Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan restaurant

Restaurant:  Azerbaijan Restaurant

Location:  330 Ballards Lane, North Finchley, London, N12 0EY

Date of visit:  1 June 2012

Time of visit:  8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate:  Mirza ghasemi (Steve), Kashk-e-bademan (Elle), Khoresht gheymeh bademjan (Steve) and chelo kebab sultani (Elle)

When I first moved to London I used to travel the full length of Edgware Road to get into work. Near the southern end, I'd pass a restaurant called "Azeri". When we started this restaurant project, I was satisfied that I knew where we'd go when we got to Azerbaijan on the list.

Truth be told, I thought we'd hit this restaurant about two years ago but the project has taken so much longer than I expected. And, of course, by the time we came to tackling "Azeri" on Edgware Road, it had closed.

So I was getting ready to cook my own Azeri meal, as I was certain this was the only Azeri restaurant in London. But, as luck would have it, a new restaurant - creatively titled "Azerbaijan Resturant" - recently opened in Finchley. So off we went.

I've actually spent some time in the country of Azerbaijan, so have been exposed to the cuisine. It became quickly clear to me that bread and lamb were king. Especially bread. And lamb.

Also I knew it would be difficult to differentiate between food from Azerbaijan and food from Iran. Particularly from northern Iran, and the provinces to the north of the country, which have the same name as their neighbourly country! And this restaurant was no exception - the menu was a mix of Azeri and Persian food.

We arrived just after 8.30pm on a Friday night, and were somewhat surprised to see such a lovely restaurant deserted. We were the only visitors when we arrived, and as we left we were still the only people to visit the restaurant.

The restaurant itself was impeccable inside. The decor was very fresh and clean - you could tell it was a new restaurant. The layout was faultless, and it was generally a very pleasant place to be. This was helped by the very helpful and attentive service we received from the moment we arrived.

The menu had a great selection of hot and cold starters (all mostly vegetarian), a selection of dry and saucy mains, deserts and a decent wine list. All the food items had clear explanations of what they involved.

Despite having visited Azerbaijan, I certainly didn't go into the restaurant knowing what to look for on the menu. So, to the both of us, it was difficult to picture how the starters would come from just the description. So you could say we were ordering blind, but this is part of the fun!

For starters, Elle ordered the Kashk-e-bademan - grilled aubergine, mint, whey and fried onions. I went for the Mirza ghasemi - aubergine, garlic, tomato, eggs and olive oil. When we ordered these, the waiter suggested we also ordered a nan bread to go with them. This made sense when they arrived, as the starters came as a puree on a small plate. The bread, however, was monumental in size! And only £1. It was a very fresh, light, thin nan bread, which was a little crispy, and was ideal for spreading the purees onto.

Elle's starter had a definite but subtle mint taste. That said, there wasn't really any other strong flavour that stood out. It was quite fresh in taste and appearance, with a hint of aubergine and onion.

I was really pleased with my starter. Being a fan of garlic, I was glad to note it was pretty garlicy! It also had a touch of spice, which I didn't expect. The eggs gave it a decent bit of consistency and it all went very well with the bread.

When the mains came, they were instantly impressive. Elle ordered chelo kebab sultani - a skewer of boneless baby chicken and a skewer of minced lamb. The skewers were very generous with the amount of meat on both, and the meat itself tasted wonderful, particularly the chicken. Alongside this was a small bowl of red powder and half a dozen butter sachets. It wasn't clear what she was supposed to do with this, although undoubtedly it was in place of a sauce to go with what was otherwise a rather dry main meal. We still aren't sure what the red powder was. I assumed it was chilli powder at first, but it wasn't really spicy it all. It was more zingy or tangy, almost tomatoey.

I ordered the Khoresht gheymeh bademjan - lamb in tomato, yellow split peas, dried lemon, aubergine and rice. It came as a kind of stew, with a separate plate of white and saffron rice. It had a really intriguing flavour. I was quite surprised at how much the lemon stood out. That said, it wasn't overpowering at all, it just cut through. The lamb was cooked beautifully - the chunks just melted in the mouth. And the sauce, with the split peas, went perfectly. The other large lumps in the meal, which I found out by eating one whole, were whole lemons cooked down to about the size of a tiny egg. All in all, it was very nice, and very filling.

