Weeks of March 14-21: The Food (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussells)

Ok, as we both know, I am have a lot of posts to write... I'm going on a 5 month lag here and am in the middle of a series on a two week trip I took. I've been trying to think of the best way to organize all of this and since it's hard to remember the exact order of things when you're so far behind, I have decided to do one massive post on the food. So get your eyeballs and stomachs ready because this is going to be a long post about a lot of delicious adventures. I didn't write about every food experience, mostly because I don't remember the name of every place, but here are some of the highlights!

London

Chino Latino

In anticipation of my visit, Kevin purchased a few Living Social dinner vouchers. When he saw this one, he emailed me asking if I would be interested in a 9-course pan asian meal with a complimentary chilli-mango cocktail... yes?

The courses had a really nice progression. The first few courses were small bites such as torched salmon nigiri and a soft shell crab roll called Kani Kani (this was a BIG hit with Kevin and we got an encore of it at the end of our meal). The middle courses comprised of dumplings, scallops, tempura and calamari. The ended off the night with an amazing duck course and some black cod. Everything was really amazing and I only have two complaints - it wasn't entirely filling so we had to order another roll (more kani kani!) and some of the courses came on the same plate so at the end of the meal we were expecting a couple more dishes to pop up. In addition to the meal, we had the promised chilli-mango cocktail (sweet with a spicy bite at the end) and a couple bottles of sake (yes, a couple - this is what happens when two stubborn people try to make a decision).

I think I was able to track down the menu if you want to see the details for yourself (it is the top tasting menu for two).

The Driver

The other deal he got was for The Driver. He told me it wouldn't be much - just some standard pub food. This would turn out to be the understatement of the year which you can see for yourself here. The deal allowed us to each get an appetizer and an entree. Unlike the sake debate, we both actually wanted the same thing. For appetizers we ordered queen scallops on a bed of black pudding and pesto. Before I tell you what our entrees were, I should preface that the restaurant tends to specialize in African game meats. So we were both really excited to try Springbok (antelope or South African rugby team). It was really tasty and not gamey at all. The waitress told us that the restaurant occasionally gets zebra (pronounced zeh-brah in English English) as well the restaurant is always packed when it does. Hopefully they are serving it next time I go!

Ben's Cookies
After a post on my lucky weather near the end of my London trip, I got a recommendation for Ben's Cookies followed by several other posts professing Ben's Cookies love. I was near Covent Garden where there is a little cookie shop so I stopped in. Honestly, I love Specialty's a lot, but these cookies were amazing. I can't wait to get some again. I went with the classic chocolate chip but there are a bunch of flavors so I may need to try another next time.
They seem to have shops all over London because I spotted another at Oxford Circus a few days later. I've also been trying to figure out a mail order system but it doesn't seem like they deliver to San Francisco...



Laduree Macarons
I love macarons a lot and was really sad that I didn't get a chance to get a box of them while I was in Paris. So when I passed a macaron shop on my way to Hyde Park, I knew I had to stop in and get some. I don't remember all of the flavors I got but they were really delicious. I made the mistake of trying to bring some of them back with me, but after a couple of days they got really hard and weren't nearly as enjoyable. Note to self - eat macarons as quickly as possible. Shouldn't be too difficult...

 Paris

Chat Noir

remains of a duck confit

Because our train for Paris was so early  (5 am! Booking travel at the wee hours of the morning is an unfortunate habit of mine as you may soon see. In fact, I have a 7 am flight tomorrow. I have no idea why I do this...) we were pretty tired the first night we were there. We decided to take it easy and just eat in the neighborhood of our hotel. Lucky for us, that was the red light district so there were a ton of options.

After wandering down the street for a while, we stumbled upon a restaurant that had the menu posted. With options like duck confit, we knew we would be fine. In fact - that's what we both ordered! Kevin also got a plate of escargot because he had never tried it. I had eaten them before and wasn't a fan of the texture but I decided to give them another shot. It was well worth it because these were so tender and delicious! Our duck confit came out next and it was also amazing. I ended up lapping up any extra sauce with the bread that we had. I topped off the meal with some creme brulee. I think the best part of the restaurant was that they had an English and French menu - with literal transaltions. Creme brulee showed up as "burnt cream" and duck confit was "potted duck."

The place was a little touristy but they was some nice piano music and the food was incredible so I would still recommend it.

