I love Asian food and have been to quite a few Chinese/Asian restaurants in Spain, particularly in Ciudad Real.However, I have often found Chinese/Asian restaurants to be quite disappointing in Spain as they tend to be seen as a cheap alternative for eating out and the quality and choice of dishes can be very limited compared to in the UK. I tend to find Chinese or Asian food in Spain has been adapted significantly for the Spanish palettes or that many dishes are simply not on Chinese restaurant menus here and I find it less authentic.
Until I discovered, Shan Cocina Asiática restaurant that is! Shan restaurant can be found in the city centre on Avda de la Mancha 5 in Ciudad Real. It is a spacious restaurant, very clean and nicely-decorated. It is an Asian restaurant, as opposed to a Chinese restaurant, which means that as well as the usual typical Chinese dishes, it also does some dishes from other Asian cuisines, such as sushi, Thai red curry, Vietnamese spring rolls etc.
All the food is of good quality, flavourful and authentic tasting. Our favourites include the restaurants speciality dish of chicken or beef in Thai red curry, beef in Tien-Ban sauce, ham knuckle or hock Shan-style (with a lovely tasting sauce made from five-spice I think...it reminds me a little of crispy duck too),Wok-style rice noodles (with a lovely spicy Thai-style sauce). We went last night for dinner and ordered some of our favourite dishes, the Vietnamese spring rolls as a starter, fried and bursting with mince pork, carrots, cabbage, Chinese mushrooms, agar-agar, served on a lettuce leaf with a sweet-sour sauce. Then, we had the Thai Wok-style rice noodles to follow and tried a new dish, Sizzling Duck of the house. The Sizzling Duck consisted of a lovely tender and juicy duck breast cooked to perfection, with crispy skin in a brown sauce and onions, served on a sizzling hotplate. Absolutely delicious!Even my husband, who is not that keen on duck, thoroughly enjoyed this dish. We have never had a bad meal or dish at this restaurant.
I´d reccomend fried ice-cream for dessert if you fancy something sweet. The restaurant usually throws in free prawn crackers and an after-dinner chupito (shot). Service is very good, the waiters/waitresses are very friendly and the food is very prompt. It is also very reasonably priced with dishes costing between 4.45 euros to the speciality dishes and duck ,which although slightly more expensive are still very reasonable, from 8.25 -10.95 euros. If you prefer to eat at home, you can also choose to get a takeaway or order it over the phone and have it delivered to your door!
My only concern is that this wonderful restaurant is often empty, which I cannot understand as it is definitely the best Chinese/Asian restaurant I have eaten at in Ciudad Real and maybe even in Spain! Do people just not know about it or is it too authentic tasting for Spanish palettes?I really would find it a great shame if this restaurant were to close.
Showing posts with label Thai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thai. Show all posts
4/23/2010
Mixed Mushrooms in a Thai Red Curry Sauce
I´ve made this dish a couple of times and always mean to blog it but have never got round to it or taken a picture of it. I really wish I had though!! It´s a simplified version of a recipe from a recipe book called Cocina Asiática Vegetariana by Anne Wilson, as there are many ingredients which I simply can´t get hold of where I live. However, I think this adaped, simplified version is probably just as good as the original version. It´s also a very easy and quick dish to prepare.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
A packet of mixed Asian mushrooms (around 200g) (shiitake, enoki and beech mushrooms for example)
an inch of ginger, finely chopped
1-2 tsp red curry paste (depending on your spice threshold level!)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable stock (I used Oxo veggie stock cube)
1/2 cup of coconut milk/cream (this time I used coconut powder, about 65g powder mixed with around 125ml hot water to make a thicker milk)
1/2 tbsp lime or lemon juice (whatever you have in the fridge!)
Method:
1. Fry curry paste and ginger together for 3-4 mins till it becomes aromatic.
2. Add vegetable stock, sugar, soy sauce, coconut cream or milk and lime/lemon juice and lower heat (to around 4 on an induction electric hob) and simmer for 3-4 mins until the sugar dissolves.
3.Add the mushrooms and cook 3-5 mins until mushrooms are cooked.
4. Boil some Basmati rice in the meantime to serve with the mushrooms.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
A packet of mixed Asian mushrooms (around 200g) (shiitake, enoki and beech mushrooms for example)
an inch of ginger, finely chopped
1-2 tsp red curry paste (depending on your spice threshold level!)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable stock (I used Oxo veggie stock cube)
1/2 cup of coconut milk/cream (this time I used coconut powder, about 65g powder mixed with around 125ml hot water to make a thicker milk)
1/2 tbsp lime or lemon juice (whatever you have in the fridge!)
Method:
1. Fry curry paste and ginger together for 3-4 mins till it becomes aromatic.
2. Add vegetable stock, sugar, soy sauce, coconut cream or milk and lime/lemon juice and lower heat (to around 4 on an induction electric hob) and simmer for 3-4 mins until the sugar dissolves.
3.Add the mushrooms and cook 3-5 mins until mushrooms are cooked.
