A Quick Stop in Philly

We jumped on the mega bus from New York, and headed south to Philadelphia. It’s only 3 hours from New York, which meant we would be in Philly by lunch time.  People would ask us before this trip, why Philadelphia? and the answer is simple. After a hectic 5 days in New York, we needed some relaxation time and it was also a good half way point to our next stop, Washington DC.  But don’t get me wrong there is still plenty of things to see and do in Philly.  If you ever find yourself in Philadelphia for 24 hours, there are a couple of things you absolutely must do. 

The first “Must-Do" is to run up the famous “Rocky Steps”, as seen in the movie. As cheesy as it sounds, you can’t help but laugh and have fun doing it.  As Cara and I arrived in Philly, we dropped our bags at our hotel, and headed straight for the Philadelphia Museum of Art to conquer the famous 72-step climb.  The steps have now become an icon of the city and attract thousands of tourists every year. We made our way down Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and straight away we could see the steps in the distance. Once we reached the steps, we were surprised to find not to many other people were mimicking the sprint up to the top.  So we had the steps mostly to ourselves.  Cara and I took it in turns to make our way to the top, laughing and smiling the whole way. You can’t help but get into the mood and sing the Rocky theme as you reach the end of the steps. Once we conquered the climb, we had the chance to stop and take in the view over the city on a gorgeous day in of Philadelphia. 

Once we departed from the steps is was time to relax, so we headed to “Old town”, a part of Philly which is famous for Independence Hall and also being the home of our second “Must-Do”, which was having a famous “Philly Cheese-Steak”. The cheese steak was a concept which was invented in Philadelphia, but it’s now a popular meal served all across America. As we explored Old Town, we found a local bar which was advertising the Philly Cheese Steak (along with a very appealing happy hour), so we decided to set up camp for the afternoon, sit outside and enjoying the warm 30 degree day.  As you can see by the photo, the Cheese Steak is not the most attractive looking meal, and in true American style, it’s far from the healthiest. It is basically a baguette, filled with shaved steak, and diced fried onions, topped with melted cheese and served with more than your average serving of fries. Cara and I figured we’d earnt it, after our run up the Rocky Steps, so we were looking forward to this Philly tradition.  I also decided to try one of the local brews sold in many bars around Philadelphia, the “Yards Pale Ale”.  The Yards Brewing company is a local Philly company which began in 1994, when friends Tom Kehoe and Joe Bovit decided to mass produce their Ale, after having been home brewing since 1988. At first they were only able to produce 6 kegs at a time, making the beer very exclusive. When demand increased and popularity grew, Tom and Joe were forced to move to another much bigger brew house, just outside Philadelphia and began mass producing their beers.  The Pale ale is a solid well rounded beer consisting of clean and crisp flavours. It has a slight citrus aroma and after taste. It is easily one of the most popular beers in Philadelphia and you can tell that there is a lot of local pride when it comes to the Yards range of beers.  

As we spent our afternoon, relaxing, eating our cheese steaks and drinking yards beers, we couldn’t have asked for a better place to chill out after the hustle and bustle of New York City. Philadelphia is probably not on the list of must see places when coming to America, but it does have a lot to offer. It was the perfect stop-over on our way to Washington DC. 

Christmas in Glasgow

Another year is coming to a close and it’s our second christmas in the UK. Our first, in London, we were hoping for a white christmas, but it was not to be. However, moving north to Scotland, we were confident of getting our wish of snow on christmas day. Sadly again it was not meant to be. But christmas is not all about snow, for us, it’s all about the food and drink.  I’ve always had the pleasure of having somebody else do all the hard work cooking on christmas day, so this year I decided to give it a crack myself.  I was excited about cooking my first christmas lunch. I had it all planned out in my mind, a three course meal consisting of a seafood starter, a traditional turkey main and ‘good old’ christmas pudding for dessert. 

