Restaurants

Food in Rome; Restaurants,the Campo di Fiori Market, and a Giant Mortadella?

April 19, 2012
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One of the best things about being in Rome (besides the 2000 year old monuments around every corner) is the food. Like the monuments, fantastic fresh food is literally around every corner, whether in neighborhood outdoor markets, restaurants, or small specialty shops,  the quality of the food is astoundingly good. That’s not to say a bad meal can’t be found, but if you do your homework, you can eat very, very well.

One of our first stops was the Campo di Fiori market. Yes, it’s touristy, but it’s also filled with locals who shop there daily as well as some of the most beautiful produce.

One of my favorite vegetables to eat in Rome is Puntarelle, a bitter green which is usually served raw with a lemony anchovy dressing. In the Campo di Fiori market, you can see how this green is cut, stripped and prepared for purchase.

You can also see how artichokes are cut down to just the small hearts for the famous artichoke alla romana dish. If you’d like to read more about Roman markets, check out my Four Favorite Markets in Rome on my other blog, Former Chef.

The Campo di Fiori is also home to the famous Forno del Campo which is best known for its foccacia. Of course, we had to stop and get a slice which was still warm, right out of the oven.

I’d been wanting to try La Fiammetta since our trip in 2008 when I’d read on Chowhound it had the best eggplant parmesan around. I love anything eggplant, but had not been able to make it to the restaurant on either of my last two trips. This time we went and I am very happy to say we were not disappointed.

The eggplant parmesan was some of the best …

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Of Buffalo Mozzarella and the Kindness of Strangers

March 14, 2012
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One of the reasons we went to Paestum, besides the incredible ruins, was to visit the birthplace of buffalo mozzarella and hopefully see how it’s made. The day before we’d attempted to visit Vannulo dairy and arrived in late afternoon only to discover there were no tours (sometimes, but only in the morning) and saw nary a buffalo. I had to console myself with some chocolate gelato made with buffalo milk (really good).

The next morning we set out on foot from our hotel to visit another local dairy, Masseria Lupata Barlotti. The walk was about half a mile along a two lane road with not much shoulder. We tromped though the long grass at the side of the road, past fallow fields, as cars whizzed by. About half way there, a woman in a very small car stopped and asked us, in Italian, where we were going. We told her “to the farm” and she motioned for us to get in. My Italian is minimal, but she made it clear it was not safe for us to be walking along the road. She dropped us at the driveway to the farm amid many “molto grazie”. My mother and I were surprised at her generosity, but not as surprised as when the exact same thing happened on our walk back to the hotel.

This time, we’d only walked about 30 feet when another tiny car pulled over and a different woman insisted that she give us a ride. We thanked her and got in. Again, she spoke no English but we figured out what she was saying, “You would do it for me.” I was stunned. And honestly I was not sure I would, back home in Los Angeles, where we never pick up hitchhikers, let alone stop and …

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Restaurants in Naples, Italy

December 5, 2011
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I have a personal rule regarding restaurants; I’ll never willingly wait in line to eat for more than half an hour. I simply refuse to buy into the hype that any restaurant is worth waiting an hour or more for when there are plenty other great places out there. So it’s with this rule that I now must admit that I committed foodie heresy in Naples: I did not eat pizza in one of the famous pizzerias. That’s not to say I didn’t eat pizza, just I just didn’t have any at Da Michele, Gino Sorbillo, di Matteo, or any of the other places with long lines and hour plus wait times. And I’m ok with this really, because we still ate very well in Naples as evidenced by our experiences below.

Antica Port’Alba

This place, located across from Piazza Bellini and underneath the archway leading to the street connecting to Piazza Dante was somewhere we ended up eating twice and having vastly different service experiences each time, though the food was consistently good.

Antica Pizzaria Ristorante Port Alba, Naples

We ended up here on our first night in Naples with me, jetlagged and ticked off because I’d forgotten to print out my researched list of restaurants and no way to access the info without working internet. We wandered around the area, looking at menus, searching for something which appealed and wasn’t too touristy. Finally, we gave in and sat down in Antica Port’Alba’s patio under heat lamps. Our waiter was pleasant and brought us menus in both Italian and English.

