Pastéis de Nata

How fitting would it be, to have a Portuguese pastry that is traditionally served in Portugal for Christmas (a.k.a., J.C.'s birthday), when you have just become parents of the greatest baby, while working for a Portuguese company?

Very fitting, I would say!

Pastéis de Nata are a type of pastry that consists of a base of flaky pastry (almost puff pastry like), with a very tasty, rich cream filling. It may be compared to the spanish crema catalana or french crème brûlée in consistency. It is usually served, sprinkled with cinnamon. In the Belém area of the city of Lisbon, Portugal, these pastries are called "Pastéis de Bélem". As with any traditional, famous type of food, people from this area claim to have invented the pastry. There is even a café which supposedly serves the original ones. The recipe is kept a secret. That kind of food.

During holidays in Lisbon last year, I got to sample a lot of these pastries. In fact, at the final day of our holidays, when each of us would do something they liked best, guess where Kurger Bing went?

That's right, straight to the Pastéis café, to try and get as many of these marvelous pastries to export them back home.

So, after relentlessly asking one of my colleagues to please-please-please bring some of these back from one of her flights to and from Portugal, she finally gave in after half a year. So, thank you, C!

On a different note, as mentioned before, N gave birth last week (January 30th) to our wonderful daughter, T! Welcome into this (quite chilly) world, T! Let's just hope this blog won't be too embarrassing for you when you've grown up. And let's also hope, you will inherit as much of your daddy's love of food :)

Da Carlo

Eight o'clock. Eight o'clock. Eight o'clock. Eight o'clock.
Say it four times and all you will think about is that time (..... wait, what was that again? Oh, that's right: Eight o'clock).

That's what happened when A and me visited restaurant Da Carlo in the city centre of Groningen. Like its name might imply, an Italian restaurant, seemingly owned by genuine Italians (originally from Milan, judging by some 'MI' license plates? Milan being an Italian city, for all you Michiganians).
Anyhow, we got there on this rainy regular weekdays tuesday evening, expecting a dull and empty situation with perhaps a few people present in the restaurant. It couldn't be further from the truth. Never before had we seen a restaurant, so crowded on a regular weekday. Two-seater and four-seater tables, tightly set next to each other, with every table seating some guests. Apparently, we got there just in time; for the single remaining free table, a reservation had already made (at what time would that be again?), so if we could promise to have finished our meals by eight o'clock, we could be seated (being present there at ten to seven). Of course we would agree and so we were seated. Just in time, because the next two sets of people couldn't be seated anymore.

We scrummed our way in, pushing away the elbows and other bodily parts from other guests that were already seated. The eight o'clock time had been mentioned four times by that time, so we hasted to choose something from the menu. No appetizers (eight o'clock!), no desserts (eight o'clock!), just a main course (be sure to finish it before eight o'clock!). For myself, I ordered the tortellini alla panna, A ordered the fettucini gialle alla giotta. Then, when we had gotten our beers, we could (had to) wait for our food and observed the waiters. Two of them seemed to be the owners, or at least family of the owners, speaking with clearly Italian accents. Then there was a Dutch girl, who seemed to be hired. Funnily enough, it was the two Italian people who seemed to have no clue as to what they were doing, time and again serving plates to the wrong tables, only to realize later when everybody at the wrong table declined having ordered the served plates, that they just had to turn around 180 degrees to the other table. Also, since we were situated in a corner spot which was next to the bar, but unfortunately blocked from the bartender's view by an espresso machine, we were easily forgotten by the waiters (eight o'clock! eight o'clock!).
All negatives? No, there was a complimentary basket of breadlets, made of pizza dough, served with herbed butter. Very nice! Although it did have me wondering whether the basket was meant for other guests. No matter, we just hungrily ate it all.

Then, finally, at ten to eight (eight o'clock! eight o'clock!) we got served our main course. Or rather, should I say, the party of three at the table next to us, got served our two main courses. When they all said they hadn't ordered those particular dishes, the Italian waitress turned around two see the two of us who did order those particular plates. Yay, food!

