La cucina mexicana

Mexico. Un pais meztizo... The big cousin of the Philippines, born out of indegenous and spanish cultures. A country who's culinary exports, more often than not, are restricted to the three O's: tacos, nachos and burritos. Thanks to Taco Bell and the easy commercialization of Tex-Mex "let's-put-some-guacamole-and-call-it-mexican" fare most of us have a greasy, not so refined vision of Mexican cuisine.

Last november, we attended one of the most extraordinary weddings ever. Our two great friends were married in Querétaro, a beautiful

colonial town about three hours from the capital. We didn't have much time but we managed to squeeze all the best culinary delights in five days.

Mexican cuisine is distinct. It is pure Mexican and not meztizo. The flavors and ingredients stay true to the home land and recall the times of the great, ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations.

Five days and a multitude of dishes: here's a peek into la cucina mexicana verdadera.

Thursday, October 31, 2007: Upon arrival

We arrived tired, weary and bloated (not due to the flight, but to the greasy, all-american cheeseburger we ate gluttinously at Houston Airport's Ruby's Diner). The filipino ambassador to Mexico happens to be one of my parent's very good friends. The welcome dinner was grand and if I had not been so engrossed with the fabulous dishes, I would have taken some pictures.


Ambassador Guingona was kind enough not only to offer lodging but invited the chef of a well known restaurant, favored by painter Diego Rivera: Amor. Within the first five minutes of our arrival, I headed straight to the kitchen to spy. On the menu was: Pescado a la veracruzana, a fresh turkey salad loaded with cilantro, and non-mexican but excellent dish made by the Ambassador's cook: bacalao.

Veracruz is the largest seaport on the Gulf of Mexico. Known not only for it's seafood but it's carribean musical scene and it's authenticity. Pescado a la veracruzana is is it's most famous dish and excellent, especially for those who are not afraid of the spicy spicies! Made usually with red snapper, the fish is marinated in lime juice, then sautéed in a pan with garlic, onions, fresh chopped tomatoes, capers, green olives and of course some spicies: jalapeno and a green chile. It's served with some rice and peas to sop up the sauce and with a fresh sprinkling of parsley, or as the chef here did: with cilantro. After a long flight and that greasy burger... It really hit the spot.

I love the mix of rich and hot chile, tart lime and fresh cilantro!

Friday, November 1, 2007: Barbacoa

Lucky enough we were travelling in style with my mother who hired a car and a driver to take us to Querétaro. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Mexico City. Our driver, Antonio, was an extremely nice, soft spoken guy, who had the same face as Mr. Solis from Desperate Housewives. We told him to take us to his favorite place to eat on the road. We went to a typical Barbacoa or Barbecue along the highway, a hundred kilometers or so from Mexico.

In Los Arcos, a row of about six or so barbeuce houses lined the highway all with sizzling sounds and exciting smells emanating from their porches. Tortilla making ladies outside lured customers in with their swift hands transforming little balls into flat, smoking hot tortillas. Once you've tried a real fresh tortilla, you won't ever touch the stuff in vacuum packs sitting for five months on the grocery shelf.

The Barbacoa is made up of slow, cooked meat, wrapped in maguey leaves and roasted in a pit with hot water and coals. We weren't sure what to order so we just asked for the Ranchero plate and few coronas. My mother was looking for mole and though it wasn't the place for it, the waitress was absolutely adorable and invited us to her place to try her home cooked mole! She also brought me some kernels of blue corn to show me where the funky green tortillas came from. Yaya Terry took them home to be planted in her province...

Since I don't have the good habit of writing things down in a notebook, I completely forgot the names of the different things made out of the Barbacoa meat. There were a variety of things made with tortillas. There were quesadillas, nothing at all like the Tex-Mex ones. Made with fresh tortillas and served straight from the grill. One other thing was a small, round discs of masa with frijoles and melted cheese. I think they're called sopes. (Please correct me if I'm wrong) I sort of invented things, wrapping them up with meat, adding onion, spicey sauces, lime and lots of cilantro! The small little crisp rolls are tacos. They had some barbaco meat in it and once again I slashed on every sauce and condiment there was. I also put fresh guacamole on everything I saw.

Too full, I slept all the way too Querétaro...

