Pasteis de Belem – Lisbon

April 27, 2014Leave a comment

After lunch, our hostel recommended us to visit Belem, which is the secondary local administrative unit in Portugal. It’s historically famous because of the number of Portuguese explorers embark their voyages from this area. Even Christopher Columbus stopped here! To get here, you just need to take the Tram 15E from the city center area and you get some nice views along the way. You’ll figure out where to get off just by seeing a bunch of tourists all disembarking the tram. We sort of followed some people, and we soon realized everyone was going to Pasteis de Belem!

Pasteis de Belem is a pastry shop that existed since 1837. This shop is the birthplace of Pasteis de nata, or Portuguese egg tarts. They were created when Catholic monks of the 18th century used leftover egg yolks to create cakes and pastries for a living. My mom was pretty excited since she loves Asian egg tarts and she knew Portugal is famous for them.

Other than Pasteis de nata, they also sell a variety of other cakes and pastries. But it seemed that everyone was just here for the tarts! We found a huge line up outside, but it moved very quickly. They also have seating inside, but we found that getting take out was the best and quickest way. They pack them for you in a little box.

A terrible blurry picture of the Pasteis de nata, but I was too excited to just eat it. It’s slightly burnt at the top, but you can’t really taste any burnt taste. The filling is sort of like a creme brulee, or typical Chinese egg tarts, but the bottom was what surprised me! I’m used to typical solid tarts like in fruit tarts, or the flaky tart for some Chinese egg tarts, but this one was a crispy shell! Very layered, but you get a nice crunch as you bite into it. The filling is also much creamier than typical egg custards. You can also sprinkle some powdered sugar and cinnamon on top which gives it a nice sweet flavour! I would definitely recommend coming here to give them a try! One of the best egg tarts I’ve had and reasonably priced.

A few steps down, and you will arrive at the impressive Jeronimos Monastery (also the monastery from where the monks made the pasteis de nata!) This monastery basically is a symbol of Portugal’s power and wealth back in the day when King Manuel I built it. It dates back to 1502!

Inside, it’s very spacious, and you can definitely tell how old it is! It’s not as luxurious looking as some of the Italian or French churches, but definitely very large! However, the architecture is beautiful with each column carved with different items related to the sea. The monks here gave spiritual guidance to sailors and pray for the King’s soul and Vasco de Gama, a navigator and his crew, spent their night here before their voyage which was a success. Today, Vasco de Gama’s tomb is located here, as well several other important Portuguese figures. If you have a Lisboa Card, it is free entry, but even though we did not, we somehow entered for free…

From afar the Jeronimos Monastery is huge! There are also various museums if you continue to walk further down. They have a maritime museum which showcases Portugal’s sea exploration, which is very well known.

If you walk across the Jeronimos Monastery and towards the water, you will see the Discoveries Monument. You will need to go on an underground staircase to reach this spot where the Tagus River is. This monument was built to commemorate the death of Prince Henry, a navigator.

In front of the monument, you will see a drawing of the world on the floor. What I believe the pinpoints are, are locations that navigators traveled to. The only one I sort of was familiar with was Macau, which Portugal had power over.

This is the side view of the Discoveries Monument which is basically a ship with the important figures of history, including Portuguese explorers.

If you look out from the monument, you will see the 25 de Abril Bridge. My initial thought was “It’s the Golden Gate Bridge!” Actually, it is supposed to resemble that, although it is even longer than San Francisco’s. It is actually the longest central span in Europe!

Another important landmark to see is the Belem Tower, which I unfortunately only saw from afar. We were sort of too tired to walk further down to visit this fortress. It was built in 1515 to guard the entrance to Lisbon’s harbor and is very important to Portugal during the Age of Discovery. It was often the starting point for sailors going on voyages.

Belem is definitely worth visiting, given it’s only 15 minutes by tram. You’ll be able to walk through most of these landmarks in an afternoon if you don’t visit any other museums. A beautiful relaxing area to be on a nice sunny day!

Carmelitas – Barcelona

April 13, 2014Leave a comment

Bread with Chocolate, Olive Oil and Salt

After dinner at Tickets, we were obviously still sort of hungry. We met up with D since it was our last farewell night and headed to Carmelitas. C had been here before and said that their food is average, but they have good desserts and a casual environment. It’s located in the Raval area, so it can be a little sketchy at night, so go as a group. The restaurant is also a bar, so it was huge. We were taken to the very back where it was much more quiet but seated more of us. We had a pitcher of sangria and ordered pretty much every dessert on the menu! First was the Bread with Chocolate, Olive Oil and Salt. The rest of the group thought it was an interesting combination, but C and I had already tried something similar at Tapas 24. This was definitely a lazy version of it. We could’ve easily made this at home. It was literally a piece of bread brushed with olive oil, with two squares of semi-melted chocolate and topped with salt. It was smooth and the salty mixed with sweet was again a good taste. Still, I would prefer the Tapas 24 one more, since the chocolate was almost like a mousse.

