A Long Weekend in Lymington

You know that feeling when you desperately need to get out of the big city? Yeah, that was us a few weeks ago and we organised a trip out to Lymington by the sea (it’s just on the edge of the New Forest) for the last long weekend. It was more about the fresh air (ok, and the full English breakfasts at our B&B) than the food but we still managed to eat well without really trying.

Upon arrival at Lymington (we took trains, changing at Brockenhurst), I dragged us both first to The Buttery for lunch where we split an order of scampi and chips and then the finest Bakewell tart we’d ever had.

The Buttery
19-20 High St
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 9AD

Here was the reason we went to Lymington – wide open spaces, forest trails, long walks by the sea…

…that lead to pubs by marinas (this was The Mayflower) where they served things like a Cumberland sausage sizzler with perfect chips and delicious Caesar salads topped with salmon fishcakes.

The Mayflower
King’s Saltern Road
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 3QD

On the Sunday, after a morning stomping about the Buckland Rings, we headed for The Walhampton Arms for a massive Sunday carvery lunch … well, hehe, for me as Blai went for a lighter roast trout option.

Carvery for me ask the way! To go with my choice of roast beef there were at least four types of vegetable, stuffing balls, sausages, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and plenty of gravy. And homemade horseradish sauce!

The Walhampton Arms
Walhampton Hill
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 5RE

Soon afterwards, we happened upon a pick-your-own strawberry farm. Can you believe that Goodall’s Strawberries has been growing strong (ha!) for over 100 years?

I think we did pretty well! We gorged on those big sweet strawberries for two days.

If you’re planning on going to Goodall’s for strawberries, hustle on down as their season ends in early July, I believe.

Goodall’s Strawberries
South Baddesley Rd
Lymington, Hampshire
SO41 5SH

But on our last day, we returned once again to our favourite place in Lymington, The Buttery. One round of generously filled fresh crab and shrimp sandwiches and a slice of delectable coffee sponge and we were sorted for lunch.

We also brought home a whole boxful of their goodies – their lemon drizzle is highly recommended.

All in all, it’s a pretty pleasant place to spend a long weekend. Oh, I almost forgot! Get some locally made New Forest Ice Cream. That top scoop was Millionaires Shortbread…shortbread, caramel and chocolate swirled through!

It was a much needed trip and thank goodness the weather was good! We didn’t have time for it this trip (we were too busy exploring all the local public footpaths) but crabbing seems to be the thing to do at the old quay.

All my photos from this trip can be seen in this Flickr photoset.

 

Stroopwafels and All the Rest in Amsterdam

A final cornucopia of restaurants and cafes in Amsterdam post! The one main thing I was really looking forward to in Amsterdam was stroopwafels and so there are two places featured here with them. Oh, how I miss them!

On our first morning, we headed to Lanskroon to get one of their famous giant stroopwafels for breakfast. There was a choice of flavours but I had already decided as soon as I heard…coffee-caramel! While this stroopwafel was served cold, its waffle-biscuits still had a remarkable crispness to them. Delicious.

We also split a ham and cheese croissant, which they first heated up again in their oven in the back. Can any other simple savoury croissant taste any better than this? I think not.

The bakery’s cat did well to snooze by the electric heater on that cold day.

Lanskroon
Singel 385
Amsterdam

We got our first (and only, so far) taste of Surinamese food at a branch of De Tokoman near the Rembranthuis. It was a great surprise to us how much of an overlap there was with Indonesian food and how there was even a hint of Portuguese influence (they have a spiced salt cod dish). I’m certainly not going to attempt to describe this country’s cuisine when I barely understand the history of Suriname so I’ll link to the Wikipedia entry for now!

A lunch box of fried noodles, vegetables and babi pangang (grilled pork) wasn’t too inspiring but I think we chose poorly here.

Much better (excellent, in fact) was a broodje pom – a sandwich filled with the Surinamese speciality of pom, a casserole of spiced chicken and pomtajer root. The women working there were friendly and chatty and happy to explain any aspect of Surinanese food.

De Tokoman
Waterlooplein 327
Amsterdam

The next morning, we headed to Albert Cuyp Markt and wandered down the street perusing cheeses and herring and flowers in the freezing cold. Business seemed a bit slow that morning but I think that was again down to the weather.

Albert Cuypmarkt
Albert Cuypstraat
Amsterdam

We escaped the cold with lunch at Bazar, also along the the same street as the market. Again, prior to our trip, more than one person kindly recommended having a meal at this colourful Middle Eastern eatery in a converted church.

We launched on tender veal ribs and a lahmacun with cheese and washed it all down with lots of mint tea (with both fresh mint and black tea). Good eats in a fun place with a great atmosphere.

Bazar
Albert Cuypstraat 182
Amsterdam

I opted not to have dessert at Bazar (though they did look good) and instead walked out again to the market to visit the Stroopwafel man. Yes, another stroopwafel for us – and this time they were served hot off the iron.

