Soul of the street

Okay, so I hoped to have a table inside. But this place is seriously booked up for a reason. So… ‘street food’ it is. Soul Kitchen comes with a good reputation. Let’s see how it holds up to a slight breeze on a mild evening in Warsaw.

A Polish red wine would be first up for the test. This Pinot Noir comes with a ‘minor‘ in the name (the blurred effect is to preface my later condition):

On first taste I can’t wait to try the major. Influenced by Burgundy so I’m told. It’s good to know France is useful for something in the world of wine, not just denigrating others!

This one comes with so many ‘legs’ it could double for a consortium of octopuses (or is that octopi… no, apparently not).

Anyway, onto the kitchen stuff. The Beef Tenderloin Tartare was an obvious choice of starter, though albeit from a very strong field of competition.

It’s the additional lovage in the recipe apparently. Though it comes with a guy at your table putting the finishing touches (even out on the street). That’s got to add a few plus points to the experience.

As for a main, the short but perfect menu of options presented another First World dilemma. As ‘Daisy‘ had been so good to me already, I couldn’t let any of her go to waste. So, Beef Cheek it is.

Not to be put off by the ‘oil slick chic‘, and veggies with a distinct ‘nuts and bolts bite‘, I strapped in for an industrial experience of the most sumptuous kind.

Yes, for my dessert conscious readers, there was another short but perfectly formed (why are the best menus in my image 🤔😂) list. But, I had only one serious option to compliment a machiatto… yet another glass of the ‘Dobre Minor‘ (to fulfill the earlier blurred image effect).

Until we speak again, I’m not into licking plates, but damn, this was close!

And all of this just around the corner from a quintessential Warsaw vista.

Street food served from a Soul Kitchen. It deserves a thank you from the soul ❤️

Atmospheric Firenze!

History, culture, atmosphere, the home of the RenaissanceFlorence has it all in abundance…

Who’d have thought it was the place to devour a whole cow as well? From the stomach as a burger from a hole in the wall…

To a high-end experience of a slow cooked cheek…

Then there is the quintessential Florentine Steak. Brought to your table prior to cooking. All that’s missing was a name… let’s call her Daisy for polite dining…

Until we speak again, go to Florence and be drawn into an atmospheric experience and a feast of consumption…

The power of food

Juno was an enlightened cat, but among all of the things she knew, the attraction of food was up there. So it was to be with the 2015 International Food Festival ‘down the bay’, as Cardiff once again plays cultural host to the wider world (who really cares about Ashes cricket a mile up the road?!).

What a difference a day makes in the world of eating, as the following pictures attempt to illustrate:

Before…

Food festival prep [1]

 

 

 

During…

Food festrival [1]

 

 

 

 

Before…

Food festival prep [2]

 

 

 

 

 

During…

Food festival [3]

 

 

 

 

Before…

Food festival prep [3]

 

 

 

 

 

During…

Food festival [2]

 

 

 

 

The imagination was truly exercised through mouth-watering choices. The range of Welsh home produce was fully complimented by some English regional fare covering all kinds of cheese, pies, and ice-creams from predominantly south-west border locations. But the real essence of the whole event was provided by a much wider range of exotic cuisines, from ‘Persia‘ and Turkey, the Caribbean to India, with stunning contributions from the Iberian peninsula, Italy and Greece to represent the European Mediterranean countries.

For our personal delectation, this Wales-Trinidad delegation settled for a pig & goat combination to satisfy the taste buds… nothing like a goat curry with rice & salad to set up the prospect of a long walk around the bay. This was shared with a Jerk Pork & Dumplings  combination. The home nations were not to be denied our patronage, as a completely unexpected take on the traditional sausage roll was to leave me never looking at this snack in quite the same way again! The thinnest of delicate pastry was to surround the thickest of tasty pork sausage and chilli, with an additional choice of pork and mushroom. These might have cost about double the standard sausage roll, but they say you get what you pay for… and more in this instance.

The packed crowd were continually entertained by a succession of musicians…

Food festival [4]

… but for us the heavy weight of the fabulous food, combined with the fire-breathing quality of the tiniest sip of the world’s strongest chilli vodka, required the little matter of a 5-mile stroll around the whole of Cardiff Bay, with a brief interruption provided by white-water rafting (but more of that in a later post)!

Until we speak again may your culinary encounters be sumptuous and exotic.