Moris/Maurice/Mauritius.

Delicious from Mauritius.

Of course I’m not talking about my ‘not-so-secret-anymore’ nickname...just about food from Mauritius J

I could not have been any happier born in another country. Mauritius, (does it lie in the middle of nowhere?), is in the Indian Ocean AND the Indian Ocean has nothing to do with India, FYI! If you know where Madagascar is... well it’s just to the right of Madagascar, a tiny island.

A tiny piece of land bursting with so many different cultures. It is a shame that some people get so into the (WRONG!) idea that the country needs a sense of belonging to a particular culture, religion, you name it. I’m kicking myself but I have to admit it is relatively true. Well, thank you people for holding back my country!

Ok, enough of a rant.    

In an ideal word, Mauritius should be what it should be – a free country where everyone can exist and embrace diversity. (And for those who can’t, the ocean is certainly not too far! ;) )

I feel so blessed having been exposed to different cultures throughout my childhood – whether it was when ‘little me’ was all excited about going to eat ‘ti puri 7 caris’ at a Hindu wedding, all the Eid cakes we would go share with our neighbours and family friends, my mum’s friends’ bringing us cakes for Divali, easter chocolate that my ‘tantine’ brings for me every year or my favourite ‘gato la cire’ for Chinese New Year.

If I had to sum up the Mauritian values that I grew up with is that it’s all about sharing – sharing your celebrations and joy with others, be it your neighbours, friends or family. My depiction of sharing here is a bit biased but it is true that most of it is carried out with food.

This post is (obviously) about the food heritage of Mauritius which is still being kept preciously as it should (I hope!) When I think about Mauritian food, I can’t help but picture people selling dhall puris, gato piments and rotis on the streets, little ladies making ‘gato poutou’ in the markets, ‘gato patate’ - fondaaaaant (the memory of the seller coming on his bicycle and just screaming ‘gato patate fondanttttttt’ and people rushing out of their homes in order not to miss it) or going to the Chinese shops to buy gato cravatte doux, baton fromaz, boulettes. OMG, I need to go home ASAP! (Can’t keep writing this now, let me wait until I get homeJ)

BREAK.

Now that I’m here, there’s so much that I forgot to mention before – poisson saler (salted fish), octopus, fresh coconut, ‘salade confit’ (fruit/veggie pickles), goyaves de chine, pudding mais/vermicelle or glacon raper. We all have our personal favourites! To be honest, 10 days is NOT enough to try all these delicacies.  Due to the limited time I was going to spend back home, I had already sent a list of home-cooked food that I SO missed and wanted to eat to my mum (guilty - I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to food!). I was not disappointed! Being home was great, I stayed in and spent time with people I care about and had loads of food exuding love and warmth. There were times when I had 2 dinners just because I didn’t want to miss mum’s dishes or someone else’s :) The sleepless nights then were worth it!! (truer than l’Oreal adverts HAH!) J

Let’s go to… Picture time! I’m quite gutted that sometimes I’d be in such a rush to eat that the picture quality was not good enough or I wouldn’t bother taking one (Marginal utility people! J)

My favourite dish on my first day. Briani (deg svp) made by my parents :)

Breakfast - as usual I toast my bread just like you toast marshmallows, literally!

dipaindiberfromazgatopima should be one word.

Mum's nan katai.

Feelin' peckish.. afternoon snack, dipain tikka :)

WOOOOHOO briani mariaz!

Fruit pickles. Confit, didn't have some :(

Goyaves de chine.

Yuuuuum glacon raper, with extra tamarind syrup. They now have a new (at least to me) option, milk syrup? Have you ever heard of it before? The seller said it's the original one?

Street Food - Dal puri <3

Boulettes/Dumplings de chez Jim.

Mine Paul, not my fav.

Coconut Jelly sighh I miss this a lot.



OMG OMG OMG some of mum's food from heaven.



Passion fruit from our family friends' garden :) LOVE fresh passion fruit juice.



My favourite drink ever that my 'tantine' brought for me <3 :)

This post is a bit messy, too much to talk about . I hope to have a better post about Mauritian food in the near future with more pictures.