Cheesecake

We tried two of their homemade cakes, which you need to ask about since they change daily. We had the Cheesecake, which I really liked. It was topped with some honey on top! Very smooth and fluffy and the top was golden.

Chocolate Cake

The second homemade cake was the Chocolate Cake. It was quite dense and more like a fudge cake. It came with some nuts as well on the side. Not bad!

Santa Teresa’s Toast with Ice Cream

We weren’t sure what the Santa Teresa’s Toast really was, but we went for it anyways. It was basically like french toast, but with more of a cake batter. It was deep fried on the outside and topped with sugar on the outside. I loved it! So good! There was some honey on it too. It came with a scoop of walnut ice cream, which was additional, but the warm and cold feeling was amazing!

The desserts were around 4 euros each, which is reasonable at a restaurant. We loved how the environment was really casual and we didn’t feel pressured to leave or order more. Service was also great!

Tickets – A Molecular Gastronomy Experience – Barcelona

April 12, 2014Leave a comment

I’m so excited to write this post because I truly think my dinner at Tickets was the most memorable dining experience I’ve ever had! Tickets is owned by Ferran Adria, a an award-winning chef known worldwide. Let’s start with some background information about him, since he’s a pretty crazy guy. He used to run elBulli, which all foodies are aware of – the Michelin 3-star restaurant located in the city of Roses in Spain. elBulli was a restaurant all about molecular gastronomy. His cooking took on a scientific approach and an average meal at elBulli could cost you 250 euros. It eventually closed down in 2012 due to losses, and soon after, he opened Tickets Bar in Barcelona! It’s a place which will leave you with an empty wallet and stomach, but also an experience like no other. I mean, how often are you going to eat at a restaurant owned by one of the world’s best chef?

Now before you think you can just go ahead and visit the bar tonight, be reminded you need to make reservations around 3 months in advance…Yup. Well C made the reservations perhaps 2 months in advance and was able to get a table. Sometimes, if you go at around 6pm, you can try walking-in, although you might have a time restriction. For some reason, they had mixed up our reservation and ended up having a restricted time to eat… Anyways, you are greeted by a lady who looked like the ringmaster (all suited up in circus-wear). We got seated, and even their plates and cutlery were interesting! Instead of forks, we had these… tweezers. Yup, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with them. But they’re on the menu and you can purchase them too. You can also purchase the menu which is a cute little book.

The inside is almost like a circus. It’s so colourful and each area sort of has a theme. If you’re a smaller group, you can sit at these bars and see the chefs at work. The picture is a bit blurry, but they had those Chinese Lucky Cats waving their hands on the shelves…not so sure what theme that was!

In front of us was another themed section. They showcased a machine that had something to do with their special olives (which I’ll talk about later) as well as tomatoes and the famous Spanish Iberican Ham. We had invited our Spanish professor to dinner and it was so informative since he could tell us more about the food we were eating as well as communicate to the servers. They know English, but it’s obviously easier when they speak Catalan. My prof pointed out that the ham wrapped in red hanging above is the Joselito Iberico Ham. Joselito is the brand and is known to be the highest quality of cured hams in Spain. Iberico cured hams are from free range and acorn-fed pigs in Spain, but Joselito is known for its pigs being able to run around in a land filled with oak trees in the town called Guijuelo in the west of Spain. Today, Joselito Iberico Ham is known as preium quality cured ham and is priced very high!

Cava

We began our meal with a bottle of cava (champagne) to share. I don’t remember the name of of it, but I really enjoyed it! We ended up having two bottles throughout the night for the 6 of us, and it gave us quite a few rounds. You can choose your dishes off the menu by yourself, or have your waiter decide, which is what we did. He basically asked us for our budget and he would help us order dishes that would give us a good variety of their famous dishes. He said the average budget is usually 70 euros, but our prof told him ours would be 50 euros, and he said it would be fine. Our bill ended up around 60 euros each since we ordered two bottles of cava and it also included tips. We were also able to try around 15 different items! It may sound pricey, and I don’t think I would ever spend that much on a meal for myself, but I definitely suggest doing this once in your lifetime!