My tortellini alla panna, stuffed with meat (apparently) and served with a lot of cream with mozzarella in it, and very finely sprinkled Parmesan cheese

So finally, I could satisfy my craving for stuffed pasta served in a creamy sauce, which wouldn't be too heavy, but which would also be more stuffing than the pasta I had for a main course at restaurant Jantje Zag Eens Pruimen Hangen about which I posted before. The verb 'satisfy' would become the understatement of the century. My gosh. Even though the first few - divinely delicious - mouthfuls of pasta seemed light and airy, not too heavy at all, both our opinions were changed a few minutes later when we had finished three quarters of our plate (eight o'clock! Keep on eating!). Continuing to chow away on delicious but mass-increasing pasta, we had finished the plates just around eight o'clock. Whoo, made it!

A's fettucini, with spinach, ricotta and also a cream sauce

Funnily enough, when we asked for the bill, it was served quickly.


In conclusion:
Positive
- great food
- fast bill
- low cost
- complimentary bread

Negative
- long waits
- shabby waiting
- very crowded

So, would I recommend this place to others? It would depend on whom it would be for. If you're in search for a nice place with decent food and low costs, this would be a good place to go. If you're searching for a place with impeccable serving, pick another place. All in all, I think there are more positive points than negative ones.

Oh, and be sure to get there before... eight o'clock. Or just make a reservation. At eight o'clock.

pictures courtesy of A's phone

The Remains of the Holiday

Well, since I've got these previous posts written unusually fast this time, I guess there's time left to add another post with the aforementioned remains of the holiday. Some side-notes about fastfood and schnapps.

On our way back from the UK to the Netherlands, we stopped at a road-side restaurant, which housed a Wimpy burger restaurant. Initially, when entering the place, I didn't feel like having fastfood, but the other restaurants didn't seem to offer that much interesting alternatives. So in the end, I ended up having the fastfood any way.

I should note that the burgers I'm familiar with, are the ones that are sold at the Mac or the Burger King, since those two are the only fastfood burger joint chains we've got over here where we live.
At the Wimpy restaurant, I decided to order a cheeseburger. Because we were planning to get to our boat in time, I took the burger back with me to the car and while N drove, I took pictures of the burger and ate it.

The box seems like a very common fastfood burger box, perhaps with more of an 'eco' feel to it

Well, then, the burger itself. Since it seemed to have a whole-wheat bun, I was expecting a heavy chunk of fastfood-bun. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its lightness. I guess it can be compared to the lightness of a standard Mac or BK bun, but in turn it seemed to have much more flavor.

In addition to the bun and the cheese, there was also iceberg lettuce on the burger, adding a crisp and fresher taste compared to a typical Mac or BK cheeseburger, which would be offered without veggies (if we leave the pickles out of this comparison). Remembering the taste, a few weeks later now, I think there must have been some sort of sauce on it as well, though I can't tell for sure. The patty was a standard patty you'd get at other fastfood joints. All in all, it did leave a positive impression on me. That's what I remember.

While typing this review, I checked out the Wimpy menu on their website, as I usually do when I want to recall some of the things that were on the menu. Now, there doesn't seem to be a cheeseburger in particular; there does seem to be a  quarterpounder with cheese however, which kind of like lives up to the memory I have in my mind of what I ate. So I guess, I didn't have a cheeseburger at all, but instead a quarterpounder with cheese. Which would explain the nice meaty memories I also have when thinking about this burger.
No matter, I can just say that, whenever you'd happen to be in the UK and would want a change from your regular BK and Mac burgers, I could happily recommend the Wimpy restaurant.
Additionally, they seem to have a whole range of other menu options, including interesting breakfast options. In case we ever happen to visit the UK again, I'll try to review this joint again. Just for the sole purpose of this blog of course. Ahem.

