So, last night's dinner was meant to be steak and salad, but as our gal was at a sleepover at her grandparents with her cousins we had to take advantage of this and get out. So we leafed through our Entertainment Book and discovered that we'd yet to use our 'buy one main meal get one free' at our favourite Newcastle restaurant Bistro Tartine.For once both our tummys spoke with the same mind. Husband and I both ordered the pork belly with a 'charcuterie' sauce {which translates as meat sauce - damned delicious was what it was} and then we were both sent into raptures by the chocolate fondant for pudding. Real chocolate fondant that oozed out when the spoon broke through - oooooh yeah.
I have expectations for my food. Pork belly needs crispy crackling and soft, deliciously unctuous flesh below. Mmmmm. If it doesn't have that, it falls into the disappointing category. Same with creme brulee - if I can't crack the top with the back of my spoon before diving below for a creamy bite of vanilla-bean flecked custard then what's the point? I've seen many a cook fail on MasterChef with a chocolate fondant - always too dry, sometimes too gooey - which is why it astounds me that I made perfect fondants on my only attempt.
That said, I can't go past pork belly on a menu - unless duck confit is there - then I'll see which pulls me more strongly. Alternately, I will never order chicken on a menu. I know! I am cooking more with chicken these days, but for me, it's always the less interesting option. I'll go for pork, duck, lamb, steak or seafood over chicken. And if there's something I haven't tried I'll give that a crack.
What are your benchmarks or expectations for food and are there some items on a menu that you can't possibly pass up?
I am a sucker for nachos, or mussels, or salt and pepper squid, or (depending where we are) calamari and chips. One thing which I rarely find at restatuarants but adore are hor devours plates/antiplasto platters but not made up of mostly meat!
ReplyDeleteDessert - i love coffee gelato
Anything cooked by someone else is a huge treat!!
ReplyDeleteI too can not go past pork belly on a menu. The first time I ever had it, it was perfection and all the others since have unfortunately been measured up against that one rapturous experience! I'm always a little suspicious if it is too big...that makes me think they're compensating for something... I need the fat proprly rendered and crispy and the underneath cooked well. A good fruity sauce (and lots of it) is also a must for me!
ReplyDeleteGosh, who thought you could have so much to say about pork belly!
xx
Well as I just wrote on my blog, I'm the worst person to choose from a menu. In saying that, I'm like you, if there's duck on the menu - esp duck confit - I must order it.
ReplyDeleteDessert is always, always chocolate.
You had me at unctuous. I keep coming back to this image just to get me through my working day. I will ALWAYS order the pork if it's on the menu then usually fish or seafood as I don't cook that enough. I always try things that don't usually hit our table (except of course for my old love la porchetta).
ReplyDeleteClarissa, I'm obsessed with the sound of mussels cooking so if there's a table near the kitchen, I'll order mussels.
ReplyDeleteRianna - I totally agree!
Louise, an ode to pork belly should be long, and loving. Mmmmm.
Corinne, duck is just so perfect. So thrilled I'm getting my french confit duck tomorrow night. YUM!
And Beth, c'mon, I had you before unctuous - I had you at that image!
Pork, particularly the belly, gets me every time. How good is the one at Bistro Tartine! That being said I've had two instances (one in Byron Bay and another restaurant in Newy) where it was cooked so poorly (fat not rendered, skin not crunchy all over) that I couldn't eat it and felt sick and I may have cried at the lost opportunity. Or it could have been that I kept eating it anyway because it's against my religion to waste good pork until it got to the point that I was going to be sick so that I get angry that anyone makes me feel this way about pork, that I had to stop. These establishments have been blacklisted FOREVER. Duck is my second favourite, especially at winter. I like both pork and duck because it allows me to enjoy pinot noir on a whole other level than when I drink it in front of the telly watching Lost. But I always cast my eye over the fish on offer. If it's got some tasty accompaniments then I'll go in that direction mostly because I don't eat a lot of fish at home. And there's always room for panacotta.
ReplyDeleteI've now eaten dinner, and yet, I keep finding myself back here looking at this picture. Just another little look. You know? Would it be so wrong if I made it my desktop wallpaper? Honestly, I think I may have a pork 'problem'.
ReplyDeleteNow, Siobhan, would it be a hotel in The Junction where you had said poor pork belly? Because I may have experience the exact same meal. Flaccid skin, fat layers etc. So sad, but yes, ate it all.
ReplyDeleteBeth, this would make an ideal desktop image.
I'm with Rianna - if someone else makes it, I'm front and centre. That said, your meal sounded amazing. And made my chicken and mushroom noodle thingy pale into insignicance.
ReplyDeleteOh yummy, I think I need to come to Newcastle real soon.
ReplyDeleteWhen we do go out, which isn't very often at all these days, I can't go past a duck confit either! Talulah at the Junction have a duck confit with taglitelle pasta.
ReplyDeleteLifeInAPinkFibro, it's always better when you don't cook - or more importantly clean up afterwards!
ReplyDeleteKakka- please do!
Mummalu we're big Talulah fans, although last time I went the duck was on mushroom risotto. Must visit again soon! So lovely to see another Newcastle blogger stopping by x
My pork belly misery was not at The Junction (though I think I know where you might mean), but at a place on the water named after the direction of wind. I like being cryptic.
ReplyDeleteHeaven, dinner and dessert, both sound like heaven!
ReplyDelete