Wellington Fish Bar, Matlock

I'm immensely chuffed to report that my new local chippy is really rather good. The odds weren't really stacked in its favour: it's not in Yorkshire, or by the seaside, I don't think they fry in dripping and they don't serve haddock. Given that a combination of at least two of those things equates to my dream chip shop, the Wellington had to come up with some otherwise impressive goods.

Which it did, with some style. There may be no haddock, but there's also no pre-cooked fish sat sweating under heat lamps. Every cod (or plaice) is fried to order. I watched as my medium cod was filleted, battered and dunked in the fryer while I waited. An extra five minutes or so to stand around, but very much worth it.

The fish, a hefty beast a good inch and more in girth, flaked beautifully under its extra thin casing. I ate every morsel of the batter, not something I do often as I tend to leave the soggy underside.

Chips were rather more-ish, a gargantuan 'couldn't possibly finish it portion' imperceptibly disappearing as I repeatedly just had one more. Chips and curry sauce: standard. Check.

It's safe to say I'll be going back. Probably too often for my own good. Medium cod, chips and peas costs about six quid. Small would satisfy most. Don't order large unless you're a giant or excessively greedy.

9/10

26 Wellington Street
Matlock
DE4 3GS

The Cod's Scallops, Wollaton, Nottingham

Silly name, outstanding product. That is the gist of the Cod's Scallops.

The finest fish and chips I've eaten in a long while, in the Midlands. Who'd have thought. I'm not being Midlands-ist but it's rare to find such mastery of the beef dripping art outside God's own county.

Look at that fish, pictured in glorious widescreen technicolour just for you. Burnished and golden, it screams eat me! Eat me! Imagine the pleasure as your teeth fracture the delicate batter shell and release the sea-steam, the fatty goodness gently coating your lips like the salve of your dreams.

Take another look. Here's an extreme close-up.

I didn't have to imagine it, I lived this dream. And you can too, if you go to Nottingham.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there, but it really was very good. The chips were excellent as well. Peas and curry sauce standard.

£5.90 for fish and chips. 80p for peas or curry sauce. Marvellous.

9/10


170 Bramcote Lane
Wollaton
Nottingham
NG8 2QP

http://codsscallops.com/

Mint and Mustard, Cardiff

I really ought to have given the website for Mint and Mustard, an upmarket Indian restaurant in the Cardiff suburbs, more than a cursory glance before dining there. Had I done so, I'd have realised that they specialise in Keralan food, and wouldn't have ordered a whole load of North Indian stuff.

Being a bit hungover I was in the mood for a lamb-based feast, when seafood, vegetables and even pork or beef could have been a better plan. Or would have been a better plan, as most of what the others in our group of six ate was better than what I did.

After some poppadums and pickles, complimentary after we had to wait a few minutes for our table, seekh kebabs and onion vadai (in this case the same thing as what most curry houses would call a bhaji) to start. These were just ok, being a good demonstration of the pitfalls of 'posh Indian' restaurant food, in that they looked pretty but tasted dull.

The kebabs were nicely spiced but needed salt and seemed to have been cooked without resort to anything very hot. Surely the whole point to Indian grilled meat is the generous application of fire, spice and salt? Other starters of lamb,venison and prawns in various guises were all declared a great success.

Saag gosht and chicken makhani were both competent, flavour packed dishes. The lamb had a slow-burning, building warmth, and the makhani was smooth, rich and sweet with fenugreek. They weren't half as exciting as what was going on elsewhere on the table though, I got to sample the lot and first mouthfuls suggested there might be some genuinely great food on offer here.

The sauce (pollichathu?) on what I think was a fat hunk of swordfish had an intense flavour that belied it's thin texture, dense with the savoury funk of curry leaves. I'd have drunk it in pints given the opportunity. Another fish dish, sea bass with a tart, bright moilee sauce was almost as good. I wasn't quite so enamoured of a dum pukht biryani, although it tasted great I thought the rice was a bit wet.

There are a whole host of European styled dishes on the menu too, European in the plating sense: large slab of protein, mound of carbs and some veggies on the side. I was suspicious of these, with their various Indian-spiced riffs on the mash theme, but a mouthful of the most succulent, precisely cooked piece of pork, the best bit of meat I've eaten in a while, convinced me they could be worth a shot. Sadly I didn't try the accompanying cassava mash, so whether that was an inspired or daft idea I'm not sure.

