#700

lamb, spit roasted

Yeah, I ate that.  Muahahaha

Lucky lucky me was in Beijing the same time L was there.  L is awesome because he hearts food like I heart food.  As soon as I told him that I'll be in Beijing, he knew exactly where to go.  We, along with 7 of his friends/co-worker were to eat at this restaurant hidden in the outskirts of Beijing.  By hidden, I mean off the grid, behind iron gates (no joke),  no streetlights, no signs.  The restaurant is a standalone house surrounded by a budding pomegranate grove in the middle of no where.  And yep, it was tasty.  Oh so tasty.

The 9 of us ate so much food.  Here's a random parade of just some of the dishes (yes, we ate a lot more but the rest of my pics are worse than the ones below.  sorry kids!).  Then we talk lamb.

'shrooms

The salt and pepper mushrooms were delicious.  You dip these in salt and pepper then enjoy the light and crispy umami-ness of mushrooms.

#700 loves them fermented tofu.  They use the super stinky kind and regular salty kind in all matters of sauces.  Like this one:

eggplant!

White eggplant in fermented tofu sauce was super tender and savory but retained a nice bite.

brown food!

Shredded chicken in sesame sauce.  Tasty and brown.

other shades brown

We like brown food.  Yes we do.  I loooved the cabbage salad on top.  It was tangy, crispy and delicious.  The bottom dish was stir fried black tofu.  This was the first time I've ever had black tofu.  It had a deeper flavor than regular tofu and and a chewier texture.  Tasty.

And then there was lamb

we eat meat

Meat!  In the tummy!  So many flavors and textures beckoned.  So answered, I did.  The lamb was butterflied and spit roasted.  The meat is intensely tender with a layer of awesome crispiness of the skin.  The whole shebang was heavily seasoned with cumin and other spices.  It's like eating a ginormous Xinjiang lamb skewer but with extra crispiness.

my first piece

Because the entire thing was butterflied, there was no un-crispy skin.  Which meant maximum happiness.  The fattiness of the lamb kept the meat incredibly moist.  

This is going to be hard to believe due to the amount of lamb I eat, but I was not such a lamb freak until about 9 years ago until I visited Tianjing.  The Xinjiang lamb skewers I had there were my gateway into this lovely lovely meat.  So this was kind of like coming full circle.  Except I'm going to keep eating as much lamb as possible.  Hurm... Analogy fail.

done

Yep, we win!  Yes, we had 9 very very powerful stomaches.  The lamb stood no chance.

Thanks again to L for this amazing experience!  This meal is definitely on my top 10 most memorable list!

Santiago Revisited

I love Santiago and those who live there.  The food is damn good too.  My favorite place that I visited this time was definitely Como Aqua Para Chocolate, modeled after the awesome novel and its tasty food.

Yummy bread began the meal

Then I had fish

The flaky white fish was perfectly grilled.  The crispy skin was topped by a mango relish and supported by simple marinated mushrooms and drizzle of balsamic.  Weird combo?  Maybe, but it totally makes sense that tangy and sweet mango goes well with a light fish, balanced by earth mushrooms.

custardy

Then to completely undo the relatively light meal, I finished off a milky custard with bruleed cream and more milky sauce around it.  Custard should really be in its own food group.  Is there ever bad custard?

Chile's proximity to Peru means that there are awesome Peruvian foods to be consumed.  Starting with the cutest cup of pisco sour at El Otro Sitio.

wooden goblet!

Wooden goblets are definitely underrated.

garaaagharhaagaa (ala the gourmand, homer simpson)

OMG, these ceviche empanadas were ridiculously good.  Like revelatory good.  The fried dough was so incredibly light.  How did the fresh seafood innards not soggi-fy the empanadas, I will never know.  But maybe if I eat it a few million times, I'll know enough to tell you.  Who wants to sponsor my empanada study program?!

i heart soup

Peruvian chupe is really different from the thicker, stewier chupe of Chile.  This particular seafood chupe was light but filling.  Swirling the runny yolk into the murky broth, it was so satistfying.  I also loved the huge corn kernels!  Starchier and less sweet than the corn we're used to, it acted as additional carbiness.

and because i really needed dessert after all that

So I got a suspiro.  Kind of a parfait thing made with condensed milk (my first love!), caramel custard.  Some berries and fruits I couldn't identify were thrown in for health.  Really, the menu had me at condensed milk, it's like my "hello".

Warsaw Soups and Stews

I went to Poland in death of winter.  Good thing Poland is full of warm and tasty soups to sustain.

bigos

At Gospoda Poleca, I had bigos, full of sauerkraut and all matters of meat.  The version I had was really salty.  I did have bland bread to cut the saltiness.  Hurm.

But things got better from there.

Kapuśniak

The next day, I chomped down on some yummy sour cabbage soup with ham at Ceprownia.  This is what I'm talking about.  Sour, savory, and hearty.

Sour is good.  I was so enamored by this next sour soup that I had it twice.

Żurek

According to wikipedia, zurek is a sour rye soup with potatoes, sausages, and hard boiled eggs.  What exactly sour rye is, I have no idea.  But I loved the slightly murky texture of the soup, made even better by dunking bread in it.

Speaking of murky, one of my favorite soups was a hearty tripe soup at Pod Mesalką Restauracja.  

Flaki wołowe

The tripe was tender and clean flavored.  It was fully of tasty herby flavor.  I would totally eat an entire pot of this.

At the same restaurant on a different night, I sampled another soup.

Rosół z kołdunami

It was like a Polish version of wonton soup.  Meat dumplings in thin wrappers, soaked in beefy goodness of the broth.

A similar broth was used for a chicken noodle soup I had at Restauracja Delicja Polska.

Rosół z kurczaka

It was a clean and simple soup, perfect to warm up with after walking around in the cold.  Soup does a body good.