La Rosa in Budapest

Patrick Italian, Restaurants

According to many people who’ve been to Hungary before, it’s best to avoid the Hungarian food if you want something that is going to delight the taste buds. It’s not because Hungarian food is bad, but it does tend to be rather bland and a little bit all the same after a while. Spending a longer weekend in Budapest meant looking for alternatives, and one that cropped up in one of the tourist guides was the opening of a new restaurant, La Rosa or sometimes referred to as La Rosa Lux.

It’s a bit strange because the guide wrote about it being a “fusion” menu though the only fusion I could tell was the fact there were some hungarian dishes on the menu, and the rest being Italian. Besides being a little bit skeptical of restaurants listed in guide books, we still gave it a go. There are a few tables (four if memory serves me right) sitting outside where you get a lovely view of a… bus stop. Not the best view but it’s still nice to be out in the open. The interior was pretty empty on the Sunday evening we dined out.

The biggest recommendation on the menu is the Roman thin style crust pizza that comes straight out of the oven. I went for the Firense, a spicy and admittedly meaty pizza that the waitress also recommended. When it arrived, it was huge, literally overflowing the plate and the smoky charred edges promising goodness.

While not the thinnest Roman pizza I’ve ever had, this was definitely up there in taste and flavour.

Name: La Rosa (or La Rosa Lux)
Found at: 1071 Budapest, Damjanich utca 47-49.
Contact number: +36.1.788.5608

Budapest’s Mix Restaurant

Patrick Budapest, Restaurants

One of the biggest surprises for me as dining at the Mix Restaurant. It’s located almost directly opposite a main train station, and arriving for their superb value for money lunch offer, was a little bit worried that more people were seated at the nearby restaurant. Nevertheless, we still wanted to try out the place. The lunch offer is pretty amazing value with a two course for HUF1500 (~£4.50) or three courses for HUF2000 (~£6).

Of course drinks add up and with a couple of drinks (non alcoholic!) we still managed to double our bill. Considering how good the food was, and already felt like we were underpaying I don’t think this was too much of a problem for us.

Their menu offers a diverse selection with plenty of interesting dishes I could have ordered even if I wasn’t going for the lunch time offer. It just means going back in the evening another time to try it out.

Being a club as well as restaurant, they had a huge assortment of tables sitting outside. Facing the old school train station, it was a wonderful way of soaking up some sun and enjoying the lively atmosphere of people going by.

For starters, my sister had the meatball soup, quite literally containing only a single meat ball. The soup itself was a clear broth, untouched like the creamy french soups and apparently very tasty.

Needing some greens and vegetables to offset the dish to come, I opted for the mushroom salad, packed full of flavour and delicious.

I wasn’t really enthused by the paprika chicken on offer, but got to try a little bit of the one my sister offered. A bit bland for my liking.

The ribs on the other hand served with paprika roasted potatoes were perfect. Surprisingly with some kick and amazing tender, just like good ribs should really be.

We finished off with a couple of desserts, literally stuffed from all this food. We had the mango pudding and the cherry cake both of which I could really have passed on. The latter was a recommendation by our waiter being quite a traditional dish and as I learned throughout the weekend, cakes in Hungary tend to be based on weird jelly like concoctions, not the light cakes one is used to in the UK.

Pretty great food, amazing value and a great place to boot, it’s hard not to recommend this place. Of course, I have no idea what it’s like dining when it’s also a club, but it seemed like a pretty great place to be.

Name: Mix
Found at: 1062 Budapest, Teréz körút 55-57, Hungary
Website: http://mixclub.hu/

Trattoria Barca Bianca in Budapest

Patrick Budapest, Italian, Restaurants

Despite the reputation of fairly unexciting food in Hungary, I have to say that we ate very well during our time in Budapest. Perhaps it’s because we stayed clear of many of the “traditional” foods and searching around on the web for recommendations make it much easier for bigger places. The other good thing is that Budapest is still very cheap compared to many other places, making it much easier to have good food without breaking the budget so much.

Anyway, the first place we ate for dinner was intentionally Italian as it was all about the carb loading (but not too much!) before the day of the race.

We walked around and picked, what turned out to be a very nice restaurant where we could eat alfresco, and had an enjoyable meal.

We started with two different soups, my sister picking this clear beef broth with a single ravioli (pictured above). Good but she was surprised just to have the one.

I went for the lobster bisque that also came with a bread dumpling, and also just the one. I can’t really say that I’m a bread dumpling sort of fan. The soup really could have done with some croutons for a contrast of texture, to which the bread dumpling didn’t do much. Fortunately the soup was really tasty and made up for it.