Now then, the final part in this remains-of-the-holiday post, should go about a dinner we had in Germany, when visiting the wedding of our friends B & F. However, no pictures were taken (just from the complimentary schnapps, more on that later). So instead, I'll let a description of the event suffice.
We were searching in the sleepy town of Datteln for a place to eat. No restaurants seemed to be present at all, but one, a local steak house. So, despite it not looking like the most modern of restaurants, we decided to try and get something to eat there. I can say that we had a very decent meal with schnitzel there, all for very decent costs. The funny part in this description will undoubtedly concern some alcohol again.
First, when we were seated, we got complimentary schnapps when we were handed the menus. Since N was driving, she gave me her schnapps as well. It was sweet alcoholic liquor of some sort. So, in addition to the traditional Warsteiner beers you're supposed to drink when you're eating at a German restaurant, this resulted in me getting in a happy mood :). Anyway, in the end when we asked for the bill, again we got complimentary schnapps. So, since N wasn't having any, again, I was having a third and then a fourth schnapps. *hips*.
Then, when we had paid, I guess our waiter was feeling sorry for N not having anything alcoholic to drink. So when we got up, he brought her a complimentary bottle of white wine, to take home with us! An amazing display of hospitality and a warm recommendation for anyone to visit this place. Be sure to visit Steakhaus International whenever you're in Datteln!

*hips*

First Salary Dinner Date

Every once in a while, whenever one of us (me, N, L or L) get a new job, we celebrate by taking us out for dinner, traditionally when you've received your first salary. This time it was N's turn. It didn't matter that we had already eaten out earlier this week because of my birthday (see previous post) or that I had eaten out
with A after that (alas, no camera with me so no pictures).

The setting was restaurant 'Jantje zag eens pruimen hangen', which is situated in a lovely pavillion in a park near the city centre. It's a historical monument of itself, with its origins dating back to the thirties. It was built according to the "Amsterdam school" of architecture, a certain type of building style that was popular during that era.

First, bread was served with butter. We first couldn't identify the exact origins of the fruit in the bread (dates? figs?), but eventually we concluded it must have been prunes -- the name of the restaurant containing the word 'prunes' (a typical 'duh' moment, after just two alcoholic consumptions).

The first courses were served. N and me had bruschette al fragole, L & L a salad with blue goat's cheese and a combination of fish broth with a croquette of squid.

Blue cheese souffle (blue d'auvergne and fourme d'ambert) with hazelnut crust

Fish stock and squid croquette, served on a white bun

Bruschette with strawberries, pecorino, balsamic vinegar, rocket and olives. Unusual but interesting combination of ingredients, although I thought the balsamic combined better with the olives than the strawberries.

After the starters, the side dishes were served. L had Algerian kebab, the rest of us Marbre Normandi, a terrine of chicken and smoked mackerel.

Kebab served over tabouleh of what I thought was bulgur

Terrine of chicken and smoked mackerel, served over fresh sliced gherkins and preserved gooseberries

Next, after the starters, it was time for the main courses. L & N took lamb's rack, the other L had saltimbocca and for myself I chose the vegetarian *gasp* pasta dish of the day. Because it sounded so good when it was described! Yes, I might finally have come to realize I don't particularly long for meat when eating a main course. Just proteins in some kind of lightly packed way, such as cheese, fish or chicken; no particular need for something heavier like pork or beef.

L's rare lamb's rack with a sauce of marsala, ahorn-syrup, laurel and orange parts. N had the same, but medium.

L's Saltimbocca (day special)

My vegetarian pasta, which were five ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, with a cream sauce and fontina cheese cubes scattered all over it. Then there were some green asparagus tips too.

These were the three different kinds of wine that were served to go with the three different kinds of mains. Don't remember anymore which one I had or any other of us had. Might have something to do with the three other types of alcoholic beverages that had preceded these wines.

So, the fourth course of this dinner were the desserts. This one proved to be a challenge. There were so many things on the menu we actually wanted to sample. The main challenge was for L and me to choose between either a plate of cheeses, or our individual other wish of the Dolce al Lemone for L and the Tarte au Chocolat for me. Eventually we decided to just take our sweet desserts and possibly take an extra plate of cheese after that if we would still have some space available in our tummies. So on we went...

L's Dolce al Lemone, which were layers of ladyfingers soaked in limoncello, sandwiching a mousse made of mascarpone, lemon zest and thyme - covered with almond shavings.

