Tag Archives: europe

Top Food Experiences from Our Milan to Barcelona Trip

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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 tasting
Vilarnua 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, Malaga
Fried Black Cod with Aioli
Pil Pil Shrimp Croquettes
Grilled Scallops with Spiced Gazpacho
Patatas Bravas
Tacos 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 – Cravable
Shrimp Tortas – We had to order a second helping
Fried Artichokes – Seconds on this too.

And so ends our winter holiday vacation in Europe.

A Taste of Ireland: Dingle Peninsula and The Wild Atlantic Way

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The Cliffs of Moher

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.

A night at the Dingle Skellig Hotel and dinner at their Coastguard restaurant was very good. A spectacular setting with great views.

It’s not often you get a restaurant this good in a hotel.

Pear and Walnut Salad
Salmon Croquette
Turbot 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’s
Durty 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.

Ireland – Dublin

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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.

First vegetarian dinner was at was Glas.

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.

We didn’t go near the Temple Bar but really enjoyed the Lincoln’s Inn a good spot after a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland.

The Palace Bar across from the very excellent College Green Hotel was another great spot.