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there was a pasta i ate on the Amalfi that i will remember forever.
But i have had so many incredible meals in Paris, and i am happy to roll in to a small bistro and eat snails or tartar
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Genoa. The foccacia, pastries, and that simple clam pasta. Wow.
I try not to judge cities by tourist hotspot food because it seems to be crap everywhere. I was surprised though, that Athens still had good places to buy reasonably-priced food. -
@mariner4life said in Happiness Scale:
there was a pasta i ate on the Amalfi that i will remember forever.
But i have had so many incredible meals in Paris, and i am happy to roll in to a small bistro and eat snails or tartar
I do like a good steak tartare. And I remember having a lovely roast Brest chicken one night. Quite possibly the most memorable meal I ever had in France was in a small village outside Nice where I got frogs legs and a sublime sauce
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@mariner4life said in Happiness Scale:
i love them both. the simplicity of Italian food is incredible. But no way am i judging one to be way better than the other.
If French food is so great, why does every French restaurant have pasta on the menu...?
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Best city food discussions are as pointless as best cricket player lists. Subjective and ultimately futile. I’ve had amazing, and shit, food in every city I’ve ever visited.
But today, I picked up a gnr uk tour shirt from ‘87 in Rome. For 20 EUR.
Rome just wins. Every time..
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My favourite memory of Rome (outside of the obvious) was the Italian waiter's disbelief at how quickly Mrs Mariner and i could delete pints on a stonkingly hot day.
There was no sipping.
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Happiness: club had its presentation night and it all ran really well. We're not a suit-and-tie bunch of piston wristed gibbons with a hundred-year history
We just get together at the pub, have a few drinks, get on the karaoke and enjoy ourselves.I also got to announce the nomination of two of my mates at the club for Life Membership.
And I've still got the whole weekend ahead of me!
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@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
Best city food discussions are as pointless as best cricket player lists. Subjective and ultimately futile. I’ve had amazing, and shit, food in every city I’ve ever visited.
But today, I picked up a gnr uk tour shirt from ‘87 in Rome. For 20 EUR.
Rome just wins. Every time..
The worlds top 50 best restaurants list and 51 to 100 list interestingly have Bangkok as the city with the most restaurants in 6.
Paris has 4.
Rome 0.
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That is surprising, both for Bangkok and Rome. Though top restaurants are not the real story, for me at least, as they offer an experience that is often far removed from the actual food. yes the food is good, sometimes phenomenal, but it is usually about the mix of ingredients showcasing the chef's skills, presentation and in many cases the wtf element. For me the discussion would be centred on the more everyday eating experiences and then it usually comes down to which type of cuisine do you prefer. If you prefer French, then Paris will shit on Rome and vice-versa.
I like the simplicity of Italian food but I also like the marriage of flavours that you get with French food insofar as with one dish you will get say dauphinoise potatoes and another you will get sarlardaise spuds and the marriage just works.
So on the whole I just about prefer French food, plus of course (in the north) they use butter. Lots of it.
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@Catogrande said in Happiness Scale:
That is surprising, both for Bangkok and Rome. Though top restaurants are not the real story, for me at least, as they offer an experience that is often far removed from the actual food. yes the food is good, sometimes phenomenal, but it is usually about the mix of ingredients showcasing the chef's skills, presentation and in many cases the wtf element. For me the discussion would be centred on the more everyday eating experiences and then it usually comes down to which type of cuisine do you prefer. If you prefer French, then Paris will shit on Rome and vice-versa.
I like the simplicity of Italian food but I also like the marriage of flavours that you get with French food insofar as with one dish you will get say dauphinoise potatoes and another you will get sarlardaise spuds and the marriage just works.
So on the whole I just about prefer French food, plus of course (in the north) they use butter. Lots of it.
What's interesting is Lima has the second most spots. Ive never been there or Bangkok.
I didn't have a great food experience overall in France and I felt like many places were phoning it in on reputation. There were some memorable meals though.
Havent had anything special in Rome but other parts of Italy were great.
Spain was great overall. Barcelona, San Sebastian etc.
Interestingly Amisfield Restaurant in Queenstown is in the top 100. Never been to the restaurant either but Ive bought a dozen of the Pinot Noir which is a great drop.
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@brodean France is certainly not immune to the dumbing down of the restaurant scene and yeah, the dial in in element is certainly alive and kicking. I had .a few days in Paris earlier this year with the two Ms Catos. It was NOT a cultural trip, it was all about food and wine and was a great trip. We did our research pretty thoroughly and the only two disappointments were a boulangerie that had a great rep but was trading on past glories and a mediocre Croque Monsieur experience in Le Marais area. No great surprise.
One great little restaurant not far from the river did mainly grilled meats. Madame grilled all sorts of cuts on a plain griddle over an open fire in the main part of the restaurant without a timer or seemingly any attempt at co-ordination at all. The result was fantastic. I had the most beautiful plate of grilled veal kidneys with frites and a green salad which were simple, great ingredients, cooked perfectly. Two courses were about 28 Euros from memory.
My nephew has a house out in the sticks in the Charente Maritime and the local restaurant does a set three course lunch for 16 Euros. Again, simple food cooked beautifully. That is the sort of French cuisine that gets my taste buds going.
