Venice, Italy

Venice tends to be filled with food hyped for tourism, but I did my best to research ahead of time in order to be prepared for the possible shift in the type and quality of food and food experiences I had been having while in Italy. 

La Zucca was a restaurant nestled in amongst the wandering waters of the canals.

The specialty was artichoke hearts, pictured above, and Ossobucco, pictured below.

I believe this may have been the only tiramisu I had while in Italy. It was lovely and nothing like what I have had in the United States. 

One of the best experiences of Venice was a random restaurant that I wandered into, desperate late in the evening to find something to eat. As usual, I was concerned that such a highly tourist heavy area would be filled with lesser quality food. However, at some point, I gave in and hoped for the best, stopping into a restaurant for which I do not recall the name. This turned out to be one of the best memories and changed my subsequent travel experiences. 

Sitting at the bar, I was pursuing the menu and also glancing around to see what others were ordering. This resulted in striking up a conversation with a couple sitting at a table behind me. The conversation continued and we decided to sit together. We shared our meals and wine. 

This couple ended up being amazing! They travel often around the world and were from Australia. The evening ended with pictures together and exchanging contact information with the invitation to visit Australia! Guess what? I did later end up visiting them in Brisbane where they hosted me in their home! A truly beautiful friendship!

Veal was a popular dish on menus in this area, so below veal with mushrooms is pictured, which was one of our shared dishes at the nameless restaurant. 

We also shared risotto. Both dishes were tasty, albeit not necessarily stand out. This became inconsequential as the experience was absolutely stand out!! 

 

Milan, Italy

Walking through Milan felt like jumping back into the modern world from the old world tiny cobblestone streets lined in ancient buildings, as much of the rest of Italy provides.

The city had many contemporary shops with windows filled with mannequins adorned in fashion forward outfits. 

One significant memory from my time in the city was touring The Duomo of Milan! It is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world and I literally felt like a tiny ant wandering through a monstrous cavern as I toured the gigantic space.

EL PONT DE FERR

I was only in the city for the day, so food choices were limited since many locations were only open for dinner. However, I had chosen a restaurant, El Pont De Ferr, that ended up being nestled next the waterway running through Milan. This afforded a beautiful view as I ate! The view is minimally captured in the picture below, as you can see the waterway in the background. 

 

Housemade breads are in the background with a lovely burrata salad with edible flowers in the foreground. Simple but delightful.

This establishment had an impressive cheese chart, but only a limited menu available at lunch, which was somewhat disappointing. In contrast, there was a hidden surprise! The restroom was absolutely stunning! One of those unexpected delights that required a visit simply to see the open air space adored with plants by the sink area! If you go, do yourself a favor and meander to the wash room! 

The chilled green soup was also apparently simple, but hit the spot with the drizzle of oil. 

I was hoping the carpaccio would leave more of an impression, but wasn't particularly enhanced by the other flavors adoring the plate. It was too straightforward for my taste, 

This was the portion of the main for the daily lunch, so I would recommend ordering starters and a soup or salad, which is how the menu is designed. Enjoy a relaxing afternoon at this lovely stop, but I think going for dinner is likely the more ideal time based on the limited lunch time menu. 

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap was a stop off to visit Angor Wat, the famous Buddhist Temple and UNESCO world heritage site. It required waking in the middle of the night in order to arrive early and watch the sunrise as a backdrop to the temple.

Another experience in the city was Happy Silk. This allowed learning the process of making handmade silk, beginning with learning about the life cycle of a silkworm.

The tour guide asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to taste a silkworm and I couldn't resist. Although I was the only one in the group with such limited self control that it outweighed fear.

EMBASSY KHMER GASTRONOMY

This was outstanding. Certainly the most memorable in many ways and definitely the most elevated cuisine I tasted.

I found it upstairs above a touristy outdoor shopping area. The food was to be savored. 

My first bites excited me for what was to come. Banana chips with  Kampot pepper caramel were served with a rice cake, as well as a fish spread and a steam amok snail. Amok is a familiar spice blend in Cambodia that includes lemon grass, galangal, black pepper, and kefir lime, aromatic and fragrant with much depth of taste wth bright flavors. 

I included ingredient descriptions below, but they do not do justice to show the complexity of the created dishes.

Lightly spiced frog filling in an egg nest

Charcoal grilled duck, crispy young banana, ground toasted rice, green kaka sauce.

