Memorable meals

Ever had a meal that really stuck in the memory?

You try to recreate it at home, you find opportunities to return to the restaurant. You hope it will live up to the almost mythological status it has attained in your mind.

A happy collision of right place, right mood, right order.

For me its not necessarily the flashiest of meals. In fact, it almost never is. Just an inspired combination of superb ingredients allowed to speak for themselves.

Barbequed fish on the beach in Malaysia, served with rice and a lemongrass sauce. Sitting at a little table as the night fell on an island you could walk across in half an hour. I've been trying to recreate that lemongrass sauce for nearly 10 years. Simple, delicious, and perfect for the time and place.


A meal-deal of calamari and french fries with a mini bottle of prosecco; A winter picnic for a late lunch on the dock at Burano on new year's eve. Dry and subtly sparkling the wine was an inspired addition, cutting through the grease and lifting the meal from just another fish'n'chips to something we still reminisce about 2 years later.


Langoustines in Scotland. Caught that day. A mountain of them dished up in the harbour-side pub with freshly baked bread, garlic butter, and free-flowing wine. Sticky fingers. Pouring with rain outside, but snug and cosy in. I'm looking out for an excuse to return.

Scampi and chips from the fish market on the dock in Bergen. The perfect seasickness cure. Caught that morning, battered and fried in front of me, then straight into a box to takeaway. Salt and vinegar, and beautiful Norwegian surroundings. I'm looking for a reason to take Dan to Norway, just so that he can experience them. An unlikely reason for a holiday, but it'll do!


Then those meals which are delicious and memorable, but for some reason don't ever attain that lusted-for status. Looking at my list above, it could simply be that they're not fish!

Thin and crispy Italian pizza topped with smoked swordfish, rocket and wonderful milky buffalo mozzarella. Sitting in the autumn sunshine with nothing to do but relax for the rest of the day. Chicken with spices and dried fruit in a french restaurant that was really all about the wine. A sweet white I would never normally choose, but the perfect compliment to the food. Fresh bread rolls spiked with chocolate and strong espresso for breakfast in Dubrovnik. A meal of many courses in a restaurant carved into the rock in Matera. Wonderful and surprising - the host chose a selection of local specialities for us. My stomach hurt but it was worth it! My first ever taste of fresh buffalo mozzeralla. Gorgeous.

So many of the meals are really holiday memories...Of course I have my favourite bites and haunts closer to home. But perhaps because they are more easily attainable they are just that - favourites rather than legends.