Dubai - The Food

Food and drink in Dubai are interesting in many ways. Alcohol is really eye wateringly expensive. A pint of beer, ordinary bog-standard draft, will cost you AED 50 which is INR 1000 or GBP 10 or USD 14. That is stiff by any standard. A bottle of Tanqueray 10 cost an astonishing AED 1400 that is INR 28,000 or GBP 280 or USD 390. Mind you booze is only available in 5-star hotels in Dubai, so one must be fair when comparing prices. Looking at it another way was, if it is only available in 5-star hotels, and at these prices, you have no choice. Bottom line, booze prices in Dubai are sobering, unless it is happy hour when prices can half.

Food is also pretty expensive in Dubai. Being located in a dessert, obviously, nothing grows and everything is imported. Buying specific top-quality produce like fish and serving it in high end restaurants is often at prices that exceed those in Europe. The matter is that pork is served in very very few places. The other meats that are served, be it beef or veal or chicken, are all Halal. One of the important factors when butchering animals in the Halal method is to cut the Jugular or Carotid Artery and allow the animal to bleed. Does this result in “dry” steaks or can a Halal steak be cooked rare? I do not know. I recall reading interviews with top British chefs who had opened restaurants in Dubai, complaining that Halal meat was dry. Personally, I have no opinion. We did not eat at Nusret or Gunyadin the now world-famous Turkish steakhouses with outposts in Dubai.

We did have 3 rather exciting meals. They were at

1.   Al Fanar an Emirati Restaurant in the newly developed Al Seef are at the Dubai Creek

2.    Anar a Persian Restaurant 

3.    Perry and Blackwelders a Texas Style Smokehouse and barbecue restaurant.

  

What is Emirati food? I asked my friend Jumbo, a long-standing UAE resident. He laughed and said there is no such thing. I then rsearched and Google gave vague general answers. One point to be kept in mind is that Levantine cuisine [Lebanese – Shawarma, Humus, Tabbouleh, Baba Ganoush, Vine Leaves and so on] form part of the modern Emirati cuisine, but they are recent imports. I could find no answer on what exactly constituted Emirati food, thus, proving Jumbo to be correct. 

There are however several dishes that are typically Emirati, some of whose names we in India are familiar with. If you do visit Lucky Restaurant or Jaffer Bhai Delhi Durbar, or Persian Durbar etc. you will see a section on “Arab Dishes”. These are Emirati dishes. Kepsa or Kebsa, Machboos both rice-based dishes with fish, or fowl or meat, Khuzi which is a whole lamb stuffed with Chicken and egg and rice, Harees or what we would call Harissa a thinner version of Haleem, Balaleat a breakfast dish, and of course Luqaimat a fried dumpling doused in honey or date syrup. Biryani is also widely consumed.

Fish is consumed very popular and is available everywhere. The Emiratis are absolutely mad about Hamour which is, in reality, several fish varieties all closely related forming part of the Cod family. You also get Shark which is prevalent in local waters. The cuisine does feature a lot of rice as well as vermicelli dishes which is cooked in flavoured liquid or stock and served topped with protein. Vegetables are cooked lightly in a light Tomato based gravy. On the whole the rice dishes are similar to our Biryani’s except that they are drier, certainly not as rich and oily and with a much milder spicing. In fact, what we do in Mumbai is we order Arab Mutton Biryani and Arab Butter Chicken from Jaffer Bhai Delhi Durbar whenever we have our craving. It is delicious. Once you taste it, I promise you, you will make Arab Mutton Biryani your preferred choice.

So off we went to Al Fanar, much researched by us and, endorsed by the Concierge. Al Seef is brand new development along the Dubai Creek, with the low-rise buildings being constructed in the traditional old Emirati style. Al Fanar was along the creek and we took an open-air table. Across the water we could see what were Dubai’s first skyscrapers – Rolex Towers – and some brightly lit Dhows. Quite pretty. Since Al Fanar was not in a 5 star, no alcohol. We ordered Vimto the local favourite. This was served icy cold, and it was sweet, very sweet. Vimto is drunk especially during Ramadhan as with the volume of sugar, you get an instant rush. No need for Gatorade.

