texan charmers

After a mere 48 hour stop in the snowy North, the warmer Texan capital has become an ideal place to visualize the winter-spring transition. Our first meal, under the enjoyable guidance of Floyd from Mississippi, was a great start.

The liquid component was a pretty phenomenal part of our first evening back in Austin, but the absolute favourite was the "Kinilaw", and amberjack Filipino ceviche with coconut vinegar; I loved it.

The second dish was pretty good, "Sawara": Spanish mackerel, sofrito, ponzu, daikon and chapulines (Mexican toasted grasshoppers, very popular in Oaxaca).

A selection of vegetables from Austin farmers made a really colourful presentation, presented as an "Ode to Michel Bras".

The rabbit dish was simply brilliant: hen egg, rillette, nahm, kale, rabbit jus and collard greens.

The beef rice was a phenomenal step forward. Even if it had nothing to do with Lynn's paella, its deep flavour reminded me of it. It was made with Koshihikari, a popular variety of rice cultivated in Japan as well as Australia and the US. Apparently it was first produced in 1956 at the Fukui prefectural agricultural research facility. Wild mushrooms and salmorra were part of this stimulating  equation.

The end was also brilliant: Cheddar cheese ice cream, including crispy waffle, goat milk cajeta, peanut praline and a glorious aged cheddar ice cream. After so many years visiting Austin, I believe this was the first serious dinner I had in the Texan capital.