We have been fortunate to have dined at some truly outstanding restaurants around the world that are now off limits, too difficult to, or sadly closed. These are truly unique times, and restaurants have been adapting to the situation as best as they can. So what to do when even takeaway is not an option? We adapt too.
Enter DIY, or @ Home dining as we are calling it. An irregular ongoing series of meals where we choose a restaurant and use our resources to create a menu that is some semblance of what we were actually served at some point.
The process itself is actually half of the fun. It’s like returning to some far flung city or town that you visited years ago and, without the aid of a map or GPS, hunting down that little gem of a restaurant you tripped across where you had that amazing meal. But maybe you both remember a different meal. Or a different restaurant. Or even a different country. It’s kind of like Blind Man’s Bluff meets paleontology – you are trying to assemble something but all you have are some bits and pieces, your flawed senses and a rough idea about the finished product.
Our remembrance of dishes is not perfect, but even when we do have an actual recipe, it might require some seasonal or locale-specific products that we simply can’t source. Then it’s time to improvise! So consider these meals more evocative than literal interpretations of some of the most memorable meals we have been fortunate enough to experience. Reasonable facsimiles versus exact copies, if you will.
Apologies in advance to all of these great chefs for messing with your creations – we mean well and will be back if we can for the genuine article.