Good Eats: Best Meals in 2019

For some reason, I don’t feel like we had many memorable meals in 2019.

But after spending some time looking through my photos, I remembered several meals that did stand out at the time. Perhaps, it was a particular place or trip. Perhaps, a special dish really made an impression.

Anyways, here’s my annual round up of my Best Meals in 2019. And true to form, it’s a bit late, but at least it’s still January.

Asian Flavors in the Middle East in Dubai

At the end of January 2019, we visited good friends who were planning to leave Dubai soon. My Aussie girlfriend, who also made my list of Best Meals in 2017, and I planned a girlie day of lunch and sightseeing. She wanted to check out a fairly new place called 3FILS, a modern Asian restaurant located at the Fishing Harbour Jumeirah.

The restaurant was founded by Singaporean Chef Akmal Anuar and two Emiratis. The name 3FILS relates “to the ‘2 cents worth’ opinion about dining in Dubai,” according to the restaurant’s website.  

The highlights of our casual lunch while sitting outside in the warm sunshine were the spicy tuna sushi roll and crispy eel with a yellow pepper mayo.

After two main dishes, the stars of the meal were the desserts. My friend had the “Toothfairy” – a vibrant combination of crispy, saffron meringue and blackberry cream. I enjoyed the interactive making of my “Karak” – an ice cream cone filled with Karak Chai ice cream made from black tea leaves, cardamom and sugar – and smashed onto my plate. The ice cream tasted similar to an Indian chai tea. Yum!

Another bonus is that 3FILS is actually reasonably priced, for Dubai.

Pre-Valentine’s Day Menu Deal

Since I’ve worked so many years in the restaurant business, I have no desire to ever dine out on the 14th of February. Instead, we booked a menu deal – 6 courses and a glass of wine for £50 - a few days before the 14th at Ametsa withArzak at the COMO Hotel in London. I was curious to dine here because the restaurant is the first venture outside of San Sebastian for the legendary three-Michelin starred chef, Juan Mari Arzak, and his daughter, Elena. I’ve read about their chef tales several times over the years, and since their place in San Sebastian is out of reach, we tried the London version.

After an interesting course of several aperitivos, the “Egg on the Moon” course featured an egg yolk wrapped in chorizo and paprika paper with a jamon broth. Delicious! And the fish course was Hake “Cleopatra” with Egyptian hieroglyphics written in a vegetable puree. Very curious!

Ending on a sweet note, we had pretty star anise doughnuts with a creamy filling and a lovely array of chocolate bon bons.

While we had good food and attentive service at Ametsa, I doubt we would return if we had to pay full price for the same meal.

Easter Surprise in Italy

Sometimes the best meals are the ones you never planned.

In April, we visited our young cousin who was studying for a semester in Sorrento, Italy. On Easter Sunday, we took a road trip to trace their Italian roots to the small village of Cassano Irpino, two hours east of Sorrento. On the way back, we stopped at another small village, Cesinali, for a late lunch and found the only restaurant, Taberna De Gustibus, open. With our limited Italian, we said si to the set Easter menu and the staff squeezed us into a corner table. The place was filled with locals. Nonnas kissing their grandchildren and passing them around the table. Classic Italian grandfathers were wearing their Sunday best. It was a fabulous, rustic place!  

We thought we were sharing an antipasti platter with charcuterie and cheeses, but no, we EACH received our own antipasti plate! Then, in true Italian style, the food just kept coming. We didn’t really know what we were eating, but it was simply good, local food. Breads stuffed with herbs and local greens or ham, fried arancini, stewed spring greens, roasted stuffed red peppers, ravioli and finally a custard torta for dessert.

When we finally couldn’t eat anymore, we paid our bill – 40 euros for each of us.

Sky High Views in London

When my brother-in-law came to visit us in London, we wanted to dine somewhere special where we hadn’t been yet. Luckily, we scored an early dinner reservation at Duck & Waffle, London’s highest 24/7 restaurant located on the 40^th floor of 110 Bishopsgate. The building at 230 meters tall is the fifth tallest building in the city.

We ordered four starters to share: n’duja bread (containing a delicious, spicy, spreadable Italian pork salume), smoked eel, octopus, and a very decadent foie gras brulee served with a brioche roll. Wow!

Of course, we all ordered the restaurant’s signature waffle served with a duck confit leg and a fried egg for our mains.

The views are definitely worth the hefty price tag for a special occasion. 

Birthday Treat in London

For my birthday in May, we dined at Lyle’s, a Michelin-star restaurant and number 33 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list for 2019. This was my third time dining at Lyle’s, a place I like because it serves outstanding food using local ingredients.

