Eat Like Ushi

Running late to catch the Malpensa train during a pouring wet afternoon meant my dreams of a final gelato were dashed. Almost! Malpensa Airport T2 has a quality gourmet gelato place which also has chocolates and other sweet treats. But all eyes were on the gelato. It's the first I've seen in an airport anywhere and the use of relatively normal (ok maybe slightly higher than town) pricing is appealing too.

The cones offer a freshly made chocolate coat with nuts. For 2 flavours this is €4.5. The pistachio is nice but could be a bit stronger. Tiramisu had a good clean flavour and was nice.

It's at an airport and well within the realms of what would be great outside of Italy - I can't complain.

The little cute cow welcomes you into this gelato place. Inside are a host of flavours with incredible unrivalled potency.

The pistachio is intensely strong. I'm a pistachio connoisseur but this was practically too much. My brother pointed out that the flavour was so strong it was salty to the point of not being sweet at all (I like minimal sweet but this was almost no sweet) and he is right. I like natural rather than salted pistachios as nuts and so I think this is why the flavour wasn't for me.

Yoghurt was an excellent creamy thick version of just that - yoghurt flavour.

The quality is excellent and the flavours are strong. I think I'd have to try the banana/hazelnut/chocolate one next time.

My brother raved about a fresh pasta place he had been to the night before. Even with Milan's choice of places, he was keen to go back again and almost seemed disappointed when we weren't able to. Considering he eats about 2-3 pastas at each restaurant, he does have a decent radar for these things.

The menu and food reminded me of the other incredibly good fresh pasta place in Puerto Iguazu (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/la-mamma-pastas-and-salsas-puerto-iguaza-11-2016) - the only restaurant I can say I visited 3 times in about 2 days (sure there isn't much other choice in that town...) but still. How would this compare?

There's fresh pasta waiting to be used. The giant tubes and a few others are types I haven't really seen before let alone available in a restaurant outside Italy. 

- Special of Spaghetti with scampi €15 - thick al dente spaghetti in a dense tomato based sauce which had the acidity nicely cooked out of it with whole scampi was quite good. The quantity of spaghetti was generous;
- Parsley Paccheri (with squid, cherry tomatoes, zucchini) €10 - big tubules of green pasta in a delicious savoury squid sauce with the vegetables and squid adding flavour and texture.
- Homemade tiramisu €5 - a creamy coffee delicious light version.

The quality is definitely there. I could easily have eaten a whole extra dish. Maybe next time. With my brother.

There were two particular dishes I wanted to eat in Milan. I'm not sure why I didn't try them last visit but risotto alla Milanese and cotoletta were high on the list for lunch before leaving. The north of Italy is more known for rice than pasta although I'd dare say they likely most places in Italy would do both very well. I'd read quite a few reviews and recommendations for both dishes. Unfortunately on a Sunday, many of these seem to be closed such as Trattoria San Marco, Trattoria del Nuevo Marcello and Ratana. In a convenient location close to Porta Garibaldi to get the Malpensa train afterwards were two options: the more traditional Osteria Brunello and the more modern Pisacco. 

I arrived at Brunello in the drenching rain at 1420pm. Unfortunately the place is listed to close at 1430pm and even though there were tables ordering their meals, they refused to serve me. Quite blunt and rudely but if they aren't making money from me I suppose they don't have to be nice. Shame, since it's one of the few places that has a good cotoletta and also the risotto on the menu.

Nearby Pisacco was more accommodating and the interesting wall decorations including a repeating lights screen with two little figurines provided some atmosphere. It's a more modern type cafe and so the food presentation and smaller serving size represent this as compared to the more traditional ones.

Some complimentary strong olives, small nuts/kernels and slightly crusty bread slices were served along with an order of pear juice of the day.

- Bigoli wholegrain pasta, cuttlefish, chard, pine nuts €16 - al dente emphasised by the standard more grainy feel of wholegrain pasta which I like with small pieces of delicious soft cuttlefish;
- Risotto Alla Milanese (saffron risotto with hand cut veal ragu) €15 - a fluoro bright dish with very very al dente (perhaps a bit too undercooked for some but I didn't mind) with a warm savoury chunky textured mince.

For the price we left feeling somewhat hungry. I guess that's what you pay for in modern places. If time permitted I would have added a salad or a meat/seafood main. I'd happily go back.

One of the websites suggested a typical Milanese breakfast of coffee and pastry at Marchesi. Sure, I thought, that sounds like a good start to the day. I probably should have taken notice that it's located on Monte Napoleone, the ridiculously expensive designer street. No wonder it looked like a nice clean attractive place on the inside. No wonder the coffee menu started from €5 per drink. Oh well, can't sit down then leave...

The coffees were adequate (as they should be for the price...) and the pastries were ok too.

I'd have to say I don't need that kind of atmosphere (as lovely as it is) and would be much happier in a nice standard bakery like Princi... (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/princi-milan-09-2017).

But if you want somewhere nice to spend your money (as is the way for some in Milan), then you'll be in your comfort zone here.

In amongst the darting rain on a Sunday, a trip to the bakery was on the cards. Princi was conveniently located between Porta Venezia and Monte Napoleone and marked on my list of to-eats.

