Although quite rustic, the cuisine of Piedmont region is very much influenced by the formal French and Austrian Hungarian rule as well as Jewish and peasant culture.
EATING IN TORINO
GUIDO GOBINO FABBRICA DEL CIOCCOLATO
Every November Torino becomes the host of the chocolate festival, CioccolaTO.
Visiting Torino in early October, we missed on this sweet opportunity but we didn’t miss its story and history.
EATING IN IRELAND
EATING IN VALENCIA
Valencia pleasantly surprised us on so many levels, and food was one of those!
EATING IN NAPOLI
Eating in Napoli could be written in two words; pizza & pizza 🙂
EATING IN FIRENZE
While Firenze may be the center of the Renaissance art and culture, according to our opinion Emilia-Romagna region still holds the prestigious first place when it comes to variety of food ingredients and dishes.
Let’s be clear, we did not have a bad meal in Firenze. That’s what we love about Italy, you can’t have a bad dish. Overpriced yes. Not the most representative yes. But bad no. It’s just never the case.
However, since the traditional and typical Florentine cuisine is based on just five food elements (bread, olive oil, meat (usually veal, but pork, rabbit meat and venison is often consumed as well), legumes (beans, chickpeas), Chianti wine), the performance may be exquisite but the creativity has no room to grow.
Regardless the shortcomings or differences we had plenty of food, loads of pasta, meat and wine.
To have a better local and traditional food experience we asked for some guidance our friends that have been visiting or living in Firenze for a while. I did a bunch on line research, reading Gamberorosso articles in search for the locations that fit our schedule and serve local food.
These are the results 😋
EATING IN CRES
I didn’t find Cres a particular gastro destination. I mean, there’s food, there are restaurants but nothing out of the ordinary.
MAHLZEIT 🌭🍺🥨
So, I have this theory where the national food resembles basic characteristics of a certain nation. Like, let’s look at Mexican food…it’s spicy, it’s colorful, it’s versatile. Like Mexicans. Or French food par exemple. It’s fancy and artsy. Simple but rich at the same time. Or Norwegian food let’s say. Perfect representation of Norwegians themselves; plain, colorless, reserved.
Well German food in that case would be straightforward, strong and powerful. Like Germans, right?
Anyway, during our ten-day road trip we had the opportunity to both dine in and out. When your friends are chefs that means that you get the best food treats and you don’t even have to dress up. You just show up for the dinner. And that’s what we did in Hohnstorf where T made the best goulash ever with tons of spätzle .
Oh, my, how I love this egg noodles and I find traveling to Germany worth only because of it, and all of the bakery products.
When we were looking for an Airbnb accommodation in Braunschweig, I was more than satisfied when I found out that around the block there’s a sandwich shop, Brötchenmanufaktur.
They had all sorts of sandwiches with all sorts of fillings; so we had few during our stay. I preferred the usual ones with salami and cheese but D went wild ordering some weird combos like jam and brie, hamburger patty or tartar with onions.
Named after a marinated slice of pork neck grilled over charcoal that is a Thuringian speciality, Thüringer Rostbrät’l in Leipzig was our lunch destination upon arriving and visiting H.
The Gasthof or a type of a German trattoria / restaurant with typical German food and wood setting is situated near a park in Gholis neighborhood.
We had the classic meat and potato options in several variations. The food was good with no big surprises, very fatty and satisfying.
A short stop in Kassel was planed but we had no restaurant plans so we just visited the first mall food court and did a small step from German food. We had Asian & Turkish food instead.
Our last dining spot while on the trip was near Dortmund. A former colleague and a friend of D owns a classical German restaurant used for various occasions like conferences or wedding but it’s also very popular among the locals that like to dine out in the early evening hours of the weekend or for Sunday lunch.
The Bürgerhaus is set in a peaceful and idyllic village some thirty minutes drive from Dortmund.
The rich menu offers variety of dishes, both German and Croatian ones, so we had soup after long long time. SOUP!
If you come from Croatia you are probably familiar with the fact that no lunch, especially Sunday lunch is complete without a soup. My favorite ones are clear coups made from chicken or veal, something that one can’t find in Norway. They only have creamy, thick veggies soups, so I was delighted that we had, not just a plate but a bowl of soup offered to us.
Vegetable soup
We enjoyed some surf and turf combinations as well, and a lot of meat. Yum!
Simple but great and strong dishes enjoyed in a good company are the reason why I document these trips and stories, because I want to remember them forever. Not to make you envy, or me hungry again while writing about it 🙂
EATING IN LONDON
Dining in London last year was not as exciting as dining somewhere else before. Staying with a family over the weekend, we didn’t have the time and the opportunity to explore the London food scene.
VAQUERA VERDE
It’s no secret that Debeli and me are hard-core carnivore eaters, but sometimes, and that is really sometimes, like to try all veggies meals.