China Star

Our first stop in China was ShiChuan at China Star. The dishes are typically quite spicy. The restaurant has three levels of spiciness the highest being numbing. The highest level we went to was two chilis. Soybeans in some kind of a sauce were complimentary they tasted a bit of fennel. We wanted to try as many dishes as possible, so of course we ordered way too much. We started off with Spareribs with wooder soup. The broth is light and clear; simple but nourishing. Surprisingly the beef had bones in it there were also a variety of mushrooms: delicious. The mushrooms were a bit crunchy which gave a nice texture.This would be perfect on a day when you are feeling under the weather.

Julia and John do not like spicy food all that much but we were able to find dishes they could handle. Julia's shredded beef with Chinese celery was delicious. The Chinese celery looked like broccoli rabe but tasted like celery. The veggies were still slightly crunch and there wasn't a lot of sauce so it made you feel healthy eating it.

John's beef stew in hot pot was spicy enough that he wasn't sure he liked it. Julia had a taste and that was enough. Julian loved it so much so that his face started to turn red and his eyes watered. The broth was quite flavorful but there were whole chilis it. Once it cooled the spice wasn't as overpowering and with rice it was quite tasty.

My salt and pepper eggplant was very good even though it was fried. The eggplant was creamy inside the fried dough and the fried scallion, chili and cilantro garnish was a nice contrast. Really not as heavy as they might look but as a meal, it was a little too much for me.

The crispy duck Julian ordered was amazing. Crispy on the outside tender and juicy on the inside. There was some chili on the chicken itself and in the accompianing sauce. This is the kind of thing that you don't even attemp to do at home

This place was perfect for our "travel". Most of the other patrons were asian so we felt like it was very authentic and the prices were good to boot. I think Chinese restaurants are able to offer great quality but a good price because they don't do too much in the way of fancy decorations. At least from what we've seen so far.

Saravana Palace

This was a recommendation from John's friend Dhruv. It is where he goes with his family when they go out for Indian food. Saravana Palace is a vegetarian mostly southern Indian buffet. There was a huge selection and of course we tried a bit of almost everthing!

This is a selection of the fried table offerings. The triangle one is a samosa. There was fried cauliflower, vada and bourdi (which reminded me of hushpuppies but with rice flower) masala vada (a fried lentil and spinach cake) and spinach pakora (a fried spinach ball). This table also had a selection of breads; uppatham, a pancake with small amounts of veg in it Papdams rice flour crisps quite tasty, Idli which was a pretty heavy doughball that was very bland. We sampled all of the many sauces offered: coconut with chili (odd texture and suprpisingly spicy), green chili cilantro sauce (fresh and clean tasting with a bit of a bite; a nice contrast) brown sauce (sweet and sour flavors a favorite with John and Julia) and yogurt sauce (for cooling things down).

The Dosas here are huge rice flour crepe like rolls. Today they were filled with a curried potato mixture. Very light despite the size.

There are small metal bowls where you can put the different dishes so they don't run together (I love this idea). Shown here are yellow dal; curried and not too spicy . Cabbage with paneer; this is delicious if you like the texture of the paneer. Paneer is a fresh cheese that is firm enough to cook in the stew -like dishes that seem to be typical of Indian cuisine. It kind of squeeks when you chew it. Some may find this objectional. I enjoy the paneer dishes. Curried zucchini good but not terribly different. Rasam; a kind of lentil soup just okay. Onion bread; sort of like an Indian quesadilla with no cheese. A dish that Juian and I particularly like is shown on the picture above porail is the preparation and there was both potato and okra. The veggies are cooked and then sauteed in spices and then something crispy (we think crisp fried tiny lentils and mustard seeds) is tossed in. That contrast of stew with the crisp is just perfect and the dish had just enough heat.

The deserts were familiar from the last time Gulab Jamoon doughball in rosewater syrup yum. The same dumpling fried and tossed with coconut. Warm rice pudding delicous. A yogurt doughball which was so tangy it just didn't suit us and a smooth yogurt pudding. We had a delicious coffee and were stuffed.

Heritage India

There are many Indian restaurants in the DC area. We were looking for Northern Indian to start with and found this restaurant through the Post. The review cautioned that the food is very good but the sevice can be a bit slow; so we were wary. When we told our waiter, who also seemed to be a manager of some sort, about our little project he was more than happy to help. He steered us toward the best examples of Northern Indain cuisine.

There actually were some interesting yogurt beverages here. The yogurt drinks (lassi) can be ordered sweet or salty. The kids went with sweet and mango sweet. They are too filling to be a beverage in my opinion but would be a refreshing snack; somewhat like a tangy smoothie. Julian got a Taj Majal beer light and tasty with the spicy food. I chose and Austrailian Viognier to go with my meal.

The appetizers suggested were a great introduction; a sampling of different tastes and textures. That was the first thing we noticed about the food. The preparations seem to be all about contrast not only of flavors; spicy and sweet, but also textures; smooth dishes always had a crunchy element.

Bhelpuri, Dhai Bhalle and Gogappas. The Belpuri is like rice cripsies mixed with chickpeas and vermicelli noodles tossed with a tangy spicy dressing topped with peanuts for crunch. Immediately we notice that the flavor combinations are completely different from what Americans are used to. The yogurt sauce on the Dahi Balle is a very nice cooling element to the dish. By far the most unusual are the Golgappas. It is a puffy dumpling with a chickpea mixture. Each dumpling has its own spoon. You pour sauce into a hole in the top of the dumpling and put the whole thing in your mouth at once. Our server was amused at how we were trying to be neat when eating it and making a mess in the process. He decided to help us out. I would have loved to see that on video.






