Madrid

After eating many days of meat and seafood, I am so happy that a friend took me to a vegetarian restaurant. It is close to the city center metro stop SOL.
http://www.yerbabuena.ws/

I like the interesting combination of fresh ingredients and their presentation. I had wheat tortilla cannelon (pic left down): mushroom, zucchini, asparagus, spinach, broccoli and touch of curry over oregano-seasoned tomato sauce wrapped in a rice & poppy seed tempura with a coating of coconut and seeds sauces. It is delicious and it is vegan!

For dessert I had Crema Catalana (Spanish version of Crème brûlée”): a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. It is a bit too creamy for me. But since I had a healthy lunch, it is ok to indulge a bit. Not sure it is vegan.

Chickpea stew at LABOLA- Cocido madrileño

Many say you have to try Cocido madrileño before leaving Madrid. It is a traditional chickpea-based hearty stew with vegetables, potatoes and meat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocido_madrile%C3%B1o

Many restaurants serve it during winter season. I went to La Bola (http://www.labola.es) on my last day lunch (for dinner is always packed, so have to make reservation first). Even for lunchtime (around 2-3pm), the place is packed with people at a Tuesday afternoon. How many hours do Spanish have for lunch break?

The waiter comes with a plate of thin noodles and a small brown pot. He poured the soup from the top onto the noodles. That is how you eat it. The noodles are very fine and soft. The soup is simply full of meaty flavor. After finishing that, the secret from the pot is revealed: chickpea, meat and potatoes. The waiter then added more cabbage. How could I describe the divine taste of slow-cooked meat stew flavor to you?
Try it yourself when in Madrid!

Squid stew in Black ink

In Barcelona I tried rice with squid ink. This time in Madrid, I ordered squid stew in its own black ink. The squid are very tender with the savory fishy ink sauce. If you don’t like eating fish, do not order it! My friend had deep fried fresh anchovies. For veggies, we had spinach with garlic and mixed veggie. Everything is very savory and big portion with economic price. For dessert I had traditional Spanish rice pudding (Arroz con leche) with cinnamon. It is lighter than I thought.

Fried Lamb Intestines

After one day at Reina Sofia museum, I went to a food court just one block from the museum, right across the train station. That place claimed that they have the best-fried calamari in Madrid (advertised on their signage). In Madrid people put fried calamari with a sandwich bun. At lunchtime, the place is full of people.

I wanted to try something new, so I pointed a picture and had no idea what I ordered. It looks like chicken, later I founded out it is zarajos: a very typical traditional of Basin (Spain) prepared based on intestines of young lamb marinated that later are rolled up in a vine and themselves fried in olive oil or they are roasted in an oven until they remain golden. I like the outside part: crispy with strong flavor. But the non-fried intestine taste is too strong and gamey; I had a hard time to finish 3 of them.

The blood sausage sandwich is truly a delicious. The Spanish blood sausage morcilla contains pork blood and fat, rice, onions, and salt. In Italy, I had the ones without rice. I like the Spanish version better because the crisp of the rice add extra texture and the blood taste less strong.

Madrid Backery

Madrid Chocolate

Chocolate with many forms and flavors. You can find it in tourist area in Madrid. Really good quality!

Tapas

“Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. "

The history of Tapas is quite interesting: “According to legend[citation needed], the tapas tradition began when Castile's king, Alfonso X of Castile or Alfonso the Wise, recovered from an illness by drinking wine mixed with small dishes between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered that taverns were not allowed to serve wine to customers unless the beverage was accompanied by a small snack or tapa. The word became a kind of loophole in the law to allow drinkers to consume alcohol.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas

Too bad I don’t speak Spanish, therefore didn’t know what I was eating. I believe most of them are fish; some are raw mixed with spices. The best part is they are small portion, I always feel hungry. Every bite is yummy, try them yourselves!

Jamón ibérico –Best Spanish Ham

Jamón ibérico, Iberico ham, also called pata negra, is a type of cured ham produced only in Spain. It is at least 75% black Iberian pig, also called the cerdo negro (black pig).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_ib%C3%A9rico

They say it is the best ham, that is why! “…The pigs are then allowed to roam in pasture and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns, and roots,…”

It is also very expensive and not widely available abroad. Surly it is very lean meat and heavenly delicious! Ham stores are also very impressive in Madrid, where they have walls of cured ham hanging!

Lamb Couscous

In Madrid, there are many international restaurant districts, e.g. close to metro Chueca. Walking around this gay district, I am sure you could find a bar or a restaurant that meet your needs.

