Robatayaki in Midtown

I've been in New York for a couple of days and have had a few great meals. The first night, we had a large group at Koi - a Nobu-esque place within the Bryant Park Hotel. The miso-glazed cod was almost as good as Nobu and the Hamachi tataki was phenomenal.

I've also had some great fast food (all local purveyors) in the basement dining concourse of Grand Central Station - paninis with organic ingredients for breakfast, huge slices of white pizza with sopressata and some good chicken schwarma and falafel. Hale and Hearty Soups and a cheesecake from Junior's will have to be saved for the next time I'm there.

Finally last night, I found a little robatayaki place in Midtown, just a few blocks from my hotel, called Aburiya Kinnosuke. I sat at the bar and watched with fascination the choreographed movements in the kitchen area in front of me. Although I didn't order sashimi, I loved watching the master at work - how he precisely sliced the fish, and arranged all the servings on large platters adorned with shiso leaves, radish, wasabi and pomegranate seeds, among other things. After every dish, he cleaned his work and arranged his knives and supplies just so, before starting work on another order.

The big grill with scorpion fish and tsukune (minced chicken loaf) being cooked on wooden paddles was also fun to watch. The grill master worked without gloves and turned the various skewers in a pattern that was only discernible to him, but that ensured everything was evenly cooked in the right order.

Roasted Eringi Mushrooms w/ red miso and scallion - grilled on a large houba leaf placed upon a small charcoal grill placed right in front of me.
Grilled anago (sea eel)

DIning in London

We had a couple of other good meals in London - it's become quite the dining destination.
We went to a Thai restaurant called Busaba Eathai one night - it's the Thai equivalent of Wagamama (if you're familiar with the Japanese chain). Communal tables, modern decor and a good, if not authentic, menu. I would not have given this a try but my sister assured me it was good. We had a whole bunch of dishes including chicken satay, grilled beef, pad thai, gaang kiew waan kai, gaang karee kai, pad see eew, pomelo salad plus 3 kinds of rice (jasmine, coconut and sticky). No dessert though. All in all, given the genre, fast service and reasonable price, I'd give it a solid three stars.

Another night we tried Maze, a Gordon Ramsey eatery. Quite good but alas, a little slow on the service, especially in light of the multi-small course approach. My favorite detail was the utensil holder with slots for the fork, spoon and knife. A nice variant on the fancy chopstick and spoon holder you find in high-end Chinese restaurants.One of their signature dishes is the "assiette" of sandwiches - with a deconstructed BLT and a croque monsieur. The croque monsieur was a little strip of grilled cheese but the BLT was served in a cocktail glass with tomato gelee on the bottom, a white layer of cheesy sauce, and sprinkled with large bits of bacon and circlets of fried onions. Deconstructed indeed! It was interesting but not sure I need to ever have this again.

Londontown

We stopped in London on our way home from Spain. A few observations:

1. I really do love the ritual of afternoon tea, with scones served with Devonshire clotted cream.
2. People smile a lot more in Spain.
3. It's hard to remember that a pound costs more than a euro.
4. It's really nice to NOT be using an outdoor bathroom (see prior posts) and to sleep in a big soft bed with Frette sheets. With no mosquitoes in sight.
5. The Selfridges sale is a crazy place. What recession?! See the photos below - there was a line of 15 people waiting to get into their little Louis Vuitton boutique. Don't they know that LV never goes on sale?!
6. We had dinner at a beautiful old restaurant in the heart of Piccadilly Circus, called the Criterion. Modern British cuisine. The ceilings alone were worth the price of admission. Which was pretty high.
7. Soft serve ice cream tastes better with a Cadbury's Flake stuck in it.

Nerja - our favorite Costa del Sol town

On our last full day in Andalucia, we headed east along the coast to Nerja, a little under an hour's drive away from us. The eastern Costa del Sol coastline becomes more beautiful as it approaches Nerja, with cliffs and small secluded beaches that somewhat preclude the massive overdevelopment of the western side of the area.
Nerja is a small pretty town notable for a beautiful promenade overlooking little beaches hundreds of feet below - this is known as the Balcon de Europa, or the Balcony of Europe. There was a wedding taking place while we were there - the groom in a kilt and the bride resplendent in a big poofy dress. It added to the atmosphere as they clambered onto a horse drawn carriage for a photo op.
We found a quiet restaurant with a ringside seat to the views, La Punta del Mar. And it was surprisingly good. I finally had my paella al marisco - a huge dish full of mussels, prawns, squid, lobster and scallops - and it was delicious! During lunch, we could see the ocean fog drift slowly in, imbuing the coast with a mysterious air.

