Tasty atmosphere @ Rose Garden, Fort Kochi - India

At Fort Kochi in Kerala, the God's own country, you can find many westerner friendly restaurants, that have the luck to be in a position with a good visibility. They are always full, so it is easy to imagine that they are the best choice to try local or international food. Our advise is to avoid them. Often they are like business-food factories. The food is expensive and cooked without passion, the workers don't recive much money and the next day the owner spends all morning counting  how much he earned. 

Just going out from the main stream it is possible to find unexpected surprises. Like the Rose Garden Restaurant. We saw it and looked inside many times while passing by, atracted by the colours and relaxed atmosphere that spreads out. Located in Jacob Road, just close to the bus station and Santacruz Basilica, is owned by two brothers, Bineesh and Siyad who together with Ali run this small restaurant since 2013. Walls are pleasantly painted and decorated by a local famous artist Nasair. 

 

 

We decide to sit inside, but then we discover a more hidden room with two small tables and carpets, comfortable enough to sit on the floor and chill out. The day in the restaurant begins at 10 am, starting with breakfast and continue with lunch and dinner until night. The choice is very wide.. Original indian, western and italian with fish, meat (even holy beef) and vegetarian choice. As well you can relax there, having a cup of coffee and using wi-fi.

Ali, always smiling and kind, brings us Fish Peera to try. As many Keralan dishes, the delicate taste is obtained thanks to the coconut that conects perfectly garlic, ginger and curry leaves with substantial and boneless kingfish, accompanied with garlic paratha, tipical south indian flat bread.

Then we can taste the Kaday, a mix of vegetbles and paneer (indian fresh cheese), prepared on the northern indian way, which simply melts in our mouth. Of course we can't avoid the rice as a side dish. Unfotunatly there was no more space in our stomachs to try one of the many desserts available in the menu.

 

The email of the restaurant is rosegarden2007@hotmail.com and phone number 09847216986.

Hungarian Mood @ Restaurant Miko, Cluj Napoca, Romania

Koloszvar (the Romanian Cluj Napoca), a city with many different faces, as in the past, as now in present time, has the second largest urban Hungarian community in Romania, made by 50.000 people that represent the 16% of the local population.

Many different historical reasons and people's mouvement prepared and created these conditions (that we are not going to analyze here), until nowadays when many different activities and institutions kept their own Hungarian roots and language. As for example, schools, shops, theatre, cofee shops, and of course restaurants, giving the feeling to have a small city inside a bigger one.

Miko is one of the most well-known Hungarian restaurants, despite his young age (open since one year and half now. Zsolt, the manager, have a lot of experience and travelled a lot. He invites us, in Strada Clinicilor 23, on a walking distance from the city center, for a Friday evening, when it happens the special Magyar night, with music, dances, and food.

The menu is very attractive and clear: every dish is accompanied with a nice photo and the ingredients description, written in three different languages. Almost all the plates are Hungarian.
We start with a colourful and velvety Chicken Paprikash with Sour Cream and Dumplings, together with a Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc and Feteasca Regal, produced in the area, for one of us. For the other one an, instead, an intense Beef Stew with Red Wine and Dumplings together with a Cadarca de Minis, also local wine, but from Hungarian varietal.
The Nokedlivel are very common in Hungary: eggs noodle, like home-made dumplings that goes together with many dishes.
We enjoy the a lot the combinations, and both plates give us a memory of home. We felt like embraced from this flavors, delicate, but very defined at the same time.

Is very interesting then talk a little bit with Zsolt and hear about his experiences, and specially, about his visions about restaurants, food, and the psychological aspects that connect them with humans, and listening about traditions. On the next week, will happen the carnival day, and in Hungarian villages, people meet together to make a bonfire with old clothes, in a way to chase away the winter. In Miko Restaurant instead, the guests will come with a mask in their face and they will dance with the same spirit.

During the time we spent at our table we could see many people dancing and having much fun together with the live Hungarian music, and we had opportunity to see a future bride and the ceremony with her friends and a long table with the guests cheering and singing to themselves and to the life. It was for us a little moment to feel and be part of this Hungarian Mood.

For the conclusion of our evening we had the chance to taste Somlò, Sponge Cake, with nuts, vanilla, and Rom and Gundel Pancakes, delicious, also with raisins, nuts and Rom that got the name from Karoly Gundel, an Hungarian famous gastronomic genius, whose books of recipes become the base to most of the Magyar cuisine. On the website of Miko, you can see all pictures from the menu. www.restaurantmiko.ro

Cuisine as a Family Passion @ Restaurant Hora, Cluj Napoca, Transylvania, Romania

They knew how to impress us. They knew that we were not just there "to eat" and taste. They offered us something that cannot be improvised, has to be real, as is impossible to see, it can be just felt: the passion.
We were dazzled to discovery, very slowly, during the dinner, course after course, how Restaurant Hora, based in Strada Moise Nicoara nr 1, was made, by a family devoted to the cuisine: Camelia and Gheorghe, and her mother Maria Rusu.
 Maria Rusu, manager and chef, opened this gem eleven years ago. Member of national and international culinary associations, winner of many prices, started this project first as a traditional Romanian restaurant and then following her potentials and skills, developed an international menu, that honors her creativity.
Camelia instead, her daughter, together with her kindness, told us that she worked 10 years in different restaurants in Italy, gaining an experience that combine the Italian and Romanian culture.
His brother Gheorge and all the staff took great care of us, they make us begin with a Smocked Duck Waldorf Salad, an exquisite combination, specially with a southern Romanian Novac Prince Stirbey.The waiter surprised us with a special decanter with a shape of a snake, that use to aerating the wine before serving it.
The Waldorf Salad made with celery and turnip, dressed in mayonnaise and sprinkled with walnuts was the perfect starter for the evening.