The other L chose the cantucci with vin santo - biscuits with almonds, to be dipped in holy (santo) wine (vin). A well-known Italian classic.

Especially for N, outside of the menu, forest fruits with a sabayon - whisked by hand! We could see it being whisked in the open kitchen

My dessert, the tarte au chocolat with parfait of mint. It was nice, but I guess it was a little too set. It reminded me of the chocolate cake I used to make myself, only this one was a little less chocolat-y and a little drier unfortunately.

So in the end, my dessert was a little disappointing for myself although it was a good dessert if it were to be served in any other - lesser - restaurant. It didn't fill up all the space in my stomach, and apparently neither did L's dessert fill up his stomach. So when we had finished our dessert, we looked at each other, one of us said: "Cheese?" and the other replied "Duh! Of course!". So, we had an additional course of a plate of cheese. The waitress was so kind as to warn us that a plate for a single person would contain very small portions, so recommended we'd have a plate for two persons - and I'm glad she did, because in the end I guess we could have finished another round of the plate that was served. Unfortunately, by that time, the fifth or so type of wine that was served (a Pedro Ximenez sherry) with the cheese plate took its effect on me and my photograph-taking-will, so in the end I managed to only take a picture of a nearly finished cheese plate.

There was coffee and amaretti afterwards, which were of quality worth mentioning - almost like marzipan. But by that time the wines had had their effect and there are no more pictures of that. The evening was continued at Bar Bubbelsz where we had prosecco, mojitos, absolute prosperities and other such cocktails, to continue that alcoholic bliss....

Good thing there was a sunday morning afterwards to sleep in.

Birthday dinner party

Alas. Another year has passed since my previous birthday. The first day at work, after ending our holiday. A day I had wished to be a quiet passing. No need to point attention to it whatsoever. Alas. N deemed it necessary to address it with ritual celebration, although she did manage to attend to my wish to keep it quiet nonetheless.

For starters, we got birthday cake, both for ourselves and my colleagues. Next, for breakfast, she made an array of breakfast pastry including croissants and pains-au-chocolat.

Then, for dinner, we originally hadn't planned anything special. I would just cook any of the regular meals I had already done shopping for during the weekend. But, as surprises go, she surprised me by saying she had made a reservation at restaurant De Buurvrouw, which is a little bistro near my workplace.
Since I have an inborn inability to neglect the luring prospect of eating at a restaurant, I gladly went there. On the way over to the restaurant (just across the street) I did notice a similar car to the one that her parents have. It also seemed to have a familiar license plate, but since  I don't know it by heart it might just as well have been a coincidence.

So, when I walked in, N was already occupying our reserved table (room for four people). I do remember asking her what license plate her parents' car had, but she (truthfully) couldn't tell. So we concluded it must have been a coincidence and I ordered a drink for myself.

Then, just when the waiter had brought us our menus, N's parents did walk in. I was fooled all the way by N, of course it had all been set up beforehand! Already, the week before, she had set up the visit with her parents when we were at their place having a very nice BBQ (during which I had already gotten a subscription for cooking magazine Delicious from my own parents who also attended the BBQ). Then, when making the reservation, she had specifically asked the waiter to seat us at a table for four, and when I would get there, to present us with just two menus, making it seem like we would be the only ones who would sit at our table. Those sneaky little people!

Anyway, I got an array of very nice presents from H & R (N's parents): a DVD from the Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain. Next there was another heavy package, containing not just one, but three of the Hairy Bikers' cookbooks! Yes, it was a great heap of presents.

Of course, next to all funnies and coziness, there was dinner as well. Exactly that which is what a food blog should be about of course! No blabbering about this and that, just food. So, in case any reader is still reading this, let's just post some of the pics we had for dinner.

For starters, we ordered two plates of antipasti, a meat version and a vegetarian version. Both plates came with a great variety of top-quality cuts of cold Italian meats, and such vegetables like marinated artichoke hearts, olives and marinated small little onions in a tomato-sauce. I must say, the Parma ham that came with the meat plate, was very tasty and just like the ham we had brought with us over from our stay in Rome earlier this year.