We had booked a set menu served by Chef Dave Verheul of Embla, an award-winning wine bar in Melbourne, Australia. About once a quarter, Lyle’s welcomes guest chefs to its restaurant so they can showcase what’s happening around the world. Since we had lived in Melbourne for over a year, I was curious to try Verheul’s food.

To start with, we had fermented potato flatbread served with a shitake dip – lots of unami flavors here. I asked about the bread and was told that the potatoes are roasted, mashed and then left to ferment similar to making a starter for sourdough bread. At least, that’s the simplistic explanation.

As you can from my photos, the set menu’s dishes look rather simplistic, but the flavors are concentrated and simply focus on the ingredients. I was a happy birthday girl.

Of course, you add two set menus at £73 each, a bottle of wine and 2 glasses of pink bubbles, and the next thing, the bill is over £200. Well, it was my birthday, afterall.

Pasta and More in Puglia, Italy

I’ve been wanting to do a foodie trip to the Puglia region of Italy for a couple years now, and 2019 was the year we finally made it happen. Also, I had bought a new cookbook, “Food of the Italian South,” by American food writer Katie Parla, in preparation for our summer trip. Puglia – the spur and heel of the Italian boot – hasn’t been considered as foodie rich as say Tuscany or Napoli, but the region is becoming more popular. In fact, Puglia is a rich agricultural area with immense plains and rolling hills covered in olive trees, vineyards and wheat, plus it has 500 miles (800km) of coastline, which means heaps of fresh seafood.

During our week in Puglia, we based ourselves in Alberobello and then Polignano a Mare and ate an abundance of Italian charcuterie, cheeses, ripe tomatoes, homemade pastas, pizza and seafood.

I won’t pinpoint just one restaurant except to recommend that you should dine at least one masseria when you go to Puglia. Traditionally, a masseria was a large farm inhabited by the landowners and included lodging for the laborers working the land plus storage buildings for crops and wine. Today, many masseria have been converted into agriturismo lodgings, and many still function as small farms as well. On our e-bike ride in the Puglian countryside, we stopped at Masseria Madonna dell’Arco and had an impressive lunch and everything was homemade at the masseria. We couldn’t even eat everything because we had been cycling in the hot Puglian sun.

This spread was just the first course at the masseria where we had lunch.

Looking ahead in 2020, so far, we have trips planned to Barcelona, Milan and a big trip to Asia for our 10^th wedding anniversary. I can’t wait to try some new restaurants and new dishes!

Happy eating in 2020 – a new decade of good eats!

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Hiking the Spectacular Path of the Gods along the Amalfi Coast

Imagine ever changing seas of steely grey to turquoise blue, dramatic clifftops and gorgeous greenery along the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

You can see all this and more when you choose to hike what is considered one of the most spectacular hiking trails in the world – the aptly named Sentiero degli Dei or “Path of the Gods.” The Path of the Gods is named after a mythological legend, which overlooks the path where Ulysses in Homer’s The Odyssey encountered the singing sirens that were on the island of Li Galli.

During the long Easter holiday weekend, we visited our cousin who is studying in Sorrento, Italy. He arranged our hiking tour of the Path of the Gods through a fantastic tour group called Sorrento Hiking. Now, normally, hubby and I aren’t big fans of organized tours, but our cousin’s mother had done the hike twice this spring so we trusted her opinion.

We were not disappointed. In fact, at the end of the day, I was literally blown away by how organized and knowledgeable our guide, Nino, a native of the Sorrento area, was. But I shouldn’t be surprised as Nino started Sorrento Hiking with a group of friends who enjoy hiking and showing people the lesser known and wild Sorrento peninsula. When someone has such passion for the Italian countryside as Nino, it shows.

Our hike began at the trailhead in the small village of Bomerano, a fraction of Agerola. The Sentiero degli Dei follows several routes and alternatives, but the most famous is the trail that leads from Bomerano to Nocelle (high above Positano). Nino picked us up in Sorrento and drove to Bomerano in about an hour, but by public transport, if you take the Sorrento-Amalfi line bus, you must transfer in Amalfi to the Amalfi-Agerola line, which takes about two hours. Since we only had a couple days in the Sorrento area, hiring a private guide made the most sense.

Definitely wear proper hiking or walking attire.
The hiking poles were a huge help in some steep areas too.

Though the grey skies threatened to rain at any minute, we set out on the rocky trail, which hugs the steep cliffside overlooking dozens of terraced farms and vineyards. The views over the Almafi coastline are amazing!