Above: Ice cold Vimto

We were served a small bowl of Channa, simply boiled, served warm. The Emirati, like the Punjabis, really know how to cook Channa. It was very good.

We ordered Shark Cutlets or Koftat Samak as a starter. These were much like what we get back home. Lot of fish rather than filler, which is of course what is desired.

The main course was Machboos Laham or rice with lamb. The rice was cooked in meat stock with the Persian Dried Lime. This was excellent. Since we are Indians and need ‘daal’ to go with our rice, Deyay Nashef was ordered. This is Chicken cooked in a Tomato gravy which instead of rice to accompany we requested Bread. The Bread was a flatbread and delicious. The Deyay Nashef nice and mild and worked well with the Machboos. The only problem was the portion size. This was enough food for 3 people and a bit. Dishes are not individual portions and eating family style is the norm.

Above: Machboos Laham

Above: Deyay Nashef 

The setting, the cool weather and the food made a most pleasant evening.

We do like Persian food. We have eaten it in the past on several occasions. London has some decent Persian restaurants; Patogh, Kateh and Kandoo are three which come to mind. The Persians are good with rice and aubergine, they know how to get the best out of it. Anar is a place we had been to earlier; you can  read about it here.

The meal started with simple cottage cheese, much like our Paneer [in fact they call it Panir] served with Spring Onion Greens, Mint, Basil, Walnut, Radish and warm Flatbread. You make a little packet for yourself using these ingredients and pop it into your mouth. Very similar to Peking Duck or Crispy Aromatic Duck. Really delightful. I remembered eating this last some 30 odd years ago at our friend Bolly’s wedding [he is Iranian].

Above: Panir with the herbs and the flatbread

Salads with Yogurt are also very big in Persian food so a Borany Badamjan which is Aubergine, Yogurt and Garlic was ordered. Cool creamy and refreshing. We also got Mirza Ghasemi which is a sort of Baingan Bharta smoky roast Aubergine topped with Egg. This was a Quail Egg, sunny side up. I believe the dish is traditionally made with the egg scrambled with the Aubergine, much like our Kheema Ghotala.

 

Above: Borany Badamjan

Above: Mirza Ghasemi

The Chelo Kebab came highly recommended. It was well worth it. Tremendously juicy, minced lamb grilled on a flat skewer with some brilliant plain “Saffron” rice.

Above: Chelo Kebab

Above: The Saffron Rice with Tadigh or the crisp bottom.

The last dish was our ‘daal’ – Ghormeh Subz as classic a Persian dish as you can get. Spinach, Methi leaves, Rajma, Dried Limes and Lamb all cooked together, much like a Saagwalla Ghosh, turbocharged. Absolutely wonderful. This is one of our favourite dishes anywhere, and it is healthy to boot.

Above: Ghormeh Subz 

This was a super meal and if you are in Dubai this place in highly recommended. By the way, it is in a 5 star, so you get booze.

The other memorable meal was at Perry and Blackwelders, which is a Texas smokehouse or barbeque place. This is US style barbeque where the meat given a dry rub, cooked over smoke for several hours and then served. You must have seen countless shown on TV with US style barbecue. Perry and Blackwelders is a large multi-level restaurant also in a 5-star hotel. This place served Pork.

We have never eaten US style barbeque, and have salivated watching shows on TV. We are not regular visitors to the US, and thought this will not be terrible so why not give it a shot. Boy oh boy, we are glad we did.

What is the classic appetiser when eating barbeque? Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce. Reasonably spicy Chicken Wings came with an offer of gloves! Yes, why dirty your fingers when eating wings? No malarkey with finger bowls. Gloves were donned, Wings picked up and the bones licked clean. A wonderful starter.

