As for me, there are a couple of extremely strange features in Rome: despite the fact that it is a fucking beautiful city, it is quite hard to find a good place to eat there. Tourists have trampled all of it.

There’s an even more “strange” feature: all the decent and tasty places are concentrated in one specific rione of Rome, namely Trastevere. Aborigines still live there and even their speech slightly differs from the dialect spoken in Rome. The same situation is with a certain district of Moscow (Zamoskvorechye) and even their names alike, that’s why I’m sort of flipping out.

Oh well, that’s just some rubbish. Trastevere is a beautiful area and if you want to eat, this is the place, just head straight there. It’s also a great place to hang out, especially in the evening, really cool.

Frankly speaking, the place isn’t complicated at all. It’s located right in the center of the residential area, on a square, packed with empire style architecture, crowds of children, old ladies on Aperol, and movies on a huge screen projected right outside at night.

The most expensive pasta is at 18eur, scampi risotto with cream – at 14eur, the rest is within the same price range.

I remember them changing the name a couple of times. I don’t recollect the first one, then there was “Il Galeone”, now it’s called “Il Corsetti”. I guess there had been even more names before I got to know the place.

The restaurant’s perfect for a long, leisurely lunch outside, like really for a proper one: from 12 to 16. This is one of the few places, which are open from the lunchtime and all through the afternoon till five p.m.

Or for a dinner with a bunch of friends who have no burden of extra money on themselves (now there’re many of them); it’ll be tasty, comprehensible, and there’ll be no horror at the exit looking at the check.

Besides, the area is beautiful even in its geographical aspect: there are very few tourists in this part of Trastevere, and it’s full of charm.

Of course, they have some outstanding dishes, the reason I’ve been coming here for years, otherwise why should I even write about it: buffalo ricotta (if there’s one), spaghetti that bear the same name as the restaurant, calamari fritti, risotto with scampi and sweet-creamy pink sauce, and the super hit – spaghetti vongole:

“What do you boil them with??!”

“Just water.”

“I don’t believe you.”

It looks like there’s no sauce, and in your plate notice only parsley and some butter stuck to the pasta. But to my taste it feels like each and every solid pasta up to its kernel has absorbed into itself the entire seafood broth and has done it several times in a row. You can have just plain spaghetti and only afterwards lazily finish vongole. It won’t get any worse!

Do enjoy!

PS: Oh yeah, they also serve pizza in there and when they are carrying, for Christ’s sake, something like “con funghi porcini” across the hall, the smell

Fusion cuisine is really a gamble. «Fusion» claims to be something intriguing and quite unusual, while retaining the right to prove an absolute failure in the end. In general, this type of cuisine has no strict “rules and morals” (c), there’s only one requirement: ingredients should make an ensemble and conform in taste and texture to complement each other, and the ready dishes should be characterized by freshness and lightness.

We also could be characterized by the two just mentioned features on that all-permitting warm Balinese night, and the pleasant semidarkness of the restaurant intensified our desire to take an aperitif. Thanks to negroni with hibiscus and kafir lime, we had all the chances not just to bring this lightness and freshness to the point of «lo maximo», but actually to set it to zero before even beginning the dinner)))

Party on! We ordered a degustation set, variability of which is not fixed and, apparently, each time remains under a sort of shroud of secrecy.

Oh well, anticipation is half of delight. Especially, if it’s accompanied by rose. But, barely had we any chance to take a sip of it, when they brought us amuse-bouche: a finger food triptych, which consisted of octopus, bull tails, and some other meat/fish story. We try it and we like it. One bite’s tastier than another. We look at each other with joy as we understand that we weren’t mistaken about this place. A triumphant sip of wine … and off we go: we get some cunning oysters with cucumber foam, baked corn cobs with something and curry, tuna with coconut panna cotta, a “complicated” octopus, croutons, dumplings. Before the main dish, sorbet was served as a curtsey to all sorts of good manners. Then (to the jubilation of the green devotees) they brought us bull cheeks and a piglet (I have to admit that I personally couldn’t handle the latter one. After all, pork is too much even for such vegan dissidents as I am, but from the virgin cleanness of the plate, flashing on the table, I could tell that the chef didn’t fail here too))))

