Tulips And Stuff

I know I eat at Kemps Corner a lot. My only excuse is that it can quite literally be considered student budget heaven. And with that confession out of the way, I'm going to proceed to write about Tulips, which is oh, I don't know - just another pseudo - italian restaurant, looking to find its place in town.

The thing with Tulips is that they love their herbs; be it basil, cilantro or thyme - they've got it covered.

These are the dishes I attempted to digest:

Basa fillet(s) in Cilantro and Lime

This dish was actually rather decent. The overpowering flavour of cilantro wasn't a put off as much as it was slightly unfortunate. The Basa fillets however, were cooked to perfection. I'm talking melt  in the mouth perfection. The herbed (surprise, surprise!) spaghetti was a pleasant addition. It was light and well seasoned - A little too much pepper though, but who am I to talk? I ordered steak in pepper sauce. But more on that tragedy later. What I found interesting about the combination of the fish and the pasta was that individually, they were both alright (and this may or may not be the north Indian in me who likes to mix everything on the plate talking), but together, they made a pretty good team. One that I'm not going to complain about too much. Then there was the stereotypical side salad, with diced onions, cucumber and bell peppers in lime, salt and pepper. It went pretty well with everything. I won't lie. Even if it was just a clever tactic to cover up the empty edge of the plate because the pale whiteness of it was just too depressing for them to be able to present to their customers who had been waiting for a good half an hour for the plate to show up in the first place. I could swear I developed a mild case of whiplash that day, from turning over and looking at the waiter every few minutes with a  desperately hungry expression on my face. Borderline Puss in Boots. No joke. 

On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this dish a 3, which is honestly based more on the quantity than on the quality, and I get to be biased towards that aspect simply because I was EXTREMELY hungry at the time and the dish served my purpose in that respect. However, the fact that the fish was cooked so wonderfully, that being the highlight of the plate, earns it a few extra brownie points. 

Tenderloin Steak in Pepper sauce

This is where things went beyond wrong. I've actually ordered this steak before. The sauce is delicious, which is an interesting statement for me to make, since not I'm not really one to like anything that's too peppery. This time, however, my "medium rare" steak was burnt - Not just around the edges, but more along the lines of "left it on the grill and went to talk to my girlfriend" burnt. The side salad? Great. The fries? Even better! But what the hell were they thinking with the meat?! On being questioned, the only words the stunned attendant could manage to conjure were, "Ma'am, you said medium rare." So I figured, arguing wasn't going to help me here. I must confess, if you haven't figured already, I'm a complete carnivore, so I LIKE my meat sightly undercooked. Especially when it comes to steak, that partially raw centre is where all the flavour lies. So if you're going to over cook my meat, you might as well do it right and try not to burn it or leave it crunchy enough for me to taste nothing but the char on the curled edges. On a scale of 1 to 5? I'd say it earns about a 1 - and thats for the fries and the salad. As far as the sauce goes,  well let's just say it was better the last time I tried it and leave it at that. In fact, let's just not talk about the steak at all anymore and move on to dessert instead.

Chocolate covered Strawberry

The dessert selection at Tulips was quite intriguing, really. There was an array of pies, pastries and tarts to choose from (The apple pie looked particularly scrumptious), but being a strawberry lover on a student budget, I chose this little dynamite for 25 bucks a pop. Smooth chocolate, fresh strawberries, no complaints. It was awesome. 

So overall, here's what I learnt:

• Tulips didn't really make a spectacular impression on me, personally. 
• I'd say drop by once and experience it for yourself. It isn't horrible. 
• As long as you don't order steak, you're almost good to go. Almost.
• Plating is NOT their forte. 

That's all for now. If you're a foodie or you know anyone who is, feel free to follow this page or share it with your friends. Any form of feedback will also be appreciated. Hope you enjoyed reading. 

Photo credits and dinner companionship: Shivani Gorle

Bizarre Foods - My Top 4

I'm no Andrew Zimmern, but hey, when it comes to bizarre foods, I'm just as intrigued. In my last post, I talked about how one persons everyday meal can be considered outrageous and entirely inedible by another. That is based of course on different cultural backgrounds. But this isn't a lecture on Culture studies. Its really more of an account of the creepiest crawliest, most dangerously disgusting food items around the world. Most people say sushi is the craziest, 'ickiest' food item they've come across. If you're one of them, and you have a weak gag reflex, I would advise you not to scroll down any further.



