Once upon a time in Paris David booked a piano concert, in a tiny church on the left bank, and a restaurant nearby.
Every beer has a special glass in Europe.
We enjoyed a bottle of Clos de la Roche from Chinon in the Loire.
A delicious Cabernet Franc from the Loire.
A Loire barge cruise is on my wish list. I’d be pretty happy with a different Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc every day. This Franc was delicious, not as earthy as in BC. On to the food.
It had been a long time since I’d had escargot. I question if it’s really about the snails or the baguette binge at the end to soak up all the butter. Either way we were happy.
Escargots
We’ve added a lot more fruits to our salads since we had this one. Simply delicious.
Burrata Fruit Avocado Shrimp
Almost every table was having Aligot. A runny mashed potato, cheese and cream dish that I’m going to learn to make. We’d never seen it before and had to ask what it was as they poured the stringy pile of hot deliciousness onto the plates. We wanted to order it for dessert but never had time.
Le Petite Périgourdine is a good choice for a reasonably priced, very French restaurant, on the left bank, near the Pantheon. Have the aligot.
One of the best in 2 weeks of incredible meals was at this Korean wine bar in Copenhagen. Right around the corner from the Radisson Royal Copenhagen we fully enjoyed the great wine program and the easy walk home after. Choose a bottle (or 2) from their retail wine store and have it served with the amazing food.
The menu is mostly made up of shareable snacks with a couple of larger plates to for 2, we did our best to eat through the menu.
The Ssamjang Guksu – cold noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce had us craving it for days, wishing we’d ordered it for dessert.
Cold Noodle Salad
Grilled Frigetello peppers were stuffed with shrimp and rice were great and the sauce was crazy delicious. We were spooning it up.
Grilled Frigitello Peppers
Another sauce we couldn’t get enough of was on the King Oyster Mushroom and rice cake skewers. I’d go again right now if I could.
King Oyster Mushrooms Rice Cake Pine Nuts
We went all the way and had the grilled mackerel for 2 and the Korean fried chicken for 2. Both were served with rice and side veggies. We wanted to add kimchi but they were sold out and the latest batch was a week off. Another reason to go back.
Grilled Mackerel & KFC with sides.
If you like spicy food that’s beyond extraordinary and you’re going to Copenhagen don’t miss Propaganda Kitchen.
Our holiday adventure started with 4 nights in Milan. Staying at the luxurious Excelsior Hotel Gallia, right across the street from the Milano Centrale turned out to be the perfect choice.
We used the train from Malpensa airport and walked across the street to the hotel.
Milano Centrale is a great station with excellent food choices. We had a fabulous seafood dinner at Bistrot Pedal the first night, did a day trip to Como from there and took the train to Rome too. I had wanted to stay near the Duomo but the Excelsior was perfect and easy to get to and from the city centre.
The food highlights of Milan were Mercato Centrale and Peck, a food store operating in Milan for 140 years. It has an amazing kitchen. Pick up a great meal if you want a picnic or night off in your room and bring home some culinary treasures.
We came home with these two small jars, tiny baby artichoke hearts and anchovy fillets.
From Roma Centrale we had a car booked to take us to Civitavecchia where we boarded Windstar Cruises Star Legend, our home for the next 16 nights.
New Year’s Eve with Nanda
Our dining on board was good, the service was outstanding. Nanda took great care of us.
Our first port was Livorno where we visited Fattoria Il Poggio in the Tuscany countryside for a tour of the vineyard and a seated tasting with lunch. The wines flowed and the food was delicious.
The olive oil and tapenade came home with us.
The Syrah, Merlot blend and the Chardonnay earned 2 of the 4 spots in our suitcases.
In Barcelona we took a tour to Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, Cava country to visit Vilarnua, a very pretty estate. We tasted 3 cavas, 2 earned the last 2 spots.
Vilarnau entrance and 3 wines in our tastingVilarnua Water Reservoir
I made a wine friend at the Vilarnua tasting who had brought some wine with him on the cruise and shared this very special Riesling with us that night. A good wine day.
