What are the essential food and drink experiences in London at the moment? I arrive back for the first time in four years, and the first as a food blogger, on the 10th September, leaving on the 22nd (Right now I’m sweating it out in Dubai for some reason). Part of my visit is for work to conduct some interview for a book but so easily it can become entwined with pleasure. But it’s a whirlwind tour where I also […]
Travel
Eating and drinking abroad and at home. Sometimes I get sick too.
Searching for the best phố in Melbourne
It’s not something people talk about a lot but whenever I bring up phố there is enormous interest about where to eat it. People are always interested in the best places to eat in Victoria Street Richmond. When they hear I have a list of the best local phố restaurants from a phố expert in Sydney their notebooks and PDAs come out as they copy out the list. I discovered the “I Love Phố” exhibition that was held in Liverpool […]
Hotel etiquette Battambang style
I’m not sure whether or not I’m meant to feel reassured or frightened in a country where hotels feel the need to remind me than guns and grenades are not wecome. At Hotel La Noria in Siem Reap I think I was safe. With its leafy garden and swimming pool it is a comfortable escape from the bustle on the street at a cost of $40 plus a night. It is also reassuring that being a Childsafe hotel – one […]
Tasty snacks at the “rest stop”
Deep fried and served out by the recycled condensed milk tin on the road-side, who can resist these tasy crickets and beetles? Well, about 30 people judging by our bus load of mainly locals. There was one chap though who tucked into a big bag of beetles, the secret being that you flick off the hard unedible wings before popping the bodies into your mouth. I’m afraid I was a wimp having poisoned myself two days earlier and was drawn […]
The boat to Battambang
You’ll want food for the eight hour trip to Battambang, the most beautiful boat trip in Cambodia. Plenty of locals will hassle you to buy French sticks bananas and water. The tiny bananas are delicious. But whatever you don’t don’t sit on the roof unless you want a very pink sore evening.
Tuned down green papaya salad for tourists
Jak prepares green papaya salad Usually my blog posts are from the opposite season from most other people. That’s because most of the time I live in the southern hemisphere. For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Scott at Real Epicurean, Jak and I in the northern hemisphere at the Three Elephants Cooking School in Luang Prabang Laos. Unusually, we are cooperating with each other in the kitchen in what is the only food we have prepared for the […]
Deep fried seaweed
It’s happy hour. Instead of one tumbler of rice whisky I am served two. At least a snack of deep fried Meekong seaweed helps line my stomach.
Water rat season
I think it may be water rat season in Phonsvanh in Laos. There are also voles, flying squirrels and deer in the market. In five minutes though the whole lot is sold. Only a single haunch and head of deer is left. What really catch my eye are the beuatiful game birds. It’s a shame you just can’t get this stuff to eat in restaurants or at street BBQs.
The meaning of chilli hot salad
Now I really do know the meaning of green papaya salad at the Srassrang View Restaurant near Angkor Wat. You’ve been working in the fields all day – or as I have cycling 40km along hot dusty roads. Your mouth is dry, your mind weak and the body is tired. Green papaya has everything you need. First the finely chopped/ grated papaya refreshes then the chilli kicks in and releases the endorphins that will keep you going. Protein comes in […]