Eat Like Ushi

For our one evening in Portree, after scouring lots and lots of menus and searching for somewhere on Skye that is actually open in January, I settled upon Dulse & Brose. The menu had some local ingredients that I was looking forward to. Unfortunately they had other ideas, telling us at 7.15pm that they had closed their kitchen for the night.

And so the only place open and willing to serve was Cuchullin. Not a problem, it was warm and friendly and served by 2 lovely local lasses and their smiles.

- Steamed mussels (shallots, garlic, white wine broth) £13.5 for large - mild flavour;
- Battered haddock with Rooster chips £13.5 - very good fish although the batter was a bit soft. The Rooster chips (whatever they are) were outstanding skin on versions. The best I had in all the Scotland meals;
- 8oz sirloin steak (tomato, portobello mushroom, rooster chips, pepper sauce) £21 - after driving around and seeing local cattle I thought it was worth trying steak. One lass could tell me it was local (Scotland) but not if it was local (Skye). Hmmm. The meat was cooked to a nice rare for me as requested and although it wasn't very tender, the flavour was excellent with assumably just a bit of salt and pepper.

It was a good meal in cosy surroundings in a place that was willing to serve the winter visitors. Thank you.

In the small town of Carbost, there is a seafood place (this one), a brewery for whiskey, and a coffee shop that is closed for winter. Otherwise there's also the special views of the water, particularly enjoyable when eating fresh seafood at The Oyster Shed.

The shed itself has a variety of things to order from oysters in their farm shucked, to lots of different types of terrines made from each seafood type, and some other bits and pieces including frozen local meats.

- Oysters £8.5 for 6 - really good flavour, salinity and hint of metallic. The texture has a touch of bite and the size is medium;
- Scallops £10 for 7 - very large scallops, cooked perfectly with salt and butter. Tender, juicy and the best of the lot;
- Lobster tail £13 - a small tail that must shrivel a lot when cooked in the garlic butter (or they gave us a very small one) that tasted ok but wasn't as good as the scallops;
- Crab claws £6 for 6 - very cheap for these boiled and served cold bits. The meat was unexpectedly firm and quite dense. Not my taste.

The oysters and scallops are worth going back for. I'd probably try the langoustines next time too, since they are a local Skye specialty.

On a freezing 2C day, there is nothing better than gelato. I was the only one who thought this way and ended up here after a quick search for places around my Airbnb.

They serve an exceptional gelato. The pistachio was a perfect colour and flavour. The dark chocolate with orange wasn't one I've seen elsewhere, but a favourite chocolate of mine usually. It could have used a touch more orange, but that's just being picky. 70% dark is also the right amount of dark.

It was texturally great with no ice crystals. And of course in the cold it didn't melt at all.

It isn't cheap by any means, but it's very good.

For some reason Scotland seems to like deep frying stuff. There's the usual fish and chips, but also Mars bars, pizza and all sorts of sausage and pudding. Additionally that Scottish favourite haggis gets the deepfried treatment, which is a different mode to the standard serving on this. 

For another reason I don't know, the chippies seem to be run by Italians. Go figure.

Merchant is one of the highly reputed one's in Glasgow and in fact was the only place in Glasgow to be in the top 50 for the UK and they even state they were awarded best in Scotland. Not a bad set of accolades.

It's a simple small cafe where everything is breaded and fried, whereas the chips are fresh cut potatoes sitting in a giant vat.

- Haddock in batter supper £5.8 - a nice fish with a mild flavour, where the predominance was the wispy crisp slightly thick salted batter. The chips (which are the "supper" part) were soft rather than crispy, but at least they are actual potatoes freshly cut;
- Lemon sole £6.5 - this was too thin and so the fish got lost amongst the friedness;
- Black pudding £2.9 - had an unusual flavour of cloves. Definitely not what I expected. Like good Scottish pudding there was mostly meat and not much chunks of fat;
- Haggis £2.9 - mild flavour overall.

It's a good fish and chip. I'd stick with the classic haddock, being the cheapest and the best part of the meal.

