Eat Like Ushi

After chatting with a local girl at our hostel who was there managing bands in Nashville, we told her of our intent to his the honkytonk scene that evening. She said a lot of places in town catered toward the young groups of bachelorette parties and were far lss than traditional, playing all sorts of music. However her favourite and that of many locals was Robert's, which also came with the recommendation to try the fried bologna sandwich.

It was definitely a western-style venue that I had imagined, with a few ladies in cowboy hats enjoying the dancing. Not quite line dancing style but maybe that's a stereotype for another place. The music was a fun type, what I suppose would be traditional country music.

We found a seat upstairs and the trio sitting at the front of the balcony left soon after giving us full views of the venue and the band. I ordered the Recession Special $6 which included the infamous sandwich, bag of chips, moon pie and a drink. I also had a whiskey and coke for the local Tennessee experience.

What can I say about the fried bologna sandwich - it was effectively a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I don't honestly think I can say it was more than that, and nothing particularly special. It may be that my American fast food taste isn't quite the same as theirs.

Nonetheless a fun few hours there and I would go back again.

We decided to stay one night in Wadi Rum to see the red desert and think about Lawrence of Arabia. I was tempted to book with the bubble hotels and their private balcony spas, however the price and the reviews suggesting it was just a lot of rich loud people turned me off. Bedouin Village had very few booking.com reviews but all were good and it seemed nice to support a newer player.

Our host Suleman met us at the tourist info centre and we followed him eventually offroad through the desert. He told us that he had recently taken over the property and was in the process of upgrading things to welcome back visitors after a very quiet year. In particular a/c units had been installed - however he didn't yet have the power(?) to use them. Sadly this translated to a slaughterous afternoon in 35C desert sun trying to stay in the tent and even worse trying to sleep on a sweaty bed. Nonetheless we were the only guests that day and we appreciated the cheap accommodation, the trying times for hospitality, and his passion to bring his dream alive.

Lunch was nice potatoes, tomato salad and bread although the canned tuna seemed an odd thing to serve. It made me a little sceptical, but after a long tour through the afternoon desert and special sunset, dinner was upon us when we returned and made up for the lunch. It had been cooked in an oven made under the earth. Although I had secretly hoped for goat or lamb, instead we were served an enourmous plate of charred chicken, simple in flavour and still quite moist. The potatoes and vegetables had absorbed some of the meat flavour and smoke and it was all complemented by excellent pilaf, a tomato stew and some fresh salad. Of particular note was the outstanding smokey mutabal, truly the best eggplant dip I've ever tasted. 

After a warm night, breakfast before our camel ride had some good dips and a nice omelette.

A pleasant stay which would be nicer (if there is a next time) when the a/c works. However after 2 trips to Wadi Rum, I don't think this lifetime will see me making a 3rd.

After the joy of Hattie B's (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/hattie-bs-hot-chicken-nashville-07-2021), it was serendipidous that I found on Google maps that there was a branch of Prince's in the foodcourt off Broadway. I didn't want to make the trek all the way down south to the original Prince's, and even though the Google ratings of this branch aren't particularly great, I had to try for myself.

After a night in the honkytonks, a bit of fried chicken to wash down the alcohol seemed like a Nashville thing to do.

Prince's was located in the upstairs food court. It was a Wednesday night so not very busy but a short queue was at Prince's, and nowhere else in the foodcourt. I hoped it would be as good as the main branch and competitive to Hattie B's. The menu is quite limited and so I ordered wings hot (given my Hattie experience that hot level). It was slightly hot but it's very obvious that there was not much spicing at all. Also it was definitely not cooked fresh as the wing meat itself was only warm, far from a freshly fried piece. The fries were decent. But charging $2 for a tablespoon of coleslaw was disgraceful. 

I would suggest everyone join the line for Hattie around the corner instead. I would consider going to the original place if I'm ever in Nashville again, but that's a longshot maybe on many fronts

The pure inspiration for me going to Nashville was for the fried chicken. Yes, I read later about the honkytonks and party vibe (endless bachelorette parties apparently) but it was the chicken predominantly. My first Nashville chicken was from Belle's (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/belles-hot-chicken-melbourne-02-2016) and their subsequent spinoff/copycat in Geelong (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/the-hot-chicken-project-geelong-08-2016).

I looked up recipes online and found one from Belle's and one from their inspiration by Sean Brock. I cooked a hybrid version once and I have to say it was great. It would be the closest I would find in London. Reading online their were only really two names that came up for where to go in Nashville - Prince's and Hattie B's. Most of the reviews suggested Prince's was the more favourite although being located so far south I didn't want to make the journey there.