This is not all that was on the menu. Since our travels to Italy, Cara and I have been lovers of antipasti. So, Cara was excited about making an antipasti selection, which would be nibbled on throughout the day between courses.  The meat selection began with slices of salami, smoked ham, prosciutto pepperoni and a smoked wild boar salami. To accompany this was a block of brie cheese and a ball of mozzarella, which I dressed with some finely chopped mint and chilli and drizzled olive oil over the top. I love mixing chilli and mint. The fresh flavours of the mint on the front of the palette mixed with a spicy chilli after taste is the perfect flavour combination. As if we didn’t need any more food, I decided to slice up some fresh focaccia which I drizzled with tiny bit of olive oil over the top then seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme and toasted for around 15 mins on a low heat. 

As we got stuck in to our appetisers, I began the seafood entree. As a kid I used to hate prawns, but as I’ve gotten older, I can’t get enough of them. So I decided to make Thai prawn skewers with a fresh crunchy veg. & pear salad. I pre-skewed my prawns early christmas morning and marinated them in fresh coriander, ground ginger, the juice of 2 limes and 1 lemon, fish sauce, brown sugar and once again some chilli and mint. By the time I got around to cooking these prawns, they’d been soaking in the marinate for around 2 - 3hrs. I simply pan fried the skewers for not even 5 minutes and they were ready to serve. My crunchy veg & pear salad consisted of carrot, celery, beetroot and slices of pear. I lightly dressed this in olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice and white wine vinegar.  

Next it was time for our turkey.  I was a little nervous about this. My fear was I'd start carving and it not be cooked all the way through. But I’d done my research, I knew the temperatures and the timings in relation to the size of the bird, so I was confident that it would turn out well.  I decided to stuff my turkey with a scottish inspired haggis stuffing. This haggis stuffing was made with sage, bacon, red onions, celery, breadcrumbs, haggis, lemon zest, garlic and ground nut-meg. So after stuffing my turkey, I placed it in the oven and planned to slow cook it for around 6 hours. When it came out of the oven it was golden brown and cooked all the way through just as I hoped. The stuffing was delicious too. The haggis stuffing added to the theme of christmas in Scotland. 

After all had been eaten, we were too full for christmas pudding. However we did have room for some Oreo Truffles. A extremely simple recipe which I’d picked up from my mum. You can find this recipe here...“ Oreo Truffles. These bite size sweets are amazing. Highly recommended. 

As we sat back, un-did the belt buckles and relaxed, I decided it was time for a Scottish malt whisky. Cara had got me the “Dalwhinnie 15 year old single highland malt whisky”. Dalwhinnie is a gaelic word which translates to “meeting-place”. That meeting place is the highest distillery in Scotland. It was founded in the Scottish Highlands in 1898. It’s gentle 15 years of ageing makes this scotch smooth and easy to drink. It has a slight honey flavour which therefore makes it a little sweeter than most malts. But this is counter balanced with a light smokey finish. 

So there ends our christmas in Scotland, and also our last christmas in the UK. Next year we’ll be back to the hot Aussie summer, sitting in the back yard and enjoying a BBQ. After my success cooking christmas lunch this time, I may have to give it a crack next year, back in Australia. 

The Tastes of Spain: Part 2

Spain is famous for it’s tapas food. You might say that when people talk about Spanish food, tapas is the first thing that comes to mind. During our time in Barcelona, Cara and I were excited to find some good quality tapas to sink our teeth into. After doing a little bit of research, we found a bar which boosted to have, not only the best tapas in Barcelona, but the best tapas in spain. This bar was called "Quimet & Quimet”. 

Many bars and cafe’s claim to have the best tapas around, but Quimet & Quimet had glowing reviews from many different travel websites. So with that in mind, our expectations were high and we were excited to see what they had to offer. As we arrived to the little cafe style bar, we were instantly impressed with the wide variety of wines along with the range of fresh foods. We’d heard that Quimet & Quimet pride themselves on freshness. The tapas on offer included, fresh seafood such as prawns, salmon, sardines and anchoivies, a variety of olives, stuffed peppers, a selection of breads served with olive oil for dipping, along with much more. But one thing that the team at Quimet obviously loved was cheese. The variety of cheeses was astounding.  So with this in mind, Cara and I had some tough decisions on what to order. We decided to get a nice glass of white wine and a selection of breads, olives, prawns and the famous cheese selection. 