Sides of pilau rice and a very light, crisp naan were exemplary, as was service throughout the meal. Including a bottle of wine and six or so beers the bill came to around twenty seven quid each before tip, which seemed reasonable for the quality of the food. Well worth a visit, just remember to head South when making your menu choices. My rating could well have been a couple of points higher had I done so.

7/10


134 Whitchurch Road
Cardiff
CF14 3LZ

http://www.mintandmustard.com/

Murgatroyd's, Yeadon, Leeds

I now know why Harry Ramsden's went bust. It's a cut throat business fish and chips, especially in the highly competitive 'chip shops with restaurants and plenty of parking situated on busy road junctions in small towns north-west of Leeds' market. Ramsden's, no longer top of their game, didn't stand a chance against the upstart down the road in Yeadon.

I visited Murgatroyd's completely by accident, plans for a Bradford kebab en route from Halifax to an airport pick-up being scuppered by Ramadan. The roti house owners and chapli kebab purveyors having closed their doors to partake in iftar, the first post-sundown meal of the day. I'll know better next time.

Still, what a satisfying accident. The finest fish and chips I've eaten in a long time, the flash affected photo really doesn't do it justice. A broad, fat size twelve slipper of haddock was dreamy, flakey flesh resplendent in light, crisp batter.

And what chips. I'm always banging on about the ideal chippy chip and how it should combine crunchy edges with hints of greasiness and a creamy interior. Not autumn leaf dry and rustly like frites, not mealy like the godforsaken pub chunky chip. These were almost the ideal chippy chip. Not quite perfect but damn close to it.

On this occasion I chose curry sauce as a lubricant, so I can't comment on the wonder of the peas or otherwise. The curry was good though, and not too salty as is sometimes the case.

Just over six quid with a can of pop if I recall correctly, and best eaten outside in the dark at the picnic tables provided. Lovely stuff. Who needs Harry Ramsden's?

9/10

Harrogate Road
Yeadon
Leeds
LS19 7BN

http://www.murgatroyds.co.uk

The Prince of Wales, Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield

I hadn't realised that the Prince of Wales was a chain pub until we arrived, but it couldn't have been more apparent within seconds of walking through the door.

Pleasant interior, but a bit glossy and overdesigned, plasticky mass produced menus, a token effort at serving some interesting beers. All of the obvious signs were there. All of this didn't necessarily mean I was going to dislike the place. I don't have a pathological aversion to chain pubs and restaurants, some of them have served me decent enough food at reasonable prices.

With the pubs I think there's value to be had at the bottom end of the market. I'm never going to complain at a serviceable beer soaking plate of food for little more than a fiver. Gammon, egg and chips or something like that.

What I do have an aversion to are the more upmarket chain pubs in more affluent areas, where the prices are cranked up way beyond any corresponding increase in quality. Those places where you leave feeling like you've been patted down for cash.

Sadly that's how I felt after leaving the Prince of Wales last Friday night. The food wasn't actively unpleasant, just exceptionally mediocre for the prices charged.

My starter was the high point. Chicken noodle soup (£4.50) from the specials menu brought springy noodles and lots of chicken that wasn't just overcooked breast meat, in a broth that was far too sweet but had a satisfying chilli kick.

Other starters around the table included some decent garlic mushrooms and a chorizo and potato hash with a lovely looking poached egg. They were all declared a success.

It was with the mains that things went down hill. Steaks were adequate but served with standard commodity frozen chips, the kind you'd expect to be served with a two for £8.95 meal or under a slick of cheap cheese in a Wetherspoon's. At £17.95 for the ribeye that's taking the piss.

I was in the mood for fish, so went for the whole grilled plaice with scallops from the specials menu.  The fish itself was cooked nicely, delicately flavoured and flaking easily from the bones, but the plate as a whole was a mess. The greasy, tasteless sauce had coated some overcooked asparagus and pointless rocket in an unpleasant film and the potatoes were mealy. The scallops were rubbery, gritty and not really worth eating at all. Poor, especially at over twenty quid.

