So many delicious flavours this week. On Wednesday, we went to Madeline\u2019s, Susur Lee\u2019s new place, where the menu is entirely composed of small dishes inspired by the Mediterranean. The only dish with any Asian pretensions is the slow-braised pork belly served over a mash of potato and celeriac and surrounded by currant chutney. The recipe for the pork comes from Madeline herself \u2013 Susur\u2019s mother \u2013 who was not much of a cook, according to Susur, but knew from pork belly. It\u2019s rich, unctuous, surprisingly lean, infused with sweet-salt darkness as if soy and molasses had stood as godparents at the pig\u2019s christening. Oddly enough, the currant chutney gave me a Proustian moment \u2013 it tasted exactly like the chutney my father used to make.<\/p>\n
Last night, we went for dinner at Mistura and ate rather too much. Not our fault. The food was excellent and chef-co-owner Massimo Capra sent out a special treat which will be going onto the new menu in a couple of weeks. They were massive shrimp \u2013 the kind they call carabinieri around Genoa or \u201cSpanish shrimp\u201d in the market here. Capra deep fries them so the legs and head can be munched and scrunched while the rich tail meat stays juicy. One of several desserts we tried produced ecstatic murmurs from my wife. It was a pine nut and honey tart, like a cross between a butter tart and a pecan pie that has shuffled off this mortal coil and turned into a pastry of mere energy, sweetness and light. A new favourite.<\/p>\n
As for tomorrow: I have no idea what I\u2019ll be eating! I leave for China in an hour \u2013 Szechuan, Xi\u2019an and then Beijing to catch the last half of the Olympics. Three weeks of new tastes. What a lucky boy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been meaning to write\u2026 I leave for China on Saturday and will be working with pen and paper during the three weeks I\u2019m there, taking gastronomical notes, as meals occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So many delicious flavours this week. On Wednesday, we went to Madeline\u2019s, Susur Lee\u2019s new place, where the menu is entirely composed of small dishes inspired by the Mediterranean. The only dish with any Asian pretensions is the slow-braised pork belly served over a mash of potato and celeriac and surrounded by currant chutney. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,19,95],"tags":[126,127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2166,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}