Therefore, as always, there was no room for dessert!

Before all the food came a small plate with a complimentary salad of tomato, cucumber, lettuce, olives and salad cream. 

For drinks, Elle had Diet Coke, and I had a bottle of Bud.

Through the meal, we were serenaded by a selection of Azeri music, which was not intrusive but was definitely scene setting.

When the bill arrived, we noticed that they had failed to add the second of Elle's Diet Coke's to the total, so we pointed this out and just added money, alongside the tip. As we left, the waiter was quick to tell us to come back on a Saturday night for more food and to hear live Azeri music.

From start to finish, I cannot fault this restaurant at all. The decor, the atmosphere, the food and the service were all absolutely spot on. And if that wasn't enough, it was really decently priced, for great quality all round. So it was even more of a mystery that when we left this restaurant, it went back to being empty.

Cost of meal:  £35 (including drinks)

Austria - Tiroler Hut

Restaurant: Tiroler Hut

Location: 27 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 4UH

Date of visit: 22 July 2011

Time of visit: 8pm

Steve and Elle ate: Holzplatte für Zwei

Blink and you'll miss it. Based in a busy part of Notting Hill, this restaurant is one that you could easily miss walking down the street. Access is from a single door at street level, which takes you below ground to a very cosy, and authentic feeling venue.

On this Saturday night the restaurant was particularly busy. On entering from outside we instantly felt the hustle and bustle, which was probably accentuated by the low ceilings, small surroundings and the live music. We were greeted by a very friendly gentleman dressed from head to toe in traditional gear. In fact, the whole experience and atmosphere was very authentic. In seconds we had travelled from a busy Notting Hill street to Tirol.

We were shown to our table, which was the only one available - the restaurant was packed. The service was extremely friendly, with the waiter cracking jokes. 10 out of 10 for effort, for sure. It was also very speedy - our food and drinks orders were taken very quickly, and shortly after that came a plate with a selection of bread and dips.

The plate was quite full, so we were almost certain that this was something that would appear on the bill at the end, despite not asking for it. In the end, we were charged. £3.60. The dips were mustard and horseradish.

The menu itself is a fascinating read. All the meal names are given in German, with English descriptions. There is a wide choice of starters, soups, mains and desserts. If seafood is your thing, though, you might be disappointed with the selection (of two meals). There is also a selection of Hungarian dishes, as the restaurant's owner hails from Hungary.

One thing on the menu jumped out at us straight away. The "Holzplatte für Zwei". If I was allowed to write the description on the menu, it would be "A massive plate of meat, basically".

In fact, it was much more than that. We didn't have to wait long before the waiter came carrying what might as well have been a table top full of meat. I reckon the "für zwei" part of the name relates to the number of days it should take to eat.

The plate consisted of another selection of breads - white, brown and a fruit loaf type - two sausage slices, black pudding, amazingly tender pork, rice, sauerkraut, mashed roast potatoes, gammon, chicken schnitzel, beef and pork belly. It was quite incredible.

What was more incredible is that we pretty much finished it all! The meat was all cooked fantastically. The bread didn't really play a huge part, but it would've been almost shameful to not have something offsetting all that meat. I can't imagine how many calories we consumed from this meal, but the grease left of the plate went some way to telling that story.

Desert was absolutely out of the question. I actually reckon the waiter asked us out of sarcasm.

It was at this point that we were left feeling a little disappointed. Not with the service, or the food, or the restaurant. Disappointed with the fact that it was over. Here we were in a lovely little cosy, packed restaurant, enjoying traditional music and singing, with great food, but now it was over. It was time to leave.

We didn't though. There was a small bar near the entrance/exit, so we relocated there for another couple of drinks. We had a good chat with the barman and another punter there. Later, shortly after the music stopped, the guy that was earlier playing the accordian and singing chatted to us, and told us more about the restaurant. It turns out he was the restaurant owner, and has been for 44 years. He told us about the restaurant, and how well it has done.

The fact that the restaurant has opened almost every day for 44 years, and is still packed out, shows that clearly.

