Smokehouse Deli - a great way to start the weekend!

With two small children, breakfast is by far the easiest meal for us to eat out. By the time any restaurant opens, we have already been up for hours and usually managed to have enough playing time for the boys to sit happily for an hour or two.

Smokehouse Deli came highly recommended and did not disappoint! We have been to both branches in Benguluru for breakfast. The menus were very similar, if not identical, but both breakfasts were very tasty!


We ordered tomato, garlic, caper and olive fried skillet eggs, which were so fantastic that we ordered them at both visits! The eggs were perfectly cooked and bursting with flavour.





Next up was sausage and bacon scrambled eggs. The eggs were slightly more cooked than we would have liked and needed rather more sausage and bacon. 





The poached eggs benedict were delicious, although not served with a traditional english muffin or with bacon! 







The pancakes were sweet and fluffy, with lots of maple syrup, a huge hit with the boys, both little and big!

The highlight of the meal, without doubt, were the sides! Delicious crispy hash browns (order at least a couple of portions),  spicy baked beans and generous portion of streaky bacon!

The coffee was fantastic, both regular and decaffeinated, and the smoothies were a slightly healthier component to our meal. 

The desserts at the counter looked delicious and we will definitely be trying them on our next visit. 

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Icing

It is suddenly November and our yearly Christmas movie marathon has already started thanks to the Hallmark Channel! Although the weather can hardly be called cold in Bangalore, I have started moving towards the traditional winter flavours that I know and love. This cake came up in my Bloglovin feed and I knew I had to make it. Some slight adjustments to reduce the amount of sugar and the results were delicious, the perfect cake for a Sunday afternoon movie marathon.

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese icing

slightly adapted from Creme de la Crumb

Ingredients

Cake:

• 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups atta (whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1cup pumpkin puree (1 pumpkin tossed in olive oil and cinnamon and roasted until soft)
• 3/4 cup oil

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 3 tablespoons cream cheese (softened) 
• 3 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar

preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

TO MAKE THE CAKE

1. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl.

2. Cream the sugar and eggs until fluffy. Then add vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix until well combined. 

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

4. Still gently until just combined. 

5. Pour carefully into a greased loaf tin. 

6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

7. Allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack. 

TO MAKE THE ICING

1. In a mixer, whisk the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. 

2. Add the vanilla, milk and powdered sugar and mix on low until combined

3. Whisk for an additional 5 minutes. 

4. Ice the cake when cool. 

Store in an airtight container for up to four days, if it lasts that long!

Finding The Perfect Bangalore Burger - Part 1: Hard Rock Cafe

When we lived in London, beef burgers were often on our weekly menu and a meal of choice when we were out. Our absolute favourite restaurant was Hawksmoor; their burger is one we have tried to replicate ourselves with some success, and is our benchmark for burgers!

Since moving to Bangalore, we have not found it particularly easy to buy beef so a good burger restaurant has been high on our priority list! So part one, Hard Rock Cafe...



Hard Rock Cafe came recommended by friends and colleagues and had some pretty good reviews online. We went on a Friday lunchtime in the Diwali holidays which meant that the restaurant was practically empty. This was great as we had our two young children with us. The building was gorgeous: high ceilings, exposed brick, great artefacts and pictures, and good music.




We ordered potato skins and onion rings to start. The potato skins were undercooked and lacking in flavour. They were a real disappointment after we had sampled the same dish at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baku and loved it. The onion rings were very crispy and came with two good dips.

For mains, we had chicken burger and chips for our boys, and the bbq bacon cheese burger and the original legendary burger for us with a side of ceasar salad. The boys burger was pretty uninteresting and the chips were undercooked. It was all thrown in a bowl which was a again a disappointment after the food was so carefully presented for them in Baku. Our burgers were ok. The meat was juicy and still pink in the middle but lacked seasoning and flavour. The buns were toasted but both dishes were lacking anything that made them particularly memorable. 

The service was awful considering that the place was empty. There were lots of staff about but they seemed rather more interested in talking to each other and practising their bottle cocktail tricks. I am not sure what it would be like at a busier time.

All in all, we won't be going back. There are too many really good restaurants in the area to make this worth a repeat visit!

Imereti - Off Fountain Square

Imeretti is again, one of those places, that we have been to a couple of times but have never reviewed. So when we went for lunch this week we decided to write a quick review.

Patisserie Taste Test - Coffee To Go

I noticed the other day a little coffee shop that appeared on the main street just up from fountain square near the Economic University. When walking past today, suffering from lack of breakfast, we stopped for a coffee and croissant. Taste test it is then...

Chinar - Baku

This is now our fourth time at Chinar so we thought we better blog about it. We usually try and get there for lunch as it is very quiet and they do a relatively inexpensive business lunch menu.