We didn't bother with dessert, it was a birthday night out so we proceeded directly to cocktails. A round of celebratory champagne mojitos went down well but were light on the mint and lime and too heavy on the sugar.

Credit where it's due, the service was great throughout. Friendly and efficient. But good service isn't enough to make up for half-arsed expensive food. We paid forty pounds each for two courses, a pint and a cocktail apiece, and a bottle of half-price wine (special offer) between four. Presumably they get away with it because they can, the place was heaving.

4/10

Ecclesall Road South
Sheffield
S11 9PH

http://www.theprinceofwalessheffield.co.uk/

Livebait, Leeds

FREEBIE ALERT

It's a brave person who takes on a large restaurant in the current economic climate, especially a seafood restaurant in a not particularly prominent location.

Paramount restaurants, the previous owners of Livebait (and other brands) went into administration last year and a start-up group, SBG Restaurants, have now taken on the Leeds and Manchester sites. Although a new company, it appears that SBG is run by people with plenty of experience in the industry, I just hope they're aiming for quality and not the rapid chain expansion that tends to bring about the opposite.

First impressions were good, I liked the cut of their jib when they invited me down to try the new menu. There were none of the subtle (or not so subtle) hints at a favourable review that you sometimes get with this sort of thing, and the menu itself read well too, with just nine starters and nine mains, each of them sounding appetising. According to the website they'll also be seeking Marine Stewardship Council accreditation in the new year.

Of course I accepted the offer, a good seafood restaurant is an asset to any city, so with any luck it'd be good and I'd be able to say positive things about the place. That and I might get to fill my face with shellfish for nowt.

An oyster is always a good test of skill with shellfish. A badly shucked oyster is no fun at all. Gritty, bitty and devoid of juice they can repulse me on the way down, whereas a fat, fresh, properly shucked oyster can be a thing of beauty. 

This one was happily in the latter camp. All the lovely briney juice had been retained and it was plump and cold. With nothing but a squeeze of lemon and a quick chew on the way down it was marvellous.

My starter proper was gazpacho with Whitby crab meat. The soup was great, smooth and bright with a little bite of chilli on the aftertaste. In the unlikely event of a hot summer's day this would be just the thing. The crab was sweet and fresh, but it's delicate taste did get a bit lost in the stronger soup.

AS had the feta cheese, red onion and watermelon salad, also a great summer dish, this time in the tried and tested formula of something cold, sweet and juicy with something salty and savoury (cheese or ham with most fruits I suppose). It worked.

I've eaten plenty of oysters, and quite a lot of crab, but my lobster knowledge is completely lacking. As a consequence you'll have to forgive me for not having a very developed opinion of my lobster thermidor.

The meat was very sweet and mostly tender with the occasional chewier bit. I liked it and thought it worked well with the mustardy sauce and crusty cheese (gruyere or something similar) topping. Being a big fan of fish pie I'm generally in favour of the seafood and cheese combo in certain situations, and this was one of those. The chips, fried to a rustling crispy brown, were tasty but I'd have preferred them cut thinner.

AS had the lamb rump with dauphinoise potatoes, and declared it a success although the meat was perhaps slightly too rare. If you're wondering what the hell she was doing ordering no fish or seafood in a fish and seafood restaurant the annoyance of an allergy is to blame rather than an aversion to the stuff.

My Eton mess was an unexpected highlight. I didn't particularly think much effort would have been made with pudding, but I was wrong. By doing two simple things that many places don't bother with this was an excellent dessert.

Firstly it was made with proper meringue with proper gooey, chewy bits and not the pointless bought in stuff that turns to dust on impact. Secondly it had been recently assembled ensuring that the cream and meringue remained distinct from one another, and not prepped many hours ago and left for everything to soak together into a general sweet mush. Well done.

An affogato was also really very good. Good quality ice cream and a strong espresso. Simple but delicious.

Service was excellent throughout, from Tom the General Manager who looked after us, and from one of the other waitresses. Ok, ok, so this was a complimentary meal and only a handful of other tables were occupied, hardly the most challenging of circumstances in which to look after us, but if they can provide anything like a similar standard at busy times then they're doing very well.

