My Kind of Food

I’ve recently returned from my first ever visit to Istanbul.  It was also my first visit to Turkey (unless you count once crossing the green line, in Nicosia, into the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which of course doesn’t exist).

Having visited numerous Middle Eastern countries and those of North Africa, I wasn’t expecting this to be a trip that presented me with any particular culinary experiences of note.  I was wrong.  Not only was I wrong I was wrong in more than one way because the food was modern as well as traditional, prepared with good hygiene and tasty beyond belief, at least in most cases.

A friend informed me that there were plenty of ‘contemporary’ restaurants and arriving as we did on New Year’s Eve, we’d booked into one of them for dinner that evening.  Being a roof-top venue, it had lovely views over the Golden Horn to the old city of Constantinople and the food was presented in a very modern style with good flavours. By and large it was local food, successfully elevated in style and presentation using modern techniques.  There were lots of powders, purees and creams made from tahini and yoghurt.  Salted Yoghurt cream was particularly interesting .  Often the down-side of travelling in a predominantly Muslim country is a scarcity of alcohol.  This wasn’t the case in Istanbul but in this restaurant in particular the staff lacked knowledge about the wines they served to match the multi-course tasting menu.  My suggestion would be to avoid that option and simply choose a wine you like the look of and stick to it throughout.  The restaurant is ‘neolokal‘ and well worth a visit to see how Turkish chefs are embracing current culinary trends.

In a simliar vein, but not in my opinion as good, either in terms of food or in particular the service, is Mikla, another roof-top venue with outstanding views over the old city in one direction and the Bosphorus in the other.  The food was generally nicely presented but despite appearances I found it quite heavy.  The service however was the the most disappointing aspect of this restaurant.  Our waiter kept responding to every comment with ‘amazing’  This isn’t helpful when you’ve just told him that the balance between monkfish and white beans on the dish you’ve just eaten wasn’t right!  The timing between courses was also somewhat erratic and clearly suited more to the kitchen than the diners.  I wouldn’t return here without knowing that something had changed.

We had the Tasting Menu as seen below, despite being tempered by the idea of ‘Bridshit’ being offered on the other menu!

The presentation and style were impressive, as also the views.

Far and away a better culinary experience, in my opinion, was eating kebabs in ordinary restaurants on the street. The standard of cleanliness and service were excellent and the flavour of the roasted, grilled and casseroled meats were amazingly good and way beyond my expectations.  Some 35 years or more since I first tasted a Donner Kebab in backstreets of Newcastle, I am now a fully signed-up Kebab fan.  The flavour of the dishes I tasted in those everyday restaurants in Istanbul will remain with me long after the memory of the posh-nosh has faded.

21 Queen Street in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is an address with a foodie provenance.  It was here that Newcastle’s version of Rick Stein had his original restaurant (it’s since moved to another location) before he took over a myriad of other eating locations in the city.

These days, its home to Dobson & Parnell and I ate there just before Christmas with family members.  I’d looked at the menu on-line before making a final decision about where to eat and, frankly, I wasn’t overly impressed.  Its seemed to be offering bog-standard bistro type food and didn’t particularly excite me.  The reality was somewhat different.

After a drink, in a nearby bar, we arrived to a very warn welcome and were shown to a table at the back of the dining room.  It being the season of office parties, there were Christmas crackers on the table – not a good thing!  The restaurant though at that stage was quiet and there was only one table which was obviously an office group out for their Christmas shindig. Although they got a bit noisy they soon moved on to a more lively venue.

My starter was black pudding  with pickled mushrooms and a poached egg.  Tasty enough, it was nothing special.  I’d chosen duck breast for my main course and having ordered it ‘pink’, I was, to be honest, expecting something overcooked and grey to arrive.  I didn’t take any pictures, apart from the starter, because I didn’t intend to write about this place as my expectations were low.  I don’t remember how the duck was served either but  do remember than it was perfectly cooked and full of flavour – exceptionally so.  And then the moment when I felt a tiny piece of shot in my mouth!  This wasn’t intensively farmed duck, it was wild duck shot on the wing by someone with a gun. Wonderful!  I felt as though I’d won the lottery.  I’ve racked my brain and I’m certain that the menu didn’t say ‘wild duck’.  I wonder why not.  It makes all the difference in the world to the taste and the texture. It was delicious.

The other great thing about this restaurant  was the guy who welcomed us and looked after us throughout the meal.  We interrogated him without mercy about his life, work, education and his interest in shooting ducks in Yorkshire and he kept us entertained and looked after us very well.  His name is Charles.

If you’re in Newcastle go to this place and don’t be put of by the ‘normal’ of the menu.  They obviously know what makes a great product and, unusually for these days they don’t oversell it.  In fact understated seems to be the hallmark of Dobson & Parnell.  If you end up being served by Charles, you will be very fortunate indeed!

 Kaltur began their corporate lives as importers of authentic Spanish products to the UK restaurant and home foodie market and recently they’ve branched out into cooking and serving Spanish cuisine in High Bridge Street in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK.

I’d first read about Kaltur over at Secret Diner, which is a guide to the eateries of the North East of England.  As I was due to be in the region for a couple of days in early July I thought I’d give it a try.  It being a Thursday evening I didn’t book in advance but was warned by one of my fellow diners that without a reservation we were unlikely to get a table, Newcastle being party central any night of the week.  A phone call two minutes later confirmed that they were full, save for three places ‘at the bar’.  Well that seemed a shame but we decided it would do as we had no plan B and were feeling ready to eat.