Upon arrival in Qurétaro, we were awestruck by the beauty of our hotel, Meson Santa Rosa. I'm guessing it was once a convent that was converted into a spacious and charming hotel. It had three lovely patios with fountains and greenery. the third one had a sort of a large fountain which was a pool. Our rooms were enormous and decorated tastefully. Two little, white skulls with our names on it were waiting for us on the coffee table. It was la Fiesta de la Muerte. All over the quaint city of Querétaro, little and big altars to past loved ones occupied each corner and plaza. Everything was colorful, with garish skeletons smiling and dancing. Paper cut-outs hung from every awning. The idea is to celebrate the memory of your departed love ones and also to remind yourself not to be afraid of death.

That night we ate in a little resto beside in front of the hotel. I had what they call molcajete. Molcajete is a large stone bowl, traditionally carved entirely out of porous basalt volcanic rock. Normally used like a mortar and pestel to grind spices, make sauces and such, it can also be heated and used to serve dishes. I ate a Molcajete 1810: it was made of shrimp wrapped in bacon and cheese, fried crispy, with nopales or cactus leaves and some avocado. It had some salsa roja on top and was strangely good. This is not a place to go on a diet.

Saturday, November 2, 2007: The wedding day

I was already too stuffed from the day before to eat anything truly consistent for lunch. I just had a salad and some nice cilantro soup. Dinner was quite an adventure though. We had some very traditional cuisine for the wedding. I didn't eat much of the hors d'oeuvres but I do remember dinner.

It started out with a crêpe with zucchini blossoms and a sauce made out of hibiscus flowers, jamaica. It was really different from anything I've tried before. The sauce had a slight tangy taste to it, it was just as delicate as the petals.

The main course was chile en nogada. It's a stuffed green chile with a walnut sauce and grenadines. The stuffing is made of ground pork or beef with spices and raisins. The sauce is creamy and pleasantly nutty. It is a rather sweet dish and the only thing that bothered me in the beginning is that it's served at room temperature. Oh! And 1 in 10 chiles are hot... My was not just hot but flaming! I finished it all anyway. This dish has some interesting history to it. It was created for the Mexican independence day on September 16 and is the country's national dish, representing the mexican flag: chile for green, white creamy sauce and red grenadines.

After lots of dancing, pretending to a mariachi with only one marracas and a few too many rounds of tequila... 3 am struck and they brought out the Chilaquiles!!! This has to be one of my favorite things in Mexico. Fried crispy corn tortillas topped with salsa verde or salsa roja, frijoles and some queso panela. It's apparently a remedy for la cruda or the hangover... No wonder they brought it out then. The ultimate bite it that perfect mix of crisp and soggy, with cheese, beans and sauce... Pure heaven.

Sunday, November 3, 2007: More chilaquiles... and mole

The Sunday buffet brunch of the hotel, held in the lovely patio, had an even lovelier site... more chilaquiles!!! I loaded my plate with some along with a poached egg in a fiery red sauce and has the chef whip me up some fresh quesadillas. I'm going to miss Mexico.

That day we just roamed around in the car, doing a quick sight seeing tour of the city. The main square is impressive, with a mssive flag waving in the wind. It was full of people: doomsday sayers, native indian dancers, witch doctors, priests, families with kids blowing bubbles, young lovers, laughing teens, two huge, gaily dressed blown up skeletons holding hands in the middle of the square... All the faces of Mexico were shown to us in a matter of ten minutes.

That night we ate in Amor. A rather kitschy decorated restaurant with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's painting adorning the walls... This restuarant is a tribute to their love and their favorite recipes... Excellent food!

<- Fish Tacos

To start with we had fish tacos... Little pieces of white fish cooked in curcuma and lime rolled up in a mini tortilla with onions and cilantro. Then of course... Escamoles. Ant eggs. They were in season at the time and we were an adventurous group. Known as the caviar of Mexico, escamoles is the larvae of a special type of ant, harvested from the roots of the agave (tequila) or maguey (mezcal) plant. White little pearls sautéed in garlic, parsley and butter. The first thing that entered my mind was escargots! Soft but firm, very rich and a tad nutty. You wrapped them in tortillas and ate them with some cilantro and onions. I also ate them with a fork. They're really good, just writing about them make my mouth water!

Escamoles!

For our main course, we decided to try different moles each. My mother had mole poblano, I had mole verde and Victor, a mole with tamarind. A pity I don't remember the name because it was really good.