Tempura of Pistachios – 3,60

Our first item was Tempura of Pistachios. It came in a basket with individual little bags filled with around 8 pistachios. The pistachios are lightly coated with tempura batter giving it a very light crunch. Not bad, although I don’t know if they’re worth 3,60 euros each bag…

Tickets’ Olive S – 8,10 for 6

Then came the Tickets’ Olive S, which is the classic example of molecular gastronomy and a signature of ElBulli. For a starter, I absolutely hate olives. I hadn’t told the server about that, so when the olives came, I was a little hesitant. But I sort of just stuck through and said I’d give it a try. The best part of the service at Tickets is that the server will teach you how to eat each of the dishes. Of course you can eat it differently, but the food is designed to be eaten a certain way. The instructions are so detailed yet concise from the server in the most casual way. For instance, they’ll tell you whether you should take 2 bites, or just eat it in one bite, or whether to just use your hands to eat it. These olives were presented on this silver spoon and were sort of glazed with a jelly. He said to put the olive in your mouth and lightly, using the top of your mouth, press down against your tongue. What happened was something I couldn’t imagine…The olive just burst and this olive flavoured liquid filled my mouth. I was left with a very thin piece of skin. I had to think twice about what just happened… This is just an example of what’s so fun about dining at Tickets. You would think an olive is hard and solid, but not at Tickets! It was like an infused olive liquid inside a jelly and I loved it. I felt like it wasn’t as pungent as normal olives. A MUST TRY!

We were then given another Olive-S. It looked identical but this time it came in this little jar. I believe he said it was infused with rosemary. Again, it popped in my mouth with the lightest pressure. This one was much more pungent, and I preferred the regular one more.

Crostini with Tomato Seeds & Cantabrian Anchovies

Next was the Crostini with Tomato Seeds & Cantabrian Anchovies. Oh god, another fear of mine. Yup, I’m not a fan of anchovies either… But seriously, after eating at Tickets, I questioned myself because I loved all the food that I normally hate. Does that even make sense? Although Tickets is all about modern molecular gastronomy, their cuisine is still based on traditional Catalan and Spanish ingredients, and this is just an example of that. Pan con tomate was basically the traditional counterpart of this dish. And of course, Cantabrian anchovies are premium anchovies found in the sea of northern Spain. This was eaten in 2-3 bites and the crostini was crunchy with the anchovy not being fishy at all! That’s what I really hate about anchovies, but these weren’t fishy. It was also topped with these little silver paper looking flakes that looked like fish skin. It was actually made of potato!

Manchego Cheese – foam inside of mini airbags with hazelnuts olive oil caviar – 8,40

Then came these little cheese puffs. The Manchego Cheese were turned into a foam and filled in these light, airy mini airbags. You put the whole puff into your mouth, and again, it just explodes. Your mouth is then filled with a buttery, smooth cheese. It was also topped with hazelnut olive oil caviar which added a nutty flavour. Manchego cheese originates from Spain and is from sheep milk. I’ve had it on its own before and it was really pungent for me, but not here! The balance was just right!

Joselito’s Iberian Ham – 13,40 (tapa)

Then we got to try the famous Joselito Iberian Ham. I’ve had quite a lot of Iberico jamon during my time in Spain, but I’m pretty sure I was having cheap versions of this prized cured ham. The pieces of ham were light pink and so thin with a just the right amount of fat. It was wrapped around an air baguette! The baguette was hollow inside and the feeling you got when you bit into it was very similar to the Manchego mini airbags. Super light and the ham was perfect with a touch of paprika.

Quail Egg in Nest

Then came a visually beautiful dish. It was like an egg shell in a nest! It was the Quail Egg in Nest, which had a quail egg in an edible crunchy nest. The quail egg was runny in the middle with the yolk just bursting in your mouth. I find that most of their dishes are about the explosions in your mouth! The top of the egg was also topped with some wasabi mayonnaise which gave it a little kick. Delicious!

Tuna with Roe in Cone

Next was the Tuna with Roe in Cone, which was again presented beautifully. Even the plating they used was whimsical! The cones were put in a pot that looked like it was crumbled and filled with pebbles. The tuna sashimi cubes were wrapped with seaweed and then wrapped around a crispy cone.It was then topped with some tobiko. So delicious and made me miss Japanese food. I love how they mix other cuisines into their menu. There’s really something for everyone!

Edible Crab – in avocado cannelloni – 14,80

Then came another dish with an ingredient I wasn’t very fond of. It was the Edible Crab which was wrapped with tons of avocado slices! I usually choose not to eat avocado, but holy, this was so good! Basically they use the avocado slices to imitate a cannelloni with the crab meat filled inside. The avocado was so soft and creamy and mixed with the sweet crab. It was just amazing.

