fruits of the sea

It's not often that I get really excited about something. I'm just not that easily excitable or impressionable. 

Last Sunday afternoon, something happened which got me excited and impressed the hell out of me. I discovered fresh seafood in Prague. For those of you lucky enough not to live in a landlocked city (my fellow Aussies living in the east coast of Australia), you may not understand my excitement over such a discovery.
My quest for good quality seafood began even before I moved to Prague. Our two reconnoitring trips to Prague before our big move, uncovered the bare minimum food supplies that would necessitate a relatively pain free transition into everyday Czech life. I needed to ensure I would have access to all the little things that would allow me to cook and eat well and not lead a fat filled life of goulash and knedliky (typical Czech bread/potato dumplings). Finding a good seafood supplier eluded me since then, until now that is.

Blue-Fjord Seafood is located under a warehousey type construction which is the Wine and Food Market in Smichov. You can choose to purchase your seafood and have them there at the market (cooked to order) or choose to take them home raw and do as you wish. Arnaud, the owner is a Frenchmen and in many regards I was quite relieved with this little bit of information. The French are notoriously particular with their produce and I would rather trust the quality of a French fishmonger than say a Czech one. France has a coast, Czech Republic doesn't. Enough said.

From hubby's observations, it would seem that Arnaud may have also been a chef in his previous years. Each order that was whipped up by the resident cook, had to meet his inspection before it was delivered to the waiting customer. Another tick in its already glowing report.

So here are the spoils from our adventure last Sunday. We went for an exploratory look, but came back with a whole host of goodies such a giant Madagascan prawns, escargots, vongole and oysters straight from Bretagne. The total bill could have probably fed an entire family for a week but instead we gobbled it up greedily in one sitting. Good quality food anywhere in the world never comes cheap anyways.

madagascan king prawns - these were around 25cm long!

escargots with herb butter

oysters from bretagne

Seafood from France is delivered every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. From Croatia, Greece and Holland every other day.

A friend of ours nearly had a meltdown in Tesco's the other day looking for fresh raw prawns. Instead, she found rows and rows of frozen cooked prawns. Maybe I'll share this little discovery with her. Maybe.


blue fjord seafood market
strakonická 1, prague, 150 00
tel: +420 604 274 294
www.blue-fjord.com

ladies who lunch

It was a friend's birthday recently and I happened to be in London - again.

To celebrate the occasion, the birthday girl, another girlfriend and I became 'ladies who lunch' - just for the day. Seeing it was her birthday, we allowed her to mark the special day by selecting the restaurant. Colchis, a newly opened Georgian (the country, not the era) restaurant located at the Notting Hill/Bayswater border was the order for the day.

When we arrived for lunch, the restaurant was almost bare, bar for another couple who were sitting towards the front of the restaurant. The manager was extremely charming and welcoming, showing us to our seats in the main dining room and lavishing us with attention throughout the service.

For starters, we chose to share the Pkhali Platter (aubergine slices with walnut cream, leek puree with walnut and Georgian spices, spinach puree with garlic and cumin, beet leaf puree with Georgian spices), Khachapuri (Georgian bread filled with cheese), Khinkali (Georgian dumplings with minced beef and pork) and Ajapsandali (aubergine ragout with sweet peppers, potatoes, garlic and parsley).  
We polished off the starters fairly quickly and were really impressed by the quality and flavour of the dishes.

pkhali platter

khachapuri

khinkali - looked like giant shanghai dumplings

ajapsandali

I was undecided about my next course and wasn't sure if I wanted meat or fish for my main. I was leaning towards the Chakhokhbili (pheasant cooked in herbs and tomatoes) but was advised against having meat due to the amount of starters consumed. In the end, two of us opted for the sea salt crusted sea bass whilst the other chose the pan roasted turbot. 
We were definitely not disappointed by choosing seafood. Both fish were perfectly cooked, moist and flavoursome. It left us wondering whether dessert would be as good as the starters.

salt crusted sea bass

pan fried turbot

To round off a great lunch service, I ordered the selection of cheeses and was impressed by what was placed before me.

selection of cheeses

I do hope that Colchis will last through these tough economic times. We were the only patrons there for lunch on that Wednesday afternoon whilst the newly opened Granger & Co down the road on Westbourne Grove was heaving with people and lines going out the door.
The food at Colchis was hearty and well executed and the front of house were friendly and attentive. It definitely deserves a repeat visit.


colchis
39 chepstow place, london, w2 4ts
tel: +44 207 221 7620
www.colchisrestaurant.co.uk

sticky fingers

I love cinnamon. Especially when you grab a piece of Turkish bread (or 2!), toast it, spread butter all over it while its still hot, then generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar until the entire surface of the bread is covered with the wonderful sugary stuff. I used to have it every week day for breakfast back when I was working in Sydney. It's a miracle how I didn't put on too much weight or suffer a mild heart attack from my excess consumption.

I was watching the Travel Channel one day when they showcased a bakery in South Carolina selling Sticky Buns. I made it my mission to make them that same week.

Here was my attempt at Sticky Buns which I found off the net. I tweaked the recipe somewhat to my taste - increasing the amount of pecans and reducing the amount of sugar.

Washed down with a cup of coffee each morning, that's one bun I can have everyday.

lots of nuts, lots of sugar, lots of butter - mmm

buns ready for the oven

the final product

ponytail

During our walk through one of Hong Kong's many open air markets, we came across a butcher selling various cuts of beef. 
Anyone for tail? Comes with a side of hair of course.

water (or crabs) under the bridge

As its name suggests, this seafood restaurant originally started out serving typhoon shelter crabs in a 'dai pai dong' (open air food stall) under a bypass in Wan Chai. Some twenty odd years later, four restaurant locations and a visit from internationally renown chef, author and travel presenter Anthony Bourdain, Under Bridge Spicy Crab has become one of the most famous seafood restaurants in Hong Kong.

We met up with some friends from Australia during our final night in Hong Kong and took the opportunity to try these famed typhoon shelter crabs.
There were varying degrees of spiciness in which you can have these crabs  - from super spicy to very spicy, medium spicy, mild spicy & finally slightly spicy. Of course you can have other typical Chinese styled crabs such as ginger and shallot or chilli and black bean, however they are famed for their typhoon shelter style crabs so ordering anything else would have defeated the purpose of going there in the first place.

Medium spicy was our selection and it actually came out quite fiery. The mountain of spicy fried minced garlic that engulfed the crabs was what really made the dish special. Fragrant and delicious with that extra 'umami', I was eating the garlic in spoonfuls. Granted, the amount I was consuming could have easily led to a blocked artery, I didn't care. I kept shovelling. It was my final night in Hong Kong and I was prepared to take the risk.

'medium spicy' typhoon shelter crab

We had other complementary dishes like clams in black bean sauce, salt and pepper squid, steamed prawns, steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli which were all nice, however the star of the show was definitely the crab.

Make sure you book a table in advance and try and round up a group so a variety of dishes can be had. 

Whilst many others have complained that the service there is rude and abrupt, the only fault we could find were our beers taking too long to arrive. 


under bridge spicy crab
http://www.underspicycrab.com/chi/index.php
various locations