Have you tried the IPA?

Xi’an’s Muslim quarter provides a fantastic opportunity for hunting down great street food. The narrow streets here come alive after dark. The open fronted restaurants spill out onto the pavement with tables and chairs and huge barbecues for the grilling of mutton skewers. I ate a fantastic meal perched on a plastic stool sharing a rickety plastic table outside one of these places. The dishes included: thick cold noodles in a dressing made from chilli oil, sesame paste and vinegar (simple but delicious); something translated on the menu as ‘fried jelly’ which appeared to be cubes of some sort of starch fried in plenty of spices and chilli; ’spicy hot beef tripes’ which are teased from their skewers into a bowl of sesame paste and chilli oil; and of course ten spicy grilled mutton skewers, hot from the coals. All delicious and along with a half litre bottle of beer the lot cost me less than two quid.

One of my main motivations for this trip was to sample some strange and usual food from around the world. We’ve had some very interesting things to eat on our journey so far.

Russia was as expected, the food is generally average. The best food to be found is the home cooking which can be sampled when staying with families. Soups are definitely the highlight of Russian cuisine. Prepared as borscht is the only way Rhian will eat beetroot. The salads are also generally good, they know how to turn few uninspiring roots into a tasty salad and they have a good way with raw shredded cabbage and carrot.

On my previous trip to Russia the general poor quality of the food we ate at restaurants and canteens was compensated by the low prices. Russia is no longer a cheap place to eat. The high prices, higher than the UK, make eating out terrible value for money (the same can be said of Russian hotels, specifically those in Moscow). The only place we could afford to eat in Moscow was a cow-themed chain of canteens called Moo Moo. We once tried a recommended, Georgian restaurant where a single skewer of mutton, with no accompaniments cost eight pounds.

The food of Mongolia, especially when staying with the herdsman, was a mutton and dairy fest. I wasn’t aware that it was possible to make as many different dishes with milk. Some we tasted were good and some not so. Something described as ‘dried curds’ was rather good but a sour paste made by mixing flour and sugar into slowly simmering sheep and goat’s milk was unpalatable. The mutton ribs, soups and dumplings were all very good. An interesting addition to the soups was dried mutton. On first sight this looked pretty unappetising but when pounded in a pestle and mortar and rehydrated in the soup it added a good flavour.

China bombards all the senses, taste included. We’ve enjoyed the good (roast duck and hot pot), the bad (a fishy, sweet and spicy snack on the Huangpu river cruise) and the downright ugly (dog meat and preserved eggs given to us by a friendly man we shared a compartment with between Beijing and Shanghai). Our travel companion didn’t tell us that it was dog meat when he first gestured for us to cut a slice for ourselves. I cut two small slices but before I knew it he’d taken the knife from me and dropped a huge wedge of meat into my hand. It was whilst chewing my way through this that the guessing game began. It didn’t take us long to workout what we were eating, his dog impression was very good.

Whilst in Beijing we visited the Dong’anmen night market. Here is is possible to buy all manner of strange foods grilled on skewers. The scorpions were a disappointment, no real substance, just crunch like exotic breakfast cereal. The chickens hearts were good and so were the whole small birds though the bones required a fair bit of chewing and a gulp or two of Tsingtao to get through. Rhian said I looked like a cat whilst eating these, chewing on the body whilst the head and beak dangled out of my mouth.

Ulaanbataar has changed enormously in the five years since I last visited. Then there were three or four places recommenced to eat in the city. Now the streets appeared to be lined with restaurants of all types. New buildings are being built all over the city and the main square has an impressive new parliament building with huge statue of Chinggis Khaan sitting at it’s centre.

We spent time at the Elstei ger camp where I had stayed fives years ago. Then there had been around six gers and a small hut where meals were prepared and eaten. Now there there around 40 gers, a restaurant and bar, indoor toilets and showers and a massage ger.

We also spent a night with a local herdsman and his Mother. This was a fantastic experience though lactose intolerant vegetarians would be advised to give it a miss.

Election fever has hit Mongolia. This Sunday sees Mongolia’s national elections. There are election posters and campaign vans everywhere to be seen. We even saw the campaign and driving through the Gobi and handing out leaflets to the Lamas at the monastery.

Edit: Looks as though some were a little over excited.

Eating on a long train journey can be a source of great excitement. There are three options as far as obtaining food is concerned. You can bring provisions with you, you can buy food on the platform during the longer stops (some are up to 40 minutes) or you can eat in the restaurant car.

The Russian restaurant cars we visited had a lengthy menu containing such delicacies as ‘whole baked trout’. On quizzing the waiter it appeared that only one or two of the dishes were actually available and the prices were too high for our meagre budget anyway. Every time I passed through the restaurant car to pick up some beer, it is occupied only by staff so it would appear that we were not the only ones to come to this conclusion.

Our favoured provisions for the train in Russia were flavoured instant mashed potato pots fortified with chunks of cheese and salami and instant noodles made edible with the addition of a generous helping of chilli sauce.

As for platform food is concerned, it is possible to pick up the usual provisions, noodles, biscuits, crisps, beer and soft drinks but the best stuff is to be had from the Babushkas
who plant their baskets at the carriage door when the train stops. They sell a number of home made snacks including savoury doughnuts filled with either potato or shredded cabbage, meat patties (often mixed with rice) and fish prepared in a number of ways. The fish vary from enormous carp to small dried silver fish and squid which are good with beer.