When we chose one with chocolate, we elicited a highly unexpected ear-to-ear grin from him and the words “An excellent choice!” I think we may have been the first ones to order chocolate that day. The hot gooey stroopwafel with its extra chocolate syrup was just gorgeous. Highly recommended.

There just wasn’t any space for herring on our trip but we did find room for a bit of another fishy special, Dutch smoked eel from Frens Haringhandel on Koningsplein. Four thick pieces were stuffed into a soft bun and to our surprise, no sauce or spread was added. It certainly didn’t need it as the smoky eel was moist enough.

Finally, we also went one night to the Pancake Bakery for a Dutch pannekoeken dinner. It was terribly touristy but the pancakes being churned out were very good. I loved how the cheese in our savoury pannekoeken was cooked in and formed a thin crispy crust.

Pancake Bakery
Prinsengracht 191
Amsterdam

And that brings my series on Amsterdam to an end. As is usual, all my photos from our trip can be found in this Flickr photoset.

Now please tell me…is there anywhere in London that sells fritessaus?

 

Dining in Leuven

I’ve just returned from a short work trip to Leuven and was utterly charmed by the small university town (of a population of about 100,000, about 40,000 are students). There wasn’t much time for sightseeing but I did have Flemish food for almost all my meals! My trip also coincided with a record breaking snowstorm that dumped at least 20 cm of snow on northern France and Belgium over 2 days, which meant that a few of the project partners could not actually travel in and it was lucky that the rest of us had shown up the evening prior.

On my first evening, a Monday, after a delay to my Eurostar train and running to catch the earliest connecting train I could, I was happy to find that some restaurants were still open. I entered the Troubadour not too far from my hotel and was found a comfortable seat. No starter for me, I just needed something to keep me warm – Vlaamse Stoofcarbonade (16,00€) was perfect! That’s a Flemish beef stew cooked with beer and brown sugar. And the hand cut Belgian fritjes (fries) that accompanied it – oh, the beautiful sound they made as the waiter scooped up a few to place on my plate. Wow.

It’s not a bad place to stop for proper Belgian and Flemish classics. It’s not the cheapest place but it’s certainly reliable.

Troubadour
Tiensestraat, 32
3000 Leuven
Belgium

After dinner, I wandered around the centre a bit but had to give up after a while as it was getting colder and it was getting dangerously icy. The town is beautiful though and felt very safe with lots of students still up and about.

I didn’t think much of the light snow that seemed to be coming down and went to bed. The next day, I woke to this:

Yeah, not very light it was overnight. I was very cold and underdressed and now I’ve got a cold to show for it.

That night, we all went to Domus, a small brewery with its own restaurant/pub. Now this place was full of students as prices are relatively low. My Koninginnehapje (11,50€) was another Flemish classic – a creamy chicken and mushroom stew served in a puff pastry vol-au-vent. You get your choice of side dish to go with this – there are at least 4 potato preparations on offer in addition to pasta or rice. I had potato croquettes though I’m positive they were fried from frozen. 

Portions are huge here and this certainly filled me up. Desserts are pretty grim so I’d give them a miss (my speculoos ice cream was terrible). Don’t expect anything fancy – the food is very basic but the beers are good, I hear.

Domus
Tiensestraat, 8
3000 Leuven
Belgium

Apart from these two main meals, there was a lunch at a student mensa (not bad and quite cheap) and a catered lunch with a fantastic chocolate mousse. Only in Belgium!

My hotel warrants a mention as well. Hotel de Pastorij is a small 7-room guesthouse located right in the centre of Leuven. Rooms are generously sized and very comfortably furnished but what’s best is the fabulous breakfast buffet in the morning. There’s Yakult! And passion fruit (maybe not all the time)! And lots of other very very good things.

The weather cleared by the end of my trip and I was able to catch my train (delayed) home. If I had been stuck though, I would certainly have stayed again at this hotel.

I’d recommend a visit to Leuven – it’s only a short train ride from Brussels and would make a lovely day trip out. All the photos from my short trip can be found in this Flickr photoset.

 

Surviving in Oslo

I’m not kidding when I say I was surviving in Oslo for a whole week. I was still suffering badly from the post-Christmas cold that had me down for a while and having to work in a freezing climate (though it was about 10 degrees warmer than it usually is) didn’t help one bit. Throw in a bout of gastroenteritis and yeah, I’d call it the worst business trip I’d ever had.

Norway isn’t a cheap country and eating out is particularly expensive; I believe Norwegians themselves tend to mainly eat at home and only go out for special occasions. As a visitor staying at a hotel, cooking was out of the question and, of course, the only option was to feed myself at restaurants; of course, with all that illness, I had to look at places either on the way back from work or near my hotel. This is a selection of things that I managed to down that week in Oslo.