Mole is probably one of the most famous dishes in Mexico. It literally mean "sauce". The most famous is Mole Poblano for the town of Puebla, made with a rich and dense mix of crushed dried chiles, almonds, sesame, dark chocolate, cinnamon, charred avocado leaves.... It is usually smothered on a piece of grilled chicken and served with rice. I love the sauce... but personally I always find the chicken breast too dry. It is traditionally served with grilled or roast turkey breast. This is perhaps juicier. If I were to try one day... I'd make a mole stew... Letting the chicken absorb the sauce and become tender...

The Mole verde was truly yummy. Made with crushed pumpkin seeds, tomatillos (a husk tomato or green tomato), lettuce, green chiles,, cloves, cilantro and cumin. It was fresher and tarter than its more famous counterpart. Something also easily achievable in the kitchen. It would be a great sauce for a grilled fish!



The next day we flew out full and slightly sad to be leaving this wonderful country. It's so close to home. The people are friendly and they treat you like family, the food is excellent and music is everywhere! It's amazing how proud they are to be Mexican, they're culture is distinct and their history is rich. The cuisine truly reflects its unique heritage and its link to its land: corn, avocado, chiles, limes, cilantro... the basis of Mexican cuisine is not imported but is taken from the earth under their feet. I'll never call nachos mexican food again!

La vie Strasbourgeoise

Strasbourg has long been disputed over by France and Germany since the middle ages... Take a string from the middle of France and take it straight to the East and you'll hit Strasbourg. Only two and a half hours from Paris by TGV, you enter a city straight out of the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm.


The city clearly does not have the allure of la Vieille France but more of a rather large medieval german village. The distinct architecture of apparent wooden structures and crooked little paved roads make for an ambieance quite far from Paris. Plenty of color and canals with swans floating in them... You almost expect to see Pinocchio or Jack and his beanstalk chatting in a pottoresque square.

Even more particular is the cuisine. Strasbourg is well know for its very, very Deutsche-influenced fare. Here's a little recap of what we had.

We arrived around dinner-time and headed straight into a typical Winstub. This is their version of a traditional bistrot with regional dishes and specialities. The first thing I ordered was.. Beer! Of course! Météor beer, a local bière blonde which is really light and refreshing. Sad to say, it was probably the best thing I had that night. I wasn't too impressed with the food. Although I do like german-ish fare, this was sort of a frenchified version: heavy on the cream and butter.

I had a dish called Bouchées à la Reine which is a hearty, grandmother's recipe. It is made out of small chunks of veal and chicken in a mushroom cream sauce served with Spatzel (Alsatian pasta made with fresh cream).

It tasted like Campbells mushroom soup with chicken meat in it. A bit bland. I did like the Spatzel though...


The night was young and after another round of beer in another place, we conquered the city. Heading first to a place that wasn't so bad if it wasn't for the hard-core techno music called La Passerelle. Then to a place that turned out to be very fun: The Living Room. The nightscene is very underground, very east berlin and electro pop music. Not bad, not bad.

The next day started late with a nice Flammekeuch in the Petite France quarter. A Flammekeuch is an alsatian "pizza", square and thin with lots of cream... It literally means "flamed tarte". Washed down with beer after a night out... It does the trick!


We met up with some friends who knew more or less where to go. They live in Mulhouse, which is a city that's not too far away. One of them is a chocolatier. He makes decorations out of chocolate for different stores and pastry shops. Here's a sample of his work. A green tea macha chocolate cake that Chef Aaron had at the chocolate bar.

The culinary highlight of our trip was the fabulous dinner at Le Beurehiesel. Longtime planned and reserved in advance we had some excellent food despite my not so wise choice. (Sorry Nico!)
A large tabel of 12 between good friends, old and new, from Paris and Beyond. A nice little apéritif... Although I adore beer, Champagne is still always a lovely pleasure.

On the menu was an entrée that Chef Aaron has been talking about for ages: Cuisses de grenouille with a ravioli of caramelized onions. I have to admit that this was my first time to eat frogs' legs. I was never queasy about it but I just never had the chance to. It was succulent! Not much like chicken as everyone else says, but more like fish: monkfish in particular. A soft, melt-in-your-mouth white meat cooked in a hearty sauce made with chervil. The ravioli married well with the dish as it was quite salty and the onions tapered it off a bit. A crisp white wine: Rieseling if I'm not mistaken. A specialty of the region.

