Why do we love Italian food so? Two cookbooks give us the answer

Everyone seems to love Italian food. Even people who don't consider themselves foodies will have eaten pizza and their store cupboards will contain the likes of pasta and tinned tomatoes. This is a cuisine that has won over the taste buds of the world...

Perhaps this is why there is a constant stream of Italian cookbooks on the market and it might also be why two of them arrived in my postbox recently (one courtesy of Quadrille Publishing and the other a prize in a competition run by the very lovely Irish Food Bloggers' Association).

 Neither could be classed as a typical cookbook. The first - The Real Flavour of Tuscany - is very unusual. Its subtitle - Portraits & Recipes from 25 of Tuscany's Culinary Artisans - already gives you a hint that it is far more than a collection of recipes 

Instead, it gives an insight into the cooking culture of this region through the eyes of some of its most celebrated food producers.

There's chef Gianluca Paoli who rises at 6am to heat his 200-year-old cast iron stove so that it will be hot enough to cook his famous arista (or roast pork loin). Gianluca tells of how he became a cook and describes what he calls the 'traditional but extraordinary' food he aims to cook in his Florentine restaurant. He also shares some of these recipes, including the one for that fabulous pork.

There's beekeeper Roberto Ballini who recommends his chestnut honey to be served with pecorino cheese and figs.

There's 70-year-old shepherd Salvatore and his son Giovanni. Salvatore has tended his flock of sheep since the age of seven and now Giovanni makes all sorts of cheese from their milk. The pair share recipes for simple dishes such as braised red peppers.  

There are many others. Massimo Biagi grows 800 different types of chilli and tells us how to cook the classic spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and chilli flakes. There's a young farmer who grows olives, saffron and irises. He gives a recipe for saffron chicken, which is the only dish I have yet to cook from this book and which was tender, flavoursome and simple.

Each of the stories make you hunger to visit Tuscany and devour its food. Reading about beans being fed, one by one, into an empty potbellied bottle of wine, covered with water and flavoured with sage, garlic, salt, peppercorns and olive oil and then left to simmer in the dying embers of the fire overnight made me want to hop on the next plane to Italy. Seeing as that was impossible, the next best thing was being given some recipes to try in my own kitchen in Dingle. 

This book demonstrates just why Italian cuisine has become so popular. It's a peasant cuisine that is based on fine, simple ingredients that have been cooked by people with an awareness of tradition and a respect for quality. I have yet to finish reading about the different food producers in this book as I'm savouring their stories. And I have yet to cook anything apart from the saffron chicken. But that was so good that I'm looking forward to cooking much more.


The second book - Dunne and Crescenzi - is different again.
In 1999, a café and deli specialising in Italian food opened on South Frederick Street in Dublin and it has since become hugely popular with fans of Italian food and wine in the city. I have never visited it but I have heard tell of the quality of the food here: food that is local, seasonal and always of the highest quality and food that brings together the best of Irish with the best Italian products and the traditions of Italian cuisine.

The book is divided into chapters based on a traditional Italian menu. There are antipasti such as the irresistible sounding buffalo mozzarella, aubergine and prawn stack.
There are soups which range from a simple minestrone to a butternut squash, scallop and almond soup.  

 Salad options include such tempting treats as warm chicken salad with pancetta and peppers and orange and fennel salad. This section of the book also includes useful recipes for dressings, sauces and reductions.

Next up is the primi piatti or recipes for pastas and risottos and gnocchi. This book tells you how to make fresh pasta as well as how to create dishes like spinach and ricotta tortelli with parmagiano cream and balsamic reduction. There are simpler dishes too like penne with tomato, garlic and chilli. 

 Main courses range from pan-fried hake with cherry tomatoes to more impressive dishes like chicken roulade with mortadella (a type of salami), spinach and pine nuts.  

There are also side dishes – contorni – such as courgettes with leeks, raisins and pine nuts.  

Finally, there are desserts which include classics such as tiramisu and pannacotta and lesser known favourites such as ricotta and cherry tart or limoncello and peach cake.

The last few pages of the book are made up of a page on coffee and what the Italian terms for coffee mean; a page on wine; and nine pages of suggestions for wines to go with each of the different recipes.

With its easy to follow recipes, its full-page colour photographs, chatty introduction to each section and wine suggestions; this is a book that makes up for the fact that I've yet to visit this popular Dublin eatery. It makes me want to eat there the next time I'm in the city but in the meantime, I can practice recreating their food at home. 