Abandoned Houses

As we hiked along the Path of the Gods, we saw many crumbling stone buildings which are the remains of old farm houses. Farmers along the Lattari Mountains used to produce grapes, lemons, olive trees and other local produce as well as raising goats. The area also was known for its production of silk from silkworms for hundreds of years until the unification of Italy in 1821. Nino explained that after World War II, some people just abandoned their homes high up in the hills for an easier life in town or for other reasons as you can imagine.

Can you imagine the hardships people must have endured to live up here?

The circular stones on the left are the remains of an old limestone furnace.
Farmers used to make a "cement" in these furnaces to build the walls of their homes and fences.

Antonio’s Goat Farm and Lunch

But the hillsides are still alive today. One of the highlights of our hike was stopping at Antonio’s goat farm for a snack of goat cheese and homemade Italian salamis. Well that “snack” turned into an impressive spread of Italian Easter bread, charred bread dripping with local olive oil, fresh goat cheese (similar to a ricotta) and even homemade wine. Everything was so delicious, and the flavors even amplified knowing that everything was homemade.

Antonio, a 30-year-old farmer, raises his 30 or so goats along the steep cliffs here high above the Almafi Coast. He milks his goats twice a day and makes cheese that he sells in the local villages. But like most farmers, he found it hard to make a living with this trade. He was about to give up until Nino and his business partners said, “hey, we’ll bring the people to you.”

Now, as part of the guided hikes with Sorrento Hiking, groups stop at Antonio’s farm to have a delicious snack and see the traditional way of life. There’s no electricity here, but that adds to its charm. I could just imagine setting up a tent here and spending a night on Antonio’s farm – an idea that I heartily recommended to Nino.

If you stop by, kindly leave a couple of euros to help cover Antonio's hard work and hospitality.

That view!

The small black specs in the rear of this photo are Antonio's goats.
They were either trying to hide from all the hikers or the incoming rain.

Of course, we had to take a selfie with the goats!

Wildflowers and Herbs

When you’re hiking with a native Italian, he is bound to explain the local flora and fauna. Nino served us up an edible buffet as we hiked along – several different varieties of thyme, rosemary, wild fennel and the most peppery arugula (wild rocket) that we’ve ever tasted. As a chef and someone who loves the outdoors, I loved learning about the local landscape. You wouldn’t get this same experience if you did this hike on your own.

The Path of the Gods trail ends in the village of Nocelle where from there you must hike down approximately 1,500 steps to reach the center of Positano. A little ways before we reached Nocelle, we made a loop and started walking a trail slightly higher above the way we came so we could return to our starting point at Bomerano.

In Bomerano, we took refuge from the rain at the small café of Il Caffé degli Dei where we had an espresso and homemade lemon granita. What a sweet way to end our spectacular hike along the Path of the Gods!

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Market Day in Venice

Looking back through my photos from this year, I stumbled upon our morning visit to one of the most famous markets in Venice.

The Rialto Market, located in the heart of Venice along the Grand Canal, is a popular area where local vendors sell fresh produce, seafood and spices. Even if you are a tourist, the market is the perfect spot to pick up an afternoon snack or even some foodie goodies to take home. Of course, I love taking photos and simply wandering through a good market as well.

Visiting a market is one of the best ways to see the city’s vibrant social life and as well as hang out with the locals a bit. The market, which has taken place since 1097, is open every day except Sunday and is housed in a 16^th-century building.

If you are visiting Rialto Market, I would recommend first having a coffee at Caffè del Doge. This popular coffeeshop also served as the city’s first coffee bean roasting facility, which was founded in the early 1950s by Sir Ermenegildo Rizzardini. Today, the shop exports its delicious roasted beans around the world.

At the market itself, you’ll find a wide variety of stalls selling just about anything you could want to whip up a meal – cured meats, fresh seafood, beautiful veggies and lots of local citrus too. For travelling purposes, I found several spice blends costing 3 for 9 euros that I bought. I can honestly say that I have used the tartufo blend and a spicy hot chili blend to flavor different pastas and have been truly impressed. Yum! I almost wish I had purchased a few more spices.

Wandering through a fresh market is always one of my favorite pastimes wherever we travel, and Venice was no exception.

Even the covered market where the seafood stalls are located
have old columns with fish motifs on them!

I love this "green cauliflower!"
See one of my favorite recipes: Romanesco Broccoli with Turkish Olives.

How pretty are these purple Italian artichokes at Rialto Market?

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