Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Noma

All of my trips are food based.  I decide on which cities to visit based on which restaurants I want to try.  I’ve been meaning to upload at least a list, or even better, pictures of dishes I've had at restaurants that I have eaten at while on vacation.  There have been many requests from friends and family, and because of laziness, I usually just send them a spreadsheet when asked.  I thought now that school is done done, that I would have all the time in the world to blog about all my vacation spots.  But of course, life gets in the way.  There's so much house stuff that we have to work on, that it's cutting into my blogging time.  I swear I'm trying to my hardest to post things sooner rather than later!

This blog post is solely focused on Noma.  So many people have been bugging me about this post.  The main purpose of our Europe trip was to eat at Noma, a restaurant with 2 Michelin stars under it's belt.  For any one of you that don’t know, Noma was the number one ranked restaurant in the world at the time  we made the reservation, and still was when we dined there.  As of a couple months ago, Noma dropped down to number 3, which I would say is still pretty good.  Before we made any trip arrangements, even before we purchased our plane tickets we made sure to book Noma first.  If we didn't get Noma on the day we wanted, I was going to shift our vacation plans to fit in Noma.  

Booking Noma was a process in itself.  For our May 5 reservation, we had to book in early February.  The most difficult part was making this reservation due to the time difference.  The reservation system opens at 10am Copenhagen time, which means 4am Eastern Standard Time.  So before bed, we had to make sure to set our alarm clocks, several of them, (2 cell phones and 2 alarm clocks 10 minutes before 4am), and put our notebooks (both of them), and an iPad next to our bed.   Their reservation system was very sophisticated; it seemed to be programmed in a way to prevent crazy jamming up of their network.  The webpage had some text in Danish essentially saying that they open at 10am.  And at 10am, the page changed.  It showed an online queue.  My husband literally loaded up the webpage 10 seconds before me on his iPad, and was 3xx in line.  I ended up being 8xx in line.  A difference of 10 seconds apparently equates to 5xx people difference.  Insane right?  And as you freak out worrying that you waking up early would be going to waste, the webpage updates your status in line.  You slowly see that number decrease.  As you wait, you just keep hoping that your computer doesn’t crash or your internet connection doesn’t die.  As the hubby’s number got smaller and smaller, I was still worried that the days we planned on being in Copenhagen would be all gone.  I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, my heart was beating so fast.  After about 15-20 minutes, the hubby’s reservation page loads.  I was still in the queue, 5xx in line.  The day we wanted was available.  Yay!  Either lunch or late dinner.  We selected the late dinner, and the hubby clicked next.  The internet page of doom appeared…..something about couldn’t establish connection.  PANIC!!!!  Do we hit refresh?  Do we hit back?  What do we do?  I felt like my heart had stopped beating.  We closed our eyes, and pressed back.  Phewwww…..back to the reservation page.  This time clicking next secured our reservation.  So excited, so hard to go back to bed!  Now the thing to worry about is the buying of the flight….

Noma is kind of located in the middle of nowhere.  Well it’s not far from Christianshavn.  From Nørrebro, where we were staying, the easiest way to get there was to cab it.  But because we’re cheap, and we had access to bikes, we decided to bike there through Copenhagen’s bike friendly streets.  Took about 30 minutes from where we were staying so it wasn’t too bad.  As soon as we neared the front entrance, got the feeling of warmth, everyone just seemed so friendly.  Usually unexpected for a ‘fancy’ restaurant such as this.  Previous fancy restaurants I’ve been to, full of snooty stuck up staff.  Noma is also smaller than I thought.  Which I guess explains why its so difficult to get a reservation as there’s a limited number of seatings per day.  As with most of these restaurants, each dish that is served to you there’s an explanation of the dish.  Turns out there were a couple of Canadian chefs interning at Noma.  The hubby got to talk some hockey and baseball with them when they came out to introduce the dishes to us. 

As soon as we were seated, we were offered drinks.  The choices were basically anything you wanted, champagne to wines, to sparkling water to juices.  I ordered a glass of champagne, the hubby got an apple juice.  For the rest of the meal, I had sparkling water, and the hubby got the juice pairing to go along with the meal.  For those of you who think that juice pairs are for kids, I beg to differ.  These were not your normal juices.  After looking through the pictures again, I realized we totally forgot to take pictures of the juices.....  Ooooops.  I really wanted to get the wine pairing also, but I knew that it would be too much wine for me to take.  Yes I’m a lightweight.  I got quite tipsy after my meal at Moto in Chicago…….the wines were really good….but never again will I drink that much.