There's a few token stops between Glasgow and Fort William. Real Food Cafe and Green Welly both in Tyndrum are two, but it's too close to Glasgow to be worth stopping for lunch I think. Then comes Glencoe and the recommendation of Clachaig Inn. I'm still not sure how to pronounce it. And the girl serving us sounded Portuguese and so she wasn't sure either. I wanted to try their gin but obviously not with driving straight after. Oh well.

The main dish on the menu that excited me was the game pie. With that many different meats listed, I wonder if it's just a random variety of offcuts from somewhere. But then where are the original pieces going?

- Highland Game Pie (rabbit, venison, pheasant, mallard, partridge, pigeon, cooked with blackberries, tarragon, juniper berries & Clachaig gin) £13.95 - lots of different meats with varying textures, some soft, some chewy. Strong berry and pepper taste overall. The pastry was thin, crisp and not flavoured. It was the disappointing part. Potatoes were fine. The mash was some combination of carrots and pumpkin I think.

A good stop close to Fort William. I'd happily go back to try some of their other things. If there are better stops in Glencoe, I'd be keen to know them.

After using a Class Pass trial for an unusual "yellow" yoga experience, the closely located Pachamama East was perfect for lunch afterwards. It was a peaceful and quiet Friday afternoon for a short wander around Shoreditch. There seem to be two entrances. We entered the rear one straight onto the bar and a quiet area probably more for coffee than food.

The décor is very café rather than restaurant, with a lot of plants littered around including on the walls. The atmosphere was relaxed.

The menu is Asian-Peruvian (which I associate by habit with Nobu). However the Asian here did have more than just Japanese, with many Sichuan elements also.

It was lunchtime so I didn't feel so much like a cocktail, but the mocktail Chicha Morada (purple corn brewed with apples, cloves, cinnamon, pineapple skins) £7 sounded interesting and certainly the colour was striking. It did taste similar to a cloudy apple juice with spices. I didn't so much taste corn as I had hoped from the description.

- Padron peppers, chilli £5 – perfectly blistered with oil, salt and perhaps a little butter. Delicious. They weren’t very chilli hot, and didn’t see any additional chilli added;
- Yellowfin tuna, pickled potato, XO, cucumber £11 – a pretty dish topped with wispy white sticks. I couldn’t distinguish the XO sauce particularly nor the potato for that matter. It was savoury and ok overall;
- Seabass ceviche, soy tiger’s milk, nori, sesame £9 – this was an excellent dish with soft cubes of fish served in a delicious umami, tangy, and balanced sauce;
- Tuna, avocado jalapeño sauce, fried leeks, lime, radish £11 – nice combination of slivered tuna on an avocado bed with slices of chilli, radish, salty bits of leek creating an excellent combination of textures and flavours;
- Plantain, yacon syrup, feta, black olive £7 – plantains a little stiff and not ripe enough, very strong black olive crumb overpowered the rest, and chalky feta was very mild. The only dish I didn’t understand and didn’t like;
- Crispy lamb belly, green pepper, miso £11 – a little bit of crispness but mainly just pieces of lamb full of fried flavour. The green pepper sauce was contrasted by a bit of tart dark (vinegar maybe?) one and together combined well. Some lamb pieces were quite fatty whilst others were pure meat morsels great for chewing;
- Miso-cured carrot, black quinoa, Peruvian kimchi £7 – nicely roasted carrots with just a hint of something extra in it. Kimchi was thin strands of pickled vegetable;
- Octopus, black quinoa, onion, lime £15 – quinoa stewed and popped (or was it large couscous?) and presenting charred bits of octopus with excellent flavour. The octopus had texture rather than soft and fine, but far from chewy. Very good;
- Whole seabass, pickled chilli, mango, Asian BBQ sauce £23 – a nicely cooked soft fish served whole. It was nice although not particularly special.

Other than the plantains, all the other dishes ranged from good to excellent. I didn't really try the Sichuan options such as fried chicken or cumin lamb stirfry (yum), but that could be for next time.