Knowing this was Texas Barbeque, we had to order the two classic dishes. Smoked Beef Brisket and smoked Baby Back Ribs. Side order was a mix of Potato and Sweet Potato fries. The Brisket was really really good. Deeply smoked and tender beyond belief. The Ribs, like the cliché, literally fell of the bone. There was no chew. This was more, much more, than what we thought Texas Barbeque could be. This was excellent food. I know we were in Dubai, a million miles from barbeque country of Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee. It made us realise why US style barbeque is so loved and such a big deal is made of it. This is not kebabs cooking over charcoal, this is not Yakitori. This is something more, much more. We are hooked.

Above: Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce

Above: The Barbeque Smoked Beef Brisket. Truly delicious.

Above: Baby Back Pork Ribs

In conclusion, like every great city be it London or New Your or Tokyo, Dubai offers you a myriad of food at all price points. You can eat very well in Dubai and the gastronomy on offer is second to none.

Restaurant Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît - Churchgate Mumbai

[THIS IS WRITTEN BY HRH THE QUEEN OF KUTCH]

In the swinging 60s, Bombay (as we knew it then), was home to several European/French restaurants like Bombelli’s, Gurdon’s, Astoria and the Rendezvous at the Taj, the Supper Club at the Oberoi which popped up in the early 1970’s, and the legendary Zodiac Grill. They were restaurants that catered to a sophisticated, cosmopolitan clientele who appreciated starched white table linen and a leisurely four-course dinner that was served plated instead of family-style.

Then, Bombay became Mumbai, and slowly but surely each of these restaurants died a quiet dignified death and, in their place, came a rash of brash fast food, Mangalorean seafood and the ubiquitous Chinese restaurants. Zodiac Grill was the last of these classics to down its shutters in late 2015 and even though Chef Hemant Oberoi opened his eponymous restaurant at BKC, the closing of Zodiac Grill was truly the end of a beautiful era.

To be fair, the lovely The Table at Colaba and The Clearing House at Ballard Estate are two restaurants in Mumbai that serve Modern European food, but there is only so many times you can eat your way through the menu. Slink and Bardot also ticked all the right boxes but its location in Worli Village placed it in a slightly inconvenient part of town.

And then like a breath of fresh air came the news that Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît, a French-style bistro was due to open in the heart of South Mumbai. This is newest restaurant in the Riyaaz Amlani stable and is headed by Chef Alexis Gielbaum and his (very cute) partner Nick Harrison of Slink and Bardot fame.

Bring out the bubbly, dance in the streets, happy days are here again…

Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît. What a delightful name. Translated loosely as Soufflé if you please. Yes, indeed I do!

Deriving from the French souffler which means “to blow” or “puff up,” a Soufflé is a light, airy cake that originated in France. According to Larousse Gastronomique, the definitive encyclopaedia of gastronomy, a Soufflé is a “hot preparation that is served straight from the oven so that it is well risen above the height of the mould in which it has been cooked”. There are two basic types of Soufflés: savoury and sweet.

Soufflés always contain three elements. The first element is obviously a flavouring component. The other two elements are a pudding or crème patissiere base if sweet or a Bechamel base if savoury, and a meringue made of egg whites. When the two are folded together, they create a light, flavourful dish as the air captured in the egg whites expands in the heat of the oven. Soufflés are often served with an additional complementary sauce to boost the flavour. A Chocolate sauce with a Chocolate Souffle or a Cheese sauce with a Cheese Souffle and so on..

Soufflés are a celebratory dish meant to impress and wow the diner. They are notoriously temperamental, extremely technical and difficult to master. Having said that, a perfectly prepared Soufflé can be a religious experience. Light, airy, deeply flavoured and fragrant. Imagine reaching out and eating a spoonful of cloud. Or being kissed by a fairy. That’s the magic of a good Soufflé.

I have eaten many many many Soufflés in my life. And baked a fair number as well.

