Eat Like Ushi

Researching food in Malta was interesting. As a small mediterranean set of islands, it would be expected that Greek and Italian influences would colour these foods - and these two countries are home to two of the most flavoursome cuisines in the world. It seemed strange that many reviews of Maltese food deemed it a poor cousin to these. Nonetheless when surrounded by ocean, it can't be too difficult to find decent food especially seafood right?

Mellieha was home for a few days, especially chosen for its proximity to a lovely stretch of beach, access to the northern tip to boat around Gozo and Cosimo, a single bus ride direct to Valletta, and most importantly a good selection of restaurants in town.

Rebekah's Restaurant is rated #2 in Mellieha on Tripadvisor - usually I don't put so much emphasis on Tripadvisor reviews but there isn't much to read online. Reviews are scant and most are overwhelmingly complementary.

It is a nice adventure to find it. It is the one restaurant well off the main street, walking up public stairs, through neighbourhood streets and to a quiet corner. Unfortunately the eating experience didn't live up to the hype of a first meal in Malta.

Complementary bread and croquet was fine; no faults here. The starter Fritto Misto €11.95 (fried prawn, calamari, white bait, fresh fish, mussels) was terrible - heavily over fried and thus the ingredients lacked intrinsic flavour and any fresh texture. The Baked Brie €9.75 wrapped in Filo Pastry had a powerfully strong blue cheese taste - not for me, but cheese-likers won't mind it at all.

Intermission of Cucumber & Vodka sorbet €2 was a nice refreshing interruption. Certainly not necessary, but cleansing (and charged without ordering it).

The restaurant made a point of showing us the fresh fish of the day Dott €23.95 which sadly was again badly overcooked - I really can't remember much else about the dish. The Pan Fried Wild Boar €24.95 (not a local ingredient unfortunately) had an expected game flavour and was cooked to a nice medium rareness but still remained chewy. The Maltese sausage and black pudding fritters (ie. croquettes) it came with was delicious though.

Most of the all the biggest problem was time. The indoor part of the restaurant was only half full (and there is a rooftop outdoor area that I did not see) but the time taken to serve was ridiculous. That no wait staff ever approached to inform us made it even more unacceptable. From the time on my photos, the night progressed as: 1925 arrival 1935 menu 1947 bread 2004 croquette 2031 entrees 2054 sorbet 2123 main. I think 1 hour for entrees and another 1 hour for mains to be served is below expectation.

This is the first restaurant I've researched into and would not recommend. It had to happen sometime and it is sad to be from a small local place.

Next time I would order from the restaurant nearby on the local street named Bouquet Garni. However if you end up here, the Fish Soup entree and Chateaubriand Carved at your Table looked like the best bets.

A major concept sweeping through new restaurant openings is specialising in a select dishes only. The limited menu makes choice very simple for diners who at least know what they are coming for, ensures the restaurant cooks the specialties repetitively well and at least waiters don't need to deal with fickle customers (like me!).

The Tramshed in Shoreditch specialises in two simple delicacies - chicken and steak. Chips are chips, salads are there for balance, and dessert is for completeness.

Roast Woolley Park Farm free-range chicken (for 2-3) or the smaller version poussin (for 1) are delightfully roasted and served whole, ass up in the air with a silver spoon buried within it. The claws are dramatically sky-high and make easy handles to gnaw on tender drumsticks. As expected the chicken is cooked well without any dry texture. The flavour is basic - pure roast chicken, but isn't particularly unique. The alternative Mighty Marbled Glenarm sirloin steak is a lovely rare specimen with nice flavour up there with the reputed London steakhouses. We added some decent chips, fried onions, salad, vegetables and a simple chocolate ripple cheesecake which were all great supporters.

As tasty and textured as the chicken and steak are, it does seem difficult to justify a £25 chicken compared to the local £4-5 Whitechapel variety (which although doesn't have the some delicacy, does impart a more unique flavour) or even roast chicken from the local chicken & chip places around local neighbourhoods. The steak is delicious but at £40 per 500g is slightly higher than even the specialty steakhouses.

