Happy Birthday!

Frenzied Palate has passed the one-year mark of existence and has not been abandoned as several well-intentioned attempts at food blogs have been. Congratulations to making it!

And now, after growing comfortable with divulging into the blogosphere becoming familiar with the platform, perhaps we can get a little more personal.

The Veggie Table

In a huge market where each stand is set to be unique and vie to be the choice selection for a city worker's lunch, naturally there would be a vendor to appeal to the vegetarian. The offering at this stand looks super fresh with colors that pop from the simple salad combinations showing that food that is really healthy for you also tastes good. The entire setup screams "FRESH." You know it is good when the queue is already growing well before the lunch hour is in full swing.


The experience at the Veggie Table begins in line as you peek around the queue to see what you are in for. Maybe just the burger? The salad? The burger with a bun? A combination? Soup/curry? At the front, the first thing you do is pay for the order with most people selecting "The Combo" which is the burger (no bun) on top of a box of salad, some opting for the free salsa or paying £0.50 extra for a scoop of hummus. Usually, there are about 5 different varieties of salad to choose from depending what is in season or freshly made including English rye bean salad, potato salad with herbs, and beet salad with feta and almonds. The person serving the salad asks which salads you want and then sections them methodiacally in the paper box. If you order a burger, the person on the grill gives you one off the spatula once it is ready.


Burgers are grilled fresh right in front of you as soon as the order is placed, contrasting nicely with the cool salad. The burger selection is between the vegan and gluten-free Super Veg "bursting with protein calcium and iron...made with organic vegetables, quinoa, nuts, sultanas and cumin" and Heavenly Halloumi made of "halloumi cheese with organic carrots, courgettes, fresh mint, and coriander." If you get salsa, it may add interest to the Super Veg burger with the grainy quinoa making up the bulk of the burger, but the Heavenly Halloumi is slighly more flavorful - most likely from the salty character of cooked halloumi - and has a subtle crunch from the carrots.

The bits and bobs of colorful veggie goodness from the varying flavors and textures makes an extremely satisfying, healthy meal ensuring that you can power through the afternoon. The Veggie Table can be found in the main hall of the Borough Market against the wall near the Boston sausage vendor as well as at Whitecross Street Market and Broadway Market.

The Veggie Table. www.theveggietable.co.uk

Trattoria La Scogliera

Traveling solo should not restrict your choices of having a nice meal in any destination. Eating alone does not mean you are lonely and certainly does not mean you should deprive yourself of an opportunity for good food.

Near the marina of Manarola, the main street is lined with little restaurants and bars to entice the hikers looking for a rest or a good meal when the small town is on the brink of shutting down completely. One of these is Tratorria La Scogliera Cucina Tipica, which was attractive because of the relatively larger number of people dining inside (estimated 6 people total) compared to the other trattorias and ristorantes. Not wanting anything big and staying mindful of a budget, at the advice of the server the linguine batti batti was ordered followed by tiramisu, a house specialty. The whole meal definitely did not break the bank.


Having no idea what "batti batti" meant, the pasta dish was more of a surprise upon its quick arrival. The plate revealed that "batti batti" is the slipper lobster local to the coasts of La Spezia. It is smaller and requires a bit of work more than a knife and fork to handle. This is a task for the hands, which hopefully no one found offensive in this fine establishment because fingers are the best way to get to all the meaty tidbits to mix into the rest of the linguine with a lightly herbed sauce made with fresh tomatoes. By this point, the trattoria started filling up with couples ordering antipasti, primero, segundo, and dolce courses. It was difficult to imagine all these couples trying to be romantic in the even more romantic Cinque Terre with all this food between them. The portions were quite large, so a couple consuming each course individually was daunting, especially for a European stomach. Maybe the portions were more suitable to an American stomach. Sharing would be a better option to avoid feeling like a beached whale. Anyway, the linguine dish tasted of the sea and the man and woman helping everyone seemed quite giddy about presenting their fare.


To conclude the meal that went from light to the verge of too filling, was the lovely sweet tiramisu to complement the savory of the linguine batti batti. The lady fingers were lightly drenched in strong espresso with incredibly light marscapone whipped to new heights. Each bite practically dissolved in your mouth. This was no dessert to weigh you down at the end of the night, even consuming the entire portion alone.

For a first experience at a fine establishment for a table of one, this was really good and quite positive. Local food with local ingredients make one tasty bite.

Trattoria La Scogliera - Cucina Tipica. Via Renato Birolli 168, 19017 Manarola, La Spezia, Italia.