We had heard that the butter chicken (murgh makhani) is the best in DC and it did not disappoint. It seems simple chicken in a butter and tomato sauce. It is perfectly spiced: a bit of heat with a great balance. Julian got tandoor lamb chops which are tender and a bit spicy. He chose not to go with the Vindaloo because our server said it is too hot for him and he should be used to it because he is Indian after all. John got Dum Ka Murgh is chicken with a yogurt Garam Masala sauce. Not too spicy just delicious. My Aloo Gobi Masala (Potatoes and Cauliflower) is quite spicy. I needed yogurt sauce from time to time to cool my tongue. The rice accompaniment is delicious; topped with a sprinkle of golden raisins and peanuts for crunch.


We try to save room for dessert and we barely had room. We got Gulab Jamoon: milk dumplings in a rose water honey syrup, normally not my type of thing, but it is delicious and not as heavy as it may sound. We also tried the Shahi Tukra (rice pudding) very fancy served with a silver leaf.

Romanian restuarant in Atlanta

Cindy my friend from college, who happens to be Julian's cousin, heard about this Romanian place from her students. They said the food is just like their grandmothers make and that the disco starts at 9:30 or so. Woo hoo. We got there and the place was packed with a baptism party but they let us in anyway.

We started with Transylvanian wine "Vampire Red" no joke. It was terrible. The beer was better. Unfortunately I misplaced the menu of what we had so I will wing it. The waitress was so sweet. She seemed truly surpised that we wanted to try the authenic Romanian food.

Tripe soup and roasted eggplant dip. The soup was OK but tripe is not my thing. The eggplant presentation is interesting no? It tasted pretty much like what I make when I make it at home.












Romanian skirt steak smothered in onions and mashed potoates. Julia said it was very good. Not dry at all.



John's brains and fries. He said they were OK but couldn't eat them all. The taste was good but the texture was weird.




Sausages and something?








Sausages and white bean puree. The beans were so tasty. I think these cultures make everything so simple and so yummy by using butter etc.



This dish was basically mushroom stroganoff served with polenta and topped with three huge scoops of sour cream. It was so rich.




Stuffed cabbage leaves and not sure what else.





Desserts yummm! There was vanilla cream inside puffy dough layers. It was so fluffy and laced with lemon. The cake ball was filled with cream and topped with raspberry sauce. The kids inhaled them. We barely got a taste.

Les Halles (DC)

Shortly after we got back from our trip, we realized that we hadn't been to a French Brasserie during our time in France. We went to one in DC, when we happened to be downtown. It was very authentic; down to the fact that everyone working there seemed to be French. We got traditional brasserie dishes Steak Frites, steak hache, steak tartare, escargots, soupe a l'ongion. I had the plat minceur "salmon and steamed veggies". A guy came to our table and made the steak tartare tableside. It was pretty fun to watch. He enjoyed putting on a show and knowing he would be "famous" on our blog.

German restaurant in Germany

These dishes are from the local place we ate at with our friends in Germany. I am not sure I love the German food where they are. It seems to be a large piece of breaded fried meat smothered in mushrooms, onions or some other sauce. Everyone seemed to like it but I got soup and a salad (as did my friend Jane) not too exciting. But the potato "logs" are fun. They are somewhat like tater tots. I think they are mashed potatoes extruded through a machine that makes them look somewhat like fried play doh. Pretty tasty though. But if you know me, I had a hard time in Germany because the food didn't seem too healthy. A lot of the dishes reminded me of my Pennsylvania dutch background.

Domku

This is Norweigian, which we were surprised to find. We went for brunch on Sunday it is in the Petworth area of DC which has some cool restuarants but we are kind of afraid to go at night. It is definately on the edge of being a cool area.

Since it was brunch, we thought we'd start with a"bloody Domku". The Domku version of a Bloody Mary made with house made chili vodka. Oh my gosh; it was so spicy I couldn't even drink it. Julian loved it though. I changed to a pomegranate mimosa.

We had the Danish pancake balls; made in a special mold and available only on Sundays. They are yummy fried donuts.






The Norweigian pancake is very much like a crepe. The batter is very eggy and the pancake is quite thin.




Mushroom and Feta Lefse: a different pancake made with potatoes. We had these in Minot. These were wrapped like a blintz and filled with a tasty nushroom filling.




Herring and Potato Pie gotta have some herring right. This was surprisingly light and not fishy at all. I guess I have pickled herring on the brain but this was a creamy sauce with herring and mushrooms inside a flaky pastry. Yummy.

Salmon pyt i panna: cubed potatoes and smoked salmon sauteed like hash and toppd with a poached egg, caviar and a mustardy sause. So simple and so delicious. A perfect dish for a chilly Sunday morning. I want to try this at home.




Swedish meatballs: must try the offical meatballs if you're doing Scandanavian. The creamy suace was delicous on the mashed potatoes but the meatballs were not that exciting.



All in all this was a fun place. A review said to be prepared for terrible service and we were. Our waitress couldn't have been better an our food came out quickly and it was delicious.