[J.] We have a big love for food and we love going out from time to time enjoying a fine dining dinner or lunch. I still remember how I thought about it years ago. "Spending so much money for food? For dinner?" - were only some of the few non-believing questions I would have asked.
So, what actually fascinates me so much about fine-dining and why do I have no shame in spending money for great food from time to time? I would say, it is a combination of different things that create three to four hours of perfect entertainment and food:
1) Quite obviously, the food itself is the main part of enjoyment and there are four ways of preparing a dish that is so magical to me.
a) If someone talks about a sandwich with cheese and tomato, everyone can easily imagine how such a sandwich would taste. Right now, while reading this, you can for sure imagine eating such a sandwich, because we eat such sandwiches a lot and we easily remember how it tastes and especially how the combination of cheese and tomato and bread tastes. But when going out for fine dining, it is so likely that various courses bring (at least for me) unknown flavours together. A combination of ingredients you have not eaten before and that's what makes it such a great new experience (and to be honest, for me its magic as I just cannot combine flavours with each other in my head). Do you know for example how great prawns and pineapple are working together and how it would taste like? Or baked peaches and aniseed ? Bingo... And from my own experience, it is always worth trying to get a bit of everything presented on the plate onto the spoon or fork or into your mouth at the same time: So often, the course is the best if you bring all of the ingredients together instead of nibbling at them one after another.
b) The deconstruction and/or recomposition of classic dishes. For example, the classic tomato and mozzarella salad with basil leaves. Now, imagine having it as a clear pre-appetiser drink, different look but totally the same taste!
c) Perfect cooking skills and food execution: I am sure, everyone knows more or less how rubber-like a bad prepared and cooked octopus can be like when chewing on it. But just yesterday, we had a pulpo that was so soft and so well cooked, it just dissolved on our tongues; unbelievable! So, although you know how such a dish would taste like, it is the actually preparation skill of the food ingredients that makes the dish such an enjoyment.
d) The structure of the food ingredients itself in another delight, I would say. If everything on the plate is a mush or pap, the whole course won't feel too appealing while eating it even if it tastes amazing. On the contrary, a dish is much better when you have a bit of everything structure-wise: soft parts, crunchy parts, melting parts and maybe even hot and cold parts at the same time. And so often, without you even noticing it, the chefs generally make sure that a course has different structures to it.
e) The presentation: Not much need to be said about this point, presenting food in a great way makes a course way more fun compared to a plate where everything is just shoved onto. And fine dining restaurants generally simply nail it.
2) In addition, I so enjoy the people working at good restaurants; those you are likely to most interact with: the waiter and waitresses as well as the sommelier.
a) The waiter and waitresses are of course presenting each course to you and are making sure you have everything you need during your lunch/dinner but I also like to think about them as those people who are making sure you are enjoying your time and being entertained. So often, they are witty and funny and just good entertainment, and we generally interact a lot with them over the course of our dinner, asking this and that about the course/food on the plate, other random things and husband tends to make really nice jokes with them. Yesterday at the I Latina, one waiter asked us if we are speaking English or Spanish. We mentioned that estudiamos espanol for two weeks now and that we only understand un pocito. So he was like "Okay! - let me introduce the courses in Spanish and we will see how it goes!" Of course, we were all up for it, had a lot of fun together and really understood more of what he explained to us in Spanish than we thought. And he also taught us some Spanish words, like 'Estuvo delicioso/divino!'. Really nice guy...
b) I do not know a lot about wine and grapes. But what I know is that the skills of a sommelier are the last ingredient to make a course really good. And pairing the wine to the food is something that I would say can separate the really good courses from the outstanding ones. I especially remember one sommelier at the restaurant Rust en Vrede (http://rustenvrede.com/restaurant/) in Stellenbosch, South Africa, with whom we had so much fun (and I like to think of him having had fun with us as well as the wine glasses were always extra full for every course; I seriously cannot recall the food after the seventh course) and who paired the wine so perfectly, for me it was the most outstanding experience during that evening (and the food itself was already more than just an experience). For example, one wine we had for a course that night was so not appealing on a stand-alone basis, smelling and tasting like salty fish water with algae; but when it was paired with the food it was the most delicious combination, way beyond what I could have imagined. Totally fascinating.
Then of course there are other components that contribute to making an evening eating out really worth for me:
3) Good company and great conversations. I believe that food is one of the best occasions to share stories and connect with people. It is so much easier to prepare food, eat and drink and just get the conversation going. And still, how often do I look around me when sitting in a restaurant and I see couples that are silent for most of the time during a dinner. Or they text on their phones. Or frankly, look bored. It is so sad to watch.
4) Relaxing and simply enjoying the evening. I remember my first time at a fine-dining restaurant. Worried about etiquette and behaviour and style and what else. Truth is, for most of the occasions it simply does not matter (however, sometimes it really depends on the location and occasion). The last two times we went out fine dining, I was wearing running shoes because that is the only pair of shoes that I currently have (pairing them with an overall casual outfit). Not even once did the waiter and waitresses blink or gave me the feeling of not being welcome. And indeed, it should not matter in the first place (as long as I am not dressed totally out of line). I am going there to enjoy the food, not other perfectly styled customers. Fact.