Cost of meal: £42 for two (excluding drinks)

Australia - Jumbucks

Restaurant: Jumbuck's

Location: 24 Shepherd's Bush Green, London, W12 8PH

Date of visit: 26 March 2011

Time of visit: 8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate: Boomer Works Meal with large Aussie Rules pie

When it comes to thinking of an Australian restaurant in London, it's difficult not to instantly think of the Walkabout chain. However, chain restaurants are something I want to try and avoid during this project, as I would imagine authenticity would suffer. However, other than Walkabout, it was surprisingly difficult to track down another restaurant in London that specialised in Australian fare. Even in West London.

In the end, we opted to travel across to Australia's home from home in London - Shepherd's Bush - and to the Jumbucks pie shop. Yes, it's a national brand. But it's not Walkabout.

Jumbucks are well known where they are well known, and not where they're not. That is to say the pies are popular, but they aren't particularly easy to find. The company actually focus on distruting their pies to the likes of bingo halls, pubs and student unions. However, they do have a cafe in their own name in Shepherd's Bush - I believe their only branch.

Jumbuck's specialise in Jaffle pies, which are cooked in specalist Jaffle irons, which is a thing of outback camping origins. Their menu is pretty much made up of individual pies or meal deals.

When we walked in, it was pretty clear that this cafe was a small affair. In fact, it appeared that the main function of the cafe was actually as a takeaway, rather than a dine-in experience. Nonetheless, three tables were available.

All the pies were in a display cabinet at the main counter, with their names. It reminded me a little of a school canteen. On and behind the counter was a large variety of Australian products - sweets, crisps, drinks and other miscellaneous items that would appeal to Australians in London. Prices for these items did seem quite high.

Back to the food, and we both opted for the same thing - the Boomer Works Meal. This consisted of a pie, mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy. We also opted for the same pie, which was the Aussie Rules pie - chunky steak, bacon and cheese.

On first impression when the food arrived was that the pie was indeed quite small (it was a bit difficult to gague when they were all sitting side by side in the display cabinet). That said, the pie was actually quite good. The gravy inside was nice and rich, with a good abundance of steak and cheese sauce. However, there wasn't much sign of the bacon, other than a slight hint in the taste.

The mushy peas were extremely mushy peas. Not something to complain about though. That's just the nature of mushy peas - they're mushy. Moving on, the mashed potato was definitely mashed potato. And it was ok. But I wasn't entirely convinced that it didn't come from a packet of Smash.

Overall though, the meal was very good value, at only £4.15 each. Drinks weren't included, and came in the form of cans or bottles. There was no alcohol on sale.

It's worth noting that the gravy that the meal was served with was suitable for vegetarians. There are two pie options for veggies too.

A couple of downstairs on the night were that the front door was left open during our visit, which left the cafe quite chilly. Many people were coming in an out, so closing it each time wouldn't really have been an option. Also, there was no toilet in the cafe. I didn't think that was permissible for a venue which offers dining facilities, but what do I know?

The restaurant is open late, 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.

It was hardly a la carte dining, but it was a good, hearty, enjoyable and cheap meal

Cost of meal: Under £10 for two, including two soft drinks

Armenia - Erebuni, W2

Restaurant: Erebuni

Location: London Guards Hotel, 36-37 Lancaster Gate, London, W2 3NA

Date of visit: 21 January 2011

Time of visit: 8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate: Karmir bibar (Steve) and mushroom Julienne (Elle) to start, Dolma Echmiadzin style (Steve) and lula-kebab (Elle)

This restaurant is actually in the basement of the London Guards Hotel, and access is through the main hotel entrance, past the reception. After walking down the stairs to the restaurant, we were met straight away by a waitress who took out jackets and led us to a table. One of the first things we noticed was the young male keyboard player by the entrance to the restaurant, playing not traditional Armenian songs, but jazz! Russian TV was on the plasma screen nearby.

The menu is very extensive, with good explanations of all the dishes, including the origins of the dishes. There is a huge selection of cold starters, with a handful of hot starters and soups. The selection of main courses, including seafood dishes, is also impressive.

As for the drinks menu, this is also quite extensive, with a good selection of Georgian wines, flavoured vodkas and relevant beers. I had hoped for a bottle of Armenian lager, but unfortunately out of the list of beers they only had Baltika, a Russian lager, which I opted for. Elle, who was working through a New Year resolution of no alcohol in January, went for the Diet Coke option. And there was no chance of her overdoing it on that, as it was £1.50 per tiny glass bottle.