A jar of gherkins is a useful thing to have on standby (goes well with vodka) and so is a bar of chocolate (Russian chocolate is very good). The straight faced man we shared a compartment with between Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk lit up when we offered him some ‘Red October’ chocolate. He’d earlier declined our offers of biscuits and gherkins. He did, however, open our jar of gherkins for us. After seeing us struggle with it for ten minutes he took the jar off us and disappeared. When he returned he put the opened jar on the table and whispered a triumphant pazhalsta!

Tallinn has a beautiful old town which has been tastefully preserved and restored. The medieval theme is a little over the top on occasion but it still makes a pleasant place to spend some time. It’s a city I’d wanted to visit since Rhian and I did our inter-railing trip in 2000. The Rough Guide to Europe which we’d taken with us on that trip had a a label on the cover ‘Now includes Baltic States’, Estonia seemed very exotic at the time, a former soviet state which I knew little about. It’s now well on the way to becoming as prosperous as it Scandinavian neighbours.

I can see why the streets of Stockholm’s old town are choked with tourists. The city is a wonderful place to visit. We had a great few days there. We’ll have to return, there was too much for us to see during our short visit. There were many bars that we’d loved to have dived into but they will have to wait until pass though again with more time and money. Stockholm wasn’t as expensive as I was expecting though, yes the beer was expensive, but eating out was comparable with the UK. We had a great meal at the atmospheric Pelikan in Södermalm. Rhian had the traditional meat balls with gravy, mash and logonberries and I had the local hash ‘Pytt i panna’ which was served with a side of beetroot.

Our visit to Stockholm was probably enhanced by the fantastic weather while we were there. The Swedish, much like the British, appear to take full advantage of good weather when it comes along. At lunchtime the parks were full of office workers enjoying their boxed salads and sandwiches. The women appeared quite happy to sit in the park in their bras surely a practice that should be adopted to the UK? Then again, maybe not. The sight of a park full of beautiful Swedish women taking lunch bares no resemblance to a park full of overweight Geordies in their underwear munching on Gregg’s sausage rolls.

From Stockholm we took the overnight ferry to Helsinki. The Silja Symphony bared more resemblance to a hotel than a ferry. The main part of the boat consisted of the promenade from which numerous shops, restaurants and bars stemmed. Our cabin was fantastic, far more comfortable than any of our accommodation on the trip so far (sorry G). The crossing was incredibly smooth and we could happily have stayed on the boat for a few nights enjoying the comfort of our cabin and the ship’s facilities.

Helsinki was part of the Russian Empire from 1808 to 1917. This is immediately apparent when you arrive as most of the buildings that make up the centre of the city could quite easily have been plucked from St. Petersburg or Moscow, the same goes for the efficient and extensive tram system. We had an enjoyable few days here, visiting the island fortress, eating fried fish (mostly Herring but the markets were filled with all sort of fish which wouldn’t be considered in the UK including Tench, Pike, Perch and Roach) and discovering more about Finland and Helsinki at the city museum. It was a surprise to learn that Finland has only been an independent state for less than one hundred years and that Helsinki only began to grow into the capital city it is today when Russia ruled during the 19^th century. One thing we didn’t get around to on our short visit to Helsinki was a visit to the public sauna. Another city we will have to revisit in the future!

In many ways, Norway is the perfect destination for a holiday. It’s easily accessible from the UK (we took DFDS Seaways ferry from Newcastle), everyone appears to speak perfect English, the scenery is truly awe inspiring and the people are friendly. The only thing that might deter is the price of eating and drinking (everything is expensive but I’ve always gauged cost by how much I have to spend to fill my stomach).

For someone who enjoys the experience of dining out not being able to afford a meal or a beer takes some time to get accustomed to. The only affordable food is a hot dog from 7-Eleven or provisions from the supermarket. The only beer you’ll drink during your stay is the duty-free you brought with you (Norway is not in the EU). Once you get used to this, it is possible to start enjoying Norway.

The taster of the western fjords which we experienced on the Norway in a nutshell trip will be enough to bring us back to Norway in the future. The real Norway isn’t Bergen, packed to the rafters with Japanese and Spanish “fish” tourists or the capital Oslo but the wonderful fjords with their plunging cliffs, the snow capped mountains and the crystal clear lakes and rivers. Maybe next time we’ll do some walking or cross-country skiing, I think I’ll be giving the para-bungee a miss though.

Photos.

Well the wedding went very well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, Rhian looked stunning and the food and service at Secco were fantastic.

Many thanks again to everyone who came along and made it such a memorable day.

The photos are in the usual place.

On Sunday I got the chance to see another of my heroes. Neil didn’t let me down producing a fantastic show. 25 songs and nearly three hours worth of fantastic music. The show was split into two sets. The first half with Neil on his own and the second set seeing him accompanied by Ben Keith, Ralph Molina and Rick Rosas.

There were many highlights but the renditions of Ambulance Blues, The Needle and the Damage Done and Down by the River were amazing. Now I’ve finally seen the guy live, I want to do it again! Anyone got a spare ticket for Manchester?

Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done, London 2008 (MP3 3MB)

Neil Young - Hey Hey, My My, London 2008 (MP3 5.04MB)

I was in Belfast last weekend watching the Ospreys take on Ulster in the Heineken Cup. Had a very good weekend, lots of pubs, lots of Guinness and good food. The match itself was a tedious affair, another ruined by the whistle of Malcolm Changleng. The Ospreys now need to win their last two games, preferably picking up a bonus point along the way, if they want to qualify for the quarter finals as one of the best second placed teams.

Belfast was a bit of an eye opener. I had no idea that there were still walls and gates separating the Catholic and Protestant communities in West Belfast.

We went to see Field Music last night. They are as good live as they are on record. Their latest album is highly recommended.