Just back from a whirl wind trip to the other side of the world and an exhausted palate is the upside of an exhausted body. I’m macaroned out – well not really – but for anyone who’s visited Dubai and starred longingly through the window of one of the many ‘boutique’ macaron-isseries with their monumental structures made entirely of that glorious almondness, you know that you could always manage just one more.  My pick – Laduree, without a doubt. I didn’t make the Parisian shop but the salon at the Dubai Mall was outstanding. A recreated Parisian style tea room with its plush blue padded wing chairs and gold tasseled heavy curtains transports you to France and you don’t even have to close your eyes.

Tapas in Spain and the San Miguel Markets in Madrid especially, wowed me. Pure passion is displayed at each shop in the market and the construction of every individual piece of tapas on offer is a wonder of culinary architecture. I have been asked about my favourite meal of the entire journey and without hesitation the answer is Kokotxa.  We were in San Sebastian (home of more Michelin star restaurants, than anywhere else in the world) and I had heard about Kokotxa – the triangular jaw muscle of the cod – and a specialty of the Basque region.  A little hard to describe but a whole plate of the gelatinous little jewels swimming in a nondescript pale sauce speckled with parsley and not much else arrived at my table.  OMG.  Pure joy.  The people of the Basque region of Spain, I have discovered, are fiercely opposed to chilli, overbearing herbs, spices, flavours, even pepper.  To find pepper in the supermarket is an epic event. But a visit to the San Martin market in San Sebastian is a premeditated self satisfying delight, one of which any die hard foodie can make last well beyond any reasonable shopping schedule.  The freshest of produce, cheeses – Idiazabal the local Basque cheese – yum, rustic breads, all the fishes of the deep blue sea and marvellous glistening meats of all descriptions are all displayed to the their best.

Biarritz, just over the border in France was my hunting ground for pastries.  A holiday destination for the rich and famous or for those who would like to be, I also found a fantastic growers and artisans market oozing with basket feasible items, vegetables, breads, cheeses, meats, jams and the most plump sweet raspberries I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a few!

Dublin and the food scene here is no longer 3 kinds of potatoes on one plate.  It has changed and for the better.  Avoca is a chain of cafe’s that embeds itself in unique positions around Ireland, places that catch the tourist dollars but mostly rural locations.  They provide a standardized menu across all of their cafe’s but it’s a home style and welcoming menu as well as offering an adjoining outlet for their own house made and locally made  pantry items, cakes, breads, great jams and sweets.  Usually with an additional shop carrying the customary tourist snares, Avoca is a very clever establishment, a very clever business idea with a very clever marketing initiative.   I was given an Avoca cookbook which I’m currently working my way through with great delight.  Belfast also has a well established cafe chain called Made in Belfast.  An ethical and environmentally based restaurant, stepping inside is like entering a retro/antique/junk shop where your meal is likely to be served in an old enamel baking dish or on a well used bread board, your chips in an enamel mug or your cocktail in an old jam jar.  The food is generous, inventive and of course, if you are concerned, the animal from which your meat has come, has been treated with the utmost respect and care.

A great find in Yorkshire was Valentines, a wifi cafe, delicatessen, butcher, smallgoods, fromagerie, bottle-o shop tucked away in a backstreet of the little village of Allerton By Water.  Very proudly I was presented with a jar of the 5 rings relish that they have been asked to produce for the Olympic Games, along with some local cheeses, “so when you see the Queen eating her cheese and crackers with relish – that’ll be ours” I was told with a beaming smile.  A very inventive store and such a joy to walk into.  Fruit vinegars and olive oils all presented in 20 litre glass storage jars ready to decant into your own bottle, the brilliant range of ‘teapigs’ a UK based ethical tea company (wish we could get them in Australia – yes – working on it), typical British condiments, curds, butters and loads more spreadables, delicatessen items, cheeses, pork pies, biscuits, pastas and rices, sauces, a small butchery – you know the style –  and an old mini that’s been converted to a mini bar sitting mid shop and gracefully displaying all the local beer and ciders.

Last stop, Malta with a church on every corner and a pastizzi shop in between and on either side.  A little confusion here until we got the knack of it but their famous pastries are known as cheese cakes or pea cakes rather than cheese or pea pastizzis.  Delicious all the same as are their rustic sandwiches otherwise known as hobz biz-zejt, using the traditional wood fired crusty bread smeared with tomato paste and topped with a meld of tuna, capers, onions and olive oil.  The traditional Fenkata is the much loved rabbit stew with spaghetti.  I had mine at one of the many “best rabbit on the island” restaurants which I was quite disappointed with but, had I longer to spend there, would no doubt have tried another at one of the other best rabbit on the island establishments.

So now I have returned with lots of ideas and a minimum of disappointments.  Although we’ve seen a great improvement in the quality and availability of produce in Australia in recent times, we are so far behind the how and why of the local market scene here, it’s quite frustrating. Then again, if Australia was totally like Europe, there’d be no point going OS.  Hope you enjoy the photos.