A little anecdote: a Saturday afternoon, I had three mad dashes to the balcony because I thought the ‘gato patate’ seller was around and I wanted to stop him to get some cakes. (FYI the three runs were in vain, it was just a weirdo shouting out something) :(

P.S. The Michelins can still not compare to a few of my favourite Mauritian dishes.

My First Star

My First.

Firsts are never forgotten. We all love the thrill of it. Just like many teenagers dream about their first car, first designer handbag, first love, etc. Well, I used to dream too – about my first Michelin-rated meal.

My first peek into the Michelin world was when I watched a documentary on El Bulli on Envoyé spécial. I was in love with the idea that some people are so gifted that they take food to the ‘next level’ and in awe of the chef, Ferran Adrià. El Bulli was IT. I think this an adequate description: ‘El Bulli is undoubtedly the most controversial and experimental restaurant in the world that receives up to 1,000,000 reservation requests a year, where only 8,000 lucky ones get a table.’ [online source] How I wish I was lucky enough! :(

My first visit to a Michelin starred restaurant was for my sister’s birthday, to one of Britain’s most controversial chefs’ restaurant.

1^st Michelin Restaurant 15/02/2011 –Tom Aikens Restaurant*, Chelsea

On our way there, we got lost briefly (usual when with the other RJ – don’t give me that look R HAH!)... Once there, the interior was very elegant– the colours were soothing, orchids just perfectly placed (NO, THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE NOVEL – ahhhhhhhh I need to stop getting carried away!) Just when I was going to mention the cute maitre D’ ;) There was something quite delicate about the whole atmosphere which, later I understood, was the perfect pairing to the food served.

I know what you are thinking – let’s get to the food already! Wish granted:





Bread selection - yum!

 



Scallops in caramelised onion and beetroot puree: beautiful dish. Does it sound good? No. Does it taste great? Yes!






This plate made me go WOW!. It was literally a garden on a plate and each bite was an explosion of flavours.





My sister's choice for main. The texture was nice, a bit gritty on the outside with sweet carrot and pepper purees. Nicely cooked fish but not my thing - I'm a meat lover :)





Lamb with extremely cheesy gratin - niiiiicee! (but not perfect) The gratin was a bit on the salty side and the delicious sauce was not enough to balance it. Great rub on the lamb and crispy cheese balls though.





This pistachio dessert derserves more than one picture - Why?





It's to die for, the best dessert I've ever had.
The balance of the textures blew my mind. It did not matter if each component was eaten on its own or a mouthful of a little bit of each, it was just amazing. None of the desserts I have tried at other restaurants has been able to top this.. yet. but yes, BEAUTIFUL!





This passion fruit dessert was tangy (I made the funniest expressions because of this - imagine!) but so well balanced with respect to the meal - a great palette cleanser and a nice ending to the meal.

Voilà! 7 course menu with petit fours à la fin. Note that there were no pictures of the dainty madeleines as they were straight from the oven and so I could not afford wasting time taking a picture! J (What the tummy wants really quickly, it gets!)

Lessons of the day:

- Aikens is not just an eye candy. He combines so many different flavours and textures in his food and the end result is a series of stunning plates of food. 

- However complex the dish was/seemed to be, there was a simple beauty lying within each plate. Everything tasted so fresh.

- All of this made me want to revisit Tom Aikens in the near future (the restaurant closed for refurbishment shortly after we went there. But quick Google search reveals: The newly opened restaurant’s menu looks divine!

- 1 item on my Bucket List, Ticked!

Food and Love.

Love and Food. Food and Love.

The only two words that make sense together, at least to me.

This blog is just about FOOD – one thing it won’t be is definitely not a niche food blog. Seems quite a long time since I’ve been talking about potentially engaging in amateurish food blogging but hey, there’s a start to everything when you are brave enough! J (Smiley time – you’ll see plenty of it when I talk about food) No idea how it will evolve, where it will lead to, who will even read this, but today is the day I’ll start my blog. Finally!

Anyway, this won’t be a lot of blah blah blahs... all the time.  Just about moments like when I’m at work, looking up places to eat (I do that A LOT!!!) and I stumble across ‘Triple cooked chips’, which brings a smile to my face and literally makes my day J

This is it – no big expectations, just a few posts with pictures in the near future (hopefully!)

Quote of the 1^st blog: ‘Will you become one of the hottest bloggers?’

My very simple answer: ‘No’.