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Metzgerei-Feinkost Pum @Lehener Straße (Freiburg, Germany)

February 14, 2018
#BBQ, #Butcher, #Lunch, #Meat, #Salad, @Freiburg, @Germany, @Stühlinger, Burger, Pulled Beef, Pulled Pork, Uncategorized
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Gourmet butcher burgers.

Pulled beef burger with salad.
Pulled beef burger with salad.

Just when I thought there’s nothing more to discover on this site of the train tracks my colleagues told me about that butcher a rough 10 minutes down the road, that apparently does some pretty good dry ageing and pork pulling. So without further ado, two colleagues and I went down to check out this magical ‘secret’ shop on Lehener Straße that was hidden from me for such a long time.

We were greeted warmly by the kind ladies behind the counter, who took our order of pulled pork burgers with a smile. Now those burgers weren’t huge but decently sufficient, and at the prices, they’re calling here, more than fair anyway. It was already a burger for lunch so I passed on the fried and starchy side options and went for some green beans from their salad counter, which seemed like a proper enough addition to the set.

Pulled pork.
Dry aged treasure box.

The layered toppings on my sandwich were made up of tenderly pulled apart pork neck, crunchy leaves of butterhead, crunchy creamy coleslaw, and just the right amount of bbq sauce all squeezed in between a well holding up bun with mixed sesame seeds. Excellent.

Just about two weeks later I already held my second sitting here with the equally tasty pulled beef version of this, which was way saucier and to my surprise at least as succulent and juicy. Again, excellent stuff.

This is one of the best, if not the best butcher delis in town and I won’t be holding off my third visit for too much long either and return to throw back one of their dry-aged burgers and chat some more with the boss about his mighty fridge of treasures. Loving it.

Get Your Grub On!

Metzgerei-Feinkost Pum (closed Sundays)
Lehener Straße 40
79106 Freiburg im Breisgau
Germany
p: +49 761 281 882
http://www.feinkost-metzgerei-pum.de/

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Deli Vegaani @Lehener Straße (Freiburg, Germany)

February 10, 2018
#Dietary, #Food Types, #Lunch, #Salad, #Sweets, #Vegan, #Vegetarian, @Freiburg, @Germany, @Stühlinger, German, Uncategorized
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My vegan zen place.

Raw vegetables with extra bread.

Raw vegetables with extra bread.

I’ve been quite a big fan of the comprehensive vegetarian and vegan options around Freiburg and especially the neighbourhood surrounding my office. They allowed me to conveniently live a bit healthier and be more considerate and balanced about how and with what I stuff my face. So certainly I was happy to hear that former Freundsaft got a new tenant to run another full-on vegan restaurant at their old location on Lehener Straße.

After their ramp-up phase during which they performed regular trial cookings, Deli Vegaani opened their doors with a small but fine selection of hot, warm and cold dishes, a few cakes and sweets as well as coffee, spreads and the like.

Big bowl.
Grilled vegetables with hummus.

My favourite and the most satisfying dish thus far has been their big bowl of steamed vegetables on a bed of country risotto rice which is covered by your ‘sauce’ of choice that could be hummus, baba ganoush, lemon-coriander and what not.

Steamed veggies.
Vegan quiche.

This week I also got around to trying the raw vegetables (‘Rohkost’), a salad-like mix of crunchy beets and root vegetables, lightly dressed in vinaigrette and covered under a slightly bitter cushion of rocket leaves. This was brilliant, pure freshness, snappy and with some extra slices of that crazy good toasted seed bread just made for the kind of lunch that I needed.

Steamed veggies with lemon-coriander-sauce.
Steamed veggies with red lentils.
Rohkost with extra bread.

Additionally, to the great and wholesome foods, the people here are just extra nice and considerate, there are other vegan and organic goods to buy (e.g. sandwiches, tea) and the little pricy sweets at the counter are simply outstanding. Try those fudgy chocolate chip cookies, they will blow your mind.

