I am not the pasta I choose?

Courtesty of Nath. Make of it what you will.

Battle of the Bol

Check it out at:
http://howtoshuckanoyster.com/2009/05/20/the-great-gourmet-spag-bol-poll/

Gourmet Traveller quizzed the best kitchen talents on their secrets to the perfect spaghetti Bolognese. 60 top chefs. The responses varied but were never ambivalent: this dish is unanimously loved, however it’s made.

Who would have thought.

Tokyo, August 2009

Jappers is spaghetti crazy. You can pick it up in 711, their Italian restaurants rock and they even serve it with some of their Japanese meals. We read somewhere that in one area of Tokyo there used to be more Italian restaurants than in any other country. I guess it's similar to their noodles and you could eat it with choppies if you wanted to. We nailed some mean G-bread also, I was absolutely delighted.

I give this puppy a 6.8. Bit of sneaky cheese hanging about but otherwise it really hit the spot.

Plastic meals in Shibuya, Tokyo.

The menu at their version of 711 (am pm)

2 day old Reggios August 10th

A few stomach aches and too many anti-carbs non-believers have gotten the better of me the past few weeks. I had a whole week off the strings. The first stint of abstaining since I was stuck in asia for a couple of months. When Saturday arrived, it was time to take a stand. Ditched Jimmy Liks for some Reggios take away on Saturday night. Ryan obliged, brownie points to him. No regrets and now the happiness continues with leftovers on Monday.

Il Baretto July 25th

Hit Il Baretto on Saturday night for the third time in as many weeks. The table wait was 40 mins but now that they have opened a new little wine bar down the road, the wait is almost welcome. Feel a bit sorry for the old man pub across the road who let you take your glass with them but anyways. Snorkeled a spaghetti bol and the bruchetta pomodoro. Hungover and tired, it was bliss. Going to give it 9.5/10 for taste, 9/10 for ambience. The wine bar is on Nobbs st if you want to go there, someone has kindly edited it to read Snobbs St. Bless.

Spaghetti would never do this.

Biscuits should be ashamed of themselves.

Spaghetti Art

I guess some kids never really got over kindergarten. They've just gone from pasta necklaces to windmills. Good luck to them. 

Reggios 21st July.

Going to give it a 8.5/10. Pretty damn good (as always). We had to wait 25 minutes to get a table which is fine and no one seemed to snigger that we were in our netty gear. Then again I didn't have my glasses on, they probably did.

Limbo

Courtesy of the lovely Jess.

The next best thing to Spaghetti is Icecream.

I really hope this exists somewhere. The best job I've ever had was working at Baskin Robbins. Then my outlet went bankrupt - I hope I didn't have anything to do with it. I'm wracked with guilt because one time I slept through opening time and my boss rang me, waking me up. He said that customers had called to complain that the shop hadn't opened yet, what's going on? On the spot I did a terrible, terrible thing. I made up an accident involving a family member and his back, said I'd been at the hospital (when really I was in a coma from too much vermouth and golden circle juice the night before). It really is the worst lie I've ever told and to make matters worse, my brother (the family member in question that Sunday morning) used to still come into the shop twice a week after that to pick up his allotment of ice cream (used as bribe contra). His posture was/is perfect, no back injury in sight. Why he didn't fire me, I'll never know. 

Japanese Spaghetti

I'll be in the land of cubic watermellons in a few weeks. Last time I was there I couldn't find any spaghetti but it looks like things have changed. Not that my mouth is exactly watering...

Secrets of Spag Bol from my friends.

Campbells Tomatoe Soup (Rach's boyfriend, Adam)

Brown Sugar (Charlotte)

Add chilli and shake in a heap of mixed herbs (Giz's Mum Sally)

After stirring on high, turn off heat and put the lid on for 20 mins (Mum)

Mixed mince - pork, veal and beef (people who know what's what in Italy)

Smoky bacon, fry that up and add onions, garlic and rosemary. Add mince + tomatoes, bottle of red (half if grandma is visiting) and cook for 5 hours. (Cherith)

Put Worcester sauce and a splash of Tommy K. (Jess)

When in doubt, add Rosemary. Lots of it. (Ryan)

Guest spaghettiers.

Eww.

Spaghetti Head

An ongoing list of the best of the best.

Cafe Fez, Istanbul (Turkey)

Zamas, Tulum (Mexico)

Top spaghetti suppliers around the world (in my books).

Dublin - Marios (Ranelagh)

New York - Vera Marios (The Bronx)

Brisbane - Ginos (Hamilton)

Sydney - Reggios (Darlinghurst), Il Baretto (Surry Hills), La Veccia Cucina (Potts Point)

Thailand - Nowhere sorry, it was all terrible

Morocco - Same as Thailand

Serbia - Yet to be proved

Belgrade - Had low expectations from Serbia, this worked in my favour.

Istanbul - Cafe Fez (near Grand Bazaar entrance)

Austria - Old piano cafe (Vienna)

Mexico - Zamas (Tulum)

I remember the places, got to find the names:

Croatia - Hvar

India - Kerala

The only good spaghetti bol in India

India, September 2008. As per usual, I ordered spaghetti bol every time I saw it on the menu. This was the best one I found - it's in a Spanish Cafe in a small town in Kerala. Still pretty tangy and spicey but a good effort. Going to give it 4/10 for taste, 8/10 for looks.

I want to enter a spaghetti eating contest.

Western Spaghetti

Nothing to do with spaghetti but a very cool clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM