eating out

I feel as if the last few weeks was a holiday as I ate out often with a friend from Japan over here... We went to a few new places...

First... Tom's kitchen at Somerset house. We had salmon with creme fraiche as a starter and fish pie, chicken schnitzel and venison casserole. Oh my! the carrot and parsnip mash that came with casserole was fantastic! It was so sweet. I wonder parsnip alone can make it so sweet...? Maybe sweet potato was in it too? I will try making it myself and find out. Also the fish pie was so good, had herb (maybe lemon thyme?) in the mash. I really love such little attentions to details. I must say this dinner was one of the bests so far.

Next, Rochelle canteen. This is one of the places I've had on my wishing list for so long. The reason I couldn't make it for so long even though they are very local is just because of their opening times. They are open only for breakfast and lunch weekdays. We had sea bass and beetroot salad. The seasoning was very simple but just right to enhance the fresh ingredients. I would love to go back again. 

Before coming to London 11 years ago, the impression of UK was 'fish and chips' and 'mash and gravy' and I didn't expect any good food here. It is not so true and changing a lot, and I enjoy exploring the food culture here. Of course you can't still beat Japan where everything is so yummy but we can no longer say that the food in England is terrible. We can still find some nice ones!

先週まで外食が続きました。日本から来た友人の歓迎会から始まり、ギャラリーなどのオープニングでほぼ毎日のようにお酒も続き、普段ほとんど飲酒も外食もしない私の身体はびっくりしたのか、まる一日食事をしたくないと思う日を、人生初めて経験しました。

しかしながら、自分のバリエーションからでは想像できない料理を食べたときの幸せはやはり代え難いものがあります。料理はひどい！と言われたイギリスですが、今は多国籍料理の影響やシェフの努力もあって、料理法も食材もかなり多彩です。しかし、日本のように何を食べてもおいしい！というわけにはいかず、それなりの調査と出費が必要なのが、まだまだ残念なところです。

今回はレストラン2つを新たに開拓しました。Tom's kitchenとRochelle Canteenです。どちらもすごくおいしかったです。鹿肉のキャセロールについてきたマッシュがすごくおいしかったので、そのうち、自分で作ってみたいと思います。