To the food. which arrived in good time. Unusually I opted for a cold vegetarian starter which consisted of marinated red pepper served with garlic and parsley. The red pepper slices was rather huge, as was the quantity of parsley. In fact the flavour was pretty overpowering, but not at all unpleasant.

Elle's starter was sliced mushrooms in a creamy sauce, topped with cheese. It came in a really small dish, and the portion at first appeared too small. It ended up actually being quite a substantial and very enjoyable course.

The starters came with a serving of six slices of heavy brown bread, with no butter.

Onto the mains. My main course is seen as being one of the traditional Armenian staples, and was their take on dolma - large vine leaves stuffed with minced lamb, rice and herbs, served with a creamy garlic yoghurt. I would go as far as to say this meal was stunning. The lamb meat was of the melt-in-the-mouth variety and the garlic mayonnaise type dressing was gorgeous. Also perched on the side was mesmerising side salad consisting of a structured multi-tomato creation, and a few branches of parsley. The portion was decent, but it left you wanting more simply because it was so enjoyable.

Elle's lula-kebab was as it sounds - a lamb kebab with parsley and onions oosely wrapped in a tortilla bread, served with white rice. Two cucumber-based dipping pots containing a garlic mayonnaise sauce topped this meal off. However, there wasn't a huge amount of sauce leading to a fairly dry meal.

Overall, the service was great, food was excellent and the presentation was especially memorable. Only a few downsides - the lack of beer available, the tiny and pricey bottles of Diet Coke and finding out that we had been charged for the bread that came earlier in the meal, despite not asking for it. Still, that doesn't really take away from what was a great, authentic Armenian meal. Highly recommended

Cost of meal: £45 including drinks

Argentina - El Gaucho, SW7

Restaurant: El Gaucho

Location: 30 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7 3DL

Date of visit: 13 November 2010

Time of visit: 8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate: Chorizos criollos (Steve) and empanadas Argentinas (Elle) to start, Milanesa de carne (Steve) and tira de asado (Elle) for main

We finally managed to get back out on the road for the next restaurant, and Argentina was one of the countries we were looking forward to coming up to early on. The simple reason being, like the Argentinians, we like our meat. And we knew that would be in plenty supply in any Argentinian steakhouse that we visited.

There are a handful of well-known Argentinian chain restaurants in London, which is something I wanted to avoid. One of those is Gaucho. We opted for a restaurant named "El Gaucho", which has nothing to do with the chain. However, there are two related restaurants under this name - one in Chelsea, and one in South Kensington.

We travelled down to the South Kensington restaurant on the tube and arrived to find a very pleasant, but small, "shopfront", with narrow stairs leading underground to the restaurant itself.

Saturday night in Kensington and the small restaurant was pretty packed. Still, the waitress saw us in and to a table. The interior of the restaurant struck me as very wooden, literally. The furniture was made up of large sturdy tables and benches. Oddly, Italian football was being shown in the corner, direct from an Italian TV channel. I suppose picking up Argentinian TV on satellite is a bit tricky in London, but at least something in Spanish surely?!

Time ticked on and it became clear that our waitress was overworked and was slightly distracted from serving us. The time between arriving, ordering, and particularly receiving our drinks, was quite lengthy. It was clear for us to see why this was, but it was still a little disappointing nonetheless.

I like ambiance in any social situation, and while the chatter of the many people in the restaurant was creating that, it bothered me that there was no music being played of any kind. I notice these things.

Unfortunately I had my back to it, but Elle has a good view of the open kitchen which looked right out to the eating area of the restaurant. In fact, to reach the toilet facilities of the restaurant, you more or less need to enter the kitchen to get there!

The drinks came just before the starter. I always try and go for the "local" lager, and in this case it was a bottle of Quilmes. Elle had a glass of Argentinian white wine.

Finally the food arrived, with both our starters being presented to us on a large wooden slab. My large sausage (chorizos criollos) was just lying there rather unceremoniously alongside Elle's chicken pasty (empanadas Argentinas).

