Sunday 13 November 2011

The Fremont Diner in Sonoma, CA revisited

Some of you may remember how I raved about the Fremont Diner in the Northern Californian town of Sonoma last year.  Well, I was lucky enough to go back there last month and, let me tell ya, it is still one of the best places I have ever eaten.  This time the gorgeous sunny weather allowed us to enjoy our meal outside overlooking the Sonoma vineyards. Yes, not only does the diner have amazing food, it has a breathtaking view too. 

As a person who lives by the good old "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" saying I had the same dish as last year - the whole hog sandwich. It was even better than I remembered it.  Last year it came with chips. This time it came with baked beans in a smoky sauce. Phenomenal. 

The whole hog, onion rings and ice tea (cool glass, ey?)

Mr. Sprinkle had the shrimp po'boy; he wanted to order the oyster po'boy, but the kitchen had unfortunately run out of oysters.  He was very happy with the shrimp version though. 

The shrimp po'boy with super crisp homemade crisps

Coupled with a large vanilla milkshake and a homemade ice tea, these two dishes would have been more than enough for the two of us, but, as there is an ocean and a lot of land between London and the diner, we thought it best to sample a bit more of the menu so we ordered a plate of onion rings and some delicious fried padron peppers. 

Hot padron peppers

The place is obviously very popular so we had to wait a bit for a seat, but it was completely worth it. The staff there were busy running around, but friendly at all times. 

This Sonoma gem now has a website where you can read the mouthwatering menu in full. I cannot recommend this diner enough - if you ever find yourself in Northern California then go eat here and tell me all about it. 

View from the dinner 

Saturday 12 November 2011

Eating and drinking in Bali, Indonesia

Mr. Sprinkle and I have been travelling a fair bit these past months hence the silence on the blog front, but I am back.





We went to beautiful Ubud in Bali which is known as the cultural centre of Bali.  Lots of pretty temples, very friendly people, rice paddies, wood and stone craft, new smells, new sounds and, of course, new taste experiences!  During our trip we enjoyed some incredibly delicious (and cheap!) food.

Main ingredients in most of the local dishes are peanuts, rice, eggs, all sorts of vegetables, lime, chicken, seafood, chilli, bananas, palm sugar, and other fruits I'd never seen or heard of before.  


It was fun and exciting to try out new foods.  


Below are photos of some of the dishes we had; I ate a lot of Nasi Goreng (fried rice with a fried egg, fried crackers and shredded chicken in an amazing sauce). 


Nasi Campur was another favourite(rice with a number of small sides like chicken satay, curry, prawn crackers) as I am terribly indecisive when it comes to ordering food.  This dish allowed me to try lots of different foods at once.


We drank lots of cold Bintang beer and fresh fruit juices.  If only I had been introduced to water melon juice earlier - what a wonderfully refreshing drink, especially when it's humid.



 Nasi Goreng

 Nasi Goreng 

 Enjoying the local Bintang beer

 Nasi Campur 

 Yummy fried bananas with ice cream

 Pancakes with palm sugar and coconut filling

Freshly squeezed water melon 

 Chicken satay

More Nasi Goreng 

More fried bananas 

 Fried duck

Can't remember the name, but it was good

 Where some of the fried bananas may have come from

I would warmly recommend visiting Ubud if you are planning a trip to Bali.  Meanwhile stay away from Nusa Dua; it is basically a long strip of giant resorts packed with tourists.