The restaurant building looks like an airport hanger except with a giant cow and chicken elevated to God-like status in a formaldehyde tank in the middle. It sets a nice atmosphere, although the massive roof does lend to an impersonal feel and can be a little chilly.

In the end it's a fun experience with a chicken served like you'll never see it again. Just a bit pricey for something that seems simple.

Next time I would order the same - there isn't really much choice to change. In the end I think the steak was closer to the top of the range than the chicken, but noone is going to serve a whole cow on its head with legs in the air. I'd pay if that did though.

With the 2012 Summer Olympics due to start tomorrow and the influx of millions of athletes, support staff and tourists, it seems as good a time as any to recommend places to gain calories. Given that the majority of people will come and go in two weeks and likely everywhere in central London will be bustling full regardless, and that most locals intend to stay away from these main areas I don't have fears of these places being overrun to the point of annoyance. Having said that, as I live in the east (and Olympic Park is slightly more east than me) and my most regular eating places are local I won't be surprised to see a few extra people around.

If you read this post, then you deserve to eat well.

Favourite Restaurant in London - Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
More reasonably priced, conveniently located and equally tasty to The Fat Duck. Not as theatrical but the one place to be if you were lucky enough to get a reservation months ago. See my post for the recommendations.

Favourite Minimal Choice - Burger and Lobster
Well known as the lobster-place-to-be. Once again be prepared to wait with the no bookings policy, but apparently you are able to wander locally and they will call you when your table is ready. Get the lobster for the best value or the lobster roll for something more balanced. Don't even think about the equally priced burger.

Favourite Burger - MEATliquor
The best burger I've eaten. Some may find this a bit tasteless if used to the heavily salted versions found elsewhere around the world as these patties are thick pure rare beef flavour. A bit oily and messy to eat and likely to leave you waiting outside, but worth the entry. The more recent MEATmarket in Covent Garden is a takeaway version of the same thing.

Favourite Fish & Chips - Poppies (Shoreditch)
When you walk along the street you can smell the alluring frying scent. Inside you will find beautifully crisp batter coating soft delicate fish. If on the move, a cone of chips will keep you happy and satisfied. 

Favourite Sharing - Ceviche (Soho), Wahaca (Canary Wharf), Boho (Shoreditch)
Serving happy dishes of ceviche, guacamole, various meat and fish dishes. There are also lots of tapas places in central London all of which are recommended (and some quite pricey) and none of which I can tell you the difference between.

Favourite Healthy Food - Kastner & Ovens (Spitalfields) and Beatroot Cafe (Soho)
Both have similar concepts - fresh salads that vary daily that you select into a takeaway box for a deliciously healthy meal. Beatroot is vegetarian, Kastner & Ovens has optional hot meaty food to have with your salads. Must try the "sausage" rolls at Beatroot and anything with beetroot at K&O.

Favourite Breakfast - The Breakfast Club (Spitalfields)
Inspired by the 80s movie, the decor is a trendy retro diner style. Great breakfasts ranging from muesli to eggs to Mexican. Team it up with a healthy smoothie, lovely morning mojito or a jug of sangria for the perfect that to the day.

Favourite Markets - Borough Market (Saturday preferred), Broadway Market (Saturday), Sunday Upmarket (off Brick Lane)
Borough Market is the well known staple that all visitors should see. Teemingly busy on a Saturday, try some samples, pick up some gourmet supplies, fresh produce and make sure the fresh oysters and clams (especially clams if you like strong ocean flavour) and chorizo rolls make it into your belly.
Broadway Market is much more local in the east. A more spacious street for enjoying life and the Momofuku-style pork buns from Yum Bun, roast pork crackling rolls and more.
Sunday Upmarket sets up within an indoor carpark. Vintage clothes stalls hide the true gems of street food stalls that have people sitting all over streets eating. Cantonese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Ethiopian, Lithuanian, Mexican, cupcakes and more. My personal favourite is Carribean which serves chicken and fried plantains. Go at 6pm for the closing time when everything becomes discounted between £1.50-4 each. 

