Dinner with Son

The wife is travelling in work. Which means I have lots of time with the son over the weekend.  Last evening we went out to the City.  Took a metro ride from Byappanahalli to MG Road and walked down to Church Street.

I indulged Atri's ask for a Captain America shield and Thor's Hammer - franchised by Marvel, of course - at The Entertainment Store, a place that sells a LOT of comic, fan fiction and other stuff from pop culture.

We then went to On The Edge for dinner.  Among my favourite open air rooftop restaurants in BLR.

About two hours of good conversation - the world as seen from a 6 year old's eyes - involving Marvel Avengers, Lego Ninjago, Roll No. 21, art at school, his troubles with some homework, how he wants to be the fastest person ever in Tennis and so forth.

Always listen to the little things that little children tell you, those things are big in their world.  It makes it easier for them to tell you the truly bigger stuff in both your worlds.

Dinner was a Mango and Papaya Salad accompanied by Chilly Lime Prawns in rice paper rolls, for me.  Atri had a Fish Benedict, served on a bed of spinach and mushroom mash.

I drank a couple of Vodka Rickeys for good measure.  Apple juice for the son.

Dessert was a NY styled Cheese Cake with Rum and Raisin Compote.

At the end of it, Atri said, "Giving you 100 marks Sumanth. No thousand. No, 59.8 thousand trillion marks and 55.  For the dinner. You let me eat how much I wanted and bought me fish and cheese cake and apple juice. Great Sumanth."

Am ecstatic.

We took the Metro back and then drove home from the station. Just passed out shortly thereafter.

An evening very valuably spent.

Father Time

Took Atri out this afternoon for burgers and ice cream to our neighbourhood mall. 

I ate the burger, he ate the fries. We then went to Cream n' Desserts for ice cream. Atri loves their chocolate scoop and I usually go for the Fig and Honey (my favourite flavour of all).

One evidently happy lad!!

Nom Nom Nom - Chinese Style

Went for lunch to Yauatcha on 1 MG Road. I've eaten at their London counterpart as well as their sister restaurant, Hakka San.

Starters were classic prawn dumplings and a plate of crispy duck rolls (with Hoisin sauce). I gorged on both. 

The dumplings were cooked to perfection, no sticky dough tearing and mucking up the edges of the chopsticks. As was the prawn filling inside - pink and nicely steamed. 

The rolls contained a generous portion of shredded duck. Well cooked without sacrificing the taste of the meat. 

It is also a HUGE and I mean HUGE relief to eat with a pair of good wooden chopsticks - not the slippery plastic ones or the disposable pairs you encounter usually. 

My mains comprised the Mongolian Lamb Chops served with Udon noodles, Sprouts and mock meat, accompanied by a black pepper sauce.

The chops were good. Marinated well and cooked right. I could chew and swallow the meat quite easily, rather than feel it turn to tasteless rubber in my mouth (yes, I have sampled Camlin erasers as a child, hurr hurr). 

The only taste that put me off was an slight excess of salt in both the chops and the noodles. So, overall 7-8/10 for mains. 

Dessert was an excellent raspberry delice served with dark chocolate mousse and raspberry ice-cream. Apparently the most popular dessert on the menu; I did not argue much and truthfully, I did enjoy it. So, full marks to the punters who preceded me. 

All in all, an excellent lunch. 8.5/10 overall. 

L T O

Attended a Chef's Tasting at an upscale restaurant in Whitefield tonight. 

Appetiser was a Chili, Soy and Grape Glazed Pork Ribs with Raw Papaya Salad, followed by the mains - Pan seared Sea Bass with seasonal vegetables, mashed potatoes and tomato, lemon grass broth.  

Accompanying them were small plate portions of vegetable dim sum, prawn sushi and crispy squid with green chili, coriander and lemon sauce.

Dessert comprised portions of Kaffir lime crème brulee with Cinnamon crumble and lime gel, Apple streusel Cheesecake Tart with Crème Anglaise and Chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream.

Washed this down with fresh lime juice and some hot Apple toddy.

A most excellent repast and impeccable table service. 

Off to bed now, I have a very early start.

In the interim. . .

Short post. Have been off blogging for a while as we had a son early December 2008. Life has revolved around Atri completely and I've had to reprioritise my likes and things I wanted to do to ensure I have enough time to be a good father. Here's a short snap of the three of us (Nandita, Atri and I) at a recent vacation in Kerala. As always, Atri evinces a strong fascination for cutlery of the pokey variety. . .

