Online Menu

A short post on something I dont like.

A restaurant putting up their menus online. So I agree that it is useful to have a look at the menu to see how the food is, how much it will cost...etc etc. But for me it takes the charm out of going to a restaurant.

For me dining out is a shared experience. As is all good things in life. You go out..you look at the menu together. Discuss what each item may be...ask for the waiter's opinion. All in a package. Looking at the menu before hand gets you biased. I feel that if I have made up my mind about what I am going to eat beforehand I dont usually listen to the waiter/server. And I feel that ways I miss out on the good stuff.

Sadly. I still look at the menus online.  

Ayiti

So recently I was in Haiti for some work. I want to write about the food there.

Since I was there for a long time I got to taste local food. The staple diet there is rice and beans. And fried everything else..ha ha. OK so I had a lot of fried chicken. They told me that they boiled the chicken to cook it first and then they boiled it. Nothing special about either the rice or chicken...in fact in some places the chicken was quite greasy. However, the water that was left over after boiling the chicken in it...I guess we could call it stock..They made some kind of sauce with it. That was just awesome...specially when paired with rice. And of course, there was the fried as well as boiled plantains. All regular stuff. With lots of fruits for dessert and fresh juice!

This was boiled carrots and potato...with mayonnaise. Highway to heart attack!

Fried chicken and plantains...expressway to heart attack

Rice with beans..simple, staple food

The sauce...Yummmm!!

OK..so on the last day of my stay in Haiti, I went to this restaurant. It was in Petite Reviere de Nippes and I cannot remember the name of the place even to save my life! But this is what happened. I went in with another girl from the clinic for dinner and also because we were meeting this guy...Mike! He said the fish was real good in the place so I ordered fish. In the meantime, I ordered Prestige Beer

Now normally I am not a big fan of beer...but you see I was in Haiti. I was willing to try stuff (except maybe cat...which I was told is a delicacy here). But everyone told me about Prestige, about how it had won 2008 World Beer Cup. So I was like..OK let me try. And I am glad I did. It was light, not bitter...and sort of nutty tasting beer. Very very good. I wanted to get some back for Mono..sadly I had just one carry on. Next time surely! I just found out that they also won 2012 Beer Cup. So ya...truly good beer. And this one comes from a non beer-drinker. OK enough of beer...Next. 

Moonshine. Sugarcane based. 80% alcohol. Illegal in US. Took a shot. ALL of it vanished in my mouth. Got me drunk. Enough said!

And lastly, along with all that alcohol I had this fish. Again, I dont eat fish. But Mike convinced me that it was the best fish he had ever had, and that people swore by the fish. So I was like...OK Sure...and I was happy. Very very happy. It was Rock fish. And it was grilled. Lemony, tangy tasting divinity. It had no sea food smell...Not just the best fish I have ever eaten, but one of the best food I have ever had. I wish however they had not served it with french fries. I wish they had something more local...But who cares? The fish was a meal in itself. I repeat. It was divine. 

So overall I had a good time. Good food, good alcohol, great company (I missed Mono) and the sea. What more could a person want? 

Peruvian Chicken

I have been lazy lately. Either I have not been cooking, or I have been cooking simple stuff. I have not even been eating out...I guess I have officially become a bum!!

However, on Sunday we went out to eat. It was this hole of a place, with an unimaginative name..."Peruvian Chicken". The food however was anything but! It was one of the better cooked chicken in the country.

They serve you either whole chicken, 1/2 chicken, or 1/4 chicken. I took 1/4. It came with a side of rice and salad. Rice was cooked with peas, very bland...it went well with the chicken. The salad was a simple cabbage and carrot salad with dressing which had mint in it! The mint dressing could also be used for chicken. But the chicken...that was so good! It was roasted over charcoal. And the way way it fell off its bones, I am assuming it was roasted for sometime. Maybe even more than 12 hour. Whatever they did to it, the flavors were good...and went right till the insides of the chicken. It had a woody (in a nice way) taste, and the skin was crisp. Yumm, yumm. 

Oh and by the way, I ordered a coconut juice for my drink. It was not intentional but the two went well!

I need to go back to the place again!

Oyster @ Hank's

So, we have moved to Alexandria, VA. There is a place here called King's Street...and what a feast the King has laid out for us!!

OK, enough of theatrics. So in King's Street there is a restaurant called Hank's Oyster Bar. And that is where I had my first oyster. It was oyster with lemon and butter. Mono told me that is how everyone has oysters. Of course I was a little squeamish at first; the thought of raw sea food was not very appetizing. But Mono dared me into trying it out! And I did; and I am glad! It was delicious! A little spongy, and it tasted of the sea. Salty and fresh. And the lemon and butter really added on to the flavor! Would I have oysters again? Hell..yes!

Apart from oysters we had some Calamari (the biggest ones I had ever seen) and some lamb chops (yes in a sea food restaurant). The lamb chops were good...only problem was they got me rare when I asked for well done. But well the chops were good so I let them go! I dont exactly remember what was the side with the lambs...thats sad because I know whatever I had was good.

And dessert? I played it safe. Chocolate mousse. Wasn't out of the world; was quite good actually!

Overall, a good dinner.

I need to go back again!