Favourite Curry - Needoo (Whitechapel)
Avoid Brick Lane - that is common knowledge. Go to Tayyabs - that is common knowledge. However Tayyabs guarantees a lengthy >30min wait and the smell of meat-body-odour sticking to your body and clothes after you leave. Needoo around the corner (run by the ex-manager of Tayyabs) has a similar menu, similar flavours and reasonable prices and much less touristed. Guaranteed to please are the meat biryani and dry meat curry and lamb chops (not that "meat" on the menu is generally lamb).

Favourite Asian - C&R Cafe (Chinatown)
Tucked away in a small alley in Chinatown on a street unmarked on Google Maps, this is the place that gives me my Malaysian food fix and makes me happy on my days off. Har mee, assam laksa and ice kacang will keep you happily enjoying Asian flavours that are difficult to find in London.

Places recommended but untried - Pitt Cue Co, Dabbous, Pollen Street Social, Opera Tavern, Roganic, La Bodega Negra.

I haven't been to Peru and other than small taste by way of a restaurant in the Mission district of San Francisco and a hint of influence from the dishes of Nobu in Tokyo, I don't really know what their staple foods are. To be honest, there seems to be much similarity between Peruvian, Mexican and possibly much of Latin menus from around.

In any case I have been keen to try Ceviche since opening a couple of months ago, and despite reading some mixed reviews I was pleasantly surprised they had space for a same day weekend evening.

Given the name of the place, it can be expected that the ceviche items are supposed to be tasted. Don Ceviche (fresh seabass ceviche in aji amarillo chilli tiger's milk, aji limo chilli & red onions) was a great signature start to the night - tart tangy lime coating chunks of seabass seared by acidity and raw inside with some crisp sweet potato adding contrast. The waiter also recommended Barranco I Love You (tiradito of thinly sliced seabass in aji amarillo chilli tiger's milk & cancha corn) - I suppose the main differences I noted was the extra chilli kick and peanut crunch that wasn't in the Don; maybe I wasn't paying attention closely enough but otherwise the flavours didn't strike me too differently and I don't recall corn being added as supposed.

Yucas (fried cassava chips with Huancaina sauce) was a good snack of fried crispy outsides and a more chewy texture than potatoes on the inside.

The cooked food at Ceviche has been the most scrutinised and I am happy to note that they were definitively successful on my eating. Corazon (beef heart skewers) were spectacular - the meat was cooked with lovely rareness maintaining texture and the typical heart flavour I like, exemplified by a chilli sauce for difference. It was served with choclo corn which have the largest kernels I've seen and a strangely unexpected starchy texture. Odd.
Pulpo skewers (braised octopus & chorizo) was equally delectable - tender soft flavoursome octopus cylinders and oily rich chorizo. I'm salivating just remembering them.

Main dishes of Lomo Saltado (wok cooked striploin beef strips, chips & saltado sauce) were again cubes of nicely medium-rared beef with quality crispy chips that unfortunately the underneath ones got soaked soft in liquid. The other dish I'd read good things about was the Peruvian Corn Cake (choclo corn & feta Peruvian style vegetarian cake) is certainly something I would not have ordered if others hadn't commented on it - it had some nice corn flavour, but otherwise the wet texture was not for me.

Dessert to try was the Suspiro de Chirimoya (fruit mousse with manjar blanco, cinnamon & port wine meringue) ended up effectively being a very thick sweet caramel with what resembled more cream than meringue on top. Good if you have sickly sweet tooths, but again not so much my taste.

Overall a good meal with plenty of highlights I would return for and many more menu items I'm keen to try.

Next time I would order the Don Ceviche, Yucas and more serves of the Corazon (beef heart) and Pulpo (octopus/chorizo) skewers. Striploin beef is also good but some of the other mains items sound more interesting. From the menu the salmon ceviche and seafood or duck rice mains would be on my list for next time.

I'm not entirely sure how I came across this name in my research. I think there are so many (Italian) restaurants in Rome that the advice should be to stick to the usual rules (ie. away from tourist areas, busy with locals, menus not in many languages etc.) rather than necessarily relying on an internet source. Nonetheless most people agree that Trastevere is the area of Rome of choice for locals and food and so this well regarded place seemed a good bet (ranked #2 for Trastevere on Tripadvisor).