The absolute best Soufflé I have ever eaten is at Le Gavroche, the two Michelin starred restaurant in London. Invented by the brothers Albert & Michel Roux Senior, the Soufflé Suissesse (cheese soufflé baked on double cream) is the stuff dreams are made off. Light as air, creamy, rich, decadent and absolutely sinful. I want to shut my eyes after every bite to better appreciate each cheesy melting mouthful.

Above: The magnificent Soufflé Suissesse at Le Gavroche

Coming a very close second is the seasonal dessert Soufflé at the eponymous Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road, London. Also, the Pistachio Souffle with Pistachio Ice Cream served by Pierre Koffmann which was much imitated but never duplicated.

Above: the Souffle at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay with a perfect quenelle of Ice Cream to add to the Souffle   

Above: High & Handsome. The delicious Pistachio Souffle with Ice Cream at Pierre Koffmann

I must be honest and fair. The Soufflés photographed above are the gold standard, made by the world's leading Chef's. We must cut slack, a lot of slack, for what is being created by Gielbaum in Mumbai.

Back in India, the legendary Camembert Dariole, a twice-baked Cheese Soufflé perfected by Hemant Oberoi, was the mainstay of the menu of Zodiac Grill for over 25 years.

Which is why, a restaurant that named itself Soufflé, coming up in my city was a cause of much excitement and anticipation.

Reservations are made for the third day after Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît opens its doors. After a few early tipples, we arrive at the restaurant, slotted neatly between Foo and Shiv Sagar on 'restaurant street' in Churchgate, and are quickly shown to our table. The restaurant has a charming outdoor seating area and an air-conditioned indoors with a large, well-stocked bar. Being mid-December I guess it would have been cool enough to sit outdoors but I cannot imagine how a Soufflé will survive the humidity and the travel without collapsing. Also, eating a Soufflé when the ambient temperature is 30 degrees Celsius doesn’t sound like a particularly pleasant experience. But, in keeping with the spirit of the season, I leave this for the three wise men to figure.

The décor is deliberately evocative of a traditional French bistro with black and white tiled floors, quirky wall pieces, warm and inviting booths with leather banquettes and Art Deco Lights. The restaurant is buzzing and alive when we enter and remains full till we leave.

The menu is replete with French bistro classics like Soupe a l'oignon Gratinee (French Onion Soup), Beignets De Crabe (crab cakes), Ratatouille Provencale (A classic French vegetable stew), Steak Frites and Confit Canard (duck confit). But the backbone of the menu are the Soufflés. I counted a total of 5 savoury and 3 dessert Soufflés, which is impressive by any standard.

The service is prompt, friendly, polite and well informed. Creditable for a three-day-old restaurant. Take a bow restaurant manager Anand as well as Nick Harrison who personally oversee every table, take orders, make suggestions and smooth over any small hitch. Impeccable front of house.

We place our order and waited with keen anticipation. Not to nit-pick but the food comes out in an extremely haphazard way. At any given time only one of us has food in front of us. The others have either finished their course or are still waiting to be served. Rather awkward, but I am in a generous mood and put it down to teething trouble in the kitchen.

The Homard (Lobster) Soufflé looks the part and is light and reasonably well risen. Unfortunately, the muddy brown lobster bisque that is poured into the centre doesn’t really taste much of lobster and misses the mark on flavour and punch. The Blue Cheese Souffle (twice baked with walnut/almond and blue cheese cream sauce), is again technically very good but misses the mark on flavour. The pungent, sharp distinct taste of a good blue cheese like Roquefort, Gorgonzola or Stilton are missing and in their place is a mild, creamy flavour. Maybe, just maybe, a mild Danish Blue was used, but the Soufflé doesn’t deliver on taste. I am guessing an infinitesimal amount of blue cheese was used, but not enough by a mile.

Above: Soupe a L'oignon Gratinee

Above: Ancient Grains and Feta Salad.  

Above: The Lobster Souffle. Not really high and handsome.

Above: the Lobster Bisque being poured in.

Above: The Blue Cheese Souffle with Walnuts. 