Here's where I went wrong. The Menu listed a Beackoff as a specialty. I wanted to take the poitrine de porc but was tempted to try all their specialties. Since it was for two, I convinced poor Nico (my seat mate) to share it with me. Everyone's dishes came, all looking excellent, well spiced and caramelized. very excited, everything looked like the type of cuisine I love.

Here comes the waiter. A giant pot, sealed by bread dough that had to be cut open. Everyone oohed and ahhed. He opens the lid and... pulls out a chicken white as a pasty northern european on a cold beach in february!
Oh no! The vegetables were very good, but I was disappointed to be having boiled chicken while everyone else had some succulent, juicy and hearty dish.



Fortunately the servings were large and lovely Stacey gave me almost a fourth of her pork, so did Victor. Beggars can't be choosers. I was peddling for bits and pieces of everyone else's dish. Poor Nico was being made fun of by Rachel who always happens to have better food than him.



The pork was excellent. Caramelized, crispy and fondant at the same time. A hint of sweet and the delicate scent of clove.


Desserts were very yummy though... Like I said, beer is everywhere. An excellent dessert made out of a beer brioche style pain perdu or french toast with beer ice cream! Yes beer ice cream. It was like taking cold, sweet beer. I wouldn't mind having a gallon at home!

I had a déclinaison café: three little desserts, all coffee and chocolate flavored. I really liked the one with praline the best. I'm sorry for my non descript dessert descriptions but I'm not much of a sweet tooth and I forgoe desserts more often than not.


That night, please don't ask where we went. A sketchy bar that seemed more like an socio-experimental enclosed environment infused with bad techno and nineties music straight from the set of the TV-Series Lost. It was so bizarre, we were quite drunk, that it was actually funny. Go-go dancers and all. Then we finished off at Seven. A more conventional club with fun pop music. Dancing till late, the boys drinking till late.

I was originally excited to go for a long awaited culinary feast. The weekend was meant to be about discovering new tastes and all the great food the Alsatian region is known for. In the culinary aspect, I was expecting much more. Even the Beurehiesel disappointed me in terms of ambience, service and detail (the waiter needed a bit of deo, poor guy, and the table setting was bit cheapy) The food was much blander than I expected and apart from the frog's legs and the pork... my favorite culinary delight was the yummy gingerbread cookies I took home. However, I had a blas!t Eveyone was happy to be all together, laughing in the streets and carrying each other home when we couldn't stand anymore. Crazy stories of base jumpers off the cathedral to solo wanderings after 5 am...La vie Strasbourgeoise is all about good friends, good laughs (or good giggles...) and a lot of alcohol. When's the next train???

U casgiu merzu

U casgiu merzu is corsican for rotten cheese. It was not too long ago, during a small weekend mini break in Corsica for the wedding of Victor's cousin, that I discovered a natural anesthesia.

The wedding was very intimate and the couple truly lavished their gusts with fabulous food. The dinner was a beautiful buffet of small little dishes, to pick and choose yourself. I had a mountain on my plate! Corsican charcuterie, fresh salmon, mini tuna tartare, mini taboulé cups, curried ratataouille and all sort of lovely things.

I was so stuffed, I skipped the cheese platter and waited patiently at the table for Victor to return, so I can pick off some cheese from him. One of our table mates came back and a truly rancid odor took over the place. Did he fart? Did the little dog running around poop? Really awful stinge.

The culprit? A corsican cheese outlawed in France because of its un-hygienic and un-sanitary character. U casgiu merzu, rotten cheese, looks like chunky peanut butter, smells like week old garbage and tastes like? Like nothing I've ever eaten in my life. A small bit on a large piece of bread is potent enough to haunt you for the rest of the night.

It was HOT! Yes, so putrid it was hot in the mouth and numbs the palette and tongue. The odor of sulphur and twenty year old roquefort lingers forever... Its like a wax that coats your entire mouth and stays, no matter what. Corsican red wine? Nope just tastes like rusty water...
We were bowled over laughing as we gave unsuspecting cousins large pieces watching their faces turn from bright red to green!

What's the deal? U casgiu merzu is in fact a simple tome de Brebis (goat's cheese) that we leave in open air for a very long time. The idea is to attract as many flies as possible so that they may lay their eggs in the cheese and that the maggots will eventually ferment the cheese. What we had was two years old... According to the laughing maître 'd this is not strong at all. A real U casgiu merzu can go for up to ten years!! And to prove their virilty, the men from the villages eat the maggots...