The first good sign was that it was located on a quiet side street in Trastevere; the second good sign was that there was Italian language to be heard by customers (inevitably some tourists also but I suppose they feel the same way about me); the third good sign was we had to wait 20mins for a table (for which they apologised); the fourth good sign was the hostess chased away any flower sellers that tried to bother her guests. She was fantastic and friendly, using her own initiative to seat us, stabilise a wobbly table, explain the specials and apologise if something wasn't quite right.

But let's cut to the real deal - the food. It was superb.

We started with a special Swordfish Carpaccio with White Truffle emulsion & Tomato (white truffles shouldn't be in season and whatever they used is not as good as the fresh slices and I think unnecessarily overpowered the raw fish, but still nice flavours) and Fried Zucchini Flower stuffed with Cheese & Anchovies (delicious salty combination).

Everyone seemed to be ordering pasta and I understand why - they are great. The special Mushrooms & Black Truffle Ravioli was a flavour explosion that I will dream of. The housemade Pasta with Swordfish was a simpler classic pasta flavoured with the salty fish liquid. To add meat to the meal, Roman style Oxtail braised with Celery, Tomato, Carrots was a typical stew with beef easing off the tailbones. A good hearty dish although not especially creative.

Dessert was swayed by watching endless numbers of Apple & Cinnamon Pie steaming out to other customers. A whole peeled & cored apple encased in thin pastry with chocolate sauce at the bottom, contrasted by vanilla icecream topped with strawberry drizzle. Great.

Next time I would order just about anything on the menu as I think it would be a safe bet to be good. The Ravioli is the only dish that universally wowed all of us, but most eaters would be happy with the Fried Zucchini Flowers and Apple & Cinnamon Pie. I would like to try their other meat dishes as I expect they would be tasty (they offered pork or chicken from an oven and also a rabbit dish). Those in search of something more traditional could try their Roman Tripe stew.

There are a lot of restaurants in Trastevere that look and smell worth an effort - just wander around and pick one.

There are many choices for steakhouses in London - the classic recurring names are Hawksmoor and Goodman, with Cut on 45 being a recent addition to the list. Given that decent quality meat is quite expensive here, a night out to celebrate an occasion with a hearty carnivorous meal is always something to look forward to.

This evening started off by testing the newly opened Spitalfields bar with a simple Pina Colada (Bermudan and spiced St. Lucian rums blended with coconut sorbet & fresh pineapple) which was delicious and the so-potent-it's-maximum-one-per-person Zombie (three rums churned with grapefruit & lime, falernum, absinthe, bitters & homemade grenadine, with a Navy Rum float) that would satisfy any alcoholics thirst. Worth sharing I'd suggest...

We skipped starters in favour of sides, supplementing the meal with Triple Cooked Chips (similar texture to Heston, but just not as flavoursome), Mac & Cheese (quite average, although the beef shin version at another store is meant to be superb), Roasted Field Mushrooms (slightly overpowered by an acidic vinegar) and steamed Sprouting Broccoli (only really added to help keep us regular).

Desserts for the occasion were Peanut Butter Shortbread with Salted Caramel Icecream (as delicious & rich as it sounds), Sticky Toffee Pudding with Clotted Cream (tasted like it had rum added to heighten the experience) and a very disappointing Cornflake Icecream (literally vanilla icecream with cornflakes on top - please guys, put in some effort if it's on the menu...)

Beef options are a series of large cuts that can be shared between several people (generally 700g-1kg) or smaller ones for the individual. On these evening we shared a 700g Bone-in Prime Rib, 300g Fillet and 400g Rib Eye served with optional extras of anchovy butter and delicious grilled bone marrow.