So Hattie B's in its convenient location on Broadway meant joining a hot midday queue in the sun enviously looking at the people inside. After a 15min wait I made it to the order counter, before finding a counter seat to watch the passing street traffic. I wasn't sure how hot to order and so ended up with a large dark meat (2 leg/thigh quarters) $12 at medium and one extra wing $2.5 at hot. The 2 sides chosen were pimento mac & cheese and creamy coleslaw. 

And the chicken was as good as I hoped. Spicy, crisp skin which crackled overlying a very good and tender chicken. Hot was definitely better than medium and brought it to life. It was a lot less salty than I expected, and not smokey like the heaped paprika from Belle's. It was just delicious.

After the disappointing Prince's, once we were driving away from Nashville there was another Hattie B's in West Nashville on our way out to Memphis. This time we ordered hot and were thankful for the last bit of bliss. Until the next time Hattie B. But for now Belle's will do fine.

We were looking for breakfast place before a self-guided walking tour and then my anticipation of finally having Nashville fried chicken for lunch. So it had to be healthy. Initially we tried D'Andrews Bakery although they had an unexpectedly limited number of options for a bakery.

Luckily the other option just down the road was a healthy little corner cafe set inside a modern business building. I'm sure the workers appreciated an easy option so closeby and a short downhill walk to all the life on Broadway.

- Fig toast (local seeded bread baked golden, layered with coconut oil, almond butter, sliced strawberries, dried figs, hemp seeds, local honey) USD6.99;
- Blue bae (blended cashew milk, bananas, blue spirulina, cashew butter, maca root, on top granola, strawberries, black currants, coconut flakes, hemp seeds, puffed brown rice, cashew butter, local honey) USD10.99 - refreshing and high quality ingredients. 

Overall excellent healthy (albeit a bit expensive) food and drink. Chai was nicely spiced and not too sweet. A good way to start before the rest of the day of alcohol and chicken.

In amongst NYC's brutally expensive banh mi (USD10+ each before tax/tips and all those other sneaky bits) is Joju at least giving some modern touches with their version.

Even though noone else was sitting inside on this weekday mid-morning, there were plenty of takeaway orders coming in and a massive series of bags had been set up presumably for the lunch rush.

Good Morning banh mi (1/2 a toasted baguette, mayo, daikon, carrots, cilantro) with egg and grilled Vietnamese sausage (aka nem nuong). It was a pretty small version and just not the correct bread. It just doesn't have the crisp shell and airy centre.

Op la platter (bread, 2 eggs, scallion oil, daikon, carrots, cilantro) with Vietnamese ham, caramel pork, grilled pork sausage, house sauce was a much better offering, like a deconstructed banh mi meets sunnyside breakfast. In particular the caramel pork as a chunky mince was deep, sweet and flavoursome.

I bit too expensive for my liking but a good platter meal in the end.

The classic breakfast bagel from NYC - something to try. I've never been a big fan of bagels to be honest. This place was a bit more creative than your average (I expect, without actually knowing) in its many cream cheeses, coloured bagels and massive list of fillings to pick from.

Pretty sure I had The Works (egg, hashbrown, sausage, bacon, cheese) USD8.5 and I can't remember what was in the rainbow bread.

In any case they were fine without being particularly special. The queues of people there (locals it appeared) seemed to suggest otherwise.

I'd heard about this Michelin-starred dimsum restaurant from Hong Kong when they opened in London. Due to many things including the price and never getting around to it, I never got around to it.

After 2+ weeks of Middle Eastern food in Egypt and Jordan, it was time to get some variety and NYC was a fine place for that. Asian was first on the list and having so many restaurants near us around Times Square, yumcha brunch at this well known name seemed a good idea.

The restaurant opened at 10am, and there was a queue forming already. By 11am the place was full. People really go early for their dimsum here.

The menu items are pretty standard in addition to their well known ones of baked pork buns and egg cake.

- Baked BBQ pork buns USD6 - their specialty rather than the usual steamed bao. I have to say I wasn't a fan of this Cantonese sweet bread;
- Steamed egg cake USD5.5 - definitely wasn't expecting this but this tower looking sweet bread is also something I have tried previously and not liked that much. What's with all the sweet?;
- Pan fried turnip cake USD5.85
- Deepfried dumplings with pork & dried shrimp USD5.85 - nice hot chewy dumplings the way I like it;
- Steamed rice roll with shrimp & Chinese chives USD5.95 - a bit stingy to have 2 prawns rather than 3. But I guess the price is no different to the other dishes to make up for it;
- Steamed dumplings with shrimp & chives USD5.95;
- Steamed shrimp dumplings USD5.95 - smallish but still ok.

Hit the spot at a slightly higher price. If I'd choose better next time and avoid their sweet creations, I'd be happier.

(It's not in my top restaurants, but because they do have a Michelin star I suppose I should add it to the list.)