My sister proceeded to have the mussels, admittedly not very Italian but figured it would be a bit of a lighter alternative to some heavy pasta meal.

I, opted, for a Tagliatelle with speck and porcini mushrooms, a lovely and generous serving of perfectly al dente pasta and amazing chunks of flavour.

We finished the dinner off with a Tiramisu, decadently rich and presented in a very different manner, almost as if they used an ice cream scoop for each bite. Service was friendly, the atmosphere busy but not overwhelmingly noisy and an enjoyable meal to start off the long weekend.

Name: Trattoria Barca Bianca
Found on: V. kerület Fehérhajó utca 5, Pest side of Budapest.
Website: http://barcabianca.eu/

The Publican

Patrick American, Brunch, Chicago, Restaurants

I was due to meet Danilo and Jenny in Chicago on the short weekend I had there. Thanks to Jenny we decided to have lunch at the Publican. They also invited Matt along who happened to be in town. Let me emphasise that this is a good thing. It’s a nice bustling place and one where you definitely have to book in advance. Or plan to wait for a long time.

Jenny and Matt below.

We tried far too much for a brunch, starting with one of their sticky pecan rolls. Topped with nuts, thankfully not too excessively sweet (at least compared to their Cinnabon brethren) yet surprisingly filling.

The pork rinds had been recommended, dusted with a slightly picante (calling it spicy is not quite fair) dusting of spices and a cone of chips that were supposed to accompany the chicken fried chicken.

Highlight of all the sides was the recommended maple glazed bacon. I’m not normally a fan of thick cut bacon – it turns out to be to excessively fatty to a point it dominates the smoky and salty flavours that make it a wonder to behold. And besides, if something is going to be so fatty, it’s best that it crisps up from that benefit. There’s a good reason people who like fried chicken expect a crispy crust.

I opted for a bit more of a twist on a classic, the eggs benedict. The eggs, poached in red wine and served with prosciutto and toasted bread. I appreciated the attempt at something different, but the red wine flavouring kind of dominated the rest of the dish.

The toast wasn’t quite toasted enough or maybe they really should have chosen a sourdough instead of plain bread because I think what the dish lacked was a contrast of flavours. That perfect maple glazed bacon, crispy on the outside, would have made the perfect accompaniment but instead everything seemed a little bit soft. Picture of an overcooked egg.

Other people ordered interesting dishes including a massive weisswurst (white sausage) that came poaching in a big copper pot.

Matt was brave enough to order the artery clogging chicken fried steak with two fried eggs.

And Danilo opted for a more sensibly portioned Ploughman’s platter.

Name: The Publican
Found at: 837 W. Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607
Website: http://thepublicanrestaurant.com/

Restaurant Remake

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Unique

Remake is quite the little find, offering interesting experimental cuisine combining flavours and techniques you’d pay much more in other restaurant in even other parts of Berlin. It’s a shame that whenever I’ve walked past it’s been fairly empty and on the evening we went, it was only us and another table. The food deserves much better than that.

We chose to go with a five course tasting mean, something I’m guessing from the freshly printed paper, changes regularly. This excites me because it means you get to try lots of different things.

Unlike many other places in Berlin, we were actually served a bread basket and this time with a choice of either whipped garlic butter (yum!) or a delicious olive oil both strangely accompanied with a piece of beetroot on a stick. Maybe my pallette wasn’t refined enough but I couldn’t tell if there was something else with it.

Our first dish was based around prawns, and my memory failing me a little bit now was accompanied with some sweet potato, dollops of sour cream constrained by gelatine skin that would burst upon contact with a from and strands of pickled ginger. Firstly, great points for serving three of these giant prawns. They could have easily served a single one and the dish would have been fine and the sweetness of the potato was well contrasted with the slight tang of the pickle and the additional richness and sourness from the sour cream. A great start to the meal.

The second round was a simple dish packed with huge flavour, a yellow capsicum gazpacho with scoop of sour cream ice cream. The dish was wonderfully chilly, not too cold to numb the taste buds and the choice of sweet yellow peppers really shone through the coldness. Instead of a scoop of just cream, they opted for an ice cream, in keeping with the cold theme that I think worked really well as well.

One of the reasons we opted for the five course menu was because the four course wasn’t going to have the pork cheeks and for the most part, they are always, always good things to have. In this adaptation and keeping with the theme of three things, the pork cheeks arrived atop small circular discs of watermelon and based with pureed mint pea. At first, I thought was a strange combination but actually on trying it worked really well. Firstly the watermelon wasn’t as overpoweringly sweet as I’d feared, instead acting as a strange but complementing alternative to the apple one is normally served with pork. The pork itself, not the softest I’ve ever had was still packed with flavour and the green pea puree provided a nice colour and texture contrast to the plate. Well executed and flavoursome I would come back for this dish alone.