The modern Indian food scene heats up with this branch launching from India. It's an exciting time around Christmas and NY and perfect for a celebratory meal to welcome 2019. The location is an easy walk from Piccadilly circus and along the main road for some royal atmosphere too. They must be paying a lot for rent.

The cocktail list is quite unusual. There's 12 based upon ayuverdic principles. I'm not sure how evidenced that is, but with one using saffron gin and another mezcal and beetroot, there's some unusual combinations there.

For this 50% soft opening night, they didn't have the razor clams, oysters or sea bass available. Additionally they had run out of the goat shoulder and shawarma biryani, both the dishes I was looking most forward to. Oh well. Next time then.

- Pani poori (coriander water, buttermilk, tamarind) £5 - 4 crisp shells served with a mix of sauces. I liked the coriander water best, although added all 3 into my shell. It did mean that whatever was inside the shell lost its identity;
- Chicken wings (masala rub) £6 - delicious wings heavily spiced and cooked nicely. So good we ordered a second plate;
- Madras pepper prawns £8 - similarly heavily spiced marinade on crunchy prawn flesh and served with a yoghurt and some kind of dust I couldn't determine. So good we ordered seconds. The first serve had 3, the second serve had 4. A bit odd;
- Tuna ceviche (Bengal jhal moorie) £9 - tuna with lime juice, some small herbs and a crisp puffed rice salad. The only fresh dish we ordered and added some good contrast with its more refined flavour;
- Braised lamb chops (maple & kokum glaze) £14 - the maple in the name should have given away the flavour being unusually sweet. It was certainly nice. However the chops were cooked beyond medium and so the tenderness wasn't there;
- Grills of the day £40 - pork belly tikka (murraba glaze) that was slightly sweet but a bit too fatty, grainy mustard salmon tikka (kasundi mint cream) from a kebab was soft and lovely, wagyu seekh kebab (kachumber salad) with earthy spices and a grainy texture of the mince. Looking at the photos online, the serve of each is smaller than getting the dish alone. So you are paying for the variety really and not getting a discount for ordering 3;
- Veal 'osso bucco' Ishtu (dhaniya kulcha) £16 - soft medallions in a rice curry sauce;
- A small nan came out (I think part of the veal dish) and although tiny, it was supple, soft, seasoned and excellent. I should get more next time;
- Grilled baby back ribs (rogan josh) £18 - tender ribs with meat falling from the bone;
- Jhol chicken tangri biryani £16 - served dum style with a soft pastry shell belying a moist heavily spiced biryani and 2 chicken legs. It was delicious and one of the best I've had. Some on the table prefer a lighter drier form, but this was good for me.

4 of us were stuffed after this. But dessert time.

- Rasmalai 'marshmallow', tres leches £7;
- Laddoo, shell, coconut mousse, berries £7 - this bright white chocolate sphere surprised me as I don't like white chocolate. But the contrast of berries inside and around made it rich and tart and delicious;
- Chocolate forest £7.

With all the food, I got a bit food weary toward the end. Which is why the latter dishes (particularly the desserts) have much less memory.

But with the chicken wings, prawns and biryani, and my desire for the goat shoulder and shawarma biryani, there's a lot to entice me to come back.

The competition heats up between Dishoom, Hoppers, Kricket and Gunpowder. All the restaurants have great dishes. For the overall meal, I think Farzi has pipped them all. Let's see next how Indian Accent and Brigadiers is.

Added 01-2019

After the first wonderful experience, I requested to go back. Luckily they would have me and for a delicious (early) meal before walking to see Witness For The Prosecution, I found myself at a nice booth enjoying the food all over again.

The prawns numbered 3 this time (for 4 people). I don't know what to make of that, but so be it.

