Kanishka

Wandering down the aggressively hipster/crunchy Lower Main Road, the main stretch of Obs (Observatory), to the east of central Cape Town, we were starting to get nervous. It was dinner time, the boys were exhausted, and yet every restaurant seemed closed. Many until January 7 -- or just three days before we leave to explore the western and eastern Cape (d'oh.) But lo and behold, just north of the KFC and McDo, there was the inappropriately named Timbuktu, an Ethiopian restaurant I had scoped out but had given up finding. It's not at all obviously marked, like most of the other restaurants in this part of town. Ironic that we picked Ethiopian for our first meal (as a family -- i've been here once for work) in SAfrica, and yet had (decent, but not amazing) Ethiopian at the Ramada in Addis Ababa on New Year's Eve, less than 20 hours earlier. But this was better. Dare I say it, probably the best Ethiopian I have ever had outside of the greater DC area. We went all-in and got the "serengaya," the "everything on the menu except lamb" platter built for four. Our eldest son was the trail blazer, trying everything on the plate and providing commentary for his little brothers ("yummy!", "a little spicy...", "try this! try this!") Marisa and I dug in, though she worked a moat around the beautiful berbere spiked kitfo, leaving it all for me. I take that back -- the eldest had that one too, but mixed with the stewed beets. "The meat and the beets get in a fight in your mouth," he said, "and the spicy from the meat loses to the sweet from the beets, but then it comes back, but then it loses again, in that kind of pattern." Couldn't have said it better myself. The stewed collards were fantastic, in my opinion better than anything in DC because the vinegar/acid was upped by a bit. The two younger ones (three and two) were more hesitant, but eventually both found dishes they liked, leaning towards the softer doro wot and all of the lentils. The beef tibs was probably the loser (out of a platter of at least 12 different preparations!), because the pieces were cut a little too big. The berbere was smoky and hot, some of the best I have had. I haven't had Ethiopian in the States (DC or Seattle) in over two years. My last two times were at the aforementioned Ramada, and at the Addis Ababa airport last summer (protip: don't do it.) So maybe I don't remember exactly how good Zenebech at its heyday was. All I know is that our family of five walked home happy, the youngest with a layer of doro wat sauce on his sleeve, the eldest saying "maybe [he doesn't] like Ethiopian, but maybe [he] loves it." $45, including four freshly pressed lemonades and a sparkling water.

Fu-fu -- pounded yam here -- is not at all like dumplings -- it's a two-fist sized lump of pasty manioc/cassava/whatever goop that is flavorless, designed for farmers and laborers who need quick calories to go back out and do what they do. Locals love it, I do not. But you know, differing opinions are perfectly fine. I will sing the praises of Maryland steamed crabs while my lovely wife will silently tell everyone around her Dungeness crabs are superior. Such is taste, I suppose. And I love the brainteaser, but Lome and Rome do not rhyme -- there's an accent missing for the "e" in Lomé (LO-may). It's a nice town, btw, but I've only ever eaten at friends' houses when there, and one random Lebanese fast food joint. I guess that is valuable to mention -- there's a ton of Lebanese influence around these parts.

In case you were wondering: still here! And still eating out regularly. I have come to the sad conclusion that Beninese food is not up there in terms of my world favorites, with a few exceptions. Palm oil tastes unpleasant. The bitterness of local leaves is featured rather than diminished, as is the "goopiness" of okra. And I find the king of local food, igname pilé, aka fu fu, basically awful. I am an adventurous eater, but Benin has been challenging. OK, caveat time. Southern Beninese food is challenging. Mid-Beninese food too. But when you get to the Sahelian north -- voila! The flavors change. Perhaps my favorite place in northern Benin is Le Secret de la Vieille Marmite, in Parakou, a confoundingly organized quasi-buffet style, quasi-fast food style spot. You go to the buffet and point at what you would like, which the staff dishes up onto a plate. They hand you a ticket with a price calculated seemingly out of thin air. You pay, sit, and they deliver the plate to your table, and a few seconds later yet another staff member comes to get your drink order, which you pay for separately. Why so many steps? Why can't I carry my plate to the table myself? Why can't I pay for my drink and food together? These and myriad other questions disappear once you tuck in to your repas. On a week-long trip up north, I ate at La Marmite four times, each time enjoying something different: tender brochettes of mutton with red rice, fried wedges of local cheese with couscous and vegetable sauce, spiced chicken with amiwo, and a grab-bag plate of various items with a vegetable-accented rice dish. I had liberal servings of piment each time, and each preparation of that ubiquitous hot sauce tasted slightly different. Each meal cost about 2500-3000 FCFA ($5-6 dollars), beer included, and service was fast fast fast. Parakou is my least favorite town in northern Benin, a sprawling carrefour with limited local culture, mostly used as a jump-off point for other, more colorful places. But as a trading post, it has OK hotels and decent places to eat. If you find yourself there, La Marmite isn't a bad option for eating at all.