Following up on the pork dish was the main star, a stuffed spring chicken served with chantarelles, foam and a clump of minced apricot. Despite being quite a generous portion, I disliked this dish probably the most mainly because the chicken skin was cloyingly fatty and not as crisped up as I’d hoped it been. The chantarelles provided amazing depth to the dish but at these same time seemed wasted with the super sweetness brought about by the apricots.

Fortunately dessert won out without being excessively sweet. We had some poached pears, accompanied by a white chocolate mousse and a scoop of ice cream, all the elements except for the strands of caramel adorning the ice cream nicely balanced and provided a fresher end to the meal instead of a cloyingly sticky alternative I’d feared.

I enjoyed the food in this restaurant and while I feel that I like the idea of a changing menu, they definitely still needed to refine a few elements to their existing dishes. Maybe this is why restaurant are best off to sticking to the normal stuff. We did, however, try quite a different set of flavours and combinations I would never expected and it worked really well.

Name: Remake
Found at: Große Hamburger Straße 32 10115 Berlin
Website: http://www.restaurantremake.de/

Spuntino

Patrick American, Restaurants, UK

Alright I’m a little behind the times about eating and blogging about Spuntino. It’s hard given that I’ve spent most of my year working in another country for a different client. Fortunately I managed to agree to catch up with my sister for an early dinner (just before 6pm) on a Sunday. It’s a good thing too with the queue for seats starting almost as soon as we sat down.

Saying that there’s not much space is a bit of an understatement. It’s pretty much just a U-shaped countertop serving probably about twenty people. With the young hipsters behind the bar mixing cocktails and various things to drink it’s quite all up for show.

The waiting area behind the “dining area”.

As soon as we sat down, they served us some popcorn with chilli oil. You can see them pop the corn with a proper cinema popcorn maker although it really felt a bit too greasy for me. Didn’t really taste the spice either.

The idea behind this New York inspired dining eating is small plates for sharing. It works in a whole lot of ways. You can eat progressively, as much as you like or as little as you like without feeling like you’re constrained to a normal two or three course meal, though you can do that as well. My recommendation to you is to do make progressive orders as the space on the countertop doesn’t really let you stack that many plates. Now on to the food that we ordered.

Although the both of us aren’t particularly fond of olives, I’d read good reviews of their stuffed olives (£4). Imagine a mini version of scotch egg except that instead of an egg, they use an olive and the stuffing is an anchovy mix. I can’t really say that worked for us and I found myself eating them all myself. Terribly salty (olives + anchovies) and honestly a little bit greasy. But hey, that could work for you if you’ve been waiting in line and drinking for a little bit already.

A huge winner and something I don’t think that you can indulge in everyday was the truffled egg toast (£5.50). What arrived was a huge piece of bread, with melted cheese and aromatic melted cheese enriched (like it needed any more!) with a puddle of egg yolk on top just to add that extra bit of egginess. It was good to split this between two people as I can imagine as a dish for yourself might be a bit much.

We ordered a couple of the “sliders” that are basically an American name for almost bite sized burgers. I say almost because these were pretty big and you would hope so for the prices. We tried the ground beef and bone marrow (£4.50) and the lamb and picked cucumber (£5). Both tasty, moist and served on a nice tasty bun that wasn’t too dry.

The next few dishes almost arrived at the same time meaning we struggled for counter top space – swapping drinks for meals and lightly arranging dishes so they maximised the tiny counter top that we had. We split the next dish, the zucchini, chill and mint pizzeta (£6.50) in half. Thin base, perfectly balanced spicy, cool and fresh vegetables made this dish a big winner in my eyes. Probably one of the better valued dishes as well.

Like we didn’t have enough stodge in our meal, my sister wanted to try the famous mac and cheese (£8) that we probably should have split with our neighbours that there was so much and so rich. Whilst good, I think we were craving the small bigs of truffle shavings of truffle oil that has made this dish an even bigger winner for me in other restaurants.

Pretty much full after this huge amount of food, I opted out for dessert, instead just trying a bit of the peanut butter and jelly “sandwich” (£6.50) dessert that my sister ordered. It’s a cleverly constructed dish with the “bread” made out of slabs of peanut butter ice cream, filled with jam and sprinklings of crunchy, sweet peanut brittle providing the perfect amount of crunch to the dish. Had I not eaten so much, I probably would have enjoyed this dessert although my only criticism is that it was far too sweet for my taste and I barely even touched the jam with the small amount of ice cream I had.