This theme continues through the rest of the meal. Technically very impressive, but missing the mark on flavour and authenticity. There were also problems between what was described on the menu and what actually turned up on the plate, as you will see from the photographs. 

The Beignets are perfectly fried but lack the sweet crab flavour that would make them more than a good cheese pakoda. In fact, when I cut one in half, it had barely any crab at all. The Duck Confit arrives without the crisp skin that makes the dish special. The duck had alas not been cooked enough, probably 30 minutes more in the fat would have made the duck really unctuous. A dish named Carrots! is brilliant in concept and well-executed but tastes boring and one dimensional because the carrots used by the restaurant need more than just clever technique to shine.

Above: The Crab Beignets

Above: Duck Confit

Above: Carrots. 

We are very puzzled because the kitchen is very obviously run by a person who knows his craft. Each dish is flawlessly executed and technically perfect, which is a big deal when, besides all other dishes, you are sending out seven different types of Soufflé to a full restaurant.

A glimmer of an answer is given when the Pissaladiere hits out table. A Pissaladiere is a classic flatbread from the South of France which is topped with caramelised onions, anchovies and Niçoise (black) olives. What arrives at our table is a flatbread with a small amount of caramelised onion, roast red peppers, some green leaves and olives! What on earth is this pizzaish thing? All four of us sit looking at it in fair bewilderment till restaurant manager Anand takes one look at us and shrugs apologetically saying ‘that’s what our customers will eat’.

Above: Pissaladiere

To put this in context, imagine if you ask for an Idli in France and are served fluffy white cubes with pulled pork and dauphinoise potatoes. That’s how incongruous the Pissaladiere is for us

Is that it then? No aggressive anchovy or blue cheese. No distinct lobster or crab flavours. Keep everything mild neutral and palatable because that appeals to the Indian palate? Yes, I can hear you asking, what about the Mangalorean restaurants which are the darlings of Mumbai and serve crab by the truckload? That’s easy, what we are lapping up is the masala which more often than not, overpowers the taste of the meat.

But could it also be that the problem at Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît is one of pricing? Lobster, Crab and Roquefort are expensive ingredients. I believe the restaurant is keeping costs down by using just the smallest amount of these ingredients. All the dishes are modestly priced and that would not have been possible if the luxury ingredients were used in abundance.

So, I am guessing it’s a conscious decision to keep flavours muted so no one sends back food that tastes too aggressive and alien. And keep costs down at the same time by using skimpy amounts of expensive protein. Clever. But an unfortunate compromise.

Having said that, the French Onion Soup was very good. And the absolute stand-out dish of the evening was the Baba au Rhum – a small cake made of leavened flour that is steeped in rum after baking.  Legend has it that a Polish King who was exiled in France named this dish after his favourite hero, Ali Baba from The Thousand and One Nights! The Baba au Rhum at Soufflé S’il Vous Plaît is seriously up there with the best. Moist and fragrant with hints of vanilla and citrus. And a sweet whipped cream that is cut by the bittersweet alcohol. A very elegant combination. Absolutely spot on.

Above: The excellent Baba au Rhum

The evening we were there, the restaurant was absolutely rocking. The few reviews I have read are glowing and gushing. The trendy folk of South Mumbai are in a fit of clevers to fill the restaurant and rave about its authenticity.

For me, it fell short of the mark. Almost there but not quite. Very sad, though easy to fix. I seriously hope they do.

The Food in Croatia & Slovenia

The food in Croatia was consistently good. We all ate well, and before you ask, no we did not eat at a single Indian restaurant. All meals were Croatian, no pizzas, no burgers or KFC.

I believe that Croatia is pretty unique in as much as its food is concerned. What is on offer is fairly diverse. Croatian food has been influenced by many factors. As I have written in the previous post, Croatia has a long coastline. Hence, they are blessed with fish, plenty of it. The proximity to Italy has influenced the food in as much as pasta as well as Risotto is regarded as local food. Being a Catholic country, pigs are reared, pork is eaten and you have some good charcuterie. Truffles grow locally, of course not of the same quality as the Truffles from Alba, but good nonetheless. There is plenty of local cheese, a lot of the cheese being made with sheep milk. For some reason, we all found that potato was of very high quality and the Croats know how to cook it. Breakfast had some excellent sautéed potato, with our meals we got really good roast potato. We ate a lot of Swiss Chard [this is a lot like Spinach].