The bread selection was a mixture of the basic pita bread, crusty bread, croutons and water crackers. It also included some homemade olive bread and chilli bread which was all very tasty. The freshness of these breads made the taste amazing just on it’s own, but it gets even better when mixed with different oils and stuffed peppers. The prawn dish was a very elaborate concoction which consisted of a slice of olive bread, a marinated pepper, with a king prawn on top and finally finished of with a spoonful of black caviar. I’m not much of a seafood eater, but I couldn’t resist trying something new and this was a dish I knew would be hard to find anywhere else in the world. We weren’t disappointed either. I expected a strong "fishy" flavour, but it surprised me. It did contain a seafood taste, but the peppers and the olive bread balanced the dish out nicely which made it so enjoyable to eat. Our olives were just a simple serving of chilli and garlic marinated olives, but freshness goes a long way, which made these olives very tasty. Lasty was our outstanding cheese selection. If you are a cheese fiend and just happen to be in Barcelona, Quimet & Quimet is an absolute must. The selection was amazing. I wish I knew what all the cheeses were, but I just couldn’t tell. There were flavours which we couldn’t pick. The obvious ones were, goat’s cheese, blue cheese, feta and mozzarella, but the others I couldn’t tell.  It didn’t matter though. We were both enjoying our tapas and savouring every bite. As we continued eating, we looked at some of the other delicacies on offer. Olives stuffed with sardines, Salmon served with yogurt and truffle honey, mussels and clams all seem to be popular. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, the menu was predominately seafood tapas. There was a meat selection, which seemed to be very similar to an Italian anti-pasti meal. So we decided to stay clear of that and try some different things, and we are so glad we did. 

By the end, we both agreed that we’d definitely found the best tapas in Barcelona, maybe even Spain. Our visit to Quimet & Quimet was certainly one of the highlights of our trip to Barcelona. We hope to return to Spain in the future to try some more tapas and see if anyone can rivals the food we’ve had. 

The Tastes of Spain: Part 1

After another amazing trip to Italy, it was time to make our way back to Glasgow. But first we had to make a quick stop over in Barcelona. This was out first trip to Spain. We were excited about spending the last few days of our trip, eating tapas, drinking sangria and relaxing on the beach. 

As we walked the streets of Barcelona, I couldn’t help but notice the many influences in the food and drinks. Some of the bars and restaurants were very much influenced by Mexico, offering nachos, tortillas, enchiladas along with margaritas. Then I noticed the popularity of Mojitos and Caipirinha’s (Cuban cocktails) throughout many establishments. It’s not what I expected in Spain.  Despite the wide variety of food and drinks, there is one Spanish icon which is sold everywhere you go, Sangria. A Sangria is a mixer of red (or white) wine, fruit juices and chopped fruit pieces. It’s also common to add some herbs and spices to your sangria for extra flavour. If you’re interested in the history of the sangria, I covered it in a previous blog post (“The Sangria”).  

We were both very excited about trying a new cuisine during our time in Spain. No surprise one of the most popular dishes in Barcelona is 'Paella’. Paella is a simple dish which consists of rice, meat and vegetables, all mixed together and cooked in a large pan. In fact, the word “Paella” comes from the latin word ‘patella’ which means pan.  It was first served in Valencia in the mid-19th century, and today it is seen as Spain’s national dish.  Paella is not often cooked for only one person. It’s a dish which is made in large quantities with the idea being that you share your meal with the people you are with. The sharing philosophy is relevant to most of the food and drink in Spain. The sangria is shared amongst the group, as is the tapas and the paella.  