Afternoon Tea at the Four Seasons - Old City

Between being pregnant and not wanting to even talk about food and looking after a demanding tiny person, it has been rather a long time since I posted on our blog, but afternoon tea seemed like reason enough to start writing again! It is the Gurban Bayram holiday here in Baku and what better way to start our week off than by having a girly afternoon with high tea at the Four Seasons. 

We had booked a table and pre-ordered our high tea - the only thing we needed to choose was the tea that we would drink with our meal. We opted for fresh mint tea from a rather extensive tea menu. It was a rather pleasant surprise when three tiers of plates were delivered to our table. The menu was not the same as the one online and I was rather disappointed not to have a macaroon to try, but all the same I was looking forward to trying the selection in front of me. 

First up were the sandwiches. The tomato and pesto melba toast was delicious, the jelly-like tomato was sweet and perfectly balanced with the tangy pesto hidden in the fresh cherry tomato. Next up was the salmon blini which was tasty. 

The actual sandwiches were disappointing. They had obviously been made a long time before they arrived at our table, the bread was stale and the edges were hard. The egg mayonnaise sandwich was nothing special and the other one, well I am not sure what the filling was, but none of us finished it. 

Lazy Pizza Recipe

It's taken what feels like an age to get my pizza dough recipe right. I have investigated my way through books, magazines and the internet, exploring all night long doughs, beer doughs (courtesy of Birra Moretti), and 5 minute doughs made with yoghurt. However, I finally found a recipe that works through a blog that Maria reads, and have adapted it slightly for myself. 

Patisserie Taste Test - Entree

Entree is the new kid on the block in Baku. The chain has moved over from Tbilisi, Georgia and has opened three cafe's at once. I popped into the one closest where I live to see what all the fuss is about. Time for another patisserie taste test!

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

It doesn't matter how many bananas I manage to eat during the week, at the weekend there always seem to be a few bananas left in the fruit bowl. I have tried experimenting with banana bread but no matter how hard I try, I am always left with a stodgy heavy loaf that is nothing like the amazing banana cake that I visualised in my head.

This week, the little penguin had his first taste of bananas and I have to say he was not a huge fan. Anyway we were left with rather a lot of quickly ripening bananas that were well past the way I like to eat them, so I decided to try yet another banana cake recipe. This one was adapted from the hummingbird bakery cookbook. I have fond memories of our visits to the hummingbird bakery on Portobello Road and I hoped that this recipe would be the answer to my banana cake woes.

They were great! The bananas developed an almost caramelly flavour while they were in the oven and the cupcakes were light and fluffy. I really like the fact that the final ingredients were the eggs so that I could taste the batter to check the balance of flavour. The only let down was a traditional chocolate buttercream frosting that was far too sweet for the cupcakes so next time I would make them with a chocolate ganache topping. I made these as cupcakes but I think they would be great as a layered cake.

Korchma - Ukrainian in the heart of Baku

First of all, although this may be the first time we are writing about Korchma, it is by far not the first time we have visited. This little gem of a place has been drawing us into it's potato filled basement from the first time we were introduced. We have never had a bad meal here, and after countless times of going, as well as taking any and all guests that have visited us, it is time to tell the world how great they are.

Patisserie Taste Test - Paul and Dalloyau

Croissants and Pain au chocolate, the staple of all good patisseries. With two brand new places opened in Baku recently, we decided to give them a taste test to see which was better. Results after the break... 

Madison - Port Baku

When you talk about burgers in Baku, there used to be only one place, Sunset Burgers. However over the past few months, a larger selection have become available. We have tried a few around town (Casual Brasserie, Rock bar in Kempinski) but the burgers at Madison have toped them all. 

Vapiano - Baku

Vapiano is a chain of restaurants and has opened (relatively) recently in Baku. We've been a couple of times now and the food has been good on both occasions. Service, however, was unpredictable. 

Brunch at the Marriott - Baku

Anywhere you can go and sit for 4 hours, with friends, and eat until you are stuffed is good by me. We have had a couple of brunches in Baku but our favourite by far has been at the Fireworks restaurant at the Marriott Hotel.

Apple and cinnamon cupcakes

I know that it is January and after the excesses of Christmas, I had planned to reduce the amount of sugar that we are eating. So far it has been rather unsuccessful and there seems to always been a new cake recipe to try!

I have been commissioned to make some cupcakes for our mother and baby group so went in search of a recipe that didn't contain too much sugar and that could be eaten with or without frosting for younger palates. 

Red Farm - Hudson St, New York

We decided that we wanted to eat somewhere local. We also decided that we were really hungry. So when we arrived at Red Farm, and were told that we were going to have to wait over an hour for a table. We asked about take-away.

La Pain Quotiden - New York

We have long been a fan of PQ in Belgium, where you sit at a communal table and share around the variety of Jam and chocolate spreads for your freshly cooked bread in the morning. So when were were hungry after spending some time at the New York Library, we popped in to grab a bite to eat.

B Too - Washington D.C.