Ok, and the multi-layered compound-complex deserts were the finishing touch. Mousse was a fantasy about panna cotta/mascarpone with mango pieces and something enveloping/sweet/crispy and it was sprinkled with some fresh/cold crumbs. The second thing was coupling of brownie (??), sauces, gravies and black rice ice cream. Pff… Fusion makes one’s head spin… By the way, the price of this pleasure didn’t produce any sobering effect on us. We had only one bottle of wine (but we did almost finish it (sic!)), the degustation set for two people, aperitif and coffee. All together was around 200 bucks.

P.S: The pictures are rubbish, you have to take my word. Or don’t take it. It’s your loss then))

In comparison to other Thai attractions of the same genre, Hua Hin Night Market doesn’t have any distinctive features except for its peculiar geometrical design: it’s stretched out into one long street and divided in the middle by a crossroad: it’s convenient, you won’t be lost there.

For those who have never visited it, there’s a set of photos of food you can find hanging out there: various incredible shish kebabs at 20 Baht for two skewers, animals’ body parts in strange forms, soups, pad thai, juices, coconuts, peeled fruits, grill of different levels of quality (they infernally overdry it like everywhere in Thai), some not quite understandable stuff, sugar-free delicious sweets, and even hand-painted marzipans at 30 Baht for a box.

Oh well, sounds like some very trivial stuff! Ha! Easily found in any market.

Sure, yet there’s a nuance.

If at the crossroad you look at google maps, and move literally 20 meters towards ATMs, you’ll see this.

And there they’re selling this, and it’s the shit.

They say it’s pork in tamarind sauce, 20 Baht for a stick. Ok, maybe.

I’m not sure what kind of pork it is. Apparently, the trained one like those vegetables in Murakami’s novel, or maybe it’s the sauce, or the old lady, or the coals might be magical. Or all this together.

But the result remains as it is: we have returned there four (sic!) times, grumbling:

“Actually, I don’t eat pork…”

And in embarrassment we would buy one or two skewers each time.

Please, look at this once more.

Do enjoy.

Oh well, yes, I’m perfectly aware that Vietnamese food should be exclusively street food or at most it should be eaten in some really cheap canteens with plastic tablecloths and plates. I do know it, ok?

And almost all the “fashionable/rich” places are no more than a fraud for tourist losers.

Indeed, yet there’s a nuance!

There’s this Vietnamese and slightly French restaurant taking shelter on the second floor of Park Hyatt Saigon, right after the faint beautiful chandeliers. Its design would easily suit a place by Arkady Novikov.

It’s worth taking your time to look for the place.

When I saw Vietnamese spring rolls there (in Vietnam) for the first time, I asked with my mouth open:

“What the hell is this??!”

And I don’t want to hear about any authentic whatever and street food – afterwards I’ve had spring rolls in dozens of places but never again have I come across such a work of art – with transparent lace dough and a heap of perfect basil, which looked as if printed on a 3D printer.

It’s the same story with Pho Bo, when they pour broth upon the finest raw marble beef right from a teapot, making it not at all raw any more. This is a very peculiar experience.

Everything: incredible chicken, crab tempura, juice mixes, curry, grill, and raw bar – is mad tasty.

This is a place for those occasions when you want to go out properly dressed, climb up the fancy stairs past some crystal and take a seat at a table full of crystal, in semi-darkness, and have… your favorite street food beautifully and deliciously served.

The place is for a long dinner, everlasting conversations, Australian and Californian wines, and spicy smells and flavors that have found their way into the luxe from the Neon Saigon streets.

Do enjoy!

One, who doesn’t conceal anything, has nothing to conceal…

Those are some lucky people and there usually no more of them after gastro-marathons. When the obstinate shirring of buttons and zippers echoes the curses of your own vices and excesses, you have to make a choice: either shyly hide all this chic and glory under some appropriate styles of clothing, or follow the thorny path of asceticism and deprivation. Of course, neither was included into my plan))) The idea of giving up desserts was particularly painful))) Especially, because I was on holidays again.