The best meal of the whole trip was at Kraken in Malaga, Spain. I love tapas, you get to try so many things.
Best Sangria ever Kraken, MalagaFried Black Cod with AioliPil Pil Shrimp Croquettes Grilled Scallops with Spiced GazpachoPatatas BravasTacos with ‘Ajillo’ Shrimp
The cod bites should have been all mine. Patatas Bravas were excellent, although they didn’t look pretty. The shrimp tacos were so good we had seconds. The beef mini burger with truffled mayo was a hit with my meat eating friends.
I hope to go back to Malaga sometime.
We ended our trip back in Barcelona and managed to fit in a couple of meals starting with a lunch at La Taperia Barcelona for a traditional tapas. Pick from the display.
We booked dinner at Canete before we left home. It was a busy place with a happy atmosphere full of locals. Check out the uniforms. Great service.
I take no responsibility for the sign overhead but the sentiment worked for me.White uniforms and black bulls.Lobster Croquettes – CravableShrimp Tortas – We had to order a second helpingFried Artichokes – Seconds on this too.
And so ends our winter holiday vacation in Europe.
Your spoiled for choice when it comes to great Indian restaurants in London. We wanted something that was walking distance from our hotel and the theatre for our show that night. Colonel Saab in Trafalgar Square fit the bill nicely. A colourful and cosy room. Very friendly service.
COLONEL SAAB TRAFALGAR SQUARE
We decided to go with the tasting menu and enjoy the surprises.
RASAM
Rasam is a South Indian tomato and lentil soup simmered with healing spices and said to have medicinal qualities. Served with mini idli (fried rice cakes) and puffed pastry bites.
MARWAD’S RAJ KACHORI
Spiced chick peas & potato, a trio of sauces, pomegranate seed boondi, savoury crisp, herbal jam and black lime chaat masala. We’d never had anything like this and would never have ordered it. The chickpeas, potato and sauces were all in a crisp shell. Fantastic.
KANDHARI PANEER TIKKA
Like no Paneer Tikka I’ve ever had this one was stuffed with prunes and pomegranate in tomato, garlic mustard salsa.
A mango sorbet was an excellent palate cleanser that was followed with a fish curry and an amazing cheesecake.
Your spoiled for choice when it comes to great Indian restaurants in London. We wanted something that was walking distance from our hotel and the theatre for our show that night. Colonel Saab in Trafalgar Square fit the bill nicely. A colourful and cosy room. Very friendly service.
COLONEL SAAB TRAFALGAR SQUARE
We decided to go with the tasting menu and enjoy the surprises.
RASAM
Rasam is a South Indian tomato and lentil soup simmered with healing spices and said to have medicinal qualities. Served with mini idli (fried rice cakes) and puffed pastry bites.
MARWAD’S RAJ KACHORI
Spiced chick peas & potato, a trio of sauces, pomegranate seed boondi, savoury crisp, herbal jam and black lime chaat masala. We’d never had anything like this and would never have ordered it. The chickpeas, potato and sauces were all in a crisp shell. Fantastic.
KANDHARI PANEER TIKKA
Like no Paneer Tikka I’ve ever had this one was stuffed with prunes and pomegranate in tomato, garlic mustard salsa.
A mango sorbet was an excellent palate cleanser that was followed with a fish curry and an amazing cheesecake.
Brat, an old English word for turbot, is a casual restaurant with good service and fantastic Basque inspired food that earned a Michelin star in it’s first 6 months.
The specialty of the house is whole turbot, slow grilled over charcoal embers and the reason we were there.
The restaurant is upstairs over a pub and at the top of the stairs the first thing that gets your attention is fire and the busy, exciting kitchen.
WHERE IT ALL HAPPENS
A whole turbot is a lot of fish and it takes awhile to cook so we surrendered to the temptation is try a few starters. The oysters and bread with anchovies were so good, if we didn’t have that turbot coming we’d have had seconds of both.