On the prices front, it ain't cheap, but seafood isn't and isn't ever going to be. Once you've got over this fact I'd say the prices at Livebait are probably about right. Starters from £5, mains from £11 through to £35 for a whole lobster, and the wine list has a few bottles for under £20. Our bill would have been around £80 including service, two glasses of a decent Albarino and one of Pinot Noir.

On this evidence I'd definitely return to Livebait and spend my own money. Of course it's hard to tell with a freebie but they have a good team who seem to be doing things the right way, and I'd be very surprised if it didn't turn out to be consistently better than the obvious competition. Give it a try.

11-15 Wharf Street
Leeds
LS2 7EH


http://www.livebaitleeds.com/

Hummingbird Kitchen and Bar, Chapel Allerton, Leeds

Like my meal at Hui Wei the previous week, dinner at Hummingbird didn't quite add up. This time it wasn't the ordering that was at fault, rather what arrived on each plate that resulted in a meal that was disjointed and incoherent. Some of what I ate was really very good, but some things were awful.

After drinks at the bar that included a well kept Kirkstall Brewery pale ale we decided to kick things off with a bottle of Gavi.

Our waiter forgot to fetch the bottle after we'd ordered starters (sorry, small plates) for which he duly apologised with the phrase 'my bad'. You what? Oh you mean you're sorry. Fair enough you've fetched the wine now, are you American? He wasn't.

I thought the world had moved east nowadays and that the Chinese were in charge. Apparently not, American cultural creep is alive and well. My bad? What next, Prom night? Prom night as in end-of-term-disco-succumbed-to-grasping-commercial-avarice. Oh yeah, we've got that now according to the news. Brilliant.

Apologies, rant over, onto the food and I promise not to comment further on the waiting staff's turn of phrase. Not for a few paragraphs anyway. The cod cheeks, my first choice starter (small plate, my bad), were off so I went for the pan seared baby squid, scallop mousse, chorizo croquette, squid ink dressing.

It was the appearance of this, as opposed to the taste, that was a little unnerving. I shan't elaborate, just look at the photo. Bit weird if you ask me. On a positive note the squid itself was tender and the mousse inside very smooth. Returning to a less positive one the chorizo croquette didn't taste much like chorizo.

Some of the other starters deserve a mention, a slow cooked beef hash and a summery pearl barley rissotto with broad beans were both declared a great success.

I've had the crispy chicken with fish combination before and enjoyed it, so was intrigued by the ambitious sounding main of pan roasted hake, prawn paella, chorizo dressing and crispy chicken, at least until our waiter described it as a 'deconstructed paella'. Eh? I'm really not sure about this fad for 'deconstructed' stuff. What does it even mean?

I think I might open a restaurant serving nothing but deconstructed dishes. It will be a cunning ruse designed to persuade people it's all about culinary cleverness, when really it's just 'cos I can't be arsed cooking stuff properly. Deconstructed Shepherd's pie sir? Certainly sir, here's your mince and tatties, best get a shift on we need your table back in two hours.

There's a very good reason a paella is usually served 'constructed'. If it's not then it isn't a paella, it's rice and seafood and meat and some seasonings. Of course, as all this rattled around in my brain I ordered it anyway.

Predictably enough what arrived was three different things on a plate, not interacting with one another in any particularly successful way. The fish was excellent. A large fresh fillet, delicately cooked to just flake and well seasoned. The other stuff was rubbish. The paella had the taste and appearance of overcooked, mushy savoury rice and the chicken drumstick was dry and tasteless. The fourth thing, the chorizo dressing, was definitely on the plate (that would be the orange wet stuff) but didn't taste of anything.

The other mains around our table were better than mine, pork and lamb dishes both being declared very good and not having anything obviously silly on the plate as far as I can tell. I tried a bit of pork belly and it was lovely, with the winning combination of soft moist flesh and proper crackling.

The theme of messing around with a classic to little advantage continued with pudding. Lemon meringue pie brought pastry that was past its best, a nice, tart lemony filling and hardly any meringue. What's the point of lemon meringue pie with hardly any meringue? There were just a few strips of dry, crumbly stuff scattered on the top, none of the unctuous gooey loveliness you'd hope for.

At this point I should say something nice about our waiter for a change. He knew his stuff, being well versed on the range of drinks on offer and suggesting a lovely Pedro Ximenez sherry to have as a dessert wine and digestif. An espresso martini type concoction that one of the others had at this point was also delicious.

