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Link to Paradoxplace Home Page
Simply the Best Meals
A
page started in 2006 and inspired by some of the mouth watering
meals
Team Paradox has been lucky enough to
find
Back to Paradoxplace Food Pages
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Nick's Australian Autumn Crunchy Prawn BBQ - May 2013
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Padstow, the Dom reseduced by Rick Stein - on the way
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Catalina's - Seafood back in Sydney- on the way
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Team Paradox's first English Food Festival - Falmouth (Cornwall), October 2011
Battered Monkfish et al done to perfection at Rick Stein's Fish and Chip place in Falmouth, where the annual Oyster Festival happens in October
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Paradox and son Nick (centre) enjoy the excellent rare roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding washed down with a drop of Burgundian Fleurie, at their Euro 09 Farewell Sunday Lunch at the Castle Inn, Chiddingstone (Kent), whilst son James, about to move to Washington with the BBC World Service, finishes on an Italian note with Cannelloni. Post Code TN8 7AH if you want to use the sat-nav! Note that the Castle Inn has changed owners since our visit.
November 22 2009
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Volpaia, Chianti (Tuscany)
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Panna Cotta con Frutti di Bosco at Volpaia
July 2007
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Gregory and Stefano
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Seafood extravaganza at da Stefano, South Florence
November 2007
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Onion rissole with truffle sauce and shaved tartufo nero
Ristoro di Lamole, nr Greve, Tuscany
November 2007
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Risottino Mantecato al Tartufo Bianco delle Crete Senese
Ristorante del Castello, San Giovanni d'Asso, Tuscany
November 2007
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VENICE
Venice is even more difficult than Rome to find satisfactory eateries in that don't break the bank!
Above is a moreish seafood pasta number served at the friendly Trattoria S Toma, Campo S Toma (near I Frari).
On the right a signature Venetian dish - cuttle fish cooked in their ink ("Pasta con il Nero di Seppia") - served in the dal Vecio Squeri restaurant which is in a deserted backstreet area near the beautiful little Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni. Not as attractive visually but a winner on the palate.
June 2004 |
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Photo: Nick Fletcher |
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Castellina-in-Chianti - Roast Plump Pigeons for guests at casa Gregory, and roast chestnuts for townspeople watching the anniversary parade and march of the 150 year old the town philharmonic band on a November evening 2007. |
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Truffles, sausages and garlic rubbed toast at San Giovanni d'Asso (South Tuscany)
November 2007
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Team Paradox returns to Alba (in Piedmont). Sunday lunch at the Osteria Nuova.
October 2007
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Green Lentils in le Puy-en-Velay
October 2007
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Sausage rests on Aligot in Le Bar de la Route d'Argent in Nasbinals (on the pilgrims' road from Le Puy to Compostela via Aubrac)
Aligot is mashed potato blended with melted Tome or Cantal cheese, plus garlic and butter. It is a speciality of the area around the southern Auvergne, and actually dates back to before the arrival of the potato in Europe (late 1500s, though for another century or more, it was regarded as fit only for animals) when its place was occupied by bread. Eating a plate of aligot in a steamy crowded bar after being chilled by the icy winds of the Aubrac pass must have been a special moment for medieval pilgrims - it was for Paradox anyway.
For Les Anglais, Delia Smith recommends 450g of Desiree or King Edward potatoes, and 225g of Lancashire cheese plus garlic, butter, salt and pepper.
Here's a recipe from Australia - there are dozens more on the web, plus videos showing its tactile qualities - and if you're time or talent challenged and live in the Land of the Free, you can get it dehydrated in a box made by Lutosa !
October 2007
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Magret de Canard and other dinners at the
Hôtel la Rivière - Entraygues-sur-Truyère
October 2007
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Lunch at La Licorne, in the village of Fontevraud. Fig tarts are pretty pervasive in French restaurants, but we have never tasted one as good as this. Likewise the Scampi Salad (left) and Pigeon en Croute justified the aperatif, bottle of excellent red and whatever desert wine followed!
A couple of Ks west towards Saumur (on the Loire Valley at Turquant) there is L'Hélianthe Restaurant Triglodytique, which is energetic and fun. Hélianthe means sunflower and Triglodytique does not describe the food but the fact that the restaurant backs into a whitewashed cave area, as do many houses and weekenders (and of course wine caves) in several areas of the Loire valley.
September 2007
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Lunch at Le Plongeoir ("the diving board") in Le Mans, after a morning with the angels in the cathedral. Everywhere in France offers moules (avec frites). As you would expect there are moules and moules, and these plump beauties in Le Mans won the top prize on our 2007 road trip.
September 2007
Southern Italy also has plentiful Cozza offerings, though here they are more often seen with tomatoes and never with the frites. On the right is a plate from a 7 course degustation seafood lunch at Massimo Panareo's Ristorante Vico Lopez next door to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunciata in Otranto (Puglia) - that's the one with a floor completely covered with narrative mosaics originally laid in the 1100s.
