Part of our IBC/Amsterdam experience is a visit to Van Dobben for Filet American on a very good small baguette. Filet American is a raw meat mix like steak tartar.
Each Roll is €4.50 with tax, but Foodie Philip had two, making the average €6.75 or US$7.89 per serve.
Dinner
At dinner time we visited a well regarded local Indian restaurant Shahjahan in Amsterdam’s Jordaan district.
As soon as we walked through the door we were hit with the smell of warming spices, which of course carried through to the food. The samosa we started with had a little growing heat, while the rest of the meal was well spiced but not hot.
A mixed grill, butter chicken, aloo gohbi and garlic naan rounded out the meal and was the perfect amount of food for three people.
The meal averaged €18.83 per person, or US$21.33 per serve.
Upon the recommendation of a friend we headed for The Abergavenny Arms. It was a wonderful surprise: wonderful, friendly service and exceptionally good food. Really good food.
Foodie Philip had twice cooked pork belly accompanied by cabbage & bacon and mash potatoes with a red wine sauce. Foodie Greg had an elevated version of a Sussex Smokey, which is a smoked fish pie. This version avoided the heavy cheddar base of the traditional version, and the topping was breaded rather than mash potatoe.
This amazing food averaged £13.95 or $18.28 per serve.
Dinner
We had planned on a restaurant nearby, but they had not space for walk in customers. We checked out a coup,e of other restaurants nearby, but frankly, when one restaurant is packed and the rest ar nearly empty, you know where the action is.
We changed plans and picked up grapes, wine, Parma ham and patė again and snacked.
That cost £5.42 with tax equal to US$7.10 or $3.05 per serve.
Continuing our exploration of East Sussex, we drove up to Eastbourne. Thanks to TripAdvisor we found a delightful little cafe, on a street being resurfaced – The Beach Kitchen.
We both decided on their Jazza interpretation of a Benedict, which is a stuffed Brioche bun with the egg on top. We chose bacon because we’ve never had a bacon Benedict!
You can see the result in the header photo. The Brioche was stuffed with bacon, done the way we like it, not American crunchy! The egg was poached correctly and the Hollandaise had a perfect balance of lemon freshness a without being tart.
The home fries had a great balance of crunch and soft interior. I was sorry when the meal was done. Lunch was £7.95 with coffee included, or US$10.34 per serve.
Dinner
For dinner we made a return trip to Terre a Terre because we had really enjoyed it on our last trip four years ago. Still in the middle of Brighton and still fabulous vegetarian food.
Because it’s hard to choose from the excellent selection and because we like variety, we opted for the Tapas platter for two. We did not leave hungry, with a wide range of excellent food on the plate sampled across the menu.
Every bite was full of flavor. A great meal for £18.00 per serve or US$23.41 per serve.
We decided on a nearby pub – Telscombe Tavern, that had good reviews on Trip Advisor since the first choice – a vegetarian place – was closed for an end of season vacation.
We both had a 6oz Burger with cheese and bacon and a very excellent tomato relish/sauce for £8.95 or $11.65 per serve.
Dinner
After last night’s amazing meal we went simple: antipasto platter with two salamis and Parma ham, Stilton and patè on crackers.
Although we didn’t finish everything, in fact only about half the Stilton, we spent £7.33 or $9.54 total for a per serve cost of $4.77.
We had planned on revisiting a cafe in nearby Seaford that we had really enjoyed last trip, but sadly for us they are taking a vacation until the day we leave. (Did someone warn them?)
Instead we had a hearty breakfast for lunch with the “Double English”: two sausages, two eggs, a slice of bacon, fried tomato and English style baked beans, with toast.
Overall it was a fine meal for £9.00 each with a double espresso or $11.63 per serve.
Dinner
Tonight was the first time the Foodies have had the opportunity to go to any restaurant that had been awarded a Michelin star: Matt Worswick at The Latymer at Pennyhill Park . It exceeded our expectations.
Saturday night features a seven course tasting menus and we chose the Signature wine pairings to go with the tasting menu, which meant we spent more than two months normal food expenditure on the meals for both of us, but it was absolutely worth the blowout
Each bite, from the amuse-bouches (all three) to the perfect chocolate paired against the sour yoghurt sorbet, was perfect.
Every dish had the most amazing a wonderful combinations of flavors I cannot truly do them justice.
We got so involved in the meal that we mostly forgot to take pictures.
The big surprise was the pickled apple, which perfectly complemented the roe and the horseradish bought a wonderful earthiness to the dish.
The best thing about the fine dining experience in general and this one in particular, is that the staff are both attentive and extremely knowledgeable about the food and wines. It’s obvious that every person involved loves food and love what they put out to guests.
A perfect desert pairing that was not too sweet.