We finished up quite quickly after pudding, the lights had been dimmed and the volume cranked up, presumably the bar takes precedence late on weekend nights. Including service we paid £40 each in total, not bad given that it included some pricey drinks.

I think the problem with Hummingbird is that they're trying to be all things to all people. It's a friendly suburban restaurant attempting to combine attempts at fine dining with being a noisy late night bar. It doesn't quite work for me. Someone in the kitchen can cook meat and fish really well, but whoever is in charge of the menu is getting a bit carried away with themselves. Simplify things a bit and they'd be on to a winner. Mind you they're probably on to a winner anyway. The place was heaving so what do I know.

6/10

Stainbeck Corner
Harrogate Road
Chapel Allerton
Leeds
LS7 3PG

http://hummingbirdkitchen.co.uk/

Good things to eat [Volume 10]: A Cornwall special

I didn't get round to visiting Cornwall until I'd passed thirty. I really shouldn't have left it so long.

Last summer I was on the north coast, in and around Newquay. Thereabouts the coastline is expansive; great sandy beaches, craggy cliffs, crashing waves and dunes. I loved it.

This year I was on the south coast, in and around the Fal estuary. Only 20 miles or so away, but completely different. Here everything is estuarine, muddy creeks snaking between low hills and little boats put-putting between tiny, secluded pebbly beaches. Sailing country, not surfing. Different but equally wonderful.

That's my ode to Cornwall done. You really should go. Now what about the food? If I could give you one piece of advice about eating in this part of the world, it's this: eat whatever you can drag alive from the sea.

The highlight, in both eating and 'cooking an agressive live creature for tea' terms was the crab. I'll own up, we didn't catch these ourselves, they were bought from a fisherman straight from his boat. Two rather large and not very happy spider crabs to be precise.

They were dormant while sat in the bucket (I think the fisherman said to keep them upside down to stop them getting frisky) but livened up no end as soon as they were removed.

It's only at this point you realise why they're called spider crabs, look at the length of those legs!

After a bit of a wrestle the crabs lost and were duly dispatched. They were pretty big so needed around half an hour on a rolling boil to cook through, and them came the tricky bit. Extracting all the juicy morsels of flesh from the body, claws and all of those legs was time consuming but very much worth it. A nutcracker came in handy.

I can't think of any imaginative words to describe their flavour, it was just fresh, sweet, crabby and utterly delicious. We did nothing more with it than eat it scooped up in a lettuce leaf or on butttered brown bread. Divine. It was surprisingly plentiful too, the pair giving up enough meat for eight people.

Out of the same estuary came tiny little shrimps, like the ones that usually end up potted. We did catch these, thought I can't claim the credit (that goes to AS's Aunty). They were almost as lovely as the crab, and in the same sort of way, just beautifully sweet and fresh. They're so tiny that removing the shells is nigh on impossible, but pulling off the heads and just crunching away at the rest worked just fine. I also finally developed a liking for the Chinese habit of sucking the goo out of the heads. Yum.

Still on the seafood front we ate some fat fillets of ling one evening. I'd not eaten this fish before but I'd definitely look out for it again. Before cooking it looked similar to a large cod loin, and the taste wasn't a million miles away either, though I thought it was a little more delicate texture and flavour-wise. Simply baked with lemon and herbs it was very enjoyable.

After an afternoon stroll into St Mawes I couldn't resist having crab again, this time a sandwich in the pub. It wasn't bad, but our crab won by a mile. The meat was fresh and sweet, but there wasn't a great deal of it for the price (£9.50) and it hadn't been picked very carefully (I counted three pieces of shell).

We didn't survive on seafood alone, and it's at this point I should thank my girlfriend's (that's AS in case you were wondering) relatives for their hospitality, and for their brilliant cooking. Except for the pub sandwich and my dubious contribution in manhandling a crab everything in this post is their work. Thanks everyone!

Puddings were no afterthought. For three evenings in a row dessert was a celebration of British fruit. For someone who loves our native fruits as much as I do, this was a very good thing. There was a dream of a brioche summer pudding, resplendent and crimson, and a mouth-puckeringly tart gooseberry crumble.

