Eat Like Ushi

Apparently Manchester has the 3rd largest Chinatown in Europe. London is probably 1st but I'm not sure which is 2nd. Nonetheless given there aren't really any typical local Manchester foods then any excuse for Asian was a good one. Funnily most of the well reputed ones are on the very expensive side which I wasn't really up for - although Tattu does look good if up for it - or Cantonese which I think is less exciting than other Chinese cuisines.

I wanted to go to Red Chilli for Szechuan but the Chinatown branch was closed so Hunan seemed somewhere else nearby and of regional cuisine. It tends to have more braises, stirfries and smoked meats. Apparently it can be fiery hot but not too much here. I tried to select what would be Hunanese dishes, as they do serve Cantonese and other bits of fare too (including for some reason pho...)

- Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork £7.8 - not nearly as glowing red as the picture in the menu, a warming dish of savoury pork;
- Stirfried Hunan Smoked Bacon with Garlic shoots £9.8 - really delicious smoked salted meat with garlic shoots adding texture and differing flavour. It was marked as a spicy dish and the chillies added heat but not too much;
- Stirfried Cucumber with Salted Egg Yolk £8.8 - I like the salted duck egg added to deepfries and so it was good to see it with a vegetable dish. The cucumber was somewhat crunchy and not the soft squishy texture usually associated with cooked cucumber. The egg yolk coating wasn't very salty but still fine;
- Steamed & Deepfried Northern Buns £6 - I reminisce about the deepfried mantou buns from a now-closed restaurant in Melbourne who served the delicious things with crisp coats and layers of mantou bread slivered underneath. These were much less flavoursome and exciting and next time I'd probably just get rice instead.

It was a decent meal other than the bread. I do still prefer the heat of Szechuan or the cumin of the north.

The street food scene in Manchester seems to be blooming and actually most of the interesting places to eat seem to be dirty food. Almost Famous, Luck Lust Liquor & Burn, Hip Hop Chip Shop seemed to some of the options up north as was the highly reputed Northern Soul.

It's a stall converted from essentially a garage where toasties are continuously pressed and flipped and filled.

Pig On A Lead £6.5 is made with 4 cheeses and tender 9h BBQ pulled pork. Surprisingly the cheeses together aren't all that strong in flavour although they do make a nice congealed blob that is fun to pull through. Perhaps adding something light blue or vintage would bring out the cheese impact.

Nonetheless a good find.

I'd read a bit about Brighton's restaurants. I didn't expect that they would be so difficult to get a lunch spot on a Sunday. Apparently the small amount of options, the not-much-else-to-do and the weekend local diners and tourist visitors all come together. One person in the party was vegan which also made it that little bit more limited.

Terre-A-Terre and 64 Degrees were full. The Salt Room, Murmur and Jack & Linda fish smokers were inappropriate. So cheap curry was the order of the day.

Lal Mass? The last time I saw you was when you burnt my face off... (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/handi-jaipur-01-2015).

- Hyderabadi Biryani (marinated boneless chicken pieces, basmati rice, fried brown onions, South Indian spices with yoghurt raita & mirchi ka salan) £11.95 - a decent rice dish with tender chicken. Not too heavily flavoured;
- Lamb Lal Mass Thali (British lamb shoulder slow-cooked in yoghurt & onion sauce balanced by red chilli) served with lemon rice, naan, parsnip & onion pakora, daal makhani, vegetable thoran, tomato & black pepper rasam, beetroot raita, poppadum & pineapple chutney £10.95 - a whole mixture of things of average quality. The daal was quite watery, the curry wasn't spicy at all and the rest were relatively standard.

A staple curry lunch but I prefer my London ones more.

Some friends have lived in Shoreham-by-Sea (and Brighton) for many years and took us out for dinner. I therefore didn't bother researching any places in the area but this seemed a good choice.

The menu is French-inspired seafood and the bouillabaisse caught my attention the most. Luckily it came also as part of a platter...

