travel geek

You are where you eat.

food for thought

~ maireaddoyle ~ 1 Comment

My mate Charmaine O’Brien is the only published author I know (apart from one or two academics!). In addition to her other charms, Charmaine is an accomplished and enthusiastic Indian food expert, so you can imagine what we have in common…

However her new offering falls closer to home. “Flavours of Melbourne” charts the culinary history of Australia’s food capital, from pre-European times through the influence of postwar immigration to today. Along the way, we meet curious characters from Melbourne’s food scene and discover recipes from different periods in our city’s colourful history.

Charmaine did ” the walking tour of the book” during Melbourne Writers’ Week a few months ago, which was really enjoyable. She even made sure she had samples of Melbourne’s favourite lollies on hand halfway through to sustain us: Polly Waffles, Cherry Ripes and Violet Crumbles.
Her book is now on the State Library of Victoria’s “Summer Read” shortlist. You can get on there and vote for this book, or browse through the shortlist to see what else they recommend.
Flavours of Melbourne is a great book to dip into, or to read all the way through. Worth it if you are a Melbourne foodie – and in this city, who isn’t?

jerk seasoning

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The very best jerk seasoning in the world is a wet marinade called Walkerswood, which is fairly easily available in many London stores including Tescos. If you can’t get access to this, make your own. It’s easy, and you will find your own style with trial and error. Here is a starter recipe to get you going.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon all spice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 6 hot chilli peppers, finely chopped
2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Add a little water to the mix to form a paste. Rub onto your chicken, pork or fish and marinate for up to 24 hours before cooking.

back with a vengeance

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Sorry for the gap folks – I’ve been globetrotting as you know. Ireland for twelve days, London for a couple of nights, then a glorious five nights on Hamilton Islands in the Whitsundays on the Queensland coast.

It was a double celebration – my mum’s 80th birthday and my 40th a week later.


Don’t we look good?

More later once I have settled back in: I have many tales of dinners eaten including the wonderful Italian Mum and I had in Don Giovanni’s in Dalkey (above).

Little Bay

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>Little Bay, 171 Farringdon Road, London EC1

This little restaurant is a true find. Situated close to the Exmouth Market area, it offeres incredibly good value and excellent.

The décor is simple and the basement not to be recommended due to the loud echo effect, but if you are looking for beautifully prepared fresh ingredients with a good wine list to boot, this is the place for you.

I can recommend the chips which are cooked in duck fat in true south of France style.

There are branches in Battersea and Kildurn/Belsize Park too!

notting hill

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>Ion Bar
161-165 Ladbroke Grove
020 8960 1702
www.meanfiddler.com
Excellent live music and DJs in the downstairs bar, and a groovy vibe upstairs with great food. The maitre d’ looks like Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction.

Osteria Basilico
29 Kensington Park Road
020 7727 9372
www.osteriabasilico.co.uk
Cosy Italian trattoria with food to die for.

Casa Frattini
104a Chepstow Road
020 7221 1821
www.casafrattini.co.uk
Another tiny, crowded Italian with a small but wonderful menu of delights.

Black & Blue
105 Gloucester Road
020 7244 7666
www.blackandbluerestaurant.com
The only place to go for a steak in Notting Hill

north by north west

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Hummingbird, 84 Stroud Green Road, London N4 3CV 020 7263 9690
Hummingbird is a small but perfectly formed Caribbean restaurant on the legendary Stroud Green Road. Family-run, this place offers genuine Carribean food from most of the islands, beautifully presented and washed down with excellent run punch. The menu has lots for vegeterians as well as meat-eaters.

La Porchetta Pizzeria, 141 Upper Street, London N1 1QY 020 7288 2488
This is my absolute favourite pizza place in London. Huge delicious thin-crust pizzas, ridiculously low prices, extremely young cute Italian waiters, lashings of house wine by the jug. Be prepared to queue!

Raj Bangladeshi, 146 High Street, Harlesden NW10 4SP 020 8965 6036
This used to be our local Indian takeaway, and what a place. Recently refurbished to a trendy urban feel, it used to be red velvet and Mughal arches all the way. In any event the food never let this place down. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

BeBes, 3 Chignell Place, West Ealing W13 0TJ 020 8840 8322
Bebes serves genuine Caribbean food in a cosy restaurant with gold graffiti on the walls left by grateful customers. The cocktail list is small but majors on rum-based concoctions – I recommend you start here! The curried goat is my favourite, with more than a hint of coconut in the taste. They even have real flying fish from Barbados!

The Spaniard’s Inn, Spaniard’s Road, London NW3 7JJ 020 8731 6571
This lovely pub is very close to the High Gate of Hampstead Heath, and a great place to chill out on a late summer afternoon in the huge garden. Indoors are lots of little rooms to get lost in, ideal for winter evenings. The food is good, lots of Greek and Meditteraneam dishes with a legendary paella served only on Saturdays.

Lemonia, 89 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 8UY 020 7586 7454
This lovely Greek restaurant has a lovely feel about it, with genuine Greek waiters serving you with a twinkle in their eyes. The restaurant is clustered around a covered courtyard, which is a great place to catch a bit of sunlight in winter without dying of cold. In summer the big windows at the front open right up so it feels lovely and breezy. Oh, and the food is sublime too. Don’t do what we always do and order too much food!!!