Any more recent recommendations for Cape Town or the Western Cape?

Hi Andy -- In all of your travels, do is there any type of cuisine you consider unjustly ignored or overlooked -- hidden gems, or cuisines not given the adulation deserved?

Ray's Boathouse is great for kids, and on a weekend night it shouldn't be too busy. You're also not far from Lunchbox Laboratory, which is by no means fancy, but was fun when we went a few years ago.

Taylor Gourmet Owner's Vacant Home Is An Extreme Example Of How Renovations Can Become A 'Nightmare' For Neighbors by Martin Austermuhle for the resurrected DCist. I've been late on bills maybe twice in my adult life... and now I see some view paying bills and fines as an option? (see: multiple liens on properties, non-payment of property tax...) This shouldn't affect my views on the food... but it does.

Just back from three weeks in Scotland, split between Edinburgh and the middle of nowhere in Wester Ross. There were many good meals, all had as a family with three small ones. That limited us a bit (kids are hard!) but there was one absolute standout -- lunch at Salt Seafood Kitchen, located in the tiny town of Achiltbuie (gesundheit) in Coigach. Getting there was its own adventure, on single track roads much of the way. But it was well worth it. I had a half dozen of the best oysters I have ever had, a half-pint of incredible sweet "spinies"/squat lobsters, and a smoked mackerel Caesar salad. Marisa had the Cullen Skink (a smoked haddock chowder, essentially) and a hot smoked salmon dish served on crusty bread with feta and a pear compote. She's still thinking abut both, a week later. We were there for lunch and just walked in. It's a tiny place, so at dinner reservations are essential, and we were told dinner preparations are more ambitious -- the lunch menu was mostly simple dishes. All of the fish is brought in fresh the morning of by local fishermen. One note: it's BYOB, with no license. We stuck with soft drinks, but if you want something cold and crisp, there's a small shop in town.

CDG. How in the world is an airport in Paris a food desert? Well, ok, not the entire airport, but the entirety of hall K, which appears to cover all intercontinental flights. We transited CDG today and found hall K to be dismal. A Starbucks. A Prêt-a-Manger. A fancy truffles-and-seafood bar (where I would have been were it not for the three anklebiters.) And a Yo Sushi!, one of those conveyer-belt sushi places. A three-hour layover feels insufficient with three kids under five, so long lines (see: above mentioned Starbucks and Prêt-a-Manger) were rejected. Hence a very fast lunch at Yo Sushi!, where the boys had katsu chicken and the baby decided he loved kiwi. How in the world CDG can't have one decent sit-down airport-quality restaurant, where I can get a mediocre burger and a pint of megabrew is beyond me.

I'm overdue on my write-up of dinner at Michel Sarran (Cliffs notes version: wow that was a lot of food, some very good, some unforgettable, all high quality, why didn't I fast beforehand.) That will have to wait for when I have a bit more time. Today, the family all drove out to the spectacular Rocamadour, two hours north of Toulouse. It's the low low season, meaning the access road wasn't crowded, parking was plentiful, and the town was basically shut down. The very beautiful sanctuary was open, however, which was helpful to burn calories after lunch. We had that lunch at Le Belvédère, in next-door L'Hospitalet. My wife and I both had velouté des legumes and the duck confit (when in the Dordogne... (I didn't see any non-extravagant truffled options)), which with dessert was only 19 euros. Our middle son, who is getting more French the longer we're here, demanded the duck as well ("Me want duck! Me want duck!"). While the velouté was good, I thought the confit was outstanding, with the crispy skin and succulent meat you expect from simply country French cooking. The accompanying duck fat fries were a bit much for me in terms of quantity. My mother-in-law had pumpkin soup with two large hunks of scallop. Though she felt the scallop was a bit over-caramelized, she said the soup was excellent. Our oldest, feeling picky, had a ham and cheese pizza, which he gleefully ate without sharing. The kids ate off of the Menu Enfant, which offered a choice of duck confit or pizza for 9 euros. The only difference I saw between the kid's duck and the adults was the accompanying sauce. If you're making the trek to Rocamadour and want a nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the medieval town and chateau, Le Belvédère seems like a great bet. I suspect that in the high season, reservations are a must.

