1skydive

Great wiki. I noticed at the beginning you have a pronunciation guide. That reminds of a 'Good Eats' episode where Alton Brown made different stuffed pastries. He talked about the Cornish Pastie but surprisingly mispronounced it (paste-y). I actually emailed them after the episode but I never heard anything back. Rob.

Too funny.I agree with the other posters. No carrot, but swede (rutabaga) is absolutely imperative to the 'traditional' flavour. Traditionally, chunks or chips of beef are used but I have to be honest, I prefer ground beef. I think the flavours blend better with ground beef, but that's just a personal preference. I wasn't born in Cornwall, but I grew up there. One of the things I really miss is a good pastie and always on the 'must eat' list when I go home for vacay. There seems to be all kinds of pastie flavours now, curry pastie, leek & onion, etc, but the traditional, in my opinion, is still the best. I have followed this recipe with quite good results in the past. Nothing beats a pastie from Padstow though and fighting off the seagulls in the harbor while you eat it.

Brilliant. Thank you all for the great responses. We have plenty to look at and choose from. It's always better to go to a place that has good recommendations. We ate at Bouchon last night. The food was fantastic. The service was ok too. A bit too aloof for my taste. You don't have to be snotty just because you work at a nice restaurant. But it didn't detract from a good time and great food. Thanks again for all the great suggestions and links. Rob.

Ok, Forget Bombay Bistro. I looked them up and found out they are closed. I guess they have been closed for quite some time. I'm assuming that the restaurant guides aren't updated all that often. It looks like there is a recent thread about Indian places in SF so I'll check that out. Thanks again, Rob.

Hi Egulleteers, I'm on a short trip to Napa (honeymoon) and we have a reservation at Bouchon tonight and Bistro Jeanty on Saturday. For the most part for the rest of the time I don't want my wallet to hurt too much but would like some nice meals. I'm looking for suggestions for places to eat. There is a ton of restaurants and some seem kinda pricey, but pretty much any type of food is ok from pizza to Mexican. Also, I see there is an Indian, Bombay Bistro. I love Indian food, is it any good? My wife (kind of strange calling her that after 10 years) is fairly picky. So wherever we go needs to have some unfancy foods (I can't think of a better way to describe it at the moment). What I mean by unfancy is burgers, pasta with tomato sauce, plain salads etc (I'm amazed she'll eat Indian food). We're also spending two days in San Fransisco and have no idea on where to eat or even what do to. There are the obvious tourist traps, but I'd like a meal in Chinatown and to find some fun stuff to do during the day. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the clarification dougal. Do you have a bottle of "chili powder" in your cupboard? Could you have a look and tell me what is in it? Come to think of it, when my sister told me the ingredients, I cannot remember whether she referred to it as chili powder or powdered chilli. I'll have to ask her again to be sure.

Hi Folks, Interesting thread. I was actually contemplating posting this same question a month or two ago. I am in the US and was having a conversation with my sister in the UK. I had her check her bottle of chili powder, and it only contained chili peppers, whereas mine contained the same as infernooo mentioned. So, just to get this right, if I use a recipe from the UK and it calls for chili powder, I should actually be using dried ground chillies, or perhaps cayenne? I recently purchased a bag of dried chillies from an Indian grocery, so I'm guessing I could just grind those up and use for a UK recipe with chili powder. I don't post too often here, I'm more of a lurker, but you just learn so much. What a great place. Thanks, Rob.

Hi, I guess it depends upon what you like and how much you want to spend. I can second Cafe Miranda. I've only eaten there a couple of times but it was delicious. I can also highly recommend "The Edge Restaurant" in Lincolnville (just outside Rockland by about 20 minutes). The Edge. Primo's has a good reputation too as does Natalie's at the Mill. Enjoy dinner. :-) Rob.

Picnic Chef, I grew up in Cornwall and when I moved to the US in my early 20's, the one thing I missed was a good Pasty. I found this link not so long ago which has given me some really good results: http://www.crying-fox.com/pasty.htm Good luck. Rob.