De La Panza

I’ve been so bloody busy over the last nine months that everything else in my life has taken a back seat.

I’ve not been going to a lot of restaurants recently, I haven’t been cooking a lot either as my belly seems to have been filled with a lot of Singapore Fried Rice and chicken and chips.

Sandwiches @ Moo! Grill

Every once in a while I have a strong need for certain foods, whether they are curries, sausage rolls, jacket potato's or milanesa.

Since last Wednesday for some reason, I have had a hankering for milanesa, either as a dish or in a sandwich. After reading a review recently about Moo! Grill, I knew where I was going to eat this weekend.

It’s a small place, pretty close to Spitalfields market and Brick Lane where we’d been trying to find me some clothes for a 1920’s gangster bash I’d agreed to go to.

Anyhows to cut a long story short, all I managed to buy was some trousers and not much else. Although I now have more of an idea of the total outfit now.

So after all that I was famished and was in need of some carbs. I was asked several times where the fire was, as my speed had picked up on the way to Moo! Grill. Sorry but it’s a silly name and really is the exclamation mark really needed.

I was just after a sandwich to go, but was forced to sit and eat it inside. But this did give me an excuse to drink some Quilmes, something I hadn’t done for a while.

The menu is different from an older version I had seen, it never had the milanesa, but did have a milanga, which is really the same thing. Veal or beef, who really cares. It’s breaded, fried and served in a ciabatta with mozzarella, ham and tomato. Damn it was good. Probably the best milanesa sandwich I’ve had outside of Argentina.

There is something about breaded meat, mozzarella and ham that rocks my world, and this did just that.

The fries I also had were, well thin and fried and pretty good. I’d gotten so used to having big chunky chips in Argentinean restaurants in London that I was a tad disappointed, but they were salted oh so fine.

The choripan, basically a sausage sandwich looked the part, and I was told it ate the part as well, but as I was not willing to share mine, I never got a taste of it.

But as the person eating it had lived in Argentina for 2 years, said it was good I believe her.

The one thing I didn’t like and only realised when the bill came was they charged £2 for the chimichurri. An outrage, the cheek of it.

Chimichurri is a typical side dish in all Argentine restaurants and it comes as a basic accompaniment. It’s like being charged for using the red or brown sauce in a greasy spoon. So bloody cheeky.

But as I was having milanesa, chimi is not needed, but on the choripan it is essential to cut through the fatty sausage.

I’d definitely come back here for the milanesa sandwich and to try the choripan, but probably not for one of their steaks, and I’d definitely take my own chimi.

Garufa and Still Turning Down Baby Sitting Duties

The good thing about being away for 10 weeks, well apart form being away for 10 weeks, was getting to meet up with lots of people upon my return.

One of the first we met up with was Lina’s cousin, his soon-to-be-wife and their little or now not so little baby Emma. She had grown. Last time I saw her she was a tiny two month old insect. Now she is a large seven month old eating machine.

Her parents have taken on some new ideas to heart. They basically feed her what ever they are eating. And I mean anything.

I was joking when I suggested Garufa, saying that it was about time that she started on her first steak. Little did I realise that she was an old hand at this. I was disappointed that she hasn’t mastered the knife and fork yet, but she certainly showed her love of a lovely medium rare piece of steak.

After 10 weeks of eating really nothing but curries in one form or another. Ranging from those lovely south Indian fiery curries in Oman to the watery ones in Bhutan, I have been in craving everything but spiced food.

I’d been thinking a lot about Argentina as a friend was telling us spring had nearly arrived there and he was getting ready to wear his sandals everyday. To say Lina was slightly upset was an understatement. She is still clinging to summer like a crazed person.

But it got me thinking, and I got to craving milansesa. A dish that Gonzi had got me addicted to way back when in Buenos Aires. It was probably this that got me eating katsu curry in the Tokyo Diner the night before.

Obviously the katsu wasn’t enough for me and I wanted that milanesa in Garufa. I needed that milanesa.

We’d tried to eat at Garufa earlier this year, but it was a Friday or Saturday night and they were busy, and we hadn’t made a reservation. So we ate elsewhere. For some reason after that we never got round to going back, plus me being away on hotel inspections for 10 weeks. Well now we had an excuse.

The menu at Garufa is pretty standard Argentinean restaurant in London. They have their cuts of meats, bife ancho, bife de chorizo, lomo and cuadril. All these come with a side of salad or chips.

They also have their mixed parilla, which comes with an assortment of meats, sausages, black pudding and a portion of provolone cheese. A must for any parilla. Normally the provolone cheese is for the veggie that always turns up to an asado in someone’s house.

Ordering was pretty simple 3 bife de chorizo all medium rare, 2 side orders of chips, and my milanesa, which came with chips. Plus a pre order of provolone cheese, moron asado (grilled red peppers) and a couple of what turned out to be very dainty empanadas.

