Best Eats of Frankfurt

Today's guest post comes from Kate of Relokate - check out her blog: http://relokate.eu/

Hey there, my name’s Kate and I am a serial expat travelling the world who is currently living in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Today, I want to share with you some of the beat eats of Frankfurt, my current home away from home, and hopefully help you in planning where to eat on your European adventures! 

Margarete 

Maragarete is pretty fancy as restaurants in Frankfurt go. The menu has a vast selection of different foods to eat from typical German to cuisine, to steaks, salads and so much more. I recommend going with a large group, all ordering different foods and enjoying a bite or two of each thing ordered! I highly recommend Grüne sauce (green sauce = a herby, yoghurt sauce of goodness) with boiled egg and bread as your starter meal! After all, Grüne sauce is one of Frankfurt’s signature dishes! 

Helium 

Not only does Helium serve great food, but the atmosphere inside and outside of the restaurant makes you feel instantly drawn to it. Helium is a club in the evening, which means it’s decked out to the nines with disco lights, a full bar and plenty of seating for either a coffee or a full blown lunch meal. I recommend visiting Helium in the summer, sitting outside to enjoy the people watching opportunities and ordering a burger, I can promise you won’t be disappointed! 

Good Times 

This is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE place to go in Frankfurt. Good Times is actually a nickname for the bar and it’s constantly stuck between that name and “Ohne Name” (no name), as the bar quite literally doesn’t have a name. Good times is the kind of place you can go for a coffee meeting with new friends, cocktails with old friends and lunch with just about anybody. Seriously, the food is that good! ‘Good Karma Chicken’ is the sandwich to order on the menu if you want to give your taste buds a little something different and ultimately, be totally satisified. I also highly recommend a ‘real hot chocolate’ which is sent straight from the heavens. 

Souper! 

If sitting in garden chairs covered in plankets or even standing to eat are your thing, then Suppe is for you. Whilst those things do not sound appealing, you definitely shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it! Suppe even has a garden swing you can sit on to enjoy their delicious soups. I highly recommend the Indian Curry Soup, which is the favourite of anyone who has tried it. The wonderful guys at Suppe are there to serve your delicious soup, hand out all the free bread and cheese you could want and all with a wonderful smile on their faces. Suppe is a little bit like Frankfurt’s worst kept secret, so keep this one to yourselves ;). 

For more on the best eats of Frankfurt and to see all the wonderful things Frankfurt has to offer, head over to my city guides.

Duck and Waffle

Back in September, two of my very best friends came up to visit me and to see Martin Freeman in Richard III - which was absolutely excellent! All being big foodies, I took this as my opportunity to rope in a couple of dining partners for Duck and Waffle, who I have been desparate to visit since they opened their doors. So let me talk you through the best meal I've ever eaten...

We started with cocktails overlooking the incredible view that comes with having a restaurant on the 42nd floor of the Heron Tower. I had a Bacon & Caramel Manhattan (’piggy’ bourbon, DWΣ Salted Caramel Liqueur, vermouths – served sweet style), Kat had a Hemingway (Bacardi Superior rum, maraschino liqueur, lime and grapefruit juices – clarified) and Alex had a Duck & Stormy (Gosling’s dark rum, ginger beer – bottled and bagged).

It is recommended at Duck and Waffle to share smaller plates between you in order to experience as many dishes as possible.

We started with a warm Rosemary and Garlic Bread with a lovely chewy crust and a soft, fluffy centre. I could have stayed and eaten this bread alone all night. We would have had a lovely date, this bread and I.

Next was the Spicy Ox Cheek Doughnut with apricot jam and smoked paprika sugar. Cheek is one of my favourite cuts of meat and this did not dissapoint - a light and fluffy savoury doughnut stuffed with melt in the mouth meat, complimented beautifully with the slight spice of the paprika and sweetness of the jam.

 

Next came the Smoked Mozzarella with granola, sage, honey and amalfi lemon. This was the dish of the evening for me. The mozzarella was delightfully creamy and not too rich due to the addition of the lemon, which added a beautiful uplifting fragrance to the dish. The granola gave a lovely crunch and sweetness. It is unlike anything I have eaten before but was so wonderfully balanced in flavour and texture.

What followed was the dish of the night for my two fellow diners - roasted octopus with chorizo, potato, lemon and caper. Octopus is often a gateway seafood for non-seafood lovers, providing a solid and meaty texture (not too fishy). One of go-to home meals is octopus with chorizo, potatoes and green beans. The addition of capers to this dish was a stroke of genius, perhaps I will start adding them to my salads!

We finished our savoury adventure with the classic Duck and Waffle - crispy leg confit, fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup. So simple but so delicious. If you are to visit this restaurant, you cannot leave this dish off your order. The confit leg alone is divine.

We couldn't resist the dessert menu, so I opted for the Orange posset with Aperol granite and pineapple crisp. If you are too full for a rich dessert - this is ideal. The posset was light, creamy and bursting with citrus, the aperol granite was incredibly refreshing and that pineapple crisp was nearly too beautiful to eat... nearly!