And then of course the most important factor: 5) You have to love food. You obviously don't need to be a cook (I am certainly not), but you should love to eat.
So, 'I Latina' - a Latin American restaurant (http://ilatinabuenosaires.com/). It is located around the corner of where we currently live in Buenos Aires, the suburb of Villa Crespo. Based on various information available on the web, the restaurant is run by three siblings from Colombia, but their food draws on influences from all across South America. The tasting menu included seven courses as well as snacks, breadbasket and coffee and we choose to go with the wine pairing for this evening. More information can be found on their web-page, also featuring a lot of lovely food pictures.
We were the first people to arrive that evening. So German, haha! But then, the Argentinian people like to eat late and made their reservation for a later time that evening. Which I liked because we had the whole restaurant for ourselves for a few minutes... The whole atmosphere of this place, the really nice people working there, the open kitchen (would have wished to sit right next to the kitchen in the back of this picture) and lovely decoration made it easy to enjoy the evening. And the food, well... the menu was really well balanced, every course was a super delicious, individual dish in its own and every course met the expectations raised by the previous courses. The wine pairing was also great, and we especially liked that they were all Argentinian wines and no imported ones. Maybe, we will visit this restaurant again before leaving Argentina in some weeks time. Will see, but definitely a recommendation should you be around :)
In the meantime...
1) During this week, I had one of the worst mornings in a long time. Just imagine a morning, where literally everything is going wrong... The day started of with husband and I oversleeping. We were rushing through our morning routine to get out of the house as fast as we can. It was raining heavily and hence, we decided to take the bus instead of walking (no umbrella at hand). While waiting at the bus stand, which was elevated slightly above street level, an emergency vehicle was driving past the bus station at high speed, through a puddle of water which turned out to be one of the biggest right in front of me. I did not expect the splash to be bad at all, because of this elevated bus stand. But it hit me with so much water, I was basically dripping wet. Noooo! After getting out of the bus and on the way to the class room, a kiosk wasn't stocked with cigarettes I felt I really needed being all wet, then my rain coat got caught in a motorbike parked close to the pavement and made me slip badly on the wet surface and if that was not enough yet, the moment I walked through the door of the class room, someone literally slapped the door into my face unintentionally and only missed my nose by a few centimetres. Coffee normally available at the class room was out that day and, because I overslept I did not prepare my homework which I had left for the early morning. Boy, it was not even 9.30 and I was already done with the day.
2) This week, it was six month ago that we left South Africa. And we still miss this country and Johannesburg so much. But I guess, that's a whole different story and for sure deserves its own blog post.
3) Our Spanish is really improving, something that I would have never thought to happen so quickly. We have little day-to-day chats with people we meet in the elevator or at the shopping stores. Or even yesterday with the waiter at the I Latina. So cool to actually see how we are improving! And the whole process of learning this language and how the brain is processing it, is fascinating to me. After a lot of information we were provided with last week and we all understood quickly, there were one or two days at the beginning of this week where we felt like our brains are cramping. Everyone in our class felt like that. I mean this moment, where one is learning something new and the body and/or brain is still in the process of automating it. One knows how things work, in our case some basic grammar rules and words, but during exercises the brain just seems confused of where to find the information, let it be vocabulary or grammar rules. For me, this have been the one or two days where I was constantly using French words I did not even know I would ever remember from school. I have not spoken French for more than 20 years but now and out of the sudden my brain thought it might be a good idea to throw all sorts of French words and expressions at me... Wow.
So, what actually fascinates me so much about fine-dining and why do I have no shame in spending money for great food from time to time? I would say, it is a combination of different things that create three to four hours of perfect entertainment and food:
 |
| Husband and I after some glasses of wine at the I Latina |
a) If someone talks about a sandwich with cheese and tomato, everyone can easily imagine how such a sandwich would taste. Right now, while reading this, you can for sure imagine eating such a sandwich, because we eat such sandwiches a lot and we easily remember how it tastes and especially how the combination of cheese and tomato and bread tastes. But when going out for fine dining, it is so likely that various courses bring (at least for me) unknown flavours together. A combination of ingredients you have not eaten before and that's what makes it such a great new experience (and to be honest, for me its magic as I just cannot combine flavours with each other in my head). Do you know for example how great prawns and pineapple are working together and how it would taste like? Or baked peaches and aniseed ? Bingo... And from my own experience, it is always worth trying to get a bit of everything presented on the plate onto the spoon or fork or into your mouth at the same time: So often, the course is the best if you bring all of the ingredients together instead of nibbling at them one after another.
b) The deconstruction and/or recomposition of classic dishes. For example, the classic tomato and mozzarella salad with basil leaves. Now, imagine having it as a clear pre-appetiser drink, different look but totally the same taste!