After the bazillion courses were served, we took a tour of their kitchens (they have a plating kitchen, prep kitchen, cooking kitchen, plus an outdoor bbq as well), and their lab.  The unfortunate part is that our seating was later in the night, and by the time we were done dinner, the kitchen staff was already cleaning up.  So we never got a chance to see the chefs in action.

As I’m writing this, I don’t know if I should ruin the photos by trying to explain the dishes.  I think I should just let the dishes speak for themselves.  Here are the courses from Noma, one of the best meals I’ve had in my life.

Fermented Wild Plums and Wild Beach Roses

Oland Wheat and Virgin Butter (not pictured)

Asparagus, Berries, and Seaweed

First Shoots of the Season with Scallop Marinade


Juice Pairing:  Cucumber & Whey

Curdled Milk and First Garlic of 2015

Grilled Onion with Onion Preserves

Sweet Shrimps Wrapped in Ramson Leaves

Mahogany Clam and Grains

Monkfish Liver

Lobster and Nasturtium

Male and Female Lumpfish with Whole Milk

Pumpkin, Kelp, and Beechnuts

Egg Cured in Fermented Beef and the Last Potatoes

Vegetable Flower

Roasted Bone Marrow

Berries and Greens Soaked in Vinegar for One Year

Rhubarb and Sheep Milk Yogurt

Forest Flavours

Egg Liqueur
































































The night ended with our choice of coffee, espresso based drinks, or tea.  My favourite dish was probably the greens dish.  Such simple ingredients, but so much flavour and texture complexity.  Some of the greens were fresh, some were wilted, some were grilled served on a scallop glazed dish.  When the server came to check up on us during that course, he asked how we liked it.  My response was that if there were no other tables around, I would have picked up the plate and licked it clean.  His response was that I was more then welcome to do whatever I felt like doing.  Thinking back, I should have, so I wouldn’t have wasted a single drop of it.  Next favourite dish was the monkfish liver.  The liver was smoked, frozen and shaved VERY thinly and placed on top of toast.  As soon as that liver hits your mouth, it melts.  I guess you could call it fish foie gras?  Noma has also introduced me to a new favourite.  Bone marrow.  But they also set a very high bar for bone marrow.  Typically bone marrow is served with toast, or bread.  Noma served with with cabbage.  Different, and VERY good.  Since Noma, I have ordered it at other restaurants, but nothing compares.  One other interesting thing to note, the mahogany clam that we were served was about 100 years old.  It was nice and tender, not elastic band like, that I was half expecting.  And before any of you cringe at the fact that we ate clams that were 100 years old, I myself was feeling bad until we talked to the chefs about their choice about using such old clams.  Clams are only fertile and able to reproduce the first few years of it's life anyways.  So we're not stopping the lifecycle.  That made me feel less bad.   Below is our take away menu.
May 5 2015 Noma Menu













Noma was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Why they only have 2 Michelin stars while Alinea has 3, is beyond me.  When comparing, service and food, Noma beats Alinea hands down.  Yes it cost us an arm and a leg, but well worth the high price tag.  Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat.  This is the second restaurant that I have been to that plays with locally foraged food and textures in a way such as this.  The creativity that these chefs have here blows my mind.  If you ever get a chance to dine here, DO IT!  There is no doubt that any of these chefs, when they are done their internship, will succeed anywhere they chose to work or open up a restaurant.


Noma
Strandgade 93,
1401 København K
Denmark

Phone:  +45 32 96 32 97

Hours:  Tuesday - Saturday 12:00p - 4:00p, 7:00p - 12:30a
             Sunday - Monday CLOSED

http://noma.dk

Alton Brown's Over the Top Muffins

Taking a quick break from restaurant blogging.  And when I mean quick break, I mean after I'm done with this blog, I'm back to catching up on my restaurant posts.  I love Alton Brown's recipes.  When I'm cooking or baking, Alton Brown is one of my go to's.  The other being the Joy of Cooking.  These recipes never fail, they're perfect, unless you start making modifications which I do sometimes when I realize that I have run out of certain ingredients in midst of mixing ingredients together.  They still taste good, just that sometimes they may not rise as much....or it may be lacking a bit of flavour.  But it's my own fault.

I needed to test out my oven to make sure it's functional.  We tried to use the self clean function to clean the oven, and part way through the clean, it errored out.  So I was worried that the oven was dead.  Turns out, it works, just won't work long enough at a high enough temp to do self clean.  Just means that I have to use chemicals to do a deep clean in the future.