We've been here a week+ now, and have had multiple wonderful meals. In fact, the only two real disappointments have been non-French. Tripadvisor says Le Rohtang Pass is the best Indian restaurant in town. If so that's pretty awful. We went because they opened earlier than other places and we were famished. We got butter chicken for the boys (comme d'habitude) and one veggie and one meat thali. The sauce on the butter chicken approached something I'd prefer served on ice cream. My chole was cardboard, and the lamb, though tender, was almost as sweet as the chicken. Service was alternately inattentive or extremely rushed. Perhaps most strangely, they tried to get us to go online and cancel our reservation when we came in (though they said they would seat us), with some weird explanation as to why based on fees they pay to their online reservation provider. I get the ins and outs of the business but I'm here to eat, so please don't try to talk me into scamming your service partner. Ugh. (two side notes: 1. The restaurant is actually run/operated by Bangladeshis. At one point, I was having a conversation in three different languages with one person. 2. This is the second time I've been utterly disappointed by Indian food in France, the last time being 15 years ago and for nearly the same reasons.) We popped in to BATbAt (ugh that capitalization) because it was near our apartment and advertised pho. We were craving, and took the plunge. We got a variety of other small sides for the kids and happily, those were quite good. But the pho was not. good. Broth like water -- as if someone had boiled it for maybe 30 minutes or so. Low quality, rubbery meat, with some weird curry spicing that was completely out of place. Contrast that with the pho at Haozai, which was great. Still nothing compared to the great pho options in the DC area, but definitely hit the spot for those of us who live hors du Beltway. But those are the only real lowlights. We've had two awesome lunches at Marché Victor Hugo, one at Le Louchbem and one at Le Magret. I had cassoulet at both and regret nothing. The beans were better at Le Magret, while the duck and sausage within were better at Le Louchebem. Hot tip: you want to eat here, but it is super crowded, especially on the weekend. Show up at 1150, ten minutes before the average Toulousain starts thinking about lunch, however, and you're golden. I also was very French and dropped nine euros on a half dozen oysters and a glass of white Sunday morning at Poissonerrie Bellocq. The oysters were huge, sweet, briny, and *incredibly* fresh. We are staying across the street from the Marché Couvert des Carmes, a smaller and less touristy Marché that still has some awesome stuff. I've been there practically every morning to get fruits, vegetables, and various cheeses. I am currently blanking on the hard cheese the local fromagier told me was "tipiquement de cette region," but it's a wonderful mild, nutty hard cheese that gets better as it approaches room temperature. Tonight: Michel Sarran. Tomorrow: Carcassonne! A très bientôt.

Thanks Don! (though that repetition of "ample" in the last para.... )

... and so are its archives: https://assets.dnainfo.com/message.html And so goes a treasure trove of local journalism, including my own limited and mediocre first attempts to write about food. A no-prize to the person who can find my post about Don on the Wayback Machine. The high point of my public-facing writing "career"!

Two stars. Truth be told, I might just buy a suit while traveling and bring nice shoes. I need a new one anyway. Our meal is towards the end of our trip.

We've reserved a table at Michel Sarran. This will be my first ever experience at a Michelin-starred establishment. It's been quite some time since I've stepped foot into a true fine dining restaurant, and the last time was in Seattle (and thus jeans were perfectly acceptable.) I've got no idea what one wears to such a place. Suit? Tie? Tails? I'm flying blind. Thanks in advance for any advice you might have!

