Martha's Exchange
Location:
185 Main Street, Nashua, NH
Cost: approx $9-15 per lunch entree (after 5pm, approx $15-19)
www.marthas-exchange.com
I've been to Nashua a slew of times but never dined at Martha's Exchange on Main Street. Martha's Exchange has no relation or connection to Martha's Vineyard or Martha Stewart. It actually began as a sweet shop which simply grew and grew. More of it's history can be read here.
We made it there for lunch one day and found it quite busy. We only had about 45 minutes for a quick bite so we had to order quickly, although I would have liked to have perused the menu better and also enjoyed a beer with my meal considering it's brewed on the premises.
Our dishes took a fair bit of time to arrive; turned out the delay was due to a large party of 30 on the other side of our booth.
However, when our dishes did arrive, we were very pleased.
My Mum ordered the Jambalaya ($12).
The Jambalaya was better than I've tasted in New Orleans! It's ingredients being: blackened chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp and fresh veggies sauteed in a spicy marinara sauce. It had a good kick to it (you know how I like it hot!) and was very fresh.
I'd ordered the Almond Maple Salmon ($15)
Fresh Atlantic salmon topped with sliced almonds and baked in a maple butter sauce. Baked IN a maple butter sauce INDEED! My salmon was having a long hot soak in a jucuzzi of butter!!! I'd have preferred it not having quite so much R&R. It was, however, quite tasty but the rice it came with was nothing special.
At one point during our meal the elderly lady in the booth behind us spilled her drink creating quite a commotion (someone may have been enjoying the beer afterall!). It seemed it was her birthday and she was treating her daughter and a couple of other friends to lunch. They all left before she did and the lady told us as she was leaving that she was alright and we nodded and sympathised with her. The next moment my Mum spilled her drink all over the seat as well! Very strange. Perhaps Martha's is haunted by a playful ghost? The website doesn't say but you never know......
I'd love to go back to Martha's and try out the beers and more of the dishes...the menu was quite extensive. I'm also sorry now that I didn't try any of the sweets from the still existing sweet "shoppe" in the corner of the restaurant! Argh! I hate metered parking!!
Harbord Fish & Chips
Location:
147 Harbord Street, Toronto
Cost:
$8.99 for the Halibut ($11.99 at Chippy's)
As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with eating a good meal of fish n' chips once in a while. And it's pretty hard to mess up deep fried fish and strips of potato. The real issue is how much you are paying for eating the deep fried goodness. At Chippy's you pay an arm and a leg and are lucky if you get to rest the other arm and leg on a stool inside the tiny compound (especially if it's raining outside!); it's also pretty hard to eat battered fish from a chinese take-out container.....okay, so I guess it's not that hard to mess up deep fried fish and fries, but don't get me wrong, I'll still eat at Chippy's if I'm ever craving some fish n'chips in the west-end. For the East-enders, the ultimate fish and chips place used to be mom n' pops' Woodgreen Fish n' Chips, which I believe has shut down (can anyone confirm this?). I'd love to try British Style Fish & Chips on Dundas/Coxwell which I've heard is superbly authentic.
However, around the Spadina/College area and at Harbord FnC, you can get deep fried goodness for less and a place to rest your whole being (on the picnic tables outside). The joint also feels very sea-shore-ish; with the mom n' pop serving you piping hot fish atop fresh fries (on paper), which you get to douse with vinegar and salt the way you please, but be cautioned, the tarter sauce comes in wee lil' packets.
The fish sits fresh and tender inside a wonderful deep golden interior of golden crust, whilst soft, yellow, starchy pods of potato poke out of the breaks in the crispy, skin-covered edges of the chips.
With the right amount of malt vinegar, salt, ketchup and tartar sauce (and a beer if you can manage to sneak it in as we did this time) you're all set for a trip to fish n' chip heaven.
Québec City: D'Orsay Pub
Location:
65 rue de Buade, Québec City
Cost: $60 for two
www.restaurantpubdorsay.com
Bonjour tout le monde!
I must admit, my French is atrocious, but by the end of our Quebec City trip I was readily throwing out "bonjours" and "mercis", not to mention fully formed-sentences, at my husband, at least.
But enough of the French lessons, let's go back to the beginning.
By the time I landed in Quebec City it was past 9pm and then past 10:30 by the time we got to our hotel and were ready to go out to eat. We then realized that almost all the kitchens around the Chateau Frontenac were closed.
Finally, we were directed down a side street and then just around the corner we saw it. The D'Orsay Pub. Which was one of the restaurants on my list to try!
We were quickly seated at a beautiful folding window in the very charming, rustic interior, with its checker-board-floors and cobble-stone fireplace. Their terrace is a terrific people-watching spot as well as a great place to catch some sun. Unfortunately the weather was too chilly for us to enjoy the outdoors that night.
Seeing Leffe beer on the menu got me excited as it's not easy to find in Toronto, so we got a Leffe Blonde, $8.50 and a Belle Gueule Rousse (from Quebec), at $7.50 (which was mighty tasty!)
My husband had already had dinner, so this, in LOTR form, was second dinner for him. We knew poutine was a definite and I was feeling fishy, but almost all the seafood was in a cream sauce and while the wall-eyed pike sounded good, the salmon fillet with balsamic vinegar and orange sounded better. At $18.50 though, I assumed the salmon would be stuffed with oranges or orange chutney or something....again, too unusual to be true and sadly the dish was again what we conjure up at home. I was ravenous, so it didn't matter, but I wouldn't order that again.
The poutine on the other hand.....
MMMm......my mouth waters now just thinking about it!
I am no poutine expert, in fact, I'm lactose-intolerant and can't really stand cheese and this was only my second time eating poutine, but I must say, those cheese curds were something else. So spongy, so succulent, so very filling! Lookit how big that cheese curd is!!
Mmm.....is it correct to say it was tout le gout???
I could have eaten that all night!
The next day, D'Orsay's kitchen must have been an assembly line of poutine 'cause the terrace was packed with hungry patrons scarfing down the cheesy goodness, but alas we had other sites to see and a variety of other places to eat!!!
D'Orsay is a definite don't-miss!
Recipe: Tilapia Curry
This is one of my favourite recipes. You can use frozen tilapia, but I prefer fresh tilapia fillets.
Ingredients
- 1 lb tilapia fillet cut into 8 pieces
- salt (to taste)
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2 tsp garlic
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp corriander
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 4-6 green chillies
- optional 1 green bell pepper (or any bell pepper)
- water (enough to make some gravy)
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Preparation
- wash fish with water and then with lemon juice
- coat with salt, turmeric, chilli powder and set aside so that it can marinate for a bit
- chop ingredients in the meantime
- heat oil, saute fish and set aside
- fry onions, add garlic, ginger, a bit more red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin, corriander and stir fry
- add tomatoes and stir fry
- add salt
- add fish
- add green chillies, green pepper (optional) and water
- cover and cook 5-10 minutes
- add lemon juice
- simmer
Serve over brown (or white) rice -I prefer brown rice (Brown Basmati rice is great!)
Mmm..yummy!