Bar El Tropezon, Barcelona, Spain

If one wanders off the main strips in Barcelona into the vast winding small street alleys, you may come across nice little gems such as Bar El Tropezon (Carrer del Regomir, 26 tel: +34 93 310 18 64).

This is a plate of mixed spicy chorizo. Salty, spicy and with just the right amount of grease, these went great with beer.

This dish I think it was called la bomba or something like that is essentially like a potato croquette with chunks of ham in it, deep fried and smothered in a tangy combination of tomato and sour cream sauce.

Salted fried cod fish fritters, these actually tasted a lot better than they looked. The exterior was fried just to a perfect crisp to give way to a tasty soft cod fish bite within.

Here's some bread with garlic and tomato rubbed onto it. A rather refreshing side.

Of course when we're in Barcelona, we have to take advantage of her proximity to the water. Here's a daily special of clams cooked in garlic and white wine. Very fresh, the flavor of the clams stands out in this dish.

Grilled baby octopus in garlic butter. Tender octopus that wasn't overcooked, these was pretty delicious as well.

So what's the next best thing to watching the World Cup in South Africa? In Barcelona where the crowds were just crazy all night after Espana's huge win.

D

Big Nick's Burger and Pizza Joint, Manhattan, NYC

I seldom venture to the Westside and when I do, it's usually due to a detour from a walk in the park to Big Nick's for some burgers. Big Nick's is somewhat of an institution by now, safe and tasty fare without the need for long waits; trialed and tested to deliver.

Here's the one pound sumo burger. That's right, one pound of pure grounded bovine splendor wedged between two slices of burger bun bread desperately trying to hold it all in. Served with thick cut steak fries, this could pretty much count as one solid meal.

The deli burger, which is a favourite of mine has thick cut savory French toast slices instead of burger bun bread. A slightly smaller patty (still a decent 10-12oz) cooked medium rare and topped with mushrooms and Gruyere cheese. To top up that deli -ook, notice the cute little (and totally redundant) toothpicks with the coloured cellophane wrapped ends.

A straight forward bacon cheese burger that always delivers. Beauty in its simplicity. Like the deli burger, this was requested to be served with waffle fries as well.

Just to make sure we had our vegetable quota for the meal (notice all the salad that came with the burgers too), this is a slice of carrot cake, complete with a dollop of whipped cream sprinkled with hundreds and thousands.

D

JP Licks, Harvard Sq, Boston, MA

Your Honour, I plea guilty; guilty to blog neglect. I'm definitely not giving up on this blog but it's just that I'm in this phase of my life right now which just seems to sap away all my time and energy. This is just a quick snap at JP Licks during one of my short breaks. JP licks is a Boston chain cafe which sells ice-cream, frozen yogurts, coffee and cakes. Sometimes, sipping a hot chocolate and dismembering a gingerbread man bit by bit with my teeth are some of the best things in the world.

D

p.s: you can tell he is a bit of a masochist too because he's still smiling despite losing a leg.

Zaytinya, Washington DC

Waking up to a little Winter wonderland such as this invokes strong emotions within me. Strong emotions because I knew I had f**kloads of shoveling to do before I could leave the house. Well at least the snow had stopped and the three hours of shoveling worked up quite an appetite to justify another meal.

It wasn't our intention to hit another "tapas" style restaurant the very next day but technically Zaytinya does mezze style dishes which is pretty much er... Middle-Eastern tapas. The food here has strong Greek, Lebanese and Turkish influences which were evident in the flavor and selection of dishes.

Warm pita bread on a cold late morning, most welcomed.

Smooth humus with a generous pour of olive oil, this accompanied the bread very well.

Escargots on a bed of mashed potatoes served with a garlic butter sauce, a tad salty but these were still quite tasty snails.

Now this was very tasty, minced lamb kebab koobideh seared just enough to cook the exterior leaving almost a tartare like raw finish within. Delicious!

The homemade veal sausages were also very good with a surprisingly very snappy casing which pretty much just burst forth with full flavor on every bite.

Crisp pita bread filled with seasoned minced lamb, I could imagine this as a nice snack or sandwich to go, the bread remained nice and crisp despite the juicy mince.

Here's a risoni with grilled chicken and shaved parmesan, this felt a little heavy but that could probably be due to the fact that we were already pretty full before this last savory dish arrived.

Zaytinya's rendition of the Turkish delight. Walnut ice cream with Skotidakis Farm goat’s milk yogurt mousse, honey geleé, orange-caramel sauce and caramelized pine nuts. I'm not a big fan of the typical Turkish delight confectionary (way too sweet for me) but this was a nice refreshing change.

And just to balance up the desserts, here's the Greek yogurt and apricots. Muscat soaked apricots, vanilla yogurt cream, apricot sorbet and pistachio powder. Not bad either.

The almost obligatory Turkish coffee ended the meal.

D

Jaleo Revisited, Washington DC

Whenever I'm in DC, I make a stop by my favorite Spanish tapas joint, Jaleo. I've reviewed this place before, so I skipped the upload of many repetitious pictures but here are some dishes that I tried for the first time.

