Fine Dining – Garage Style …

A friend of a friend of a friend told us about Ristorante Valenti. It’s the way word gets around in Medellin.

From what I could gather the food was very good, but you ate in a garage of someone’s house. This I am used to, as in Asia a lot of peoples houses double up as their business. So to eat in a garage was no surprise to me, but to Colombians to eat good food in a garage was a little bit too much.

I’d also seen an interview with the chef, although I, at the moment cannot read it all, as my Spanish is not good enough yet. So no idea what it says.

So on a wet, cold Thursday night, we ventured into Envigado, a slightly affluent area of Medellin. When we found the restaurant (only by the house number, as no signs). We walked into a garage. In fact a double garage. There is a little bar, where a few people were drinking and chatting and lots of tables. All dressed up ready for business.

We had made a reservation, but we didn’t really need to, as only one other table was occupied by a group of six. As the night progressed, this seemed to be a group restaurant, a reason was needed, rather than just going to eat good food. Medellin isn’t into that yet.

There is no menu, no choice. You just decide wether you want a starter, main course, desert, or all 3. The starter is 12,000 pesos. The main course is 24,000 and the deserts are 3,000. So kinda normal prices for a lot of upscale restaurants in Medellin. They don’t actually tell you what you are getting. As it’s a surprise.

We chose the main course and a desert each, as since working in Café Boheme, I’d acquired a very sweet tooth.

What came was a quadruple selection of delights. Two ricotta cheese parcels with a blue cheese sauce. A chicken thigh on a bed of tomato sauce. A large prawn cooked in garlic butter. And an artichoke salad. All situated in the corners of the plate. I’m really not a fan of square plates. That went out in the 80’s, but Medellin is in its infancy for good food at the moment. So for your average Paisa this is cool stuff. For me the presentation was kinda messy. I wish the chef was more secure in his cooking, and only gave us 2 ir 3 of the four. It felt cluttered.

Everything was well cooked and seasoned. I’d forgotten how much I miss salads here. So far I haven’t brought any lettuce leaves here, as with the humidity it will wilt by the time it hits the fridge, and they are all the soft head variety. I have a preference for bitter leaves, and they are impossible to find here. Well once my seeds arrive they won’t be.

The chicken and tomato sauce was the low point of the 4. There was nothing wrong with it at all, but it was just chicken on a tomato sauce. No wow factor there. A bit boring that. The prawn and rav’s were nice. Well cooked and tasted pretty good. But not on the same plate please.

I am seeing a lot of fish and cheese dishes being paired up here. Why?

The desert was served in a large shot glass. It was a chocolate orange-coated fig, with a coconut and chocolate sauce, and loads of dusting. Small, but a nice end to a nice meal. Being English, we do rather like heavy puddings, but as in Rome.

I’d love to go back again to see if the Chef has more good food up his sleeve. I’d be very disappointed to get the same combination again.

All in all, by Medellin standards it was a breath of fresh air in a city lacking in different food options.

If you are in Medellin, try and enjoy …

Restaurante Valenti

Transversal 31 sur

No. 32D-20

Envigado

Medellin

Lunches in the Sun

Finally we have had a week of no rain. Summer is here at last. For the last few weeks it has rained a lot either in the morning or the afternoon. But thankfully this week we have been blessed with days of beautiful clear blue skies. This has been an excuse to eat alfresco. Bliss. Being in London over the Winter, I had forgotten what it was like to eat with the sun on your back. Ahhhh..

However this week of sun, has meant frequent trips to the garden to do some well needed watering of the veg I planted a few weeks ago. Hard life huh? The rocket, caverlo nero, parsley and radishes have all sprouted. Now just a waiting game till they are ready.

I ordered last week a wide selection of seeds from Seeds of Italy (The USA Branch). So hopefully they will be with me in a week or two. Then I can get planting…. How I miss salads. For some reason Latin America is not known for its good salad leaves.

