nikkib

I actually thought of you the other day Shelby, we had some guests from the Midwest in the restaurant and one of them was asking me if the raw dates we had were figs. I went to get one from the chefs for him and then got to enjoy the sight of them eating their first fig - easy to forget how lucky we are to have ready access to things we can often take for granted!

Ok so I was intrigued by the vadas and headed out tonight after work to find one I could enjoy with a beer. Typically the only place I found selling them that had a license had sold out so I got behlpuri instead but I noticed they had vada, Dahl vada ( which I assume Is the sane but made with lentils?) and rassam vada - when I return, which should I try first? Should also add the shrimp and potato dish looks amazing and may be the first thing I cook in my new appartment if I ever get round to it!!

Pink guava juice is very popular here on Singapore too... Great blog!

I love numi tea!

stunning!!!

Hassouni that sounds just delicious!

Can't wait to see the markets and street food, have never made it to south America although my brother spent a year or so mostly based in Peru but travelling extensively including Ecuador and it sounds great!

Jenni/percyn thanks for the explanation - I've been eating different regions thalis and noticed they were quite different from north to south. The yoghurt with vegetables I initially thought was a dessert and ate it last & noticed it was quite settling for the stomach but it's the really thin gravy that confuses me as I've been trying to eat with my hand (sometimes the restaurants don't have a fork or spoon) and have had varying levels of success - I figure I'm entertaining if nothing else! The dhansak looks great too! Brilliant week percyn, thank you for allowing us to join you!

Fantastic!

I have a question about the Thali, I've been eating a lot of them recently but am never sure what (if any) is the correct way to eat them. Do you start eating at 12'oclock and work your way round clockwise? If so how do you eat the liquidy gravy before the yoghurt - is it just by dipping chapatis into It or do you do something different? Do they sometimes serve dessert on them too? I've had a couple with almost a rice pudding or sago pudding on them and assumed that was what it was but wasn't sure...

ooh I hope so...

Really looking forward to this!

Oh this sounds like it's going to be good! Great week thanks!

You could just go to the bar at moma and have one dish and a drink for around $20 - squeeze the budget on one of the other days ( or skip buying a subway pass and walk for a day) also worth looking at ore booking tickets for the empire state building and other attractions as you save money that way too....

Definitely get something to eat at the modern in the MOMA, we also had a great meal at Frannys in Brooklyn when we went to the Botanic Gardens. Shake shack is great too. We had a fantastic Reubens at Arties deli when we went to Zabars via Central Park too.

EMP normally do something pretty special I seem to remember

Both the banh mi and the burger look amazing! That has got me thinking I should find out where the good Vietnamese restaurants near me are, I've got Malay, Thai and Indian galore and am currently having lunch in the middle eastern quarter but Vietnamese mmmmmmmmm!

Marylebone farmers market, la fromagerie and the ginger pig are definitely worth a visit for cheese/pies/sausages etc

Excellent! This sounds like it's going to be a great week!

Thanks for a fun week Randi!

In the Uk at least, food portions are significantly smaller than in the USA mostly eradicating the need to do this in my experience at least. In most of the casual restaurants I have eaten in across the states I tend to leave more than I manage to eat and so have asked for doggie bags then.

In Kuwait we drank a very pale Arabic coffee which almost looks more like tea, flavoured with cardomom, saffron, cloves and cinnamon and boiled for a long time and served with dates to counteract the bitterness. "Lebanese" coffee to me on the otherhand is finely ground coffee and crushed cardamom. I have too many Lebanese Armenian friends to call it Turkish coffee and my Lebanese friends of any background baulk at anything Lebanese being described as Arabic - never has coffee been quite so political!!!

Well I have made the move and am now living in Singapore, as I am base in farrer park I am existing on mostly Indian food right now, although had a great lunch at din tai fung a tawainese chain restaurant (a very highly rated one at that) for some reason I can't upload pictures at the moment but plenty of photos/reviews to follow when I can!

Mr holloway - those "leftovers" are making me want to roast a turkey solely for that purpose!! WOW! Now where did I put the bacon jam ;-)

I found this on line when looking - sounds really good although it would take a lot to pry me away from my Lebanese/Arabic coffee in the morning!! http://www.yemen-today.com/go/general/7402.html