Dinner after arriving in Jordan via the tremendously delayed boat from Egypt.
Note to self - fly next time.
Hmmm. The only other things along Exmouth Market on my list are Moro/Morito. After quickly scanning the street for not much and seeing that those two places were also very full, I thought I'd try my luck for the wait at Morito. There was a table right at the back available. How perfect is that.
The Moorish/African-inspired tapas reads wonderfully with so many great options to share. Between 3 reasonably hungry people, 6 dishes was enough with plenty of satisfaction.
- Flatbread £2.5 - wispy bread perfect for scooping up EVOO, the spice mixes (salt, za'atar, sumac, mild chilli);
- Spiced lamb, aubergine, pomegranate, pine nuts £8.5 - a beautiful classic mix of flavours and colours on a plate of aubergine yoghurt;
- Croquetas (salt cod) £3.25 each - shell flavour was nice but only mildly crisp. Insides were ok. The ones in Lisbon were a lot better;
- Octopus & pisto £9.5 - tender pieces of grilled octopus on stewed vegetables;
- Chicharrones (slow roasted pork belly, lemon, cumin) £8 - wow this was phenomenal. Crisp skin, not too much leftover fat, warming earthy flavours, outstanding. Picked by the vegan and adored the most;
- Crispy aubergine, whipped feta, date molasses £8 - soft aubergine chips charred and topped with an unusual feta sauce and mint.
Excellent dishes, all good flavours, showing the perfect Spanish and Middle Eastern crossover.
I've missed decent modern Thai food and in my mind the benchmark is still Longrain (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/longrain-melbourne-01-2017). I wonder if Nahm Bangkok will compare, but that's a while away and Nahm London didn't excite me.
It's a pretty busy place on the corner of Shoreditch High Street. Sitting at the bar allowed us to watch the 2 bartenders mixing drinks and serving ice cream. The staff are attentive, friendly and pleasant. Unfortunately despite the name, there was no goat on the menu. I know Soho had it on the normal menu and I thought this branch had it (or used to) on the banquet menu. The waitress said something about the menu changing regularly and the quality of goat at the moment. Not sure.
Drinks were Sorrow, Tears & Blood £4.5 described as Bloody Mary with beer. Gee that tasted bad. Each to their own. Celestial Blues (mezcal, lychee, butterfly pea flower, egg white) £9.5 was pleasant but there wasn't much smokiness in the drink. I think I'd go for the rum cocktails next time.
- Steamed oyster, roasted chilli, fried shallots £3.5 each - this dish is a serious waste of time. The oyster was so small there was no oyster flavour and barely any texture. It was smothered in fried shallots and the taste was this alone;
- Smoked aubergine salad with chilli & egg £6.8 - lots of bird's eye chillies dotted the plate with pieces of charred aubergine flesh creating a slightly smokey salad in a fish sauce base. You could choose how much fire you wanted from how many pieces of chilli to chew on;
- Smoked brisket & bone marrow massaman curry £14.5 - a remarkably excellent curry full of deep savoury flavour, although it could have used more brisket. The presence of smoked chillies also helped the flavour along;
- Smoked lamb ribs with pickles £24 - delicious lamb ribs (a bit fatty but not excessive) with reasonably crisp skin, extremely soft meat and littered with herbs, jalapeños, bird's eye chillis and some smoked chilli;
- Sticky rice £1.25 each - sticky rice but plain. I thought it may have some coconut or pandan, but I suppose not for that price;
- Coconut ice cream, plantain, lime & condensed milk £4.5 - two thick creamy coconut icecream balls sat on condensed milk with lime squeezed and plantain chips on top. I didn't like the chips that much, but the other 3 ingredients were harmonious.
Altogether other than the oysters, it was an excellent meal full of flavour and left me wanting to come back. I particularly liked their smoked interpretation of Thai food and the different types of (particularly Mexican) chillies in the dishes. I definitely need to try the fish sauce chicken wings next time and the lamb laab. I can't wait.
Points for humour and innuendo there.
Sweet Green smoothie (avocado, date, chaya, soy) 90pesos was cheaper and better than Lola's one with the date bringing out the sweetness of the other ingredients nicely. And the food was a world apart also.
- Mayan falafel bowl (chickpeas, beetroot hummus, green tomato pico de gallo, tahini, cucumber, pickled veggies, mixed greens, mixed seeds) 165pesos - look at the beautiful colours of that plate. Simply a stunning dish with all the Middle Eastern delights with a slightly Mexican tinge. The falafels themselves aren't the best I've had as they could have been a bit crunchier, but those are minor complaints. If only I had some flatbreads to crush them into...;
- Matcha hotcakes (nut milk, flax, green tea, cacao, coconut, maple syrup) 155pesos - a thick good stack of pancakes with colour although not really matcha flavour in it. Nonetheless they were quite good and soaked up the maple well. But honestly I couldn't get past the falafel bowl.
Brilliant brunch. Would love to go back.
We sat in for our last meal in Mexico and it was definitely a good one.