Get Your Grub On!

Deli Vegaani (former Freundsaft)
Lehener Straße 13
79106 Freiburg im Breisgau
Germany
p: +49 761 3839 9139
https://www.vegaani.net/

The Alpine Diner @Hotel Eden (Lake Resia, Italy)

September 29, 2017
#Course | Set Meal, #Dinner, #Dumplings, #Haute Cuisine, #Hotel Restaurants, #Meat, #Molecular, #Salad, #Seafood, @Bolzano, @Italy, @Resia | Reschen, @South Tyrol, Austrian, Uncategorized
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A gourmet short trip to Italy

Salad & antipasti buffet

We stayed at this beautiful newish hotel at Lake Resia that promised a couple relaxing and tasty days because of the attached mini spa and a daily dinner service with a 4 course meal curated by the junior boss of the house and head chef Markus Strobl.

During the few days we stayed here, we had so many dishes that I will keep this brief and short and let the pictures do most of the talking. Just that, there was a salad and antipasti buffet each day to start off the menu and even though it was mostly the same, every day they had some changing highlight items like perfectly grilled and chilled veal. My favorite picks were the marinated artichoke hearts and that slightly blanched and lightly dressed coleslaw with cumin.

 

Mediterranean swordfish
Barley soup
Topfenknödel
Rye bread dumplings
Menu
  1. Fluffy dark Rye Bread dumplings in fond with oven vegetables and fried parsley
  2. Barley soup with ham roll and chive-gel
  3. Insane Meditteranean swordfish with pea flan, snow peas, and minestrone broth
  4. Perfect Topfenknödel with nougat center, figs, and cinnamon ice cream

 

Ravioli
Essence of peppers
Peach sherbet & champagne
Flank of Ocean beef
  1. Amazing ravioli with carbonara filling, truffle aroma, and oven melanzane
  2. Essence of peppers, chorizo-egg-dumplings and carrot pearls
  3. On spot Ocean beef flank, tomato, dauphine-potatoes and oven carrots
  4. Genius peach sherbet, water melon and arunda bubbles from east of Meran

 

Beef tartar
Parsley soup
Guineafowl
Lave cake intact
Lave cake dismantled
  1. Fresh and bio beef tartar, parmesan splinters and crostini, celery walnut salad and red onions
  2. Parsley cream soup, bacon trameszzino and gel of smoke
  3. Lardo stuffed breast of guineafowl, young leek, white bread pudding and chervil mousse
  4. Lukewarm chocolate lava tart with wild berry sherbet and strawberries

 

Celery tortelloni & truffle foam
Consommé double & mushroom crepe
Beef cheek
Yoghurt mousse & passion fruit
  1. Celery filled tortelloni, truffle foam, and broccoli
  2. Consommé double, fantastic mushroom crêpe and zucchini julienne
  3. Beef cheek, smoked mash, black carrots and parsley
  4. Farmer yoghurt mousse, ice cream, meringue and acidy passion fruit
DSC02267-01

Regional cheeses, chutneys, and nuts

As the salad buffet at the start, the dinner closing was also the same every day, an interesting selection of regional cheeses, chutneys, and nuts.

Bedroom
Bedroom
Eden Hotel (front)

The time we spend in this dining room was such a treat and I didn’t have a single dish I didn’t like and many that I loved. Atmosphere-wise it took us some getting used to as everybody was whispering quietly at their tables which made it all a bit library-like but after the first night we had some good wine, turned up the volume a notch and enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for a wonderful foodie stay at your hotel and keep being inventive.

Get Your Grub On!

Alpine Diner Restaurant & Bar (Hotel Eden Reschensee) – reservations mandatory
Hauptstrasse 4
39027 Reschen BZ / Resia (Südtirol / South Tyrol)
Italy
p: + 39 473 633137
http://www.eden-reschensee.com/

Zum Ochsen @Zähringer Straße (Freiburg, Germany)

February 28, 2016
#Meat, #Salad, *Sides, @Freiburg, @Germany, @Zähringen, German, Roasted Potatoes, Schnitzel, Uncategorized
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Schnitzel Haven.