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@Catogrande sounds amazing. Last time I went I clearly did not do enough research. It was rocks and diamonds a bit. I did enjoy some excellent Vietnamese food, had a couple of very good traditional French meals, and even had a dirty kebab which was most enjoyable
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A little further afield from my nephew's place - about 20 minute drive at most, there is this beautiful restaurant called la Scorlion, which we always go to whenever we're over there and we always go for the Prix Fixe lunchtime menu. 24 Euros for three courses with a decent choice for each course. It is astonishing value. My favourite main course is the imaginatively named "Buthchers piece of beef with crushed potatoes and brown sauce". It is reffing amazing.
Notre carte| Saint Jean d'Angely | Restaurant le Scorlion
Sur cette page, découvrez notre menu. Tous nos plats sont concoctés maison à base de produits frais et de maison. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter pour réserver une table.
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@Catogrande said in Happiness Scale:
A little further afield from my nephew's place - about 20 minute drive at most, there is this beautiful restaurant called la Scorlion, which we always go to whenever we're over there and we always go for the Prix Fixe lunchtime menu. 24 Euros for three courses with a decent choice for each course. It is astonishing value. My favourite main course is the imaginatively named "Buthchers piece of beef with crushed potatoes and brown sauce". It is reffing amazing.
Notre carte| Saint Jean d'Angely | Restaurant le Scorlion
Sur cette page, découvrez notre menu. Tous nos plats sont concoctés maison à base de produits frais et de maison. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter pour réserver une table.
Reminds me of a place we stumbled on in a little village outside Nice. Ate in the courtyard of this little restaurant. One couple had been holidaying there and ate at the restaurant every year for years. The best french meal I've ever eaten. But your place has a lot more seafood on the menu
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@mariner4life said in Happiness Scale:
i love them both. the simplicity of Italian food is incredible. But no way am i judging one to be way better than the other.
Worked in Basle for 2 years and we used to go over to Mulhouse in France for shopping and a meal. Loved the Alsace cookery and it's simplicity and we found one restaurant/Inn which had Cognac's from 1917 to '87 - which we worked thru diligently.
Great days.
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Strangely the beast meal I’ve had in France was a Kangaroo dish. Chef had just returned to a village outside Tolouse after a trip to Aus and invented a French style recipe. Was superb. Most memorable though was the waiter that did this hopping thing as he went past our table. I hadn’t seen it again until this: https://www.google.com/imgres?q=raygun hopping&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Frockcms%2F2024-08%2F240812-rachael-gunn-breaking-wc-0813-309c36.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fbreaking-paris-olympics-raygun-kangaroo-hop-rcna166177&docid=jVCbZKNY33JrHM&tbnid=CBzf3_p9a4FHPM&vet=12ahUKEwjgrvX2xcCQAxWFpCcCHT41IM8QM3oECBsQAA..i&w=1500&h=1000&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwjgrvX2xcCQAxWFpCcCHT41IM8QM3oECBsQAA
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@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
Best city food discussions are as pointless as best cricket player lists. Subjective and ultimately futile. I’ve had amazing, and shit, food in every city I’ve ever visited.
But today, I picked up a gnr uk tour shirt from ‘87 in Rome. For 20 EUR.
Rome just wins. Every time..
Well, it only becomes a discussion if someone has the audacity to suggest anyone other than Don Bradman
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I don't think I had the best ever meal of my life in Rome. But I did have possibly the best sandwich and best pasta dish of my life there.
Best thing about the pasta dish is that I made it! WE did this pasta making evening which was fantastic. The chef/coach was such a classic Italian with all the stereotypes in flow. We made a ravioli which was then cooked for 6 mins and then swirled around a pan with pecorino cheese and some of the pasta water. Literally 6 ingredients only but it was unbelievabley tasty.
It would be wrong to talk about Rome without mentioning the drives. Absolute borderline of genius and insane. Such a strong control of their cars too with knowing what gaps they can/can't get through. My dad reckons when he drove from Rome to Florence it damn near killed him mentally. I totally understand why. He was supposed to drive back but dropped the rental off in Florence instead and got the train!
There were places you could see some of the broken politics though. It was pretty heavily graffiti'd as soon as you got off the main tourist areas. Mainly about Gaza/Palastine but also plenty with Meloni written in. I don't read Italian but I'm fairly sure it wasn't saying they loved her.
Still, wonderful city, wonderful people, wonderful food and a brilliant trip all around.
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@MajorRage said in Happiness Scale:
It would be wrong to talk about Rome without mentioning the drives. Absolute borderline of genius and insane
the first and only time i drove a left hand drive vehicle i had to get us out of Florence and brave the motorway. Fun times.
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You get used to it pretty quick. I drove our van all around Italy (and most of Western Europe) in '99 - had to do a 3pt turn taking a regular corner on the main road driving to the Amalphi Coast at one point because the road was so narrow. The scariest is the first time someone overtakes you when there is someone coming the other way so you and the oncoming car both swing to the edge and the passing car is split across both lanes - terrifying. That and the moped riders...
The other fun drive is the Arc de Triomphe - we tried to avoid it but got funnelled in and that was a game of Frogger I'd like to forget.
Happiness Scale