I actually really enjoyed the sausage. I'm finding it hard to elaborate on that. It was a big sausage, and it was pretty much as you'd expect a big sausage to be. Elle's starter, however, wasn't quite so straight forward. We had to guess the meat, as it quite clearly wasn't chicken as she had asked for. In the end, we agreed it was beef. So they got the order wrong. Thankfully, Elle has no aversion to eating beef so she just went ahead with it. No complaint was made. We don't like to make a fuss.

Between the time of the starter plates/slab being taken away and the mains arriving, no-one had replaced the cutlery we had used. So we reused. And in true fashion, both the mains arrived on a large slab which pretty much doubled-up as a tabletop.

My main was thin steak deep fried and coated in breadcrumbs, on top of a bed of chips. Elle was presented with a vast array of ribs, again on a base of chips.

I immediately wondered how I was going to manage this. It looked immensely greasy, but then it would be, having been 100% deep fried! And eating it was some going. The steak was very easy to cut and chew, but after a while it did become hard work due to the amount of grease. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the main. Elle also did her best with the ribs, but they were also very greasy, and very fatty. I'm sure she won't mind me saying, but she is particularly fussy when it comes to fatty meat, so I was faced with watching her play around with the ribs to find the meat, and discard the rest.

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience at all, but it was always going to compare directly to our last restaurant outing, which was that amazing experience at the Angolan restaurant in East London. This was a far cry from that.

Cost of meal: £42 approx (without drinks).

Antigua & Barbuda - home cooking

Steve cooked: Pork chops with banana and bacon

Unsurprisingly, despite our best efforts, we could not find a restaurant in London that served genuine Antiguan and Barbudan fare. So it was time once again to turn to the internet for a recipe that was both authentic, and appetising. Unfortunately, it was a little difficult to find a meal that we would both be happy to eat. For instance, it would appear one of the delicacies of this group of Caribbean islands are sliced pig snouts. I am fairly adventurous when it comes to food, especially international cuisine, but I most definitely draw the line above noses of animals.

Then I came across a fair simple recipe for Antiguan pork chops with banana and bacon. I was struck by the simplicity of the meal, and the unusual combination of the aforementioned animal and fruit. So this was to be the one.

Ingredients for this are pork chops (one per person), 1/2 tbsp cumin, salt and pepper to taste, juice of half a lemon, 1 tbsp of butter, 1 large banana, 3 strips of bacon and beer (I used a bottle of Wadworth 6X). You will need skewers for this.

Soften the butter in a dish a combine with the salt, pepper and cumin. Coat the pork chops in this mixture and set aside. Gently fry the bacon briefly, until some of the fat has rendered, the remove and drain. Peel the bananas and cut into inch thick slices. Sprinkle the sliced bananas with lemon juice.

Cut the bacon strips into length just enough to wrap around the banana slices. Then, begin to place the bananas on the skewers, threading through where the bacon slice overlaps. (This was the tricky part. I was awful at it.)

Place the pork chops under a hot grill for 15 minutes, turning once. Then turn the grill down to medium, adding the skewers and grill for another 10 minutes, turning everything a few times during cooking. Baste the meat with the beer during this part of the process too.

The meal is served with rice, although the results in a very dry plate. Still, the pork tasted great with the cumin and beer coating. The bacon and banana experience was interesting. It isn't unpleasant by any means. Texture-wise, it goes together surprisingly well. But it is probably something I wouldn't try again. But no doubt much better than pig snouts.

Angola - Ana'-N'Gola

Restaurant: Ana'-N'Gola

Location: 123 Upton Lane, Upton Park, E7 9LW

Date of visit: 24 April 2010

Time of visit: 8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate: Chicken Muamba (and lots of other complimentary bits and pieces as detailed below!)

For the next meal, Elle and I hit the road again and headed for East London, and what appears to be the only dedicated Angolan restaurant in London. The trip followed a phone conversation with a gentleman who introduced himself to me as "Villa", the owner of the restaurant. After digging online for details of the restaurant, I came across his number and the suggestion to call ahead. We had a short chat on the phone, where he confirmed that the restaurant would most definitely be open on Saturday night, and that we were welcome.

We arrived in the area just before 8.30pm, but were a little late in actually walking into the restaurant due to the parking situation. There just wasn't anywhere to park close to the restaurant. One of the reasons for this appeared to be a nearby South Asian-style wedding, which appeared to have hundreds of guests!