It's a nice bakery with a counter for the breads and another for coffee and salads.

The pizza and focacias are thicker crust than your standard Italian. The oils have leached into the crust creating a nice crispy, oil-textured base topped with flavours of choice. It reminded me of the delicious deep-pain of NYC or more recently in Salamanca (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/al-cuadrado-salamanca-03-2017).

A casual wander from central up north to Brera led to a quick Google Maps search for gelato. It would be the first of the trip and luckily Milan seems to be full of decent options. This was run by some lovely elderly Italians who were only too happy to share their creations with us. The colours of the selections were deep and elegant.

Pistachio was a lovely light brown colour full of pistachio flavour with a light sweetness complementing. The fig was full of fig seeds for texture and a light fruity creation from blended figs.

How excellent.

It has been over 5 years since my first (and what I thought would be my last) trip to Milan and Luini (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/panzerotti-luini-milan-07-2012). It was one of those deepfried snack places especially good for a quick stop. Long gone are the days of friendly staff and the ability to look through the bakery. This time I am met with a queuing crowd to outside, a bouncer moderating the line, and one of the female staff shreaking that "photos are not allowed!!!". It's a bakery. Calm down.

The prices have gone up minimally (€2.8 from €2.5) in 5 years which isn't bad at all. The fried versions are still softer, taster and unhealthier than the baked ones. The fried ones remind me of Chinese fried mantou bread or doughnut, and have a lovely soft and delicious dough coating. The fillings are tasty and perhaps could use a little more to balance the fried bread flavour. There's no danger of the filling spilling over.

I can't imagine I'd ever make a third trip to Milan, but despite the change in crowd and service, I'd gladly come past again for a bite.

There's a good number of old ye English pubs around this area of Bow. Morgan Arms, Coborn Arms and The Victoria. Someone at work mentioned their favourite was The Lord Tredegar so on a Tuesday night we ventured on down. It seemed to also be coincidentally pub quic night and you could hear the loudspeaker mentioning things in the main dining room. I was quite content in the front bar section where everyone queues up to order their food and drinks but otherwise is quieter.

The food is very standard pub style.

- Fish & Chips (beer battered line caught haddock with tartar, mushy peas, chunky chips) £13 - a thin fillet of fish that wasn't that juicy in a soft fried crumb with light seasoning. The mushy peas were a tiny serve that resembled wasabi on a sushi plate;
- Steak, Ale & Caramelised Onion Pie (Malcolm's secret recipe) with creamy mashed potato & greens £13.95 - the pastry was crisp but quite thin and so didn't have any of the chewy thick buttery texture I prefer. The filling was nice without being significant.

This is standard pub food to me. It took 50mins to arrive also. I think the only other pub I've tried in the area so far (Morgan Arms) is more expensive but better cooking and more modern dishes. The atmosphere is very pleasant but with the decor and available card and board games, even with Morgan Arms similar wait (30-40mins last time), I'd have to give that the nod from now on.

When we walked out of Hotel Balear I asked the reception staff for a recommendation for Mallorquin/Spanish. After informing him we prefer not to drive, he thought hard. I thought he said a place along the promenade called La Mejillonera was the place to go for a famous paella stemmed from a place in Palma. However (hence the name) it really only does mussels. Next door to it was a place that specialised in paella (La Payesita) but was closed on a Sunday sadly.

Next to that was a perhaps slightly more tourist looking operation (but everywhere is in this German town) although the redeeming qualities were a seafood tank, a view of the beach and some evening sky, and the waiters were all elderly 50yo+ Spanish men and friendly.

- Pimientos de Padron €9 - well grilled, salted and mildly spicy. Delicious;
- Croquetas de Bacalao €8.5 - a smooth mild cod paste was enclosed in a golden crisp and thin coating. I suspect this was the better choice than the chicken version;
- Caracoles €8.95 - sea snails in a very strong salty earthy flavoured broth which was perfect for the complimentary garlic bread. It's always an enjoying treat pulling those suckers from within the shells.

Between 5 of us, there was possibly a little bit of food overload particularly with respect to the shellfish and the volume of rice. The two guys in the group powered on and dominated the rice. Luckily it was very good.

- Parrillada de Mariscos €38 - a generous plate of all grilled seafood headlined by half a lobster, delicious rich flavoursome prawns and their heads, langoustines, slightly overcooked razor clams, big meaty mussels and some little clams;
- Paella de Mariscos €28.6 (2 servings) - an extremely flavoursome (heavy with the salt) paella that soaked up all the lemon juice I could squeeze. The most impressive part was the way the burnt crisp crust had formed along the edges and on the bottom of the pan providing excellent textures and flavour. This was a better cooking quality in paella than I've had anywhere including Valencia;
- Paella Vegetariana €24.1 (2 servings) - this healthier version was equally well cooked but much less flavoursome. It seemed like the salt hadn't been well distributed as some portions were very light and others were over salty. Otherwise still good.

I think I enjoyed this paella more than any others so far. I don't think I'd ever find myself back in C'an Pastilla (never say never) but if I did I'd go back for it. Or try the famous one next door...