Meat antipasti: Carpaccio, spinata romana, coppa di Parma, prosciutto and mortadella

Vegetarian antipasti: marinated artichokes, courgette-carpaccio with goat's cheese, avocado-pesto bruschette, marinated olives and cipolline casseruola

Next, there was the main course. The ladies both took cuts of beef (I think; week's special, can't trace it back at the restaurant's online menu), us men both took fish.

R's steak with portabello mushroom and brie

N's lactose-intolerant version without the brie

Our menly sole filets with crispy baked coppa di Parma and a grapefruit sauce

Side dishes: fries with mayo (yes, we're Dutch), a salad and a chutney of apple and raspberry

I should mention that our sole filets where coated with what seemed like a very fine batter (it might have been just some flour coating). They were spiced up nicely with pepper and salt. Then there was the crispy coppa di Parma. I must say, the crispy saltiness of that ham combined very well with the delicate fish (which would be proven again by eating a same sort of thing later during the week when eating at another restaurant with A). Yes, very fine dishes.

Well, then there were the desserts. H & R shared the Grand Dessert (compilation of desserts), N had a specially prepared lactose-intolerant selection of fruits and for myself I had French toast (eggy bread) with lemon sorbet ice, summer fruits and a specially prepared fig (can't recall exactly how it was prepared since it was also the week's special so I can't trace it back from the menu online).

H&R's Grand Dessert. I was too preoccupied with my own dessert to notice what was even on it :)

N's fruits with cinnamon stick and an amaretto liquor.

My French toast with lemon sorbet ice and fruits.

So, everything turned out to be great! The dinner, the company and the setting, all very nice. What might even be best, is the present I got from N: a brand new digital (pocket)camera, even more compact than our previous one (whose flash was broken by the way; N was already pushing me to get a new one). So, the pictures that are shown in this post are taken with the new camera. Let's hope this new input will provide for an improved blog posting experience.

Holiday part 3

So, there you have it. Holiday part 3, the third and final in this series (because our stay in England basically lasted for only three days if we leave out the days it took to get there). This meal would be our final real dinner in England, so it had to be good.
Our (N, S and me) quest on Google Maps led us to Chipping Norton, which supposedly had nine restaurants. We parked near the city centre, and on our way walking there, the first restaurant we came across, Wild Thyme, was situated right in between "The Arctic Fish Bar" and a real estate agent in what seemed like an unsightly little long narrow. However, the menu appealed to us, so we decided to blindly go for this restaurant -- contrary to my usual habits. Whenever I'm in a city on  holiday searching for a restaurant, I take the same strategy N uses when shopping for new shoes: visit all shops there are, only to choose the very first one you visited. However, this time we just chose instead the first restaurant we came across without checking out the other eight places *gasp*. That's why, this time, I can't tell you, my dear reader(s), whether there are indeed more than one restaurants in Chipping Norton. It doesn't matter though, this one would prove to be a very good one.

For starters, we all had the watercress soup. No pics unfortunately, because (once again) we had whetted our appetites eating olives (including kalamata!) to such an extent, that I totally forgot about taking pics and instead just charged on the presented food. Nice side-touch to the olives where slices of freshly (self-baked?) bread. For myself I had a date-walnut variety or something like that. It was nice, but the next time I guess I'd choose another one. Anyway, the soup was very nice. No sharpness there whatsoever, what I was afraid of, since watercress can be quite tangy when eaten raw. Perhaps the added cream might have tempered things a bit, but it was nice. In it were poached quail's eggs, poached exactly right -- runny yolk and all.

Next, for mains, we have some pics:

S had the double baked goats cheese souffle, baby beetroot, red onion marmalade, toasted hazelnuts. She liked it, but wouldn't have chosen it a second time.

N had Plunkett's lamb; roasted best end, braised breast, new potatoes, rosemary, ratatouille, roasted baby aubergines, tomato & basil sauce, which according to her was very good. The only thing she didn't like in the dish were the baby aubergines, but well, I guess you can't have it all.