Oysters with Ponzu Sauce and Salmon Roe

Mmmm then came one of my favourites! Oysters with Ponzu Suace and Salmon Roe. Such a simple dish, but the freshness of the oysters combined with the Ponzu sauce, which is citrus based really brought out the sweetness of the oysters. Again, they took advantage of the Japanese sauce to accentuate the dish. The salmon roe also gave a little pop in your mouth. I could’ve easily ate a dozen of these…

Marinated Fried Fish

The Marinated Fried Fish was probably my least favourite. It didn’t seem as special. I believed it was fried sea bass which was marinated in a spicy sauce. It was crispy and not greasy, but I didn’t find it too spectacular compared to the rest of their menu.

Confit Potatoes – with Iberian cured ham and pork rib juice – 10,80

The Confit Potatoes also didn’t make it onto my top favourites list. The potatoes were cut thin like scalloped potatoes, and were very soft. It was soaked in a lot of the pork rib juice and paired with an Iberican cured ham. The whole dish was topped with a bit of paprika. It was good, but wasn’t a stand out dish.

Mollete with Double Chin

We were then presented with the Mollete with Double Chin inside these little paper bags. Mollete is a type of bread roll that originates from Andalucia in southern Spain. The bread was so fluffy and light! I don’t think I’ve had bread that light before. It was filled with some fatty pork – sort of like pork belly. It was so juicy and the pairing was so simple, yet delicious.

The Worms

Next was dessert time! Our server started carrying over an aloe plant and we were all confused. Are we having aloe for dessert? But wait! There were these cut little Worms on the plant. They even had little eyes!! They were passionfruit-flavoured marshamllows! Definitely an fascinating presentation. They melted in your mouth, but I did find it to be a little too sweet.

Black Sesame and White Chocolate Lava Rock

Then, he brought over a lava rock… We were all like what? Do we just eat the rock? Is it chocolate cake? By the end of our meal, we were always guessing what we were eating. The grey-looking pumice rocks were actually Black Seasame White Chocolate! It was like having an Aero chocolate in your mouth! So airy and it just melted in your mouth. Seriously, how can someone be so imaginative!?

At the end of our meal, we were definitely not full, but it filled me enough so I wasn’t hungry. The bill came in a Paellero tin can, which is the traditional seasoning the Spanish use to make paella. It’s a blend of spices and saffron according to my prof.

And that was my gastronomical experience at Tickets. I think their slogan is La Vida Tapa which is on their theatrical movie posters outside. It translates to The Tapa Life. Tickets is definitely more than just tapas. It’s a way for diners to be curious about what they’re eating and be filled with surprises. It’s a change from the traditional ways of cooking, and I highly recommend everyone who loves food with a twist to visit Tickets. The brothers have also opened up other establishments, like 41 Degrees Experience, which I am dying to go back to try when I can afford it. Tickets is their tapas bar, so it’s priced lower. Can’t wait to be back!

I actually found a video clip from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations where he visits Tickets! It begins at 5:40 for those interested 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghf5gGKgAkg

Traveling in Vienna – Christmas Markets and Palaces

April 9, 20142 Comments

From Prague to Vienna, we took a bus called Student Agency that took around 5 hours. Flying in and out of Vienna is extremely pricey, so it seems that most travelers on a budget commute by bus. Student Agency was the cheapest bus out there and it was also one of the best bus I’ve been on! They had tons of movies to watch, free wi-fi, and even a cup of complimentary hot chocolate or coffee. Our bus did require us to switch to a different bus when we got to Brno, a city in Czech. The next bus wasn’t as fancy, but it was only another 1-2 hours, so we just slept it off. After dinner with K’s friends that night, they took us to the Vienna Christmas Market. Once again, there are multiple markets all around the city, but the most significant one is at Rathausplatz. It’s also where Vienna’s Town Hall is located. A gorgeous building both in the day and night. Here, the parks are decorated with lights and I feel like it was the nicest market I visited during my trip in Europe.

You’ll find that Mulled Wine or “Gluwein” stalls all over the market. It’s super popular in Vienna and they have a huge variety of flavours for their punches too.

I went for the original Gluwein, but I didn’t like it as much as my friends’ flavoured punches. The fruitier ones tasted much better. You pay a deposit and get it in a nice mug which you can keep if you don’t want your deposit back. Otherwise, just return your mug and you can get your deposit back. Other than drinks, there were a variety of food and arts and crafts.