 The Real Flavour of Tuscany by Lori De Mori and Jason Lowe and Dunne and Crescenzi by Eileen Dunne Crescenzi are cookbooks which show just why the world continues to have such a love affair with Italian food.

Addendum: last night, I made a leek and winter squash risotto from The Real Flavour of Tuscany and it was the perfect winter warming dish for a November's evening.

My name is Sharon and I believe in cake

I'm a life-long believer in the power of cake. A slice of cake, with or without cream or ice cream, always makes me feel better, no matter what the situation.

If you stop to think about it, you'll realise that there's a cake for every occasion. There are birthday cakes with their crowns of flickering candles. There are show-stopper cakes that serve as grand finales at special dinner parties. And there are cakes for days like today, days that are crisp with the onset of winter and that seem made for the indulgence of afternoon tea.

Cakes like this French apple cake which is bursting with seasonal flavour. Its comforting sweetness is balanced by the slight sourness of the Bramley apples and the gentle spice of the nutmeg. I can't think of a better cake to accompany a cup of tea on an afternoon in November.

  
Here's what you need to make this cake:

First layer:
450g/1lb Bramley apples or other cooking apples, peeled and cored
115g/4oz/1 cup self-raising flour
5ml/1tsp baking powder
115g caster sugar
90ml/6tbsp milk
50g/2oz/4 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
5ml/1tsp fresh nutmeg, grated





Second layer:
75g/3oz/6tbsp butter, at room temperature 
115g/4oz/a half cup caster sugar
5ml/1tsp vanilla essence 
1 egg

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160 C/325 F/Gas 3.

• Grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in round cake tin
  

• Weigh your ingredients and chop your apples into chunks. Lay them on the bottom of the lined tin.

• Put all of the remaining ingredients for the first layer of your cake into a bowl or food processor and beat to a smooth batter.
• Pour the batter over the apples in the tin and level the top with a spoon.

• Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top has become golden.

• Meanwhile, cream the ingredients for the second layer together.  
• Remove the cake from the oven and spoon over the creamed mixture.

• Return to the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

• Allow the cake to cool in the tin and when it's ready to eat, you'll have all you need for the perfect afternoon tea. A soft luscious layer of apple sponge topped with a crispy layer that has become deliciously chewy around the edges.
• Serve with cream, ice cream or even just a cup of tea. Sit back and savour what might just be a perfect moment.

This cake keeps well for a few days; its sponge layer becoming denser and more custard like while its top layer retains that sugary crunch. Yum!

Spuntino: a taste of London

There are times that I envy Londoners. I envy their shops, their shows, their museum exhibitions, their nightlife and most particularly their food.
In the past decade or so, London has become one of the foodie hot spots of the world. With its strong immigrant traditions and its growing respect for home-grown British food; the city now has so many tempting places to eat. From fish and chip shops, pie shops and noodle bars to tapas bars, sushi bars and Michelin-starred wonders; there’s something for every appetite in this city.

This is why I have a growing list of places I’d like to eat in London typed into my phone. So, whenever I find myself in the city, all I have to do is consult my list in order to choose where I’d like to have my lunch or dinner.

On a recent trip to London, I paid a visit to Spuntino. London-based bloggers had been talking about this place for months so I had to check it out for myself.

It’s in Soho and has such an unassuming exterior that if you didn’t know its exact address, you’d be very likely to just walk right past it. But don’t do this!

You may not spot it straightaway but the restaurant's name 'Spuntino' is scrawled on the bottom left-hand corner of the panel above the door. That's how low-key/wannabe cool this place actually is!

Spuntino has a no-bookings policy so you may have to wait for a while for a seat. Fortunately for us, it was a quiet time of day so we had plenty of seats to choose from.

The décor of the interior is interesting, with a Dustbowl-America-meets-hipster-London sort of feel. Most of the seating is at the bar, which is made to feel like an American diner, with some tables for more private dining at the back of the room. There are distressed tiles on the walls, low-hanging lights and staff with elaborate haircuts and tattoos.  

But I’m sure you mostly want to hear about the food. They’ve done away with the concept of starters and mains at Spuntino. Instead, it’s all about finger food, little plates of food that are designed to be mixed and matched – and shared, if at all possible.
With dishes ranging in price from £3 to £10 and most hovering around the £5 mark, it’s possible to taste quite a lot of the menu at just one sitting.

