Eating out - good way to gain weight and lose pounds

ugo.santalucia

I am too good a cook... now even curry is better than at the Indian

pblakeney

ugo.santalucia said:

I am too good a cook... now even curry is better than at the Indian

That is kind of what I was saying. No point in spending £30+ on a steak when it will be no better than I do at home.

mrb123

ugo.santalucia said:

I am too good a cook... now even curry is better than at the Indian

Can you produce an acceptable naan bread?

Cargobike

Being a vegan I eat a relatively limited palate of foods and it's quite easy to fall into the trap of eating variations on the same theme, so lots of Far Eastern foods where vegetables are used far more as the star of the show than in a Western diet.

Therefore, I love to eat out, anything from independent noodle bars, to street food or Michelin starred restaurants. My missus is a real fan of the Michelin chefs and ensures that we eat somewhere at least once a month, quite often more so. Being East Midlands based, this isn't neccessarily the easiest thing as there are a dearth of such eateries in our area, but if time and C-19 allows we'll happily travel a couple of hours or stay somewhere overnight for a quality meal.

We are regulars at Simon Radleys at the Chester Grosvenor, but also enjoy L'enclume and Rogan and Co at Cartmel in the Lake District, expensive, but oh so good. In the past we'd drag friends along too, but in the present circumstances much prefer just to enjoy the food, service and ambience on our own.

We both work long hours, the missus is a doctor, I own a courier/logistics company, so appreciate quality time together with great food and impeccable service.

Having said that we're partial to a good fish 'n' chips, or in my case chips 'n' mushy peas too. It doesn't have to be expensive to float our boats, but it does have to be top notch and there's plenty of places that do cater extremely well for that. There's a fantastic vegan cafe 20 minutes from home which I could eat in every day if it was open, alas, due to health reasons the chef limits his time to a few days a week.

Oddly, the worst meal I can recall was the tasting menu at Heston Blumenthal place, bizarrely uninspiring and very little to fill the belly considering it was a 10 course meal. The local Chinese takeaway did a roaring trade later that night

webboo

ugo.santalucia said:

I am too good a cook... now even curry is better than at the Indian

Somehow I’m doubtful about this.

ugo.santalucia

mrb123 said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I am too good a cook... now even curry is better than at the Indian

Can you produce an acceptable naan bread?

Yes... I use a recipe from Jamie Oliver which you make in a frying pan as opposed to in the oven... it's really good... otherwise I can do pretty good chapati breads, those are even easier

shortfall

Chapatti are easy. Flour and water, knead, roll out and flip to a smoking hot tawa or cast iron pan. With naans it's almost impossible to recreate the restaurant taste because they use a tandoor oven which creates incredible heat and imparts a particular flavour from the coals. I can make passable naans but I'm not kidding myself they're a patch on the real thing.

Ben6899

I cook a lot, but I've found the best way to replicate the authentic naan experience in my front room is to order. A desperate alternative is to put a supermarket one in the oven for three minutes.

If I'm making bread myself, to enjoy with a curry, I'll stick to a simple flatbread and accept it's not quite the real thing.