Carbonnade Flamande

Antonin made a big pot of Carbonnade Flamande to share.
Carbonnade Flamande is a traditional Belgium beef stew.
His main ingredients are cubed beef, bacon, onions and carrots.
Kwak, a belgian amber beer is used for the stew, it also adds spice and sugar to it.
Spiced bread is used to thicken the stew.

Mon ami and I made a potato gratin to go with the Carbonnade Flamande.

Marks & Spencer's Take Away Food

Food for the train ride back.

Prawn + Mayo + Bread = Yum.
Make yourself one at home.

Ate this salad the following day because I couldn't have it on the train.
Took a spoon instead of a fork, plus I have one too many prawn mayo sandwiches.

These are what I got from Marks & Spencer's for the train trip back to Brussels.
Yes, it's quite a lot of food for 1 person
but I was there at lunch rush hour and there were many people grabbing sandwiches there.
There was adrenaline and excitement and so I bought a little more than I need.
I love prawn and mayonnaise sandwiches.
It's not ideal for the cholesterol, yes but prawn and mayo and bread are so good together.

I couldn't resist salads with flowers in them! FLOWERS in a supermarket salad! Wow!
It came with a spicy chili dressing.
I'm not so sure about the combo of the two
but FLOWERS in a supermarket salad, y'all!

Gordon Ramsay at The Claridges

Gordon Ramsey at The Claridges

I sat next to the cheese trolley,
whiffing the wonderful pungent cheese while I wait for my food .

A celery cream soup with crayfish & croutons for amuse bouche,
complimentary from the chef.

small bits of croutons & crayfish

Ceviche of Loch Duart salmon with avocado, ginger, ruby grapefruit and coriander for starter

Main course- Braised beef featherblade with cauliflower purée and baby spring vegetable.
I could used more cauliflower purée. The braised beek tasted much better with the purée.

Dark chocolate with a honeycomb sphere and milk chocolate sauce.
Fancy, giant version of ferraro rocher. 

Hot chocolate sauce is poured over the giant rocher

The melted chocolate sphere revealed various things inside-
Honeycomb, I presumed. Tasted like sugar brittle. The rich chocolate obscured the honey taste.
And a small ball of vanilla ice cream.

He's a culinary star!
OF COURSE, I want to know/taste what's it all about!
Is Gordon Ramsey's food good?
Well... it's not bad. It's kind of unexciting food though.
Ok, technically the food I ate at GORDON RAMSEY at The Claridges is not cooked by the man himself.
Maybe I should have went to the main restaurant (more expensive), Restaurant Gordon Ramsey
but it's more expensive!
Anyway, I figured Gordon Ramsey at The Claridges will represent his food well.
I had the 3 courses set lunch for £30.
(I had to have cup noodles for dinner to make up for this £40 in total bill lunch)
The tasting menu offers the same dishes but 4 courses instead of 3.
Most diners when I was there are tourists like myself coming to taste the food of the famed chef.
I heard Dutch spoken behind me, Cantonese next to me and the couple at the table in front of me told the waiter that they are Finnish living in Moscow.
I heard various languages but I didn't hear "mmm..", "ahh...", "yummm...", the international language of a tantalized palate.

I still want to believe in you/your restaurants, Gordon Ramsey
because you are great on TV.
Until the next time....

Harrods Food Hall

An international food selection here. 

Food from the far east.
fried noodles and spring rolls etc.

Exotic fruits selection.

Turkish pastries.

English fruit cakes.
My favorite illustrator, Edward Gorey supposedly loathed fruit cakes.
He was convinced no one eats them and they are simply regifted every xmas.
I'm not a fan of dense cakes either.

Pretty arrangement of green grocery.

Scones and other pastries.

Looks good.

These beef wellingtons looked really good!

Harrods Food Hall was jammed packed with tourists!
I read online reviews raving about the food there.
Are these people locals?
Does one decides on any given day to jostle with the tourists just to buy a slice of cake
or some take home traiteur food?
Maybe I should have bought something to know if it's actually as good as they say...
but I wasn't hungry and the crowd made me dizzy.

Fish & Chips in London

Ok, it says "Closed" on the door because I was 10 mins early.

It's not deserted. The cook is behind that wall and you can see the top of the waitress's head at the coffee machine.

Yay! Here is my fish & chips!
Check out the cute tomato shaped ketchup bottle!

First meal in London, FISH & CHIPS!!!

Timeout London recommended Golden Union for low priced fish & chips.

Yes, I did my homework first.

I can't just wander around London for fish & chips and hope for a good one.

I douse my fish & chips with vinegar. Yum!

It softens the hard, greasy & hot batter on the fish.  

The cod is generous, flakey & moist.

I can't say it's the best fish & chips I ever had
because I have a wonderful memory of an awesome fish & chips I had in Edinburgh
in 1997 when I was there for a school trip. ☺
Nonetheless, Golden Union fish & chips is decent
and it's inexpensive at £8.50 (the tartar sauce cost £1.50! though. I could have opted out if I've known) 

Risotto ai Fungi Porcini & Asparagus

For dinner, Francoise made asparagus & homemade mayonnaise.

Her mayonnaise is awesome. Her secret is to beat the egg whites until fluffy and add them to the mix last.

Antonin made Risotto ai Fungi Porcini, with the porcini that he collected from the Alps.

Eels & Lobsters Belgium Style

Antonin's mum, Francoise treated us to a wonderful Belgium lunch yesterday at Vincent, rue de Dominicians.
Francoise had Anguilles au Vert (Eels in Green Herb Sauce) and the rest of us all had Waterzooi de Homard (Flanders Lobster Stew). YUM!
My lobster came with the green stuff  (tomalley/ lobsters' digestive system). Yay!
I know it's no good to eat the green stuff with pollution & all
but I love the green stuff. The lobster flesh taste much better with it.
Francoise let me have a taste of her dish.
It was good also. The herb sauce tasted fresh and grassy.
I can't tell much about the eel though...