When we did finally reach the restaurant, we were greeted with a small local cafe style environment, with every table full of people eating, chatting and watching live Portuguese football on the big screen. As no one approached us as we stood at the door (the staff seemed fairly rushed off their feet) we searched for a spare table. These were few and far between, although there was one table occupied by a woman who seemed to be "doing the books". She politely moved to allow us to sit down. Just at that, a man knowingly greeted us and gave some kind of universal nod which we knew meant he would be with us as soon as possible. I assumed straight away this was the guy who I had spoken to on the phone.

A few minutes passed, and right enough that same man - who introduced himself as Villa - handed us a couple of menus, and sat beside us to talk. After a welcome to the restaurant and a brief scene setting talk, he talked us through the menu and enquired as to what we liked to eat. After a few minutes, we had settled on a main course of chicken muamba, despite Elle being slightly fussy about chicken on the bone.

While waiting for the meal, we took in some of the atmosphere and, naturally, I took in some of the Portuguese football. A guy on the neighbouring table struck up conversation with us and enquired as to why we were there. In the end, he was extremely friendly and didn't hold back in telling us about his past (he was born in Luanda, to Portuguese parents, and was practically forced out of the country due to war when he was in his early teens).

During this exchange, Villa reappeared with a couple of dishes that did not look like chicken muamba. It was a selection of what looked like crispy pancakes, and it appeared these were "on the house". One of the pancakes was a kind of fish croquette, and the other contained prawns and cheese. We had barely finished these when another couple of plates arrived, containing very generous slices of cold, fresh white fish. We're not big seafood lovers, but these were gorgeous, coated with a good helping of cracked salt and served with a side salad. As we ate these, Villa rejoined us and started to tell us about his restaurant and background.

So by this point we had a good few converations, a couple of starters that we never asked for, and couldn't help wonder what was next! Who would've thought it was the main course? We were presented with a bowl and plate each - the bowl containing a generous portion of chicken muamba, and a plate with a large, gelatinous lump of cassava-based mash/mush, providing the carbohydrate element of the meal. The latter had very little taste, but when eaten with the flavoursome (but completely spiceless) casserole-like muamba was a good accompaniment. The chicken pieces were pretty small, and riddled with tiny bones which made eating a little bit cumbersome. Still, the meal was very enjoyable, if not far too large a task for us, especially after the two starters.

As we were finishing our drinks, Villa reappeared and enthusiastically handed us a couple of small dessert bowls and proclaimed that his wife really wanted us to try this. It was a fairly basic, but very tasty creamed rice-like dessert which, despite pushing our appetites to their very limits, went down very well indeed.

We had barely finished this when two rather large glasses of green liquid appeared on the table. It was a "special" cocktail, according to Villa. After one sip, I could tell it was very special. And even stronger than it was special. But hugely refreshing. I questioned him on the contents, and was told it was a sugar cane rum-based cocktail with fresh lime juice. Elle, although having enjoyed one sip, couldn't enjoy any more as she was the designated driver. So I was forced to have both.

At this point, we started to look back on the evening we just had - we each ordered a main course, and a beer. We got two starters, a main, a desert, a strong cocktail. And a beer. Was our man Villa about to fleece us and charge us for all we were given. Surely this was all too good to be true?

Nope. It was entirely true. Our bill came to less than £20. We were charged for two mains and two beers. Not only did we receive all that food and drink for free, but were at the receiving end of the best service either of us have ever had, and could ever wish for, in a restaurant.

This one is going to take some beating.

Andorra - home cooking

Steve cooked: Trinxat with Catalan spinach salad

When we set out on this mission of visiting restaurants around London for every country in the world, we were well aware of the fact that we are in one of the best cities in the world to do such a thing. Surely there must be some kind of culinary representation for every single country in the world?

But then, when you dig a little deeper, you come to realise how small some of the world's countries are. Sao Tome & Prinicpe. San Marino. Lesoto. Andorra.

We did some digging around to see if we could find any restaurant that would serve Andorran food. Ridiculously I considered Mediterranean restaurants before releasing how how landlocked this tiny nation was, on the Spanish-French border. Eventually we realised it was time for Plan B. Time to get into the kitchen

Well actually, that's not strictly true. It was time to consult our good friend Google to discover just what Andorrans eat. And not being big fans of seafood, this was no mean feat. But time and time again, one dish cropped up and became an obvious option. Trinxat. A national dish consisting of potatoes, cabbage and bacon.