c) Perfect cooking skills and food execution: I am sure, everyone knows more or less how rubber-like a bad prepared and cooked octopus can be like when chewing on it. But just yesterday, we had a pulpo that was so soft and so well cooked, it just dissolved on our tongues; unbelievable! So, although you know how such a dish would taste like, it is the actually preparation skill of the food ingredients that makes the dish such an enjoyment.
d) The structure of the food ingredients itself in another delight, I would say. If everything on the plate is a mush or pap, the whole course won't feel too appealing while eating it even if it tastes amazing. On the contrary, a dish is much better when you have a bit of everything structure-wise: soft parts, crunchy parts, melting parts and maybe even hot and cold parts at the same time. And so often, without you even noticing it, the chefs generally make sure that a course has different structures to it.
e) The presentation: Not much need to be said about this point, presenting food in a great way makes a course way more fun compared to a plate where everything is just shoved onto. And fine dining restaurants generally simply nail it.
 |
| Cocktail for starters! |
b) I do not know a lot about wine and grapes. But what I know is that the skills of a sommelier are the last ingredient to make a course really good. And pairing the wine to the food is something that I would say can separate the really good courses from the outstanding ones. I especially remember one sommelier at the restaurant Rust en Vrede (http://rustenvrede.com/restaurant/) in Stellenbosch, South Africa, with whom we had so much fun (and I like to think of him having had fun with us as well as the wine glasses were always extra full for every course; I seriously cannot recall the food after the seventh course) and who paired the wine so perfectly, for me it was the most outstanding experience during that evening (and the food itself was already more than just an experience). For example, one wine we had for a course that night was so not appealing on a stand-alone basis, smelling and tasting like salty fish water with algae; but when it was paired with the food it was the most delicious combination, way beyond what I could have imagined. Totally fascinating.
Then of course there are other components that contribute to making an evening eating out really worth for me:
3) Good company and great conversations. I believe that food is one of the best occasions to share stories and connect with people. It is so much easier to prepare food, eat and drink and just get the conversation going. And still, how often do I look around me when sitting in a restaurant and I see couples that are silent for most of the time during a dinner. Or they text on their phones. Or frankly, look bored. It is so sad to watch.
And then of course the most important factor: 5) You have to love food. You obviously don't need to be a cook (I am certainly not), but you should love to eat.
 |
| I Latina; view of the kitchen from the dining area |
We were the first people to arrive that evening. So German, haha! But then, the Argentinian people like to eat late and made their reservation for a later time that evening. Which I liked because we had the whole restaurant for ourselves for a few minutes... The whole atmosphere of this place, the really nice people working there, the open kitchen (would have wished to sit right next to the kitchen in the back of this picture) and lovely decoration made it easy to enjoy the evening. And the food, well... the menu was really well balanced, every course was a super delicious, individual dish in its own and every course met the expectations raised by the previous courses. The wine pairing was also great, and we especially liked that they were all Argentinian wines and no imported ones. Maybe, we will visit this restaurant again before leaving Argentina in some weeks time. Will see, but definitely a recommendation should you be around :)
1) During this week, I had one of the worst mornings in a long time. Just imagine a morning, where literally everything is going wrong... The day started of with husband and I oversleeping. We were rushing through our morning routine to get out of the house as fast as we can. It was raining heavily and hence, we decided to take the bus instead of walking (no umbrella at hand). While waiting at the bus stand, which was elevated slightly above street level, an emergency vehicle was driving past the bus station at high speed, through a puddle of water which turned out to be one of the biggest right in front of me. I did not expect the splash to be bad at all, because of this elevated bus stand. But it hit me with so much water, I was basically dripping wet. Noooo! After getting out of the bus and on the way to the class room, a kiosk wasn't stocked with cigarettes I felt I really needed being all wet, then my rain coat got caught in a motorbike parked close to the pavement and made me slip badly on the wet surface and if that was not enough yet, the moment I walked through the door of the class room, someone literally slapped the door into my face unintentionally and only missed my nose by a few centimetres. Coffee normally available at the class room was out that day and, because I overslept I did not prepare my homework which I had left for the early morning. Boy, it was not even 9.30 and I was already done with the day.
2) This week, it was six month ago that we left South Africa. And we still miss this country and Johannesburg so much. But I guess, that's a whole different story and for sure deserves its own blog post.
3) Our Spanish is really improving, something that I would have never thought to happen so quickly. We have little day-to-day chats with people we meet in the elevator or at the shopping stores. Or even yesterday with the waiter at the I Latina. So cool to actually see how we are improving! And the whole process of learning this language and how the brain is processing it, is fascinating to me. After a lot of information we were provided with last week and we all understood quickly, there were one or two days at the beginning of this week where we felt like our brains are cramping. Everyone in our class felt like that. I mean this moment, where one is learning something new and the body and/or brain is still in the process of automating it. One knows how things work, in our case some basic grammar rules and words, but during exercises the brain just seems confused of where to find the information, let it be vocabulary or grammar rules. For me, this have been the one or two days where I was constantly using French words I did not even know I would ever remember from school. I have not spoken French for more than 20 years but now and out of the sudden my brain thought it might be a good idea to throw all sorts of French words and expressions at me... Wow.
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