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The Schnitzel (these are two ‘small’ portions of breaded pork schnitzel)

M has been raving about ‘Zum Ochsen’ and their ridiculously awesome and huge schnitzels, so this had to happen eventually. We were quite lucky as we made our booking rather spontaneous and therefore, had to show up at point 6 p.m. to be done by 7:30 p.m. when the guests for the proper evening reservation arrived. Inside and outside you can see and feel the history of this old Freiburg institution that until today has no written menu. The waiter introduced us to the few dishes of the day with schnitzel having a permanent gig besides more seasonal dishes like venison sausage and vegetarian mushroom pancakes. Since M ordered the ‘small’ portion of schnitzel which included two huge slaps of thin and crispy breaded pork escalope, I knew I was getting a taste of it. That, and not having one in ages played a role in me ordering the cordon bleu instead.

Sharing bowl of green salad
The huge Cordon Bleu (gotta love that parsley garnish :))

First up came the default sharing bowl of green salad. You don’t get to see this serving style very often nowadays, it was huge and the best was that the dressing was made in good old grandpa style. Nice one. Since the menu is so small and an estimated 75% of all customers going for the schnitzel, the kitchen was pretty streamlined and food came out reasonably fast. My cordon bleu was absolutely delicious. The excess oil was nicely drained, the crust was crispy and the inside juicy and very well seasoned. The ham and cheese gave extra flavor but didn’t overpower the main act. It was pretty fantastic, sufficient and at Eur15 tolerably priced. Sneaking a couple of pieces of that famed schnitzel though I already knew what my order was gonna look like next time. Super thin and still having strong flavors going on with another thin layer of crispness blanking it all wonderfully. The potato sides also did the job with the brägele  (roasted potatoes) being full of nice and crunchy baked bits and the potato salad being pretty good as well .

If you’re in Freiburg and love a good schnitzel you should definitely come and check this place out. If you’re bringing an even bigger appetite you can go for the large portion that comes with an extra (third) schnitzel so you should be all set. And in case you shouldn’t be able to finish up, the friendly waiter will be more than happy to supply you with enough tinfoil to doggy bag it all home. I for one will be back as soon as I feel like a solid meaty schnitzel meal again. Can’t be long.

Get Your Grub On!

Zum Ochsen (closed Wednesday)
Zähringer Str. 363
79108 Freiburg im Breisgau
p: +49 761 553860
Germany

18 Café @Da’an (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 6, 2013
#Fusion, #Noodles, #Salad, #Seafood, @Da'an, @Taipei, @Taiwan (RoC), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Beef Noodles
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Beef noodles fancy pants.

imageWhat’s the perfect follow up for a great beef noodle lunch? Right, an equally great beef noodle dinner. That settled I met up with a friend at ’18 Cafe’ in a different corner of Da’an district. This place was completely different to ‘Yong Kang’s‘ coffeeshop from this afternoon, modern interior, spotlights over each table, classy almost hip but still with a nice and cosy atmosphere.

As different as the restaurants were, so were their ‘Beef Noodles‘. They take a modern and fusion twist on their food here and the noodles were no exception. They used ingredients I hadn’t seen in this dish before like slightly bitter blanched spinach, fresh cilantro, some tomato chunks and daikon roots and a pretty darn good tasting meatball. At first I was concerned about that one but it was perfectly soft and had a delicious but alien flavour which I’m sure came from mixed in lemongrass. The other more ordinary beef bits were ok too but he ratio of tendon was just a bit too high for my preference. And then there was the strong beef broth packed with super wide noodles that, like so often, were my most favourite part about this. They were thick and chewy and actually reminded more of Italian pasta than your usual Chinese noodles (if there actually is such a thing).

imageJust before the soup, we also shared their ‘Signature Seafood Salad‘ which was top. Everything was super fresh, the greens were crunchy, the prawns and squid had a lovely firm bite, fish was soft and sweet and the chunky avocado added yet another texture to the bunch. The dressing, even though a bit too heavy on the oil, was citrusy and just simple as I like it.