The highlights of the meal were (as expected) the beef. There is no doubt that the meat is of exceptional quality and flavour, but here's the rub - you can buy fantastic meat if you seek out the right butcher; what you pay for is for them to cook/grill/bake it to a perfect level that you can't achieve at all and this is where Hawksmoor let us down. I like my beef rare and will accept medium rare if on the rarer side or if recommended from a fat melting point of view. With regards to our 3 cuts - the Bone-in Prime Rib ordered medium-rare (as they advised against rare) came out more medium and was quite tough; the Fillet ordered medium came out rare (which had fantastic texture); the Rib Eye ordered medium-rare came out rare (which was the tastiest meat of the three). All had a great tasting crust and the anchovy butter really wasn't required.

I certainly savoured the (rare) meats and similarly my group enjoyed eating their own desired level of cookedness, but the fact is Hawksmoor simply did not cook any of the meats as ordered. A steakhouse cannot be excused for being unable to find the correct doneness. I emailed them about it the next day and never received a reply.

Next time I would order my usual preference of Prime Rib or Rib Eye and insist on being cooked rare. An overcooked piece would warrant sending it back to the kitchen. Get the Grilled Bone Marrow and Triple Cooked Chips and a sauce only if you want variety of taste. Everything else is optional. Alternatively try a different branch or even Goodman (my group did think Hawksmoor meat was better quality and flavour)

Research about Japan online is quite difficult. There just isn't that many reviews of places, I assume because a lot of places wouldn't be easily ventured by non-Japanese speakers and similarly my Japanese skills aren't good enough to read through any non-English reviews (if they exist at all). One of the comforting generalisations is that I think most Japanese food experiences are of good quality and so the chances of randomly coming across an alluring tourist trap is quite low. I suppose the real reason to try and look into where you want to go and what they offer is simply because most of these Japan-specific experiences are quite expensive and noone likes costly surprises.

In any case in deciding upon an onsen to soak a few days of stress away, Fujiyoshi (with its two reviews) seemed like a good bet. Tucked away in the onsen district of Ito, few tourists would ever venture to this area. In fact the hostess of the onsen confirmed practically all their guests are Japanese.

Part of the appeal is the large public onsen overlooking the coastline (although it was too cold in January to safely use this) but also the 3 private onsen for guests to enjoy shaded from howling winds and rain. Purely from an onsen point of view, I can certainly promote this place as worth a detour and a couple of days of unwinding. But this blog is primarily about food experiences - and Fujiyoshi is sensational on that front.

The photos are combined from 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners - both days of meals certainly had similarities with subtle differences to keep things interesting. In any case the food was of such high quality, repeat dishes were welcome.

Breakfast was far from the traditional cold fish and rice that I've had at a previous ryokan. Fujiyoshi served a sushi plate of various nigiri (including ootoro & scallop), coal-grilled fish, scallops & mollusc, lobster miso soup (using the lobster leftover from the previous night's dinner) and rice. The highlight was clearly the miso-cooked ootoro - fatty tuna belly coated with miso, the fish flesh cooked through but so fatty that it dissolved into a sweet miso/tuna mouthful. Far better than Nobu's famous miso cod.

Dinner was an exercise in greed, but a more acceptable sin than wasting anything. A large sashimi platter was headlined by a local variety of snapper (the name escapes me) which is much softer with less crunchy bite than the usual tai I'm used to. A variety of hot and cold sides using prawns, crab, noodles, tempura, chawanmushi, vegetables and pickles made the meal complete. We also opted for the special supplement that enabled us on the first dinner to add lobster and abalone sashimi (live fresh from their own tanks), as well as grilled lobster and abalone. The second dinner we opted to stay with grilled versions only, and as a result were served a huge lobster. Not at all an expensive addition given the cost of lobster and abalone (especially sashimi) everywhere else in the world and also that I hadn't seen it offered in Japan before.

Next time I would order the same package again - I think that you need one full uninterrupted day to enjoy the onsen, relax in the common areas, walk around the complex and even possibly around the town. That could either be arriving first thing in the morning and spending a whole day there, otherwise having two nights to not have the feeling of rushing your experience. The dinner supplement for lobster and abalone is a necessary expense that you will be thankful for, and although the meals are large note that Fujiyoshi does not serve lunch (we were given a few snacks and tea to keep us going).