Ooh là. After seeing all my tablemates' faces turn green... it took a lot of courage to try this local delicacy.

This was for me a grand act of culinary bravery.
I think I'll be a coward for a while and stick to my chèvre frais...

The smellier the cheese...

Last friday, Victor and I hosted a wine and cheese dégustation among close friends. After living in Paris for four years, I have never taken real advantage of the over 400 different types of beautiful cheese and the many lovely regions of wine. (Actually, maybe this last bit isn't true... I think I've travelled all over France through its wine bottles...)
We were eight in total: Victor and I, le grand chef Aaron, les belles mademoiselles Stacey, Rachel and Angela, the somewhat adopted pinoy, Thomas and our surprise guest, Charles. Charles who happens to be Angela's friend and a very adamant bacchanale worshipper.









Everyone brought a bottle from different regions of France and I made sure to provide the right cheeses to match. With a little research, lots of baguettes, figs, grapes, green prunes, walnuts and raisins here's what was sur la carte:

Chèvre frais, la Bonde de Gatine et Chèvre aux échalotes et baies roses

We drank a light and fresh bottle of Sancerre 2006, very young, very crisp. I love goat cheese. You can really taste the difference between supermarket chèvre and the ones bought at the cremerie. Young goat cheese is very light, a bit tangy and crumbly. The Bonde de Gatine is an older chèvre, harder in consistence and woodier. Extremely delicious! In french, we call older cheeses, cheese that are "done". Les fromages un peu faits. It's all about personal taste.

Pont l'évêque, Brie de Meaux, Camembert et Etorki

The first three cheeses, les grandes classique! are made from cow's milk. The textures are creamier and the aroma more or less woody depending on its age. Etorki is made from ewe's cheese. It comes from the basque regions of france and has a harder texture not too far from that of parmesan but not as nutty.

We had a bottle of Santenay Pinot Noir 2005 and finished off with two fantastic Bordeaux: Domaine de Courteillac 2000 et Château la Vieille Forge-Lalande de Pomerol 2000
The pinot noir was excellent. A cristalline cherry color that didn't indicate the richness of its flavor. And of course the two bottles of bordeaux... What more can I say? 2000 is still considered to be the most exceptional year in history!

Saint Nectaire, Munster et Epoisse

Aaron insisted we try his new cheese obsession: le Saint Nectaire. A hardish cheese but with a very strong and musky flavor. He brought a great Chardonnay Maranges 2006. I am a big fan of white wine... and chardonnay must be one of the best grape varieties on earth. One of the few white wines that age well.

We had a nice Rossfelder Riesling 2005, the slight sweetness typical of the region complimented the munster. Naturally they come from the same region in eastern France, near the German border - Alsace.

This was the very first time I tried l'époisse. We accompanied it with a Bourgogne Aligoté 2006. One of my favorite wines! It's perfect for an afternoon cocktail on a sunny parisian terrace.

Bleu d'Auvergne

This blue cheese from the central mountain region of France was best accompanied by some Porto. We each had a small glass of porto to finish off the dégustation before we attacked the aged tequila and aged rum...


The french have figured one thing out: the simplest pleasures in life are the best ones. Good cheese, good bread, good wine and good friends.

Eating London

Three weeks in the capital is enough to learn that Old English Fayre has greatly improved. I still wouldn't say though that it has reached the standards of Paris - a bit biased here. In general, the UK's capital city had a wider variety to offer, more creative options and of course ethical cuisine. I never realised they were big fans of organic and free trade. However, apart from roasts, fish and chips and curry, it remains a jack of all trades, master at none situation. French cuisine, remains classic and simple, many times boring, but always perfected. I do admire the british avant garde approach and the great range of choice and flavor, embracing all influences.

Here's a run down of the places we've tried and tested. From the finest kitchens to gourmet fast food.

Traditional english breakfast. This is the best meal the brits can offer. A hearty start to the day made of eggs, sausages, grilled ham, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and hashbrowns, washed down with very black tea. A hearty heart attack meal... But worth every bit of cholesterol in it! My friend, Stephanie as well, and I discovered a small, hole in the wall diner: Breadline Cafe. We joined the likes of old englishmen in tweeds reading the newspaper, workers in bright yellow vests, their construction helmets on the seat beside them and the business man on the run. The lady hands over your change saying "Thanks luv!" So british!

