HaveShoesWillEatandTravel

Safari - Planning

2011-04-22T07:00:00.003-05:00

Planning the trip was time consuming but a lot of fun. I ended up doing the whole thing myself without the help of a travel agent. To start, I'd get Fodor's The Complete African Safari Planner. It will open up your eyes to the innumerable amount of options for your safari. There really are safaris for every budget and taste from camping to luxury safaris to walking safaris.

The first thing to decide is if you want a safari in eastern Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) or southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana). We kind of automatically fell into the southern Africa category. We were using our miles to get to Africa and it was much easier to get to South Africa than the eastern part. Because of this, I can't really speak to the options in Kenya and Tanzania.

Doing a safari in Kruger National Park can be really cost effective. There are small, inexpensive lodges to stay at and you can drive around in your own car. Having never been on safari, we weren't sure about the driving thing. Would we be able to see anything? What if we got lost? We decided we wanted to do a luxury safari in a private reserve near Kruger. I researched all the private reserves in the area and countless numbers of lodges. Most were easily ruled out by looking at prices. There are a large number of lodges that are $2000 per night. Finally I settled on Elephant Plains. Elephant Plains is one of the "cheapest" luxury safari options yet also gets rave reviews. They also have a large area traversing area which consists of their own property and neighboring properties they have agreements with.

There are many other areas to go on safari in South Africa besides the Kruger area. We decided on Kruger since this was our first time and we knew the game viewing there was excellent.
There's also safaris in Botswana and Namibia. We crossed those off our list just because there was a lot of time and expense involved in getting there. Flights from Johannesburg to Windhoek or Maun were pretty expensive and not very frequent and then from there we still had to get to the smaller airports and lodges. We'd like to go back eventually but for our first safari we went more of the path most travelled.
If you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll answer.

Safari - Pictures #4

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Safari - Pictures #3

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Safari - Pictures #2

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Safari - Pictures #1

2011-04-13T07:00:00.002-05:00

Safari - Elephant Plains

2011-04-11T07:00:00.040-05:00

We stayed at Elephant Plains safari lodge for our 4 days on safari. Elephant Plains is located in a private game reserve called Sabi Sands which is right next to Kruger Park and shares a border with it. We booked a rondavel. The rondavels were the original rooms on the property. In recent years they have added luxury rooms and a honeymoon suite. We were in rondavel #5 which has the best view of any of the rooms on the property except for the spa next door. We overlooked the watering hole and were able to see impala and buffalo from our room. While at the spa and getting the massage, my masseuse told me to look up to see a hippo wandering across the plains. In the winter season when there's not grass and trees apparently you're able to see animals everywhere. The watering hole was harder to see as we were there in the middle of the summer with lots of grass and shrubs.

Our rondavel had a huge bed covered in a mosquito net. Never fear, we weren't really bit at all during the time we were there, even though it was a malaria area. And yes because it is a malaria area you need to get malaria pills. There was also a large bathroom with a separate enclosed area for the toilet then a large tub and a glass shower.

For only about $8 we were able to do a huge load of laundry. It came back nice and folded although everything was inside out. We couldn't figure out why they did that. Our room was cleaned during our morning game drive and then there was turndown service during our evening game drive.

We were woken up at 5 am every morning by the rangers. The morning game drive was 5;30-8:30 am then breakfast was 8:30 - 9:30 am. I used the morning to nap until noon (hey I'm on vacation, I need my sleep) then usually got up and went to the pool to read. Lunch was from 2-3 and then the evening game drive was from 4:30-7:30 with dinner shortly after at 8:30. Dinner was served outdoors at the boma in good weather and everyone started out in the bar area for drinks before dinner.

Elephant Plains had 2 pools, one an infinity pool and both overlooking the bush. There is also a fitness center if you're one of those people who feels a need to workout on vacation.

During the morning game drive you stop for tea and coffee in the bush. During the afternoon game drive you stop for sundowners and snacks in the bush. Your ranger will ask you in advance what you'd like to drink for a sundowner.

The only downside to lodge was the food. I think part of it was I didn't really like being locked into eating at certain times with no opportunity for snacks in between. Another part was we ate so well in Cape Town and the Winelands that it's really hard to match that. The breakfasts and lunches were pretty good. But the meat at dinner was not. It was just too overdone night after night. Just keep in mind that you're not going to eat like a king in the bush.