Which is exactly what we did but choosing what we wanted to eat wasn’t so easy. The menu here is a mixture of classic Americana, British comfort food and modern British cuisine. This means that you'll find yourself wavering between macaroni and cheese, egg and soldiers and a fennel, radicchio, hazelnut and truffle salad. What should you choose when everything sounds so tasty?

We were given a cup of chilli popcorn while we deliberated over our order. Served in an enamel cup (everything here is served in enamel dishes in keeping with the Depression-era theme), it was a nice touch but the popcorn was a little oily for my taste. That’s not to say that I didn’t eat it all though!

One thing was for sure. We had to try the dish that the restaurant has become famous for: its truffled egg toast. I’d heard so much about this thick slice of white bread, topped with melted cheese and truffle oil with a runny egg yolk in the middle that I had to have it.  

But, oh dear, I was every so slightly disappointed. The bread was a little stale, which made chewing it hard work and I found the whole dish a little too oily. Having already had oily popcorn, I began to worry that the entire meal was going to disappoint.

Thankfully, it didn’t. The pulled pork and pickled apple slider (a bite-sized burger) was a hit; its spiced meat contrasting nicely with the the fruit.  

The beetroot and anchovy salad served with a soft-boiled egg was the highlight of the entire meal. The earthy sweetness of the beetroot, the saltiness of the anchovy and the runny eggs made for a great combination and one I'll definitely have to try at home.

The softshell crab served with Tabasco aioli was another success. The crab had a deep smoky taste and a satisfying crunch that worked well with the spicy mayonnaise and the crisp fennel salad it was served with.

We also had purple sprouting broccoli served with romesco sauce. The kitchen fell down here again as a lot of the broccoli was barely cooked. In fact, it was nearly raw but the nutty romesco sauce made for a great accompaniment. I’d have eaten it on its own.

Finally, for dessert, we shared a brown sugar cheesecake served with drunken plums. I loved this. The deep complex sweetness of the brown sugar worked perfectly with the rich creaminess of cheesecake. The only thing that would have improved the dish would have been more booze in the plums. They would have benefited from a longer soaking in the brandy they tasted so faintly of.

My verdict on Spuntino? There were some misses but it was mostly a hit. It's definitely worth a visit if you want to soak up the atmosphere of a cool part of London and taste food that is trying to be different and is mostly great.
It's reasonably priced too. We had six dishes to share, two bottles of sparkling water and coffee for £43.

Spuntino. 61 Rupert Street, London, W1D 7PW.
Mon - Sat: 11am to midnight
Sunday: noon to 11pm

FoodCamp Kilkenny: a celebration of Irish food but some words of caution too

What is Irish food? What are the traditions of its past, the state of its present and what can we expect from its future?

These were among the many questions asked at FoodCamp, an event held as part of the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival last Friday. This event brought together food producers, retailers, food writers, bloggers, food organisations such as Bórd Bia and lots of other people with an interest in food - asking them all to take a long and hard look at Irish food today.

Various people had volunteered to give talks throughout the day and I attended talks by:
1. Colin Jephson of Ardkeen Foodstore and John McCarthy of Trail Kilkenny Food. They spoke about the importance of retailers supporting local producers and how both sectors can best benefit from each other. As I'm currently trying to decide how I should move my cupcake business forward, this was of great interest to me.

2. William Despard of the Bretzel Bakery in Dublin's Portobello spoke of his passion for 'real bread'. His bakery has been producing high-quality breads in its brick-lined ovens since 1870 and he can't understand why so many Irish people choose to eat mass-produced slice pan instead. He demonstrated the strength of his opposition to such bread by pucking sliced pan across the room with a hurley!

William demonstrates the superior quality of his breads. This was before he hit the sliced pan!


3. Next up was my first encounter with the Dungarvan Brewing Company. I had heard so much about their beers but had never tasted them. A cheese and beer tasting session sounded like just the thing to remedy that situation! 
Claire Dalton introduced the company and told us a little about its history while Helen Finnegan from Knockdrinna Cheese cut up slices of her washed rind goat's cheese for us to try.
"The French peasant tradition might have been to eat wine and cheese together," said Claire. "Here in Ireland, we had no wine but we did have beer and it tastes just as good with cheese as wine does."
And so it did. The Copper Coast red ale cut through the creaminess of the cheese and made for a great match. I'm definitely going to be trying both again.


