Earlier this month, my parents and I decided to drive up to the Chikmagalur hills in Karnataka, India, for a three-day break in the heart of a coffee plantation, just as harvest season was beginning. The Thotadhahalli Homestay is a stunning 75 acre property with a traditional Kannadiga style house complete with two hundred varieties of bonsai, about a hundred different cacti, and plush with antiques and artifacts. The hosts have let six of their rooms as holiday accommodation, and all meals are included in the tariff. We're talking 4 sumptuous home-cooked meals a day, prepared and served with great gusto and generosity, and representing some of the tastiest dishes in Kannadiga cuisine. So without further ado, let's launch into food! Most of these Karnataka dishes were eaten at the homestay, but a few of them were sampled enroute to Chikmagalur too. I do hope you have an opportunity to try some of these local Kannadiga food delights if you visit Karnataka.
As part of my epic food travelling holiday in India last year, I spent a few very tasty days in Mumbai. I went back to Mumbai last week to spend a little more time with family and to eat a little more of course. Following my trip, I have to add two more food stops to my list of top 10 street foods of Mumbai from last year!
Greenwich Market has been on my list of must-visit markets ever since I moved to London about 5 years ago. We finally visited a couple of weekends ago and had a ball! I won't use this space to talk about the quirky handicrafts and artwork or antique and bric-a-brac stalls - which there were plenty of and all very lovely - but will focus on the FOOD. We deliberately skipped breakfast, so we were ravenous when we got to the market and determined to try as many food stalls as we could. What I really liked about the Greenwich Market food was that it was such an eclectic mix. Vegetarian Ethiopian, raw food, handmade noodles, paella and custard tarts all in the same boat. And innovative too. Ramen burgers anyone?
Here are my top 5 food stalls (in no order) from my visit to Greenwich Market:
I'll be honest. Banana Tree was not the plan for Friday night. Pizza Pilgrims was. However, I was starving and there was an hour's wait with the Pilgrims (shame, because I was really looking forward to that pizza!), and so I put my name down on the wait list and then wandered down Dean Street to explore other options. Lines everywhere. Then down Wardour Street...more lines. Finally when I could bear this uncertainty of not knowing whether dinner was going to happen at all that night, no more, I saw a large sign for Banana Tree on the other side of the road, and decided to go stand in the queue, however long it may be. Turned out the place was packed, but there were only three other people in line before me, who got seated very rapidly, and in 5 minutes I found myself inside too! At the far end, in a corner, but hurrah! I was going to eat dinner after all.
I've had the most ridiculous week. Laid up in bed for a large part of it, with a box of tissues, lozenges, syrups and paracetamol, nursing a very stubborn flu that isn't appearing to improve at all. Then last night things took a turn for the worse, and I went racing to the hospital for a late night doc visit, and came back with antibiotics and not much of a voice (that beautiful husky voice turns into a croak, and then pretty much vanishes, it turns out) The penicillin has helped though, so though I can't talk (and apparently I could be croaking for upto 6 weeks!! What?!), I can bake! So I thought I'd do something about my fresh-bread craving. There was an open bottle of pesto in the fridge that needed to be used too. Perfect.