And then there was this, a rhubarb meringue roulade. Think rhubarb fool crossed with pavlova. Add extra cream, then eat far too much of it far too quickly on account of its deliciousness.

I've talked about lunch and tea, but not breakfast. There was more fruit, with yoghurt and granola, but you don't want to hear about that, you want breakfast meat.

Ta da! The best way to cook an enormous fry-up for loads of people is outdoors, in a huge paella pan. Eggs were squeezed in the gaps and the whole lot served from the pan as a centrepiece to the table. 

So there you have it. I can't think of many finer days than one that includes both black pudding and summer pudding, sunshine, crabmeat, and the sea. Go to Cornwall.

Sullivan's, Hornsea, East Yorkshire

I love Hornsea. I'm not really sure why but I always have. If you've never been it's hardly the most exciting or attractive of seaside resorts. The small town centre, pleasant enough, dwindles away as you approach the coast until you reach a sort of no mans land by the sea. There you'll find a straggly assortment of buildings interspersed by car parks. A few amusement arcades, public toilets, chip shops, a leisure centre.

Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/deed.en_GB

Finally, a lot of promenade and wall, concrete stopping the whole lot from crumbling into the North Sea, then the beach. Pebbly, flat, straight, bleak. This is the Holderness coast, thirty-odd miles of windswept clay steadily disappearing, year on year. Concrete protecting the towns, the villages less lucky.

It's rarely too busy round here, the attractions too meagre. The beach unending, spacious. That's part of the appeal, no hordes as descend on Scarborough or Whitby. There are people around, but a few minutes walk and it's just you, the sea and the sky.

So we wander up and down the front, and stop for an age to listen to the waves and gaze at tankers far out in the bay. Bliss. Then we try, but fail, 20p a go, to grab a toy from the machine out front of the arcades. Until it's time for chips. One of the chip shops is Sullivan's, I've no idea if it's the best in town but it's where I always go, so Sullivan's it is.

Fish, chips and peas, too much salt and too much vinegar, washed down with fizzy pop. Sat on a bench on the prom, gazing out towards Holland.

The fish and chips were good, though not as good as last time. That's what I thought as I ate them. Flakey, fresh fish, good batter but the chips a little underdone and the peas too thick. But maybe memory doesn't serve me well, the food was probably the same. Perhaps it's the place that I'm remembering favourably. The breeze, the sea, the space and the sky.

8/10

Sullivan's
34-38 New Road
Hornsea
East Yorkshire
HU18 1PW

http://www.yorkshire.com/places/yorkshire-coast/hornsea

Kro Piccadilly, Manchester

A quick meal in Manchester the other night brought a visit to Kro in Piccadilly Gardens. I'd never been to any of the Kro bars before, but always thought they might be worth a try. The Piccadilly branch is a big, fairly generic looking space with a big, fairly generic menu extending from breakfast to sandwiches, coffee, cakes, burgers, pasta and so on. The twist are sections devoted to Danish meals and 'Danwiches'. That's short for Danish open sandwiches. See what they did there?

I chose the Gravadlax danwich, described as Scandinavian dill cured salmon with a sweet mustard and dill dressing, an asparagus spear, capers and red onion rings served on brown bloomer. The gravadlax was great, cut thickly with quite a mild, sweet cure. I could have quite happily eaten a plateful of this with just the bread and capers, because the other stuff just got in the way really. Asparagus in November is a waste of time, the raw onion overpowered everything else, and the salad was more frisée than anything else.

What is the point of frisée? I like salad leaves I really do. Rocket, watercress, cos, gem or even iceberg lettuce in certain situations. But frisée. It tastes off virtually nothing, other than a slight back note of bitterness, has an annoying stringy texture and is impossible to chew properly. It's rubbish and pointless. Less of it please. Actually make that none of it.

The chips were shit too. Straight from the freezer and not fried for long enough. Flaccid and lumpen.

The sandwich was £5.95, the chips were an extra £1.20 and a latte another £1.90. Reasonable pricing as there was plenty of good quality fish on the sandwich. I wouldn't rush back, but I'd eat at Kro again. I really enjoyed the gravadlax so wouldn't mind giving the herring plate or mixed fish platter a try. More of the good stuff and less of the bad (yes you, the chips and the frisée).