4. Journalist Suzanne Campbell spoke on the topic 'What's Ireland Eating?'. This was a thought-provoking talk that focussed on how our choices as consumers affect Irish food producers and our health in the long term. There is a price to pay for cheap food and it's important that we all consider just what that price is and who has to pay it.

Suzanne being very serious indeed.

Then, we broke for lunch and what a lunch it was. Everyone had brought something to share and four tables groaned with the different offerings. Pies, smoked trout, cheese, salads, cakes, cookies, brownies... There was so much to choose from that people went back for seconds, thirds and more.

Bellies full, it was time for more talks. The Irish Food Bloggers' Association met to discuss plans for its future. Having been established at last year's FoodCamp, Kristen and Caroline were keen to hear people's suggestions as to how it could go forward. Basically, the consensus was that people were delighted with all they had done to date and wanted more of the same. More events and perhaps even an Irish Bloggers' Conference in 2012 - I'll keep you posted!


Finally, it was time for the Food Fight. Chaired by John McKenna of the Bridgestone Guide, two teams debated whether traditional Irish cuisine was an embarrassment or an embarrasment of riches.
 

The speakers included, from left to right: Seamus Sheridan of Sheridan Cheesemongers; Catherine Cleary, food writer with The Irish Times; Birgitta Curtin of the Burren Smokehouse; John McKenna; Coleman Andrews, journalist and food writer par extraordinaire; Suzanne Campbell; and Regina Sexton, food historian and food writer.


The points they made were wide ranging, challenging and interesting. They recognised the problems of the past and how our attitude to and appreciation of food has been affected by British colonisation, the Great Famine and the austerity preached by the Catholic Church. (It's not very holy to enjoy one's dinner. It's much better for your soul to subsist on black tea and toast, was the main message here.)



They discussed the changes that are happening now; how we are realising that we have a virtually pristine environment producing world-class food such as lobster, seaweed, beef and dairy. We'd already tasted some of these foods during the day and chatted to the passionate people producing them and the retailers who are promoting them so we didn't need much convincing of this.
Catherine Cleary discussed the chefs who are building on this sense of appreciation of what's native and good. Her eyes lit up as she described a creamed corn soup cooked by Ross Lewis and a meal eaten in Aniar in Galway.


The overall consensus was that we're at a good place now. More of us recognise the value of what we've got and want to celebrate it. But there were warning voices too. There was Alfie McCaffrey of OldFarm Pork who spoke about the dangers of genetically-modified food and how Irish farmers should take a stand against it. Suzanne Campbell warned of the lax regulations in labelling and retail and how that works against a quality product. Both emphasised that while we have food to celebrate, we need to do more to protect it.


It was a lady (whose name I didn't catch but who was from Bórd Bia, I think) that made one of the most salient points of all. They conducted a survey asking people unfamiliar with Irish food which cuisine they would most associate it with. The majority chose Japanese sushi because they considered Irish food to be pure, chemical free food of the highest quality.


We need to do our best to keep it that way. 

Scotland may have some lessons to teach Ireland about food

Sometimes, you find a place that chimes with everything you think, feel and believe about food. A place that focuses on simple things such as quality and flavour, generosity and community. A place like Loch Fyne Oyster Bar.

"Oh, I have to bring you here," my boyfriend said when he saw Loch Fyne come up on the sat nav. "My mother used to love it."

Loch Fyne Oyster Bar grew from what was essentially a stall by the lake. Its setting is stunning (excuse the cars above but the fact that I couldn't get a picture without cars shows how popular this place is).

It's still quite a modest building, as you can see from the pictures above but when you get inside, you can't help but be impressed.

The first thing you see is a range of seafood. This is appropriate as Loch Fyne was established 32 years ago with the idea of growing oysters in the clear waters of the lake. This is still its main focus but it has grown to include a cluster of businesses, all of which focus on offering great food. 

Seafood and fish is still at the heart of Loch Fyne and there is quite a variety on offer; all locally and sustainably sourced. This is a food business that takes such concepts seriously. It works closely with the Marine Conservation Society and is committed to its environment - something that is highlighted throughout the store.