I can see why this place gets great reviews. I think the bill was reasonable considering the amount of food we ordered. The price would obviously go up as soon as you hit the alcoholic drinks, and if you’re interested in some of the interesting bourbon based whiskey cocktails, there were definitely a few interesting ones to go for. Service was cordial, prompt and much deserved of their 12.5% service I think. Be warned that it’s worth going early if you don’t want to wait, but I guess half the fun could be indulging in the tiny crowded space imagining that you’ve been transported to some part of New York.

Name: Spuntino
Found at: 61 Rupert Street, Soho, London, W1D 7PW (it’s not very well signed and we walked right by it but maybe look out for the large group of people that may be queuing.
Website: http://spuntino.co.uk/

Japonais

Patrick Asian, Chicago, Japanese, Restaurants

I only had a short weekend to Chicago and had plenty to do so didn’t really have much time. Unfortunately there was no trip planned for Alinea, however Ajit suggested the very swank and busy Japonais. I’m always up for trying everything so Ajit booked it in with a lot of us.

Located by the river in Chicago, it obviously was a popular location. Plenty of tables and many of them full for the duration of our dinner obviously indicated it seemed to be one of the go-to places of the moment. It felt like it was trying to be a bit like Hakkasan, but seemed a bit frantic instead of the cool interior charm.

After almost no sleep in 24 hours, I found the intensity of all the questioning from the attendants honestly a little bit overwhelming but it was good that we could share a few of the starter dishes. I’m not really sure what this dish was involving fish and I can’t seem to match it to anything on the menu.

This one was the Ahi Tuna Ceviche – I love yuzu and this was one marinated with some white soy. The contrast between sharp citric and salty soy was great and didn’t overpower the tuna.

I think this is the Wagyu Robata – Smoked american wagyu-style with green and white asparagus, and wasabi ginger ponzu. The ponzu sauce worked really well. The shavings of green and white asparagus didn’t really do that much, even for texture.

Who doesn’t like steamed buns can just leave the room now. We ordered these Manju buns filled with braised pork, scallions and a sweet sour sauce. I made the mistake of trying the buns with the sauce and they were perfect without it. Unnecessarily weird fusion food going on here. I’d order these again and then just leave the sauce.

The Chilean seabass cartoccio arrived wrapped in plastic before the parcel was opened at the table. Many of the components failed to really work well except for the strong flavoured tomato compote that I was scraping against. Can’t really say that soy-butter really does it for me being surprisingly bland and dreary.

My main dish was the Tuna steak. It was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be (a good thing with all those appetisers) served with a roasted scallion potato puree and picked celery salad. It came with some tempura too FTW. Nicely cooked, delicious fish and plenty of flavours that actually worked well together.

Controlling my urge to order the Japanese Ribs, Gaz did that instead. What arrived was a pretty great sight that I was told tasted pretty good. I’m a bit skeptical to see how much of the red miso BBQ really came through, but they looked pretty darn good.

Overall a pretty great dining experience. I felt you paid a lot more for the atmosphere than necessarily for the food. Being a “western meets Japanese” concept I think they managed to hit the mark with some dishes whilst others definitely need more work on balancing texture and flavour combinations. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Name:
Website: http://www.japonaischicago.com/
Found at: 600 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Il

Pan Asia

Patrick Asian, Berlin, Restaurants

Our Product Owner took us to Pan Asia for lunch one time and it’s a place that’s definitely worth revisiting with great food and great atmosphere. It’s long red tables remind me of Wagamama, and besides perhaps slightly rushed service (a Berlin trait in general), that’s where the comparisons should really end.

Sticking true to its name, the food cuts across several different Asian continents including fresh sushi and tempura from Japan, Thai curries (you can actually ask for it really spicy but it’ll still catered for German tastes, Malaysian style satay sticks and Chinese style steamed dumplings.

You’ll pay a lot more for the food here than if you went to a more focused restaurant, partly because it’s located in trendy Mitte and also because it aims to attract your Berlin Hipster’s who won’t mind paying for the extra. It’s unlikely you’ll stumble across this restaurant as well, hidden away in one of the Hof’s and only really noticeable by the circular sign hanging out front, or by the trail of people you might see wandering in.

Their duck dish below.

The salmon. Delicious.

The food excellent, the drinks spot on, and a much talked about and decadent toilet area that confuses and bemuses at the same time. It’s just one of those places you’ll have to see for yourself.