On this occasion, Cara and I decided to order the chicken paella to go with our sangria. But looking at the menu, there seemed to be endless choices of paella. Offerings of rabbit, duck, pork, seafood, vegetarian and even snail paella all seemed to be popular. It came out from the kitchen still sizzling. After our long day, we didn’t waste time waiting for it to cool down, we dug straight in. What we both loved about the paella is the level of flavour from such a simple dish. The chicken was well seasoned and marinated. This helped to also flavour the rice and vegetables. There was also a strong saffron flavour throughout the dish which is common in many paella’s. Coriander and thyme also featured  heavily in our meal.  There was also a nice smokey taste, which comes from cooking over an open fire. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We knew that it would not be our last paella whilst we were in Spain.

It was a warm night in Barcelona, so after our meal, we walked back to the hotel enjoying a hot summers night, similar to Australia.  On our walk we reflected on the day and looked ahead to the rest of our time in Spain. We both agreed that we needed to seek out some quality spanish tapas before we leave. Many of the places we had passed were of course offering many dishes on their tapas menu, but we found it to be much like Italian anti-pasti. We wanted something different, something that we’d never seen nor tried before. So the search was on.   

Only Real Scot’s Eat Haggis

If you were to ask most people ‘What is a classic Scottish dish?’, more often than not, the answer would be haggis. Now we’re living in Scotland, I was looking forward to finding some good haggis to sink my teeth into. Many people have said to be careful when you order this Scottish cuisine, as the quality of haggis can vary from place to place.  With Cara’s parents visiting from Australia at the moment, we decided to take a day trip to beautiful Edinburgh, and I decided to take the opportunity to seek out some good haggis for lunch.

The last time Cara and I were in Edinburgh, it was a gorgeous warm sunny day. This time we were not so lucky. But even in the wind and rain, Edinburgh is still very picturesque. As we walked toward the famous Edinburgh castle, the weather took a turn for the worse and we found a nice little Scottish pub to stop for lunch.  They were offering a traditional style haggis dish, served with mash potato and mashed pumpkin. Trying something new is always a gamble, but new foods don’t scare me anymore and I was looking forward to what would be presented before me.

It’s probably best not to speak about the contents of haggis, as it can sound quite off-putting, but i suppose it’s good to know what you are about to eat.  Haggis is a mixture of sheep’s offal (heart, liver and lungs), along with onion and oatmeal. It’s then well seasoned with spices and salt and pepper. Stock is then added to the mixture and It's left to simmer for 3 hours.

No one knows for sure where the idea for haggis came from. There is no definitive proof that it even comes from Scotland. However, the first recipe for haggis in print was around 1430, in a cookbook from the north west of the United Kingdom.  One of the theories is that haggis was offered to the workman in the slaughter houses. After all the prime cuts of meat had been cut and sold, the leftovers were minced and seasoned and given to the workers

When my meal arrived, It looked interesting, but quite nice. It tasted even better. The mixture of flavours worked well together. The use of herbs and seasoning is a huge part of the overall dish. Without it, it would be extremely bland. In this particular dish, I could also taste strong onion and garlic flavours. You could argue that the use of the garlic, onion, herbs and spices are there to disguise the taste to the offal, but what ever the reason, it works.  I washed it all down with a local beer brewed in Edinburgh, “Innes & Gunn”. This independent brewing company was established in 2003. It’s popularity in Scotland is largely due to it’s unique brewing style. It’s brewed and fermented in white oak whisky barrels which gives it an after-taste which is unlike any beer I’ve had before. Together with the haggis, I felt like I was having the full Scottish experience.

After an amazing lunch, the rain eased and we continued exploring Edinburgh. I thoroughly enjoyed my first haggis meal and I’m sure it won’t be my last.

The Love of Antipasti

Michelangelo’s, “The Creation of Adam”, inside the Sistine Chapel.