Searching for food destinations in Prague proved a lot more difficult than expected. I wasn't entirely sure why this was as I assumed being a large and popular city, there would be plenty of offerings. However on arriving I realised that food here just isn't that great. A real shame given that Prague is one of most stunning cities I've ever wandered through, but the fact is the Easter market was on and I tried 5 different local street foods and all were honestly quite bad.

With this in mind, I was tentative to see whether my research would amount to anything worthwhile.

U Modre Kachnicky ("The Blue Duckling") popped up a few times in the dearth of decent internet information, but I chose it mainly from the Travel & Leisure website. After arriving for a lunch, the board outside boasting previous guests including Sean Connery, Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, John McEnroe etc. could have been seen as a bonus (as they would likely want to eat well) or a curse (as maybe they just get herded places by their PAs). At least the restaurant lacked tourist throngs and buses.

In any case the best way to test modern Czech food seemed to be to stuff myself with the degustation menu - so I did.

- Smoked Duck Breast with Onion Marmalade and Wild Game Pate with Bacon and Cranberries - pate was simple and tasty, not particularly smooth but more meaty and went well with cranberries and complementary bread. Smoked duck breast was a more delicate version of proscuitto - very nice.
- Confited Duck Roulade with Walnut Stuffing, Red & White Cabbage, Potato Dumplings - nicely tender duck rolled with a liver and dumpling stuffing melded nicely with the cabbage which was cooked in an apple sauce. The potato dumplings were as always thick, doughy and much disliked.
- Fallow Deer Saddle with Rose Hip Sauce and Almond Potato Croquettes - beautiful piece of meat, following the trend of sweet sauces. Dumpling at least had crunchy almond exterior, but inside was thick, doughy and much disliked.
- Filet Mignon with Vegetable Cream Sauce, Carlsbad Dumplings & Cranberries - sadly the filet was overcooked (they didn't ask me how I wanted it), sweet and savoury sauce and cranberries were a nice flavour.
- Apple Strudel with Punch Sauce & Walnuts and Cinnamon Pancakes with Blueberries & Sour Cream - soft pastry strudel with a brandied sauce was tasty, as were the blueberries. Unfortunately the pancakes were very thick and doughy...

Overall quite a nice meal for 980Czk (approximately €40) and very, very filling with each serving being equivalent to a la carte. Considering each individual dish was 250-500Czk, the value was quite amazing also. It certainly wasn't outstanding, but I think you won't do much better in Prague (for Czech food at least).

Next time I would order the degustation menu again. It's probably better to go for dinner (but you must book) or for lunch after a long tiring starvation hike. Alternatively if this doesn't tickle your fancy for food or price, Cafe Slavia was the only other place that came up frequently in my research.

When you look up the various options for wiener schnitzel in Vienna, the name Figlmueller (since 1905) frequently pops up. It has gathered opinions ranging from best schnitzel the world has ever seen (rated restaurant #19 in Vienna on tripadvisor) to a simple tourist trap. Of course it is difficult to know without going there.

I'm a believer that "touristy" does not always mean overpriced/underqualitied, although it is certainly more common than not. Nonetheless given there were no consistent other nominees and that multiple sources rated this as the godfather of schnitzel venues (guidebooks, maps, hostel staff, internet various sources) there was no way other than to try it. In any case, despite serving 1400 schnitzels per day between two locations they are all (allegedly) hand cut from pork tenderloin, flattened to 34cm wide and 4mm thick, breaded with kaiser roll crumbs and fried a few at a time.

Once you reach the place and stand in line with other tourists (there is a small original venue in an alley and a larger expansion around the corner) you understand why so many write this off just from the principle of it.

After a 45min combined wait in line & at table after ordering, the recommended dishes of Figlmueller Schnitzel and Potato-Fried salad with styrian pumpkin-seed oil arrived.

I'm not an expert on schnitzel as I don't eat it often - but I would like to think I can recognise a decent one. Although deep fried, there is only a slight of oil on a napkin pressed against it - a nice start. The pork is very thin, reasonably juicy with a lovely crispy coating of golden crumbs to give it texture. It is huge - I could have finished it but the repetitive taste would need to have been broken up by something. The salad was adequate (nothing special) and not enough in itself to offset the fried crumbs/pork flavour.

