By: Madhu
Travel Snippets, ,

Lunchtime Memories…

I almost always forget to click pictures when we sit down for a meal. I have been trying hard to remedy that, but I relapse sometimes. Like I forgot again yesterday, until most of my fish was demolished! Good conversation distracts me….and an inadequate breakfast.

This gallery consists of a few lunchtime memories, that I did remember to capture.

Picnic lunch
A picnic lunch outside the lost temple of Beng Malea. You can’t beat ancient Nagas for company! Bonus – you get to traipse through those achingly desolate ruins all by yourself!
Lunctime in Phnom Penh
A lunchtime street scene in Phnom Penh shot from my Tuk Tuk.
Boy having lunch Maeklong railway market in Bangkok
A little boy tucking into some kind of soup at the Maeklong railway market in Bangkok
Lunch at the floating market
Buying noodle soup from a vendor at the floating market, Bangkok
Soba Noodles in Takayama
We had been hankering after some great Soba noodles, like the ones we had tasted in Osaka on our first evening, but the seaweed powder this man sprinkled over our delicious looking lunch made it inedible! Eeew…not likely to forget that in a hurry!! We adored everything else about Takayama.
Lunch in LAitan
Our day in Laitan ancient town, was idyllic, and our simple lunch on this farmer’s boat added considerably to our enjoyment. (Click on image to read the full story.)
La Boqueria
Pinotxo’s bar in the Boqueria market in Barcelona is an institution that has been around for nearly a century. Proprietor Juanito Bayen (pictured) serves up some mean tapas that people line up to sample. I haven’t had zucchini omelettes or Pa Amb Tomaquettes like that since. Or his famous Arroz Caldoso. An experience not to be missed.
L'As Du Falafal
Equally unmissable is this institution in Paris. I do not exaggerate when i say that this hole-in-the-wall Fallafel joint in the Jewish quarter of the Marais, serves up the BEST fallafels outside Lebanon (No I haven’t been to Lebanon!). Be prepared for a long wait though.
Papaya salad at Som Tam
We were outside Som Tam, (near Siam square, Bangkok) at noon sharp and still had to wait about 15 minutes. The lines get longer as the day progresses . Scroll down to see what we were willing to stand in line for……
Chicken Wings, Som Tam
These delectably crispy, spicy chicken wings cooked in the Isaan style were to die for! Their papaya salad is phenomenal too (Som Tam means papaya salad)
Tigre lunch
I know some of you have seen this one before, but I couldn’t possibly do a post on lunch and leave out this fabulous al fresco lunch on a boat on the Tigre Delta near Buenos Aires. This was one of our most memorable experiences! Don’t ask me why I still haven’t written about it!

There were many many more of course. Like bingeing on zucchini fritters in Santorini or shrimp peri peri in a shack in Goa or empanadas in Buenos Aires, discovering kumpir in Istanbul, hunting down that tiny seafood restaurant in the pier at Hydra, leading R to Le Souffle in Paris without a single wrong turn………

But like I said before…I just plain forgot.