On Singular Malts

Here’s an old article of mine that for some strange reason I have never put up on the blog, although it has found its way to some other food-related sites. A curious trail of events – one of my friends, Chandrashekhar who runs http://www.sigfood.org/ landing up home with a gift hamper of two bottles of single malt – last week an archaeologist friend had come home for dinner and we were sipping some Glen Morangie – I was reading the Malt Maniac’s issue #109 at http://www.maltmaniacs.org/ just yesterday; and so I thought I’d dig this out of my hard drive and put it down on the blog. In case you are wondering what the Lagavulin bottle is doing here, read on. . .

I am a self-confessed single malt aficionado. I prefer the smoky and peaty whiskies and my travel schedule permits me the luxury of indulging in some rare malts at the whiskey bars of London and New York. Among the 80-90 plus malts that I have sampled or drunk, my personal favourites remain a select few. Here’s them then:

Laphroaig (pronounced La-froyg) Quarter Cask
My first single malt experience was with a Laphroaig 10-year and I simply loved it then. Laphroaig still remains a favourite house malt. Having had the cask strength Laphroaig as well long ago, I only recently discovered the Quarter Cask and really like it for its smoky palate and finish (the smokiness lingers). Have this with sips of cool water on the side. Its heavenly!!! Here's more on the QC from Laphroaig's site

Talisker Distiller's Edition
The 1986 Distillers Edition is probably one of the signature malts in my book. The essence of this malt is the absolutely fantastic interspersing of sherry and whisky. The sweet fruity and toffee character comes to the fore and then just as you try and get your tongue around it, is replaced by a peaty peppery edge in an oh-so smooth way. More on the Distiller's Edition tasting notes here. Definitely highly recommended.

The Macallan 1970 Vintage, 32-year old
What can I say but that it’s different. Oakey with the trademark Macallan spiciness and a nice pepper finish. This is almost a limited edition malt, so these days I usually settle for its poor country cousin equivalent, the Macallan 12-year Fine Oak. But, perchance you find the 32-year old, do not pass it up!!! I first drank this at the Salt Bar in London post a great meal at the Strada and really enjoyed it that evening.

Glenfarclas 105
At a cask strength of 60%, this is for the serious malt whisky drinker who also wishes to get a booster shot early in a session. The whisky itself seared my throat the first time I drank it and I was coughing a fair bit before I recovered. Since then, I have been particularly careful to sip it and also have some water on the side handy. A very grim whisky. Here's the tasting note from the distillery.

Bunnahabhain 12 years (pronounced Boona-hay-vun)
This 40% proof distillery bottled malt is among my recommendations for a malt beginner. It might be appropriate to add here that the Islay (pronounced eye - la) is the greatest of the whisky Islands, deep in Peat and lashed by the rain, wind and sea. The varied complex flavours in an Islay malt are often challenging to the palate. Islay malts tend to be very very peaty in character Anyways, not to digress, there is a peatyness about the Bunnahabhain that is quite faint making it a very palatable malt. Like I said, a nice introduction to the world of single malts generally. If you find it strong, please add a little water to release the flavour. Check out their website here and I recommend the flash version.

Ardbeg Still Young
There's an anecdote I was told before I was given a taste of this whisky. The Ardbeg mascot is a Jack Russell terrier called Shorty. These guys at the distillery invented Justy, Shorty's son and parallely released the latest arrival from the Ardbeg homestead, called the Ardbeg Still Young - its an almost work -in-progress whisky - in 2006 thereabouts. I quite liked the spice peat and cocoa/coffee taste of this malt. Will be sure to taste/imbibe copious quantities on future occassions that present themselves, hahahahaha!!!!

Cragganmore 1987 Distillers Edition
This is a superb Speyside whisky, finished in Ruby Port casks, giving its palate a fruity note and of course 'port'y flavour. The lingering soft smoke is perfect to start the evening off and continue onwards as well. To be enjoyed with your favorite cigar!!! Here's the tasting note on the Distiller's edition.

Lagavulin 16-Year Old (the old bottling, not the newer Port Ellen vintage)
I first read about the bottling and was wondering where I would procure a tasting when I coincidentally received this as a gift from my brother!!! Personally, I rate it as the best malt whiskey I have and drank (yes, drank) severally and one I grew to love because of it taste - really smoky, peaty and slightly salty. I learnt a peculiar phrase associated with this as well from a malt maniac - he described it as 'salmiak', possessing a salty ammoniac taste. All told, a great malt and one that I love to stock up at home. Here's the tasting note on the 16 y-o.

