Friday, July 10, 2009

On the way back from Guinea

It is often said that airplane food is terrible.  It most often is.

Unless you fly First or Business class, domestic flights are indeed feeding you badly, and most often you have to pay extra for it.

But one airline does understand that a nice flight includes a nice meal - no matter where you sit.

Air France.

Here is what the tray looked like when it appeared in front of me:

The menu was printed as follows:

Meal Service

Tabbouleh with tuna

Choice of main course
Curried chicken accompanied by rice with raisins
-or-
Filet of barracuda with sorrel and mushrooms, dauphinoise potatoes au gratin

Cheese

Fruit salad

Crème caramel

Coffee and tea

Beverages

Apéritifs
Upon request

Champagne
Jacquart Brut Mosaïque

White Wine
Vin de Pays d’Oc Chardonnay 2008 La Baume

Red Wine
Vin de Pays d’Oc Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 La Baume

Beer
Heineken

Mineral Water

Soft Drinks
Schweppes (Indian Tonic)
Schweppes (Agrum’)
Pepsi
Pepsi Max
7up

Fruit Juice
Fruité

Coffee and Tea
Nescafé

Brandy and Liqueur

This was probably the best meal I’ve ever had on a commercial flight.

Even though the tabbouleh was low on parsely and mostly made of couscous, and the tuna was from a can, it was not bad.  The baracuda was tender and moist, the potatoes were nicely done. The cheese, a camembert from Président, was half-decent, the bread was fresh, the fruits were alright, and the crème caramel was not the worst I’ve ever had.

All in all, a very decent meal.

Which is a good thing, considering the long layover I had at Charles-de-Gaule. Exhausted, I could not sustain myself in the Food Court, which was closed, and could not bring myself to indulge in caviar from one of the Expensive Duty Free Stores in Terminal 2E.

I had the choice between an Illy coffee shop and an Exki outlet.  I hesitated, passing the time reading, playing some games on the courtesy PS3 machines in the terminal or on my own PSP, and even was able to get some micro-sleep. After hesitating, I finally settled for the Belgian chain.

Exki’s philosophy is to serve high-qualiy fast food, “offering natural fresh produducts (sic) at all the times of the day.”  Their motto? “Natural, Fresh, Ready.”

Their fare is simple: salads, sandwiches, soups.  They claim not to use any additives, and some of their products are organic, such as their bread.

I decided to go with something simple, so I picked the Louise from their Vitalis selection , which was only 376 calories: homemade cooked ham and gouda cheese, served with a honey mustard dressing on an organic bread made with Malt.  The bread was of a very good quality, with nice tasty flakes of cereal.  The ham was also very good, nice and thick.  They were a bit cheap on the cheese, and they could have added more honey mustard as the sandwich was a tad dry.  Thankfully, I had a Coca-Cola to help me out.

Even by airport standards, at 9.60 Euros, this was a pricey meal.


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Posted by The Waffle at 22:25:46 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Guinea: The Conakry Food Experiment

I was in Conakry for 8 days at the beginning of July, at the invitation of NDI for a Retraite Politique, ahead of the scheduled Fall election.

I figured I couldn’t blog much while in Guinea, and wouldn’t be able to write about everything. So I decided I would do a photo-blog.

Every picture below is clickable and you can have a closer look at the food. Generally, the Guinean food is either from the sea or spicy. Lots of stews. Generally, they have a plate of hot crushed peppers available to increase the heat.  Perfect. You can also find skewers and all sorts of food stands while wandering the streets of Conakry, as everybody tries to sell some food for a bit of money. But I decided to stick with restaurants, except for the food cooked in the little shack attached to Café Obama.  If you plan a trip to Conakry, you may want to look at this dining guide.

Obviously, French cuisine is very present in Guinea as well as Lebanese. A couple of Chinese and Korean restaurants are there too to serve the workers who came to work in the mining or fishing industries.

Butterfly Fried Half-Chicken, fries and fried plantain, tomato and onion salad.
Thiebou Dienn, a fish stew served with local brown rice and boiled vegetables. 23 000 GNF. Africana

A traditional Guinean musician entertaiting the patrons at the Africana Restaurant.

Hors d’oeuvres served to the participants of the Retraite Politique at the Novotel Ghi in Conakry during the registration.

World Cola. Made in Conakry by Sobragui. Very, very sweet and low carbonation.
More hors d’oeuvres. Note the rounded-off chicken wings.
Flag Spéciale. Bière de luxe. Very popular everywhere in West Africa. Owned by Castel. A pale lager, refreshing with a hint of bitterness.
Skol. Brewed under license by Sobragui, it originates from Bermuda. Not bad - but only if cold.
Sorro.
Seafood Pizza. Late-night snack. A bit salty. 96 000 GNF.
Typical Guinean Fish Stew. Quite spicy. You serve on the rice.
Côté Mer.

Vanilla and Brown sugar cake.
Côté Mer.

