Sardines are a wonderful ingredient. They are cheap and plentyful. Apart from grilling them over coals, we love Marinated Sardines.

Many Tapas bars serve Marinated Anchovies, but we find them sometimes tart and over sour for our taste.

It took a while to get the marinade right for our new dish. We didnt want something too strong, that would take the taste of the Sardine away. At the same time we wanted to be brave and add subtle touches and aromas, yet still retain the original taste of the fish.

Marinated Sardine with Gari Sorbet, Coriander & Celery Oil and Fig.

We used Japanese Rice Vinager and Extra Virgin Olive (50%-50%) to marinade the fillets overnight, before removing them from the mixture and placing them in just Olive Oil.

The Gari Sorbet (Pickled Ginger, mostly used with Sushi) lends an interesting touch, the taste of the Ginger is cleansing yet leaves a “spicy” after-taste.

The result is a great combination of flavours. The Sardine taste and texture is soft and gently “oily”, the spiciness of the Sorbet is cut with the sweetness of the ripe Fig.

Initial tastings are sounding promising, and it wont be long before the dish is included on our Aharn Menu.

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It is true to say that our above dish looks like Deep Fried Snake, but we can assure that it is not

It is Fried Salmon Skin, which is used as a filling for Sushi Maki or Futomaki or served as is, with a glass of cold beer.

Crunchy and well seasoned, they can be quite addictive. (Kind of reminds us of Fried Frog Skin in Vientiane )

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Suri adds the final touches to our desert, Green Tea and Mango Tiramisu.