If you're in Benin, you must find your way to the Palaces of Abomey, a UNESCO world heritage site and the ancient capitol of the Fon people. It's a long-ish drive from Cotonou, about 2.5 hours, but it's easy and practically required for those with time to venture north of the coast. Sadly, the town of Abomey has seen better days, clearly having gone from the abode of kings to a mostly run-down, mostly empty village. There's nothing to see beyond the palaces and the one statue, and there's nowhere to eat. Based on two experiences, it's better to dine in neighboring Bohicon, about 30 minutes west of Abomey. You have to turn left at Bohicon to get to Abomey anyway, so why not stop to eat? Today we stopped at La Palmeraie, oddly listed on Facebook as a Lebanese restaurant even though nothing on the menu resembled Lebanese food. It's just before the main carrefour of Bohicon, on your left before the gas station. You'll see a sign for the restaurant, and also a sign for the mysterious Hotel le Tennessee, a place I sadly did not have time to visit. Le Palmeraie is clean, the service is attentive (though meals come out slooooowly), and the bathrooms are great. We were a group of five and were in a hurry, so everyone ordered the tasty, if not very meaty, chicken. I had mine with amiwo, a variation of a dish called pâte in the sense of paste, not pasta. Other varieties of pâte are kind of ehh, but amiwo has spice, salt, and stock to make it a tasty side for simple dishes. It's made of cornmeal, and you can definitely see how it (and frankly, all the other types of pâte) have influenced the cuisine of the American South. With a bit of smashed pepper (piment, never spicy enough) the meal hit the spot. If you're not in the mood for chicken, there were a number of pizzas on the menu, and the wood-fired oven was ready and waiting for an order.

Headed to Toulouse for a needed break in November. The boys will have grandma there to help out and give Mom and Dad a couple date nights. Any recommendations? Price no bar.

Unbelievable... not only have I not written in months, but my initial posts did not include Livingstone, which is as close as you can get to the social center of the world for the expat community in Benin. Perhaps I haven't written because there isn't much to say. The food is... fine. The pizzas are among the best you can get in Benin (not saying much), the burger is so-so, the fish and shrimp dishes are always good. I'm partial to the poisson pané, mainly because I find fried, breaded fish to be one of the world's greatest hot sauce delivery vehicles. At Livingstone, like so many other places in Benin, that hot sauce is piment, a puree of local pepper that comes in green or red. At Livingstone it's pretty hot, and always red. Two notable things about Livingstone. First: everyone knows it. It's a must-visit for the expat crowd, and at any given night you are bound to see someone you know (tonight, for me, a Swiss diplomat, my deputy, and a random American who I didn't know but who said hi when she heard our accents. Yeah, it's that kind of place.) Second, and related to the first, is that the service is always unfailingly kind (if not the speediest). Oh, and a third thing I guess: they have a high chair! One of four I've seen at restaurants in Benin. I'll take it.