- Smoke House Fish Board - we only ordered the Sussex smoked mackerel pate but they generously extended it to include a side of smoked trout and slices of smoked salmon on rocket. All the smoked elements were delicious and reasonably strong;
- Farmer's Market Vegetable Board £11 - a slight variation on the menu with arancini on beetroot, white asparagus, artichoke, pickled red pepper, cheese and large olives;
- Fruits de Mer £40 - bouillabaisse in a mild creamy sauce, mussels in white wine & cream, beer-battered fish with some of the best (probably triple cooked) chunky chips I've ever eaten, dressed crab with delicious roe, moderately strong rock oysters, smoked salmon.

The food quality was very good without any being particularly outstanding (other than the chunky chips which were incredible).

Dessert was 3 little dishes of creme brulee (one serving) which was unexpectedly served very cold.

A satisfying meal overall.

The sun was shining on a coolish Paris afternoon but still warm enough for a gelato. The friends living locally had heard of one to try and we walked past one little branch to find another one with the wall serving the streets.

Pistachio was a light brown colour but a bit too light on flavour for my liking. The dark chocolate-hazelnut that sandwiched it was a much stronger flavour with both elements coming through.

Not bad at all.

A well known galette/crepe place in Paris is Breizh. After the recent trip discovering the quality and earthy flavours of galettes from Bretagne, I don't think I could go back to the standard sweet crepes. The difference in flavour is such a welcome change for a savour-ite like myself. The best so far has been the similarly named Ty Breizh (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/ty-breizh-perros-guirec-06-2017) so it was interesting to see how this would compare.

We didn't have much luck here. The day before during lunch they said they only took bookings until 2pm. In the evening for dinner the night before they had stopped serving. This day they were also fully booked but directed us to their shop next door. Why didn't the same guy bother doing that the day before? Unclear.

In any case I preferred this little gourmet shop to the restaurant full of loudly spoken tourists. It was much quieter and gave an opportunity to peruse some local products which have a clear Japanese/French fusion. I picked up a yuzu mustard and a nori mustard for the trip home.

- Mushroom galette (scrambled egg, ham, raw milk comte cheese, Paris mushroom & shiitake) €12.5
- Artichoke galette (fried egg, raw milk comte cheese, white ham, artichoke of Brittany) €12.5
- Crepe with butter & sugar.

The galettes here are different to the typical ones in Brittany. The inhouse cookbook explains that here they are intentionally thicker and softer. I must admit I do prefer the more standard thinner and crisp if nothing else because the slightly charred areas add such a delicious texture and nutty taste. However these do have the advantage of a more varied selection of toppings including borrowed from other cuisines.

Some friends have been living in the more grimey/character 11th in Paris and recommended a local dinner at a true Parisian place in their suburbs. It's true to say very few tourists would venture out this far and the solely French menu reinforced that. They therefore also found it quite unexpected that the waitress spoke very good English. Only good English, because her smirky/smiley response to my ordering of a cocktail of "be careful, you're Asian" is perhaps lost in translation. Or maybe it's just French.

The 3-course menu is €34, a reasonable price for Paris considering mains are generally around €20-25.

- Oeuf bio mayonnaise addictive, gaspacho d'artichauts violets, pousses de pois - a lovely poached organic egg on a "gazpacho" of artichokes with tomato and parsley. A warm fresh entree;
- Veloute de lieu jaune au lait de coco-galanga-citron vert, legumes croquants - a fish based soup cooked with the Thai trinity of coconut milk, galangal and lime. It was a beautiful soup with a strong tart edge with a lighter nod to classic tom kha soups;
- Joues de lottes mijotees a la creme d'Isigny et au chardonnay, risotto de riz noir, carotte rotie - al dente black rice risotto with morsels of soft white fish in a savoury creamy chardonnay sauce;
- Canard des landes aux figues roties au miel de romarin, polenta, jus de cuisson - I was craving duck and this delivered the beautiful rare meat with some sweetness from roasted figs. Simply wonderful dish and meat;
- Biscuit a l'amaretto, mousse au chocolat noir, compote de framboises - biscuit, dark chocolate and raspberry. A good combination;
- Poire williams pochee dans un sirop aux agrumes et epices, yaourt au safran d'Iran, crumble cafe/avoine - an excellent poached pear with a saffron yoghurt and crumble.