I don’t recall all the details but the in depth explanation of why each wine was paired with each dish was appreciated, and helped make sense of some of the less traditional pairings.
An amazing, wonderful, tasty and delightful evening absolutely worth the money and the 90 minute drive each way.
We fried off some bacon in the panini press and made a bacon and tomato sandwich, but there wasn’t enough bacon done for two sandwiches, so we opened a smoked tuna pouch and combined it with Swiss cheese.
Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one, or 35c per serve
Bacon is $4.99 and we used 3 rashers between us, or 45c per serve
Add 75c per serve for the pouch
Add 35c for garlic spread and butter.
Two satisfying half sandwiches each for $2.22 per serve.
We Sous Vide the shrimp to perfection in garlic and butter while the sauce came together in the pan. We substituted lentil and brown rice pasta which had a good toothless and decent flavor.
The shrimp was $7.99 for the pack, and we used half, or $2.00 per serve
The pasta was $2.99 and used about ⅓ or 50c per serve
The spinach was $3.29, or $1.65 per serve
Add 20c per serve for garlic and seasoning.
Add 40c for half and half
Add 10c for onion.
We were slightly disappointed in this recipe. It promised great flavor but didn’t really deliver. The sous vide shrimp were perfect. Overall an okay meal for $4.85 per serve.
Although we use the Long Cooked Broccoli as a side, it was originally intended as a sandwich filling, so today we heated what remained and topped a piece of fry bread (just bread in the panini press).
One slide of Rye is 16c
The long cooked broccoli is $1.36 per serve, or 68c per serve
Add 25c for butter.
Surprisingly, this was a great way to eat the broccoli for $1.09 per serve.
Dinner
With one vegetarian among our dinner guests we returned to the grilled eggplant with satay sauce that had been so successful last time we had it.
Two eggplants were $3.28 or 82c per serve (although not all were served)
The peanut butter was $1.99 and we used about 1/4, or 25c a serve
Other seasonings in the satay sauce add 35c per serve
Add 50c for marinade ingredients
Bean sprouts were $1.49 but we used 2/3 or 25c per serve
Carrot adds 10c per serve
Mint came from our garden.
Excellent again, as always. Good food and great company made for a great evening. The meal cost $2.27 per serve.
We had some crustless spinach quiche that we ate at room temperature with a half serve of the Feta and Eggplant salad that was left over.
Five pastured eggs are $2.50 or 63c per serve
7oz of baby spinach was $2.99, or 75c per serve
Add 50c for heavy cream
A half serve of salad is $1.43.
The salad absorbed more of the balsamic dressing and was even better than the night before. Combined with the quiche, it was a great meal for $3.31 per serve.
Dinner
Tonight we decided on Slow Cooker Coconut Pork Curry. We used a lot less pork but otherwise kept the ingredients much the same. The recipe will give us four serves.
The pork was $8.99 or $2.25 per serve
Fire roasted tomatoes were $1.69 or 43c per serve
A can of coconut milk was $1.69 or 43c per serve
Add 80c for seasoning and oil
Add 33c for brown rice.
Despite only cooking for half the recommended four hours, we had tender pork and a delicious sauce for $4.24 per serve.
For lunch we tried a variation on a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. We “grilled” the bacon in the panini press. The press needs cleaning before toasting the sandwich.
Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one, or 35c per serve
Bacon is $4.99 and we used 2 rashers each, or 64c per serve
Add 20c for lettuce
Add 35c for garlic spread and butter.
We should probably have not bothered adding the lettuce at the end. While it added a little fresh crunch to the sandwich, opening the sandwich to add it after toasting caused a loss of structural integrity in the sandwich. Still, a great tasting sandwich for $1.81 per serve.
Dinner
We rarely have lamb, especially lamb steaks, chops or roasts, largely because our regular meat delivery from Keller Crafted features beef and pork. Given how often we ate lamb growing up, we always appreciate the opportunity, so tonight we grilled a large lamb leg steak and served with an Eggplant and Feta salad. We dropped the pasta.
As it turns out, we got three good serves out of the salad.
Eggplant was $1.39 or 40c per serve
Pomegranate seeds were $4.49 and we used half or 75c per serve
The lamb was $12.29 for just over a pound, or $6.15 per serve
Parsley was $1.89 for the bunch and we used half or 32c per serve
The Valpresso feta was $9.99 for the tin, but we used 1/6, or 55c per serve
Add 85c for other ingredients.
We substituted balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar and that worked exceptionally well with the eggplant. Overall this was a great salad with the pomegranate seeds being a wet sweet pop counterbalancing the savory salad. Together with the perfectly medium rare lamb steak, this was a great meal for $9.02 per serve.
Every dish had the most amazing a wonderful combinations of flavors I cannot truly do them justice.