Old style hot and sour soup with green jackfruit, roasted tomatoes, in a smoky shallot broth.

watermelons, green lime, and red kampot pepper granite

Baked local sea bass in clay pot with vermicelli, coriander, dry black mushroom and passion fruit sauce 

Coconut honey sauce, roasted sesame, pumpkin puree

Steamed ombong banana wrapped in sticky rice cake, kampong cham peanut ice cream

CUISINE WAT DAMNAK

Next on my tasting tour, I was fortunate to enjoy another fabulous meal. This was tucked into a house, looking unremarkable from the street, and requiring a long walk down unmaintained roads peppered with pot holes. Certainly high end cuisine, but served in a cozy personal atmosphere, with the chef and his wife actively involved in dinner service. 

Koh kong scallop roll with waterlily stem, wild betel leaves, shrimp paste marinated yam bean, calamansi dressing

Beef cheek saraman with coconut tree heart, peanuts, and deep fried shallots

 

Caramelized palm sugar braised baby watermelon fresh peppercorn, chhlang fish, and green mango

Fresh pomelo with candied skin curd, lime sorbet, meringue

This was a fun night, made unexpectedly adventurous by the driver who was to return me to my accommodations after dinner becoming hopelessly lost in the dark for more than an hour. I learned that most Cambodians, regardless of employment as a driver, cannot read a map and this meant getting home was doubtful at times! Ultimately, he was successful after multiple stops to ask other drivers for assistance, hoping they would recognize the name of the place I was staying! 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The experience of Phnom Penh includes streets congested with traffic from a dizzying variety of vehicles swirling around in seeming disarray on the larger roads. Smaller avenues are lined with food vendors selling everything that you can imagine!

I loved meandering around to see all the was being offered in order to experience what a typical market is like in the city. 

Various foul could be found hanging from stalls.

Fish and seafood were found in large basins filled with water.

All types of vegetables and spices were piled high in bowls in stand after stand, both indoors and outdoors in the markets. 

Some of the foods I sampled during my first nights in the city included tasting the fish pictured above. Cooked in foil left the flesh moist and full of flavor.

Pictured below was crab with garlic from the same casual everyday eating style restaurant. I'm not the biggest fan of garlic, but this was addictively tasty, albeit effortful to obtain the prized meat.

The shrimp pictured above were one of my favorites. Succulent and brightened by the cilantro!

The spices of Cambodian cuisine are distinct and I was delighted to find a store that depicted them so clearly in the wooden case pictured above. There are similarities to cuisines of neighboring countries, but these are the spices are unique to the country and predominate the majority of their plates regardless of level of cuisine. 

FRIZZ RESTAURANT CAMBODIAN CUISINE

While I researched "authentic" Cambodian cuisine before my trip, I found this restaurant as recommended. When I arrived, it was the middle of the afternoon and a time when no one else was there eating. Instead, I had undivided attention from the cook who was the owner. He and his family were together at the back of the restaurant spending time together while awaiting customers. He had one of his children help to interpret my English! 

Above is picture the spicy curry with Jasmine rice. 

The curry had potato, green beans, carrot, and onion.

It was hearty and with endless depth of flavor.

MALIS RESTURANT

In comparison, although this restaurant was also lauded as having authentic fare, it was a much larger venue clearly catering to tourist traffic.

Moringa Soup with moringa leaf and pumpkin flower. Simple straightforward flavors in a soup known for medicinal properties.

 

Fish Amok

This traditional dish is made with goby fish fillets marinated in a lemongrass curry paste and steamed in a banana leaf basket. It is a common dish found on many restaurant menus, but I wanted to try this dish at a location with more high end fare to compare and contrast. It is a dish balanced with the light citrus of lemongrass against the heavy curry. 

MAHOB KHMER CUISINE

Local organic vegetable Korko soup with fresh river fish.

Before departing the city, I also visited the well known Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was a sobering experience, but certainly valuable. I learned so much history and I always find it humbling to walk in the shoes of others lives. 

Overall, I will always remember Cambodia as a place with very few people who spoke English with streets filled with all types of smells, colors, and textures! It felt like being in a completely different place, which is what I always really want when I am traveling. 

Tuscany, Italy

My first stop in Italy after the airport was the little village of Donnini. I had friends who were vacationing at the same time as myself and they had a relative with a home in Donnini. This gave the intimate experience of staying in a tiny town in a family home in the middle of Tuscany. There were only several businesses in the area, one of which was a small bakery. Everyone stopped the morning for an espresso, so we did, too! Here is the little area for seating on the street with me feeling groggy from jet lag, but ever so happy! 

San Gimignano is a small village and prefect for exploring the feel of tiny streets and vendors in Tuscany. There was pizza by the slice sold from walk up windows, as pictured below. Additionally, beautiful stone walls and painted doors and little shops lined the winding roads. 