I also started to cure a piece of pork belly last week. Just a simple recipe of salt, sugar, crushed peppercorns and a few herbs thrown in. I left it for 7 days, bit of a mistake as it was quite salty in the end. But apart from that it turned out ok. The next one I will leave it for 5 days and hopefully it should be ok.

The day I started curing it, I was dreaming of eating Petit Salê. My favourite peasant style French dish. Basically salted pork with lentils.

Firstly boil the piece of bacon with lots of stock veg and herbs for about an hour and a half or until the pork and fat are tender. Stain everything and return some of the stock back to the pan and add the lentils. Normally I would use Lentils from Le Puy, but this is Colombia and they only sell two types here. Brown lentils for soup and an imported type from Canada called Pardina. They seem to hold their shape better and work ok here. The lentils should be cooked in about 20 minutes. During this time slice the pork and add it back to the lentils to warm through. Serve the pork on top of the lentils for some fine French fare. A nice baguette would go well with this, but as we are in the middle of nowhere, so some Moroccan bread we tried out went just as well. A nice crisp white would have been great as well. Hey ho.

I used some more of the cured bacon in another classic French dish. Boeuf Bourguignon, which went well with some mashed potatoes and a hearty red.

I must however remember to slap the boy in the butchers who told me the cut “Posta” was brilliant for slow cooking. After 3 hours it was just beginning to become tender. Unfortunately we were pretty hungry by this time so we couldn’t wait till it was melt in the mouth tender.

I keep forgetting that slow cooking in Colombia means 45 minutes in a pressure cooker. They really love these machines. The devils work I say.

Hopefully if the sun holds out over the weekend I can feel the barbecue being lit. Then you know Summer is definitely here. J

In Situ – El Jardin Botanico

The Botanical Gardens in the centre of Medellin is a welcome respite from the chaos and madness that the city is. The greenness of the place immediately relaxes you. The noise of the flowing traffic outside melts away the further you walk deeper through the gardens.

Our visit here was the first, and I so wish we had come here before. Anything on a bright sunny day to escape the pollution and heat of Medellin.

It kind of took me back to Kew Gardens, which always had the same effect on me. Although we paid for the year’s membership and we never used it that much. A waste.

Deep inside the Gardens, is Situ. Our mission for today. A spying mission. A chance to see how the well to do people of Medellin spend their money, and also a chance to finally eat some decent food. Well, that is an unfair attack on the cuisine of Medellin and its surroundings. Some of the typical Paisa food we have eaten has been very good. But to be honest, I am getting sick of beans and rice. So let’s say, it was nice to be able to eat some different food.

The restaurant is open on both sides. One facing the gardens, the other facing a small pool full of fish. It was larger than I had expected, and it was full. As we had no reservation we were shown to a table in by the pool. Which gradually became more and more baked in sun. We kept moving our table inwards, at one point we were almost connected to a party of four. Who would have welcomed us to join them if the waiters had not closed the shutters in time.

The menu of Situ, as I said before is unlike your typical Paisa food. Phew. Some of it is there, but with a more modern twist and thankfully smaller portions, and a higher price tag. Why is that?

We were tempted to do a full 3 course meal. Well we were on a spying mission after all. But luckily an apparent wine deal saved us. A half bottle of white, which they were trying to promote, came with some cheeses and bread. Why not we said. The wine was from a small unknown Chilean winery and was very good. The cheeses on the other hand were a bit of a disappointment. What came were 6 small balls of cream cheese rolled in either cracked black peppercorns, dried herbs or macadamia nuts, with some thinly sliced bread(ish) and 2 strawberries. One of which was not ripe. Oh god was this a sign of things to come. It’s amazing that someone actually came up with this idea. But what is more amazing is that they went through with it. But we are in Medellin after all. A city where people still eat beans and rice on average 3 times a week, and what they call mozzarella is a yellow block of stringy cheese. But more of that later.

Thankfully the rest of the meal was a delight. So I have put the cheese incident behind us and best forgotten. But had to get it off my chest.