In the event I could not have been happier, if they given us the best table in the house.  The restaurant is tiny and these three seats ‘at the bar’, which is really ‘the pass’, gave us a commanding view of the entire place out of the corner of one eye as well as a bird’s eye view of the kitchen and the opportunity to interact with the two chefs who worked in the smallest space imaginable to produce an array of mouthwatering tapas dishes for us to try.

Sometimes you can ascertain whether or not restaurant staff can be trusted, at first sight.  In this case all of the guys here, including the off duty waiter who’d called in with his grandfather to have a glass of wine gave us such a warm and friendly welcome that they immediately won our confidence.  The menu is extensive and consists of lots of interesting tapas/rationes sized dishes and few main courses.  We couldn’t decide what to choose so suggested to the chef that he simply keep passing us little dishes from his side of the ‘bar’ to ours until we tell him to stop.

We ordered a bottle of wine (recommended by the young off-duty guy mentioned earlier) and then battle commenced with a couple of servings of Jamon Iberico Guijelo carved from the leg which was positioned just in front  of me at the bar.  It was all I could do to stop myself hacking off the occasional slice as the  meal progressed.  Rosy salty/sweet meat with a delicate aroma typical of the hams from this colder region of Spain and with the taste of the acorns on which the little piggy had dined before sacrificing itself for my pleasure.

This was one of those occasions when it was very easy to simply dive in and start eating whilst forgetting to take a photograph or two to hare with readers.  I did manage a few though.

So in summary, this little place goes right to the top of my list of places to eat when I’m in the area.  It’s fun, serves great dishes, has a great attitude to food and is very reasonably priced.

Kaltur
8 High Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1EN
+44 191 447 4464

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Cromane is a sand and shingle spit off one of the Kerry peninsulas in Co Kerry and Jack’s is a restaurant with a fantastic view of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The Georgina Campbell hospitality guide to Ireland has named Jack’s as Seafood Restaurant 2017. 

Dinner for me started with Oysters Kirkpatrick; fresh oysters cooked with bacon and finished with Tabasco and Worcestershire Sauce. Simple, spicy and delicious.

I followed this with the king of fish, Turbot, which was pan roasted with cabbage (classically Irish), Aubergine and purple Carrot. The flesh was perfectly cooked and tasted as though it had jumped straight from the ocean to the plate. As with dinner at Dingle, a load of other vegetables were served on the side. It seems easily possible to consume the recommended 5 a day in one sitting in Ireland. 

For pudding I had the lightest cheesecake I’ve ever had. After all that veg I needed something that wasn’t too heavy and this didn’t disappoint. The flavours of raspberry, ginger and lemon sang out individually and blended together in a very pleasing way. 

I’ll definitely return here next time I’m in Kerry for the local food prepared with care and skill and served with a smile and occasional song. 

Jack’s Coastguard Station

Dingle is a small town in County Kerry on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Being on the sea of course there are many fish and chip shops as well as a plethora of traditional Irish pubs serving a range of seafood dishes alongside hearty meat ones, to the sound of traditional Irish music. 

I ate at a restaurant I’d found in the Michelin Guide, called Chart House. 

It’s a restaurant with a simple yet elegant style and without fuss or pretensions. A glance at the menu reveals an imaginative combination of local ingredients which lead the diner to a high level of expectation. 

Overall I’d say that although it’s probably the nicest restaurant in which to eat in the town the food generally doesn’t sing in the way the menu leads one to expect. In the words of many a TV foodie, the cooking needs ‘elevating’ to do justice to the feel of the place and to the descriptions on the menu. That said this is good food at the level of a gastropub or bistro. 

Although it’s not the purpose of this blog to review drinks, before letting you in on what I ate I should give a shout-out to the outstanding Dingle Gin which I had with tonic while I browsed the menu. A very quaffable beverage with a dry aftertaste.  It would be great with a sprig of rosemary sitting in the glass. 

And so to the food… I started with  Annascaul Black Pudding with Seared Scallop on a Potato and Celeriac Rosti and Apple Glaze. It was nice enough except that the quantity of black pudding was seriously out of proportion to the tiny scallop sitting on top and for the life of me I couldn’t detect the flavour of the apple glaze, nor was I entirely sure what it was supposed to be glazing. A nice touch was the use of the scallop roe which I enjoy but is all to often discarded. 

Roast Rack of Kerry Lamb with Dauphinoise Potatoes, Cumin Spiced Red Onion Marmalade and Red Wine Jus came next.  This was tender juicy and perfectly cooked lamb of the highest quality. The potatoes were creamy and with just the right amount of garlic and the onion confection was suitably interesting (but I didn’t eat it all). My heart sank though when a side dish of roasted root vegetables was also served. This was completely over the top, especially as it included boiled potatoes. Potatoes on potatoes? Really?  Well it is Ireland I suppose!

For pudding I chose, Warm Spiced Apple Crumble with Clove Ice Cream and Creme Anglaise.  It was a suitably modest portion of well made and flavoured crumble. The creme anglaise was unctuous (but I’d simply call it custard if it were my restaurant) but the ice cream was delicious. It was my first experience of clove ice cream and I can’t wait to try and replicate it at home. 

A quirky touch was the presentation of the bill in a copy of an Enid Blyton novel. 

The Chart House, Dingle