Next on our list of famous sights to see in Rome, was the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. We followed the masses of tourists who were also heading toward the Vatican and once we were there it was truly amazing. The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is probably the only thing we’ve seen that compares to the sight of the Vatican City. As we made our way inside the chapel, we decided to tackle the 551 steps to the top of the dome which over looks the square and Rome. When we reached the top, the sight was everything that we had hoped for. A 360 degree view over all of Rome. After taking many photos, we made our way back down and took a short walk around the Vatican City to the Sistine Chapel. We were excited about seeing the famous paintings by Michelangelo, and by far the most famous, “The Creation of Adam”. As we made our way through to the Sistine Chapel we were amazed at the size and volume of all the paintings, every inch of the chapel was painted to depict many famous moments in time. As we made our way through the crowd, we got to the centre of the chapel and looked straight up, and there, in the centre of the ceiling was the painting we’d all come to see. So after a busy afternoon, it was that time again, time to eat and have a cocktail. After having lots of pizza and pasta on our first day, we were keen to explore some other Italian food, particularly antipasti.

Aside from the amazing pizza and pasta that there is to eat in Italy, it’s important not to forget about the other classic Italian dish, Antipasti. Usually before any meal, it’s normal to order a selection of cold meats, olives and cheese. When Cara and I went out to eat, we were sometimes served these dishes without even ordering them, free of charge. Prosciutto is by far the most popular of the cold meats featured on a standard antipasti dish. Prosciutto is the ham of either a pig or wild boar. It usually comes from the thigh or the hind leg of the animal. The meat is finely cut, cleaned and well salted, then left to age for a time ranging from 9 months to 2 years. The result is a delicious, soft, salty and chewy meat which falls apart and melts in your mouth.  Along with the cold meats, often come a selection of olives, cheeses and lots of bread. Every meal we ate we nearly lost our appetites due to the amount of antipasti dishes served before the main meal.  After our busy day, I was keen for a nice refreshing beer to go with our antipasti. I decided to order one of the beer cocktails that were on offer. The “Peach Lager” was a beer cocktail which consisted of fresh peach puree, peach schnapps and cointreau and topped up with Peroni. Peroni lager is by far the most popular beer in Italy. This beer concoction was sweet and refreshing. The puree made the drink quite heavy in texture, but it was still a definite thirst quencher after another long day exploring Rome.

“Peach Lager Beer Cocktail”
In a pint glass:
30ml Peach Schnapps
15ml Cointreau
45ml Peach puree
Topped with Lager

The Taste of London Festival

After our trip to Brighton, we returned to London to begin the task of getting ourselves a place to live and a job. After a busy week of getting all of this organised, we decided to reward ourselves by attending the "Taste of London" food and wine festival in Regents Park. The 'Taste's" festival consisted of some of London's top restaurants and chef's coming together to serve up just a little sample of what their particular restaurant has to offer. The great thing for us as the customer as we got to walk around the park trying lots and lots of top quality food.

As we made our way around the festival, we tried such things as honey roasted pork, smoked Strasbourg sausage gourmet  hot-dogs, penne-pasta plus much more. After trying many dishes, we could eat no more, so we turned to the vast range of drinks available. Aside from the food at the 'Taste's' festival, wine and spirits were also available for us to try. We forget how lucky we are in Australia to have such great wines at our doorstep. We choose to sit a tasting session on Italian wines. The wines on offer were delicious. They'd be great to have with many different foods. But when the host of the session heard that we were from Australia, she was very jealous and confirmed to us that we are so lucky to be surrounded be great wine makers. Along with wine, we were able to try many different cocktails, spirits and beers. Rum seemed to be one of the more popular spirits featured. Along with the rum, was of course the most popular of rum cocktails, the Mojito, which we could also try.

It was great fun walking around trying many different products, but we noticed that there was many different masterclasses being held for us to attend and learn more about food, wine, mixology, etc. With us being bartenders, we decided to attend an interesting mixology masterclass, hosted by the worlds international rum ambassador, Ian Burrell. This was a cocktail class with a twist. It was all about making top-quaility "Mock-tails" or cocktails with no alcohol. We had the opportunity to learn and try some of Ian's unique mocktails which featured a wide range of fruit juices and herbs. These drinks were amazing, and still very simple to make and serve.

We left the Taste of London festival very satisfied. We had tasted some amazing food, tried a range and wines and finished off with some delicious mocktails. It was a great way to end our week.

