Situated underneath some train tracks, the Borough Market is really distinctive and absolutely crammed with vendors selling delicious food. My kind of place.
I was trying to go to a bistro called Le Comptoir du Relais; it was completely full (it almost never occurs to me to make reservations, so this actually happens a lot). They do, however, have a small take-out window with sandwiches and pastries. I figured this was a pretty good opportunity to try a ham and butter sandwich, which is supposedly the second most popular sandwich in France.
(The first? Burgers. Everyone loves burgers.)
The first time I saw L’As du Fallafel on a list of the best places to eat in Paris, my reaction was basically “falafel in Paris?? Get the hell out of here.”
The second time, I was like “did you not hear me? I said get the hell out of here.”
The third and fourth time, I decided to start paying attention.
I mentioned, in my last post, that they’re pretty seafood crazy here in Hamburg. Specifically, they seem to really love fish sandwiches, because pretty much everywhere you go near the water, there are about a million different vendors serving them up.
While searching for the best places to eat in Berlin, a burger joint called Burgermeister came up a lot. Typically, this would be the type of recommendation that I’d dismiss without much thought; I’m sure there’s great Mexican/Vietnamese/whatever cuisine in every city I visit, but unless I’m in Mexico/Vietnam/Whateverland, I just have no interest in that food.
But I have to admit: the only burger I’ve eaten since starting this trip has been a fairly abysmal one from McDonald’s. My burger blog — which I kept going right up until I left — had me eating burgers regularly for years. I was jonesing.
There are certain dishes that are popular in one country but virtually unheard of in most others, yet they’re so approachable and tasty that it just makes you scratch your head. Like, why does the whole world eat stuff like pizza or tacos, but not this?
Currywurst is one of those dishes. It’s absolutely everywhere here in Berlin. I doubt you can walk more than a block or two without stumbling across a place that serves it.
Prepare yourself: this is going to be one of those posts where I rave about something that I ate, and where you think “jeez, this guy needs to get a grip.”
Because I just ate a kebab sandwich from Rüyam Gemüse Kebab, and holy frigging moly you guys. Holy frigging moly.
There’s a place back in Toronto called Porchetta and Co. that serves what was, up until now, the best porchetta that I’ve ever had. I had kind of assumed that it was porchetta perfection; I honestly didn’t think it could be topped.
It has been topped. Sorry, Porchetta and Co.: your porchetta sandwich is officially garbage.
Rome is generally not the cheapest city ever, but there are bargains to be had. Example: a great little pasta joint called Pastificio. It’s been around since 1918 (it’s always a good sign when a restaurant has that kind of longevity); it doubles as a shop where you can buy pasta to bring home and cook yourself, and starting at 1:00 P.M., as a purveyor of delightfully cheap (and delicious) meals.
I was walking around after eating a pretty great pizza at Pizzeria Brandi, when I saw a huge crowd lining up for what appeared to be some kind of food. A bit of investigation revealed it to a place called Zia Esterina that’s actually really famous for their fried pizza.
If you’ve read my post about Las Fritas in Barcelona, then you’ll know I’m pretty much entirely powerless to resist a line for food. What’s at the end of that line? How delicious is it? I must know.