The first night, Iwent to Kaffistova, the “budget” eatery where one could taste Norwegian cuisine. It’s all canteen hotplate food and my plate of 3 large meatballs, boiled potatoes and mashed boiled dried peas cost NOK 149 (the exchange rate was NOK 9 to the pound). It wasn’t brilliant but it filled me up and kept me warm inside.

My hotel (the beautiful Hotel Bristol dating back to 1920) had the most amazing breakfast spread – freshly squeezed juices, pancakes, waffles, omelettes, salmon, herring, sausages, cheeses – there was a lot of stuff! Sadly, for most mornings, I could barely stomach any food. This was my breakfast the first morning.

One night, we all went out for pizzas at Villa Paradiso, considered the best Italian restaurant in Oslo. Here, a proper Neapolitan pizza will set you back about NOK 170. They’re certainly very good pizzas but yeah, they ain’t cheap.

When I was feeling at my weakest, I made it an early night and grabbed takeaway from a nearby United Bakeries (the branch on Karl Johans Gate). This salami and avocado focaccia sandwich hit the spot.

A cinnamon bun from the same place was only ok – it was a bit too hard for my liking. It had likely been sitting out the entire day.

One very late night after work, I managed a little rice and chicken tikka from Mezbaan on my delicate stomach and this portion (to be fair, it was quite generous) cost NOK 179. You’ve certainly been in Oslo a while when you start thinking…oh, that’s not too expensive…

There were other sandwiches and Norwegian canteen food and even more Italian food in between. And by the time the day I was to fly off came around, my stomach had settled to a near normal level and I was once again able to take advantage of the hotel breakfast. First a plate of totally random things, including a little omelette and pate…

…and then finishing off with a proper Norwegian waffle. These are soft and pillowy and best topped with lots of jam.

I did manage some sightseeing that last morning, including getting the most perfect view of the fjord from Akershus Festning.

Oslo is quite beautiful – which makes up for it being expensive! And their opera house! It’s gorgeous. I couldn’t stop staring at it; it fits so well in this Nordic city.

It was then off to the airport where I snarfed down a cheese pølse with bacon… I do love Scandinavian hot dogs. Not exactly haute cuisine but it went down a treat.

That was probably not very useful to anyone heading to Oslo! For a proper guide on where to eat out in Oslo, do check out Nordic Nibbler’s list! Mr Noodles has also tried a few places in the city.

I guess I do have some tips for what to bring back from Oslo – the milk chocolate there is brilliant. Single chocolate bars are expensive (about NOK 15-20 each) but the huge bars of milk chocolate (with lots of different additions) run about NOK 30-40 (I found lots available at the airport duty free at only NOK 30). They make great gifts – my colleagues inhaled Freia milk chocolate bars with Daim and Kvikk Lunsj. Another nice thing to bring back is ready made lefse, a Norwegian flatbread made with potato.

All my photos from my trip to Oslo can be found in this Flickr photoset.

 

La Grignotiere in Villefranche-sur-Mer

Getting between cities and towns along the Côte d’Azur couldn’t be easier. For only €1, you can hop onto a bus in Nice and hop off anywhere between the city and Menton. On our day off, we chose to visit just the next town along the coast – Villefranche-sur-Mer. It’s utterly beautiful with a beach surrounding a deep natural harbour and we spent the morning exploring its citadel and the old town.

We happened upon the restaurant La Grignotiere in the old part of town and I got a good feeling when I realised that most of the people lunching outside were locals. A sign announced that the restaurant offered a set lunch menu for €16 for three courses for lunch so here we stayed. We were unable to get a table outside but inside was just as comfortable if a little bit dark.

On the lunch set menu, there were about five choices available for both the starter and main course. I started with a giant salade Niçoise. I do love these and never encountered a bad one while in Nice. Boiled egg, canned tuna, anchovies were all encountered but never a boiled potato!

My main course was one of the specials of the day – une Petite Bouillabaisse (I think a simpler version of the classic bouillabaisse from nearby Marseille). Two large fillets of fish (different types), a pile of mussels, a large prawn and a large potato were nestled together in a very large bowl full of a delicious thick fish soup. This really hit the spot – it was fantastic and quite a big portion too.

A list of desserts was recited to us – we did notice that some that were available earlier were no longer on the list. Ah well, that’s our own fault for having lunch so late! Luckily, what took my fancy was the profiterole. I did think there would be a few profiteroles but what arrived at our table was a single huge profiterole filled with vanilla ice cream, surrounded by whipped cream and topped with lots of chocolate sauce. Excellent.

After lunch, we proceeded to burn it all off by…um…. lazing around on the beach. It was clearly a very productive afternoon!

What a beautiful town. The only downside? Well, its bay is naturally very deep and so is the perfect stop for cruise ships, with one blighting our view that day. Luckily they don’t stay for long and the one that day was off again after lunch.

La Grignotiere
3 rue Poilu
Villefranche-sur-Mer
06230 France

That’s the end of my short series of posts of my trip to Nice and the Côte d’Azur. All my photos (including a night trip to Monaco) can be found in this Flickr photoset.