Eat Like Ushi

It was a nice pleasant walk up to the northern part of Ghent and along the night river. The area was quite quiet and allowed me to take some nice scenic photos. Of course I only really ventured up here to eat at this busy bar and bistro which is known for Flemish food. This is apparently the Belgian-Dutch style more common the north of the country (obviously where it borders Netherlands).

Inside I tried my first ever Kriek - cherry beer. It was sweeter and milder than the usual beer (which I can't handle at all) but enough to make me a little heady. I went specifically there to try waterzooi - a Flemish fish-based stew that I had read about.

- Waterzooi van vis (met saffraansaus en krielaardappeltjes) €16 - fish stew with potatoes and saffron sauce. Also served light bread and dark rye which was useful to mop up sauce;
- Huisgemaakte brownie met vanille-ijs €5.5 - homemade brownie with vanilla icecream.

I had also read about the other local option of stoverij - a beef stew in dark beer. It sounds similar to Irish, but I'd like to try that next time.

In the plaza of St. Niklaaskerk lie some pretty decent shops. There was a nice local chocolatier where I sampled good quality dark. However the place on my list was Max - the best for Belgian waffles.

In a nicely adorned glamourous room, you sit and eat waffles and drink coffee (if you really want it). I couldn't go past the namesake Wafel Max (vers fruit, ijsroom, Grand Marnier, slagroom) for a cosy €10. Translated and depicted, this is waffle with fruit, icecream, Grand Marnier and whipped cream.

It was a tremendous sight, especially one like me who doesn't tend to eat so many sweets. The waffle was sweet and crisp with a soft core, the fruits blessed with light alcohol, and the icecream adding texture and temperature contrast.

Near the heart of town is this store that is known for mustard. An enormous vat contains the lovely yellow thick liquid. I purchased a small jar to carry around to the fries carts.

It's a strong heavy mustard that feels more English than Dijon but with less eye-watering burn. The quality is exceptional as would be expected from a product made simply of ground mustard seeds, vinegar and salt.

It is open Monday-Saturday.

The first I went to Belgium in 2009, I was told about how there were 3 great things there - chocolate, mussels and fries. Of the three, I think fries interested me most. Who doesn't like fries?? Although as the years have gone by, I admit I've become more sophisticated and the lure of quality dark chocolate or white wine mussels is probably more tempting.

Maybe one of the reasons is that in 2009 I tried several fries places that were highly regarded - probably 2 or 3 in Brussels and 2 in Bruges. They were all quite average. Perhaps the attraction is in the incredible number of sauces you can select from, but for me it's the chip itself that matters. Crunchy outside, smooth inside and just some salt and pepper that shows the true quality.

The two places in Ghent I tried them were firstly a well known cart (Frituur Jozef) along the side of plaza Vrijdagmarkt, and a small shop that was close to the castle (Het Gravensteen) near my hostel. The shop was actually a better quality chip.

Belgium and chocolate are things that are often linked together. I was a little wary after my first visit to Belgium in 2009, as I'd been told fries were also well reputed, but honestly they are pretty average.

But for chocolate there was greater hope. I'd read that locals eat supermarket chocolate and save the expensive brands for gifts. I'd previously headed straight to the top - Pierre Marcolini and the reputation for dark chocolate. I'd also tried a few other big brands, but my favourite from 2009 had been a small local shop in Bruges (which I never jotted the name down) where I bought a small block of dark chocolate and almond that amazed my tongue a few days later.

Yuzu is a Japanese slightly sour citrus fruit. Nicholas Vanaise (who runs this shop himself) prides on minimalist approach, interesting flavour combinations (including yuzu and other things Asian), and quality chocolate.

On this day I tried a few small pralines, macarons and mailed a large dark chocolate rabbit (the one with the wheelbarrow) back to Australia as an Easter gift. The chocolate flavours were unique - I think I much prefer a nice standard excellent dark with or without nuts, but this was more of an experience.

It is open Tuesday-Saturday.

Kutna Hora is a small town and a short trip from Prague. The main (and possibly only) reason people visit here is to see the ossuary (or kostnice). It is a morbid creative decoration of bones and skulls that I believe is more for art than anything religious or war related.

After this visit, there's a small town to look around before finding the appropriate bus back to Prague.

I only had one place on my eat list - Ruthardska which is a medieval bar. After walking past it and seeing some of the medieval decoration I didn't feel like that was where I wanted to go. I continued to walk around and eventually settled on a random little restaurant.

