Edamame and Indulge, Oxford

A blogging double whammy - two great restaurants in one day!

Today I went to Oxford with Izzy to meet up with Omnya, for the first time in three whole years, for a day of school reminiscing and eating.

Knowing my obsession with food, and having an almost equally large one herself, Omnya had suggested a wide variety of Oxford only restaurants for us to choose from. We ended up picking Edamame, a Japanese restaurant which immediately looked promising from the small queue which had already formed along the street.

Perusing the menu in preparation

It probably took us about twenty or twenty five minutes to get to the front of the queue as the restaurant is very little, but it's so nice and cosy inside! I actually think it's nicer to have to queue than to have a big, more clinical and less homely type of restaurant which can seat people quickly and cater for large numbers, but has far less character. It was really warm and welcoming and had lots of little wooden tables with wooden stools - however you don't feel crammed in at all, which is a refreshing change from some popular restaurants who seem to think it's okay to put tables so close together you can barely get out!

Edamame has three different menus - one for lunch (every day except Mondays and Tuesdays), one for the evening (Fridays and Saturdays only) and a sushi night menu for Thursday nights. You can find the one we ordered from here.

"Try and look like you like each other" got this reaction

 I don't like tea (green or otherwise), but it was free!!! And I liked the cup

I'm not very au fait with Japanese food (my only knowledge comes from Wagamama and loving the chicken/yasai katsu curry) so I took a while to choose...after asking the waiter for his opinion and deciding, then Izzy changing her mind, then us both deciding to share so changing the order again, we finally settled on our dishes.

Izzy and I shared the chicken miso ramen and the chicken curry (we avoided the katsu as we didn't want to completely stick to what we know!), and Omnya went for the "salmon teri". I also got an additional side of sticky rice to soak up some of the extra ramen sauce!

I started with the ramen which was a huge (and very pretty!) bowl absolutely filled with with noodles, veg, chicken and so much sauce! I am completely useless with chopsticks so attempting to eat the noodles (and leave the other half of the food in an acceptable condition for Izzy) was a challenge, but one I valiantly took on - it probably wasn't attractive to watch but never mind.
I really liked the crunchy veg as a contrast to the rest of the food, and the noodles were well cooked and the sauce very well balanced. However, we had asked for a spicy sauce and neither of us found it to be so, but I suppose it's better less spicy than so spicy you keep needing more water! The sticky rice was also perfect with the excess sauce.

The curry was really delicious too, and much easier to eat, so it was finished within the space of not-very-many minutes.The breadcrumbs were crispy and, considering they were deep fried, not greasy at all. The sauce was nice and thick, and they gave enough of it to coat the rice and the chicken - nothing worse than too little sauce!

Luckily for me Omnya got quite full so I got to try the salmon! It was amazing and is probably the thing I would order again if I came back (followed by the ramen, then the curry - not because I didn't like the curry, but because it's probably easier to get a good one of them elsewhere than it would be the other two). The sauce was sticky and sweet and the salmon was meaty and tasted really fresh.

After lunch we went to Omnya's college (New College) to fulfil some Harry Potter dreams

Home of the Malfoy ferret scene!

Attempting to recreate Malfoy sitting in the tree - "I don't care what your father thinks Malfoy - he's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic"

Kissing couple magicked apart by Umbridge bench?!!?

Omnya came out with a quote which probably encapsulates my life quite well - "I'm glad you guys still know all the words to Harry Potter - some things never change".

After all this excitement we went on to continue the gastronomic adventure with dessert at Indulge café.

So true!!!!!

True again!!!!

Just as true as the last one to which this is almost identical!! (Running out of fun dessert related "facts"?!)

It was a cool café with brilliant quotes on the walls (see above...!), large comfortable booths, and kiss fm playing in the background which satisfied my clubby music taste but might not have been to everyone's liking!

After much deliberation I decided to go for a waffle with nutella, oreos, strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

It was amazing! The waffle was freshly made so was really soft and fluffy, and the toppings were just perfect - they were very generous with the nutella which is always a good sign.

Izzy chose a waffle with nutella, banana and strawberry sorbet

And Omnya went for ferrero rocher ice cream (despite my mocking for it being pathetically small....!)

All in all it was a day of culinary, Harry Potter related and reminiscent delights and I've left feeling fat but with new restaurants to add to my favourites list!! (Also Omnya showed me a burger place called Atomic burger which I feel I will be back to try soon....)

Just for fun, some old pictures of us...!

The last time we met up...a favourite pose, politically correct til the end

Angry farmers..I'm not sure why...but we were very sheltered (and weird) at Kendrick...

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Hungarikum Bisztro, Budapest

This was another of the really great restaurants James and I were lucky enough to find while interrailing. It is traditionally Hungarian, with really friendly (English speaking!) staff and delicious food. You can find their website here.

It's tucked away down a little side street quite close to the river and also to the Parliamentary buildings, but we discovered it via trusty tripadvisor - it's probably worth booking beforehand if you can, particularly for evenings as it seems to be very popular.

It was James' birthday that day, so that obviously called for a large beer

I loved the checked tablecloths!

We started off the meal with a free appetiser

This was freshly baked with bacon and garlic sour cream - the bread was light and springy and the bacon added a lovely salty flavour to it.

For our starter we opted to share the "Touch of Hungary's Taste" platter, and the appetisingly named "fried dough" with cheese and garlic sour cream.