A starter of smoked chorizo and pata negra (jamón ibérico de bellota apparently), cured meat of the black Iberian pig which was thankfully released for sale from Spain to the USA in July 2008 . Oily, smooth and salted just enough, this was good stuff.

Shrimp quick boiled and drizzled with a chili and garlic infused olive oil was up next. The seafoods really shine at Jaleo and I've never been disappointed with the freshness and quality of the seafood here.

Broiled octopus with baby potatoes; fresh seafood well cooked again with a nice sprinkle of paprika.

A great winter dish was the stew of tenderly braised veal cheek with a medley of mushrooms including fresh porcini! A lot more subtle in taste than the dried ones, this should still delight the porcini lovers out there.

We finished our meal with a pair of desserts including this rich vanilla flan with brandy whipped cream. Deceptively rich, it went well with our coffee.

The service as usual is impeccable and they were still just as hospitable and gracious towards us despite the fact that they were planning to close early that day due to the crazy blizzard. That's a photo from the window by the way.

D

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all my readers a splendid Christmas and an excellent New Year!

Oh we did get a bit of snow this year, but this is probably only just like summer in Minnesota haha.

D

Mike's Pastry, Boston, MA

So I do apologise for the lack of updates and the unprecedented hiatus but things have been crazily busy as of late and I stand guilty of blog neglect.


Almost right across the road from The Daily Catch is Mike's Pastry which does some pretty tasty cannoli. It's been getting more and more touristy over the years but I still try to pick up some sweets from them when I'm in the area.

One will be quite spoilt for selection here; the humble cannoli comes in a variety of flavors and fillings;

here's a selection of cookies and various macaroons which go pretty good with bitter espresso and

they have a variety of other sweets as well such as nougat, brownies and marzipan, so most people (who have at least a little of a sweet tooth) would be able to find something here.

So I unwrapped my little stash in my hotel and started with the massive cannoli; I went for a simple creamed ricotta filling dipped and drizzled with chocolate. Sweet, rich and creamy, the crisp shell was flavorsome without being too greasy, just how Mike makes them.

The brownie however, was only decent at best, I guess that was folly on my part to buy American desserts from an Italian pastry shop.

At least the ending was good with this giant profiterole, the mixture of choux pastry filled with fresh cream (not too sweet) and pretty much drowned in rich chocolate sure was tasty.

D

Littlefield Ranch Premium Texas Steaks

Those who have been somewhat following this blog over the last three years would know that I tend to veer towards a more carnivorous appetite. Steaks, good quality steaks have a always a special place in my heart and I was recommended the Littlefield Ranch from a friend of mine. Apparently, they provide premium Texas steaks shipped across the USA. Being quite an avid online shopper myself, I thought, "Why not? Let's try some online steaks". The package arrived within the delivery date and was packed quiet nicely.

Within the first outer box was a smaller one packed within styrofoam walls and dry ice.

Despite having arrived on an afternoon on a rather warm day (after a 2 day transit mind you), the steaks and dry ice were all still very nicely frozen. So far, everything was pretty good, they even provided me with a little stick which measured the doneness of the steak, however, that was broken on arrival but no biggie for me really.

The packaging was good but I'm no sucker for pretty packaging. The proof of their product lies simply in only one thing; their steak. After thawing one of the fillet mignons for 24hours in the fridge and letting it rest out for a bit more to obtain room temperature, I rubbed on a bit of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and sealed off the edges in high heat on a cast iron skillet. I then threw the rest of it into my oven to roast on high (450degF). Took it out once it was medium rare, and let it sit for about a minute before putting my blade to it.

Ooh, this was so tender that my steak knife pretty much just glided through it. Normally I'm not a fan of fillet mignon but this was the cut my friend recommended and it was indeed very good. Succulent and juicy despite being frozen; this tasted extremely fresh. This was good online steak, now I'm keen on trying the other cuts; especially the ribeye which looked pretty nicely marbled on their website.

D

The Daily Catch, Boston, MA

The Daily Catch is definitely one place I would recommend to anyone who is visting Boston. Down in Little Italy, nestled amongst a huge bevy of Italian restaurants is this little eatery on 323 Hanover St (617 523-8567).

The menu is simply just written on the chalk board and everything is freshly bought. So the menu is not extensive, but the quality is pretty damn good.

Fresh tender calamari, encased in a light crisp batter. A sprinkle of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon. An excellent appetizer.

This is a big favourite of mine. Squid ink puttanesca, the pasta was done perfectly al dente. I don't really mind the story behind the name of the pasta, if that indeed is the oldest profession in the world then politics would be a close second and the two are not always mutually exclusive. The anchovies and olives in the sauce were so tasty and fragrant; I felt almost like I should have ordered a main serve instead of the entree because this was just so delicious.

For our finale, we had a huge platter of fresh seafood marinara spaghetti. Two whole lobsters, tons of sweet fresh clams and mussels cooked in a tasty white wine marinara broth. This dish alone epitomizes what The Daily Catch is all about.

A refreshing light white to accompany this excellent meal.

D

Happy Belated Birthday DBS

Three years on... and still dancing.

Here's a picture from just round the corner from my home in Perth... where it all started.

D