Mimino

In London I was exposed to many different restaurants.  One of the most interesting the the Georgian restaurant, Mimino in the Kensington neighborhood.

For an appetizer I choose the Badrijani, roasted eggplant with walnut sauce.  Pretty good, obviously similar to babaganoush, but it felt more like humus.  The serving was also for a table, not one guy.  I felt full after eating it.  Fortunately I had bread and the entree next

The entree was chanakhi, lamb stew with tomatoes and eggplants.  This wasn't too spicy and had a dominate tomato flavor.  I didn't get much out of the lamb meat, and the eggplants were too mushy to be of any substance.  Nothing tasted bad in the dish, I believe I was hoping for something more exotic.

 

www.mimino.co.uk

 

Nardini's/Toni Macaroni

While dinning at Nardini's of the Toni Macaroni Group in Largs, Scotland I was able to try Haggis.  I was not able to try the traditional meat product stuffed in a sheep's stomach, I did get the meat part.  I liked it, was able to eat all of it, and would do it again.  The only caveat haggis comes with is the limited portion size I desire to consume.  Though I only had a small portion I felt like I was carrying it around with me for a couple of days afterwards.

It was topped with red cabbage and served with mashed potatoes and lamb shanks (I think).  I ate all of it and thought the entire meal was great. This was a perfect meal to fall asleep immediately after.

http://www.nardinis.co.uk/

The restaurant looked like it had gone through a recent makeover and was mostly Italian cuisine.  The other people I dinned with indicated the food was good.

The Commodore

While in Scotland for work I visited The Commodore in Helensburg.  I was pleasantly surprised at the cozy atmosphere and the great food.  Prior to the appetizers we were treated to cracklins, something I was unfamiliar with.  Basically they are fried bits o' pig.  They went great with beer, my only constructive criticism was that I didn't get enough.

http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thecommodorehelensburgh/

As an appetizer I had the French Onion soup.  This tasted good, I ate all of it, but was no different than any other above average french onion soup I've eaten elsewhere.  There was no melted cheese on top of the soup.  The meal was served with toasted cheese bread.  I thought that was a little more useful than the mushy bread that often comes baked into the French Onion soup.

For the entree I had, for the first time, braised pork belly.  The meat has layers of fat it in, but not so much that it interferes with eating.  The fat was cooked enough, or delicate enough that it either melted or digested while you were chewing on it.

 

 

To keep myself warm, I added a portion of red cabbage to my entree.  It was served with white raisins, I wasn't particularly pleased with the addition of raisins to the red cabbage.  But, I also don't really care for raisins in wet food.

 

Overall this was a great pub to eat a warm meal on a rainy night in Scotland.