The method didn't look too complicated, and in all honesty the result didn't look like it would be all that interesting, so we also opted for the side dish of Catalan spinach salad to go with it.

It was my (Steve's) duty to don the apron and get to work on the meals, which I duly did on chilly Saturday evening in March.

The ingredients for the trinxat were as follows (to serve 4, or the two of us): 1 green cabbage, 1 lb of ptoatoes, 3 strips of thick bacon, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp of fresh chopped parsley, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Peel and quarter the potatoes, and core and quarter the cabbage. Crush the garlic. Add them to a large pot of salted water and boil them until soft. Drain the pot and return to a low heat to allow the vegetables to stream dry a little. Roughly mash the cabbage and potatoes with the crushed garlic.

Dice the bacon into small cubes and fry it until fairly crispy. Turn up the heat and add the potato, cabbage and garlic mix on top of the bacon. Press into the pan to make a flat cake. Cook a little more under the bottom is browned. If you have a blow torch (seriously)... fire the top of it to brown that too.

Turn over onto a plate, bacon side up, and serve.

Now, when I cook, I start to sweat and swear a little when I have more than two things on the go on the hobs at the same time. This was one of those times, as I had to make the Catalan spinach salad at the same time.

For that, you need a good bit of spinach, olive oil, one garlic clove, a handful of raisins and a handful of pine nuts. Larger hands mean larger portions.

Wash, chop and blanch the spinach (I had to Google that). Heat up the oil and fry the garlic (sliced) until golden, then at the raisins and nuts until the raisins are plump. Place the spinach in a large bowl and top with the raisin/garlic/nut mixture and stir it a little until the spinach wilts a little.

And there you have it. It was actually much more interesting to taste than I originally thought. The trinxat was a really satisifying, tasty meal and the spinach salad was a great accompaniment. Much better than seafood anyway.

Algeria - Casbah-Palmeraie, NW3

Restaurant: Casbah-Palmeraie

Location: 42 Hampstead High Street, Hampstead, NW3 1QE

Date of visit: 27 February 2010

Time of visit: 8:30pm

Steve and Elle ate: Cous cous merguez (Steve) and assorted brochettes (chicken, merguez and lamb - Elle)

After such a long gap between the first and second restaurant visits (the Afghan restaurant was visited in October and the Albanian earlier in the month), we found ourselves tackling our third country within a few weeks. Given our experience of having to return to the Albanian restaurant two weeks in a row after not calling ahead, we exercised the new rule of absolutely calling ahead before committing to traveling to a restaurant! We have been lucky so far in that all three restaurants to date have been fairly local to us. Casbah-Palmeraie, our next restaurant on the list, is just off Hampstead tube station on the Northern line, on which we live.

Immediately outside the restaurant we were greeted with authenticity, with the centre-piece being a large wooden door with a handwritten Arabic sign on it (which probably just said "Push To Open", but it worked for me), large, long windows (showing a bustling, cosy scene indoors) illuminated by small LED lights.

As I pushed the door open (which felt like it was about to fall from its hinges) we were enveloped by sound, smell and atmosphere of something that definitely wasn't London. We were transformed into a bustling but comfortable and inviting North African assembly of diners. We were welcomed by a waiter and shown to a nearby table which, alongside the comfortable traditional seating, was very close to the floor. I wasn't too sure I'd be able to stay in that position for too long (there was an option of more conventional, higher seating) but as the evening wore on it wasn't an issue.

The authentic atmosphere was made even more so with the contrast in temperature between the warm and cosy interior and the icy February night outside. The wafting of incense also helped.

We were presented with hardbound (wood-bound?) menus with a detailed list of all the available options, including details of which ingredients made up each item, and from where in the Maghreb region the dishes came. The Casbah-Palmeraie is not exclusively an Algerian restaurant, but deals with dishes from all five of the Maghreb countries, so Elle and I made an effort to choose dishes that originated in Algeria.

We chose not to have a starter or side dish, although we were presented with some warm bread shortly after arrival. I opted for the Algerian dish of cous cous merguez, and Elle picked the assorted brochettes which was made up of merguez, alongside pieces of grilled chicken and lamb.