So when I said, don't mess with Alton Brown's recipe, I totally did again this time around.  I was craving chocolate chip muffins, so I subbed chocolate chips for the blueberries.  And I didn't have regular yogurt, so I used greek yogurt.  Which I'm guessing as to why the muffins turned out a bit dry.  There's less liquid in greek yogurt, because greek yogurt is essentially regular yogurt with the liquids strained out.  Other than that, these were the best muffins I have EVER made.  I have never had muffins with such ginormous muffin tops.  This is the only time when huge muffin tops are wanted. So moral of the story.  Don't mess with Alton Brown's recipes!!!!

Note:  To best follow or use Alton Brown's recipes, have a scale handy.
Chocolate Chip Muffins

Look at the Muffin Top!

























Top Heavy Blueberry Muffins (Yields 13)

Ingredients
  1. 22 ounces all-purpose flour
  1. 4 teaspoons baking powder
  1. 2 teaspoons baking soda
  1. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  1. 8 ounces sugar
  1. 1 cup vegetable oil
  1. 2 large eggs
  1. 2 large egg yolks
  1. 16 ounces plain whole fat yogurt
  1. 1 tablespoon orange zest
  1. 12 ounces fresh blueberries
  1. 2 tablespoons demerera sugar

Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan (and one small oven safe ramekin) with non-stick spray.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In second bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, yolks, yogurt and orange zest until smooth.
  3. Make a crater in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Resist the urge to over-mix – there should be a some lumps of flour in the batter
  4. Fold in the blueberries, mixing just to combine.
  5. Drop about a cup of batter in each of the muffin tin's wells. Whatever's left over can be dropped into the prepared ramekin. The cups should be quite full.
  6. Sprinkle the muffins with the demerera sugar and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the bottom of a muffin comes out clean.
  7. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down, onto a clean tea towel to cool completely. This step is key in preventing mushy muffin bottoms, which nobody and I do mean nobody likes.
  8. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week (or until they taste gross, smell bad, or grow fur).

Monday, November 9, 2015

Fabarnak Community Cafe

This one has been on my list for I don't know how long.....years?  Their hours used to really suck.  Only open on weekdays for lunch with dinners on Friday nights.  Doesn't make it very inviting for people who don't work downtown.  Not sure when the hours changed, but it finally gave me the opportunity to try it for brunch.  A big reason for me wanting to try this place is because of what they want to do for the community.  Fabarnak is a community cafe that provides job opportunities and training to individuals with employment barriers.  I love the idea.

We ordered the beef brisket eggs benedict (their benny of the day), brunch burger and BLET.  Their beef brisket eggs benedict was done ok.  Flavours were good.  Their hollandaise sauce was different than the norm.  As you can see in the picture, there were fresh herbs that were added in the hollandaise sauce.  The eggs were just a tad overcooked for my liking, yolks were not quite runny, but it wasn't like it was over cooked (solid yolk).  Beef brisket was very tender and falling apart, with a flavourful smokey flavour.  What I liked best was that there was the option of potatoes or salad.  I chose the salad so I would feel a bit better about ordering the benny.

The brunch burger was good too.  A good size for sure.  Beef patty was cooked well done, but it was' dry or anything.  What may have helped was the sunny side egg that it was topped with.  Hubby was very happy with his burger.  A bit messy to eat, but he definitely enjoyed it.

My aunt was very happy with her BLET.  She saw bacon and decided she had to order it.  I'm not sure why it's called a BLET because there wasn't any lettuce.  In fact, the menu said its supposed to have arugula.  But when it arrived, it was just spring mix salad.  In any case, my aunt loved her sandwich.  She loved her potatoes just as much.  She couldn't stop eating them!  They were crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.
Brunch @ Fabarnak











Good food for a good cause, at very reasonable prices.  Whats not to like?  Definitely worth checking out.

Fabarnak Community Cafe
519 Church St.,
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2C9

Phone:  (416) 355-6781

Hours:  Monday - Friday 8:30a - 4:00p
             Saturday 9:00a - 4:00p
             Sunday CLOSED

http://www.the519.org/about/fabarnak-restaurant

Saturday, November 7, 2015

mon K Patisserie

My friend, who lives in the neighborhood has asked me several times if I’ve tried mon K’s Patisserie.  The answer was always no because I’m never in her neighborhood!  Aside from visiting her, there’s really not much of a reason for me to go into that area.  But once the opportunity opened up, I stopped by mon K. 