4. Boil some Basmati rice in the meantime to serve with the mushrooms.
5/08/2009
A taste of Thailand, "Bangkok Balcony", Pittsburgh
I haven´t tried much Thai food believing it to be too spicy for me. I have fond memories of my parents making Thai Green Curry(a milder version especially for me) and ending up with my eyes tearing up, my nose running and a totally numbed mouth due to the spicy heat....I couldn´t even taste the food, my mouth was that numb! However, thanks to my recent discovery of Thai red curry and Anne´s Kitchen´s Creamy Prawn Curry, my interest and my appreciation of Thai food is growing! So much so, that I´ve been wanting to try this restaurant, Bangkok Balcony, for awhile unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so that´s why I´ve given you the link.
Bangkok Balcony doesn´t give the impression of being such a nice restaurant from the outside, in fact you might even walk past it without noticing it as it is just seems to be stuck on the end of some shops. However, when you get upstairs and enter the restaurant, it´s a pleasant surprise. The restaurant is medium sized with modern decor an artistic objects which reflect the Thai culture. You are greeted by friendly staff which lead you to your table.
Every Thursday and Sunday night you can also watch Thai dancing while you eat. We were lucky enough to catch this as we went on a Sunday.The girls were dressed in typical Thai costume and it was interesting to see the way they danced, there were a lot of hand movements. My only complaints is that it was quite difficult to see them properly due to the waiters taking orders as I don´t think the restaurant lent itself to such a purpose because of it´s size. Also, that the dancing was over so soon!
I heard a lot about the Thai samosas as I was checking out other reviews about the restaurant so we decided to share those as a starter, seeing as most people seemed to be raving about them. The Thai samosas consisted of crispy deep fried filo pastry triangles with a soft Thai sweet potato filling -a perfect contrast of textures. They were served with a fresh cucumber sauce or salsa. I thought they were delicious but found it a little disconcerting as it was so sweet. In fact, the filling reminded me a little of marzipan!. I wasn´t sure whether it should be a starter or a dessert. My boyfriend chose a Basil leaf dish, which was made up of your choice of meat(beef in his case), red and green peppers, and of course basil leaves in a spicy garlic sauce and I chose a pineapple curry, again with my choice of meat, which was also beef. The restaurant has a spiciness scale from 1-10, which is good if like me you can´t eat too hot a curry. My boyfriend chose 3 on the spiciness scale and I went for 2. My beef pineapple curry was lovely and creamy and hit just the right amount of spiciness for me, however I preferred my boyfriend´s choice as it was full of flavour. Both dishes were cooked to perfection and the meat was really tender. I would definitely go back there again and am now a fully-fledged convert to Thai food. We decided to skip dessert as nothing really appealed to us although I would have liked to try the green tea ice cream if it hadn´t been for having a cold and a sore throat!
The Bangkok Balcony is an average priced restaurant which is worth a visit to sample the delicious food and due to the friendly,quick service. It is also has won awards for being one of the top Thai restaurants in Pittsburgh so I would definitely reccomend it! It is located on Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill.
Bangkok Balcony doesn´t give the impression of being such a nice restaurant from the outside, in fact you might even walk past it without noticing it as it is just seems to be stuck on the end of some shops. However, when you get upstairs and enter the restaurant, it´s a pleasant surprise. The restaurant is medium sized with modern decor an artistic objects which reflect the Thai culture. You are greeted by friendly staff which lead you to your table.
Every Thursday and Sunday night you can also watch Thai dancing while you eat. We were lucky enough to catch this as we went on a Sunday.The girls were dressed in typical Thai costume and it was interesting to see the way they danced, there were a lot of hand movements. My only complaints is that it was quite difficult to see them properly due to the waiters taking orders as I don´t think the restaurant lent itself to such a purpose because of it´s size. Also, that the dancing was over so soon!
I heard a lot about the Thai samosas as I was checking out other reviews about the restaurant so we decided to share those as a starter, seeing as most people seemed to be raving about them. The Thai samosas consisted of crispy deep fried filo pastry triangles with a soft Thai sweet potato filling -a perfect contrast of textures. They were served with a fresh cucumber sauce or salsa. I thought they were delicious but found it a little disconcerting as it was so sweet. In fact, the filling reminded me a little of marzipan!. I wasn´t sure whether it should be a starter or a dessert. My boyfriend chose a Basil leaf dish, which was made up of your choice of meat(beef in his case), red and green peppers, and of course basil leaves in a spicy garlic sauce and I chose a pineapple curry, again with my choice of meat, which was also beef. The restaurant has a spiciness scale from 1-10, which is good if like me you can´t eat too hot a curry. My boyfriend chose 3 on the spiciness scale and I went for 2. My beef pineapple curry was lovely and creamy and hit just the right amount of spiciness for me, however I preferred my boyfriend´s choice as it was full of flavour. Both dishes were cooked to perfection and the meat was really tender. I would definitely go back there again and am now a fully-fledged convert to Thai food. We decided to skip dessert as nothing really appealed to us although I would have liked to try the green tea ice cream if it hadn´t been for having a cold and a sore throat!
The Bangkok Balcony is an average priced restaurant which is worth a visit to sample the delicious food and due to the friendly,quick service. It is also has won awards for being one of the top Thai restaurants in Pittsburgh so I would definitely reccomend it! It is located on Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill.
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