 
Then we had time to converse more with Camelia, listen traditional live Transylvanian music (as they do every Thursday) and see that many of the diners are foreigners before the second dish was served: a Coffee Crusted Beef Tenderlion, grilled and aromatic, married with a gentle Porto Wine Sauce with soft fruits and some secret ingredients from the chef, that make it special, accompanied by a Sweet-Potato Puree. This plate was delighting our palate, with the mix of different veins of flavors, recognizing the quality of each ingredient.

 

For the conclusion we were not expecting something so brilliant: a mix of four different desserts, as Pancakes with Apples and Nuts, a Triangle of Chocolate Wousse with a pulsing and exotic Mango's heart, a Parfe with Almonds and a Ricotta Pudding in a small Chocolate boat.All this sweet experience was intensified by a fresh white Tamaioasa Romaneasca, concluding then with a digestive.
The passionate family now is going to open a new restaurant, much more bigger in Comuna Feleacu, to which we wish the best success. www.restaurantulhora.com

Restaurant Casa Ardeleana @ Cluj Napoca, Transilvania - Romania

Cluj Napoca, Romania, heart of Transylvania: a wonderful city, where many students, Romanians, Hungarians, gypsies and many others from different nationalities live friendly together, and together they create an unique cultural life. This city, beautiful in this architecture, and full of traditions, will be in 2015 European Youth Capital and no other European Culture Capital candidate, to establish his important role in the all East Europe.

So, what could be better to begin our experiences in Cluj with a very traditional restaurant? We were glad to be invited from Gabriel in his Casa Ardeleana, a place that he manage now from 6 years, and try his speciality: the Bogracs, cooked out and then served to the guests. Casa Ardeleana means literally Transylvania House and this is the feeling we had when we entered at this restaurant, that is based in Bulevardul 21 Decembrie 1989 n. 5, inside the Sora Mall, in the city center of Cluj Napoca. We could not image to see this enviroment, below a commercial complex, as we could have the feeling to be inside a huge house of a big family, decorated and furnished with many traditional objects, that make this place first of all, a place to see as a little ethnographic museum.

Welcomed from the staff with a shot of Tuica, traditional and very strong plum distillate, we could talk and see Gabriel cooking outside the Bogracs and explaining us all ingredients and the way of preparing this old and traditional meal, that he serve every wednesday, after 7 pm.. Bogracs in fact mean Hungarian cooking pot used normally outside, above an open fire. He said us that it need 6 hours of cooking and all the vegetables inside melt, and become, together with many different spices, a very tasty sauce, where will be cooked 4 different kind of meat such kid, roe, pig and calf. At the end potatoes are added and served in also traditional plates, beside a different pickles vegetables, used to cut the heaviness of the dish taste.

And as you can image from the pictures this plate was a mix of fragrances and taste, that make of every morsel a complete and we can say dynamic experience, that change any time and is enriched from many different shades. Together with the plate we get the also typical and surprising red wine Feteasca Neagra, produced in many Romanian and Moldavian areas.

The restaurant offers many dishes from Romanian and Hungarian tradition sometime even influenced from Slavic and Serbian cuisine.There is also a good choice for main courses vegetarian, but there is no choice for vegan palates.
Satisfied we left the place with a good memory, and we remember the tables and the chairs, our favorite Casa Ardealasca pieces of furniture.

www.casaardeleana.com www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-Casa-Ardeleana

TC Kitchen @ Ubon Ratchathani Thailand

TC Kitchen is easy to locate as it is right near Laithong Hotel, it is in the background.

TC Kitchen is a restaurant but you can also of course get an ice cold beverage as well. Most foreigners spend their time sitting out the front chatting and watching Ubon life go by.

Inside there is a pool table if you are up for a game.

TC Kitchen does a big selection of food that you can take home if you like, such as these pies. There are many different types and are very good (I have had a few!).

My favourite are the pasties. These are cheese pasties and I am not a big fan of these. I really like the beef and pork pasties.

Fresh and frozen bread is also available.

But on this day I was there to try the new TC Burger. A new menu is on the way and the burger is going to be on the menu.


The burger smelt good while it was sizzling away.



The burger was huge in itself and with the salad and fries it was a big meal. And I am not being biased but bloody delicious as well. I didn’t put any sauce on it, it wasn’t needed.

Well I suppose my plate says it all.
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