The next day, we went to tackle all the major tourist sites. However, one of our friends were a huge Sigmund Freud fan since she took a few psychology classes, so we ended up going to the Sigmund Freud Museum first. He’s basically the founder of psychoanalysis, and although I didn’t know much about him, the museum was pretty interesting. You get an audio player to listen to while walking around the museum. Freud had lived there, but there really isn’t much of his furniture left now and it really looks more like a museum. I would advise people who are into psychology and such to visit if they have time. It takes around 2 hours. Then we began to hit up the typical tourist spots. Here is the Austrian Parliament Building, which is huge and spectacular! basically around this area, you’ll find a bunch of other important buildings. We had a look at the Museumsquartier, where there’s a bunch of modern art museums.

Then we came to Hofburg Palace, which used to house the Hasburg dynasty and rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, it’s where President of Austria lives. The only problem was that by the time we got here, it started to snow! And quite heavily too! It was our first snowfall in Europe, but seriously, we just wanted to hide indoors. We weren’t dressed for this weather!

It took us forever to find food! Most places were packed with people since everyone wanted to wait for the snow to stop. We finally found this tiny mall on Mariahilfer Strasse called Gerngross. Inside, we found this restaurant called Brandauer with reasonably priced food. We found a seat and warmed up. I got the Ribs with Fries and they were so good! I felt like I was back in America eating that greasy food. It wasn’t even that greasy. Each rib had tons of meat on it too and it was roasted to perfection. It came with two dips too, which were perfect for the wedge-cut fries. After lunch, the snow stopped and we went to Karlsplatz, which is a square where the Karlskirche (St. Charles’ Church) is located. Also a must see!

After that, we met up with K’s friends again, and they took us to see the Belvedere Palace. Again, it’s a Baroque style palace and was built for Prince Eugene of Savoy. Today, it’s a museum with art from the Middle Ages to today. K went in to see the collection, but the rest of us weren’t too into art, so we ended up taking a look at the Christmas Market which was just outside the building. It was a much smaller scale market, and I wouldn’t come here just for the market. The palace was really pretty at night though! The girls and I also ended up heading to the Schonbrunn Palace since it was our last night. It’s the former imperial summer residence and is known as one of the most important cultural monuments in Austria. However, we didn’t find that the Schonbrunn Palace looked as nice as the Belvedere! It was a bit more simple compared to the Belvedere. We didn’t pay to go inside, but there was again another Christmas Market! This one was much larger than Belvedere and had quite a lot of food. Not bad!

We then met back up with the rest of the group, and they took us to Vapiano. It’s actually a German restaurant chain, but the largest restaurant is in Vienna! It’s a self-serve restaurant with Italian food like pasta and pizza. They make the food when you order which is really cool. I wish I took a picture of it. So what happens is when you walk in, they give you a little card. You find your own seat, then you go ahead and walk up to to kitchen to line up. There’s a pizza line and a pasta line. When it’s your turn, you scan your card on this machine and tell the chef what type of pasta you want, what sauce, and whether you want other toppings. Then the chef literally starts to cook it in front of you! Pasta doesn’t take long to cook, so you have your food ready in less than 5 minutes! You can add on drinks or other sides. Here, I got the Pesto Penne, which was quite delicious! Affordable pricing, and the quality wasn’t bad. They claim to have fresh pasta and such. I don’t think it’s the best pasta I’ve had, but definitely pretty good for what you pay. When you leave, you just give the cashier your card, and it’ll show how much you need to pay! Definitely a cool concept and the interior doesn’t even feel like a cafeteria! It looks pretty upscale!

At night, K went out to party with his friends. The girls and I wanted to have an easy night and we headed back to our hostel. We stayed at Hostel Ruthensteiner. It wasn’t our first choice and wasn’t exactly the cheapest, but everything else was booked up during that time! Always book early! Anyways, the hostel was fine and service was friendly. Definitely wasn’t the nicest one we’ve stayed at and it was also our first time where we had to share a bathroom with the rest of the floor. It’s fine when you’re the first one up in the morning, but once it’s the evening, the bathroom is a mess… Well we survived, and honestly I can say, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Also at our hostel had a mini bar where many students and travelers hung out. The girls and I went to the bar and got some Punch! It was much cheaper than the market, and we actually thought it tasted better! And that ended our night. The next day, we would begin our adventure to Budapest!

Freiraum – Vienna

April 6, 2014Leave a comment

Next stop was Vienna! K had friends on exchange here, so they took us to Freiraum. It’s a very casual bar/ restaurant on a busy street called Mariahilfer Straße. Pretty noisy too but the atmosphere is fun. For non-smokers, it’s good to keep in mind that in Vienna, you’re allowed to smoke inside restaurants, although they have designated areas. Even though there’s a non-smoking area, the smoke really just travels over. The restaurant was packed, so we ended up sitting in the smoking area. Not ideal, but being in Europe for so long, I’ve sort of gotten used to the smell.

