A weekend in New York: Part I

A fairly ridiculous bout of consecutive trips abroad has resulted in this blog's sudden interlude, which has been frustrating as in my travels there has been so much to report on the food front that it is almost unfair on any readers that I might have been denied constant internet access. Anyway, I am now beginning the long story that is the food history of my summer, which began in New York (17/06). En route to my cousin's wedding upstate, I managed to pay a visit to S and Z in the city and sneak in a particularly good meal, which only left me wanting to spend longer scouring the five boroughs for all that it has to offer.

We got the subway to Queens, and walked through leafy Astoria. The destination was Sripraphai, a Thai restaurant that Z's dad had been to before and was now leading us to. It had a pretty garden at the back, which was perfect for the warm evening. There were about two hundred things on the menu, but this was nothing to be wary of, as it seemed that everything would be different, and most importantly, good. We started with a crispy catfish mango salad, which was fresh and limey, and surprisingly hot with chilli, which the raw vegetables had perhaps been marinated in. A had declared Sripraphai as able to really give you the spice, and this little salad was an indication of flavour to come. Henceforth we decided to stick with 'regular' on the chilli front, which in an average Thai joint would have been labelled much more tongue-numbing.

My favourite dish was raw shrimp, again with lots of lime and chilli. Seasoned with both mint and coriander, I had never really known Thai food to be so fresh and zesty. Next came a pile of fried soft shell crab, with chilli, garlic and topped with basil. Crispy out and juicy within, the crab meat was delicious, and although the base flavours of most of our dishes consisted of a lot of chilli, garlic, and lime juice, there were obviously secret ingredient combinations at work that made everything taste different from the last.

Drunken noodles were ordered for the less spice-tolerant of the party, and were a welcome addition to the spread. With (a smaller amount) of chilli, ground beef and basil, they were silkily gloopy, and teamed well with the red curry we had to provide the final burst of heat. After all of the meals I've had in the last month or so, I can still remember this one and writing this has now made me crave something extremely spicy, and hope I will be back in New York soon. Thanks to A for the wonderful dinner, and to S and Z for being such great hosts to this transient visitor.

Learning To Roll

As promised, J and I were granted a sushi-making lesson by our great friends from Malaysia. We arrived and were greeted by a spread of necessary elements: sticky rice, tuna, teryaki chicken, cucumber sticks and egg pancake.

The excitement was too much for J as the rolling mats were laid out in front of us. Sushi-rolling is something she has always wanted to try - she will soon crack and buy a kit. The first step is to spread the rice, which is tricky as it is so sticky and the seaweed paper can easily tear. If you roll it about two thirds of the way up it makes for easier rolling later on.

After making a groove in the rice, we spread a little mayonnaise so everything stuck better. Then we were free to lay down whatever and however much we liked. I favoured the chicken over tinned tuna so this is what my rolls usually looked like:

The bottom half of the rice has to be pulled over the filling, and tightly squeezed to make a roll. If it is held firmly, the seaweed paper sticks to itself so the roll (hopefully) appears seamless. The result is a scroll of sushi, ready to cut into pieces. Because we were practising, of course, we needed to make more and more rolls, and stuff ourselves eating them as they were made.

Books for Cooks, Notting Hill

There's a travel bookshop in Notting Hill that has become somewhat famous due to its appearance in a certain film featuring Hugh Grant. On the other side of the road, there is another book shop that is much less famous - although I'd quite like it to stay that way, so I am loathed to even mention it on here. However, I fear my blog does not have a multitude of readers from around the world, so I am not sure it will make much difference. The secret I wouldn't want hordes of people in on is that there is a tiny kitchen at the back of the shop, which at lunchtime every day serves the most delicious food (all handily available to recreate in recipe books which line the walls). You can either have two courses for £5, or all three for £7, and eating there you really would not believe the low price.

On the day we went, we had a starter of bright red chickpea and harissa soup, with a slice of homemade bread speckled with onion seeds. I slurped the last spoonful happily, and set down my spoon. Then the next course arrived. I honestly had not realised there was more to come. I worried for my stomach, as a Books for Cooks novice, I had not expected any more than the already filling soup. The main was lamb with a bulghur wheat salad with red onion, parsley and raisins, the meat perfectly cooked and complemented by the toothsome grains.

They have an array of cakes displayed, made fresh like everything else. The great thing is you can mix and match, so one absolutely huge portion of one cake can turn into two normal portions of different ones, or sometimes even three. I chose a slice of lemon curd roulade - by far the best thing made with lemon curd I've eaten in a long time, and a slice of chocolate marmalade cake. This, I am happy to say I will try to recreate soon as I know the recipe is in one of the 'books for cooks' books that I have. A delicious combination which is often associated with Terry's, and might be considered too rich for an every day cake, but as a sumptuous dessert it was great. I'll be returning soon, but please don't anyone else, unless you just want to buy a book, there won't be any room.

Mamuska! - A Polish Milk Bar

What seemed like much longer than a month and a half later, it was time to reunite for another girls dinner. A had suggested Mamuska, a new place that opened in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. In amongst bargain shoe stores and dirty escalators, its location is not one you'd expect for a Time Out recommended restaurant. At night, it seemed all the more odd seeing as all of the surrounding shops were shut up, and beige floors were beginning to be cleaned. The shopping centre aesthetic fit very well with the Eastern bloc vibe of Mamuska - it is modeled on a Polish Milk Bar, open from 6am(!) to 12.30am.

All that seems to have been done to the 'unit' the restaurant occupies is a new floor, slick of paint on the brick walls, and a bunch of chairs and tables of various sizes. Artwork of debatable quality by (Polish?) artists adorn the walls, lending the look of a sort of community collective. With the menu half in Polish and half in English, and the feeling of being in a minority as an English speaker, it struck us as very authentic - but then one of their slogans is: 'Because you can't fly to Krakow every day'. They're clearly very into their zany slogans, as the friendly owner repeated this phrase when A told him her and I had both in fact been to Krakow, when we were ordering. The menu continually talks to you: 'See, you're reading Polish already!' or 'OK..it's not easy to translate..' With a perfectly concise list of dishes, it was easy to make choices. The categories are soups, dumplings, and classic Polish plates, and because they don't offer table service, the prices are seriously low (just like in Poland).

As before, A became worried at the prospect of more than one dish, and decided that a full plate of Pierogi with cabbage and smoked bacon would do her fine. B and I shared in order to try more, with some minced pork Pierogi and a big plate of 'Placki ziemniaczane' - potato pancakes with goulash. I think A's dumplings were more successful (lucky for her), with a more meaty texture and strong smokiness. Ours were unexpectedly less meaty in texture - I have tried for 5 minutes but I can't describe what it reminded me of. Soft Velcro? We chose to have them with sour cream, which was nice.

The potato pancakes I liked, and the stew was sweet and mushroomy. It was the kind of meal to have on a cold night, but we did find it equally enjoyable on this summer's evening. The pancakes were quite glutinous and gooey, that might not be to everyone's texture tastes but which certainly fit my weird ones. We were too full to try desserts but I would have liked to try the Polish cheesecake. Instead the gradually emptying out unit provided ample space for us to emulate Sex and the City style discussions about life (albeit in this Soviet landscape) fuelled by a couple of bottles of wine. The topics were grey, the shopping centre was grey, the food was grey (it's not just my camera). I loved it. Anyone?

Mamuska!

Unit 233, 1st Floor

Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre

www.mamuska.net