Offbeat Eats

Back in January, right before we left for our winter vacation, we met up with friends of ours from the FOM for an outing to a place that’s long been on my radar, Dragon 88 in Boylston, MA. As you can read in my older review of House of Wu in Road Island, I’ve got a soft spot for old-school, New England-style Chinese food, which has had a good century of divergence from the food eaten in China, and even had a fair bit of divergence from West Coast Chinese places as well. Dragon 88 in Boylston is one of the better-regarded “old school” Chinese places, known for good, classic “New England Chinese” food, a reasonably good modern “authentic” menu, and, perhaps most importantly, particularly good (and strong) house Mai Tais. So we decided to meet up and give the place a try.

Si Aku Ramen A recent trip to Montpelier to visit Barr Hill to have some cocktails with friends ended up with our taking the back way through Barre, VT to get home, and hoping to pick up some dinner while in town. When we first moved here, Barre was a bit of a food desert, but over the years it’s sprouted more than a few decent eateries like Cornerstone Pub and Kitchen. But this time, I figured it was finally a chance to check out a rarity in the region: a ramen joint, Si Aku Ramen. Si Aku Ramen Interior Located right on Barre’s Main Street next to the cinema, Si Aku Ramen opened up back in 2018 as a combined ramen and Asian grocery store, but walking in, you can see that the “grocery” side of the business has faded (I would guess this happened during the Pandemic). But they maintain a takeout counter, a modest dining area, and a good selection of Japanese, Thai, Filipino, and other assorted Asian cuisine specials. But, true to their name, you can pretty much always count on the menu having at least classic pork belly tonkatsu ramen, phở, and a few other basic Asian soup dishes, and the occasional dumplings. Pork Belly Tonkatsu Ramen Since the place nominally is a ramen shop (having ramen right in the title), we both decided to get the tonkatsu ramen. Starting with the most important ingredient (ramen is really more about the broth than the noodles), this was a good, thick, and flavorful tonkatsu broth with a lot of body too it, without being too greasy. The noodles themselves were well-above your average “ramen” noodles, with a particularly good tooth to them. Some fresh carrot and sprouts were a good touch, and the soft-boiled egg decent (but the yolk a bit firmer than I like in a ramen). The pork? I always like this really delicately simmered, and the version here was a bit firmer than that, but still decent. Overall, however, a good, solid, and enjoyable bowl of ramen. And it’s one of the more unique and enjoyable places I’ve found in Barre, with a friendly staff. It is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the greater Barre/Montpelier area.

As I mentioned a few months ago in my review of the Community Supper at the Union Episcopal Church in Claremont, NH, I’ve been trying to make it to more of the various community meals that spring up around the area. Harvest suppers. Fire department fund raisers. Non-profit fundraisers. That sort of thing. And that brings me to an event I had seen advertised a handful of times, a monthly community breakfast run by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Forest Lodge #69 Breakfast. Held the third Sunday of each month from 8:00 to 11:00 am, the breakfast is served buffet-style, with scrambled eggs, eggs and omelettes to order, blueberry and plain pancakes, biscuits and sausage gravy, corned beef hash, homemade brown beans, homefries, bacon, sausage, fresh-carved ham, and various beverages. Oh, and they use real maple syrup.

Our last dinner in Lisbon was at a place scoped out by my sister-in-law: A Conzinha Sr. Lisboa. Located a block east of Avenida da Liberdade, A Conzinha Sr. Lisboa (The name means, approximately, “The Kitchen of Mr Lisbon”, the nickname of the executive chef), this was a great choice for a final meal in Portugal, since the menu focuses entirely on traditional Portuguese recipes made with modern, local ingredients.

After a morning of checking out churches and panoramic views (and an aborted attempt at Castelo São Jorge due to unusually heavy crowds), we decided it would be good to seek out a light lunch, and this was a perfect opportunity to drop down into the Baixa and check out one of it’s venerable institutions, Restaurante Nova Pombalina.

Our third full day in Lisbon involved a trek up to visit Igreja da Graça, one of Libson’s oldest churches and convents, which sits atop one of the city’s tallest hills (and, coincidentally, has an extremely nice rooftop terrace for viewing the city). Before heading up there, we stopped for breakfast, settling on a small place we had encountered a few times before: Hello Kristof.

Our third day in Lisbon was mostly spent visiting the Gulbenkian Museum, which has both classical and modern art wings, and one of the better collections of Rembrandt, Monet, Rubens, Manet, Renoir, and Degas. Between doing the classical wing and the modern art wing, we decided to break for lunch, and head to the nearby El Corte Ingles (a chain of Spanish department stores) to check out their food court on the top floor. It’s an impressive food court, with a selection of Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, and Brazilian restaurants around a central seating court. After reviewing several of the menus, we settled on the Brazilian place, Jacaré.

While much of our dining in Portugal focused on Portuguese cuisine, there was one particular ethnic cuisine I was looking to experience, and knew we could find several examples of in Lisbon: Goan Cuisine. Goa, an Indian State in the Konkan region, was Portuguese ruled from 1510 to 1961, and the cuisine of Goa diverged a bit from the surrounding Konkan region over this period, mostly by adapting Portuguese customs (particularly, the use of pork and beef), customs (using vinegar), and ingredients (pineapple, cashews, guavas, tomatoes, and potatoes were all introduced by the Portuguese to Goa). The resulting Goan cuisine remains distinct, and there are quite a few restaurants around Lisbon either labeling themselves Goan, or labeling themselves “Indian” but with heavy Goan influence. One of the better-rated ones, on the edge of the Moorish quarter, is Tentações de Goa (“Temptations of Goa”), and we decided to check them out for our second dinner in Lisbon.

After we returned to central Lisbon from Belém, we were looking for a light lunch, and that was a particularly good opportunity to visit Time Out Market Lisboa. Set up within half of Lisbon’s Mercado da Ribeira on Lisbon’s waterfront, Time Out Market is one of these modern “Food Hall” (upscale food courts) with a collection of independent restaurants all running food service stalls, with central seating and table bussing. This was the hot new trend in dining in the years leading up to the Pandemic (I particularly have experienced a few like Eataly and Galley Group), but Time Out Market was one of the earlier ones, and still thriving. In fact, almost a little too thriving: at most lunchtimes, the place is packed with little seating. But there’s a small secret to Time Out Market Lisboa: along the western side of the market is a secondary hallway that features the same restaurants as that side of the Market, but with counter seating. It’s a bit less busy, and that’s where we found our lunch, at Sea Me.

My last post covered one of the best-rated places to get Portugal’s most famous dessert/snack treat, Pastéis de Nata, at Manteigaria in central Lisbon. However, no discussion of Pastéis de Nata is complete without a discussion of another, similar famous Pastéis, the Pastéis de Belém. Unlike the ubiquitous Pastéis de Nata, Pastéis de Belém are basically available from one place, the eponymous Pastéis de Belém bakery in Lisbon’s Belém waterside district.