Zwettler Beer

We ordered the Zwettler Beer since apparently it’s the most common Austrian beer. For some reason, I think the server heard us wrong, and he brought us a variation of the typical Zwettler beer. It had a taste of lemon and wasn’t very fizzy. It didn’t even taste like beer…

Freiraum Schmarren

I was way too hungry to wait for dinner, so I had ate some kebabs before arriving at dinner. So instead of having an entree, I ended up going for an Austrian dessert. On the menu, it’s called a kipferlschmarren. I think it’s more often known as the Kaiserschmarren or just the Schmarrn. Schmarrn means shredded pancake and Kaiser is named after one of the Austrian emperors who enjoyed this pancake. Basically they were pieces of fluffy pancake mixed with caramelized walnuts and apples. It was topped with a bit of icing sugar and came with a side of homemade applesauce. I actually really enjoyed this! No need to fuss with cutting up the pancake into smaller pieces and the toppings worked really well together. It didn’t taste too sweet, which can happen with maple syrup. It’s a very common dessert in Austria, so I recommend trying this!

Prague Christmas Market – Potatoes, Trdelnik, and Old Prague Ham

April 2, 20141 Comment

After saying farewell to my friends, the next morning before the sun even rose, I was out heading to the airport. K, U, D, and I were off on one of the longer trips I’d been during exchange. We were to attack 3 cities (and 3 countries) in around 6 days. Actually, we ended up going to 4 cities and countries really, since we made a transfer stop in Milan. We had around 3 hours of transfer time, which now that I think about it, was terrible. Obviously we didn’t leave, since it takes around an hour to get in the city. We literally napped at the airport on these terrible chairs, and it was not a comfortable experience for sure. Cost over comfort. Sad life of a student. Anyways, by around noon, we were able to take our next flight and from Milan, we entered Prague in the Czech Republic. To be honest, I didn’t know much about Prague, but it seemed like a city most exchange students visited. Now that I’m back, I can say that Eastern Europe is quite different from the rest of Europe. I find it very medieval with lots of history and the culture is generally quite different. Oh, and one huge change was the weather. It was freezing during December, and although Vancouver can get to the same temperatures, I guess I was just used to the warm, sunny weather in Spain. By the time we found our way to the hostel and dropped our bags off, it was already pretty dark. We got lost on our way too, so we spent more time than we should’ve. Christmas markets were everywhere in Europe now, and the one in Prague is known to be pretty good! We went to the one in the Old Town Square which is the main market. Just around 5 minutes away, is also Wenceslas Square, which we also checked out.

The Old Town Square was filled with people and a giant Christmas tree stood in the middle. Other than food, crafts, and souvenirs to buy, there was also a performance stage and children were singing carols! It was really cute and the square itself had such Gothic styled buildings that the scenery just looked so much more spectacular.

You MUST get this when you’re in Eastern Europe. It’s called Trdelnik (no idea how you pronounce it) and it’s a traditional Hungarian cake and sweet pastry. We also found this in the streets and Christmas markets in Prague and my friends had recommended that I try this. For us, we refer to it as the “Chimney Cake”. We smelt the cinnamon smell and immediately went over to purchase one to share between us. It’s pretty interesting how it’s made. Essentially, it’s rolled dough that’s wrapped around and grilled on an open fire while it’s turning. Then, they roll the dough on sugar that’s often mixed with cinnamon or other flavours. They slide the dough off the stick, and it’ll have a hollow hole! It’s extremely fluffy and soft! So addicting with the sugar on the outside. I love how you can just rip pieces off since it’s rolled around continuously. A must try!!!

At the market, there were tons of food I wanted to try, but I had to be careful in selecting since I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish all the food. We ended up sharing some potatoes at this stall that had pans of different seasoned potatoes. This one was Bacon and Potatoes. I liked this one a lot, but I wouldn’t say it was amazing. Plus, I’m sure I could make this at home quite easily. It wasn’t very special, although it seems like a traditional type of food they ate here.

We also got a portion of Potatoes with Sauerkraut and Sausages. This wasn’t as good as the Bacon and Potatoes. The main reason was the sauerkraut. I’m okay with sauerkraut, but I like it when it’s with soup. I can eat it as a side too, but not too much, so I found this overwhelming. Sauerkraut seems to be eaten a lot in Eastern Europe. The other problem was that these potatoes weren’t exactly warm. I’m not sure if it’s because we were in the cold and it cooled down, or just simply because the pans weren’t being heated underneath. Also, be extremely careful with the people selling these potatoes! They sell by weight, and their per pound pricing is pretty cheap, but it adds up. Remember that potatoes are extremely heavy! These people were just scooping as much as they could onto your plate, and unless you say less, they won’t budge. You had to be really persistent on how much you wanted. We ended up still paying quite a lot for just potatoes… Apparently a lot of tourists get scammed by this so be very careful and be clear what you want. Not worth your money in my opinion.

