da Tao's Presents: European Food Porn

[da Tao]

Subtitle: "Chronicles of a food gigolo"

So while dragon seems to be under a barrage for the want of pics... I am doing something that ellen told me to do long time ago - posting food porn collected from my travels.

(As a Non-seq... I am not a big fan of buying souvenirs for myself, so I started to collect a copy of Maxim and a copy of Playboy from the countries I have been to. Someday I will be able to read Hungarian...)

Anyhow... let's get started.

PRAGUE - 25th-27th of March

So if you read the lonely planet travel guide, it said something about Czech cuisine as heavy, lots of gravy, and not big on fresh veggies... Overall I am impressed.

First the tourist traps... the kind of place that serves you shrimp cocktail out of a can, dresses it up and rips you off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague5.jpg
Braised pork with bread "dumplings" and pickled cabbage.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague4.jpg
Braised beed with cream topping and bread dumplings.

This next restaurant in Prague is top class and comes recommended by our guide. It's called "U Valdare"... I can dig up the address if anyone is THAT interested.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague3.jpg
This is their Beef Tripe soup... ABSOLUTELY DIVINE. None of this wimpy taste. It is thick, rich and robust. Lots of different types of bits in there too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague2.jpg
Uh.... well.... :oops: Well this WAS a plate of quail eggs with mushroom. I was expecting boiled eggs like the chinese dimsum version... but to my surprise they fried it! You probably can't tell from the pic... but it was good. :oops:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague1.jpg
Ah... the ultimate in Czech sidedishes... Breast and leg of Duck with both Bread and Potate dumplings, with Red and White pickled cabbages. By now I was absolutely stuffed. To be honest, it was very nice, but not groundbreaking.

And finally, some fast food when I was in a hurry to catch the train out...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/prague6.jpg
I didn't write down what it was called... or remembered exactly what it was... but it is like a thin piece of chicken in a potato batter type thing and fried... only to be microwaved when sold later. Greasy. It is a novelty factor deal.

[ellencho]

daTao you fricking ROCK! I know very little of Eastern European food other than pierogies and borscht. Maybe it's because I'm really hungry right now but that soup did look really good.

[da Tao]

BUDAPEST - 13th to 16th of May

So this is a great place to get your fill for cheap bucks. Like other Eastern European countries, the eats here are hearty - and they have no problem adding pieces of fat for flavour!

This is from a restaurant called Blue Rose... it is a local place tucked away in Pest away from stupid tourists.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/budapest1.jpg
Fried Mushroom Caps! They have a nice crust (bread crumbs?) and the technique is just right - not greasy at all. The shrooms remains just a tad moist and you can get different types of fillings as well... such as ewe cheese. The stuffing shown here is chicken liver - it costs the same as no stuffing at all.

What I didn't take a picture of there was a salad, goulash soup and the main entree. The main entree was pork medallions... a tad on the dry side... but that's the reason they included a strip of pork rinds with the fat part still on them so you can chew that with the meat for taste and oil.

Two days later I went to another restaurant... I know where it is, but I won't dig that up right now. It is a small pub sitting around 40 at most and serves Hungarian fare along with some foreign dishes here and there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/budapest2.jpg
Fried Cheese Pieces. Deadly. The quarter pie pieces measures 3" in radius and 1" in thickness. The cylinders are 1" in diameter and 3" in length. There was brie, mozzellra, something and something else.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/budapest3.jpg
Fish soup. Thick. Heavy. A bit spicy, but not overly so. An absolute delight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/budapest4.jpg
This sucked. This is the Hungarian Cheese pasta. No sauce like the usual Italian version. The "sauce" is something like cottage cheese... except more sour. In the middle you might be able to see a dollop of sour cream and bits of pork rinds again... after the fish soup I was bloody full so I didn't really dig in to this sub-class dish.

[da Tao]

daTao you fricking ROCK! I know very little of Eastern European food other than pierogies and borscht. Maybe it's because I'm really hungry right now but that soup did look really good.

Oh ellen, you HAVE to try it if you have the chance. It's really really delish.

Btw, how many brownie-points do I get for these pics? Can I redeem them for food? :D

[da Tao]

MADRID - 6th of July

This is from a restaurant called Maceiras, as featured in the Lonely Planet's guide. Not a tourist joint. Nice decor, but very busy. (They forgot to bring a dish I ordered, and didn't understand that I still wanted it... but I was kinda full anyways and so I asked for the bill... Naturally they screwed up and DIDN'T take it off my tab... TWICE.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/madrid3.jpg

This is Caldo. A Galician soup with turnip, greens, beans and potatoes. It's decent, not mind-blowing, but decent.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/madrid1.jpg

This is Arroz. M. A popular way to eat rice in Spain with a thick sauce - Delicious and filling. This particular one is sided with cokles, mussels, calamari, and fish. Just don't make the mistake I have made: The steel plate is for eatting, the wooden bowl is for shells and bones.

This next restuarant is called Mueso del Jamon (Museum of Ham), it is hanging with ham legs and sausages inside. You can either eat at the bar or the salon (more expensive). Order your favourite ham dish and enjoy a beer!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/madrid2.jpg

I was in a hurry and didn't want to get full eating here, so I took a quick snack of a sandwich with ham and egg.

[ellencho]

Nice pics da Tao. Dont' forget to take some food porn pics of churros and hot chocolate!

[vsoy]

:shock: Museo de Jamon?

I've never heard of it but the concept of hanging meat and sausages in the window and picking out the slab of meat is just decadent and combined with the kitchy name is just.. I so want to go there! I think I will die and go to heaven if I ever go there. Was your ham sandwich good?

I heard the island of Maijorica is beautiful, any plans going there for the beaches?

[Dialectic]

Oh my lord that all looks amazing. I'm not sure about eating that stuff everyday, 'cause it looks like delicious XXXL death on plates, but dang I'd like to try it all some day!

[da Tao]

:shock: Museo de Jamon?

I've never heard of it but the concept of hanging meat and sausages in the window and picking out the slab of meat is just decadent and combined with the kitchy name is just.. I so want to go there! I think I will die and go to heaven if I ever go there. Was your ham sandwich good?

I heard the island of Maijorica is beautiful, any plans going there for the beaches?

The ham sandwich was awesome, taste exactly how it looks actually...

And, just for Vsoy, here is what heaven looks like...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/jambon1.jpg

Shot of the store front, legs of ham can be seen from the window.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/jambon2.jpg

The deli.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/jambon3.jpg

The bar. This is one of my idea of a good date... Drink some beer, eat some ham, grab some ass... :P

And as a shameless plug... read this thread also!
http://www.thefighting44s.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=4276

[vsoy]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/laugordo/jambon2.jpg

*gah...gah...gasp*
*collapses to ground with tears in her eyes*