Caol Ila 18 years (pronounced Kaal-eea)
Very fragrant nose and highly firm palate, I also love the exceptionally smooth finish. I personally rate this my after dinner malt of choice, with a cigar in the other hand!!! I first started off with the 12 y-o and then found I quite liked the 18 y-o as well. Check this out.

Other likings include the Peat Monster from the Compass Box Distillery and the classic 18 year old bottling from the Isle of Jura.

Happy tippling.
Cheers
S

Asia de Cuba: Where Asian Meets Latin

I am in New York City this week attending a basic materials conference and making the most of my time here. NYC has been a favourite walking city of mine after London and San Francisco and as always, I love to do the walkabout in the "grid" generally soaking up the sights and sounds and touristy traffic amidst the bustle.

Whilst the days were spent in meetings, I pretty much had the evenings to myself to generally wander about in Soho - I first stopped at the Vosges cafe for a shot of their famous aztec chocolate elixir and after some time found myself doing dinner at Dos Caminos - their heavenly guacamole and tortilla chips washed down with some pino grigio and an amazing farmer's market vegetable quesadilla made of grilled vegetables and wild mushrooms layered with crisp tortillas layered with chihuahua cheese and roasted tomato-arbol salsa.

I also managed to walk around the relatively quieter Hudson Street where I gorged an unpretentious caprese salad and a tasty organic papardelle accompanied by a Peroni beer at Vento as well as the almost-adjoining food concourse at Chelsea Market on 15th and 9th just randomly tasting some of the produce as well the home-style cheeses and freshly baked breads.

Last night however saw me dining at the fashionable and upscale Asia de Cuba restaurant on Madison Avenue. At first shot, I was quite disappointed after looking at the menu selection - mainly meat, seafood and more of the same. Given that I have turned almost-vegan over a year ago, I was getting ready to content myself with a simple salad and marinated tofu. My dinner companion then asked our waiter if they had any off-menu vegetarian selections. I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a "vege" menu, with quite a large selection to choose from - well, bon appetit it was indeed!!!

We started with a noodle box - sauteed asian vegetables (cabbage, peppers, carrots and the like) wrapped in a noodle "box" and steamed, served in a mushroom chili broth drizzled with hoisin sauce - extremely tangy and quite unlike anything I have had before. Think of a steamed rice samosa and there you have it - this just opened up my taste buds to the gorgeous filling inside.

We had also opted for a second appetizer - the fabled Asia de Cuba's salad - made from a melange of heart of palms (and there were plenty of this going around in the salad), chayote, bananas, cashews and chicory on a bed of lettuce and cabbage served with a radicchio-sesame orange dressing. This was possibly a bigger step up from the noodle box - I know it difficult to appreciate a salad but I was hugely impressed by the flavour and fibrous quotient - I demolished a mountain of the salad and was quite giddy post this.

For mains, we chose the stir fried mushroom and vegetable pancake comprising asian cabbage, a selection of cuban vegetables and jalapeno corn crema with a bowl of wok sauteed shanghai noodles - I was almost ad-libbing Meg Ryan from When Harry met Sally, except my gastro induced orgasm was not fake. This was probably one of the best fusion dishes I have had in ages - every single bite was full of colour, flavour and a rich texture that exploded in my mouth. The aftertaste remained for quite some time in my mouth.

I skipped dessert as I was stuffed although I did glance at their menu - loads of chocolate infused dishes and a few pudding and sorbets as well.

Prices were not too steep by my standards, $100-odd all told - quite reasonable I thought for the exellent quality of the food that was served. The service was also extremely attentive and helpful although I felt a bit let down by the seating - we were first seated right next to the kitchen and then on pointedly asking given a slightly cramped table for two near the entrance - ah, well lop a point or two off for the hostess' behaviour.

I finally trundled back to my hotel for a laphroaig night cap before calling it an evening.

The Asia de Cuba at Morgans, 237 Madison Avenue, New York, NY:
Food - 4.5/5
Decor - 3.5/5
Service - 2.5/5 (lopping off a couple of points for an insensitive hostess)
Prices - 4/5

Cheers
S