Wines were plentiful, of all types, price points and drinkability. Beer was good, and served cold. I drank plenty of good locally brewed draft beer. We all drank excellent wines, always expertly chosen by Le Grand Fromage Tax Lawyer. Maraschino is a liqueur that originated in Zadar. The Luxardo family, which still owns the business, has the largest Cherry orchard in Europe. Maraschino is a clear, slightly sweet liqueur with approximately 30% alcohol. Pleasant to drink. Please do not get all sentimental and buy a bottle to get back home. I assure you that the bottle will lie at the back of your bar, lonely and forgotten, only to be pulled out by you when you are half drunk with 5 guests at home desperately trying to down a few more nightcaps. You will of course blame the hangover on that shot of Maraschino, not the copious amount of other stuff you had drunk thru the evening!

Croatia has a largely Mediterranean climate. Italy is close by as is Greece. Olive Oil is big in Croatia. The cute boutique shops all sell Olive Oil, in cute bottles. Supermarkets have loads of Olive Oil. Restaurants took pride in placing sometimes 3 bottles of Olive Oil on the table for you to dip your bread. At times the restaurants were so proud of the oils they served that they also placed a little tent on the table with a description of the provenance of the oil and its tasting notes. Most restaurants charged between 15 and 20 Kuna [the Croatian Currency. 1 Kuna is about Rs 10 or .15 USD] per head for bread and oil. We happily paid it. This cover charge is similar to “Coperto” that you are charged in Italy.

We often started with a platter of Charcuterie and Cheese. Both were of good quality and easily held their own against their more famous Italian Salami and French Saucisson. At the farmers market in Ljubljana we bought some wonderful smoked dried Sausage redolent with Paprika. We have been enjoying slices of this at Cocktail hour at home as well as putting slices in a toasted Cheese Sandwich and in a Frittata.

We all ate a lot of fish. I have not eaten as much fish in a few days as I did in Croatia. The fish was always cooked simply and well. Quite often it was a single large Sea Bass baked in Salt, brought to the table, the salt casing removed, the skin coming off with the salt and then the fish expertly filleted. Then you poured on the glorious Olive Oil, a dash of Lemon and the humble Sea Bass was transformed. Swiss Chard and some Potato of accompany. Healthy tasty and light. Also, what we often ordered was a Sea Food Platter where you were served Prawns grilled, often Octopus also Grilled, possibly Scallops and some fish.

Pasta with Lobster or Prawns was excellent as was Pasta with Truffle and local Mushrooms. A Croatian speciality was Squid Ink Risotto, top class with the briny slightly fishy Squid ink providing flavour and, of course, colour to the Risotto.

The cuisine was simple on the whole. There were no elaborate sauces, no foams and molecular gastronomy. The food was simply cooked using top notch ingredients, much like Italian food. There was a lot of pride when the fish was displayed to us. Portions were generous and the food relatively cheap. Do remember that we were eating fish, probably the most expensive protein.

One outstanding dessert, come to think of it, there were times we ate it for breakfast, was the Bled Cream Cake. It is a Slovenian Classic. Simple in concept with humble standard ingredients, delicious to eat and, difficult to make. The Bled Cream Cake had its origins in the confectionary making at the time of the Austro Hungarian Empire. You will remember that this region was under the rule of the Austro Hungarians for a long time.