For some reason, as soon as I entered the country, an obsession with fishcakes came over me. I think I've had it three times. Or two, counting one of them as crab cakes. The best was in the piazza café with smoked haddock and smoked salmon served with an orange and beetroot salad. Crab cakes at Electric on Portobello road were good but sans plus. I also had it for lunch at Roast in the Bourough market. It was fresh and full of flavor, but jealousy overcame my taste buds as I tried everyone else's excellent dishes.

Some of our favorite buddies from Paris came over for the weekend. Saturday was a fabulous 'fooding' day. One of my other favorite foodies, le grand chef Aaron, chose to go to Roast. Why oh why did I order fishcake! Stacey's fish and chips were perfectly crisp and the fish so fresh it was flakey and creamy! Served in newspaper of course. Aaron had a lovely porkbelly, crispy like lechon kawali in a somewhat adobo like sauce. It was excellent! Victor, Jong and Stephanie's dishes were great too. Sausage and mash, Roast chicken and beef sautéed in girolle mushrooms. I would say this was a good example of modern british cuisine. Cleaned up with excellent produce! The place was lovely and bright, large windows overlooking the market. I also thouroughly enjoyed the crisp chablis.

The market itself was gorgeous. French open markets have just as excellent produce however the brits have a knack for presenting things nicely. Black boards chalked up with today's specials, lots of crganic products, quirky signs, friendly vendors and things from all over the world.

Some of Burrow Market's lovely stalls and fresh produce:

Victor and I tested Gordon Ramsay's modern resto, Maze. His concept is small tapas sized plates to mix and match yourself. We took the seven course tasting menu. There were so many choices, we thought that this would be offering his specialties. £52.50 per person, for London this is not too bad.

We swapped the chilled English pea soup and parmesan parfait for the Foie gras. Probably a mistake. A terrine de foie gras with york ham (like christmas majestic ham) and a baby onion and pickled chutney on the side. Maybe I've learned to be a purist after living four years in France, but this was absolutely awful. The ham and pickled chutney completely over powered the foie gras. It was quite a waste. The foie gras seemed pasty with no flavor and to top it all off... I hate pickles.

The rest of the menu was excellent though. My personal favorites were the beetroot, the shin of veal and risotto, the mullet and the pork belly. I'm not a big dessert fan but I truly enjoyed the lemon bavarois with saffron granité. That saffron bit was ingenious! Here's the menu:

~ mullet~veal & risotto~pork belly~beetroots~

~Marinated beetroot, sairass cheese, pine nut and cabernet sauvignon dressing~
~Foie Gras en terrine with york ham and cutney~
~Braised shin of veal with white onion risotto~
~Cornish red mullet with candied aubergine and chorizo spiced piperade~
~Roast rack of lamb with braised shoulder and four onions~
~Braised suffolk pork belly with spiced lentils, confit baby leek and smoked paprika salt~
~Buttermilk & lemon bavarois with saffron granité, marinated white peaches and grappa jelly~
~Bitter chocolate and hazelnut parfait with salted caramel jelly and milk mousse~

One of the best things about london is the number of yummy fast food chain joints they have. Wagamama is an excellent and cheap asian noodle house. Canteen style where we share large picnic tables. The duck gyoza with hoisin sauce is great as well as their asian inspired salads.

Léon, Prêt à Manger and Eat have a good range of healthy fast food. Wholewheat sandwiches, salads, organic produce etc at reasonable prices. However, one of the best values for money and also on of the yummiest meals I had was at some little vegan thai restaurant, run by chinese ladies. £6 and you have an all you can eat tofu buffet. Tofu in satay, in green curry, with black mushrooms, rice etc. And of course this lovely fried seaweed! Excellent!

Other places we ate in was Belgo, a surprisingly good restaurant for reasonable prices. Don't be scared by the whole giant industrial feel of the place. It's actually quite yum. The Kensington rooftop gardens resto was alright. The view was nice despite the horrid weather. The food just ok. Oh and of course the Whole Foods in Kensington was amazing. If only I had three stomachs to eat all the lovely organic and healthy looking food there! I loved their brown rice sushi!

All in all I'd say London would not be the capital of cuisine but rates high in innovation, creativity and packaging. With so much variety, you can always find something to your taste. Just check out the dressings aisle in Tesco... Honey mustard, caesar with asiago, thai peanut, italien, french, blue cheese... In France? Vinaigrette, vinaigrette, vinaigrette.