Where to Eat?

Selecting a restaurant.

Most people, unless they are sufficiently wealthy do not have to worry about this, but still have at times during their lives searched for good and affordable places to eat. This is particularly important during your student days or when on holidays and money is getting low. I still remember a piece of advice given to me in my youth, always follow the parish priest to find the best dining. Generally you will either keep visiting the place you know and love, or will be brave and try somewhere new. Generally you don’t do this by walking down the street and taking a chance; you may be lucky, but the odds aren’t good. The true fine-dining experience is usually booked out weeks or months in advance.

Recently, a tourist book on what to look for in French restaurants arrived at my house with what purported to offer the best advice when eating out in Paris. I must say many of eating houses reviewed were Michelin, so there was no confusion about the likely cost. The advice struck me as a little over the top so I decided to pass it on.

Naturally the first thing you notice are the table cloths, perfectly ironed without creases, napkins linen and cutlery silver. This advised removed quite a lot of my eating establishments. Further each setting should have purpose when vacant with stemmed or styled water glasses. A table should have a centre piece, anything from a piece of driftwood with the chief’s name engraved on it or a tasteful piece of sculpture. Look around and make sure the tables are spaced appropriately, no more than 10 to 20 should be satisfactory. All staff appropriately dressed and their roles identifiable, apparently at least one staff member for every two guests.

Then we come to the most important item the wine list. This should have a minimum 450 different bins/labels and should be managed by a team of fully qualified sommeliers. Make sure the appropriate glassware is available for different wine varieties including aperitifs.

My guide book assures me if all this is correct it is safe to venture further. In all top-class restaurants everything is made on the premises, no buying in as once  food is brought in it becomes generic, however puff pastry and bread is another matter, but should be a freshly baked artisan product that reflects  the personality of the restaurant and its proprietor not of some commercial baker. Naturally there should be a choice of several breads. If the chef does not want bread, then there must be something similar to start the meal and clean the pallet. Butter the highest quality served at room temperature with a choice of salted and unsalted.

Every dish should use the finest ingredients and be carefully crafted by a team of highly trained chefs, a minimum of ten would be required. All the ingredients used should not be the sort of thing found in supermarkets or food stores. Truffles, caviar, line-caught fish and organic free range meats should be the order of the day. All pastries and deserts must have the Wow factor. There should be nothing an average home cook could make as well as the restaurant it could not describe itself as a fine dining establishment.

Judgement about dishes should be made with care, as a dish may seem simple but require great effort behind the scenes, many great chefs strive to produce dishes that are served modestly but cooked to perfection. Last but not least , coffee and tea should always be served with handmade chocolates and/or petit four. When you find such an establishment let me know for there are non where I live, but perhaps there are in Paris.   

Eating in Vientiane

Vientiane is a gourmet paradise with first rate examples of every type of national cuisine available. Over the last month I have enjoyed a huge variety of foods. Excellent Korean restaurants, serving a dozen or more side dishes with their main courses, all were wonderful and tasty.Great Chinese food serving more varieties of dumplings than I knew existed. They would have made piggy green with envy the thought of all those different dumplings on his journey to India.

Lao cafes abound, there seems to be one in every third doorway, open air street restaurants, and market eatery filling the air with tempting aromas. There are Japanese, Italian [ one Italian visitor complained to me he could not get back home soon enough to have a pasta]. so you can't please everyone. First rate French establishment in Colonial Villas, I had dinner in one last night,  the food was excellent but the wine questionable. No doubt it must be hard to find a cellar at ten degrees anywhere it Vientiane. I have enjoyed some first class Indian and Pakistan curries, one called the Taj Mahal [what else] serves a delicious eggplant dish. The eggplants here are quite small, almost the size of a lime, unlike the large purple ones we are used to in Australia.

Even a Turkish cafe serving Dona kababs, naturally called Istanbul, and even an Australian restaurant for those who can't handle the rice intake. One day I lunched at the Makphet, a project to help and train former street kids. They learn English, how to cook, serve table, and manage a cafe, What a great idea, it is a pity some of our government bodies don't take this approach for our drop outs in Australia. This establishment reminded me of an American women doing a similar thing in Luang Prabang. She took young girls from villages with dirt floors, trained them in cooking and service, sent them to school. They learned English and many other things, so as to be able to gain employment when they turn sixteen. Most of these girl were unable to read or write, let alone add up when they started.

What are my favourite dishes, well the chicken and cashew nuts dishes I tried were very tasty, and the wide variety of eggplant flavours would be hard to beat. Finally the country has some excellent French bakeries. One I frequented, The Scandinavian Bakery [they also make French Pastries], claim to bake enough baguettes [ pardon my French] each year that if they were laid end on end they would reach Bangkok! At least you wouldn't go hungry along the way.

Quality Food you won't Forget

"Queen of Navarra's Palace, Olite"
Watercolour sketch from our hotel window. 2004.

Great culinary moments don't happen every day, such memorable delights are even more magical when they are unexpected. Descending down the perilous slopes of the Pyrenees by the pilgrim route to Santiago, we stumbled across the old Roman town of Olite ,ancient capital of Navarre. Surround by Basque vineyards the region is renowned for fine dining and Olite did not disappoint. Navigating the narrow cobbled streets we eventually emerged into Plaza De Carlos III looking for somewhere to stay. My eye caught a sign above a cafe door in the square offering rooms, so after walking through to the back ,I asked the receptionist for accommodation. Her reply was somewhat surprising as she asked, " of course but do you also require lunch, the restaurant is on the first floor?"

The dinning room was packed to the ceiling even though it was only 1pm, Spaniards eat late 2 - 4. There did not appear to be any room at any of the long trellis tables , everyone was higher animated and some one waved us over to his table were he squeeze a couple of chairs around an already crowed table. It turned out that he had driven over 130km just to have lunch here! The menu consisted of a fixed French type, two entree, two main and deserts.Another Spanish couple at our table asked if we ate here often and when I replied no assured me we would be surprised.

The dishes could best be described as Basque country fare and the main for today were pig's cheek or baby squid cook in their ink. This dish was wonderful and although I don't know whether this was the chief recipe I have quoted a possible one from a Spanish cook book.

1kg baby squid
1 table spoon of squid ink [ you may be able to buy it frozen]
60gms diced ham, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
large peeled onion
1/2 cup fish stock.
Served with rice or potatoes and side salad.

If you have not tried this dish before you should and there is no need to go to Olite.
One of the wonderful benefits of mass migration to Australia has been the contribution of our 200 odd nationalities to the country's  kitchen. Gone are the days when spaghetti came in a tin of tomato sauce from Hinze. Many of these dishes are no longer considered exotic. When I first arrived in Australia I recall asking in a deli for sour cream and was told very forcefully that they only sold fresh produce.

The meals here were so good that we extended our stay from one day to five and put on a lot of weight!

Between meals there is plenty to see, the fairytale palace [ see above watercolour], the castle, churches and wineries. Heather and I even won a fine bottle of 1995 Cab.Sauv. made by Evena putting a fine finishing touch to our stay.