Not an unreasonably expensive dish at €13.90 considering how popular and tourist-frequented this place is, but I was certainly content with it. The central areas were a little softer than the edges but I suppose this is expected as it cools down and the crumbs were far from the soggy-falling-off kind that I would expect from a thicker schnitzel or have certainly had in pubs back home.

Next time I would order the Figlmueller schnitzel again if I was a first-timer. However if I was to go again, or alternatively with other people, I would go around the corner to the Backerstrasse location to try the Veal version (more expensive at €19.50 and more authentic, but reputedly less flavoursome as pork which is why Viennese apparently prefer pork nowadays.)

Located in Vienna's Stadtpark, the world's #21 restaurant (and #1 in Vienna) was always going to leave me with high expectations. After a disappointing food experience in the region (ie. Prague), I had some doubts as to just how good this place would be. Suffice to say it was sensational.

The degustation menu gives two options for each course - I let my waiter select what he felt were the better dishes, with the exception of the cheese platter (as I know I can't eat that much on my own).

Part of what makes Steirereck in the top 50 is attentive and particular service. Part of what makes it special is the location. Part of what makes it unique is the small "cheat cards" for each dish which allow you to read them in anticipation and analyse what you are eating, rather than the usual procedure of having the waiter overwhelm you with a paragraph of information which is rarely remembered.

And so to the food; 4 appetisers appeared (radish with powdered rhubarb, basil leaf with morels, raw celery marinated in juice with housemade salted sherbet, a dish of apple and cabbage). All were nice introductions into the meal; the celery was the most unique with a powerful sweetness accompanying the usual raw bitter flavour.

In addition an enormous selection of bread appeared for the choosing. All kinds of white/brown/sourdough with nuts/fruit/herbs for the picking and served with normal butter and sour cream butter. Of particular note, the Loaf with Black Sausage was superlatively sensational - a moist rich buttery bread with flavoursome black sausage running through its texture. One of the best breads of my life - I wanted to buy a loaf to take with me but they politely declined.

Of the set course:
- Schwarzauer Mountain Trout with Melon, Cucumber & Purple Salsify Shoots (amazingly delicate raw trout enhanced by the sweetness of honeydew)
- Green Asparagus with Sheep's Cheese, Hop Shoots and Bergamot (asparagus with a sweet, slightly sour orange flavour)
- Danube Salmon with Broccoli, Black Rice and Camomile (a white-fleshed salmon superbly treated which restored my faith in ordering cooked fish from a restaurant; the side accompaniment had a slightly unpleasant bitter taste)
- Jerusalem Artichoke with Peppers, Red Onion & Duck Offal (duck heart was nice, the stomach and other ingredients unremarkable; a few too many flavours and textures to identify individual quality)
- Barbecued Cap of Alpine Forerib with Beans, Truffle Potatoes & French Sorrel (medium-rare, well seasoned, luscious soft beef with a crispy surface, salty sauce and potato and a citrus tangy sorrel to balance flavours)
- Moro Orange with Rosa Bianca Aubergine, Angelica & Malt (good orange and sorbet, but the puree and celery/orange mix was quite strange)
- Rapeseed Custard with Vanilla, Mango & Toffee Icecream (lovely toffee and salted caramel icecream, maiji leaves juicy and absorbing the mango/passionfruit flavours)

The course was finished with a selection of dried citrus fruit/rinds (much too strong for me) served with different types of chocolates.

All in all a great meal which restored my faith in the ability of food served in the region to be more than meat and potato stews.

Next time I would order the degustation menu again (although the a la carte options look like excellent alternatives) - definitely order both Trout and Salmon dishes, Forerib and the Rapeseed Custard as they were all fantastic dishes. I would swap the Asparagus for the alternative (currently Mushrooms, Cashews) and similarly the Duck dishes (for Duck Breast with Fennel/Prunes/Pistachioes). If you are a cheese person, the selection is well known here (more than 120 types) but otherwise i would omit the Blood Orange dish and get the 6-course degustation instead.