Another memorable stop in this little place was Ristorante Peruca. This is where I had the "Florentine steak" experience. The size of the steak is hard to describe without having it sitting directly before you. Suffice it to say, there were five adults who could not finish our steak that filled a wooden cutting board on which it sat, plated for bringing to the table! It was very large and very tender and also served with some delightful side dishes, not to be overlooked! There was pasta filled with sheep cheese and pears then covered in a saffron sauce! There was also marinated Mackerel fish on a zucchini and carrot salad. Yes, the steak was memorable, but do yourself a favor and also taste other dishes on the menu! 

In the little village of San Gimignano, there is a very long line to a very little gelato shop that boasts award winning scoops. Gelateria Dondoli is world famous for specialty gelato flavors, such as saffron and pine nut. Of course, I stood in line and tested it out for myself! It was delicious and it was fun to enjoy in the quaint and relatively quiet courtyard to which the doors face. 

A short drive from this area, I stopped at Tenuta Torciano Winery. They offered not only wine tasting, but also balsamic vinegar tasting. They provided a plate of cheese to taste alongside these treats, as pictured below. The staff was highly entertaining and fluent in English, making a delightful afternoon! 

Here is a large assortment of wines that we tasted, which lead to...

the uninhibited version of myself, drinking aged balsamic vinegar being poured from the bottle! What happens in Italy...only stays in Italy if not published publicly in a picture! 

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Pancakes Amsterdam

When in Rome, er, Amsterdam, one eats Dutch pancakes, which are thin like a crepe. This restaurant was founded in 2007 and has been voted "best" for pancakes with a menu of Dutch pancakes, American style pancakes, each with transitional and original flavor combinations. The menu at this popular restaurant that has venues consisted of a variety of options. The traditional combination consists of ham and cheese. Since I am allergic to ham, I opted for one with Jonagold apples with Dutch grated cheese. I also selected the gluten free batter. I enjoyed this treat as the thinness left me feeling satisfied, but not heavy as other pancakes tend to do. It was also a pleasant combination of sweet and savory with the mix of apples and cheese. At each table, there are also condiments including powdered sugar and syrup. Yum.

Fromagerie Abraham Kef

During my limited time in the city, I enjoyed the beautiful skyline with quaint buildings and stopped into several cheese shops. I really enjoyed the engaged and eager interest of the staff at Fromagerie Abraham Kef. This was little shop that I entered with a front door immediately followed by steps down to the cheese cave. The staff excitedly told me about their most unique offerings and I purchased several to take home with me as they seemed to have the best variety of cheese that I found during my wanderings. This was a place I remember warmly.

I walked on an stopped into several other cheese shops, but the only other one where I made a purchase was Tromp, also with a good selection of cheese, whereas some of the other places I perused consisted of primarily Gouda style cheese, which was dominant here as well, but less so than some others. 

Dinner time for me in Amsterdam was at Restaurant Greetje. In my online searching, this was touted as having traditional style faire, but elegant.

The meal began with whole wheat rustic bread that was presented with organic butter with beet juice. I thought the butter was lovely mostly because of the striking color! 

Next, the amuse bouche was a chestnut puree with pumpkin pureed topped with butter.

This dish was characterized as having a fairly plain taste of pumpkin that maintained a thick texture, nearly requiring a knife as it was so compacted into a ball that it required me to press firmly with a fork while focusing on avoiding it flying across the plate! 

To my disappointment, I was not feeling hungry when I arrived for my reservation, likely due to being off schedule as I traveled. Therefore, after the above mentioned items, I limited my order to one, highly recommended dish.

I selected the rabbit, a dish reported to be traditional of the southern end of the Netherlands, by Belgium. I was told it was therefore unusual for this dish to be found in Amsterdam. It was served with mashed sweet potatoes and stewed celery with salsify chips. The flavor is a sweet and sour due to vinegar being used to marinate the rabbit prior to cooking. I cannot say that I would order this again, primarily because I desired more complexity of flavor and this was overpowered by the vinegar to my taste, but it was interesting to experience the traditional flavors.

Chocolatl 

I saved my favorite experience to describe at the end of this post. I LOVED MY EXPERIENCE at Chocolatl. This is a stop for an experienced chocolate lover and novice alike. The experience was wonderful because of the proprietor who had an immense knowledge of chocolate and he eagerly shared it. He provided tastes and a tasting experience, offering pointed questions to educate the taster, such as inquiring about the texture and color as I experienced each chocolate square. The walls of the store were lined with chocolates from around the world, primarily makers from Europe, which are difficult to obtain in the United States. This can be described as a gallery of specialty artisanal chocolate, primarily of single origin. They even offer single estate drinking chocolate. A decadent hidden gem. I purchased several and years later I am still wishing that I would have taken even more! If you go, will you bring me some?