Fabulous rijsttafel at Blauw

One of the chores connected with my work is trying out different bars and restaurants for my articles. Now it was time for another tough night at work. Luckily, my dear Femke joined my as backup, for this was to be a heavy-duty shift.

Rijsttafel is the Indonesian version of the Swedish Christmas table or Smörgåsbord, minus the Christmas and the Scandinavian food. It is a buffet of top of the pop Indonesian dishes ranging from mild salads to fierily spiced meat stews. The plan was to try the rijsttafel of the rather new Restaurant Blauw.

And try it we did, all 19(!) dishes. Well, I did, Femke actually skipped the hottest one, obviously not being as experienced as I am in this line of duty. The pictures pretty much say it all, but let me just add that the food was brilliant. And for €29 per person, rather reasonable priced, considering the quality and the dizzingly array of dishes.

A sunny day in the boat

Today, Amsterdam gave us all a pre-taste of summer, with temperatures over 20°C and lots of sunshine. A perfect time for a tour with the boat on the canals.

First, our neighbour Hyshil joined me for a little cruise. After a lovely hour, I dropped her off so she could pick up her daughter from the kindergarten.
Next passenger turned out to be Andrew, who I picked up downtown, fresh from the office. We cruised around in the city, sipping a cold beer, then ventured out on the Ij, the bigger water connected to the North Sea Canal. Here we tried to moor at the enormous and sun-kissed terrace of Musiekgebouw, but the waves were to high along the pier for my little boat.

Instead we steered back into to the maze of canals, and I dropped Andrew off, he had to go to a birthday party of a friend. Instead Femke joined me, bike and all, and I had the pleasure of giving her a ride home from work.
Days like this it is just wonderful to live in Amsterdam - What a beautiful afternoon!

A last Indian in London

Our last day, and Femke is out shopping again. I take a walk to check out some restaurants, then we round it up with a luxurious lunch at the oldest Indian restaurant in London, Veraswamy. Of course, now that we are leaving, and will spend most of the day on trains, airport and plane, the sun is shining.

But we didn’t go to London for the good weather – we went to meet dear friends and enjoy good cooking from all over the world. Throw in a pint or two in the equation as well as some museums, and you have a recipe for a great long weekend!

Museum, Turkish and Eritrean

Come Sunday, Femke had more shopping urges. Luckily, we also visited the brilliant photo exhibition the BBC Wildlife photo of the year at the Natural History Museum, had a perfect Turkish lunch at Zara and then took a beautiful walk at Hampstead Heath. Funny enough, there was this nice little pub (Flask) just next tot the heath.

In the evening we had a fantastic meal at the Eritrean restaurant Mosob, again together with Vicky & Aurelian and Christian & Bigi.

More friends, more food

Next day, we met up with Vicky (German) and her French boyfriend Aurelian, plus Christian (Finnish) and Bigi (also German). Femke knows them all from the time when she lived in Strasbourg, and although we both met Vicky frequently while living in Brussels at the same time, Femke had not seen Christian and Bigi for five years.
So it was high time for a drink together, which we had at the Museum Tavern. Then we enjoyed Korean cooking at Bi-Won, followed by a short visit to the British Museum.

After that, the girls were in desperate need of some shopping, so we rubbed shoulders with thousands of other tourists at Covent Garden, before Christian and me managed to convince them that it was high time for a beer, this time at the Coal Hole.
Oddly enough, we still had some appetite, so we headed for the Indian restaurant Masala Zone in Camden Town. This was to be the only disappointment food-wise during our entire stay. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t as good as it could be. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

Mexican, Burmese and friends

Friday, Femke did some window shopping (with me trudging along) at Kings Road, followed by a beautiful and spicy Mexican meal at Taqueria. Femke continued her shopping downtown, while I had to do some more research on the pub front.

Then we had the pleasure of discovering the Burmese kitchen (at Mandalay) together with Sue and her boyfriend Brian. We met Sue while being election observers in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution in 2004, and have stayed in contact since. The food was so good, we had to round it off with a beer at the Warrington, Gordon Ramsay’s pub.

Femke arrives to London

Thursday evening, Femke arrived and we had a nice Malaysian meal at Satay House. But before that, I visit a few other pubs :-)

Easter in London

This year, we celebrated Easter in London. I had two stories to produce, so left already Wednesday morning. Femke joined me Thursday evening. Not only did we enjoy a multitude of traditional pubs (part of my work) and a world-wide mix of restaurants (also part of work), but we were lucky enough to be able to meet several friends as well.

I started with an oriental lunch (at Pasha) together with newly married Katarina, before she zoomed away to a sailing vacation in the Caribbean (me, jealous? Naah…).

Wine in Vienna

The last four days, I have been working in the former Imperial capital Vienna. I like Vienna. Some say it is a cold and stiff city, but I do not agree. There is beautiful architecture to admire (not only old), cafés tempts with delicious pastries and food is good. Several art museums exhibit very interesting 20th century art, my favourite being the accessible yet thrilling Gustav Klimt.

But this time, it is the wine that has drawn my attention. Vienna prides itself of being the only capital in the world that has vineyards within the city borders. And not only one, but 50. Many of them are open for the public, and follow the tradition of also being a heuriger, a place where you can eat traditional Austrian food at the vineyard and drink the local wine to it. Or just enjoy a tasting of some of their products.

If you prefer to stay in the very city centre, there are lots of well-stocked wine bars that will gladly let you in to the world of wine in Vienna. Most of the time, you can buy wine to bring home at the same places.

Unfortunately, I have to leave Vienna this evening. Then again, I am going to Amsterdam, and that’s a very agreeable city as well.