This is the list of my top 4 'HOLY SHIT' delicacies from around the world -

 Snake Wine

Snakes are believed to possess medicinal qualities. Some people in South east Asia, mainly Vietnam and South Korea, take this information way too literally. Snake wine is consumed on a regular basis by these people - not unlike the way in which we drink regular viper-free wine, without giving it a second thought. The snake, usually venomous is placed in either rice wine, or whole grain alcohol. The ethanol destroys  the venom and the wine retains the essence of the snake itself. Some believe that snake wine can cure anything from short sightedness to rapid hair loss and that it even acts as an aphrodisiac. I know, I know. Holy shit. But there's a LOT more where that came from.

Fried Tarantula

This is something that Mr. Zimmern actually covered on his show. But seriously, look at it. It's a spider the size of the Hulk's fist. Now, fried tarantula is actually not that uncommon in Cambodia. In fact, its quite the regional delicacy. Tarantulas are sold on the streets, like in an Indian fish market, sometimes even as a roadside snack. Apparently, deep frying these creepy little creatures brings out some very amusing flavours. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, this scary little guy had no idea what was coming for him. 

Maggot Cheese

Casu Marzu, or Maggot cheese is an Italian (Sardinian) sheep's milk cheese that is deliberately infested with LIVE MAGGOTS. That's right. It is ideally consumed after the cheese has been processed through the maggots' digestive system. So basically, if I was to do some creative advertising for this foul product, I'd probably sell it as "Cheesy feces." Although ironically enough, this dairy product is considered so grotesque, it's actually illegal to produce and sell it in Italy. So there goes my career in international advertising.

Balut

Two words - Duck Fetus. I know that most of us like our eggs unfertilised (no pun intended), but in the Philippines, they like to have their cake and eat it too. Only in this case, it's not cake, but an incubated duck egg with a growing fetus in it, boiled alive. They claim that the crunch of the developing bones gives the egg a unique texture. Sometimes, chicken eggs are used as a substitute for duck eggs, but given that the latter is slightly bigger and more substantial, it is preferred over the chicken egg. I mean, I understand what they're going for nutritionally, I suppose. But it looks a little unappetising to say the least, as far as the aesthetics are concerned, don't you think? 

This isn't the only creepy culinary stuff in the market, I promise. There's always Rocky Mountain Oysters (Hint: They're not really oysters), Blood pudding and Haggis, but these are the food items that I found the most cringe - inducingly amusing. 

I sincerely hope you didn't discover this page right before dinner. 

Salmonicious

Food photography is not my forte - not even close. But when you look at even a shoddy old cell phone photo that I took of this delicious spread of smoked salmon on a toasted bagel - bed, your mouth will water. Its inevitable, so don't bother trying to fight it. 

Cafe Moshes Smoked Salmon, Dill, Chive Cream Cheese on Toasted Bagel

I stopped over at Moshes (Kemps corner) today, as a post - college food venture. When I saw this item on the menu, I was expecting a bagel covered in flaky hot-smoked COOKED salmon, but to my surprise and somewhat delight, this is what they presented me with.

Now, I'm aware that cold smoked salmon is treated almost like a delicacy in India. Not because of any high demand - short supply problems, but its really more of what people like to call an 'acquired taste.' 

I'll tell you one thing though. That's absolute rubbish. 

We live in a culture that likes its meat cooked right down to the centre. The idea of introducing our taste buds to anything out of the ordinary is not exactly... ordinary. It's not the culture that is to blame, though. People who travel and get around will understand that what one might consider as completely inedible, may be another culture's native cuisine; and while we're sticking to our chicken curry and rice, because of its familiarity, we're missing out on so many different dimensions of flavour and texture.

Anyway, back to the smoked salmon. All that salty, melt-in-the-mouth meat, finely sliced and placed on an almost perfectly toasted bagel (I say almost, because it wasn't toasted consistently enough for my taste) layered with seasoned cream cheese. Its like an explosion of flavour. Especially with the side salad - Nothing exotic. Just some iceberg lettuce in a vinaigrette dressing, that makes you subconsciously compare the two different flavours on your tongue and say "Well that's definitely an interesting twist." I have to be honest. It exceeded my expectations.  Now its got my stamp of approval, which might not mean anything now, but hopefully someday soon, it will. 

The bagel was filling enough and was followed by my usual dessert order - The Baked Philly cheesecake. Smooth, fluffy, creamy and incredibly heavy - I wonder how they get it right every single time. But more on that later. For now, I'll let you crave the smoked salmon on that bagel. We don't want to get too overwhelmed now, do we?