Roman Holiday: Part I

I've just come home from my fourth trip to Rome, it's been my best trip there so far for a number of reasons, one of which was the food. Any holiday I take I centres around food as much as possible, and this time I was with my partner who is as interested in eating as much as I am, and doesn't seem to mind searching for the nicest looking deli or pasticceria, even if it is 11am and we haven't had breakfast yet.

Our first meal was surprisingly good- I say surprisingly because it was at about 3pm on a Sunday, and most places that aren't tourist traps would be closed at this time. We ended up stopping at the first place that was actually open, which looked unassuming, but turned out to serve very decent, simple food- I had a very tasty bucatini all'amatriciana, and Adam had spaghetti alle vongole. Unfortunately, my head wasn't really in food critic mode, I was too hungry and too tired from the trip to really assess what I was eating, or take down the name of the restaurant.

A nap and a walk into the centre of the city later, we were ready for our next meal. This time we could be more discerning where we went, as the restaurants had re-opened for evening service.  We found ourselves at Da Baffetto, which is a very popular pizzeria with both locals and tourists. It seems to make an appearance in every travel guide to Rome, and in every list of top 10 pizzerias in the city. We joined a queue for a table, where I could take some pictures of the exterior:

The queue moved quickly, and were seated right next to the wood burning oven- not great from a comfort perspective-it was a very warm evening-but watching the 3 chefs prepare the pizzas was good entertainment.

The pizza was as Roman pizza should be- thin, crispy and slightly blistered from the oven.

 

We didn't stay for pudding, instead continued our walk, stopping of for gelato at Cremaria Monteforte, which is a few moments away from the Pantheon. I went for a rather Middle-Eastern inspired combination of rose and pistachio ice creams, and Adam opted for lemon sorbet.

The rose ice-cream was delicious, flavoursome without reminding me of bath products, which rose flavoured things often do. 

Subiaco Station Market

Whenever I'm abroad, I will always go to a food market, and since I have been living in WA, one of my favourite things to do on a weekend is to go to Subiaco Market, just a little way out of central Perth.It's not old in terms of markets, it's only been around since the 80's, but it has established itself as something of an institution locally.

 About a third of it is comprised of fresh produce, but there is also a small butchers, a health food shop and some non food stalls which I haven't spent too much time looking at, except for the flowers, which seem exotic to someone from the UK.  There is also an area for eating, with small catering stalls. You can choose from Indian, Mexican, Ghanaian, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisine, as well as French crepes and Turkish gözleme. So far I have had crispy Saigon chicken from the Vietnamese stall, curry goat and palava, a smoked fish dish, from the Ghanaian stall and the last time I had lamb curry with dhal and a potato paratha from the Indian stall.

The only thing I haven't enjoyed was the palava- the flavour was far too strong for me. This is hard for someone who is proud of being a non-fussy eater to admit, but I couldn't finish it.Luckily I had something to fill me up- I always pick up an almond croissant from the Galette de France Stall- they're utterly delicious, flaky pastries stuffed with creme pâtisserie.

Subiaco isn't as grand as food markets like the Boqueira in Barcelona, or as beautiful as the Campo di Fiori in Rome. But it has real spirit and a lovely sense of community which makes every visit a treat, and it has very very nice almond croissants.

Croatia, Final Days

There was no post for yesterday as I had spent a long day in Montenegro, and was too tired to write anything worth reading. We didn't really eat out anyway. I also couldn't bring myself to break the nice continuity of the titles for eating out in Croatia.
We were recommended to try a specific restaurant in Kotor, a town in Montenegro, by the guide. I fact we were recommended it so many times that I was certain there was some sort of deal between tour company and restaurant, that I decided I wanted to choose my own place to eat. The restaurants/ cafes were much the same as you can find it Dubrovnik, a nod towards local dishes mixed with pizza and pasta. We gave this a miss and headed for a busy bakery that you could smell before you saw. I had a panzeroti- for those of you that know your Italian baked goods you'll no doubt have realised that this is very much the same as panzerotti. For those of you that don't know, it's basically a calzone made with a softer, thicker dough. Like Croatia, Montenegro has a lot of Italian influence- it was ruled by the Venetian Republic in the middle ages. I sought shade on the side steps of an orthodox church to eat my snack before heading to the market, a small stretch of stalls by the walls of the city. I picked up a jar of honey, and a bottle of kruškovača, pear liqueur. It was a far cry from the beautiful food markets that I've been to in Spain and Italy- everything bottled comes in reused containers, and the produce is constantly swarmed with bees. But I tried both my purchases before buying and was happy with my choices.
Today, our final full day, we did what you shouldn't- returned to eateries we had already tried. For lunch we just picked up some more pastries from a bakery to eat as and when we wanted. In the evening, we returned to Klarisa, the lovely, if pretentious, courtyard restaurant. I've has rather a lot of seafood this week, so I countered it with a rib-eye steak with a cognac sauce.

To follow, I had what the menu called chocolate cube ("more of a tetrahedron", as remarked by my Dad), with ice cream, and English Sauce (a not too bad attempt at translating crème anglaise). 

Having eaten a very decadent meal out, I do feel a twinge of guilt at my opinion of it. It was nice, certainly. But not brilliant. Perhaps there was too much effort devoted to stacking the meal into turrets and swirls. I suppose it was lacking it flavour,- the steak not quite meaty enough, the pudding not dark and intense enough, everything slightly muted. This meal in particular summerises my feelings towards the food experiences I have had in Croatia- it's all overshadowed by the setting.