One of the roads between Cotonou and the old slave-trading center of Ouidah is the Route des Pêches, an unpaved sand road that starts at the official end of Cotonou, past the Erevan supermarket. The road skirts the ocean, providing a glimpse into the seaside village life that has sustained this part of Benin since la nuit des temps. The road is also dotted with various beach shacks available to rent for a day or a year, and a smattering of restaurants. Romuald Hazoumè is one of Benin's premier living artists. He's also owner of what I would say is the best restaurant (with some caveats) on the Route, Wado (wa-DO), which in the local dialect of Fon I am told means "Come!" Wado is about 3/4 of the way to Ouidah, and the ride there is bumpy but quite fun. Drive down the Route and once you pass the Club du Roi (the King Club, you can't miss it, look out for the illogical collection of miscellaneous flags), watch to your left for a set of beach shacks with tables set up for dining, and a surfboard hung sideways, the name "Wado" painted on it. Take your pick of any number of wooden tables and chairs, handmade and weatherbeaten, sitting in the sand. Take your sandals off and stick your feet in the sand (what, you wore shoes? That's crazy!) Get a cold beer, or a fresh squeezed pineapple juice, and watch the scary, rough surf and the inevitable Lebanese bros braving the insane undertow to catch a good wave. (I'm told, actually, that this is one of the safer stretches of the coast, but the undertow is still scary enough that I don't go in past my knees.) If you've brought kids, break out the beach toys. The menu is short and ordering is easy: get fresh seafood, because Romuald prides himself on the fact that Wado doesn't have a refrigerator and sources all of its meat and fish in the early morning from local providers. This does mean that sometimes what you want (giant prawns, langoustine, etc) may not be available, but it does guarantee your food will be straight out of the sea. I've never had it, but I'm told even the chicken is quite fresh. Order your food, and then wait. Play in the water, or in the sand. Read a book. You'll be waiting a while, because everything is cooked á la minute -- that's the caveat about this otherwise great spot. Waits can stretch to 45 minutes or so, so plan accordingly. If this is a repeat visit or you can track down their ever-changing phone number, you can always call ahead to minimize your wait time, but I'd only advise this after you've been here once or twice and know the menu well. Our go-to dishes at Wado are the fresh fish filet, the fish skewers, the poisson tahitien (basically, a crudo, made in part with coconut milk), and anything involving shrimp or langoustine. The langoustine is pricey at 9,000 FCFA (a little less than $15 at current exchange rates) but is excellent, grilled with garlic and butter and a bit of salt and pepper. Get it with the haricots verts and pommes frites and dine happily, waves crashing in front of you and sand between your toes. For larger groups, you can get a large or small plateau of grilled fish and vegetables. This is basically a large plank of wood covered in fresh seafood and vegetables, with roasted potatoes and frites. It comes in a 30K FCFA and 60K FCFA size. We've never ordered this as we haven't gone in a large enough group of pescaphiles (is that a word?) to warrant it, but I've seen it and it looks like a thing of dreams. Macquarie (pronounced "Ma-KAY"), the manager, highly recommends calling ahead if you're getting a plateau. Romauld has told me Wado was once quite larger, and that unpredictable tides, freak storms (climate change? maybe?), and a weakened Beninese economy have all hurt his business. The environmental issues can't be ignored. According to Romauld, one heavy storm, of the type rarely seen in this part of the world, washed half of his restaurant into the sea. But they are surviving, and I'm always to see a healthy mix of locals and expats when we eat here.

Bukhara has GOT to be one of the single most overrated restaurants in the world. We were severely underwhelmed seven years ago and I am surprised they are still coasting on their incredibly inflated reputation. There are hidden kabob shops in Old Delhi where you can get better food for 1/20 what you pay at Bukhara, easily.

I am trying to remember the name of a truly... unique cheese I had at Dino once, either 2005-2006 or 2010-2013. It was moldy to the extreme, in color more brown than blue, and so funk-filled it was almost spicy. Most cheeses, especially harder ones and blues, are to my liking, but I recall this one coming with a warning about just how crazy it was and to tread with care. The warning was right, this cheese was so spicy and different, in a positive way at first but was only tolerable for a few bites. Does anyone remember this cheese and its name? I believe it was Italian. Believe it or not, I am trying to track down a hunk of it here in Seattle so I can give it a try again. I can still taste it, and want to see if my memory matches reality. Apologies for not scouring the search function; as you can imagine, searching the Dino thread for the keyword "cheese," even if adding the words "funky" and restricting the author to Dean himself, is still a tough slog without a lot of free time.