The duck reminded me of my favourite parts of French cooking. My last trip to Paris had the wonderful deep warming duck cassoulet (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/chez-papa-paris-06-2016) and so I have myself a theme.

This well known sandwich-erie is located in the Marche des Enfants Rouges. It is lucky my Airbnb was a couple of minutes across the road. It seems like a nice market to buy things to eat then or take away for a picnic later. There's quite a few options but the most popular with both French and foreign-language speakers is Chez Alain Miam Miam.

The queue on this Saturday around 1pm went for 50minutes. There's a lot of queueing and really only one sandwich or one galette can be made at a time. So be prepared for the wait and bring a book.

The two main options are the galette and sandwich. The sandwich is the more famous one but as you see other people receiving their galettes it certainly tempts you that way. Luckily I tried both.

Galette Fraicheur €9.5 is a buckwheat base with loads of fresh salad, tomato, parsley, cured ham, loads of parmesan and even more loads of basil. It's a wonderful fresh and healthy flavour mix. The problem I have with it is that galettes are best eaten warm and crisp but the wet salads make it cold and soggy when you eat it.

The sandwich €9 is a hot pressed beast with salad, cooked onions (10kg per day), mushroom, tomato, avocado and your choice of cheese (I liked cantal better) and filling (I chose the warm chicken). It is reminiscent of that drunk 3am kebab in terms of warmth, size and satisfaction but also healthier, better quality ingredients and a more fresh (rather than meat salt) flavour. It is very satisfying.

I wouldn't go back there knowing what the queues are like, but I'd stop by in the area and take a peak to see how long a sandwich might be...

You'd think it would be easy to find places serving food in Paris on a Friday night. Yes it was around 2230pm but that isn't late for any decent sized city. But in the 3rd arrondissement the pickings were slim as the places closed their kitchens. Everywhere that was open until 12 or 2 or 4 weren't serving anymore food. I'll admit to being a little picky considering nearly everywhere served exclusively meat dishes that sounded appealing.

In the end a corner restaurant that had a French menu with a few token smokers sitting outside was the last option and luckily it was a welcome re-introduction to Paris.

- Escargots x12 €14 - beautiful little creatures covered in garlic parsley butter and perfect to be absorbed by the slices of bread;
- Pan-roasted tuna steak (with coriander sauce, sweet potato puree) €18 - a fully-cooked but at least not overcooked seasoned fish with a healthy mash;
- Beef tartare 180g (with homemade French fries) €15 - the waiter had to check I knew it wasn't cooked. It was an interesting version with diced beef pieces mixed with onion and pickles, rather than the finer mince I'm more used to. Nonetheless nice and served with excellent fries;
- Crepe with sugar & lemon €4 - a simple sweet offering to finish.

It wasn't a place I wanted to go nor a place I would normally have picked. But it was open, serving food, French and a fine bistro meal to start.

We were looking for a more "hipster" area that included vintage shops. There wasn't much to find on Google searching but the area of Isola sounded worth a visit. We walked past a train station, little park areas, new constructions with creeping vines and through a street food produce market.

Stelvio was a funky cool looking corner place with a pasta menu that appealed which I think lured us in from the pictures of hands kneading dough. It must be fresh and homemade right? I was so so tempted to try the Risotto Alla Milanese con Ossobucco but felt into pasta this occasion. Because many of the pasta types had names I had never heard of before, the fascination helped me decide.

- Pappardelle al Funghi Porcini €12 - this fat flat sheet pasta was very al dente and served in a mild savoury sauce complemented by the soft spongy textures of the mushrooms;
- Casoncelli alla Bergamasca €13 - pasta stuffed with a beef and topped crispy pork and sage. The umami was strong and using the half eaten packages to scoop up the buttery sauce was a tremendous delight.

I'd happily eat here again for gourmet sized portions of food.

However if I was to visit Isola again, I'd try La Cantinetta which we walked past when exploring the area later. That place was in a courtyard plaza and bustling with patrons. It looks worth a good go.