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tonguecheeks-blog · 7 years

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Back to cold but cosy Stockholm since a few days now , and my first post will be about my lovely dinner at Café Nizza in Stockholm ( http://www.cafenizza.se) – similarly to sister Babette restaurant on the other side of town, Café Nizza offers a low-key design and atmosphere , what I liked was the à la carte menu , there is nothing to choose , and you let the food choose you ! unless you eat at the bar ( very nice too ) , here everyday the menu is different and for me it is a plus and sign of freshness.

Here is the menu we enjoyed , after a complementary courgette soup:

Burrata with artichoke and bottarga

Crispy Cod on the skin with grapes and goats cheese ( excellent ! )

Vanilla panna cotta with blood orange and pistachio

Overall I would say the food offered is well balance, well proportioned and most importantly extremely fresh ; tasty yet on the healthy note and you know that by waking up rather fresh in the morning (which is unfortunately not the case when I dine outside most of the time ) .

The wine I enjoyed was a 2015 Riesling from Slovakia for my starters ( please see wine list attached) and the Syrah of Hervé Souhaut for my mains – for me an excellent wine list by the glass .

After 10 years living in London, here is where I went to eat during my first visit back to this city I know inside out :

Below, I am providing a food guide for 4 days in London :

1/ Breakfast at Lansdowne Club in Mayfair ( https://www.lansdowneclub.com)

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Obviously this is a member club only ,but surpringly this is where I had the best English Egg benedicts for a very long time, awesome to have a quiet breakfast in an Art deco room, surrounded by interesting personages , enjoying calm and great services- highly recommended !

2/ A taste of Japan for lunch : Tajimatei ( no website , genuine japanese food in Chancery Lane) do not hesitate to order the lunch menu , great variety of sushi nigiri and sashimi ( toro, yellowtail, maquerel, salmon ) , and a miso soup – all for 18 pounds – truly a bargain for this quality !

3/ Korean food : Asadal (http://asadal.co.uk) : do not trust the google notes or reviews , this is truly the best Korean food in London

Same delicious food over the year , run by the same family , very reasonable price , excellent bulgogi barbecue ( in the evening only ) , kimchi , pork dumplings

4/Terrois ( http://terroirswinebar.com) I know I wrote a post about Terrois already but I cannot emphasis how much I value and love this place , for its great variety of wines by the glass, to its excellent terrine , to its atmosphere and personable service – AHH I missed this place so much !

Wine tasted (and enjoyed !) this time skin macerated wine Sancho Panza from Italy ( see wine list in photo) and the excellent Syrah “Octobre” by Domaine des Foulards Rouges 2016

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5/ Barrafina ( http://www.barrafina.co.uk) same here, I have already reviewed this restaurant ( the Charing Cross branch ) and this time, I went to the Soho branch – same food, same quality, perhaps more on the noisier side ( or perhaps it is my feeling after having isolated myself in Stockholm and London which results in being more sensitive to noise !) regardless the food is great, not sure about the super healthy aspect of things though as the menu has a lot of fried things to me , but deliciously made , mostly in front of you as the sitting is only at the bar ! Same wine list – no change on that . This time I had a excellent Priorat – all night !

6/Afternoon cocktail at the Claridges hotel Art deco bar ( http://www.claridges.co.uk/mayfair-restaurants-bars/bars/claridges-bar/)

Best place to have a Dry martini , James Bond way ( shaken not stirred ) followed by a Bloody Mary !

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7/Meet an old friend for a drink and a pizza at the Oak ( http://theoaklondon.com)

This place remains one of my favorite place in Notting Hill, unpretentious and always the same with a dreamy kitch British design , nothing like the Oak to feel the London vibes again !

8/Marguerita and a beer with a few tacos at Taqueria ( https://taqueria.co.uk)

Marguerita on the rocks, with a mexican Negro Modelo beer and the mood goes up !

9/ Ramen Tonkutsu for lunch – Shoryu (https://www.shoryuramen.com)

My favorite is the Piri Piri one or the Karaka Tan tan with some sake and a beer !

10/ No one can leave London without having some indian food right – so for a quick fix, go to Dishoom ( http://www.dishoom.com)

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11/ For brunch, Granger (https://grangerandco.com) remains a good option in Notting Hill, try the ricotta pancake , there are delicious !