Mon K is a small Japanese owned bakery/patisserie/café.  With it being located in the area that it’s located in, I was very surprised with the number of Japanese people sitting in there early in the morning, enjoying their coffee, eating their pastry, and reading the newspapers.  The store itself is small, just a few tables.  I’m not sure if it’s because I went so early, but their selection was pretty good.  I picked up a few plain croissants, some chocolate croissants, some almond croissants, and a hazelnut twist.   Because I gave most of them away, I only got to try a plain croissant, and the hazelnut twist.  I actually couldn’t wait, and ended up eating the plain croissant in the car right after I picked it up.  Both were nice and buttery, and flakey.  The hazelnut twist, because I didn't eat it until the day after, I reheated in my brand new toaster oven!  The hazelnut twist reminded me of a Ferrero Rocher in croissant form.  Delicious!
Fresh Croissant

Reheated Hazelnut Twist



















This little patisserie has a lot more to offer then croissants, they have little cakes and cookies too, of which I didn't get a chance to try.  Until next time.....

mon K Patisserie
1040 Coxwell Ave.,
Toronto, ON
M4C 3G5

Phone:  (416) 696-8181

Hours:  Monday CLOSED
             Tuesday - Thursday 9:00a - 4:30p
             Friday - Saturday 9:00a - 5:00p
             Sunday CLOSED

http://www.monkpatisserie.ca

Charlie's Caribbean Cuisine

The longer that I work in Mississauga, the more that I discover there’s some hidden places to go to for lunch.  It’s not the closest to work, but that’s still better than what I originally thought Mississauga was, a culinary wasteland.  What I’m discovering are these family run places or what many would consider to be hole in the walls.  This is where you will usually find authentic food and an affordable price.   This is where you will find the locals that have originated from those countries.  However, for most North Americans, most people prefer the tastes and flavours that have been adapted for North America.  This may include cuts of meats that are more mainstream, or even dumbing down of spices used.  I say give me the real deal!

My coworker, originally from Trinidad, suggested we try Charlie’s because we both had a craving for jerk chicken.  She says this is authentic, from back home.  Charlie’s is small, just a couple of tables, with some very enticing lunch specials.  While the tables never filled up, and no long lineup for take out, there was a steady stream of people ordering the lunch specials.  I ordered the jerk chicken on rice and peas lunch special (small size), my coworker ordered jerk chicken on fried rice.  She also suggested that we get an order of pholourie for me to try.

The pholourie are essentially savoury donuts holes.  It’s strange, they’re fluffy, yet dense.  The closest texure that I could describe them to be like would be a fluffier version of a sour cream donut hole.  Not that much flavour.  So it would go well with anything, taking on whatever flavour the other foods it’s paired with.  Ours was served with a tamarind sauce and a hot sauce.
Phlourie











My coworker’s jerk chicken on fried rice arrived.  And I got worried.  It was huge!  Turns out hers wasn’t the lunch special but the regular portion.  It was essentially an order of fried rice from a Chinese restaurant topped with a large jerk chicken leg.  I had a taste of her fried rice to see the difference between Jamaican fried rice and Chinese fried rice.  The main difference I was able to see was that they don’t have egg, more soy sauce, less wok hay and the rice itself was different.  The rice was very loose, and the grains were a bit larger.  I think I prefer Chinese fried rice, just what I’m more used to I guess.  I forgot to take a picture of her dish.

My jerk chicken on rice and peas arrived.  The lunch special was a ‘small’ portion.  It was pretty big to me.  The rice and peas were ok.  Seems like may have gotten the end of the pot though.  There were some drier chunks.  But not a problem once I added more jerk sauce.  The jerk sauce was more watery than what I’m used to.  But apparently that’s how it should be.  Other places must thicken it with corn starch or something.  The chicken was so good though.  When I crave jerk I tend to order jerk pork, more fat, keeps it moist.  Chicken tends to be dry.  But this chicken was so moist!  Could be because the chicken leg was pretty big too.  Spices wise was seasoned very well, almost a bit too spicy. 
Jerk Chicken Lunch Special











Would definitely come back again, but would need to hope that the parking situation is a bit better.  It’s located in a small strip plaza with limited parking.  They also own their own Caribbean supermarket next door.  Great for buying Caribbean snacks.

Charlie's Caribbean Cuisine
3055 Hurontario St.,
Mississauga, ON
L5A 2G9

Phone:  (905) 949-0663

Hours:  Monday - Friday 10:30a - 9:00p
             Saturday 10:00a - 9:00p
             Sunday 10:30a - 7:00p

http://charliescaribbeancuisine.com
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