tokyo food file

In praise of Barcelona, where they drink and dine with as much panache as they play football

This was the last evening of our stay in Barcelona. In fact it was the last day of our two-week visit to Spain. But it was March 11 and, after following the awful news from Japan all day, we weren't feeling much like living it up.

Nonetheless, we decided to go and have a look at Tickets. Not that we were expecting to do more than press our noses against the windows and peer inside. After all, this is the new venture involving Ferran Adria and we knew it was booked solid three months ahead.

So here's a video (handheld and shaky), which gives the idea of what it's like on the outside looking in.

After watching the doorman giving short shrift to the Spanish family with their wailing baby, we felt justified in our decision not to get dressed up for the evening. He wasn't going to let us in with all the glitterati anyway, was he?

Turned out he was. Not to the eating area of Tickets, though, but to the in-house cocktail bar at the back. It's called 41 Degrees — the latitude of Barcelona, it seems — and it's the flashest part of the whole place.

Better yet, the bar snacks are all tidbits that were first developed at El Bulli and served there over the years. Such as the "green olives"...

I'll drop a whole post shortly about the rest of the snacks (now up here...) For the time being, here's our cocktail waiter shaking up another martini for me.

RIP Gil Scott Heron. He told it like it is.

RIP Gil Scott Heron — more than a musician, a man of words.

Given all that's been going here, especially with relation to the Fukushima nuclear crisis of course, this song is sadly topical. 

Not so well known is that it was about the failures of the US's first commercial liquid metal fast breeder reactor in 1966 — which was well before Three Mile Island.

 

I love this version, very late period Gil, from July of last year, recorded for the Austria radio station 98.3 Superfly...

[no apologies, the food file posts on everything: food is whatever nourishes the spirit]

 

new potatoes — what a treat...

New-season spuds. There's nothing like them. And when the craving hits, there's only one place to go to assuage it — our local farmers market.

So what's it to be? There are Inca no Mezame (literally "Inca Awakening") from Peru (well, that's where the strain originated) with their vibrant yellow interiors....

Or perhaps Kita-akari ("northern light"), a Japanese strain, with their warm yellow hue and starchy, fluffy texture...

And then there are these remarkable black French spuds...

In the end I had to get a few of each of them.

And first to get cooked up were the Kita-Akari. Soft and flaky, and much yellower inside than you'd expect from their colour when raw, they are delectable. Especially mixed with fine chopped prosciutto and some baby broad beans, with just a hint of herbs and olive oil...

Itch successfully scratched!

drinking for Tohoku – this time with California wine

The occasion was a special charity screening of Bottle Shock — the movie about (well, very loosely) the famous 1976 tasting in Paris at which Californian wines, both red and white, outscored some of the biggest names in the French oenological firmament. 

Tuesday's event was organized by Hotei WInes, importers of a great range of premium labels from (mostly) California — including a couple of those that featured in that very tasting. 

The venue was Billboard Live in the Midtown complex, which boasts a fantastic view across to Akasaka (though the curtains were closed while the film was playing). Which meant we could sip and quaff — those self-same wines, including the excellent Chateau Montelena chardonnay — and nibble and kick back while watching the movie on the screen over the stage.

The screening was compered by Hotei's president, Bill Campbell, who actually grew up in the California wine country where the movie was shot.

(sorry about the photo quality, Bill)

Bottom line: the movie is not a classic, but it's a whole lot of fun. And so was our evening! All in a good cause too. Thanks Bill.

Here's the movie website... And here's the trailer...

And here's a link to the Hotei site where you can see more (and better quality than mine) photos of the event.

napolimania: a great name for a fine little joint...

more to come soon..