6/10

One Piccadilly Gardens
Unit A and B
Manchester
M1 1RG

http://www.kro.co.uk/kro-piccadilly

Northern Food on tour: a week in Jordan

The first week of my holiday was spent in Jordan. It was actually supposed to be slightly less than a week, but trying to cross the border into Israel on a major Jewish holiday (Yom Kippur) proved to be a silly idea. It was very closed. So, a week in Jordan it was then.

Let's get the geo-political briefing out of the way with first. Jordan is small, dominated by desert, and sandwiched between higher profile neighbours (Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia). In such a tumultuous part of the world it's remained remarkably stable in recent years, apparently in no small part due to reverence for the Royal Family. There are pictures of the King all over the place, you can't miss him.

As you'd expect from the country's location, Jordanian food is Middle-Eastern in style. All the usual suspects are there: houmous, falafel, shawarma, flatbread in abundance, baba ghanoush, labneh, cucumbers galore, salads, fruit, exceedingly sweet things, houmous, bread and more bread. There are some specialities particular to Jordan, including Mensaf, a dish of lamb with spiced rice cooked with lamb fat and often served with the lamb's head. Disappointingly we didn't get round to trying that though.

I didn't get the impression that there was much of a street food culture in Jordan, casual dining places were scattered about but not with the abundance that you'd find in say Turkey or Egypt. We did eat well though, so here are a few thoughts on food in Jordan, followed up by several reviews of specific places.

Starting with breakfast, you'll probably get something similar to this in every guest house in the land:

There will always be bread, butter, jam, cheese (usually of the Dairylea/Laughing Cow persuasion), cucumber and tea. If you're lucky there might also be hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, bananas and coffee. And maybe a leftover felafel.

For lunch and dinner, mezze abounds. Lots and lots of dippy things to scoop up with your bread. There were plenty of Arabic restaurants (Jordanian, Syrian, Egyptian) dotted around the place, and in Amman we also spotted Turkish and Lebanese. Western fast food was also readily available.

I was surprised to see how many of the places were vegetarian, the diet obviously being far less meat (read lamb/mutton/chicken) dominated than I'd expected. There were also plenty of seafood restaurants down in Aqaba on the Red Sea coast.

In addition to the reviews below we had houmous and felafel on a couple of occasions, and a picnic at Petra with houmous and cheese from the supermarket, and fresh bread from the bakery. This bread is worth a mention, as it was better than the stuff we ate at any of the restaurants. A flat bread topped with Za-atar, and a slightly sweet, chewy loaf coated in sesame seeds, which I think was ka'ak.

On the (alcoholic) drinking front, I wouldn't really bother. I've always found drinking in a country without a drinking culture to be a rather dull experience, and Jordan was no exception. It's always either expensive hotel bars, or expensive imitations of foreign bars (Rovers Return in Aqaba anyone), or find a liquor store and drink in your room. Far better to spend your time relaxing as the locals do, with copious cups of tea (black, sweet, with a sprig of mint) and a sheesha pipe to puff on.

That said, booze is readily available in Jordan should you wish to imbibe. The main brand of beer is Amstel, brewed locally under licence. Refreshing when icy cold, but otherwise crap.

Food prices were very cheap in anywhere frequented by locals, but far higher in anywhere with primarily tourist custom. Nowhere was particularly busy and it seems that the tourist trade has really suffered because of the instability in much of the Arab world. That's a shame because it was a genuinely hassle free, relaxed place to travel. Everyone was friendly and aside from a few cab drivers on the make (and what country doesn't have those?) there was little in the way of pestering or attempts to rip you off (I mention this as the contrast with certain other places in the region was notable).

Hashem Restaurant, Amman

Amman isn't really a big tourist city. It's a functional place without a great deal to see, although the Roman ruins and citadel are worth a visit as is Hashem. I'm told Hashem is a bona fide Amman institution.

Tables spill out across an alleyway and waiters hurry around fetching you plates from one of several cooking stations. One is for frying felafel, one for chopping salad, one for doling out houmous and so on. It's open 24/7 and apparently always busy.

Over two visits we ate big felafel, little felafel (big good, little a bit dry), salad, houmous and chips, all doused in vinegary chilli sauce and scooped up in bread.