Back to Europe – first thing first : get back into my search for natural wines and good food – A new restaurant in Stockholm and a mini food guide for London just for you ! Back to cold but cosy Stockholm since a few days now , and my first post will be about my lovely dinner at…

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theelectricfilmdiary · 7 years

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We spent two glorious days walking the streets of Paris, and despite the constant rain it was amazing. Nine hours was spent on a bus travelling from London to Paris – via the channel tunnel aka chunnel, which was kinda freaky: locked inside a bus, in a large train, in a tunnel, under the sea for 40 minutes …..still gives me the shivers!

When we arrived in Paris, it was dusk and we made the decision to avoid the trains, busses and wrong turns (not to mention the arguments where we blame each other for being lost) and caught an Uber to our accommodation. We got lucky with a driver who had spent three years in the states learning english and we chatted away with him about Paris. He told us a bit about the local culture and the goings on with the numerous recent terror attacks. Feeling slightly more educated we were dropped at our gorgeous lil’ apartment in the 4th Arrondissement. The apartment was super cute; small and cosy but had everything you could need and was a perfect haven to return to each day. It was about 8:30pm by the time we arrived and unpacked so we walked to a nearby supermarket and stocked up on cheese, baguettes (of course), olives and cured meats as well as an AMAZING bottle of red wine, and watched… French Kiss! I know, cliché, but it’s so funny. Well sated we then fell into bed.

Morning arrived (11th Jan) and we got up, made a coffee and then departed for a day of site seeing. The first stop – a bakery where I had my first authentic French croissant – and holy fucking shit it was good – too good. I’ve been ruined for life now! The next stop was the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Sounds a bit morbid and weird that we would visit a cemetery, BUT there are a tonne of famous musicians and writers (as well as a host of others) buried there and it has become a bit of a tourist attraction in its own right. The first grave stop was that of the one and only Jim Morrison of The Doors. The grave was sectioned off because unfortunately some extreme fans are partial to theft (headstones) and there is one recorded incident where a group of students dug two meters down in the hopes of recovering his hallowed bones before being caught. There are now a couple of hidden cameras recording the grave site visitors. Weird. The next stop was Edith Piaf, an extraordinary French singer who I absolutely love. We also tried to find Oscar Wilde’s grave site, but after searching for about 20 minutes we gave up – more to see in Paris aside from graves anyway…

James, as per usual, needed to pee so we stopped in a cafe and ordered one of the days many espressos so we could use the luxury bathroom facilities (luxury at this point is anything that doesn’t have pee – or worse – on the floor/toilet seat/walls etc and also provides the most basic of amenities – toilet paper and hand wash). The coffee of course was better than most we had tried throughout this entire trip – and soo much cheaper than the ones we had in London, Denmark etc – though you have to drink it at the bar, otherwise you pay more for the pleasure of your seat.

From the cafe warmth we strolled the streets until we reached a market selling produce, clothing and nick nacks. The food – OH MY GOD – each vendor (fish mongers, bakery/patisserie’s, fruit and vege, fromagerie (cheese), butchers, Pate and terrines (yes a stall just for them), jams and sauces, olives, flowers, everything you could imagine) had their wares displayed so beautifully – it was art itself. Every part of it was quality too. We came across a stall selling hot food for lunch, french stews, chicken, beef – all doused in amazing gravies and sauces. We had been told that street/market food in France is amazing and that you should try it if presented with the option, so Jim ordered up the vegetable stew with couscous…. SOOO GOOD. We stood on a side street digging in while the rain sprinkled down, and a passer-by commented “bon appetite” – no shit a Frenchman actually said that haha.

We walked along the River Seine admiring the beauty of the Parisian buildings and architecture until we hit the Notre-Dame de Paris – not before being harassed by a few wandering gypsy types trying to scam money out of us. We declined and were promptly sworn at… ahh Paris. The cathedral was beautiful, the front arches ornately decorated with hundreds of carvings, and the inside… dark, brooding, and the stained glass windows shone down a multitude of colours and images. The entry was free also which was great for us backpacking on a budget. After spending about an hour in the cathedral we walked outside to the Point Zero des Routes de France square in front of its big doors and watched people scaring flocks of pigeons into the sky – James of course had a go and leapt/skipped through them like an overgrown, semi-bearded child. Great photos.