Angelina

chocolate, vanilla, and salted caramel

liquid brownie

I couldn't decide if this would be better in the Versailles post or here but decided that it's food nonetheless. This was a recommendation from the lovely Melody who has one of the biggest sweet tooth's I've ever seen. Kevin, Lindsay, and I went to Versailles one of the days I was in Paris. After squeezing our way through the crowded chateau, we found that there was an Angelina (there is also one on the Rue di Rivoli but the wait is ridiculous). We figured the best way to warm up on a cool day was some hot chocolate (which Lindsay very aptly referred to as a "liquid brownie") and some macarons (well, I got macarons...). A picture is worth a thousand words and I got two of them... Honestly, if you love chocolate, you cannot go to Paris without stopping here. It is truly fantastic. The macarons were also amazing. The texture was so perfect and completely different from the ones I make at home.

Aux Trois Mailletz

Our last night in Paris, we decided to try to hunt down a restaurant near the Notre Dame that was recommended to us. However, it was closed on Sundays so wandered around the area until we found a place that looked amazing (we saw the words "fillet for two" and were sold), but it didn't serve dinner until 8. Although we were starving, we decided it looked too good to pass up. We passed our time in the interim going to bar around the corner to try a tequila-flavored beer that Lindsay recommended called Desperados. It was really good and while it had that limey tequila taste, it wasn't so strong as to make it unpleasant. We also had an outdoor table in front of one of the tiniest parking spots known to man so we were thoroughly entertained by all of the drivers trying to fit.
Oh yes, our dinner... so we split the fillet for two which was huge and really delicious. I do think though that it was a fillet of pork, not of beef because it was quite light colored but amazing anyways. The dish came with some potatoes that were really good when eaten with the meat's sauce. We got some sort of appetizer too (drawing a blank...) and were a little disappointed that it came after the entree. Although we really loved the food and wine (I may have loved the wine a little too much), the service was mediocre at best. Although we got in there at 8, we didn't leave until close to 11 when we had to rush to the Champs de Mars to try to go up to the Eiffel Tower before it closed. If you want to have a long and relaxed dinner, it would probably be a good place for you but don't go if you're in a hurry.

Amsterdam

Tokyo Cafe
My brother recommended this place to me before my trip. Hearing that it was a sushi buffet, I was really excited. I had wanted to go the first night but apparently they do food service in time slots. So, we booked a slot for the next night. After a busy day sightseeing around Amsterdam, we had worked up quite an appetite and were looking forward to the buffet.
The restaurant lets you pick between a standard and deluxe all you an eat option. If you order 3-4 dishes from the deluxe part it's probably worth it and some of our favorite things were on there so the choice was clear. We really cleaned that place out. The two of us are pretty big eaters and if you get the right items (sashimi) it's easy to order a lot without filling up too much.
I grew up in my mother's school of get-all-you-can-for-your-money and lesson number 1 was how to maximize the all-you-can-eat situation. Any buffet that offered crab legs, lobster or prime rib was not going to make a profit from my family. I would definitely go back here again - if we didn't put them out of business.

Brussels

Brussels Cafe

So I am ending this post with probably my favorite food adventure - not because it was the best food, but because of the sheer purpose of this trip. We literally only stopped in Brussels for 4 hours in order to get beer, waffles, mussels, waffles and chocolate. We did all of those things. If there is one thing that's true about me, it's that I can be quite... willful and no one was going to stop me from my stereotypical touristy feast.

We didn't really have a plan when we got there so we got off the train and wandered down the biggest street we could find and following the signs to the Grand Palace.  Eventually we found a big square and figured we were in luck. Our first order of business was to get some chocolates. We walked into a cute store that seemed to be having a huge sale and each got a few boxes. I didn't eat these until I got back to the states but they were incredible. My favorites were caramel filled and covered in little crispies.

After that we were pretty starving so we looked for a place to eat. Now, I don't remember the name but I thought it had "Brussels" in the title and looking at a map there is a "Cafe de Bruxelles" so I'm just going to assume this was the place. They had beer, mussels and waffles so it would do.

We started the meal with a garlic shrimp appetizer. I made the mistake of leaving the table for a minute and I came back to an empty plate. Luckily, I got to dip my bread in the amazing sauce that was left over.

Then we got our mussels. We both thought the white wine sauce and the garlic ones sounded the best so we each got a bowl. The garlic was much better so it was too bad that Kevin had ordered that one.

We rounded off the meal with a dessert waffle. They had a choice between chocolate and cream and we went the latter. I kind of wish I had lost that battle because the cream wasn't as good as I was expecting.

And of course, we washed it all down with lots of trappist beers....