Jamie’s Italian

Before our trip began, we had been recommended to visit one of Jamie Oliver's famous restaurants. So as we walked the streets of Brighton, we were excited to find our self's standing outside, 'Jamie's Italian'. Jamie's Italian is this celebrity chef's biggest chain of restaurants. As we looked inside, we could see that the place was jam packed. We weren't too surprised. Because it is Jamie Oliver's restaurant, we expected we would be waiting a while before we got a table. We instead decided to sit in the bar area and try some of the delicious tapas food that Jamie's Italian had to offer us.

The menu was very "Naked Chef". Simple but delicious seemed to be the theme. We decided to order the Italian nacho's which was fried 4-cheese ravioli with a spicy arrabbiata sauce. I later found out that 'arrabbiata' is the Italian word for angry. So when it came to the sauce, I expected it to pack some punch. The arrabbiata sauce consisted of tomatos, garlic, chilli, olive oil and basil. After we ordered the Italian nacho's, it was time to study the cocktail menu. We decided to try the 'Vanilla & Lemon Martini'. This drink was a simple concoction of vanilla infused vodka, lemon juice and sugar syrup. It was presented beautifully with a long zest of lemon tied into a knot and dropped into the centre of the martini.  The cocktail was a little strong on the vodka, but I did expect that, it is a martini after all. The lemon juice didn't come across to sour because it was complemented well by the vanilla and sugar syrup. An all around well balanced drink. Perfect to take your time and sit on for a while. As the nacho's were served our table, they also were presented with perfection and tasted just as good. Simple bite size snacks that would be so easy to serve at a party with friends.

Although we didn't try any, we were very impressed with the wine list. It consisted of all premium Italian wines and all at a good price.  The thing we loved about Jamie's Italian was it's simplicity. Every drink, every piece of food was simple to make, but served with great presentation and detail. Another thing we loved is that this chain of restaurants knows what it's trying to be. By that i mean, it's not trying to be fine dining like many other celebrity chef restaurants are. It's funky and simple and laid back and most importantly affordable. You feel very welcomed and comfortable here. I think it's for this reason that Jamie's Italian is so successful and continues to grow in

popularity.

Jamie's Italian. "Vanilla & Lemon Martini"

In a shaker:

45ml Vanilla infused Vodka

15ml Lemon Juice

15ml Sugar Syrup

Add ice and shake

Strain into a Martini glass

Garnish with lemon zest tied into a knot.

It's time to get Arabic in Abu Dhabi

After seeing some amazing things travelling through Asia, it was now time to make our way around the globe and head toward England. But first we had to make a little stop over at Abu Dhabi.

Coming to Abu Dhabi, Cara and I had no idea what to expect. The culture and customs were probably the most foreign that we have experienced so far. Cara was a little concerned about what she could and couldn’t wear. The women in Abu Dhabi need to be mostly covered up.  Even I couldn’t wear shorts in certain places, pants only, which was not easy in the intense heat. We are only here for 3 full days and there is lots to see and do so we planned out our time and set off excited about what we were about to discover.

Our first stop was the Grand Mosque. This is unbelievable! It is one of the most impressive structures that we have ever seen. The Grand Mosque in total can hold up to 20,000 worshipers at one time.  Cara and I were speechless. What an amazing way to start our time here.  Later that day, we decided to go and check out the Emirates Palace. This is the worlds only 7 star hotel. Unfortunately staying there is a little pricey so we were limited in what we could see. But what we did see was unreal. It truly was a palace. There was lots of carved marble and sand stone. Very ‘over the top’ which seems to be the trend in Abu Dhabi.

Before I get on to talking about our food and drinking experience for this week; I need to make mention of our desert safari that we had the pleasure of going on.  Imagine 4-wheel driving out in the desert and bashing through giant sand dunes as far as the eye can see. Carving up the sand, like a surfer carves a wave. Then dropped off in literally the middle of nowhere to feast on a traditional Arabic BBQ. We both had an amazing time. It’s something that we would recommend to anyone visiting Abu Dhabi.