At around 11 am, when we were kind of awake, our gracious host told us that it was time to go for brunch. This place was just around the corner, which was good considering it was already about 31 degrees by now. We were excited, if there was anything we liked more that breakfast, it was brunch.

Merchants - Nashville

While we were hanging around waiting to go to the Ryman Auditorium we were looking for somewhere to cool down and grab a snack. One of our helpful concierge told us about Merchants being a nice place. So we went there.

West End Cafe - Nashville

WELL DONE MURRAY! We had to get our priorities right this morning. Tennis, then eating. We watched Murray drop-shot his way to victory - however it was now verging on 1pm and we hadn't eaten anything but a granola bar so it had to be somewhere quick and local. The restaurant in our hotel stopped serving breakfast at 9 (disappointing) but we found somewhere just down the road that served breakfast until 3pm.

Puckett's Grocery and Restaurant - Nashville

We arrived at Nashville at around lunchtime, and so headed out for what we like to call 'Dunch'. We knew we were off to the Opry this evening and so had to find something to sustain us until at least 9pm. We chose Puckett's because we had heard it was good - and it was close to where the bus into town dropped us.

Cafe Amelie - New Orleans

For our last night in New Orleans we wanted to go somewhere nice (but local) so we walked down to Cafe Amelie on Royal st. It looked lovely from the outside with a cute courtyard, citronella candels burning to keep the mozzies away and a very tasty menu.

Cafe Beignet - New Orleans

Beignet is a dessert from New Orleans and according to the internet there is only one place to get them, Cafe Beignet.

Southern Candymakers - New Orleans

It's praline, but not like in the middle of those chocolates. It's New Orleans praline, and this place is supposedly the best place to buy them.

Quater Grocery - French Quater

It is the 4th July, and as expected on a public holiday, alot of places are closed. Our host explained to us that there is a grocery story on the corner that has surprisingly good hot sandwiches, so we went to investigate.

Eat - New Orleans

We arrived at New Orleans late in the afternoon, and after dropping the car off (in the rain I might add) we decided to hunt around for something to eat. We read about a few places but lots of things are closed on Tuesdays, so decided to eat really local and try Eat which is down the road from our apartment.

The French Press - Lafayette

We spent the night in Lafayette on route to New Orleans and had read about a place that does a good, local breakfast. Maria had a hankering for some pancakes so we made our way the The French Press.

Home Slice - Austin

We were hungry whilst waiting for the bats to come out from under the congress bridge, so we stopped for a bite of pizza.

Liberty Food Truck - Austin

Tucked away behind, no sorry, through a bar on E 6th street is the Liberty food truck. We had read that they served some awesome food so we took a drive down to see what we could have.

Kreuz BBQ - Lockhart

On our way from San Antonio to Austin we drove through Lockhart, 'The BBQ capital of Texas' which kind of makes it the BBQ capital of the world (according to the Lonely Planet). We were driving through around lunchtime so decided to stop and have a bite to eat. We only had to choose between the several that were available. We went for Kreuz, as it seemed to be one of the best.

Alamo Street Eat Bar

We have known alot about the food truck scene in America long before buying our tickets to come out here - mostly from American shows we watch, and so were excited to finally get to try some food out of them.

El Paraiso - San Antonio

Maria has, for a while, fancied a Paletas - or a popsicle in American. We have heard about a few good places in Texas and El Paraiso was one of them.

Rosario's Mexican Cafe Y Cantina

We arrived in San Antonio hungry. We had been driving from Houston all morning because we wanted to take the scenic route and found that we were then running a little late for our Airbnb host so had to rush. We looked though some of the documentation about San Antonio that was left for us, and ended up going out for a late lunch at around 4 at Rosario's.

Gloria's Houston

First night arriving in America. It's late, we have been flying for what felt like forever. We needed something easy. Our hotel suggested a little tex mex place around the corner. So we wondered off for an evening meal.

Fuddruckers Dubai

The only other burger we have tried in Dubai is at Burger Fuel, so when we found ourselves with a few hours before our connecting flight, and the knowledge that Dubai Festival City Mall is a short bus ride away from the airport, we ended up having a burger at Fuddruckers for lunch. 

Hobba - Prahran

For our final brunch, we ate closer to where we were staying in Prahran.

Huxtaburger - Melbourne Central

FINALLY! After what feels like an age, Anthony gets to eat a hamburger. We select the new outlet of Huxtaburger for his fix. Just round the back of Flinders Street station, it was nearly impossible to find, but thanks to GPS, Anthony reached his destination.

Zumbo - Sydney

After years of watching Masterchef Australia, we were desperate to get at least a little piece of ZUMBO! So while we were in Sydney, we found our chance at The Star.

Forrest Brewing Company - Forrest, Victoria

After a ridiculously long day driving from the Yarra Valley to Apollo Bay via the 12 apostles we were hungry, and Apollo Bay was out of season and everything shut at 6pm. We called Zoe who was able to tell us about a pub that was nearby that had a curry night. Perfect!