I happened to have an Italian friend co-owner a restaurant there and I was lucky invited for lunch at 3pm(Spanish eat at late hours). The restaurant has a bar area for a quick drink with Tapas and a nice seating area that severs fusion Mediterranean cuisine. For a starter, I had a light Spanish soup with veggie. The main course I had lamb couscous: tender lamb with fluffy couscous soaked in savory lamb flavored stew. I love the dish! Only if they could give me more lamb meat.

Organ display

Back to the markets in Europe, venders are honestly display the goods, any animal organs that you can imagine. Living in Canada for too long, I almost forget there are many cultures eat animal toughs, brains and tripe, etc. I am not the only weird Chinese out there.

Pitta in Athen – ‘H Pitta Tou Pappou

Asks Greek: where is the best pita place in town? Everyone gives you a different answer. After trying many places, I decided ‘H Pitta Tou Pappou is my favorite place because they cook the most tender meat! (chicken or beef, too bad NO lamb)

It is located very close to Metro DAFNI. The place opens at 11:30am. They also deliver. The price is more than other places: For a chicken pita cost 4.10 Euros while others cost 2.50 Euros. But the size of the pita is huge!! It is the biggest pita I ever had. Also for the quality of meat, I think it is worth it.

Sample of Greek cuisine

There are many places with cooked food-of-the-day in Athen. They are very popular among the locals. Food is cooked freshly and one can order by pointing at the food. For sure it is very convenient for tourists. As for the quality of the food, it is excellent. Many locals order that way, then sit down to eat and drink red wine.


My friend ordered many dishes so that I can sample Greek cooking: beans, beef, pork and squid. My favorite is the spinach with squid. The squid is unbelievably tender and I ate most of the dish. I wonder how could they make the squid so tender, melt in your mouth? My least favorite one is the pork, it is very dry.

The food is so good there I went back the next day. For lunch I had a lamb shank. So tender and juicy with strong lamb flavor! That is how I like it! Most food there are slow cooked and they are surly delicious!

Greek Island Cooking

My Greek friend introduced me to a home-cooking restaurant near Metro AG.IOANNIS. The place is a hidden-treasure, 3 mins out of the metro stop, close to the small church entrance. The place only has 3 tables for sitting. The food is cooked by a family who from one of the Greek Island.

Everyday they cook different food freshly and there is no menu. You just look through the glass window and order. For lunch, I had beef in lemon sauce, veggi and beans in tomato sauce, 7 Euros. They also let me try the meatball with rice. Other days they also have spinach and rice soup, baked fish with potatoes and lemon chicken. Everything is cooked with love and very tasty!

Pastitsio: Baked Meat & Pasta

First night in Athen, lucky a friend’s mom cooked for me. I have never imagined Greek food like that: Pastitsio (first) and beef in tomato sauce (second).

Pastitsio :“The usual Greek version has a bottom layer is bucatini or other tubular pasta with cheese and egg as a binder; a middle layer of ground meat (beef, veal or lamb) with tomato and nutmeg or allspice; another layer of pasta; and a top layer of sauce, varying from an egg-based custard to a flour-based Béchamel or a Béchamel with cheese known as Mornay sauce in France. Grated cheese and nutmeg are often sprinkled on top. Pastitsio is a common dish, and is often served as a main course, with a salad.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastitsio

Greek grain soup

Greek is famous for eating late dinner and party till morning. My Greek friend got home at 10pm and started cooking a simple dinner: grain soup with cheese. He added grains and cheese into water cooked with a slow heat. The soup looks like white milk and has a strong cheese taste. He finished a whole big bowl of it. I don’t think that is my type of food. Anyway, he has a very compact oven stove, which looks like a microwave.

Still do not know what is the name of the dish? Grain soup???

Greek Salad

When food leaves the country, it always changes to adapt the new culture. It is quite important to have a real Greek Salad while in Greece. I ordered it in a local restaurant in Athens, so I suppose they use all standard ingredients. It is surely different than the ones I had in Toronto. The cheese is super fresh. The green pepper is not spicy but very salty. I made a mistake of eating the whole green pepper in one bite. I should have cut it into pieces.

American-style "Greek" salad is quite different:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_salad

Greek coffee

Greek coffee is a strong, rich brew, served in demitasse cups. It's made from a fine grind of specially roasted beans and the grounds are served with the coffee (they settle to the bottom of the cup).

I had my first Greek Coffee in the new Acropolis Museum. They served me with some soft sweets and I eat the sweets with the coffee. Just like the way the Turkish drinking their tea.

It is debatably the Greek coffee’s origin, from Greece or Turkey? My Greek friends say the Greek started it. I am not going to argue with them. ☺