Ostello Cinque Terre

Let's face it. After spending some time in what most people consider less than desirable holiday destinations as well as staying with friends, the sticker shock from Western Europe is a little much for a budget traveler. Not only is everything more expensive, you have to pay for more perks like internet or a longer shower or towel service, for example. For someone completely unfamiliar with the area, finding a suitable hostel in Cinque Terre left limited choices. Upon arrival, there seemed to be many houses offering homestays or room rentals, but option was not clear.

Ostello Cinque Terre sits on top of a small town called Manarola, one of the five that make up the "five lands." It is distinguished by its friendly green paint job. Slightly discouraging was that the hostel advertised that there is a curfew and lock-in during the night. Hm...Well after a long day of extrenuous hiking, this may not be so bad because there is a greater chance of being overpowered by exhaustion in the late evening hours. The dorms are also made single-sex, so it would be difficult for co-ed groups to stay in one room together. The rooms and bathrooms are really clean and large enough to hang out in, though the common area is slightly uncomfortable to lounge in due to being lined with picnic-style tables. This choice of design must be due to the fact that the hostel operates its own restaurant and doesn't really give its lodgers the chance for any other option. The "Pasta Pesto & Co" menu is simple and cheap highlighting popular Italian dishes and the use of organic ingredients. Excellent.

All the hostel reviews and the majority of the notes in the guest log say - more demand - that you try the gnocchi al pesto. Pages and pages of guest notes rave about this dish. Is it really that good to try that out of the rest of the selection? Convincing does not take that much effort, especially since the heavy rain and streams of water moving down the street make it less enticing to venture outside. Let's give it a go.


The plate is absolutely huge with a large helping of gnocchi coated in pesto and topped off with a healthy grating of reggiano. Looks delicious and extremely filling. A good night of sleep after this meal can be foreseen. The little pillows of potato were creamy and rich, but not too heavy. The pesto was light and not too oily, though could be a little thicker. Together, the combination created a simple decadence easily filling a stomach worn out from hiking the five lands. Although the plate was so large, it would be a shame to leave a couple lonely gnocchi bites behind so all must be consumed. You could feel the food coma settling in and only had to worry about making it upstairs to fall asleep in your bunk to the sound of the soft wooshing of the river passing through the town and the trickle of water from the rain. The gnocchi al pesto was not as life-altering as the reviews implied, but incredibly savory and filling reminiscent of a enjoying a hearty meal when your body is about to retire.

Ostello Cinque Terre. Via B. Riccobaldi, 21, 19010 Manarola, La Spezia, Italia. www.hostel5terre.com

Gelato in Vernazza

Trekking through the paths of Cinque Terre that connect all five of the little towns was an alluring idea for a more active, yet low-key holiday trip. Taking off in the morning light and following the small paths where each step is rewarded with a more beautiful view. Without any real prior knowledge of the outlook of the paths, the difficulty grading of "slight," "average," and "fair" were somewhat ambiguous. The meaning of "slight" was not very clear. "Slight" as in what? Slightly difficult? Okay, that is completely doable. This trip was on a budget, so a preference was made to pay to use the seaside path #2 for only one day and use the train only once. The first rains of the season were descending upon Cinque Terre, closing part of #2, so naturally alternate plans were made to take the other slightly more arduous paths to the next town over.

Manarola is the second smallest town out of the five after Corniglia and the aim was to get to Vernazza or at least follow down the path that was allegedly most rewarding from the tops of the hills straight to the ocean. Being in relatively higher-than-average shape, the smaller paths were well in the realm of possibility. So the ascension began to the higher altitudes of Cinque Terre where the paths weave about with greater ease.

"Slight" must be an understatement. At some points on the trek, there were barely centimeters between the hillside and certain serious injury - not death. Most of the falls will not kill you, exception of the ones that plunge into the rocks and the sea. The only thing between you and certain injury was keeping a steady hand on the cliffside and hope to see one of the few red and white trail markers to tell you where to go when the path becomes certainly unclear. Sometimes, you had to really strain and guess to see if a marker was coming up at all or find yourself going down the wrong path which looks exactly similar to the right one. More worrying is that some of the paths look infrequently visited and signs showed that it may have been a couple days since the last visitor, especially with the threats of rain and mudslides looming. Without a mobile, how will you be found? At the highest altitude of the trails around #1, there was a lone call-box in case of emergency. It was the only one. Hope for help from avid trekkers with their Nordic walking sticks found greater dependence.