The houmous was excellent, very lemony how I like it and quite possibly the best of the whole trip.

7/10
Less than 5 dinars for a feast for two people

Hashem Restaurant
Al-Amir Mohammed Street
Downtown
Amman

Books @Cafe, Amman

We didn't try the food here, but it rates a mention as a rather splendid place to enjoy a drink, including those of an alcoholic variety. A huge terrace, good views, good coffee, shisha pipes, beer and comfy seats. Access via an actual bookshop, how very civilised.

8/10 for drinks and loafing

Books @Cafe
Omar Ibn Al Khattab Street
near First Circle
Amman

Iskender Kebap, Amman

A little Turkish takeaway with a few tables outside. The kebabs were ok but a bit boring, but the pide was very good. I think it was a type of pide anyway. I know pide are normally topped like a pizza rather than stuffed, so this was more of a pide calzone, but I've no idea what the Turks (or the Jordanians) would call it.

Whatever it was the bread was crisp and hot, and the filling meaty and spicy.

7/10 for the pide thingy
Around 8 dinars for a meal for two (kebab, pide, pickles, soft drink)

Iskender Kebap
Second Circle
Amman

Al-Arabi Restaurant, Wadi Mousa

Wadi Mousa is the tourist town immediately adjacent to Petra. Up the hill in the town centre is where you'll find the cheaper places including Al-Arabi, down the hill closer to the Petra entrance is where you'll find the upmarket chain hotels. The town appeared to be struggling more than most, as in addition to the nationwide drop in visitors they're also coping with the fact that the entry fee to Petra has been raised to a frankly well-over-the-top almost £50 for a day ticket. After shelling out for that you hardly feel like splashing out on souvenirs.

Despite this you can still eat well here for a good price. We shared a very good mixed grill which brought plenty of nicely charred, succulent meat (lamb and chicken shish, kofta) alongside an excellent tabouleh salad, a portion of moutabal and of course, a huge basket of bread.

Oh, and some chips as well. We'd done a fair bit of hiking in the heat that day, carbs were necessary.

8/10

around 20 dinars for far too much food for two normal people, including soft drinks and service.
Al-Arabi Restaurant
near the roundabout in the town centre
Wadi Mousa


Arabic Moon Restaurant and Al-Mabrouk Beach Restaurant, Aqaba

Owing to the border mishap we ended up in Aqaba for three nights. Plans are afoot to develop the place for mass tourism, the main draw being the year round beach weather (temperatures well into the 30's when we were there). There are a few signs that this is starting to take off (the aforementioned Rovers Return), but in the meantime it's still very much a tourist town, but for the Jordanians. Let's hope they don't get squeezed out, as it's the only bit of seaside they have.

We ate a few meals at the place we stayed for the first two nights. Decent stuff but I'll not bother writing about it here as it was around 10km out of town on the South Beach, and hardly worth a special trip. In town there is a whole strip of restaurants on Raghadan Street, directly behind the huge, shiny new mosque.

Arabic Moon is a regular houmous/felafel spot, cheap and tasty.

Al-Mabrouk Beach restaurant is one of several seafood restaurants in the vicinity, all of which appeared to have exactly the same menu. We ate the only seafood meal of the entire trip there.

For starters, a not remotely seafoody fattoush salad, a plate of labneh, and loads of bread. The salad was fresh and zingy, with great tomatoes and contrasting crunch from the toasted shards of bread, and I just love labneh. It sort of reminds me of philadelphia cheese only miles better. So wonderfully lactic and creamy.

The main event, the fish wasn't so great. I had sayadieh, a dish of fried fish on rice garnished with fried onions, chopped nuts and served with a herby tomato sauce. It was claimed as a local speciality, but the internet seems fairly convinced it's Lebanese. The rice and sauce were fine but the fish (white, indeterminate) was a bit mushy.

RP's grilled red snapper was cooked nicely but wasn't the freshest specimen.

7/10
about 4-5 dinars for lunch for two

Arabic Moon Restaurant
Raghadan Street
Aqaba

6/10
about 25 dinars for a two course meal for two including fish mains

Al-Mabrouk Beach Restaurant
Raghadan Street
Aqaba


......to be continued...