Food at Antica Pizzaria Ristorante Port Alba, Naples

Wrecked from not sleeping for almost 30 hours by this point, I ordered my old standby, Penne alla Arribiata, pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. This is one of those classic dishes by which you can judge a restaurant. It’s simple, but they have to get it right and fortunately, …

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Nanzen-Ji Temple and Dinner at Asuka

July 10, 2011
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Across the street from the Keage Subway station and the Westin Miyako Hotel, is an arched entrance to a brick lined tunnel with leads to the Southern end of the Philosopher’s Walk. This pathway follows a canal lined with cherry trees and temples.

We arrive in the late afternoon as the weather is turning overcast and chilly so we stick to the closest temple to the Southern entrance which is also one of the most popular, Nanzen-Ji. If we had more time and better weather, we would have loved to spend the day checking out all the temples along the path.

While we never actually saw the canal as it’s North of nanzen-Ji temple, there was water running everywhere; along the sides of the road, out of private gardens, most of it probably coming from the nearby aquaduct (more on that below).

Walking up to the main gate of the temple, a gigantic two story structure, we see three young women in kimonos taking pictures of eachother. I offer to take their picture of the three of them together with their camera and then ask if I can take one with mine. They happily oblige.

 

The temple itself appears closed to the public, but the abbot’s quarters are open for a fee of 500 yen per person. We have to leave our shoes at the front while we walk through the compound on elevated wooden walkways. There are numerous serene gardens and we saw several grounds keepers cleaning and pruning with what looked like tweezers and scissors!

Outside the temple is a Meiji era aquaduct dating back to 1890 which still carries water in it today.

After such a long day of walking around, for dinner we opt to keep it close to the hotel (after, of course, enjoying …

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Shinkansen Tokyo to Kyoto and Our First Okonimiyaki

June 14, 2011
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Taking the Bullet Train from Tokyo to Kyoto

Our reservation is on the 8am Shinkansen train from Tokyo station to Kyoto and it’s raining. Hard. On a nice day, without luggage, it’s about a 10 minute walk from the Tokyo Hilton to the Shinjuku station where we could have used our JR passes on a JR rail commuter train to connect to the Tokyo station. But today, the thought of fighting the crowd against the tide in the rain, with luggage, is just too much.

Fortunately, the Nishi-Shinjuku subway station is connected to the hotel by an underground walkway. From there, we can take the subway to Tokyo station and connect with the Shinkansen. We allow ourselves about an hour to get from the Hilton to Tokyo station and  make it with only a few minutes to spare,  just enough time to buy a couple of chocolate croissants at a French bakery in the station, but not enough time to buy coffee.

For the experience of riding the Shinkansen train, see my Japan Tips and Observations post. The train is incredibly fast and the countryside whirrs by us at breakneck speed. Views from the train are a mix of farmland, small towns and light industry. Many of the houses in the smaller villages look very close together, almost like townhouses, but I also notice what looks like a lot of community garden spaces.

On arrival to Kyoto station, we take the hotel shuttle bus to the Westin Miyako Hotel. My full review of the hotel to come in the next post.

No Name Restaurant

After getting settled in our room, it’s time for lunch and we take the hotel’s shuttle bus to the Gion stop. We wander around a bit, taking in the sights of the old town and trying …

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A Visit to Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo

June 5, 2011
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After ourtwo breakfasts at Tsukiji market, we took the subway to the Asukasa neighborhood. We stopped in the tourism office, where we picked up a local map and were asked where we were from which was duly recorded. They said they had not had many foreign visitors lately, though today had been a big one with 13 visitors. From there, we walked across the street to the Senso-ji temple.

