6 minute read
A taste of Europe
Europe is the perfect place for unique gastronomic delights and experiences.
ITALY – SNUFFLING FOR TRUFFLES
One of Italy’s great seasonal food events is the autumn white truffle season. This is when the landscape around the historic towns of Alba and Asti in Piedmont comes alive with truffle hunters and their keen-nosed hounds searching for the prized Tuber Magnatum Pico. This is one of the world’s most expensive food items costing as high as €4,500 per kilo. The range of truffle-related activities include the Fiera del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba (Alba Truffle Fair), truffle hunting excursions, and restaurant visits to experience the unique taste of the white truffle shaved raw over scrambled eggs or a simple pasta dish.
Truffle hunter and truffle hounds.
Photo: Andrew Marshall
GERMANY – DINE WITH A DIFFERENCE
For a unique dining experience in Berlin, reserve a table at the unsicht-Bar (unsicht-bar.de). Blind waiters lead you through the pitch-black dining room to your table and explain the placing of utensils using a clock analogy, (for example the spoons are located at 12 o’clock) so that you can eat in the dark. The theory behind the concept is that by voluntarily abandoning your vision, you will be able to experience what wonderful work your other senses are capable of.
For an unforgettable dining experience reserve a table at the Unsicht-Bar literally meaning ‘blind restaurant.’
Photo: Paul Marshall
ENGLAND – SUGAR & SPICE
The picturesque village of Pateley Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales is home to the Oldest Sweet Shop in England (oldestsweetshop. co.uk) and, in fact, the world, according to the Guinness World Records book. Inside, the shelves are packed with row upon row of glass jars bursting with over 200 kinds of brightly colored confectionary, and on the wooden countertop are the traditional Avery scales used to measure the sweets into paper bags. “It started out as a general store in 1827 selling items such as milk, bread, eggs and sweets and has been trading continuously ever since,” says the confectioner, Keith Tordoff.
Window display- The Oldest Sweet Shop In England.
Photo: Andrew Marshall
NORTHERN IRELAND – TAKE A WHISKEY TOUR
Amid the green fields on Northern Ireland’s County Antrim coast near the world famous Giant’s Causeway, where the winds blow, and the water is clean and pure, is a small town that is home to Old Bushmills (bushmills.com), the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world, established in 1608. Take a tour to learn more about the whiskey-making process—one that takes malted barley grinds it up into a mash with water and then distills it before putting it in casks to mature. The tour finishes with the best bit—a taste test in the distillery bar. No Northern Ireland whiskey experience is complete without a visit to a local pub or two, and well worth a visit is the Bushmills Inn. There you can enjoy a glass of 25-year-old Bushmills Malt from the inn’s private cask by the cozy glow of an open turf fire. Other good watering holes in the village include The Scotch House Bushmills, The Bush House, and Distillers Arms.
Serving a whiskey inside the Bushmills Inn.
Photo: Paul Marshall
SWEDEN – HISTORIC DINING
Den Gyldene Freden (gyldenefreden.se), or “The Golden Peace,” situated in the heart of Stockholm’s old town, is one of Sweden’s most historic restaurants and has been open continuously since 1722. Consisting of three cellar dining rooms, each with their own ambiance, and on three different levels, the building is owned by the Swedish Academy, and members have dinner there every Thursday night. The environment is matched by the food, where a selection of imaginative modern dishes is blended with traditional Swedish cooking, including such classics as husets sill (assorted herring of the house) and viltkötbular med gräddsås och lingon (meatballs of game with cream sauce and lingonberries).
SCOTLAND – THE SMOKIE TRAIL
The seaside town of Arbroath on the Angus coast is home to one of Scotland’s most famous regional delicacies—the Arbroath Smokie. The traditional method of making this, still in use today, involves curing freshly caught haddock in salt and then hanging it in pairs in a special barrel containing a hardwood fire to smoke for up to an hour. Take a stroll through the huddled cottages of the “Fit o’ the Toon” district to visit the traditional producers, buy a Smokie or two, and enjoy their unique savory flavor down by the harbor.
An Arbroath Smokie seller shows off his produce
Photo: Paul Marshall
FRANCE – CHAMPAGNE TASTING
Lying some 100 kilometers northeast of Paris is the historical province of Champagne-Ardenne, best known for its production of the world’s most famous sparkling wine. Here you can explore the Route Touristique du Champagne—600 kilometers of signposted roads that meander through the principal wine-growing areas and main champagne centers of Épernay and Reims.
This is home to famous champagne houses such as Moët & Chandon and Mercier, many of which offer informative tours and tastings. Six kilometers from Épernay is the picturesque village of Hautvillers, where Dom Pérignon, cellar master at the Benedictine Abbey, contributed to the development of champagne centuries ago. In the wooded hills around Verzy is Le Perching Bar (perchinglife.com), the world’s first champagne bar in the trees.
IRELAND – ENJOYING A PINT
The Palace Bar (thepalacebardublin.com) established in 1823, is the perfect example of a traditional Dublin pub. Step into the beautiful snug with its mirrors and wooden niches of Victorian mahogany in which many a historic meeting has taken place, or the back room with its high ceiling and ornate stained glass where literary stock used to gather. Writers Flann O’Brien and Patrick Kavanagh were once regulars, and the Palace Bar became one of Dublin’s great literary pubs. Other classic pubs for a pint include O’Neill’s (oneillspubdublin.com), Long Hall, Temple Bar (thetemplebarpub.com) and Mulligans (mulligans.ie).
The Palace Bar.
Photo: Paul Marshall
BELGIUM – GORGING ON CHOCOLATES
The Mayans may have invented it, but one country that is synonymous with chocolate is Belgium. Many connoisseurs consider the nation’s specialty—bonbons or pralines—to be the world’s best. Anyone strolling around the heart of Brussels or the medieval city of Bruges can’t fail to notice the magical interaction between their romantic histories, the scattering of numerous chocolate stores and the pure artisanal character of the old and new generation of chocolatiers. Top chocolate shop picks include Pierre Marcoloni (marcolini.be), Wittamer (wittamer.com) and Mary (mary.be) in Brussels, and the Chocolate Line (thechocolateline.be) and Chocolaterie Sukerbuyc (sukerbuyc.be) in Bruges.
Filling chocolates during a chocolate making demonstration at Choco-Story, Bruges.
Photo: Karin Rikkonen
ENGLAND – CHEESE, GLORIOUS CHEESE
If you’re a cheese aficionado and find yourself in the north of England, don’t miss the award-winning Courtyard Dairy (thecourtyarddairy.co.uk) in Settle, run by Andy Swinscoe, Cheesemonger of the Year at the World Cheese Awards. His mantra is to select and sell the best cheese available locally and in other parts of the UK and France, and by doing so, champion independent farmhouse cheese makers. This specialist cheese shop stocks a range of unusual and exquisite artisan cheeses, like the tangy Dale End Cheddar from Botton Creamery near Whitby, and the cloth-bound Richard III Wensleydale made to a traditional pre-war recipe by Andy Ridley in Richmond. The cheese is given Andy’s magical touch of special aging and maturing (affinage), learned first-hand from working for some of the most famous cheesemongers of France and England.
Andy Swinscoe cuts some cheese inside The Courtyard Dairy in Settle.
Photo: Kate Moseley
