My newest love is Isidro’s, the best street food we have locally. I was told about this place by my lovely first born James Lawrence. We are gyoza fans to the max and Chris and Venus produce the best I have eaten locally ever. This meal was ordered as a celebration for some lovely friends, Anne and Richard Phillips to celebrate his remission statement re his cancer. What better reason to celebrate with the best food we can get delivered. What is even better is that the food is delivered by people who care passionately about their food and spend their lives perfecting recipes. I know that Chris is working hard on Xiao Long Bao, possibly my favourite food ever, I had some wonderful ones in Hong Kong when my brother Toby showed me the best eating places ever, I do love my family. I have offered to be Isidro’s official taster and have booked them in for a managers meeting as they are very supportive of West Berkshire Mencap.
Chris and Venus adore their food and treat it with respect and love and you can taste this in the cooking. If you are lucky you can get some on a Saturday morning outside Tescos in the High Street. There is often a queue as they carefully ensure the food is cooked to perfection. I had a difficult moral problem last week when I wanted to order a couple of dozen gyozas only to find my son and daughter in law had emptied them out. Of course I had to be nice, they are my lovely family but hells bells, they took MY gyozas!! What a good mother/mother-in-law I am!
Oh as an aside they are offering a prize for @westBerksMencap Race Day on March 4th
Following are pictures of the food with a description from Chris and Venus and then my view.
For the aubergine I made a paste from shallots, garlic and dried shrimps…..then fried that separately until fragrant, then add the precooked aubergines, cook until aubergines are done. (so close to typing eggplants lol)
To say this was popular shows in that my friends whoofed the lot!
Beef Short Rib Salpicao – another Filipino dish that gained popularity in the 90’s when there was a trend for open air grill restaurants. The short ribs are cooked in beef stock until tender, then mixed with a butter-garlic sauce and a generous sprinkling of crispy fried garlic flakes.
I am always looking for recipes for short rib beef as I love this cut and this as a total winner, it melted in the mouth, full of flavour, you cant see the garlic flakes as they were added after the pic. SO good
The pork belly is called Pork Humba – which is a Filipino-Chinese dish flavoured with star anise and rock sugar, cooked for hours for that melt in the mouth texture. Traditionally made with black beans, this one doesn’t have any and it is my father’s recipe which I prefer.
oh my loved this dish, as did Tony, again totally melt in the mouth and could eat again and again.
The Chicken Kapitan is from a good friend from Malaysia, she makes this for us for our get togethers, and once a year her and another Malaysian lady have a stall at the Culturefest held at the Newbury Racecourse, well worth going to especially for their desserts! My version of the Kapitan curry has additional lemongrass and kaffir limes leaves, but the paste is a base of shallots, garlic and turmeric. I also marinade the chicken in turmeric and salt, then fry them, before cooking in coconut milk.
This was a winner with the meat and non red meat eaters, the lemon grass added such a good touch, it was juicy and tender and totally succulent.
 
 
The plate. So Good. Try it. Indeed if I am allowed I will give you their contact details or join their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/725757874225675/?fref=ts which is Isidro’s on Facebook
Huge thanks to Richard Phillips for his photos, if anyone wants a brilliant photographer this is the man