My salmon was cooked to perfection. When the waiter asked me how I wanted it, I almost replied, “How it’s supposed to be cooked.” Thankfully I bit my tongue. The lemon mayonnaise had a little tartness to it, which went well with the salmon and the mash. Don’t ask why I had a rolled platano and a huge basil leaf on my plate. Well they do love to garnish.

Lina’s juicy pork chop was coated in a lovely tangy tamarind sauce, with some papa criolla wrapped in a fried platano. Let’s not mention the rosemary sprig. Like I say they love to garnish.

It was a good meal, the conversation flowed along with the wine. Maybe we should have ordered a full bottle. But it has been over a month since a drop had passed my lips. So probably best not to have tempted fate.

We shared a pudding of a chocolate and passion fruit cake. I was sublime, and I love squirty cream. I’m sure the waiter took offence when I took the large mint sprig off and tossed it onto the table. I must make this my crusade. “No garnishes that are larger than the food you are serving.”

All in all it was a great afternoon, with some great food, great wine and good service. The one thing Medellin has in tonnes is good service. I’d be amazed if I ever get bad service here.

Until the next spying mission. Let’s hope it’s as good as this one.

Life in the Countryside...

Well we’ve been here in Finca Cañaveral for a couple of weeks now. Most of that has been cleaning, dusting and throwing a lot of stuff away. As I found out today that the owners hadn’t been here for about a year, and I’m not sure they cleaned that much before anyhows.

The owners are some parents of friends, and as I mentioned before they don’t come here much nowadays. So as we were looking for somewhere to rent and they wanted to rent it out. Perfect match. Well we are only paying the wages of the Mayordormo. Antonio, a local guy who comes every Friday and Saturday and does odd jobs around the place.

As I said, the first week was practically just cleaning, dusting, sweeping and throwing a lot of stuff out. What a mess. I had never seen so much dust in one place in my life. When we moved the rug downstairs, it had mould on the underside. Antonio informed us it hadn’t been moved for 11 years. Yuck …

The general mess of the place aside. Finca Cañaveral has real charm and a personality all of its own. It is quite different from other Fincas in the area. It was built with little money and using all manner of things for tables, decoration etc. It’s really quite cool.

We are about a 90 minute walk from the small Pueblito of El Retiro, which is about 45 minutes outside of Medellin. It is very very peaceful and is the complete opposite of London. We may occasionally hear a car or motorbike pass by, but other than that it’s only the birds and a river we hear. I’d actually forgotten what it was like to be woken up by birds singing. Bliss.

There is a small vegetable plot, which I have increased its growing space by a little. I’d almost forgotten what physical work was like. There are some ripening corn plants, a few spring cabbages ready for the pot. The 2 cauliflowers there just never quite made it. But will keep them there for a while until we buy some chickens and then will feed those to them.

I had never really eaten loganberries till I came to Colombia. It’s just as well I like them, as we have about a dozen or so plants which are giving us enough for a couple of litres of juice every few days. Plus I am doing experiments with them to make jam. Ice creams next.

This week we brought some seeds to plant. Onions, carrots, celery, parsley, radishes and some herbs. All I am waiting for now is a few hours without heavy rain.

We are getting into normal life here, as brought a small portable oven and a fridge. The one that was here was just used once a week when the owners came just for the weekend. We upgraded. Now to fill it.

We brought some hand made fresh cheese, some Arepas (corn flat unleavened breads), and some very fresh eggs. They had been wiped, but sometimes the chicken shit stays. Hahahaha. Bright yellow yolks, and they taste good.

Also good news all our boxes arrived from Blighty. Yes we have a duvet now. Can sleep warm at nights without socks. Haven’t checked all through each box, but they seem as heavy as when we shipped them. Cost us nearly a grand to ship them, and £10 to collect. The customs here had a quick scan through one or two boxes, as the US Customs had done the same. It’s a lot easier to import stuff than to export it. Hope we never have to go through that procedure.