OYSTERS WITH PLUM AND SEAWEED GRILLED BREAD WITH ANCHOVIESROASTED SCALLOP
When the chef presented the fish we were so excited we didn’t get a picture. We had watched them turning and spraying the fish for the last 45 minutes. The fat from the fish and the vinaigrette make a delicious sauce. We cleaned it to the bones.
A side of potatoes are a must. Even better than at Rovi, roasted over embers and drowning in hay smoked butter.
The burnt cheesecakes were temptingly on display at the kitchen when we arrived and impossible not to try. Another winner.
BURNT CHEESECAKE WITH PEAR
Brat served us one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten. Until next time, goodbye.
We finished our Ireland and UK trip with 4 nights in London. We had 3 dinners and 3 plays booked well in advance, starting with dinner at Rovi by Ottolenghi.
Yotam Ottolenghi is Israeli-British and the menu is middle eastern with many ingredients I’d never heard of. Fortunately Google knows everything. Following are some of the best things we tried.
Msabahha is tahini sauce, this was probably the best chickpea dish I’ve ever eaten.
No explanation needed but I’ll try to be a bit fancier with my corn next summer. Loved the combo of pumpkin seeds and spices.
SWEETCORN lime miso butter, pumpkin seed dukkah
Gurnard was new to me, also known as soldier fish or sea robins they are from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. Firm, white and inexpensive. Carli peppers are a Turkish variety that is sweet and tart. Tatbelah is a middle eastern sauce made with green chilis, garlic, lemon and spices, often used to top hummus.
RED GURNARD SKEWER, carli pepper, tatbelah, fennel chili salt
Pink Fir potatoes are a heritage variety that has a nutty, earthly flavour and were great for mopping up the delicious butter bean aioli and slightly spicy vegan njuja.
PINK FIR POTATOES, butter bean aioli, vegan nduja
Every dish was delish but the fish and the potatoes were craveable. We could have had more potatoes for dessert but had to leave for the theatre. Big Yums UP!
I’m having a hard time writing about Belfast. Belfast doesn’t have the kind of culinary vibrancy we saw in Dublin. Cork or Galway. The Troubles are just not that long ago and in fact, the gates are still locked each evening at Shankill and Falls Road. It’s getting better though.
There were 2 foodie highlights though: Bushmills and Farls.
Seahorse Restaurant Bread & Fancy Butter
We had one truly awful dinner at Fibber McGee’s and one very good dinner at Seahorse at the Grand Central Hotel, our home for a couple of nights where we discovered Irish Potato Bread or Farls at breakfast. Nothing like the potato bread we see in Canada, this is simply left over potatoes with flour, salt and butter added. Rolled out and fried, they are a sensation! We had a 15 minutes window before departing for the airport and spent it eating Farls.
The Antrim coast and the Giants Causeway are fantastic. We had truly awful weather but a visit to Bushmills for a couple of whiskey flights and a hot toddy warmed us up perfectly.
Bushmills Hot Toddy
Back home in Vancouver the weather is forcing me to work on perfecting my Hot Toddy recipe. Another good use of Bushmills is a shot in oatmeal. Try it, you’ll like it!
A few days on the Wild Atlantic Way including the Dingle Peninsula, County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher and Galway.
Dingle Peninsula
Dunmore Head on the Dingle Peninsula is 3,021 miles from Cape Spear Newfoundland the closest points in North America and Europe. I feel the connection in my bones like I feel my connection to cod fish. The bounty of the sea makes it onto the plate, but sadly the fish & chips is usually Hake, decent and usually well prepared but a sad replacement for Cod. However Newfoundland can’t compete when it comes to the chowder. The Irish make the most of the variety of seafood available and then perfect it with their amazing butter and cream.
We had the best mussels ever at John Benny’s Pub Dingle. Local Cromane mussels in white wine garlic cream sauce with more excellent brown bread. Order a side of fries too. Thumbs up for the fish pie.