November 2006
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Lunch at the Cheval Blanc - opposite the tiny painted pilgrimage church of St-Jacques des Guérets in the Loir Valley
September 2007
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A Burgundian country lunch at Le Moulin de Pontigny in Chablis country near the only surviving foundation Cistercian Abbey Church.
September 2007
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Back at Le Marronier in Buffon (North Burgundy) for Sunday (and Monday) lunch - starting with melt-in-the-mouth Foie Gras (poêlé aux pommes) - French provincial cooking at its best.
September 2007
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Pranzo Degustazione at the The Ristorante Al Vecchio Tre Stelle (Frazione Tre Stelle, 21/23, nr Barbaresco; Tel 0173 638192; web site; cl Tuesday), which is on the way from Alba to Barbaresco in Piemonte. It's a Michelin recommendation so make sure to book. They also have a small albergo.
Link to Paradoxplace October and November 2006 Alba Foodie Photos
October 2006
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Alba in Piemonte (NW Italia) - il paradiso dei buongustai - especially in October each year when the Great White Tuber (aka Tartufo Bianco) comes to town. Mostly shaved over pasta (above) or fried eggs (left).
Link to tajarin tossed with parmesan, butter and sage at the Osteria Nuova, Alba - October 2007
Link to Paradoxplace October and November 2006 Alba Foodie Photos
Link to all Paradoxplace Truffle Festival Pages
October 2006 and 2007
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Very very fresh and subtle crudo (raw) seafood at the Dom's new top Trani (Puglia) restauranT - THE OSTERIA CORTEINFIORE - (tel: 0883 508402), down the street to the north of the Templar Church of Ognissanti, and even in November overflowing with Italians on Friday and Saturday nights and some other times (so book). The Italians do not obscure the subtle taste of raw seafood with strong additives like green Wasabi Mustard and Soy Sauce, or, God forbid, Worcester or Tomato Sauce. There was also a warm seafood starter which included breadcrumbed fish cakes made using baccalà (dried salted cod which is restored to health by extensive washing in water and eventually milk) - mouth watering.
LINK TO PHOTOS OF THE WHOLE MEAL November 2006
On the right - a traditional English seaside experience - raw Cockles with vinegar at Folkestone Harbour (Kent).
July 2007
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In the early summer of 2006, we were sheltering from the 24 / 7 wind and rain and sampling the cuisine of the attractive pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain - lots of hearty soups and casseroles with ingredients such as turnip tops and pigs' knees (and the inevitable egg floater). And, of course, seafood - including scallops, mussels, Atlantic fish and ......
Buen Pulpo Gallego - boiled octopus garnished with oil and cayenne pepper - in the Bar Los Sobrinos del Padre - "La Casa del Buen Pulpo" - run by Juan Masejo Rey and his son (also Juan) - dad shown temporarily without cigarette and complete with "pencil on marble" tablet bill computational technology. They are closed on Mondays.
If you really want to do it like the natives, you also need the ceramic wine bowl.
May 2006
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Rome - Roman Style Oxtail - one of the traditional blokey Roman meals - this one served in the garden restaurant of Romolo, which is (just) in Trastevere (above the Ponte Sisto) and used to be the house of the family of "La Fornarina" - the baker's daughter who was Raphael's mistress.
October 2006
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Back in Siena - part of the mouth-watering display of local goodies in Nannini, the most famous of the many Sienese paradises for those of the sweet tooth.
Link to Paradoxplace Siena Pages
July 2005
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Giant prawns at the Boia bar and restaurant on the beach at Salema, the last fishing village left in Southern Portugal. Right - view from restaurant table.
May 2006 |
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Feast your eyes on this Insalata Caprese (for size understanding, it's on a large dinner plate) and in particular the Mozzarella di Bufala ... A close to divine offering from the Trattoria San Carlino in Lecce's main drag. The Mozzarella di Bufala in this neck of the woods is as good as it gets. And the balcony corbels in Lecce are something else as well!
November 2006
Link to Puglia Restaurant Notes
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Even an Italophile like Paradox has yet to taste a Prosciutto which comes within a pig's grunt of good Spanish Jamon. This plate was consumed with bread and wine in the heart of Spanish Jamon country - Arcena in NW Andalucia (also the birthplace of Rio Tinto Mines).
And if you are in Granada, visit our friend at the Casa Enriques Taberna (right).
May 2006
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A freshly made warm zabaglione at
La Terrazza del Choistro, Pienza
"Nothing in the Dom's taste and texture archive compared with this warm drop of heaven"
November 2006
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For other Paradoxplace links visit the home page
All original material on this site © Adrian Fletcher 2000-2013 - The contents may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission
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