Senso-ji temple is one of Tokyo’s most popular shrines, and dates back as far as AD 628 when a local fisherman found a gold statue of the goddess of mercy, Kannon, in the Sumida River and built a small shrine to her here. Like most shrines, it has a large heavy entrance, the Kaminarimon Gate, and multiple pagodas and halls inside the complex. Between the Kaminarimon Gate and the main hall, are a series of shops selling al sorts of Japanese treats, traditional clothing and souvenirs. In front of the main hall is a large incense burner where people pray over the smoke and to the left, a beautiful garden with a koi pond and Buddha statue.

We walked around for a while, taking it all in, and came across a special art show connected to the museum and the abbot’s residence. We were told this was only open to the public for a month and allowed access to the inside gardens which are normally closed. There were no photos allowed inside the museum which had many beautiful painted wooden screens, carvings and a large dragon used in processions. The exit to the museum led into the garden which was absolutly gorgeous, surrounding a pond with a traditional house on the side. We especially loved the view of the Five-Story Pagoda (top photo) from inside the private garden.

Senso Ji Shoes

 

Senso ji Monk's garden

Leaving the temple, we headed toward  Kapabashi-dori, the “kitchenware street” …

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A Tale of Two Breakfasts in Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market

May 31, 2011
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Monday in Tokyo

Despite waking up in the wee hours of the morning, we got a later than expected start. Walking to Shinjuku station during the morning rush hour is like fish swimming upstream against the crush of people headed for work in the surrounding office buildings. Inside the station, where we planned to find the JR office and activate our rail passes was chaos. There was no break in the torrent of people coming up from the train and subway lines. The sheer quantity of people inside the station had my claustrophobia button kicking in. We finally found the JR office near the south entrance of the station, but it does not open until 9am so we waited, first in line. Our passes were activated by two 2 people with many stamps and signatures, and finally we had our seat reservations for Kyoto and the return.

 

Our plan was to go to the Tsukiji Fish market but we weren’t in a hurry since I’d read that visitors we not currently allowed inside the popular early morning tuna auction. The number of visitors allowed inside has been limited for a while now, and after the earthquake some people were saying the vendors (some of whom don’t like tourists in the market) had been lobbying to keep them out all together. So, while it’s a good idea to get their early because the inside section of the market with the fresh fish seems to start packing it up after 10am, we didn’t feel the need to get there at the crack of dawn.

The Toei Oedo metro line (the pink one on the map) goes from Shinjuku station to Tsukiji station and upon exiting, turn left and the entrance to the market is right around the corner. It’s a pretty vast area and it took a little while to figure out what was …

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Tokyo Restaurants; Hitsumabushi and Tsunahachi

May 18, 2011
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Hitsumabushi (unagi/grilled eel)

The Hitsumabushi restaurant on the 12th floor of the Ginza branch of Tokyu Hands department is the main branch of a well-known Nagoya eel restaurant. They are famous for their special Nagoya-style tamari sauce on unagi (eel) which has been grilled over bincho charcoal.

At lunch time there was a full house and people waiting on child sized plastic chairs along the wall outside the restaurant’s front door. Uncertain what to do, I took a seat on one of the chairs and David went inside to get a menu.

The wait was brief and shortly we were seated inside on the banquette against the back wall of the restaurant’s single small room. The space is quite inviting, there is a large communal table filled with zen flower arrangements in the center. 

We ordered a salad with grilled eel on top and the mid-range set meal which came with eel in “sweet” sauce, rice, miso soup, pickled vegetables, and some other unidentifiable (to us) edibles. The eel on both dishes was amazing; delicate in both flavor and texture. While I very much enjoyed the salad I would have been happy to have my own set meal so I could have more of the unagi. Lunch for two, including beer was 4800 yen.

Afterward, I stood at the window which looks into the kitchen from the hallway outside, watching the one of the cooks work the charcoal grill. He saw me with my camera and was nice enough to hold up the skewered eel for me after he had dipped it in the giant vat of sauce next to the fire.

Hitsumabushi Nagoya Bincho 5159-0231 Ginza /2-2-14, Marronnier Gate 12F. Open 11am-3, 5-10pm daily.

http://www.hitsumabushi.co.jp/menu_eng.html

*Note about finding the restaurant; it is on the 12th floor of …

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