We also sampled the pistachio & dark chocolate macaroon sandwich with drunken cherries and crystallised white chocolate - a dessert for anyone wanting their chocolate fix. A work of art to look at and a delight to eat.

All in all, this is probably the best meal I have ever eaten - the food was fantastic, the service was perfection and the location is beyond words. I can't wait for my next visit!

Panko Crusted Tofu with Lemongrass Broth, Noodles and Poached Eggs.

I've had a weekend of solitude and of relaxation, mix that with the return of Masterchef the Professionals and I start cooking - a lot! I had some smoked tofu to use up from earlier in the week and on researching tofu recipes, I came across this interesting Japanese influed recipe frmo Bon Appetit (all recipe credit goes to them, of course). This is a very nourishing and healthy recipe with a lot of interesting flavours and textures. I have changed the text in the recipe a litte bit as well as teh ingredients to match what I had to use on the day.

Panko Crusted Tofu with Lemongrass Broth, Noodles and Poached Eggs.

I have tried to organise this in sequential order for you to follow.

Serves 1 


Radishes and Tofu

• 5 small radishes, trimmed, sliced
• 50ml organic cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 packet of firm tofu - sliced thickly
•  2 tablespoons cornstarch
•  2 large egg whites
• 1/2 box of panko breadcrumbs 
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon  sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• Vegetable oil

• Mix radishes, cider vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt in small bowl. Cover; leave to absorb for 1 hour.
• Stack several layers of paper towels on work surface. Arrange tofu on towels; drain 30 minutes, patting tops dry occasionally.
• Whisk cornstarch and egg whites in shallow dish until cornstarch dissolves. Put panko breadcrumbs into another shallow dish. Mix salt, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder in small bowl.
• Working with 1 piece at a time, sprinkle tofu on both sides with salt mixture. Dip tofu into egg-white mixture, then crumb mixture to coat on all sides. Put to one side.

Lemongrass Broth

Ingredients

• 500ml water
• 1 handful of coarsely chopped cabbage
• 1 large white onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 fresh mushrooms
•  2 large whole lemongrass stalks, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 1 large head of garlic, cut crosswise in half
• 1/3 cup (packed) chopped fresh basil
• 1/3 cup (packed) chopped fresh mint
• 1/3 cup (packed) chopped fresh tarragon

• Combine first 6 ingredients in large pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes.
• Turn off heat under broth. Add basil, mint, and tarragon. Steep for 15 minutes. Strain into another large pot, pressing on solids in strainer. Boil until reduced to enough for cover your portion of noodles. Season with salt and pepper.
  Noodles, Garnishes and Poached Eggs
  • Soba Noodles (enough for one portion - personal preference!)
  • 1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce 
  • 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg
  • Lemongrass Broth
  • 6 Radicchio leaves coursely chopped
  • Cook noodles in large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 4 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water to cool quickly and drain again. Transfer to large bowl; mix in hoisin and oil to coat.
  • Add enough oil to a pan to reach depth of 3/4 inch. H. Fry tofu, 4 pieces at a time, until golden brown and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
  • Bring Lemongrass Broth to simmer in large pot. Add radicchio. Add noodles; simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Poach your egg (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/technique/how-poach-egg)
     Transfer each egg to small bowl. Add broth, noodles, and vegetables.  Top with 2 tofu pieces. Serve pickled radishes and eggs (eggs should be added to soup so yolks will enrich broth).
  
  
  
  
  
  

The Great London Coffee Series - Peloton & Co

Crisp Autumn days with crunchy russet leaves and bright blue skies deserve good coffee and warm jumpers. I used to be unable to drink coffee at all without my heart feeling like it was about to burst through my chest. But after many years of slowly dripping caffiene into my body, I can enjoy the drug of choice for London's workers. A large part of my job is understanding coffee bars and how they integrate into the hospitality business, so naturally my interest in coffee has expanded vastly over the last year - I am even a trained barista! 

 I am now a coffee snob and proud. 

As a result of this, a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a copy of London's Best Coffee's Speciality Coffee Map of London (2nd Edition) via their Facebook page. Their are so many fantastic independent coffee shops in London and without a guide to tell you where they are, you can drown in the number to choose from. 

This weekend, whilst at Old Spitalfields Market, we hit our first map shop - Peloton & Co.

 

Typography geek that I am - I love the logo at Peloton & Co, what a great font! It is half bicycle shop/half coffee bar and is as hip as East London requires. They use their own house blend coffee - Butterworth & Son Espresso and use Goodwood non-homogenised milk to compliment.

I had a Flat White and Rob had a Cortado. As a first test of the coffee map, it was definitely a winner. It was so beautifully smooth and naturally sweet, and gone way too quickly. Even the cortado, with it's bitter kick of strong espresso was delicious. Even the blue Peloton & Co cups were impossible not to fall in love with. 

A must visit for anyone in the Spitalfields area.