It’s not often you get a restaurant this good in a hotel.
Pear and Walnut SaladSalmon CroquetteTurbot Grilled spicy Prawns, Celeriac, Asparagus and Cafe de Paris butter. Monkfish, Celeriac, Broccoli and White Wine Cream.
The salad was perfectly fresh and surprisingly delicious with a mustard seed dressing.
I’m not a fan of monkfish but David enjoyed it. I’ll take turbot any chance I get and I wasn’t disappointed.
We loved our day on the Dingle, the scenery, the people and the food.
On our way to Ennis we stopped at Bunratty Castle highlighted by a stop at Durty Nelly’s for our first and best Irish coffee.
Durty Nelly’sDurty Nelly’s perfect Irish coffee
We spent a Sunday night in Ennis at the Temple Gate hotel, home of Preachers Pub and another great chowder. There was traditional music from 8-10 musicians, including a young lass of about 12 and an older woman of about 75. Another great night.
Onward to the Cliffs of Moher with a stop in Ennistymon for a coffee and found The Cheese Press. Flat white coffee is the order of the day in Ireland and at the counter they told us the milk came from a cow that morning.
We also purchased a very stinky wash rind cheese that we carried with us the rest of the trip.
Gubbeen Cheese
It was trouble, emptying minibars and requesting fridges in hotels but a few weeks later we finished every bit of this delicious stinky treasure.
A couple of nights in Galway and proved why everyone loves it so much. Great atmosphere, great food. We couldn’t resist dinner both nights at The King’s Head. More great chowder and mussels. Live music in the pub if you have to wait for a table in the restaurant.
The King’s Head Galway.
A day trip to the Aran Islands and we said goodbye to the Wild Atlantic and headed north to Belfast.
It’s not just the butter, which is truly delicious, it’s the bread, chowder, cheese, whiskey and so much more that makes up the excellent culinary scene in Ireland. And the topper is the hospitality, consistently warm and welcoming.
Our first dinner in Dublin was at Sole featuring a great sole meunière but we remember it best for the first of many seafood chowders. Great potatoes, bread and butter. Expensive!
Delahunt was highly recommended. Unfortunately our server made several biggish blunders. The chef was particular about fixing a problem but we let most of the errors slide. Remembered best for the cheese plate with house made fig mustard. If they sold it by the jar my suitcase would have been full.
Chestnut Parfait with walnut bread and preserved grapes was a nice little starter for 2.
Chestnut Parfait, Walnut Bread, Preserved Grapes
The Jerusalem Artichoke with goat cheese frittata and mustard sauce was tasty but not pretty.
Jerusalem Artichoke and Goats Cheese Frittata
The Flamed Red Cabbage needed a sharp knife but the potato and truffle accompaniment was a winner.
Flamed Red Cabbage
The polenta fries with kimchi aioli, a side dish, stole the show.
Polenta Fries w’ Kimchi Aioli
Glas is a comfortable restaurant with a good wine selection. The food is tasty but lacked colour. Possibly just our choices. Those polenta fries though, well done .
On a great day trip up into Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains we had a remarkable pear scone in the cafe at Powerscourt while we looked at the splendid gardens in the rain. Later we had an excellent lunch at Lynham’s in Laragh. David still claims it the best fish and chips of the trip. I had an excellent salad. The warm and welcoming room and hospitality were outstanding.
Lynham’s home of a good Fish & Chips
A visit to the Guiness Storehouse was better than I expected but at the end of the day the rooftop bar was too busy to enjoy. Go early, it’s a good spot to see Dublin.
Dublin was lively and inviting with great food everywhere. Our best meal was on a later one night stay at the Mayson Hotel in the Docklands a hip and vibrant area. Ryleigh’s Rooftop Steakhouse served these 2 pescatarian’s very well. Best truffle fries ever. The included breakfast was pretty fine too.
Cathy’s Taste @TheTravelGroup 