Its staff are wonderful too. We didn't know what fish to buy and the staff offered taster samples of a variety of different ones before we made our final decision. Perhaps their generosity has to do with the fact that for the past eight years, the Loch Fyne company has been run by its employees. Its team of 140-odd staff now have a say in the future of the business and it's in everyone's interest to keep the customers happy.

As well as the seafood and fish, the shop stocks a selection of other top-quality Scottish produce too. There's shortbread, honey, muesli, cereals, tablet (a type of Scottish confectionery) and so much more.

And that's not all. There's also an adjoining café, serving simply cooked food using the quality ingredients on offer in the shop. Mussels, smoked rainbow trout, whole roasted seabream, beef casserole and venison were some of the dishes on offer when I was there.

I'd love to see more places like this in Ireland. Places where people can buy food directly from those involved in producing it. Places where  producers can serve their food with pride. I know we've got farmers' markets where customers engage with food producers and get to ask them questions but we don't have enough farm shops or places like Loch Fyne .

Or maybe we have some that I'm not aware of. Do you know of any? If so, post a comment to let me know. I'd love to visit them.

Ditch the deep-fried Mars Bars the next time you're in Edinburgh. Eat here instead.

I just knew it had to be true. There had to be more to Scottish food than haggis, fish and chips and deep-fried Mars bars. On my recent trip to the country, I decided to try to prove my theory.

My first stop was Edinburgh, where I had an awful lot to eat. I've already written about the Chinese, Indian and Spanish food I had in my previous post but I haven't told you about the higher end of dining we also enjoyed.  So, here goes...

We stayed in 21212 while we were in Edinburgh and had dinner there on the first night. This is a Michelin-starred restaurant with four bedrooms upstairs. The kitchen is run by Paul Kitching, whose playful approach to food is causing quite a stir in the city.

The restaurant is small, seating a maximum of 38, but cosy and sumptuously decorated. The open kitchen looks out onto the dining area you can see above so you can watch the chefs as they assemble your dishes.

21212 takes its name from the layout of the menu, which offers a choice of two starters, one soup, two main courses, one cheese course and two desserts. Because there were two of us, we decided to taste everything.

(I must apologise before I continue. I don't have any pictures of the food. We had driven all the way from Dingle to Edinburgh that day (a distance Google tells me is 496 miles) and when I was greeted with champagne, all thoughts of being a good blogger went out the window. It was only when I woke up in the morning - feeling slightly groggy from champagne - that I thought 'darn it! Why didn't I take any pictures of that wonderful food?'.)

Because it was good. Really good.

Each of the dishes was a complex creation involving lots of flavours dancing around a central ingredient. Take the trout tart for example. A delicate baked trout fillet in a cheese and lemon glazed tart served with white asparagus, girolles mushrooms, cucumber, white and brown crabmeat, chilli, a thyme and onion cream sauce and Marie Rose mayonnaise.
It sounds like overkill, doesn't it? And yet it wasn't. The trout was allowed to be the star of the show while the other ingredients played supporting roles. This was clever cooking that only a talented professional could achieve.

Other dishes included a chicken, mushroom and leek pie (no ordinary pie, mind you, but one served with the likes of kohlrabi and piccalilli mayonnaise, morel and pimento squares and smoked bacon); smoked haddock baked in saffron and pink peppercorns and served with scallops, chickpeas and hazelnuts; beef fillet served with root vegetables, tarragon butter and a pea and mint purée; excellent cheeses; and the most imaginative desserts.

How does a Mars Bar, popcorn and Scottish shortbread brulée served with a fresh raspberry coulis, toffee, chocolate, caramel and oatmeal sound? It sounded odd to me but it made sense in the mouth, the flavours mingling in surprising ways and the sharp berries cutting through the sweetness. 

There were so many highlights to this meal but I have to mention the cheeseboard which featured 11 types of cheeses from all over Britain and the continent, everyone one served at a perfect stage of ripeness; and the cheeky sommelier. He was from France but maintained he had been excommunicated because of his passion for New World wines. He helped us choose wines to complement our food with real enthusiasm and no pretension whatsoever.

My verdict on 21212? This is a restaurant that takes top-quality Scottish ingredients and combines them using an imaginative approach and with an emphasis on strong, gutsy flavours.

Dinner here costs £67 per person for five courses, excluding drinks.

The following day, we had lunch at 12 Picardy Place, where chef Mark Greenaway opened a restaurant in February.