Eating the Arabic food was… ‘interesting’. Some food we really liked, and then there was other things that I think you need to be a local to appreciate. On our last night, we went to the “Al Fanar” revolving restaurant to reflect on our time here over a nice view, a bottle of wine and some quality food.  I decided to do a bit of a food review this week. My mum would be keen to read this I’m sure.  For our Appetizers, Cara ordered pan-fried scallops, which were served on a bed of green mango and marinated with mirin soy sauce, finished off with sesame seeds as the garnish.  This was a simple very well presented dish. The scallops were nice, but did seem to be a little undercooked. Having said that the flavours balanced well with the green mango. Cara seemed to enjoy the dish, but I don’t think it blew her socks off.

I decided to order the Alaskan crab served with a wasabi lime emulsion. After eating wasabi with sushi in japan, I have formed a liking to it, so when I saw the idea of a wasabi lime emulsion, I had to try it.  As I tried the crab first, just on it’s own, it was already delicious. Soft and juicy and well seasoned.  When I mixed it with the wasabi lime emulsion, I expected that kick of spice that you usually get from wasabi. But this was not spicy at all. It was actually refreshing. It complimented the crab beautifully. 

As we waited for our mains, the waiter came over and gave us a complementary sample and a dish that the chef was experimenting with, sautéed shrimp with mayonnaise. Sometimes with food and cocktails people can over think the ingredients and over complicate what they are serving. Sometimes the simplest recipes are the most effective. The chef’s sautéed shrimp with mayo was a perfect example of how a very simple dish can still be amazing. It was a nice combination of flavours. Something that I hope finds its way on to the menu.

For our mains, Cara ordered the beef rib eye with spinach cannelloni. The beef was cooked to perfection. It was a little on the rare side for Cara’s liking, but that doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the dish. It was juicy, soft and it pulled apart easily on the plate. I was certainly a little jealous. The cannelloni was a good side for the beef.  The combination of spinach and cheese worked well. The only criticism with the cannelloni was there was too much of it. The serving size needed to be less.  Eating the entire beef and cannelloni was just too much for Cara, but she thoroughly enjoyed her meal though.

I went for the sautéed chicken, served with roasted potatoes and onions. Like the beef, the chicken was cooked perfectly. Falling away from the bone with ease. It had a nice crispy skin, which I love. I also love roasted potato’s unfortunately I only got 3 little marble sized mini potato’s. The delicious flavours of the chicken made up for the lack of potatoes.

Overall our experience was great. The views of the city at night were awesome. We both had fun and it was a perfect way to spend our last night in beautiful Abu Dhabi.

After dinner we went to a near by cocktail bar. The cocktail menus I had seen in places so far had been very traditional, very classic. So I was hoping for something a little different when we went to the “Piano cocktail lounge”. Unfortunately, their menu consisted of just the basic classics too, daiquiri’s, margarita’s, martini’s, etc. So I decided to ask the bartender for his signature cocktail. The barman’s English was not that strong, so it took him a while for him to understand my request. After a little confusion, he explained that he did not have a signature creation, however he could serve me a drink that is very popular in Arabia. He explained that when the locals go out, this is what they drink. It’s called a ‘Bull Frog”, which is basically a long island iced tea, but with red bull instead of coke and blue curacao instead of Cointreau. To make a ‘bull frog’, you build in a tall glass over ice, 15ml vodka, 15ml white rum, 15ml tequila, 15ml gin, 15ml blue curacao and top it up with red bull. This drink is perfect for the sweet tooth. For me, it was a little too sweet. But I could understand why some people would like it. It’s like a liquid lolly-pop. The barman was right when he said that ‘bull frogs’ are what everyone drinks in Abu Dhabi. During the short time that we were sitting at the bar, we saw about six or seven of these concoctions get made and sent out to other customers.  It’s not the most creative idea for a drink I’ve seen, but it was a good incite to what is popular in Abu Dhabi.

The Bull Frog:

Build in a tall glass over ice:

15ml Vodka

15ml Gin

15ml Tequila

15ml White Rum

15ml Blue Curacao

Topped up with Red Bull