Tripadvisor consistently ranks Shamiana as one of the top restaurants in Benin. and in Cotonou specifically. They are not wrong, though the competition is hardly fierce. Still, finding an high-quality Indian restaurant in Francophone West Africa was a pleasant and welcome surprise. In general, we have stuck to northwestern and western Indian food here. My eldest has a fondness for the butter chicken, which my spice-challenged wife also gets often enough. If you've got a light diner on your hands portions are large enough to share. The lamb rogan josh is also excellent. Me? I move around, though I love starting with a roasted masala papad, a papadam smothered in garam masala, raw onions, tomatoes, and cilantro. I'm also a fan of their shrimp dishes -- there are three shrimp curries that are wonderful, though it has been a few weeks so forgive me for not remembering the names specifically. The biryani, especially the seafood biryani, is served in a traditional pot topped with baked dough, in the old north Indian way. It's a must have (though maybe for a repeat trip and not your first.) Ive also enjoyed the selection of kabobs, especially Peshawari, and the saag paneer. Shamiana does try to be "pan-Indian." with dosas, idli, vada, etc on the menu. We've only gone as far as the idli so far, which my son enjoyed but I found a bit on the underfermented side. The sambar was good but not sour enough. One peculiarity about Shamiania -- you are asked to provide a spice-level, 1-10, for any dish you order. So in theory you could get butter chicken with a "spice level" of 10, super hot, which just doesn't make sense. I have found this numerical system inconsistent, as some dishes I've asked to be spiced at 9 or 10 are quite easy to take down, while I had a shrimp dish at 7 once that was pretty darn hot. My wife never strays above 2, and the staff will push back on you if you order hot, so be prepared. It took two minutes of convincing -- in Bengali, with the owner's assistant and a co-linguist of mine, no less -- for them to agree to give me something above an 8. Like many random expatriates not connected with the diplomatic or NGO world, I have no idea how Shamiana's owner, Suresh Bhojwani, ended up in Benin. He's a Mumbai native but speaks French quite well (with an Indian accent, which is weird to hear.) He is over-the-top nice and it's not a show. He remembers and cares for his regulars like family, something I have been surprised to not see so much of in some of the lower-quality places in Cotonou. For the visitor, the other nice thing about Shamiana, which is not true everywhere: you can order, communicate, etc, completely in English if you want. I'll spare you geography as roads in Cotonou are barely named and quite confusing at times, but Shamiana is a known hangout for many and very popular so if you want to go, just ask. It is also located on one of the very worst roads in Benin entier, not just in Cotonou, and that is saying something. If you have a low-clearance vehicle, bonne chance. I've seen it done but it isn't easy.

To be fair, I've actually relocated to Benin from Kosovo, via some leave and intensive training in French. So we live in Benin now, and I'm not au courant with dining in Kosovo(which I hear has improved!) The blessing of our third son has meant an extended trip to Seattle, as our employer will not approve of giving birth in Benin. I guess you could say I'm on "paternity" leave, but that doesn't exist in the federal government; I'm burning through my substantial bank of sick leave for the first months of the new boy's life. This brings up a VERY good point relevant to Ray's Boathouse. We're talking a $40 entree, perfectly served Vesper, complimentary valet kind of restaurant. But they had kid's menus for the older two children (complete with crayons) -- they shared a honey-soy glazed chicken breast, broccoli rabe, and roasted potatoes. For $9, and no upsell trying to get us to get two plates when one could be split between the three-year old and one-year old. We also took our one-month old, and they provided a car seat sling. He slept peacefully. Also important to note: our kids were not the only ones at the restaurant, and no one was bothered by the bit of chaos our little guys brought I'm trying to think of a comparable restaurant in DC. Corduroy? The Oval Room? Really I'm not sure. But i'm not sure any such high-end restaurant in the DC area would treat young children so well. Please, please, please correct me if I'm wrong.

We had our Christmas Eve-Eve dinner at Ray's Boathouse. I've found it rarely gets mentioned by those commenting on the Seattle dining "scene," but it really is an institution. They serve classic Pacific NW cuisine -- seafood focused, with some gentle Asian twists. You also can't beat the location, right on the water with a beautiful view of the Puget Sound. They are not cheap, but the food is top-notch delicious. The quality of the seafood is impeccable, and the service is old-school attentive. No tattoo sleeves or giant neck beards were evident at least for our dinner. I had the scallops on squid ink pasta, and though the dish was advertised as having Dungeness crab as an accompaniment, I swear there was as much crab as there were scallops. My wife indulged in the salmon. No description necessary: you are in Seattle. If you are having poor quality salmon you're doing it wrong. Ray's Boathouse isn't cheap, but there is a more affordable cafe option upstairs with similar PNW-inspired cuisine. The one large drawback to Ray's is also it's major plus, that location on the water and far from any of the urban centers. But with Uber ubiquitous in town now, getting to the restaurant (and back) won't take a car rental. Go.

IST If you have the good fortune to be a United pass holder, or you are flying premium class on Star Alliance, run, do not walk, to the business class lounge. A huge variety of excellent food and wine, all free, and a million other ways to pass your time. I was there on about a month ago on a seven-hour layover and relished every minute. This article says it way better than I could: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-s-lintz/12-reasons-why-the-turkis_b_7308256.html