Croatia, Day 5

Back to the Old Town. We chose a restaurant on the main square, the Gunduliceva Poljana. Despite the adjacent restaurants' having free tables, Kamanice had a queue, which either suggests good things about the restaurant itself, or the power of the guide book. The menu was incredibly simple, mostly seafood based.
My squid arrived, served as squid should be, hot and crisp, straight from the fryer without any rubberiness. My parents both went for the shrimp risotto- nicely flavoured, but instead of being cooked long enough to achieve the requisite creaminess of risotto, they had stirred some cream in instead. I've never worked out how restaurants do risotto. At home, once you get to the critical point of it being the perfect consistency any further cooking will turn it to mush. The chef here had avoided this by undercooking it, just as bad in my opinion.
We stopped off at an ice cream parlour called Sladolerdarna Dubrovnik. You won't go far here without stumbling across an ice cream shop, but this one is worth a mention because of the charming staff and the sherberty cherry ice cream.

Croatia, Day 4

We decided to see what other restaurants Lapad had to offer instead of going to the old town. Just like the walled city, everywhere here looks aimed at tourists so there's not much point looking for that perfect place where all the locals flock to. The place we chose looked pleasant enough- nice garden, candlelight, and a few underfed cats hanging hopefully around your table- and the service was great. My meal was not a success, however. It read well enough on the menu, shrimps in white wine, tomatoes and olive oil, a pretty standard dish here, and probably most coastal places in and around the Med. The sauce was made with half-raw onions, insipid tomatoes, and had an unpleasant acridity in the background. The shrimps themselves were rather lacklustre, in both taste and texture. A shame, given our proximity to the sea. My parents enjoyed their meals though, so perhaps I was just unlucky.
We stopped off for ice cream on the way back. I had coffee, chocolate and hazelnut flavours. Except I got that wrong too- the coffee was in fact caramel. Oh well. There's still 3 more eating out days left...

Croatia, Day 3

I spent the majority of the day in Lokrum, an island that is about 10 minutes away from Dubrovnik's old town by boat. It's mostly a nature reserve, not somewhere where people live- indeed, superstitious types claim that an overnight stay there will cause you to go insane. We decided to bring some pastries from a bakery in Dubrovnik. I had this:

 It was filling and tasty- quite a lot of pastry though, almost like a savoury strudel.

Later on, we went for a pizza in a place called Mea Culpa in the old town. Obviously, pizza is not a traditional Croatian dish. But given the proximity of Croatia to Italy, and the sheer volume of tourists in Dubrovnik, there are pizzerias everywhere. And a very nice pizza it was too. They made the dough there, and the resulting base was thin and crisp. It was more generously topped than an authentic Italian pizza, but still very good. I probably would have dismissed the restaurant had it not been in the guide book, so I suppose there is a lesson to be learnt there. If you find yourself in Dubrovnik absolutely starving, go here- we had two pizzas between three people, and couldn't finish everything. We only noticed afterwards that the regulars were ordering half portions, much more sensible.

Croatia, Day 2

We took two trips to the old town of Dubrovnik today. We ignored the guides advice and went late morning, which is when all the tourists on daytrips arrive. But even on our second excursion in the evening, the walled city was packed with visitors. Thankfully, we had booked at a restaurant set in the courtyard of St. Helen's church, and the setting was wonderfully peaceful.
 
I chose Adriatic scampi, AKA langoustine for my main course. They were plainly grilled, served with a wedge if lemon to squeeze over as you wished. There is not much to say about it other than the were perfectly cooked, with sweet, tender flesh.Underneath there was a mound of tomatoey rice with diced vegetables.They'd cooked it well enough, but it did smack slightly of Uncle Ben's. Not the ideal accompaniment, but it's forgivable.

To follow, I went for what was labelled on the menu as 'chocolate sorbet with coconut'. As a matter of fact, it was like an incredibly rich coconut pannacotta, with a streak of dark chocolate sauce on top. I imagine it had been set with gelatine, as it had a slight wobble to it. There were also some artful smears, so beloved of this sort of restaurant, of sour cherry sauce. It didn't just work as decoration, the combination of the sour compote cut through the creamy coconut pudding. Something to implement on my return, perhaps.

Croatia, Day 1

The hotel I am staying in is in the Lapad area of Croatia, where the nearest strip of restaurants are beachside ones, the touristy sort I avoid like the plague. Tonight, however, I settled myself down in front of a menu with 4 languages and a cocktail list containing drinks with names like Bloody Screaming Orgasm. Why? I had been up since 2:30am, and the thought of having a wandering down side streets in search of the restaurants that the locals keep to themselves was a little too much. I let myself off the guilt that I would usually feel, I can hunt for gastronomic pleasures for the next six days. Constant self-chastising doesn't make for a restful and relaxing holiday.

And it was fine. I went for a mixed grill, Balkan-style, with smoked sausage, pieces of skewered, grilled veal, and something similar to kofte that I believe was beef and pork, and chicken. There was some ajvar, red pepper sauce on the side, and mustard. It wasn't the sort of food that I could write pages about, nor was it terrible. But we ate whilst watching the sun, huge and red, rapidly sink behind the Elaphite Islands, so as far as introductions go, it wasn't so bad.