My Russian friends told me about the Secret Spot café as the owners are Russians. This is a colorful little place where you can have a few tasty things, which will produce only a positive effect on both your mood and your figure without any harm for yourself. The assortment isn’t very big, yet there’s plenty to choose from.

There’re two shelves. The first one is some simply good stuff/organic/gluten free. Their carrot cake is legendary, but I had to abstain from it because of the butter and sugar. And! Oh yes, no secrets, there’s a full list of ingredients attached to each dessert, right opposite each name.

The second shelf is vegan/raw/sugar free and this is where I laid my eyes but not exclusively))).

Spot also offers a couple of kinds of frozen yogurt (I try to avoid lactose, but it was clear that this is the purpose of pilgrimage for many people). The full name of the establishment is actually Yogurt Bar Secret Spot.

They also have linseed cereal with coconut water, smoothie bowls with various toppings (fruits, seeds, nuts, chia in coconut milk, homemade granolas to choose (the one with spirulina is awesome). All in all, everything’s as usual yet a little bit better))).

We’ve tried all kinds of raw cakes and cupcakes: with mango, chocolate, lemongrass, berries, tiramisu. We’ve tested a couple of bowls (the green one is a meow). And we bought to go some syrup made of local date fruit. We liked it all very much and it’s highly recommended.

Indeed, we made it through without any losses except for some extra kilograms!

If you suddenly get bored of Thai tourist street food, and «your heart would ask for» ™ something really authentic, for a place where like really no one speaks any English, not even a word, – “I’ve got something for you”.

Chef Chiva Som told us about the place under the pretext of “the excellent pad thai they serve there”.

Like all the decent trash places, this one is open after 18:00, at sunset.

First, you should show the driver this, and he’ll bring you right here. If you’re lucky enough.

“In front of 7-Eleven!” they’re crying.

“Hell, no!” Thai military marketing™ in action: there are two 7-Eleven stores next to each other (WHYYYYY?), and both are packed with the same street food. You need the second one to the left, if you’re facing both stores.

Right in front of it, there’s a cart with the desired pad thai.

They have only one type of pad thai, oh well, actually, two – for 40 and 50 Baht. No one knows what’s the difference, non-Thai language speakers were not found around.

They nod – like they ask us to sit down.

We take a seat at the table. Right behind us there’s a glassy, cold and shining portal of 7-Eleven: we go there to get some water and Japanese sugar-free tea. Believe me, no one there will be upset with you because of bringing outside drinks into the restaurant. They have their own atmosphere there (c).

They serve us something green, meanwhile we’re watching our food being prepared (or it’s someone else’s food): when you see this hissing sea of oil, horrors start to overwhelm you, especially if you’ve been on the Chiva Som’s two-weeks detox and haven’t even seen a salt cellar for a long while.

But… somehow incomprehensibly (probably, they squeeze it out or something?) the final stuff you get on your plate and feel in your mouth doesn’t provoke any negative feelings. Obviously, it’s not dietary food. But when you, for example, are having some fast food burger, you do feel FAAAT enter your body and comfortably settle just around you waist (if you still have it), like some life buoy.

Here, on the contrary, you don’t feel any of that. And if I hadn’t seen the cooking process, but just had got a prepared dish, I’d never have believed it.

It’s tasty. Really good: noodles in slightly tamarind sauce, barely sweet, crispy sprouts, omelet, mussels and shrimps – tasty, if you mix it all together.

The price of 1 Euro makes it even tastier.

People at the next tables were getting some “fried kittens” and fruit frappe. Overall, walking along the food row, Gogol’s writings come to mind: “it’s all eyes and paws, eyes and paws” (c).

Pretty much everything’s in here, you name it: sweet, strange, fish spinning on a motorized grill like on a postmortem carousel, juices, noodles, hell knows what.

Do enjoy, why not?