This posting is out of sequence as I have had so much work to do before going to Texas. I am now stuck at Dallas airport waiting for the plane to be repaired. I did not find time to post this before my trip due to heavy work pressure.

 

Friends recommended the Anokaa Restaurant as not being the typical 'curry house'. Our first impression was of a good decor and good planning. The menu was noticably different from the usual Asian restaurant as the typical Madras, vindaloo, do-piazza and passanda curries were not explicitly listed although available on request. There were more mediterranean ingredients e.g. basil and British ingredients like monkfish on the main menu. The menu looked very interesting though some of the spellings are a bit odd.

We tried the mixed platter starter which was beautifully presented on a long dish.

 

The pakora and samosa were fried at just the right temperature to ensure that they were crisp rather than soggy. For the main course I went for the lamb tawa mossala (it's good to see a lamb dish labelled as 'lamb' rather than the all too often 'meat' which always sounds dodgy to me!). My wife chose the mehti ka murg. Both dishes tasted really good and were presented in a modern way.

We do not often try Indian side dishes but I was attracted to the Jaipur style okra and the roasted aubergine with corriander seeds and shallots. In my view okra, which has a very mild taste, can be rather boring (like the deep fried okra in Green Mesquite) though certainly not bad-tasting. This okra tasted very good indeed - I do not know what the 'Jaipur style' meant but it certainly was good! The aubergine reminded me a lot of a balkan ajvar which is also based on roast aubergine (plus roast peppers). This tasted very good indeed.

So good, in fact, I tried to do something similar at home the following day. Having successfully roasted the aubergine and mixed it with corriander seeds I managed to drop the dish on my kitchen floor. The aubergine spread all over the outside of the oven and kitchen units - it looked like somebody had spewed it up!

The restaurant owner was very friendly and said that he was trying to provide a more contemporary version of Indian cooking. He reckoned that a secret to success was importing spices directly from India.

I can thoroughly recommend Anokaa. Great tasting food!

This evening I was invited out by another local colleague to Matt's El Rancho texmex restaurant.

 

I must admit I never trust places (like tourist attractions on the Isle of Wight) that describe themselves as 'famous'. If they are really famous why do you need to put it on a sign?

Anyway, it turned out to be better than I imagined from the sign. There was a very spacious garden area which was a real luxury to enjoy on a February evening. After the usual tortilla chips and salsa we each ordered a main course. I forgot my glasses and did not note what my colleagues ordered. I just recall that one ordered the 12 ounce (almost 700 gram!) vacquero steak which was served with peppercorns, jalapeno peppers and loads of cheese.

I went for the boring choice of beef fajitas (on the assumption that the beef would be better in Texas than in England). I was asked if I wanted half a pound or a pound of beef!

A few years ago, my youngest son asked me "is it true that everything is bigger in Texas?". Judging by the meat portions the answer is yes. The meat and accompanying rice, beans, guacamole, etc was really tasty but far too large a portion. I suppose if you lived locally you could have eaten half and asked for a doggy bag. It is hard to believe that my wife shredded about 250 grams of frying steak on Monday as a stir fry for four people and that a similar amount was in my sizzle pan!

Again, the restaurant was not pricey. We paid about $25/head (£12.50) including drinks. Just a shame that the portions are so large. How much gets wasted?

Our boss took us out to the Shady Grove yesterday, another restaurant on Barton Springs Road in Austin. This is less than 100 metres away from Chuy's which was in the newspapers a few years ago as a place where Dubwa's daughters got arrested for underage drinking.

 

The Shady Grove has a large garden area but that was unfortunately already full when we got there. Sitting outside with temperatures in the low 20s would have been a pleasant change from the wet cold at home! We shared a starter of green chile cheese fries; very tasty but must have been a calorie bomb! The restaurant is famous for its tortilla fried queso catfish. I have had quite delectable deep fried catfish in batter a few years ago at another restaurant in the same street. However wrapping it in a tortilla and serving with loads of melted cheese seemed to be overkill.

I went for the Thai grilled chicken salad. The vegetables were very fresh and the chicken and wonton were well prepared. Two sauces were provided - a peanut one and a soya-based sauce. I quite enjoyed it.

Again very good value for money. But the portion sizes coupled with cheese, etc mean that it is very easy to put on weight here. 

I am currently on a trip to Austin, Texas which is where my boss lives. Austin is the capital city of the Free State of Texas and being in the hill country has a much more pleasant climate than Dallas or Houston. The downtown area is to the North of the Town Lake. In the downtown area the most well known area to go out is 6th Street where there are a lot of pubs with live music and restaurants. A few hundred metres away between San Jacinto and the conference centre there are a number of more upmarket eating joints.

This week I am staying on the South of Town Lake. Parallel to the lake runs Barton Springs Road where there are a number of cheaper restaurants with basic decor and very often the possibility of eating outside. The other day - jetlagged and weary - when I arrived I met two American colleagues to talk things through before meeting our boss. One was very keen to try Texas barbeque so we went to the Green Mesquite.

 

The Green Mesquite has an unpretentious decor and had friendly service.

I felt hungry and my Austin colleague recommended the 3-meat BBQ plate. For the meats I chose spare ribs, brisket and smoked sausage accompanied by cajun rice and fried okra. My Austin colleague was even more hungry than me and went for the 4-meat BBQ plate!

The plate when it arrived had a fair old weight of meat. The spare ribs were OK, but definitely not the best I have had. I have had better ones in Munich or Tampere; somehow they were not as tender as I have had in other places though the BBQ sauce was good. The brisket was very tender. Although I read about brisket in British cookery books I have very rarely seen it advertised in recent years. The smoked sausage was tasty but on a previous trip I preferred the ones at the Salt Lick. The cajun rice was pleasant enough and the okra just deep fried; but fried well.

The taste did not blow me away but at $9.00 (£4.50) for the main course was fair value for money. Definitely a place for carnivores - but would be hard going for a vegetarian.

I have not posted for a while due to work pressure. No time to think! Let alone try to write anything vaguely creative. I am working stupid hours and having to massage masses of data in constantly changing formats. I hope to return above the parapet once I have attended business reviews in Texas next week. Happy cooking in the meantime!