- Butter chicken bao (green chilli mayo) £7 – sliders rather than baos although made with soft bread and a mild butter chicken. Nice but not particularly worth getting;
- Tandoori goat shoulder (khamiri kulcha) £19 – excellent meat that surprised me in that it looked darkened and charred but didn’t have any of that texture, All the meat was soft and beautifully flavoured. The sauce underneath was strongly flavoured goat stock and yoghurt, and tasted exactly that way. Really good. It was served with a strong garlic dipping sauce;
- Venison irrachi pepper fry (Malabari parantha) £16 – heavily flavoured and seasoned like a meat curry and served with wispy roti. The meat didn’t have much game flavour, but could be detected under the heavy sauce;
- Shawarma biryani £17 – I expected a dum pie crust similar to the chicken one, but ended up with a skewer of nice mutton on top of a circle disk of biryani (less because the bass of the skewer is hidden in there). It was nice overall, but I do think the chicken is better, and comes with much more biryani, without an inferior meat component.
- Srikhand 'air' cheesecake (mango coulis) £7 – very light and smooth, and perfect cheesecake flavour.

This reinforced my high regard for Farzi and also which dishes I should select when paying full price.

You'd be forgiven for thinking most places in the Balkans serve similar types of ingredients in similar ways. It's because they do. Most restaurants have the local specialties and otherwise a standard way of cooking each type of seafood. That's where something like Azur comes in, bringing Asian fusion to the local ingredients of Croatia. For that reason it is popular, and for that reason anyone who is in Dubrovnik for a short while should eat here. If nothing else, just for the variety.

The atmosphere is nice. Sitting along a stone wall (without insects luckily) in semi-natural mood light. The menu is cheeky and playful in its tone. 

- Pork belly Beijing tacos 68kn for 2 pieces - chewy meat but good with cucumber, hoisin, chilli, spring onion;
- Monkfish in black curry sauce with zucchini rice 158kn - this expensive dish was a surprise in its form. I expected a curry. Instead it was monkfish with firm flesh deepfried and placed on squid ink. I could taste some coconut milk but not any red curry paste. It was served with sushi rice;
- CroAsian style seafood laksa 125kn - nice very thick soup with a good clear chilli kick which is unusual for this region. There was an added lime and more of a curry flavour than a Thai laksa. Small seafood was tasty but the prawns soft rather than crunchy;
- Azur baklava (4 kinds of nuts, spices, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon) 38kn - this was odd. The flavour was heavily anise spiced, and also annoying in that there was broken star anise through it which made it hard to eat. I told them this and they said it was the broken piece on top. Clearly not as it was pervasive throughout. Would not order this again.

Jazz versions of Avicii, Swedish House Mafia and Lorde are what it's all about - cool and hip but in a classy way.

As far as Asian fusion places go, this certainly wasn't one of the best I've had. But like I said, it's different and you need that in Croatia. Kudos on them for trying. I'd go back again.

It's an odd place. At night there is sultry jazz to listen whilst enjoying cocktails.

During the day, all drinks are 50% off.

Additionally it is the only place (I could find anyway) that had ustipci. Ever since these homemade gems were served to us in Montenegro along the Via Dinarica (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/guesthouse-nedajno-montenegro-09-2018), I was searching them out one last time before leaving the Balkans.

Those at Troubadour and not overly similar and not as good as in Nedajno. But they did suffice. And the sour cream to eat them with wasn't bad either.

On my one and only other visit to Dubrovnik, I fondly remember my final dinner being at Lokanda Peskarija (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/lokanda-peskarija-dubrovnik-10-2012). On that occasion I sat inside (being colder and at night) but feasted on the most delicious charred squid my tongue has ever known.

For the final meal on this visit to Dubrovnik, I had to visit there again. Now that it was warm and sunny, a seat watching passersby, the boats and the mountains made for a different atmosphere.

The prices have escalated up by 50-100% since the last time. Hmmm. Such is the life of somewhere driven by tourism and Game Of Thrones.

- Mussels 104kn - as is typical for the region, the mussels are small and kept bearded. They are very flavoursome serves in salty water, and sometimes too potent but still strangely addictive with bread;
- Grilled squid 123kn - I thought it was a smaller serve but comparing photos now it probably is the same (with a 64% price rise). Tasty char of the squid was once again present and ripped through the sauce with with lemon, and bread to drag all the flavours together. Not as charred stiff as last time, but still good.

If I'm back in Dubrovnik, I'll come here again. I hope the prices won't have gone up by another 50-100%.