From there, another pee stop for James and another espresso – seriously half of the conversations this trip have been based around his bathroom requirements… to which he blames the cold… rather than the two gallons of water he consumes each day. We walked the last hour of daylight home – our feet nearly bleeding stumps by this point – I actually have a bruise on my foot from walking so much. I ran back down to the supermarket and got more bread and cheese, salmon, beans and their rotisserie chicken and potatoes. Perfect dinner to finish the day – We sat in front of the laptop and watched something… so tired I can’t remember!

The morning of the 12th, we were up and out of the unit – this time the agenda was Paris Catacombs, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe…. Not seeing the Louvre this time unfortunately… we have done so many museums and galleries over the past weeks that we were more keen on seeing the behemoth-monument side of things. Croissant and espresso breakfast was consumed and we walked our way to the nearest metro station where we caught the train to the catacombs. GUESS WHAT?!? They were closed… only through January of course. Apparently we chose a particularly good time of the year to travel. Every city seems to do their renovations just after Christmas. Makes sense really…

So. Rather than getting back on the train we decided to walk… feet be damned… to the Eiffel Tower (we had noticed it towering away in the distance). On the way through some side streets we passed a store which only sold art and books by one of Jim’s favourite artists – Jean Giraud, aka MOEBIUS. He’s a French comic book artist who creates really bizarre, colourful, other worldly scenes. Kind of futuristic/sci-fi as well. He also inspired the look of the film The Fifth Element. We walked in and looked through all the amazing prints while chatting to the store manager. Before leaving, we bought a poster print as well as a signed print of one of the artists comic book pieces from Blueberry, which is his longest running comic book and is set in the wild west. Moebius died in 2012 so it was pretty cool that Jim got to visit his only store and get something signed by him.

On to the Eiffel Tower – not before yet another bathroom stop… then we were queuing up for security searches, and tickets before being bundled into a small room sized elevator with a hundred other tourists and slowly ascending to the second level of the tower – The third and top most floor was closed… I know… big surprise aye! The view was great though, despite the rain and clouds covering the sky, you could still see a surprising amount of Paris. It was fecking cold. We held out as long as we could taking pictures and looking around before getting friendly with more strangers in yet another elevator. We could have taken the stairs but as I mentioned earlier… our feet are bleeding stumps at this point. Once back on the ground we walked the short distance over to the Arc de Triomphe, again it was surrounded by tourists. It is massive though, much bigger than we had imagined and is covered in colossal stone sculptures. Beautiful.

A train ride later and we were back on our side of town. A patisserie stop later… more croissants, a lemon tart, and mille feuille….healthy aye. We enjoyed our sugary treats with coffee back at our apartment as night closed in and rain started to pour rather than drizzle (for shizzle). The wind howled up and down our apartment alleyway and we munched away on scrambled eggs for dinner. The next day we were to be up, packed and catch a train to Orly airport for our flight to Lisbon, Portugal so a few movies later it was lights out.

The morning of the 13th of January flew by in a blur of coffee, meticulous packing, and train tickets. Before we knew it we were sitting in the departure lounge drinking Italian beer and prosecco. Paris was amazing, and we wished we had a few more days to explore… next time we return it will definitely be spring or summer. Winter was still great… it’s just a lot was closed and it was cold and raining most of the time which made getting around that bit more draining.

One thing I will mention to anyone planning to visit Paris, or any European city for that matter, is always watch where your walking… dog shit is plentiful, and Jim experienced a good caking a couple of times… hahaha

View from the Eiffel Tower

Dinner at the apartment – night two

Fontaine Saint Michel, Paris

View from the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower details

Inside Notre Dame de Paris

Arc de Triomphe details

Paris street art

Paris street details

Fontaine Saint Michel, Paris – Details

Paris street details

Arc de Triomphe details

Fontaine Saint Michel, Paris

Inside Notre Dame de Paris

Arc de Triomphe details

Moebius art shop

Sweet treats and coffee at the apartment

Railway overbridge, Paris

The Eiffel Tower

Inside Notre Dame de Paris

Paris

Arc de Triomphe

This is how our bakery treats came wrapped – so cute

Arc de Triomphe details

Paris, la ville de l’amour et merde de chien… We spent two glorious days walking the streets of Paris, and despite the constant rain it was amazing.

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