Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian

Final set of pictures from Spain.

Fried bacalao from Casa Labra at Madrid.

We went to La Bouqueria right after we arrived in Barcelona...

... and stumbled into El Quim. The wild mushroom were quite good.

However, what stole the show were the small cigalas which were still alive on display counter. These little briny jewels were flamed in brandy.

Another notable meal in Barcelona was at Kaiku on the Barceloneta seafront. When in Spain one automatically craves for paella but the truth is that authentic paella is from Valencia and most of the examples you find elsewhere are but lame imitations. The rice dishes at Kaiku are technically arroz but they still did well to quell my paella craving.

Arroz Negro con Sepia - the pearly smoked bomba rice cooked in squid ink is quite tasty.

Fideuà - pasta stewed in stock on a paella pan.

Buying Jamón Ibérico from the famed Jamonissimo.

The next destination is the food paradise of San Sebastian/Donostia. In the first morning we visited the Mercado el Bretxa. Unfortunately we had neither the time nor the kitchen to cook in.

Large cigalas are more pricy than lobsters.

Pintxos at La Cuchara de San Telmo.

Giant scallops with Iberian Bacon - cooked through but not tough at all. The texture of these scallops are markedly different from the Japanese scallops imported here - they were significantly more muscular and robust.

Kokotxas or hake throats in pil-pil sauce might not be for everyone but is a definite winner for me. The sauce is full of natural gelatin.

A massive lobe of foie gras on applesauce - nothing quite like pan fried fresh foie. I wish I had more!

Carrillera (beef cheeks) stewed till fork tender in local Rioja. Yum!

Arrive early if you want to beat the crowd!

Other pintxos at San Sebastian. This is from Bar Goiz Argui just outside the market.

Dionne's breakfast on the left, mine on the right. Mine was a phenomenal combination of ham, hard-cooked egg, roasted pepper, crab in mayonnaise, an anchovy fillet and olive oil. It was the best pintxo bite I had.

I think these were from Bar Gandarias.

And these from A Fuego Negro.

Fried tomato 'soup'. I frankly don't get it.

More bacalao.

Italy: Florence, Venice, Naples

More goodies now from Italy! Unlike many romanticized impressions of Italy, I found that good food isn't as universal as they would like you to think - especially when you are a tourist and not familiar with the language. Rome and Cinque Terre were especially disappointing. Research in advance or regret.

I very much wanted to try a lampredotto (cow's stomach) sandwich from the market but I ended up with boiled brisket. Nevertheless, it is still scrumptious with the piquante sauce that is no slouch in the spice department!

I wanted to try Bistecca Fiorentina so I selected Le Mossacce. I must say I was not too impressed with the steak but the chunky minestrone soup was a hit with Dionne.

The trick in Venice is to venture far away from the well-trodden tourist hot spots. Ai 40 Ladroni is a 10 minutes walk from the main streets in the residential district of Canneregio. Their cuisine made every step of the walk worthwhile. These mussels were cooked to precise second. Reference material for any future mussels.

The Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia is also a success. The pasta absorbed the tasty sauce which, despite its colour, was light on its feet and fresh-tasting. It looked like a crippling portion when it arrived but everyone polished off their plates.

We liked Ai 40 Ladroni so much we returned for dinner the next day. This time I tried the Spaghetti alla Vongole which is also nice but not as sublime as the rendition in cuttlefish ink sauce. We shared a platter of expertly fried fish - prawns, baby squid, whitebait and sardines.

In Venice we also tried their version of tapas called cicchetti at All'Arco.

Baby octopus stuffed with fish roe - this is really good!

I felt like I needed some vegetables in my system and these really hit the spot.

We took a day trip to Naples exclusively for pizza. The original plan was to visit Pompeii but it was so baking hot it would have been suicidal to be out in the open. We made it to Pizzeria Sorbillo just before closing. The Napoli pizza is very different from what we have here. It is cooked very rapidly in the intensely hot oven so the rims are nicely puffed and charred while the dough in the centre remains very soft and chewy. I requested for a magherita with buffalo mozzarella and was surprised at how resilient the cheese was. I would have liked to try more versions to confirm if that is a norm or an anomaly.

France: Nice, Bordeaux and Brittany

Here are some of food photos I collected in my magical summer around Europe.

Summer is the season for strawberries and these from Carrefour as as great as any.

Tomatoes from the Troyes Market - incredibly sweet, juicy and delicate. One of the best tasting things I ever put in my mouth.

Boudin Noir also from the market. It looks quite scary but trust me it's delicious when fried crispy and accompanied with caramelized apples and mashed potatoes. Though I cannot imagine myself tucking into one that is boiled.

We missed out on trying the Soupe de Poission in Marseilles so I followed a Chowhound recommendation to Chez Acchiardo in Nice. The fish soup was awesome - murky and deep brown but bursting with the essence of the sea. Rub a raw garlic over croutons and smear on some rouille and it all comes together vecry nicely.

Nice looked like a nice city to explore if the crowds thinned out a little. I would like to return in future.

One city that I wouldn't return in Bordeaux. Yes, the Place des Quinconces was breathtakingly beautiful at sunset but rest of the city was mind-numbingly boring.

Anyhow the other highlight of Bordeaux was the famous l'Entrecôte chain. My steak, requested saignant, was done perfectly rare and very tender. The lengendary sauce was addictive and the fries hot, crispy and free-flowing. This took care of my steak-frites craving. The picture below shows half of one's steak, the other half is kept warm on a heated platter.

The final stop before returning to Paris is the picturesque coast of Brittany. We visited Saint-Malo, Mont Saint Michel and the fishing village of Cancale. We had the obligatory one dozen oysters at the market. They tasted fine but were a little flabby at this time of the year. Summer is not the time for oysters.

While not the prime time for oysters, summer is definitely the prime time for lobsters! Not wanting to risk paying high prices to dine on inferior produce, I bought the lobster from Vivers de Cancale who supplies Roellinger's les Maison de Bricourt. At any rate, these lobsters are sweet sweet sweet! It needs no sauce for the tomalley (liver) is so creamy you use it as a dip. Just reminiscing it makes me salivate!