Darbar Indian Restaurant in NYC

what a fabulous Indian Buffet for Lunch!

as I say . . . .makes the ordinary Indian cuisine in Praha or Scottsdale, for that matter, blanch with inferiority . . .
8^D

Tandoor in Prague

We had thought we were at least at peace with the Indian food in Prague . . . after Scottsdale, any old place was likely to do (please, excepting Tandoori Times, which contends for as good as anywhere in the world!) . . . at least, until we had an Indian buffet, a buffet, mind you in NYC . . . but Tandoor seemed worth a second visit . . . if nothing else, they have remembered how to spice the vindaloo!

we ate at a new one near Malastranka (as opposed to the old one thru the tunnel going out to Ruyzne) . . .after seeing a review in the Prague Post . . . their pictures were better than mine, anyway . . .

We started off with vegetarian samosas - paratha - and chutney, and some raita. Awesome. The chutney reminded us a little bit of the jalapeno-lemon chutney we used to get at Tandoori Times. We could lose the paratha infavor of some good naan, tho' . . . The vindaloo was so close to too hot, I quickly achieved that state of bliss known only to chili lovers everywhre as the endorphines flooded thru my system.

The tandoori chicken would be the showcase event, I think. A very attractive presentation. A lot of chicken, too.

Have to go back to try the 7-chili phaal, must be awesome.

KriKri Greek

What's supposed to be hopeless, is finding good chinese food in Prague -- we haven't given up, but we move cautiously . . . with nothing to report yet . . .

but what seems surprisingly hopeless is the condition of Greek food in Prague . . . the feta is, um, not really feta, and the gyros, not sliced off the kebab, almost as if they really don't have any idea what's what.

So led on by ennui and a totally misleading positive review on ExPat.com, we ambled over to KriKri one weekend to see.

I have to say, the feta, the dolmades, and pita, were fine . . .but this gyros . . . puh-leaze . . .

Le Degustation - Degustation Boheme Bourgeousie

Words fail me.
What a fantastic place.
I think our experience was heightened by our host, Lupe, world-travelled gourmand.
He just has a way of enjoying his life and sharing his joy that he immediately connects with everyone around him  . . . I think the staff of attentive, informed, and gorgeous young women were so eager to help him enjoy what he was already enjoying that they really went out of their way to answer our questions and highlight the unique effable qualities of our cuisine that night.
We had the wine-pairing option with our dinner, but I didn't think to write down the pairings . . . they were marvelous: beyond perfekt, such absolute complements to the food one is hard-put to differentiate. A definite & discernable achievement.

• amuse-bouche maison - a vichyssouise

• entree' - guinea fowl egg, ham aspic, dried apples

• soupe - wild poultry soup, quail egg, house made noodles, duck dumpling

• poche' - beef oyster blade, braised potato, creamy sauce with fresh dill
• poche' - nut butter poached trebon catfish, cauliflower, carrot, green peas, maliner foam


amuse bouche - steak tartare on toast

• fume' - freshly smoked beef tongue, yellow pea puree', pickled shallot

• a little lagniappe - BBQ Trout - I think this was only on the Degustation du Chef - but Lupe charmed them so much that they started throwing in extras for us all. We also had a spoon of Prague Ham, but that picture is blurred . . . must've been the Becherovka & Tonic I had before dinner kicking in . . .

• braise' - vodnany duck, red cabbage, barley dumpling

• amuse-bouche de jardin - tomato, if you can believe it

• fromage - olomoucke tvaruzky cheese, sumava bread

• amuse-broche sucre'

• sucre' - chocolate vairhona ivoire, lime, tonka bean ice cream, black currant

• sucre' - semolina pudding, vanilla tahiti, strawberries

• more lagniappe -- talk about a redundant redundancy -- an extra dessert: but a sublime extra, a cheesecake, a chocolate rien dusted with cocoa, a praline

Grapefruit Pissoir at Le Degustation in Prague

Madonna & Child U Zvonarky

Vacation Hammock

It was raining most of the week on vacation in RI . . . but on Friday I was finally able to get out and live-the-dream . . . reading in the hammock in the shade . . . the hammock ropes still felt a little wet, but I just ignored that . . .

 

Raspberry Salsa

Of all the amazing things in this world . . . Raspberry Salsa is one of the most amazing . . . certainly one way to dress up the old "chicken & rice" . . . 8^D . . .