Delicious and apparently award winning fusion Taiwanese cuisine coming up in huge servings; I didn’t hear myself complain and sure will be coming back to this one again during one of my next visits.

18 Café
No.55 Section 1 Anhe Road
Taipei City
Taiwan / Republic of China
Tel: +886 2 2775 5530
http://www.room18.com.tw/

House @Dempsey Hill (Singapore)

September 21, 2013
#Brunch, #Salad, @Dempsey, @Singapore, Italian, Pasta, Thai, Thai Fusion
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Birthday Blunch at Dempsey.

imageA friend from Hong Kong came over on her birthday for a business trip this week so we gathered the troops for a birthday brunch/lunch at ‘Dempsey House’. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I saw some tired faces in our round but nothing that a ‘Pineapple Pitstop‘ or a ‘Bloody Mary‘ couldn’t fix.

It felt a bit too late for brunch so I ordered their ‘Braised Pork Shoulder Rigatoni‘ which came on a nice looking, interestingly shaped plate. The pasta was slightly past al dente but the pork was braised nicely, tender and soft. The creamy tomato sauce glazing it all was quite tasty and light with a meaty flavor but I wished they would’ve been a bit more generous with it. Aside I had their ‘Coleslaw with Green Papaya‘ which in contrast to the pasta was lovely crunchy spicy and a mix of textures and Western-Asian flavors.

‘House’ has a great setting within the greenery on the back of Dempsey Hill. Today the service somehow was irritatingly slow and seemed slightly confused, the food and drinks though were nice but as in most places up here a bit on the pricey side. Still a good choice for weekend mornings.

Dempsey House
8D Dempsey Road
Singapore 249672
Tel: +65 6475 7787
http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

Harry’s @1A IBP (Singapore)

September 6, 2013
#Salad, @Jurong East, @Singapore, Western/International/American
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Good looks just aren’t enough.

imageWe were extremely lazy today and so we just walked down to ‘Harry’s Bar’ for lunch.

They had updated there menu with a couple of new items and I was excited to see ‘Scotch Eggs‘ being one of the appetizers. Not exactly according to my diet plan but I had to try them. Whilst we waited for our food I realized that they had brushed up their presentation as well, fancier food arrangements using nicer plates and wooden boards. Unfortunately the food didn’t really live up to the new style. The actual eggs looked pretty weird all bubbly and dried out and had no taste. The meaty layer around them was some sort of sausage that looked a bit uncooked (even that it wasn’t) due to its’ bright pink color. I wasn’t crazy about the taste either and maybe some well seasoned minced meat would have worked better here. The crispy shell though was quite nice, not greasy at all and not too thick either. Overall still a rather disappointing choice.

imageNext was the ‘Salad Nicoise‘ that I had before and which they now also presented in a more refined way using quail eggs and a bigger rectangular plate. I always liked that the tuna here was not the tin kind but thin slices of actual tuna loin but this one today looked and tasted like microwaved. I also found quite a few of withered salad leaves in there which for S$15+ was a big letdown. Upsides were the light citrusy dressing that gave it all a refreshing taste and the crunchy green beans that had a lovely snap to them.

I don’t know but maybe they should have put a little less effort into choosing the new tableware and focus on improving the quality of the food instead. If something tastes great I don’t necessarily mind its’ appearance but if it just looks pretty with no taste to back it up all efforts were in vain.

Harry’s
1A International Business Park
#01-01
Singapore 609933
Tel: +65 6570 5253
http://harrys.com.sg/