It was getting pretty cold so we hid inside the Kingswood Apple Cider House for a while. It was this wooden lodge in the market and they sold Apple Cider of a few varieties. You could get it with alcohol or without and some other variations. We chose the most typical one that had some alcohol in it. You could barely taste any alcohol, and the sweetness of apple was very apparent. A really good way to warm up!

Then K got hungry again and he decided to try the Old Prague Ham! It was being sold at various stalls and was turning on a rotisserie. This ham is known to be traditional delicacy and basically the grandmother of today’s hams. It’s fully cooked and also smoked. The ham is also boneless although there is often some fat attached to it. It was very tender and I didn’t find it too salty actually! Again, you need to be very careful with stating how much you want to the vendors. Unless you speak their language, they can pretty much assume you’re a tourist and it seems that many vendors have been ripping tourists off by cutting a huge slab of meat, hence a ridiculous price. I think K was pretty careful in telling them how much, so he got a good portion to just try. I’m not saying every vendor will do this, but I did a quick search and many tourists have fallen under this “Prague Ham Scam”. I guess it works for the potatoes and any other food that’s sold by weight. Just watch out so your trip doesn’t get ruined.

All in all, the market was very nice and festive. I just wish the weather wasn’t as cold. We weren’t able to stay out in the cold for long and had to go into souvenir shops and such to warm up. Also, I wasn’t aware that Prague was known for pickpocketing (like how Barcelona is), but my friend did almost get her wallet stolen. The man was reaching in her bag while she was looking at souvenirs at the market, and luckily a woman screamed to my friend to watch out! Such good people out there, but you still need to be careful!

Sports Bar Italian Food – Barcelona

April 1, 2014Leave a comment

Exchange was wrapping up and many of my newly made friends from all over the world had made traveling plans. We soon realized that although we would still be somewhere in Europe, it would be our last time seeing each other. Well until we meet again somewhere in the world! We quickly organized a dinner with some of our closest friends, and T suggested we go to Sports Bar Italian Food. I was skeptical at first when I saw the outside, but it’s actually rated very well on Tripadvisor and didn’t fail to impress us! The atmosphere is friendly and not exactly like a sports bar, although they have TVs to watch sports on. It’s Italian owned, and the owner was super friendly and funny.

They have a pizza oven just like how they do it Naples, except this one is shaped as a soccer ball! How cute!

We had taken a look at the menu and knew we wanted some pizzas and pastas to share, but were indecisive about which ones to get. The owner came by and basically asked if it would be okay for him to just pick and choose customized items for us and it would be enough to get us filled. He came back with these pizzas that basically had 4 different sections of toppings. This was pretty good since we were able to try a bunch of different flavours! Since there were only around two slices for each flavour, we weren’t able to try them all. Some of the toppings were eggplant, zucchini, prosciutto, and mushrooms. The pizza was fluffy and I liked how it was pretty thin. Not exactly thin crust, but I liked this thickness.

He also made one that was all the same toppings. This one had a red cabbage, some pork and filled with tons of cheese. I’ve never had red cabbage on my pizza before, but it actually tasted really good! Love how it was really cheesy.

Then for pastas, we had the Seafood Spaghetti. The spaghetti was very thick, but it was cooked to al dente, so had a great chew to it. I know that true Italian pastas normally don’t have loads of sauce on it, but I wished this one had a little more sauce. I found it a little bland. There was an abundant of seafood though, including clams, squid and shrimp.

My favourite was the Mushroom Ravioli. It was very saucy and creamy with loads of mushroom. The flavour of the sauce really made the dish good. The pasta was also very fresh and each ravioli was stuffed with a good amount of cheese.

Some of our friends wanted to try the Rigatoni, since the pasta are shaped with large hollow holes so it’s sort of like a tube. I find that this type of pasta needs a lot of sauce or else it tastes like you’re just eating dough. This dish did have more sauce than the spaghetti, but could still use a bit more. It was a tomato base with Parmesan at the top.

For dessert, we shared two desserts. First we got the Homemade Tiramisu. It didn’t look any good, but it tasted amazing! Tons of mascarpone cheese and a hint of alcohol. Cream and topped with chocolate powder. Everyone enjoyed it!

