The Week In Yum Nov23-28

Oh my god, what a week of eating! I didn't cook much, apart from this delicious Korean Pulled Pork which I have happily eaten for three days running,  but I certainly feel like I ate out often and well. As things go the way they often do around here, the kitchen is still without cupboard doors and all of the contents of my cupboards are in bags and boxes in my dining room so, frankly, I am impressed that I even managed the pork.

It all started off with lunch with my friend, Kate, at Jatujak again. Loving this place. Nothing new to report here since I had the green curry chicken again except to say that it was just as good as the other few times so I am happy to report that it appears to be very consistent. We followed a late lunch/early dinner which I like to call Linner or Dunch (take your pick) with a trip next door to the Dollarama and on to Pier 1 where we blew our brains out on glitter xmas decorations. It was out of control people.

this terrifying xmas hedgehog is what is passing for a festive decoration at Pier 1 these days

wine - part of a nutritious breakfast!

 On Monday, I attended my very first tasting for kwäf so that we could try the five wines that would comprise the two gift offerings that went on sale this week. I am not accustomed to drinking wine at 11am and I do not spit so, needless to say, I left the tasting a little merrier than when I arrived. I really enjoyed all of the wine but my personal favourite was the Meritage I think and I will most definitely be purchasing the "Three Brilliant Reds" package as an xmas gift to myself. I paired my Portuguese Corn Bread Stuffing with the other package, The Quintessential Christmas Dinner package since both the Pinot and especially the Riesling, are perfect wines to serve with a traditional turkey dinner.
How can you not like a gig that encourages you to have wine for breakfast?

Parlour

 By Tuesday, I was excited to finally check out Parlour at 270 Adelaide West. They have been a popular cocktail lounge for some time now and have just launched a light food menu serving tasty tapas to share with your friends. In this case, the friend I was sharing with was, Robyn of Planet Byn who also happens to be a frequent flyer here on The Week in Yum. We shared the chicken empanadas, albondigas and quinoa canoes and it was all very delicious but the thing that we almost arm wrestled over was the flatbread. They had me at fior de latte but it was the kobassa, a Croation sausage that was almost chorizo like, that really floated my boat. It was salty and smoky and such an amazing foil to the creamy cheese and then that hit of truffle oil - oh my.

quinoa canoe with delicious  honey dijon vinaigrette to drizzle on top

kobassa, mushrooms, fior de latte and truffle oil YES

We had a lovely time enjoying a couple of drinks, fashioning a soft box for our iphone cameras out of napkins (it is perfectly acceptable to take pictures using a napkin soft box when you have been invited to check a place out and share the love so stop looking at me like that).  Robyn had an Old Fashioned and swooned a bit over it and I had some lovely red wine of some sort. It's really cosy with nice, low, twinkly lighting and a speak easy kind of vibe. I will return.

Patria

On Wednesday, I was back with Robyn at Patria where we joined fellow Gastropost OG, Libby Roach and three other lovely ladies. There was a tasty gardener , Olive and Ruby's granddaughter and Liora Ipsum - I will let you guess what she does for a living. My only gripe is that this restaurant is basically down an alley in behind the Patagonia store on King St W and I would have really liked to have known that. It was freezing cold and I wandered up and down King St for a time before realizing that this place was either down the alley beside Patagonia OR I was going to have run as fast as I could straight at the wall with the hope that I would end up on Diagon Alley instead of in the hospital with a concussion and a broken nose.

Anyway, all was forgotten once I stepped inside this warm, toasty restaurant, with soaring ceilings and lots of tables full of happy looking people.

Goat​ Cheese + Orange Blossom Honey + Walnut + Fig

cheese selection

We ordered lots of tapas to share as well as a couple of pitchers of very tasty Sangria. Back in the day, I lived and worked in Madrid and have fond, if fuzzy, memories of Spain so I was very pleased to feel a little bit like I had been transported back in time. Okay, minus the copious amounts of alcohol that would have accompanied that trip back in time but you know what I mean.

pulpo

Ibérico Lomo + Ibérico Chorizo + Jamón Serrano + Morcón Salami

these stuffed dates made my life a better thing

Highlights, for me, were the things that I was the least exited about on paper and the things that didn't totally blow me away were the things that I was the most excited about. The D.O. Valdeón which they describe as a rich, creamy, intensely-flavored cow and goats milk blue cheese wrapped in sycamore leaves blew my socks off. I was only sad that the little slab that came on our cheese plate had to be shared amongst the six of us so I only managed to get one little taste with a tiny smidge of quince jelly but I can still taste it if I close my eyes. I was not overly enthusiastic about the dates stuffed with manchego and wrapped in Ibérico Bacon and probably would have skipped them if I were on my own but these little things were absolutely perfect. Each bite was salty, sweet, cheesey and wonderful and If I had to pick one tapa to eat every day for the rest of my life, this one would be it. The patatas bravas with fried egg let me down a touch - they were not bad, by any means, but they were not done in the style that I am accustomed and they just didn't rock my world but, luckily, they were followed by the melt in your mouth Iberico pork flank with piquillio jam so it all ended on a wonderful note. This is the perfect place to go with a group, to celebrate and share. Loved this place and can't wait to take Shack.

Robyn trying octopus for the first time and living to tell

Thursday I finished the aforementioned  Korean pulled pork that I cooked on Wednesday and we at that for dinner over rice with a crumbled sheet of The Galleria's in house nori with sea salt. Heaven.

Pin of the week:  one of my favourite cookies ever

Facebook share of the week: its xmas baking time yo!

Instagram of the week: God I want to eat this fried chicken so much

food find of the week:  I am so exited for this knife block to get here!

tweet of the week: this has nothing to do with food but it is my favourite thing of the week

This couple had a Breaking Bad-themed engagement photoshoot http://t.co/kOCevy7IPp pic.twitter.com/T909ajVNi8
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) November 26, 2013