Mushroom!

Maya has always been a special person when it comes to food and decision making.

I remember she once drove from Canberra to Sydney just because she wanted a felafel at a particular restaurant she liked.

We shouldn't have been surprised when she told us she wanted to go to Italy for lunch.

Now this sounds much crazier than it actually is.  The drive to said restaurant in Italy from Biot was only a bit more than an hour, so it was a very reasonable drive.  It's another one of the great benefits of the Cote d'Azur region, the ability to just pop over to Italy for a quick day trip whenever you want.  I was quickly becoming enamoured with this region of the world and every new experience just seemed to add to my love.

The drive over took us over the same roads that we took to Eze and Monaco.  There was no real differences apparent at all as we drove into Italy except for a change in the language of the road signs.  We made our turnoff to head to the restaurant that Maya wanted to try and here we started seeing some real differences coming through.  The roads and streets were definitely not as well maintained and there was noticeably more trash strewn around the side of the roads.  As we drove further inland, the road followed a small river which snaked its way through the valley.  Eventually we got to our destination, which was signposted by a huge statue of a mushroom.

It was all very rustic.  We were taken out front of the old farmhouse style restaurant were we were given small glasses of wine and olives while we waited for our table.  Sitting outside as we waited, we soaked up the fresh air and sunshine whilst looking up in the hills.

Once we were seated inside, we were asked about what we wanted for drinks but nothing else.  This restaurant didn't offer any choice in food, every course was planned and we would eat what we were given.  I had no problem with that approach to dining.

It started out simply enough, with a traditional Piedmont dish called "bagna cauda".  It's a fondue like dip, but made with anchovies and accompanied by fresh vegetables.  I loved it.  The combination of the fresh vegetables and the intense saltiness of the anchovy dip was exactly what my palate enjoyed.  I cleaned up the platter quickly and then waited, feeling relatively satisfied already.

After a short pause, we began to be inundated with food.  We would be given about ten more courses for our lunch.  Most of the dishes had some form of mushroom in it, being the theme of the restaurant, but everything was quite balanced.  We were given cheeses, frittatas, pastas, risottos, meats and other nicely cooked vegetables.  One particular dish that will stay with me for a long time was a cheese and egg torte that was like a cheesy Italian version of a tamagoyaki.  It seemed to skirt the boundary between being a cheese dish and an egg dish, with neither one being quite dominant enough.  It was incredibly tasty.

The food kept coming, but somehow I found a way to keep eating.  Finally, we got to some of the last of the savoury courses which were deep fried artichoke hearts and grilled lamb cutlets.  Both lamb and artichokes are dishes which are found far less frequently in Hong Kong, so I enjoyed these very much.

Desserts were brought, and somehow I managed to eat that as well.  We finished everything off with a few glasses of their home made liquor.  Adam laughed as he immediately handed the keys over to Maya.  There was no argument and discussion from either of them, it was clear that neither he, myself or Todd were in any state to be driving.  She would have to put up with three drunk and laughing children on the drive back to France.