Shutting it Down At Selfridges

Met Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman today at Selfridges.



She said 'That's a great coat."

Shutting. It. Down.

Notting Hill

Had an amazing lunch with my good friend Merisha at no. 96 Notting Hill Brasserie with thanks to her amazing internet sleuthing skills!

Starter: Tuna with Rocket and Baby Potato

Main: Chicken Breast with Beans and pureed truffle

Desert: Creme Brulee

The whole meal was fantastic! The chicken was by far a standout, the flavours complimented each other perfectly and the chicken was incredibly juicy but the skin was so crispy and flavoursome! I am salivating just thinking about it!

9.5/10


http://www.nottinghillbrasserie.com/

The Best of the Würst

(DONT FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME!!)

Berliners don't like to go out to eat German food when they go out for dinner, there is a plethora of Italian, Greek and Spanish eateries around but no German! For dinner last night I asked at the front desk where I should go to eat the beloved Bratwurst.

Sophieneck is tucked away in the cobblestoned backstreets of Mitte, a suburb in Berlin, and apparently is the best of the two(!) German eateries in the area.


Sophieneck reminds me of the more homlier pubs that you come across in Australia, with the regulars at the bar and a simple pub menu to choose from.

The menu had english translations which made my decisions a LOT easier. I ordered a stein of Berliner Pilsner and Thüringer Bratwurst with fried potatoes and sauerkraut.

The sun was setting when my food arrived and when I loaded my fork up with bratwurst, sauerkraut and some of those perfectly golden potato slices it made any trace of my fourteen hour flights, sleepless nights and tired feet evaporate. Im not a meat eater normally but this sausage was freaking amazing. It was such a perfect combination of savoury flavours, with the subtle vinegary flavour of the sauerkraut with the soft fluffy potato, juicy bratwurst and sharp mustard. Perfection.

I also dont normally drink beer either but the Berliner Pilsner was actually really good! My whole dinner was so good that I stopped by on my way home again this afternoon to have some lunch.


MDC.

http://www.sophieneck-berlin.de/

Döner Time

It was an amazing day in Berlin today. It was gloriously sunny (apparently for the first time in months, Berlin has apparently had the wettest summer in a long time with more rain falling in two days than would normally for a whole summer) and I went on an amazing walking tour of the East Berlin.

Choice was limited for lunch as we only had some commercial options available to us at the train station where we stopped, so for dinner I was pretty keen to have something more local.

After I got home from this monumental six hour walking tour it had begun to cloud over as it often does after a long autumn day of 30° heat. The cloud has now turned into a thunder storm and I am in my little room stinking the place out with a delicious Döner Kebap with Knoblauchsoße (Garlic Sauce).


While waiting for my Kebap i had a look in the drinks fridge for a cold beverage and whilst my hand instinctivly reached for the half litre 2€ bottle of becks I saw 'Erdbeere' which looked like strawberry milk but was a bit of an enigma with beer in the title so I brought it along for the ride with me.

There is a huge Turkish population in Berlin, and Kebap's are the single most popular fast food here, so much so that Kebap's here have turned into somewhat of a local specialty. It sure tasted great and definitely not as salty what I remember Australian kebabs tasting like. Although the last one was so laden with chili it made me cry and hiccup at the same time.

Döner Kebap Rating: 7/10 for a great street food experience.

Willkommen!!

Been in Berlin for just a couple of hours and wanted to share with you what my first impression of Berlin was.

Auf Wiedersehen!

MDC

Some Good News and An Easy Meal

Lets start with the good news.

I have been shortlisted in pedestrian.tv's innaugural blogster award in the food category (shocking!) and would love it so much for those of you few that are on facebook to head over to their page and vote!! And tell ALL your friends!

http://www.pedestrian.tv/blogster/food/MDC

Now for s treat. Project Saucepan (4 cousins in 4 states cooking challenge) is on hiatus as I am trotting the globe but heres an awesome recipe that Mel contributed and we all made

Chickpean, Chilli and Coriander Patties with Marinated Red Onion Salad.

Yummo!!

Crabby in Singapore

It is HOT and WET!

I got in to Singapore at 7pm this evening and so far I am loving life. I got a cab to the hotel, got out of my sweaty shirt and pants and jumped into some shorts and a tshirt.

So I met some cool cats on the plane who gave me the heads up that there are a lot of rubbish places to eat here and there is a very easy way to tell what places are not so amazing and what places are bangin'.

Crap places will be close to empty and bangin' places will be chock full of locals no matter what time of the day.

So I ventured out onto the streets to find some fare and on the other side of the road was a place that only had one table empty whilst everywhere else had fifteen. I waited patiently for the pedestrian light to change (yes its a strict $100 fine) and snagged it.

I looked at the menu and it had a english/chinese translation. Something else the guys told me on the plane was that Singapore serving size is smallish so I ordered the Chilli Crab with a side of Kai Lan (the waitress looked somewhat impressed that I knew what it was) and waited patiently for my food.

Now for a little back story, I am not exceptionally experienced with crab and what the procedure is to eat it from the shell. By exceptionally I mean I've never had to man handle the crab.

So I'm the only white(?) person in this canteen and pretty much everyone over the age fifty is staring at me out of the corner or their eyes and my plate of crab and kai lan comes over.

The crab was served in a plate the size of a pizza and the kai lan looked as though no one else would be able to order it again for the next two weeks as I would of eaten the national supply.
Just as I was about to tell everyone not to panic because I was American, my crab crushing implements came aaaaaannddd..... I lost my shit.

I started off trying to destroy this crab delicately so as not to attract any more stares but to no luck. Just as I swear the pincer was about to break half the crab slipped out of my greasy little fingers onto my shorts and then onto the floor.

I picked my crab off the floor and put him back on plate, looking around sheepishly at the families who were pretending not to notice. And then, I stopped caring because I took my first bite of that crab. It tasted like a freaking cloud. It was soft and juicy and tasted nothing like a california roll. This crab fulfilled my wildest, crabbiest dreams. I ditched the fork and spoon and attacked that bad boy with everything I had.

After twenty short minutes I had had my way with that crustacean, and those poor Chinese families will never look at a crab the same way again.

End of Day One.

The Countdown

It is less than 48 hours to go until I go on my fateful adventure to explore the world and discover everything food related that it holds! I have been reluctant to buy and food so have been eating weird things like pesto on bread crusts with the last remnants of my goats curd.

Currently I'm watching Julie & Julia, one of my favorite movies to have come out in recent times and it is honestly very inspiring. Julie Powell is one half of the story and started out as a food blogger. Her escape is through food and so is mine. I find it liberating and so comforting to know that you can go into the kitchen and create something wonderful that you can share with friends or selfishly indulge in.

I stumbled upon this picture of Julia Child with what looks like a croquembouche.


I'm just itching to get out and experience all that other countries have to offer!!

First stop Singapore..