Eat Like Ushi

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.

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.

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).