Name: Pan Asia
Found at: Rosenthaler Straße 38, Berlin
Website: http://www.panasia.de/

Sunday Brunch at Ming Dynastie

Patrick Asian, Berlin, Restaurants

When travelling to other European countries, I’m always a bit skeptical of eating Chinese food. It’s customary for the cuisine to adapt to local tastes, and when it comes to Chinese food, it normally results in highly salty, fried but otherwise fairly bland food. On a very rainy weekend in Berlin, I decided to head over to http://www.ming-dynastie.de/ to try their Sunday brunch buffet.

Not really expecting as much (typically lower-end quality cuts and mainly fried dishes) I was quite surprised by the selection on offer. The food also turned out to be pretty good as well. There are, of course, the crowd pleasing sweet-sour pork dishes, etc, but they also had on offer a number of interesting things that seemed to take a bit more effort such freshly cooked Cloud ear mushrooms, hot and sour cucumbers, jellyfish salad, duck and fish in black bean sauce.

Even dessert impressed considering Chinese isn’t the most well known for its sweets including the pancake with peanut pastes, Chinese sponge cake and the yummy steamed buns filled with custard.

The reviews I read said that the quality was held pretty high in this branch (not sure about the other two) because it sits opposite the Chinese embassy. I’d definitely say so as well.

Name: Ming Dynastie
Found at: Brückenstrasse 6, Mitte, Berlin
Nearest S/U-Bahn: Jannowitzbrücke S-Bahn
Website: http://www.ming-dynastie.de/

Dunkelrestaurant

Patrick Berlin, German, Restaurants, Unique

I know of at least one restaurant near me that is like the Dunkelrestaurant (Dark Restaurant) that we ate at a couple of weeks ago. Just like one near me, the Unsicht Bar (Invisible Bar) focuses on serving a meal that really pushes your sensory experiences by forcing you to eat your meal in the dark.

It’s a bit like this:

You first sit down in the bar to choose what sort of meal you would like. They cater extremely well for vegetarians, fish lovers or just down right meat eaters. However not to spoil the fun, you get to choose dishes like a soup, “A greek with many names loves to bathe and be seduced by the Asian beauty whose taste is very fine indeed”, or an appetiser “Tender American girls cuddle up against Italian hunks against a green backdrop” so you really don’t know what you’re eating.

Of course, normally this is where I’d share all the photos of the food but obviously it would ruin the experience. Instead you’ll have to imagine what it’s like.

Firstly, our waiter introduced himself. He was, I think, half blind and got us to follow him to the edge of the dining room. Forming effectively a human congo line, though hands on shoulders rather than hips, he walked us through a winding passage way where the bright room gave way to a black void filled with interesting sounds. We could hear tables talking fairly loudly and only got a sense of what the room was like by where all the sounds of the people came from.

Not able to fully focus on the wall as our waiter moved quickly, we suddenly stopped at our table where he told us to stand still as he guided each of us to our chair and sat us down. He asked us to feel where everything was on the table, and using our hands, delicately pushed things around to rediscovery the feel of what would normally be on the table. A good thing our wine glasses were shorter and smaller than normal ones that we’d be more likely to knock over.

Instructed to alert him (how we have no idea) if we needed something, he dropped off some water and wine before whisking away to serve several other tables. At first, it was mighty awkward. Using fingers to guide the neck of the bottle to the glasses and another inserted to sense the overflow, I was amazed to see how we had to adapt.

Our first dish soon arrived and recommended by our waiter to use our hands, decided to poke around on the plate. Michael and I decided to have the beef menu, whilst another Patrick (Pat D) had the poultry. Michael and I had fun trying to guess what we had, and discovering different things on our plates at different times. It was actually a really great event that really got us focused on the different delights of the food we had to eat. Ours ending up being a slice of roast beef, with anti-pasti and salad. Full of flavour and really well cooked.

Our main was quite entertaining, because we knew we had a bit of beef coming and using a knife and fork to cut it proved difficult for the entire meal. Cutting it wasn’t too bad. What was hard was finding out that the fork you had came back empty, or with a chunk far too big to eat without even realising it. Deliciously made though.

Dessert was perfect as well, a white chocolate mousse of some sort with some berry compote or the like.

An awesome experience and definitely well worth going for. In a way, we were also pretty lucky we didn’t get the fourth course, a soup option that I can imagine simple spilling everywhere.

Name: Unsicht Bar Berlin
Website: http://unsicht-bar-berlin.de
Found at: Gormannstraße 14