He also suggested that we try this Italian Donut dessert. It was filled with cream and topped with chocolate sauce. It was quite sweet, so sharing this was a good idea. Not bad!

All in all, Sports Bar Italian Food had some pretty good Italian dishes. I thought the pastas were just average, but the pizzas were definitely really good! People even say it compares to the ones in Naples! I really liked how they were able to customize our pizzas and really helped with our orders. Service was really good and prices are quite reasonable. There weren’t too many people in the restaurant, so we were able to just stay and chat for a long time.

Museu de la Xocolata – Barcelona

March 29, 2014March 28, 2014Leave a comment

Got back to Barcelona and a few days later, A invited some of us to join her at the Museu de la Xocolata to celebrate her birthday. Apparently, one of their professors at ESADE was the director at this museum, and they had done a field trip here, but A was away for it. The professor said she could bring a few friends to check the museum out and also make some chocolate at a discounted price! The museum has a variety of chocolate activities for both kids and adults. Our activity was called “Lollipops” and it was actually targeted for children, but I have to say, it was tons of fun! They have adult activities as well, like “Chocolate Tasting” and “Combining Brandies with Chocolate”. They all sound really interesting! When my sister visited, she had actually wanted to visit the museum, but we thought it was a bit pricey once you wanted to join these activities since they were pretty pricey. I think the original price of the Lollipops class, which includes a 30 minute guided tour of the museum is 17 euros.

Once you pay at the register, which also connects to the cafe, you get a ticket! Your ticket is actually a chocolate bar though! It’s like going to the Willy Wonka chocolate factory and receiving a golden ticket! The chocolate inside was pretty good too. It was piece of dark chocolate.

You’ll see some of their chocolate sculptures near the entrance. Can’t believe this bear is made of chocolate! So cool!

Then our chocolate chef took us to the classroom where we would make our chocolate lollipops! It’s pretty cool since you actually feel like you’re at a cooking workshop. I didn’t get a picture, but there was a chocolate fountain come down, and we were able to just dip our fingers in if we wanted to. The birthday girl even got to just drink some chocolate out of the fountain. The chef was really nice even though our group were a little rowdy and messing around. So basically, she gives us some pointers on different designs we can make and how to control our piping bag. Then we go ahead and fill our piping bag up with chocolate, and it’s definitely more than enough. Most of us ended up just squirting some in our mouth since we had so much leftover. The chocolate is dark chocolate too, although we all thought it looked like milk at first. But when it dried up, it became apparent it was dark chocolate. She also gave us some white chocolate to work with to make our designs more interesting. Then at the front of the table, there were an assortment of toppings we could add such as marshmallows, coconut flakes and fruits.

Here is what I ended up with! I realized how difficult it was to control the piping bag since the chocolate comes out pretty quickly. It’s also really hard to get the chocolate to be smooth on the surface.

We got aprons and chef hats as well which was cute! And in the back was our chocolate chef!

These were my friend’s lollipops. Love the monkey!

They really don’t care what you do with your chocolate here and let you be as creative as you want…and so…my friend decides to make some sort of chocolate masterpiece. A flag maybe? I have no idea, but he used a ton of chocolate and I think he got a stomach ache that night from eating so much chocolate…. We were told they had never seen someone do something like this before. Not sure if that’s a compliment…

While we waited for our chocolate to solidify, she took us on a quick tour around the museum. There was an explanation of the history of cacao and where it’s from and the differences between dark, milk, and white chocolate. Then the best part was seeing these chocolate art sculptures. Seriously, they are so impressive and I can’t believe they are made entirely of chocolate! Here is Messi!

Chicken Little

The famous Salamander Gaudi always uses in his art

Bambi!

And even the Sagrada Familia! Wow!

Then when we got back, our chocolate had solidified. We carefully pulled them off our plastic sheet, and got little baggies to take them home in. Well other than that masterpiece… He had some trouble taking that home… And how were the lollipops? Not bad. Not the most amazing chocolate I’ve had, but it sort of reminded me of the Purdy’s lollipops. I did find it a little sweet even though they were dark chocolate. I guess it wasn’t a high percentage of dark. I didn’t even end up finishing all my lollipops, since they can only be fridged for around 2 weeks. I was pretty much away the next few weeks, so I never got to try all my lollipops! A really fun activity for a few hours if you have time in Barcelona though! Obviously not something to do if you’re on a tight schedule though. The museum itself isn’t that big, and they’re mostly the sculptures that are really impressive, but you could probably walk by it all in 30 minutes. It’s the activities that are really fun and worth coming for I think!

Every Day is a Food Day

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