I am really becoming attached to the peacefulness of the place that an offer of going down to Medellin was quickly rejected. Although I have to go down once in a while as we cannot get internet connection here.

Transport to and from this area is limited to say the least. Roughly about twice a day from a small tienda, which is about a 20 minute walk downhill. It’s in a Chiva, a large open sided bus that serves the small villages in rural areas of Colombia. Great fun to ride and you do get to meet all the locals. As news travels fast in this neck of the woods, I’m sure everyone knows about me by now. When we go down, we catch the Chiva at anytime from 8am onwards, but it leaves El Retiro at dead on 2pm. There are more buses at weekends and holidays, but without a car or moto, it’s a long walk down and back up. Or quicker if we can snag a lift of a kind hearted neighbour. Which we have down many times now.

Until next time ….

Nazca in Bogotá

Peru is well known as one of the gastronomical capitals in Las Americas. Unfortunately when I was in Peru, we really were travelling on the cheap and ate some really bad and cheap food in some bad restaurants. A real shame.

When we were in Bogotá we visited Lina’s cousin, and he recommended we go to a Peruvian restaurant called Nazca for some brunch.

My recollection of Nazca in Peru left sour notes in my mouth, as we were nearly robbed in that unfortunate town. Only famous because of the ancient culture who resided there many many years ago. It’s not a town I will return to.

Fortunately this Nazca in La Zona Gourmet of North Bogotá is a place where I would return in an instant.

The décor is slick and modern, upstairs in the front are some very comfortable sofas where you can and we did spend a few hours chatting and eating some delicious food. Downstairs you can sit either in the garden or inside. All quite formal, we preferred the sofas.

As we were new to the restaurant and in the hands of a regular diner we let Alonso order for us. He came up trumps.

We were treated to four sharing plates, each with four samplers on. Two of which were fish, one fried and one cold plate, and one hot meat plate which had a great piece of ox heart. I love offal. Of course we had a desert plate. All were fantastic, except I cannot bring myself to eat fish with Parmesan cheese. Not very Peruvian I know.

The fish was really fresh and the sauces they were coated in were a perfect match. Unfortunately I cannot remember all what we had as after 5 quiet strong Pisco Sours my memory is kinda patchy. The Peruvian’s like their Pisco blended with egg whites, lemon juice and topped off with some sugar syrup. Which is in stark contrast to the Chilean way of only mixing it with lemon juice and sugar to taste. I have to admit the Peruvian way is more delicate and a lot tastier. That is why 5 went down so easily.

All in all it was a fun afternoon with some great conversation, good food in good surroundings. What more can you ask for in life.

Nazca

Calle 74, No. 5-28

Bogotá

www.restaurantenazca.com

Andres, Carne de Res

I had heard of this restaurant from my wife’s cousin amongst others. It’s a real Bogotá institution. Every person who has spent anytime there has eaten there at least once. Some it is a weekly experience.

We were taken there as a treat after a day of hard day of sight seeing at The Salt Cathedral. Inside these salt mines they have carved out many large outstanding halls. It kinda reminded me of the …………. In Lord of the Rings. It’s pretty impressive, but still kinda weird. They can hold mass for over 3000 people, and a lot of people get married there.

So after this bizarre place we were taken to Andres, Carnes de Res. This restaurant can hold well over 300 people in one sitting. I so pity the chefs there. When we arrived, it was pretty empty. But still had more people then most restaurants I know in London have when they are busy.

It’s decorated to such an extent with small kitsch objects that strangely it actually works. Certain sections even have street names. The menu is vast and takes a while to go through. It’s contained in a machine that you have to roll it up and down.

I took a stroll around and had ganders at the kitchen. All wood burning stoves. Boy it was hot just standing on the other side. Never mind being behind those stoves for a busy shift on a Friday or Saturday night. All the little knick-knacks that make up the decoration you can buy in the small shop at the other end of the restaurant. Most of it would look out of place anywhere but here.