I loved the red and white theme, and the plates were all lovely with the food presented very attractively!

The platter was a really good choice - it included cottage cheese with paprika (which seems to be a popular spice in Hungarian food) garlic and onions, veal liver pâté, salami, sausage, bacon, camembert and smoked cheese. My favourite was probably the sausage paired with the deliciously soft bread, but the cottage cheese was also a really interesting flavour, as was the pâté, although it did get a little rich if you spread it too thickly! The smoked cheese was also excellent and not something I've had much of before, but is something I would definitely try again.

The fried dough was really good as well, and definitely not as greasy as you might expect! It could have been a little more flavoursome but it is basically exactly what it sounds like - a cheesy, high calorie treat!

For main I went for the beef stew with dumplings, as when we went to Prague last year I loved goulash!

It wasn't the most appetising looking plate of food, although just how well it is possible to present a dish like this is probably a matter of debate. However, it tasted delicious - the beef was soft and tender and the dumpling soaked up the rich, thick sauce very nicely.

James' meal was probably the better choice though - he went for tenderloin of beef with fried potatoes and onion rings

Despite the onion rings not being quite what was expected (literally rings of fried onion rather than battered onion rings!), James loved it. The meat was lovely and rare and the potatoes were excellent too.

Sun cream shiny

For pudding I chose the "cinnamon flavoured sour cherry pie" as I knew it to be a speciality of the area

Cherry flavoured things can sometimes be dodgy in my eyes but this actually tasted of cherries rather than anything artificial (as I often think they do!) and the cakey pastry around it was really sweet and delicious. I love cinnamon flavoured things anyway as they remind me of Christmas!

James chose the homemade chocolate cake with raspberry sauce

I stole some of it (obviously) and it was absolutely delicious - very moist, and the raspberry coulis gave it a sharp kick!

At the end of the meal the waitress came over with some homemade plum schnapps for us

As it was free, and homemade, we felt it would be rude to say no, so bravely did the shots all in one...it was one of the strongest shots I have ever done and my dinner nearly ended up back over the table!!! However, my alcohol tolerance is pathetically low so I'm sure more hardened drinkers would have loved it!

All in all this was a brilliant meal - you really get to experience authentic Hungarian cuisine in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. It was a perfect birthday meal for James - we then rounded the day off by a trip to the thermal baths!

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Le Carbet D'Oc, Toulouse

The finale in my Toulouse restaurant posts (until I go back again which I'm hoping will be soon, as looking through all my photos to find ones for this post has made me miss it loads!).

Le Carbet D'Oc was probably my most frequented place in the whole of Toulouse (maybe even on a par with the uni I was meant to be studying at there - it was so pointless that I stopped going too much towards the end!).

Emma, Fiona and I discovered it in January when we met up for a drink; later in the evening Emma was hungry and had seen that Carbet did tapas, so we went there and never looked back! We probably went an average of once a week, and it was only about 2 mins walk from my house so was brilliant!

On a sunny day in March!

It's situated in Carmes which is probably the nicest area of town, on a lovely street with beautifully shuttered, typically French buildings. They do a wide selection of cocktails, wines and beers, and in the evening they do a tapas menu. At lunchtimes they do platters which are really good value and are made up of the tapas they do in the evening but for cheaper!

Our first lunchtime platters!

The absolute best thing they used to do there were the "Nuggets de poisson" (fish nuggets) with tartare sauce - they were like fishfingers but even better, but sadly they aren't on the menu any more!! The platters also used to come with a pudding and they used to do nutella milkshakes which were amazing but have also been taken off now - obviously the French people who were eating there after we left just didn't have the good taste we do! My and Fiona's platter here was the fish nuggets and also came with some cheese and grilled vegetables on toast which was great.

The first time I ever tried the cocktails was on Tanya's visit in March - it was a 35 degree day and we sat outside for lunch then cocktails and played cards, and it felt like we were on a summer holiday (which I guess my whole year basically was, in hindsight)! Thankfully they haven't taken our favourites off the menu - here I am drinking a Bora Bora, which is a non alcoholic one, with pineapple juice and lychee syrup and it tastes like summer in a glass. The other best one is the "soleil levant" which is probably the most delicious drink I have ever had

Again, it is so summery and fruity, and I think it tastes really fragrant and a bit like roses! It is delicious! When I went back to Toulouse I took James and my dad here, and I obviously went back with Fiona and Agapé friends too!

On the first night we didn't have any tapas (as it was just after the veggie restaurant!) but the second time we decided to go for it!
We had 1 and a half portions of chips each, "boeuf mariné" (marinated beef), a chicken dish which was like chicken korma, and duck hearts!
The chips here are, I think, the best I have ever had. They are cooked in duck fat and are so soft and salty that I could eat them all day. The beef was amazingly tender and well flavoured and the chicken was actually in one of the best curry sauces I've had! The duck hearts were also great although not quite as good as those at Le Picotin.

Gabriel just loves food photos!

I can't recommend Carbet D'Oc highly enough and I miss it so much - I think it was the location of some of my favourite times in Toulouse, and the amazing food and drinks definitely helped contribute to that!

A few photos from other times there:

Another chips picture from one of my and Emma's visits!

On Fiona's birthday

Alex!

When Alex tricked Fiona into drinking some wine that other people had left behind! Hahaha

I've made myself miss Toulouse so much now I might just have to go and book some flights....Sorry work....

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