For myself, I had a craving for vegetables, since the past few days seemed to have been filled with proteins and carbohydrates only. So, without choosing a vegetarian dish (which by the way seemed to have less vegetables than the one I chose), I chose a light fish dish: Line caught seabass, steamed over samphire, summer vegetables, new potatoes, and basil butter. Indeed, there were many vegetables: peas, shelled broad beans, new potatoes, carrots, samphire (nice touch). Very vegetabl-y, very nice. The peas and broad beans gave it some earthy flavors, the samphire a marine touch and the carrots a sweet addition -- albeit all quite subtle in their flavoring.

Then, there was dessert. Because of N's lactose intolerance, she was presented a nice selection of raspberry and strawberry (multiple fruits were available to choose from), S had a variety of gooseberry preparations and for myself, again contrary to my usual picking of something sweet for dessert, I chose cheeses. I think it had something to do with the lightness of the many vegetables. Regarding the past few days, I had prepared my stomach for more proteins, so leaving out those proteins this time and instead choosing a lot of vegetables, it was yearning for something more savoury this time. Even though I don't like cheeses that much, I did choose them this time. And a lot of them were great! They had me stuffed when I tried to eat them all and finish the plate (alas, I failed, even with N and S's help). So, dessert pics:

N's raspberries and strawberries

S's gooseberry crumble, brulee and ice cream.

My plate of 8 different local (!) cheeses, offered with a variety of homemade biscuits and apple chutney. One of the soft goat's cheeses was produced by one of the former guitarist's of the band Blur, and was very nice. Even the blue cheeses, which I usually detest (why would someone in their right mind ever choose to eat molds) weren't that bad although they scared me a little bit. N, who ranks cheese among her most favorite foods, couldn't resist and just ate some despite her lactose intolerance, just ignoring the possible consequences.

All in all, this restaurant proved to be a great place. The interior was somewhat bistro-chique, like a place you'd expect in the French Provence, but in a more-or-less distinguished way. The only funny thing was, that us being their first (and only non-local) guests that evening, we were seated in the back part of the restaurant, which was separated from the front part by a bar and a door-opening, where the local guests (or at least, the native English speakers) were seated. I guess over here, one would be seated near the windows, to show to possible customers that there are more people eating there already and thus making it more inviting for those possible customers to walk in. Nevertheless, in the back part, we were situated next to patio doors swinging open outside to a little patio where an outside terrace was situated, which made for a nice spacious feeling in an otherwise little long narrow.
Also, N and S kept remarking about one of the waitresses skirts - that her skirt had a split in the back which would seem to run all the way to her knickers and thus exposing them (and they were the female part of our company). However, when I looked, it seemed to be a very decent skirt with no knickers showing whatsoever. :-( :-)

So, there you have it. The third and final holiday food part. There is some additional material, including a short fast-food sidenote and some schnapps in Germany. When I feel like it, I might post about it. However, instead I will have to post about my (great!) birthday dinner yesterday, so when I have prepared that, I might not feel like posting about some meager food experiences with kind of worthless pictures anymore. We'll see.

Holiday part 2

In part 2 of the holiday series, I'd like to take you to to a wonderful little tea room in Shipston-on-Stour. Well, actually, I can't take you there literally, but you catch my drift. N and I took S there to have some tea and lunch (quite hungry at 14:00).

S had a cheese-scone with avocado, brie or camembert and cress

N had toast with scrambled eggs and bacon

For myself, I ordered a classic scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream

Note about the clotted cream: I had always wondered what it would be like, since it can't be bought here in the Netherlands. It turned out to be closer to butter than to whipped cream, which may alternatively be served in the Netherlands when having tea (for example, at the Theefabriek). It was rich. It was delicious. It was artery-clogging, heart-stoppingly good. Yum!
Also, I think this was the first time I had an actual, full-sized scone. Not the mini-versions we always sample at the Theefabriek, nor the selfmade attempts at scones that wouldn't rise and stay compact little bricks. No, this was a piece of pastry, the size of a tennisball, very fluffy yet satisfying.

To me, it made for a very nice English tea-drinking event.