The food was presented very well, and came hot and in good portions. The merquez (basically spicy lamb sausage) had a great spice to it, but not too much of a kick. The cous cous was lush and plentiful, and garnished with traditional ingredients. The chicken and lamb were cooked to perfection, and certainly not too fatty.

Bu the time the food came, the lower seating arrangement was actually really quite comfortable, and it was difficult to imagine how we could be more relaxed. And with the attentive and rapid service, there really wasn't much to be said against the overall experience at this restaurant.

As tempting as it would be to come back to the same place when we get to Morocco, Tunisia etc, we highly recommend this gem situation in one of London's finer areas.

Albania - Alba Restaurant, NW6

Restaurant: Alba

Location: 5 Malvern Road, Maida Vale, NW6

Date of visit: 6 February 2010

Time of visit: 9pm

Steve and Elle ate: A selection of meat including chicken, mini kebabs, steaklets and spicy sausages, served with a variety of vegetables including cabbage, tomato, mushrooms and onions topped with a light cream cheese dressing. All served with warm bread.

We continued our A to Z of London restaurants with a visit to Alba (formerly Lisi) in Maida Vale. This being our second attempt at eating there (we failed to book the previous week and were unable to get a table due to a private party) we knew exactly how to get there and where to park. The restaurant has the great advantage of having on-street parking right outside that is free after 7pm.

As we walked into the restaurant we noticed how quiet it was and we ended up with the whole of the downstairs area to ourselves. The dining area was clean and tidy and, although it has more of a 'cafe' feel to it than a restaurant, some authentic music gave it an Albanian feel. Although due to the lack of people in the restaurant, there was a lack ot atmosphere overall.

Shortly after we were seated, a pleasent gentleman came up with a notepad and nodded at us to take our order. This took us by surprised as we had not seen a menu and were not too knowledgable on what to order in an Albanian restuarant. I asked for a menu and he promptly produced one. However he only showed us a small specialities section on the back of the menu and explained what the items were. It consisted of about five or six different meat dishes and he recommended we go for the one particular dish, designed for two people, which included a selection of all the meats from the other dishes. Our confusion at not getting a full menu soon diminished as our meat-loving eyes lit up at the prospect of a huge plate of all our favourite meats. Although vegetarians beware - we are really not sure what, if any, meals would have been available for non-meat eaters.

Whilst we waited for the meal Steve drank a Budwieser and Elle a can of Diet Coke. Both were fine and not too badly priced for a restaurant although we did notice that both had "Part of a multipack - Not to be sold seperately" disclaimer written on them!
The food came after a reasonable wait of around twenty minutes and did not dissapoint. The portion was huge and posed an interesting challenge. The selection of meat and vegetables was fantastic, all cooked perfectly and the bread was a perfect accompainment to the meal. The 'steak pieces' did appear to be 'reformed' rather than cuts but we had no problems with this and still wondered how they could afford to pile up so much meat for us (the meal was approximately £17 without drinks).

Eating so much meat is thirsty work and more Diet Coke and Bud was drafted in. However we noticed that after the food was served we were left well alone and I had to go upstairs to fetch more drinks myself. The staff were very pleasent which made the trek upstairs worth it. After the meat-eating challenge of our lives (some of which was left due to us reaching capacity!) we went upstairs to pay. We had found out earlier that cards were not accepted, or at least cash was preferred (the actual situation wasn't made particularly clear) so we paid with cash.
The total for the meal and drinks was appoximately £25. We were pleased to see no service charge was added however we tipped 10-15% anyway (very much worth it due to the amount of meat on-hand). Very much fed, watered and satisfied, we headed back to the car.

Overall, it was a postive experience and the food made up for any confusion with the menus and slight lack of service. I do feel they are probably much more geared at large parties than small orders but we would recommend a visit for the meat eaters out there. Although veggies should probably call and check their requirements can be catered for in advance .

Good: Fantastic food, great value for money, good location in Maida Vale with free on-street parking (off peak times) and service charge left to our discretion

Bad: Full menu not offered, lacking a little on the service side, credit & debit cards not accepted (or at least particularly welcomed)

Cost of meal: Approx £17 (excluding drinks)