I settled on Chicken breast stuffed with ham, blue cheese & mushrooms, served with cream sauce and a side order of fries. The chicken was nicely cooked and the blue cheese not too powerful. It was a satisfying simple meal and what I expect would be pub style Czech.

Cafe Sperl definitely wasn't on my final list of places in Vienna. I had noted in my Rough Guide that it had "decent" food (and coffee) but there were other things higher up for the two days there. Funnily enough the reason I ended up there was because I met another backpacker in the hostel and she said it was on her list more for the atmosphere as being one of the historical cafes in town.

I'd already taken down Figlmuller and Steirereck, and the foodhall of Julius Meinl was more a place for upmarket expensive gourmet items rather than a meal place in itself. So I thought why not?

The cafe does have a remarkably ornate interior and I can see why people come here. Next to us sat an older couple who were more surprised by my new friend's ability to speak German than us being there.

We ended up sharing Tafelspitz (boiled beef, potato hash, carrot) and apparently the national dish of Austria. Cafe Sperl may have even won some national awards for the best version back in the 1990s or early 2000s. The dish was nice and the meat soft, but overall I couldn't see the big appeal of it. It's possible the unexpected social nature of the meal disturbed my opinion.

I wouldn't mind coming back again and trying it again.

One of the main attractions of Bratislava is the quite unattractive bridge (Novy Most) on which sits an equally out-of-place looking spaceship. Hence the name UFO seems appropriate. Despite the ugly exterior, reviews suggested the food is relatively nice fusion and the degustation menu was good value.

I didn't have enough time to enjoy the degustation, but the menu, views and cold weather outside was enough to convince me to go in. The interior is very nice - white table service, modern clear chairs and a surrounding shelving with cushions and books. Then mere centimetres more is the expanse of space, the view over the Danube River and the prominent (but also quite ugly) Castle.

The menu is fusion with strong elements of European, Western and Asian jumbled together. Some dishes seem disjointed like this, but for me it's intriguing. As I wasn't looking for a full meal (that was to come after at the pub), I settled on an entree and two soups.

- Crispy tiger prawns, daterino tomatoes, coriander, coconut milk;
- Tom ka gai, frog legs, dried tuna, oyster mushrooms;
- Pumpkin soup, coconut tofu, tapioca pearls, basil oil.

Considering this is Bratislava, the prices are remarkably high. Obviously you are paying for the setting, the view (including in the toilet), fusion food and ingredients and overall the privilege of being there.

After a great brunch at Avoca, there wasn't a lot left to do around town. I have to admit I don't find Dublin very interesting and if it wasn't for the trip purpose of Watch The Throne tour (Jay-Z and Kanye), I wouldn't have gone back there at all.

The Guinness Brewery tour cemented my position that beer is not for me, especially harsh strong bitter dark ones that the Irish seem to prefer. However one of the magics of cooking is that flavours meld and transform.

The Beef and Guinness Stew seemed the most quintessential Irish item on the menu and given I was in a sports pub where everyone around me was drinking Guinness, watching sport, and occasionally looking at me wondering why I was there, it was an easy food choice. It was a dense mix of potato mash balls, vegetables and slightly stringy beef in dark stew. 

All in all it was fine and filling although it definitely wasn't the best Irish stew I've had (I think the best was somewhere else in Dublin back in 2009. I'll have to look it up).

Soon after the light meal at the UFO, it was nearly time to board the bus to the airport. Given there wasn't much I had pencilled in to do in Bratislava, the remaining time meant I could squeeze in one more meal for the road.

This place with the incredibly long name had a reputation (as limited as it is for Bratislava online) as a cheap pub with good local food. Considering it was enroute to the bus stop, it proved a convenient last encounter with Slovakia. The setting is a nice friendly pub, with English-speaking staff (serving me anyway) who was helpful in recommending local food and drinks to enhance the experience.

- Cesnakova Kremova v Bosniaku (garlic creamy soup in "bosniak" bread) - not quite the same experience as Boudin's chowder in San Francisco, but the soup was reasonable. The bread was chewy and a little tough, so I couldn't bring myself to finish it;
- Bryndzove Halusky (potato dough dumplings in sheep cheese topped with bacon) - extremely heavy and thick 300g serve of carbohydrates, cheese and bacon. Think of a thick carbonara with extra density. It was nice but I could only muster half of it before it got the better of me;
- Apple strudel with cherries, ice cream, cream and sauce - filling, simple, not overly sweet and nice.

I'd happy come back here ideally with more people to enjoy the atmosphere and food for longer. As the website has limited English and no menu, I took a few extra photos to help out.