This small, intimate restaurant is housed in one of Edinburgh's grand Georgian buildings. Its décor is minimalist yet plush and the food served here is seasonal, local and always cooked with passion.

We started with an amuse bouche of hazelnuts - a layer of salty broth topped with a creamy hazelnut mousse, crunchy hazelnuts and a slick of hazelnut oil. The combination of salty, creamy and nutty flavours and smooth and crunchy textures made for a good start to the meal.

My starter was a summer pea velouté - a soup that was the essence of pea served with a pea raviollo, chanterelles mushrooms, crisp pancetta and summer truffle. The sweetness of the peas contrasted with the earthiness of the mushrooms and truffles and the saltiness of the pancetta was a delight.

But my boyfriend definitely chose the more exciting starter. The Loch Fyne Crab 'Cannelloni' has become Mark Greenaway's signature dish:

The dish on top contains the 'cannelloni' which is crab meat wrapped in a herb butter and served with beetroot mayonnaise and baby coriander. Underneath is a dish of smoked cauliflower custard, lemon 'pearls' (bursting with citrus flavour) and more beetroot mayonnaise. 
When you lift the top dish off the bottom, oaky smoke wafts out from the bowl underneath, adding another level to the dish.

For mains, I had pan-roasted hake served with a lobster tortellini, fennel and dill purée, pumpkin, radishes, a mash of purple potatoes and a ginger and spring onion broth.

The hake was perfectly cooked with a crisp skin and flaky flesh. The lobster lent a touch of luxury and the broth an unexpected flavour of the East.

My boyfriend had the 11-hour roasted belly of pork - a spiced fillet served with pomme purée, savoy cabbage and toffee apple jus. It was a simple dish; spicy and sweet, crispy and smooth and with lots of strong flavours.

For dessert, I had a chocolate fondant and my boyfriend had Mark's Eton Mess. Unfortunately, they didn't quite live up to the high standards of the rest of the meal. Although I like my chocolate bitter, I found my fondant lacking in sweetness. But the other elements of the dish - the vanilla tuile, white chocolate mousse, orange 'caviar' and tonka bean ice cream - helped make up for this.

Mark's deconstructed Eton Mess was interesting and had lots of contrasting sweet and tart flavours but I didn't think the meringue 'shards' were an improvement on ordinary meringue. I like the chewy texture of meringue and the way it contrasts with the soft berries and luscious cream in a regular Eton Mess
 

Overall though, I would recommend a visit to Mark Greenaway's restaurant at 12 Picardy Place. He's an ambitious chef with a daring approach to food and flavour.

Our three-course lunch with sparkling water cost £70. There is a £20 lunch menu for those seeking better value.

So, if ever you're in Edinburgh, don't feel you have to gorge on haggis and deep-fried confectionary. Discover just how much more this is to Scottish food by visiting 21212 and Restaurant Mark Greenaway.

21212,
3 Royal Terrace
Edinburgh, Midlothian EH7 5AB

Restaurant Mark Greenaway,
12 Picardy Place, Edinburgh EH1 3JT

I'm not dead. I've just been recuperating (and eating!)

Don't worry. I haven't died from hyperventilation!
There are several reasons why I haven't posted anything here for the past two weeks and none of them has to do with my premature death as a result of trying to bake too much for the Dingle Food Festival!

Firstly, I had to spend some time recuperating. I'd worked myself ridiculously hard (59 hours over four days) and ended up a gibbering wreck. Thankfully, I'm over that now.

Despite my gibbering, I have to say I enjoyed the food festival this year. There was such a great atmosphere on the streets of Dingle as people wandered through the town, sampling little taster plates of local foods as they went. The two food markets were exceptionally busy and I loved meeting lots of Twitter friends and fellow food bloggers at my stall. I grabbed every opportunity to chat but unfortunately, I was so busy that there wasn't time to have a chinwag with everyone. Nor was there any time for me to take any photos of all that was happening around me but thankfully, Aoife of I Can Has Cook has a great write up here.

My second reason for not updating is that I've been away. I got a chance to go to Scotland for work and as my boyfriend has a lot of family in England, we decided to combine it with paying a visit to them. So, we climbed into the car at 6am on a Tuesday morning, drove to Larne just north of Belfast, took the ferry to Cairnryan in Scotland and arrived in Edinburgh just shortly before dinnertime. We spent three days in that wonderful city (where I once spent a happy summer as a student), then travelled north to Oban and the island of Mull and generally mooched and ate our way around the Highlands. 