A couple of complimentary fish pastries came out. Then our chosen dishes of seafood soup and seafood rice (approx. 100-200pesos). The rice was the more potent flavoured one, with strong seafood and salt coming through. It was actually very similar to those found in Portugal and Spain, both in terms of style and taste.
We struggled through bits of seafood, admired the beach one last time, and then took a slightly less overpriced taxi to the airport.
Goodbye Mexico.
For the last dinner in Isla Mujeres, it was just a small one. A little further away from the main hub along the north of Isla Mujeres, La Lomita was a little place serving Mexican.
My friend had a "Swiss" style burrito which was oddly (and unexpectedly for him) topped with cheese.
We stayed with the more predictable Ceviche mixto (white fish, shells, octopus, shrimp) 200pesos which was fine.
For an evening dinner after watching a stunning sunset along Playa Norte, I couldn't decide where to go. We knew we weren't all too hungry and didn't want to spend a long time out since it had been a long day and was already past 9pm. I remember seeing a burrito place on the walk back home and so sought it out, after discovering that the food stalls in the plaza weren't very appealing to us.
I do like a good kebab/spit and so seeing this pork with discernible pieces rotating under a pineapple was music to my eyes.
It was also one of the few places that had guacamole.
- Guacamole (avocado, salt, pepper) 70pesos - a thick chunky form (not creamy) served with blue corn chips. Definitely not the best guac I've had, but it did nicely;
- Alambres pastor (250g of pork spit, pepper, onion, cheese) 100pesos - I really really enjoyed this meal of pork slices mixed with vegetables and topped with cheese. Tortillas, some raw onion salad and sauced topped with lime wedges made for a DIY taco experience. It was wonderful.
A large horchata washed down the hot sauce. One of my favourite fun meals.
I was looking for a brunch place after the perfect 10am swim at Playa Norte. No daytrippers yet, no sunbeds occupying all the space, no music. Just perfection in the water and scenery. A blogger had said Lola Valentina had the best brunches she'd tried outside of Australia. That's a pretty good accolade and I gave her credit for even knowing Australia's scene.
There's the outside area with fans or an inside bit with blasting A/C. We opted for outside just for the atmosphere. A few lazy cats slept nearby under a table.
The smoothies are actually really expensive. Avocado (avocado, papaya, coconut milk, spirulina, vanilla extract, hazelnut, cacao nibs, beepollen, chia) 140 pesos reads like a dream. It was pretty good although the avocado flavour wasn't very strong. It could be underripe or just their local avocado types being used. But the real test was the food.
- Caribbean benedict (poached eggs, mixed plantain, black beans, avocado, drizzled with hollandaise sauce, served with skillet potatoes) 165pesos - ok the potatoes were really nice. But the rest not so much. Poached eggs were overcooked (1 very much so), the plantains didn't work with the dish as it made things too sweet, and the hollandaise sauce didn't taste right;
- Chilaquiles gourmet (tortilla chips soaked in traditional adobo sauce, sprinkled with cotija cheese, fried eggs and juicy tenderloin) 215pesos - the steak was cooked quite through but maintained some tenderness and was quite nice. The flavour of the tortilla was good too. However it wasn't like the chips were topped with sauce, they were soaked in sauce which meant they disintegrated into a messy thick heap. It wasn't the most pleasant to eat.
I think that blogger needs to eat more breakfasts around the world. This wasn't bad as such, but there are many better forms...
I really wanted to eat gelato at Wabi Gelato in Valladolid. We walked past one evening and it looked pure inside with metal tins and all. However the next afternoon when going to actually eat it, we discovered a sign on the front saying they weren't open that day due to water problems in Valladolid. And we left the next morning - I was so disappointed.
The next stop was Isla Mujeres which as a beach island you would think would have a lot of gelato places to choose from. Sadly that isn't true but it did look like there would be one Italian style artisan on the island.
I tried the pistachio and maracuya. Unfortunately the pistachio was a tasteless waste of time. The maracuya was actually a decent tart passionfruit, but I was too disappointed by then. Shame, Mexico.
Ok so it isn't actually in Valladolid. It is in between cenote X'keken and Samula, which is pretty damn close to the Valladolid. After swimming in both, we needed some fuel before going back for another turn. It was a Sunday and so it seemed all the Mexicans were about with their large families sharing the water.
There's a few places to pick to eat here, although this looked like a good one with some ladies making the tortillas fresh, a young male manning the barbecue, and the family and children eating their lunches too.
The menu is pretty small, but nothing wrong with that.
- Poc chuc de puerco 65pesos - thin, not very tender, not much seasoning, plain. Quite disappointing meat overall;
- Huevos encamisados 65pesos - fresh corn tortillas were served with the food, but for this dish there is egg inside the two of them. Different.
They did however have the best hot salsa in all our trip (and you get hot sauce/salsa in every single place) with smoky chilli bits and flesh of perhaps aubergine (not entirely sure). That was hot but truly outstanding.
A bit of horchata and I was set.