After wandering around town and down to the beach, we drove 3 km out of town to visit the famous Caves of Nerja, where their stalactite known as the Column of the Cataclysm is certified as the world's biggest stalactite by the Guinness Book of World Records. The caves were much bigger than I had expected - one of the caverns was so large that they have seats set up for concerts and recitals. We were there at the end of the day, so the caves were virtually deserted except for our party - this definitely added to the slightly eerie atmosphere.Finally, back to the villa for our final dinner and our last evening in Andalucia. Once again, the discussion turned to where we should go in 2011!

Dinner in Marbella

Last night we drove down the coast road and headed to Marbella for dinner. Marbella is the nicest of the resort towns and we ended up at Playa la Fontanilla, primarily because we had no idea of where we were going.
We found a lovely restaurant overlooking the main promenade, La Navilla Del Mar. The service was excellent, we were the only non-Spanish family there and happily watched the sunset over the Meditteranean.

I started with the Salmorejo Soup, which is a local variant on gazpacho. It's more like a puree than a broth, with bits of bacon and hard boiled egg scattered over the top. It was a nice soup but I just find cold soups a little off-putting. Hubby had a nice white asparagus soup.
I moved on to a nice grilled turbot while younger daughter had gambas plancha or grilled shrimp. And french fries. The seafood was very fresh.

My favorite thing about the restaurant was the bread service. It came with 4 mini disposable olive oil packets. How cute! And it was great oil.

Strolling around Granada

After our Alhambra wanderings, we took a taxi over to the Albaicin area, which is on a hillside directly across from the Alhambra. The Plaza San Nicolas is a great place to view the Alhambra and is also where many of the postcard photos are taken. The Plaza was busy with lots of musicians and young people hanging out. We had an orange granita and took in the views.

After noticing a distinct lack of taxis up there, we started walking down through the narrow windy streets of the Albaicin. We were quite tired, so we stopped in a tetería for some smoothies and crèpes. A tetería is a smallish Moorish coffee shop with low tables and hookah pipes - serving all sorts of tea and snacks. Ours was lovely, with Arabic pop music playing. It was a nice little stop.

Then hubby decided a stop to Kebab King was in order. It's been over 12 hours and he hasn't suffered food poisoning yet, so I think we're safe.

Tales of the Alhambra

Granada was a fast 90 min drive from our house but of course, we didn't head out until midday. It's very hard to get everyone going in the morning!

We first headed to Plaza Nueva for a nice lunch at Torres Bermejas, a restaurant with both Granada specialties as well as pasta and pizza (satisfied all the constituencies!). I tried the Habas con Jamon - baby broad beans sauteed with bits of ham. It was pretty good although it was something that would have been better in a tapas portion!

After a short stroll around the town (with a yummy gelato stop), we headed up the hill to the Alhambra - we walked up, which was a little tiring, but pretty.

We had a specific entry time into the Nasrid Palace, so we headed there first. Although the tiles were less vibrant that what we had seen at Real Alcazar in Sevilla, the whole building was just wonderful. The only downside was that we were surrounded by a couple of tour groups so some of the spaces were a little crowded. And sadly, the lions in the Court of Lions had been moved elsewhere due to a renovation.We also saw the palace of Carlos V - like many conquering kings, he decided to build his palace on top of the palace of his vanquished foe. Which was a little incongruous - the solid Renaissance palace did not compare well to the light elegance of the Moorish architecture.

After the Palace, we walked down to the Alcazabar, the ruined fortress area that's the oldest part of the Alhambra. We had a great view of the town from the tower.Then we wandered around the Generalife which are the palace gardens. This was probably my favorite part of the complex - the gardens were lovely, there was a nice view of the palaces and the fountains were relaxing.
After roaming the complex for over 3 hours, we were tired but happy.