Isn't Scotland pretty?

We then travelled south to Hereford (with a pitstop to see the Angel of the North just outside Newcastle, which is totally worth a visit), followed by two days in London and another day in Gloucester. Finally, we arrived back in Dingle 12 days later, having travelled more than 2,000 miles and had an absolutely great time.

We ate lots of good food while we were away. I've got so much to tell you about eating in Edinburgh - having eaten in the fabulous 21212 and No. 12 Picardy Place - but I'm going to start my series of holiday posts by sharing some tips about three other great restaurants in that city.

Dingle may have a strong (and growing) food culture, as the success of its annual food festival attests. But the one thing I miss about not living in a city is the quality of Chinese, Indian, Japanese and other foreign cuisines. It’s something we just don’t have and I often wish we did. So, when I go to the city, I want to sample some of those foods – as well as foods that typify that city too.

I went to three places in Edinburgh: the Chinese Karen’s Unicorn, the Indian Mother India and the tapas bar Café Andaluz – all of which have lots to recommend them. (My apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - I only had my phone with which to take them.) 

Karen’s Unicorn was recommended by Mark Greenaway, the chef at No 12 Picardy Place.  We’d been impressed by the modern Scottish food he cooked for us and had to follow his advice as a result.  The restaurant looks enticing from the outside, its blue twinkling brightly in a sedate Edinburgh square. 

We were instantly greeted by the staff and what wonderful staff they were. I don't know if I've ever met any friendlier or kinder. We were dithering over our choices when the lovely Danny said that if we chose something we were unhappy with or didn't really like, we could always send it back.

“It’s important to us that our customers are happy,” he said. Wouldn’t it be great if all restaurants had that policy?

We had dim sum, steamed pork buns, war tip dumplings, battered ginger monkfish, crispy beef and a side dish of stir-fried vegetables. My favourites were the pork buns and the monkfish. The buns were soft and fluffy, steamy, slightly sweet and filled with a contrastingly spicy meat filling. 

The monkfish was a lovely Chinese take on the Scottish classic of battered fish - the batter was crisp, the fish perfectly cooked and the spicing gave the dish a light, fresh taste. Yum! 

Our meal, which was more than enough to feed two people and included four beers and one dessert of lychees, cost £50 - good value, don't you think?

Café Andaluz is an attempt to recreate the fiesta of Spain in Scotland. It's fabulously decorated with tiles, Moorish lamps and colourful fabrics and its menu is a varied range of classic Spanish tapas as well as some dishes - such as the beef carpaccio with wasabi and pickled ginger in a spicy dressing - that fuse Spanish cooking with other cuisines. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos but I did enjoy my meal here. I had aubergine stuffed with herbed couscous and topped with melted manchego cheese, which was a dish of simple, strong flavours, and battered lime-scented prawns served with a lime aioli. This was fresh, crispy and bursting with citrus flavour.  

Richard (I don't know if I've told you that that's my boyfriend's name!) had the beef carpaccio, which combined its strong flavours in a brave way and featured beef of a very high quality, as well as sea bass served in a citrus mango dressing, which was light and zingy.

The atmosphere here was buzzing. We drank delicious beers. And it cost us £20 each. 

On another day, we had lunch at Mother India, one of Edinburgh's best-loved Indian restaurants. Everyone who works here is Indian. There are Indian film posters on the walls and the menu specialises in tapas-sized plates of Indian food, which means that you can mix and match different dishes. 

We had aloo gobi with green beans, chicken korma, machi massala (a spiced fish dish), boiled rice, raita, coriander chutney and aloo paratha (Indian flat bread stuffed with potato) and it was all good. All of these dishes were simply and excellently spiced and tasted like something the best kind of Indian mamma would make - wholesome, hearty, homely food. The bill, which also included sparkling water for two, came to less than £25.

I would recommend all of these as places to eat in Edinburgh, particularly as places to eat with large groups of friends.

I'd also love to know where your favourite Indian, Spanish or Chinese restaurants are. After all, who knows when I'll next be in your city, craving some foreign foods.

Karen's Unicorn, 8 Abercromby Place, New Town, Edinburgh EH3 6LB

Café Andaluz, 77 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3EE

Mother India, 3-5 Infirmary Street Edinburgh EH1 1LT