As I had been eating too much food recently I decided on Sanchoco. Basically chicken soup. Chicken portions (mainly leg) cooked and served in its own broth with a few vegetables and potatoes thrown in for luck. This one was a house speciality and it contained some pork leg and pork ribs. It was delish, and the best one I had ever had. Most of the time the broth is made up with a stock cube, and the chicken is either over cooked or dreadfully undercooked.

Everyone else had large cuts of beef. In fact they were so big that one plate would have fed two or three people in London.

Even though I only had chicken soup, I was stuffed. But thankfully I had not had the meat option. Just to prove how bizarre the place is the bill came in a shoe cleaners box with a magnifying glass for the people who cannot believe how expensive the bill is. Thankfully we were not paying. Gracias Ricardo for a fantastic day.

When we left which was about 6pm, it was really starting to fill up, and it stays open till 3am. I said goodbye to the chefs, and hoped they had an easy shift.

Till the next time Andres, Carne de Res ………….

A Day of Bad Food

I have flown on so many airlines now, that it has got to be quite dull to fly. It just doesn’t excite me as it once did. That’s what you get for working as a travel agent for 5 years.

We flew with Continental from London to Bogotá, via Newark airport. I have flown with them a few times before and the food was better than this. As per usual on planes it’s either a choice of Chicken or Beef. The beef meal was a lasagne, which ran out long before the stewardesses reached us near the back of the plane. So we were all left with the chicken meal. It was rank. Some soggy rice, with some chicken(ish) rissoles in what was meant to be crispy breadcrumbs. But alas it was soggy and tasteless. I pitied the bird that had a wasted life to feed me this rubbish meal. The cabbage salad was the highlight. Now that is saying something. But at least I had the first two Godfather films to keep me entertained.

Newark airport is a fast food gorgers delight. Shocking. As it took us over an hour to go through immigration, we were not left a lot of time to actually eat something. But I knew the Brooklyn Brewery had a bar there, so thought we might get a decent burger with some good beer. How wrong we were. The beer was really good. Brewed at a microbrewery in Brooklyn. Nice colour and taste, and went down well. Thankfully so as the burger and fries were actually microwaved. Big let down, as the place had that dodgy pub/bar feel to it. So actually the food fitted.

If we had of had more time, there are one or two other places that we could have gone to but alas pointless US immigration and customs prevented us.

The flight from New York to Bogotá was with a wrap a la Mexicana. The sauce was hot and spicy and improved the otherwise bland flavours.

Thankfully Bogotá fed us well. More on that in the next blog.

The Breakfast Club

What do you expect from a place that calls itself the Breakfast Club, apart from really good breakfasts. Well, that’s what you get. There is normally a queue outside with people waiting to get in. Which is always a good sign… For me, I don’t mind queuing but for others who have no patience it is a problem. Their loss.

It’s a fun, quirky place, lot’s of 80’s memorabilia on the walls, which was my teenage decade. Good and bad memories…. There are two other branches, one in Soho and one in Hoxton.

They have a varied menu, consisting of all the funtime breakfast favourites and a few other ones thrown in for good luck. The afternoon menu has a lot of burgers, jacket potatoes etc. The burgers are made in house and are really good. Disappointing are the lack of potato wedges that came with it. I want more.

But it was just the breakfasts that kept me coming back. Well actually I only ever had the Full Monty. I’m a sucka for a good breakfast, and when I find something I like, I stick with it. They have the largest sausages ever and some quality black pudding.

Lina has varied her menu, well she is the experimental one after all. The Eggs Benedict were well cooked, the eggs had that perfect tear drop shape that everyone likes. The Hollandaise was not as good as mine, but I have made several thousand litres. Kinda perfected it now. The Huevos Rancheros were not as I remember them in Mexico, but for this small corner of North London they were perfect.

Now, I wish I had eaten there more often than I did as in all my visits to Colombia, I have never seen sausages or good bacon on sale anywhere. What they call sausages is a hot dog sausage. So my full English in Colombia is gonna be a tad short. Or maybe I make then myself. This is an idea I have been playing with for a while. I’m not sure if they have Heinz baked beans either. Can life get any worse? Hahaha.

