All grown up and going to dinner
For as long as I can remember I was a fussy eater. I liked very few things and I was extremely particular about how I ate them. The black and white photo is me eating jam, it was for an ad I did as a kid and they let me eat the whole jar so it's safe to say that jam made it on to the list but a whole host of other foods didn't. I was incredibly awkward and drove my parents to distraction trying to think of ways to get me to eat and maybe expand my diet a little. I would go to great lengths to avoid eating food I didn't want like excusing myself to go to the bathroom and staying in there until I was told I didn't have to finish it or throwing my dinner in the bin (under a mass of paper towels) and pretending I ate it. I don't know what made me so awkward around food but I am almost certain my stubbornness is what kept me that way. Eventually my parents agreed I could just eat the things that I liked and I have stuck pretty resolutely to that diet until recent years.
As you can imagine someone that picky doesn't eat out very often, I generally just avoided restaurants or went somewhere that served pizza if it was dinner or sandwich and chips if it was lunch. I kind of muddled a long like this for a long time until a few years back when I realised I was gluten intolerant and suddenly I was faced with the option of either expanding my diet a bit or being really really hungry all the time. It might be worth noting at this point that my family are all vegetarian so not only could I not eat wheat but I don't eat meat either.
The upshot of this is that having these diet restrictions has finally made me widen my horizons when it comes to new food. I am still pretty firm on the fact that I don't like certain foods but I have tried more new things in the last two years alone than I have the thirty years before them. I have been finding out however that dining out now comes with a difference set of complications because even though I am willing to give something new a try, in many restaurants if you take out meat and wheat then you are only left with one option on the menu and you'd want to be sure that you like that option. I will say it doesn't make for very many return visits to restaurants. Its worse if you're going for lunch because once you rule out sandwiches, wraps, paninis and so on, you usually find that there isn't a whole lot left on the menu.
Naturally there's a few exceptions if you know where to look for them. It is a matter of great excitement to sit down in restaurant and instead of seeing in a glance the one option I can have, actually having a few things to choose from. There's an amazing vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh called David Bahn's and then there is a place in Cork called Liberty Grill and both have delicious food and very Laura friendly menus. Until recently there hasn't been anywhere in Waterford like that. People would ask me if there is anywhere nice to go for lunch and I would always shrug and say that I don't eat out so I'm the worst person to ask.
And then on New Years Eve Stephen, two friends of his and I all went to a restaurant called Momo that I had been hearing loads of great things about and I was actually excited about trying it out which is a totally novel experience for me.
If you read my New Years Eve blog post then you would be well aware all the hype paid off.
Momo is on Patrick st in Waterford, across from the old cinema https://www.facebook.com/momowaterford ( in case you want to check them out)
and the restaurant itself is bright and airy with very funky decor. I'd describe it but I would only do a terrible job and you can easily see what it looks like inside on their Facebook page if you are curious. All the staff are lovely and really helpful, I feel qualified to say this because I have been so many times since New Years that I am virtually haunting the place, mind you considering I am buying food whenever I am in there, it's not like anyone is complaining. Best of all is their menu, I have never been to a restaurant before that caters so well for different dietary intolerances while still making delicious food, Its no good offering me gluten free if it tastes like cardboard. I think I have been there seven times now since my first visit and almost every time I have gotten something different which for me is totally mad. I had been raving about how nice their food was and my sister came down to check it out and came away proclaiming their fish to be delicious and then promptly arranged for us to return for dinner this week. Last night was a truly novel experience to be out for dinner with my mum and sister and not find myself making awkward requests or having to order off the menu. I got the squash and hazelnut risotto for starter and then gluten free tempura Dunmore East fish for the main and it was like heaven in my mouth. The risotto was every bit as good as I remembered and I will admit I was a bit anxious about the fish because I am reluctant fish eater at best but I really wanted to try something new. It was absolutely lovely, it just melted in my mouth and I ate all of it so there was none of that bargaining with myself (just one more bite of fish) like when I usually eat fish. Gluten free tempura was a revelation, my mum suggested I try making it myself but I wont because I'd only ruin it and with Momo right in the centre of town I wont have to go far to get it.
This could be the start of a brand new era, Last night I was eating out with family and tomorrow I will take over the world or something like that. Or maybe I will put taking over the world to one side until I have bit more time.
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