A Guiluxe by the sea. The national beer brewed by Sobragui. Smooth. 4 times cheaper than at Sorro. Only 7 000 GNF.

Café Obama.

Garlic Shrimp.
Restaurant Chinois.
Chicken and green onion, sautéed, and served in thin crèpes.
Restaurant Chinois.
Snow Peas and Garlic. Lots of Garlic.
Restaurant Chinois.
Very spicy Beef Skewers.
Restaurant Chinois.

Typical Guinean Beef Stew. You serve on rice.
Côté Mer.

Sponge Raisin Cake with papaya sauce.
Côté Mer.
Grilled Calamari and fries. Nice big pieces, no chewiness.
Café Obama.
Beef skewers with hot sauce. Good meat.

African spicy meatballs. You serve on rice.

Côté Mer.
Chocolate pastry stuffed with cocoa cream.
Côté Mer.
Another lively evening at Café Obama.
Grilled Gambas with plantain chips.
Café Obama.
Fish Balls. Free hors d’oeuvre before the meal.
Le Rocher.
Shrimp Piri Piri. Quite spicy and rich tomato sauce.
Le Rocher.
Avocado vinaigrette. A pool of dressing.
Le Rocher.
Braised Lamb African-style, with rice. Tasty, but bad cut.
Le Rocher.
Korean appetizers, including KimChi, Sesame spinach, Green Onions with chili, etc…
Korean Restaurant.
Slices of pork, coked on a hot plate.
Korean Restaurant.
Sashimi. Raw fish in Guinea. Hmmm…
Korean Restaurant.
Sweet and Sour Spicy Chicken.
Korean Restaurant.
Pork meat assortment (sausages, salted pork, etc..) with boiled potatoes. Côté Jardin Restaurant.
Kibbe. Stuffed with ground beef.

Lebanese deep fried rolls. Stuff with lamb. Very greasy.
Le Cèdre.
Merguez. Very small, very dry, very mild.
Le Cèdre.
Châteaubriand. Flambée. Sautéed mushrooms. Fries. At 37 000 GNF, a fantastic bargain. Very tender meat, great cut.
Le Cèdre.
Lamb roast with mousseline potatoes.

Le Damier.

Posted by The Waffle at 16:43:25 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

On the way to Guinea

So I was invited by NDI to participate in their Retraite Politique in Conakry, Guinea.

They wanted me to give some classes on campaign, share my experiences, hold workshops and participate on a youth panel.

They also wanted me to be available to assist as needed in one-on-one consultations.

I have agreed to go, of course, but since it was a bit last minute, I had to scramble to get the green light from my boss, get the visa, get the vaccines and make all the other arrangements.

But I was happy to go, despite the unstable political situation, and hopefully will be able to help.

To get to Conakry, one doesn’t get a direct flight.  My itinerary was as follows:

Ottawa-Chicago-Brussels-Dakar-Conakry.  19 hours of flying time, plus the layovers.
So my first layover was in O’Hare, where I had 3 hours to grab some lunch before taking off for Europe.

So I picked the O’Hare Bar & Grill - it looked like the most comfortable place to eat around Terminal 3.

O'Hare Bar & Grill

Not knowing what I would face in Guinea, I decided to go for their steak dinner:

A Ceasar Salad, garlic bread, Redskins Mashed potatoes and a 12 oz Sirloin Steak.

The salad was crisp and fresh, not drenched in dressing. The potatoes were actually very tasty, full of flavour.  The bread was kind of bland.   As for the steak, it was not bad, cooked medium-rare as I asked.  It was fairly juicy, but I still ended up adding a bit of HP sauce to help it a little.

It was the most expensive thing on the menu, at 24$ US, but I somehow did not feel cheated at all and left quite satisfied, having chased it down with a couple of beers.

Then it was off to Brussels, were I landed a little bit past 8 am.  The Brussels Airport is quite modern, thanks to an influx of European money, but the Terminal to Africa, Gate T, is a tad bit empty, depleted of boutiques or restaurants.  The only thing available to travellers is a sports bar.  At 8 in the morning, after a sleepless overnight flight over the Atlantic, the possibilities seemed endless.

I love Belgium.  And I figured I would at least grab some breakfast.  A breakfast beer, that is.
And Hoegaarden seemed fully indicated.

Smooth. Creamy.  A touch of sweetness.  The perfect breakfast for a red-eyed traveller.

And hopefully, I’ll sleep somewhere over Africa.