Well at least I know if things do not work out here, there is a Full English waiting for me ….. 

FoodLab - Food of Love

I have been meaning to post this bog for ages now, but with the hassle of getting everything ready for our move to Colombia, everything not connected was put on the back burner….

We discovered The FoodLab which is set within a nice stretch of Essex Road. Quite near a good green grocer, good butcher and a very good fishmonger. A rarity in London these days.

We ate there on several occasions, either for breakfast, brunch or midweek lunch and the food was always lovingly made and served in its own individual style, all with the usual Italian flair. The restaurant (if you could call it that, as it feels more like an upmarket café) is decorated in true rustic Italian fashion, with the veg and fruits littering the shop. You regularly see the chefs taking their supplies of veg and fruit back to the kitchen to prepare a dish …

The FoodLab is only open in the morning for breakfast and stays open till about late afternoon. It has become a popular spot for lunch, especially so as it’s a stones throw away from Upper Street. The portions are quite large, which is good. The prices are good also. What more could you ask for …

The Full Italian Breakfast consists of pancetta, Italian sausages, and some homemade beans, eggs, as well as some great bread. It is a breakfast of kings. One I loved and had on several occasions. After making a million eggs Benedict at the restaurant, I could never face one there, but Lina had it a few times and enjoyed it.

Lunchtime pasta dishes include Pasta with Ceps, with Pheasant, Ragu Bolognaise, and I heard the Lasagne is truly great.

I haven’t tried them, as normally full after a plate of pasta, but the cakes look delicious. True pieces of art.

It’s one place I am going to miss, but maybe what ever we do in Colombia, the FoodLab has shown me to keep cooking with Love and you will never go wrong.

Cheap Cuts 1: Beef Short Ribs

These past few weeks, since stopping work, I have been back in my own kitchen and cooking a lot …. But the best bit is, I’ve been cooking the things I love to cook. Offal, and a hell of a lot of it as well, and cuts that most people turn their noses up at. Why? I’ve never understood the snobbery with people and food.

So, on my menu lately has been a lot of liver and kidneys. Haven’t got around to buying hearts yet.

I have a thing about lamb’s kidneys. If I could I would use them exclusively, but am finding ox kidneys are an equal substitute. Much meatier and stronger in flavour, but just as good.

Ox kidneys flash fried to give them some colour, then finished off in the oven to cook just through, and served with some mash and a red wine reduction. Stupendous.

So the other day, I was wandering around Whole Foods. Mainly I was re-visiting places I know in London, as at the end of May I may never see them again. Anyhows, got to the meat section and saw some Beef short ribs on offer, at around £4.50p a kilo. Well this was an offer I could not pass up. As I had made up some brown chicken stock the day before. I could see a hearty dish coming up.

The next day I made up a mirepoix of the usual suspects, and sweated them off till they were nice and soft and just starting to colour. Whilst this was going on, I browned off the ribs in another pan. Just to give it some colour and to get the meat some flavour.

Before I added the ribs to the mirepoix. I added some red wine and reduced that for a while. The ribs went in, and so did some of my brown stock.

These are the type of dishes I love to cook. Little bit of work in the beginning, leave it to its own devices and then some work at the end, and voila. A magnificent dish.

The ribs took about 3½ hours to cook. The meat was falling off the bone, and was really juicy. In that time, all I had to do was stir it once in a while, just to make sure nothing was sticking to the bottom, and skim the fat off. Those ribs are quite fatty.

I removed the ribs, and strained the sauce back into another pan, and boiled it hard to reduce that sauce even more, to get it nice and thick.

Once the sauce was at the consistency I wanted. I.e. nice and thick. The ribs went back in to warm up again.

All served with some mash and the sauce poured over and around. It was nice eating I can tell you.

I wonder how this would go with a Chinese Red Braise Sauce. Hmm, next time.