It’s took me a week or so to calm down over the empanadas. They were titchy, and I have to say not that good. The meat one lacked real flavour, plus it was fried. The locro (sweetcorn) one was just so so. The corn needed the creaminess of a Tucuman empanada. Plus as I said they were really small, and at £5 for two. Not very happy. I have to say Lina could and should make them for the restaurant. Hers are so much better. This was the low point of the meal.

The provolone cheese was really nice. It had been grilled over the coals and came in a dish to be shared, as all good food should be. Equally good were the peppers. Nicely charred and drowning in olive oil. Fantastic for the bread to soak it all up.

But the star of the show was the mains. My milanesa was a flattened rump that had been breaded and nicely fried was the size of my plate. The chips were knock down gorgeous. I wish some chippies would do chips this good. Lovely and crispy.

The steaks all 300 grams, were just awesome. Unfortunately I only got to eat a little, as my wife was enjoying hers too much to share. Even with me offering her vast quantities of Milanese. She wouldn’t budge. But I did get a small taste, and it was juicy and the taste of the charcoal came through in bounds.

Since I haven’t eaten a steak since god knows when, this was top of the shop by a long way. Prob the best since we left Argentina. Even better than the disappointing one we had in New York.  Actually that doesn’t count as we had it at Newark airport.

All in all it was a really good meal, and since we only live 5 minutes away up the hill I think Garufa is going to be on our list as our local. Especially as the have choripan for £5. Life is good huh?

The other star of the show was definitely Emma. Our 7 month old eating machine. The only thing she never ate was my milanesa, as she wasn’t willing to swap her steak with me. I’ve never witnessed a baby eat so much food, and none of it was puréed. I always pitied my nephews having to at that junk they were given as kids. These new fangled ideas on how to bring up babies seem to be pretty good.

We also seem to be pretty good at still managing to turn down baby sitting duties. I’m not so sure how many times we can claim that she is too small for us to look after. Emma will one day be forced upon us for the night. Until then we enjoying our baby free life. 

Breaded Heaven

For most Poteños and Argentineans for that matter, milanesa is one of their staple meals, like lomito it can be eaten many times a week and believe me some do.

To anyone who has no idea what a milanesa is, it’s basically a piece of pounded beef, veal or sometimes chicken. This has a dusting of flour, then dunked in some beaten egg, and finally coated in breadcrumbs. This is either fried in a little oil, or a lot depending on the restaurant, or cooked in a very hot oven in an oiled tray. In Europe it’s known as an escalope or schnitzel. I used to eat a lot of the chicken variety in my days on the Kibbutz in Israel.

You can find milanesa in nearly every restaurant in Argentina. In some places it comes just like this, or maybe they will add a splash of tomato sauce, some cheese and ham and then pop into an oven to melt the cheese. This is known as a Napolitana. There are a variety of other sauces to have with it. Milanesa is normally served with French fries or mashed potatoes.

You can also have it in a sandwich, which is really good, as a snack. Or as normally the portion size is huge it counts as a meal. It’s breaded heaven. 

Versalles – An Old Favourite

I have been eating at Versalles for more than 10 years now. I first discovered it whilst I was staying at a small hotel in central Medellin. The smell of those Argentinean and Chilean empanadas made sure I was a regular visitor.
From then on, whenever we visited Medellin to see family. I always made sure we ate a meal there.
Now, as we are living here, we really have no need to goto into the center. But if we are there, then lunch has to be had at Versalles.
The food is not amazing, not out of this world, but what they do they do it well. Plus the restaurant has a charm that is rarely found in the world these days.
The service is definitely old school. All the waiters wear white jackets and look as old as the place itself. I’m sure some of them have been there since day 1. But even for their age they flit between tables, picking up empty plates, delivering food, greeting customers like old friends. Some of the regulars I am sure are.
The walls have a scattering of photos of Argentinean writers, artists and intellectuals. The restaurant was at the forefront of an intellectual scene in Medellin in the 50’s. I’m pretty sure the décor is today as it was when it opened. Just a lick of paint every 10 years or so. Sometimes I close my eyes and apart from the accents I could be in a small family place in Buenos Aires.
What they specialise in apart from the empanadas is the milanesa. Theirs is a thin piece of beef, breadcrumbed and lightly fried until golden. This is served with some papas ala francesa and a tomato, onion and lettuce salad. Oils and vinegars are awarded separately. As you would expect to find in B.A. you can also have it with a sweet tomato sauce, which is the Napolitana option.
Their menu of the day is always : soup, grilled meat, rice, chips and a salad. Well we are in Medellin, and those Paisas love their carbs. You also get a juice, which changed daily, followed by a bowl of ice cream and a coffee. It is more than you would pay elsewhere, but you do get more, and hey, with great old fashioned service like this its well worth it.
It kinda reminds me of a little of the New Piccadilly that once stood the test of time in central London, until some greedy land developers forced them to close by upping their rent. I hope this does not happen here, as every city needs a place to remind you of a gentler time. And if any city needs that, it’s Medellin.