Another Food Blog

I suppose everyone does it. You visit another country and laugh at the strange names they put on their food. Dairy shelves in France often feature La Vache Qui Rit (the laughing cow), which is fair enough, I suppose, and only slightly different from the line they used to put on Carnation evaporated milk, “from contented cows.” Many of my friends had mild hysterics in the US when they encountered “I Can’t Believe it’s not Butter.” I believed it because it wasn’t, though it did expose the EU’s blinkered approach to regulation. The name was banned in the UK because (wait for it) you are not allowed to use the word butter in the name of a product that isn’t butter. Not even “not butter” is allowed. I loved “Bread and Butter pickles” when I encountered them in Florida. They were quite nice, sort of dill pickle slices which were good with tinned salmon in submarine rolls. (We all had simpler tastes in those days). I doubt if EU regulators would allow the name in Europe, since the pickles clearly contained neither bread nor butter.

The great thing about the Sala Thong is that you can go for a fairly quick meal if you’re lucky enough to get a table, confident in the knowledge that it will also be a tasty and satisfying meal. There were four of us, and we were lucky. We all had different things so we could swap food and opinions. Of the first courses, there was general agreement that the ‘golden bags’ came out top; these are flaky filled dumplings with a sweet dipping sauce. The prawn toast was good, too, though the prawn crackers were harder than we’d expected.

The main courses were all good enough to promote lengthy discussion of their relative merits. They were sizzling beef, stir-fried pork with chili and basil, honey roast duck, and stir-fried prawns with cashew nuts. We had them with egg fried rice and sticky rice (which had gone too dry round the edges). The house red, a Chilean cabernet at 13.5 percent, was agreeably smooth. We tumbled out onto the street duly satisfied, and still debating whether the duck or the beef deserved first prize.

In case you missed it, El Bulli on Spain’s Costa Brava came top again of Restaurant magazine’s 2008 San Pellegrino awards. Closer than ever, but still second was the Fat Duck, where we at anotherfoodblog celebrated our second anniversary. And Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road, where we celebrated our first anniversary last year, jumped 11 places from 24th to 13th in the rankings. There’s another high climber:

The biggest leap in the rankings however is for traditional English chef Fergus Henderson and his St John restaurant at Clerkenwell in London. He has moved 18 places from 34th best in world last year to 16th in the latest list. He is the ultimate chef’s chef who cares for the quality of his food rather than a chic décor in the dining room. He enjoys sourcing meat from rare breeds such as Gloucester Old Spot for bacon and pork and insists on fresh, local seasonal produce.

Here’s the list of the top 30:

1. El Bulli, Roses, nr Barcelona, Sp (1)
2. The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire, UK (2)
3. Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, Fr (3)
4. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Sp (7)
5. The French Laundry, Yountville, California, US (4)

6. Per Se, New York, USA (9)
7. Bras, Laguiole, Fr (6)
8. Arzak, San Sebastian, Sp (10)
9. Tetsuya’s, Sydney, Aus (5)
10. Noma, Copenhagen, DK (15)

11. L’Astrance, Paris, Fr (20)
12. Gambero Rosso, Livorno, It (12)
13. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (Royal Hospital Road), London, UK (24)
14. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Paris, Fr (13)
15. Le Louis XV, Monte Carlo, Mon (8)

16. St John, London, UK (34)
17. Jean Georges, New York, US (18)
18. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Paris, Fr (20)
19. Hakkasan, London, UK (19)
20. Le Bernardin, New York, US (26)

21. Alinea, Chicago, US (36)
22. Le Gavroche, London, UK (28)
23. Dal Pescatore, Mantova, It (31)
24. Le Cinq, Paris, Fr (29)
25. Troisgros, Roanne, Fr (25)

26. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Sp (11)
27. Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, Lausanne, Switzerland*
28. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem, Belgium (14)
29. Martin Berastegui, Gipuskoa, Sp (27)
30. Nobu, London, UK (17)

On some market stalls the stuff is just piled up, presumably to make it look plentiful and low-priced. This is not true of the street stall laid out near Cambridge’s Grafton Centre shopping mall. The fruit is carefully arranged and individually cleaned and polished as one sees on markets in France and other countries. It sells the produce of local farms plus imported fruits as well. It’s also where I sometimes buy giant goose eggs or duck eggs. They sell a range of nuts, too, and I often find myself stopping to buy things when passing it, even though I hadn’t originally thought of doing so. That, I suppose, is what an attractive display does to you.

It is 18 months since I ate at Massis in London’s James Street, quite near Marylebone. I’d been with friends to a champagne reception held in the rooms of the Wallace Collection, where I met the playwright Tom Stoppard, among others. Afterwards we sauntered down James Street and I remembered Massis, a Lebanese restaurant close to Seabass. The weather was pleasant enough for us to sit outside, with the heater helping just a little.

I ordered the same wine I’d had before, the Ksara Reserva do Couvent, a 13 percent ‘05 Lebanese with wood and vanilla tones. I began with Makanek, fried Lebanese sausages, medium spicy, stuffed with pine kernels. They were very good, and there were enough for me to trade for some houmus to go with them. Then I had Kafta Massis, the house charcoal-grilled minced lamb kebabs, nicely spiced. They were very good.

No hookahs were in evidence this time, though a couple of us did smoke Villiger export cigars with the excellent coffee we finished with. It came with complimentary baklava, so it’s just as well we didn’t go for desserts.

There are doubts about the antiquity of the term “ploughman’s lunch,” but few about the combination of bread, cheese and pickle. Ploughing was done in winter months, when fresh vegetables and green salad would not be available, but when the traditional ingredients would.

My lunch was not quite traditional. Clockwise from top are pieces of baguette, pomodorino tomatoes, cucumber, liver paté, two cheeses, fresh apple, pork pie and butter. Not visible are the pickled onion and English mustard I added later. Not traditional perhaps, but very satisfying nonetheless.

The Apple store in the new Grand Arcade is the shop with real buzz to it, full of people playing with cool iMacs and iPhones, but the place for food and drink nearby is undoubtedly Carluccio’s. It’s a combination of shop, café and restaurant, with mostly Italian foodstuffs on show. It has goodies in tins and boxes, and hams and meats hanging up.

Two of us went there for dinner, and found it crowded, but a ten-minute wait secured a table. We started on a Silvium ’07 rosé from the Cantina Cooperativa Botromagno in Puglia at 12.5 percent, while we checked out the menu. It was pleasant enough in a bland sort of way, but nothing special. We both ordered the calamari fritti to start with. It came with lemon and green leaves and was quite good, with not too much of a nice, crumbly batter, and not rubbery either.

My companion ordered the sea bass pan fried with tomato salsa and pan fried potatoes and thoroughly enjoyed it. I, meanwhile, had gnocchi in a gorgonzola and fresh spinach sauce, and found it really delicious. This place is definitely another welcome addition to the Cambridge eating scene.