The Park Hotel along Lake Bled has the original Cream Cake. In 1953 a pastry chef named Istvan Lukacevic modified the original cream cake recipe by adjusting the proportions and adding whipped cream. This cake was a roaring success, and today it is even more popular. We went to the Café at the Park Hotel and all tables had at least one Bled Cream Cake being eaten. Everyone in Bled orders their cake from here. The Cake is simplicity itself. It comprises of 4 layers. At the bottom is puff pastry, then comes a layer of pale yellow Vanilla Custard. The third layer is white whipped cream which is topped by a layer of puff pastry. The top is dusted with sugar. The Cream Cake is cut and served as a perfect square or more correctly a cube.

The number 7 is of great significance for the Cake. For those of you who know how when you make puff pastry you have what are known as “folds”. In this case the puff pastry has 7 folds. The Vanilla Custard is cooked for 7 minutes. The Bled Cream Cake is exactly 7 x7 x 7 cms in dimensions. How the cake is sliced without the whole thing exploding, is a mystery to me.

The Bled Cream Cake is a perfect pastry. It has texture, top notch construction and is not very sweet. We all ate a lot of this. Make sure you do when you visit Lake Bled.

The wonderfully proportioned, perfectly engineered Bled Cream Cake.

The Bled Cream Cake turned into a birthday cake. 

Meal times were serious affairs. To use a phrase that originally appeared in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and was later modified by Joseph Heller in the immortal Catch 22, “some of us had duties we were born with, some took on duties and others had duties thrust on them.” Le Grande Fromage Tax Lawyer was born with a good tongue, he is a lawyer after all. So, he was in charge of ordering wine every evening. The Banker was naturally put in charge of maintaining accounts and took on the added responsibility of diligently ordering one bottle of Still water and one bottle of Sparkling water every mealtime. Jumbo was our deal maker, a natural at the job. HRH the Queen of Kutch was given the task of restaurant identifying. The rest of us either did nothing or caused disruptions, played the fool and generally added to the merriment. Actually, I correct myself. Mealtimes were great fun while being serious.

The restaurants we ate at were:

In Dubrovnik

Restaurant Proto*

Restaurant Posat

Restaurant Orsan

Konoba Dalmatino

In Zadar

Koronat*

Pet Bunara

In Lake Bled

Pension Milno

Restaurant Jezersek*

Sova

In Zagreb

La Lanterna

Vinodol*

The ones I have marked with a star were exceptional. Except the Pension Milno which was basically a cheap and cheerful pub, the rest of the places were at the top end of what was on offer in each city. We did not visit any of the restaurants that had stars in Michelin as then we would be entering French territory which we had no intention of doing, and also, none of us really wanted to dress up for dinner. The only exception was Restaurant Jezersek where are of us made a special effort for a special dinner.

Here are some photos over which you can drool.

Above: Foie Gras at Proto Dubrovnik

                       Above: Charcuterie and Cheese Platter at Konoba Dalmatino Dubrovnik

Above: Baked Oyeters at Proto Dubrovnik

Above: Whole Salt Crusted baked fish, and lower photo, filleted and served. Porto Dubrovnik  

Above: Seafood platter at Porto Dubrovnik

Above: Extremely good fried/roast potato

Above: Swiss Chard

Above: Prawn and Scollop starter at Posat Dubrovnik

Above: Grilled fish and seafood platter at Orsan Dubrovnik

             Above: Vegetables to accompany the grilled fish and seafood platter at Orsan Dubrovnik

Above: Sea Bass Carpaccio Olive Oil, Apple & Radish Salad at Jezresek Lake Bled

Above: Grilled Tuna at Dalmatino

Above: Smoked Lamb Fillet, Parsley Puree, Sage and Raspberry Demi Glace at Jezresek Lake Bled

                            Above: Trout, Buckwheat Fennel Celery at Jezresek Lake Bled

Above: Fish Soup at Sova Lake Bled

                                 Above: Mushroom Soup with Chestnuts & Profiterole at Sova Lake Bled

                                                  Above: Pork Chop at Sova Lake Bled

                                            Above: Grilled Fish at Sova Lake Bled

                             Above: Traditional Istrian Pasta in Cream Sauce with Truffles

                             Above: Pasta at Konoba Dalmatino Dubrovnik