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Posted by The Waffle at 00:04:03 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Art of Breakfast

Last day at our HQ in DC, the Omni Shoreham.  And today, I got to enjoy Robert’s Restaurant’s breakfast, featuring:
At $18.50, its not cheap.  But it is of a very good quality - everything is natural, meaning their meats have not been injected with anti-biotics or hormones, and they offer organic coffee and cage-free eggs.
You can also go A la carte, but why would you? The buffet includes cereal and toast sections, including bagels; fresh fruits, smoked salmon, cured meats, cheeses, oatmeal, waffles, and their hot breakfast section, which today included scrambled eggs (regular or with spinach), home fries, and an extensive selection of meat:  Thick-cut bacon, chicken maple sausages, breakfast sausages and home made corned beef hash.
Never afraid to go all out for my readers, I decided to sample every type of meat offered.
The bacon was indeed thick - and therefore, it was not overdone as is often the case in buffets.
It was not too salty either, a little crispy. Well done.
I’ve never been a big fan of corned beef - too salty.  And this corned hash was no exception, despite cutting the meat with some bread crumbs, it was still a very salty affair.  Just not what I like.
The breakfast sausages were awesome.  Thick, juicy, spicy, they were the highlight of the meat selection.  They were fairly dense too, but they were definitely not dry.
The chicken maple sausage came in the form of a sausage patty.  Unfortunate, as the taste wasn’t bad, but the texture would have been better had the meat been properly encased.  It was also a bit dry.
The potatoes were good - not deep fried, which is good - the red peppers gave them a nice touch, but I would have added more onions.  They could have been a touch crisper too, but still, they were a good side-dish.
As for the scrambled eggs, they were quite creamy and uniform - they must use liquid eggs.  So of course they are cage free eggs, it is really hard to keep liquids in a cage.  The ratio of spinach and tomatoes was just right, and with a bit of black pepper, it was a very honest performance.
The restaurant’s entrance is at the bottom of some stairs opening directly into the lobby, which can get pretty noisy, but it wasn’t too bad, and I got to enjoy my breakfast with the USA Today as a companion.

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Posted by The Waffle at 14:44:27 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, October 31, 2008

Plus près de Paris que nous pensons

We celebrated Gaby`s departure today at lunch, and we were very generous in letting her select the location. 

She decided that we would have lunch at the Métropolitain Brasserie because she is quite a fancy girl.    

Located at 700 Sussex, The Met is a relatively new favourite for politicos, journos and lobbyists of all types. They claim it is at the corner of Les Champs Élysées for marketing purposes, but you are soon reminded of where you are when you look down Rideau Street. The place was opened in 2005 by the owners of The Empire Grill, and has been trying to attract Hillites with specials such as The Hill Hour, from 4pm to 7pm on weekdays, where oysters, jumbo shrimp, mussels and othere appetizers are offered at decent price.  Oysters for instance can be had at 1$ a piece during the HH. 

As it was lobbyists were out in force today.  Folks from Hill and Knowlton and others from Earnscliffe were having a blast dissecting the new cabinet and how they were going to influence them on behalf of their clients.

I was craving a bloody ceasar, and ever since I tried it, I enjoy horseradish in them, so I got them to make me one with some in it.  It was simply great.

To start, we ordered two dozen oysters.  To be precise, we ordered 21 as Kevin only wanted one. The Métropolitain claims to have the largest raw bar in Ottawa.  We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. Today, the Met was offering Malpèques oysters. 

10 millions Malpèques oysters are harvested in P.E.I. every year.  They are certainly one of the finest oysters you can find.  They have a pleaseing appearance, are fairly easy to manipulate and therefore, to enjoy.

I prefer to eat oysters raw (they are actually still alive when you ingest them), and they are a good source of minerals and are low in fat.

The Met serves their oysters with an offering of four different garnishes: a traditional seafood sauce, a lemon mayo, a classic mignonette and horseradish. There is also plenty of lemon served on the platter. If they do not offer, feel free to ask for tabasco if that’s what you like, they always have a bottle handy. 
The oysters were fresh, quite tasty and I could have had more but refrained.

I followed that with their Crispy Duck Confit, served with cranberry chutney, roasted potatoes and greens.  Duck Confit is defintely a french specialiy, from Gascony in fact. It is made with the leg of the bird.  You usually rub the meat with salt, let it cure for 24 to 48 hours, and then you poach it in its own fat.  Yummy!  But yeah, fatty.

I won’t feel too guilty as it was a small leg, and it was very tasty.  The skin was nicely crispy, the roasted potatoes were not extraordinary but firm and well seasoned, the greens were fresh and crispy.  I wasn`t too crazy about the cranberry chutney, though.  I felt it was too acidic and something more earthy would have been a better side to the duck, perhaps apricot or fig chutney.

To accompany our meals, I selected a bottle of Pinot Blanc, a white wine from Alsace.  Contrary to some other alsacian wines, the Pinot Blanc is a softer, less aromatic and not very sweet wine. It is a nice wine, fresh and well balanced. 

Brad picked up Gaby’s meal and the oysters, I picked up the wine, and after tax and tip, I coughed out
90$.  A tad bit pricy for what I had - but I can’t say I’m unhappy about anything I had.

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Posted by The Waffle at 22:20:12 | Permalink | Comments (1) »