Eat Like Ushi

It's pretty difficult to find varied cuisine in the smaller regions of Turkey as they all seem to have a very similar menu. Inci was a name I saw creep up and it's clear the mention on Culture Trip has brought it regular UK business (or maybe it had that before anyway?). There was an older English male who seemed to be an owner of sorts. The reputed homestyle cooking made it a good choice for the first evening along the Turquiose Coast. After a 1.5hr drive in the dark from Dalaman airport, appetites were at a high and they were satiated.

Complimentary warm soft bread came with an excellent tomato and onion salsa loaded with strong raw garlic - it was fantastic.

- Stuffed vine leaves 14TL - simple flavoured rice dolma with a yoghurt dipping sauce;
- Chef's special lamb 39.5TL - quite tender lamb with a little redness to the meat stuffed with cheese and served on another strong garlic/onion/tomato sauce;
- Prawn casserole 27.5TL - on the menu as a starter but clearly a main. Bubbling cauldron of bouncy prawns incredibly well flavoured with cream, tomato and cheese sauce. Served with rice, mashed potato and fries for some added carbs.

We were full to the brim after this and happy to have been welcomed to Turkey this way.

After drinking on a canal boat for a 30th, the party wandered for Saturday afternoon drinks in the courtyard of the pub. I think they also had some kind of shoddy Eurovision style karaoke going on in the back, but we kept outselves to the modest sunshine and cool breeze in the front.

The veggie burger had a vegetable sausage cut up into portions to replace the patty. It was surprisingly tasty and worked perfectly as a meat substitute. The OG Kush £10 had a thin but deliciously seasoned beef patty with bacon, cheese, avocado, jalapeños and jalapeño/lime cream.

Fries with jalapeño mayo added to the salt and overall happiness.

Surprisingly good burgers. Would happily go back if in the area.

After trying a few of the local pubs with mixed results, I found another one this time on the western side of Mile End/Bow border. Actually I didn't realise it was a pub from my brief look online but it's pretty apparent when you see the outside. I went on a Wednesday and they had just started a burger + drink £10 deal.

This is great considering the burgers are normally £12 alone and add £2-3 for a cider/wine. Unfortunately teething issues with the computer systems meant there was a 75min wait even though I checked after 50mins (and it took them another 15mins to realise). The burgers were served with some alright fries and tiny amount of token baby gem lettuce salad.

- Old spot pork & chorizo burger, picked fennel - a nice juicy porky patty of medium thickness;
- Courgette & halloumi burger, tzatziki - a decent vegetarian patty that was heavily spiced with cumin.

It's an excellent deal for £10. The menu has a little more creativity than the standard pub fare and it's cheaper than Morgan Arms. I'll go back and try it again.

After taking the Eurostar back to St. Pancras, a heavily flavoured Chinese meal was beckoning. Szechuan is probably my favourite Chinese sub-cuisine and so it was time I tried one in London.

It's a dingy looking place very typical of Chinese cheap diners. Funnily enough there was a non-Chinese speaking English waitress too. She did seem a little left out whilst the others were gossiping.

- Mapo tofu with minced pork £7.5 - a thick hearty warming gelatinous (and probably MSG) version. Still good;
- Stirfried lamb with chilli & cumin £9.8 - lots of chillies but not too much heat. The salt flavouring was strong in this one with some cumin coming through;
- Aubergine with fresh chopped chilli £7.2 - braised in a vinegar sauce.

It's reasonably priced and a short walk from St. Pancras making it convenient for trips based around the area. Why not?

There's only so long you can go without Vietnamese food after living in multiple areas that serve it so easily, cheaply and tastily. The trio of Cay Tre, Mien Tay and Song Que are well known here and so it sounds like I'd eventually eat at them all anyway.

The menu is extensive of the staples and describes each dish well. They don't have che ba mau, so if you're reading this, add it to the menu!

- Shrimp & Jellyfish Green Mango Salad (with Vietnamese mint, perilla, garlic chips, vinaigrette, prawn crackers) £8.5 - a small serve but a delicious array of flavours and textures bound together by a mild nuoc mam dressing;
- Original Pho (with steak & brisket) £11 - this is my standard aka Pho Bo Tai Nam. Rare fillet slices are added to the hot broth to slightly cook and not-too-fatty brisket is a bit firmer and meatier. The broth has a nice spiced flavour, without being too strong and MSG. It's strange that despite the menu saying so, they don't give any sawtooth herb or Thai basil unless you ask for it. Maybe because it's expensive. So only the people that know will ask and get it;
- Bun Bo Hue (with beef & pork hock) £12 - a nice broth with good shrimp paste and lemongrass tones. Usually it needs to be a bit more fiery red (from either annatto seeds or chilli sate) but this simpler one allowed the flavours to come through nicely. It usually comes with lettuce and laksa leaves, but not so here.

Once I accept the prices, I'll probably enjoy it more and eat Vietnamese more frequently. Until then, it's an occasional necessity. I wonder how the others in the area compare?

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.