After about 3 1/2 hours of getting or more feeling lost in the numerous paths and unsure if you followed 6a to get to 1 or whatever logical path numbering it is, Vernazza is in sight with a gradual and at the same time steep descent to sea level. The light spring jacket becomes a burden when the trees trap the heat taken in from the sun and the bag with a few necessities bears more weight than it should. And strangely, inadequate hiking shoes (mere walking shoes) served more help in avoiding a rolled ankle than off-road trainers. Ah...A tasty reward for this unforseeably long 4 hour trek without sufficient food or water was awaiting in the little town below of Vernazza.


As it became quite warm during the day, a nice big scoop of gelato seemed the most appetizing. It was not too overwhelming to fill a stomach that endured the stress of the possibility of being hopelessly lost and has been accustomed to starving during the difficult hike, yet extremely satiating. Plus, everything tastes better when your body needs it more. The most frequented place on the main street appeared to be the Gelateria Artigianale with its colorful sign and small store. People were decorating the streets sitting down to enjoy the Italian treat. The selection for that day was cherry and pistacchio. The idea of a light fruity taste seemed refreshing and pistacchio is a popular enough gelato flavor to set the standard measurement of all gelato. Quite creamy and melting easily but slowly, the gelato was not incredibly spectacular, but served its purpose. Perhaps it was the subdued flavors which proved inadequate to a tongue starved for substance and a little to eager to consume the entire cone. But yes, it was good. Really. Good. And the man scooping each serving did it with care, which is always appreciated because it shows pride in the craft.

The magnificence represented in cherry and pistacchio from Gelateria Artigianale was savored on a rocky outcrop close to the foot of the sea and the marina. The sight of the sea and the beautiful town behind you matched the satisfaction gained from one serving of gelato representing the long journey it took to get there.

Karuzo

WikiTravel has become one of the go-to websites to get an idea of which restaurants to check out in a new area. When people edit the page, you would like to think that throughout the edits, the cream of the crop will rise to the top, as in best foodie sites under the above mentioned budget category (budget, moderate, splurge). Currently, Sarajevo as a travel destination is slightly off the beaten track of tourism, especially to Western nations. As a beautiful city with friendly people, Sarajevo should not be skipped over despite its war-torn past.

As the rare vegetarian restaurant in town, Karuzo is the best place to find veggie and fish dishes where everywhere else focuses on meat. The owner, Saša Obućina, greets you at the door and is your server and chef (along with his assistant). His aim is to transform Bosnian cuisine by promoting a healthier livelihood using his menu preference of "a combination of vegetarian, macrobiotic and Mediterranean cuisine" and no trace of meat or eggs. Let the games begin.

The whole experience was made more personal when the chef and owner asks for your order and presents your plates with great care. The aromas and flavors are heavy on the Mediterranean flair. Simple vegetables were tossed with herbs and covered with cheese before being blasted in the oven and brought to the table in its pan to introduce the palate to the flavors of the night. Lightly toasted brown bread drizzled with a sort of parsley or herb pesto was a great medium to soak up the juices from the vegetables. The best part of the meal is the deep red seafood risotto, which was also highly recommended from travel websites and was listed on the menu as the house specialty. The bits of clams offered a very meaty texture and taste to a dish that did not have a hint of animal. Well-seasoned with a touch of heat, the fruits of the sea explode in your mouth. The variety of seafood and vegetables with the risotto made each bite completely unique. Delicious. To conclude the meal, the chef recommended his ice cream with black sea salt and extra virgin olive oil as well as the pineapple sundae. The ice cream was creamy and smooth with the black sea salt bringing out the tang and sweetness from the cream. The olive oil was an interesting touch and not directly noticeable, but did offer a more smooth texture as the ice cream slid down the throat. The pineapple sundae was one hot mess. At the base was a couple large rings of grilled pineapple covered with ice cream and more fruity goodness.



All in all, so satisfying and tasty. The experience was made more unique only by the presence of the owner who gladly offered friendly conversation when invited. To hear a story of a man born in Bosnia and traveling out to Western Europe and bringing what he learned to his home culture brings you back from the Mediterranean to the charming city of Sarajevo where you are listening to the Saša Obućina.

Karuzo. Ul. Dženetića Čikma bb (71000), Sarajevo. www.karuzorestaurant.com

McFlurry International - Balkans

To further exemplify that one aspect of McDonald’s can reflect the unique character of its host country is the variety of McFlurrys found in the Balkan states.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, the only McFlurry variety offered was “Nesquick,” which was more of a chocolate powder that would turn the creamy vanilla base into a chocolate variety. Not extremely exciting.

Greater interest was taken in the varieties offered in Belgrade, Serbia. Unlike the majority of the other McDonald’s visited, the choice flavors were not dominated by chocolate. Instead, the menu was taken over by the lighter, fruity varieties of šumsko vóce (forest fruit) and jagoda (strawberry). For those who do not want something as rich as chocolate, this is an excellent alternative. The strawberry fruit and syrup added did not have that disgustingly artificial oversweet flavor and had a nice natural taste. The same with the forest fruit, which had little berries to change up the texture of the dessert.


McDonald’s does not currently have locations in Albania or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Though not directly part of the Balkans, the border country of Hungary also offered a unique variety creating a decadent flavor combination. Csokis-epres means chocolate strawberry because it tasted like a chocolate covered strawberry in McFlurry form. The only preference would be a tad more strawberry flavor to balance out the chocolate. In any case, the McDonald’s next to Nyugati train station is one of the nicer establishments ever visited.



Unfortunately, not variety reminiscent of a meat or paprika flavor prevalent through Balkan cuisine has permeated the McFlurry market. Now that would be interesting.

Rahatlokum - Bosnian Turkish Delight

One of the national desserts of Bosnia is "rahatlokum" or basically Turkish Delight. It it not exactly Turkish Delight although the name, shape, and maybe even flavor implies. The texture of this lokum is slightly more gooey or malleable than the lokum found in Turkey. It is as if the baker added extra jam in it making it the slightest bit runnier and more like a candy gum drop. Another feature is that this lokum is sweeter.

From the variety pack purchased at one of the cafes in the old town section of Sarajevo, Bosnia, it appears that the flavor of choice leans toward walnut. The rose flavor is light and not too sweet and had a better texture than the others sampled. However, this sampler missed the favorite pistachio that is not too sweet or salty. Perhaps the hunt for the elusive pistachio lokum will be found on a deeper endeavor through the small streets of Sarajevo. Butik Badem on Abadžiluk 12 in the old town carried the Bosnian variety of lokum, but the pistachio here was jazzed up to an almost unrecognizable sweetness.

Divaka

With a reputation for good food in a cozy environment at a cheap price, Divaka is a little Bulgarian treasure that cannot be resisted. The lure of delicious and large portions at an excellent deal was enough to elicit a vist. Nestled on a quiet street, you feel as though you are stepping into someone's home.

The restaurant is divided into a few little subrooms, each with a few tables. The server was very helpful speaking a little English and offering menus in English for those not well-versed in Bulgarian Cyrillic. Wine was cheap and the selection displayed the best of Bulgaria. A prominent ingredient in most of the dishes is a white cheese, which is subtle, yet distinctly tart. The shopska salad made from peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and white cheese was an excellent way to open the palate for fresh flavors. The hot stuffed peppers warmed the body well from the cold outside air in order to relax at the table and prepare for the main event. Items from the grill were quite popular and heavy in lamb varities. The chicken with a sort of tangy, barely sweet, and savory orange sauce was chosen for a lighter taste and paired well with the house white wine.



Divaka is leisurely and comforting way to end a long day of roaming the streets of Sofia. Main courses from 5-8 Lev - a really good deal for someone looking for delicious national cuisine on a bit of a budget.

Divaka. 41A 6th Septemvri St, Sofia, Bulgaria

Reason to Eat

A long morning of browsing the extensive shops and stalls at Camden Market calls for an immediate energy booster that will not weigh you down. What you need is Reason to Eat. Located a short walk down from the busier end of Camden High Street, the cafe offers a haven to collect your thoughts and review your purchases. It is basically a cafe offering the usual espresso selections and sandwiches, salads, soup and a few thoughtful baked goods.

The selection is simple, but incredibly fresh and made to order. The people working the counter were extremely helpful and eager to assist, offering an ease in the mindset of indecision. In addition to the specialty salads and sandwiches, you can also elect to design your own salad or sandwich for an incredibly cheap price (£3.75 and £2.75, respectively, at time of visit). The first visit called for the Classic Spinach Salad of baby spinach, wild mushrooms, chopped egg, bacon bits, tossed in mustard vinaigrette and accompanied by a big piece of fresh bread. The salad was prepared in a large tossing bowl right before your eyes scooping up generous portions from the protected case of salad fixings. It was tempting to order one of the cookies or bars, which would totally offset the purpose of ordering a delicious salad in the first place.


The dining area in the back was quiet with softly playing music, perfect to relax and enjoy the meal. The salad portion was quite large and extremely satisfying that the baguette that came with the salad was almost unnecessary. This place could easily turn into your daily lunch and breakfast spot with its cheap prices and healthy selection. Reason to Eat is a great offshoot to the increasingly growing trend toward health conscious eating in London.

Reason to Eat. 104 Candon High Street, London, NW1 OLU. www.reasontoeat.com