Getting to Elephant Plains was quite an adventure. We were glad we had gotten a transfer service from the airport as I'm sure we would have gotten lost with the directions. We flew into Hoedspruit airport which is about a 1 hour 45 minute drive from the lodge. Hoedspruit only has two arriving flights per day and is fairly expensive to fly into. Nelspruit Airport is closer to a 3 hour drive from the lodge and is slightly cheaper to fly into than Hoedspruit. Both involve driving on very bumpy gravel roads. You can also fly directly to the lodge on a charter flight. Elephant Plains has it's own airstrip. This of course is very expensive. It's also subject to the weather. One group we talked to was supposed to leave the lodge by plane but it was too muddy from the rain for the plane. So their private flight was moved to Nelspruit airport but they still had to pay the high fee. A final alternative is to drive from Johannesburg. It's a 7 hour drive but if it means you can avoid all the time spent getting to the airport, checking in, flying, then transfer time to the lodge, it's about the same amount of time.

Manor 38 Guesthouse

2011-04-08T07:00:00.002-05:00

We only stayed at Manor 38 for 1 night. While I can't recommend the town of Port Elizabeth, I wholeheartedly recommend Manor 38. Manor 38 is on a quiet sidestreet off the main strip along the beach. The strip along the beach reminded me of Daytona Beach. I had enough of Daytona in college.

Our room was beautiful and right off the interior courtyard that housed the pool. The main areas of the guesthouse were beautifully decorated and but my favorite part is the pool area. Unfortunately we weren't there very long so we didn't get to use it. The doors and windows of the common areas were open air with sliding doors that opened out to the courtyard. Nor did we get to enjoy breakfast since our flight was at 6 am the next day.

They did have turndown service while out at dinner and provided us with a glass of sherry which was a nice touch.

Knysna Stays Guesthouse

2011-04-06T07:00:00.002-05:00

We were at Knysna Stays for 2 nights. The location was only so-so. I would have preferred to stay on Thessen Island but everything was either booked up or super expensive. It seemed that most guesthouses in Knysna weren't walkable to anything though.

The other downside was the common room was kept locked up except during breakfast. It would have been nice to have a place to lounge around like the other guesthouses.

On the plus side, the bathroom was gorgeous!

Emzini Township Tour

2011-04-04T07:00:00.015-05:00

Emzini Township Tour was one of the best parts of our entire trip. It was run by Penny and Ella. Ella lives in the township and leads the tour. Penny is her friend from church who helps with all the administrative work and books the tours as well as accompanying Ella and helping her run the tours.

During apartheid, blacks were forced to move into townships on the edge of cities. Apartheid is over but still many blacks live in poor conditions in the townships. Ella explained to us that the government was building new houses for people in the townships so they wouldn't have to live in shacks. The new houses were 2 bedrooms and looked pretty nice. Ella also said that many families continue to live in their shacks and rent out their new government built homes for income. As you can imagine, there's many problems in the township including high unemployment and alcohol abuse. The government uses local workers from the township when constructing the new homes.

The township in Knysa actually looked "nice" compared to some of the shacks we saw near the Cape Town airport and on our way to Stellenbosch.

Ella and Penny began the tour by driving us around the township. Many stores were closed as it was the Christmas/New Years holiday so we didn't get to go in like they normally do. We also didn't get to visit a school because it was closed.

We did get to see the daycare that Ella runs for children after school as well as the soup kitchen and the women's shelter that was just built. We also got to go to Ella's house where she told us her history and about the township. She served us tea and a doughnut topped pastry. Then she played the drums and sang a traditional Xhosa song. Then we got to take a turn at the drums.

Ella's building an addition to her house. As a structural engineer, I was able to give construction advice about the best way to do things and what walls could be cut for new windows and doors and what had to stay!

We loved our tour so much that we have decided to donate money to continue Ella's mission to help the residents through the daycare, soup kitchen, and women's shelter.

Keep in mind that tourists should not visit townships without a registered guide.

Knysna and Featherbed Nature Reserve

2011-04-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Knysna is a vacation town situated on a lagoon. I had trouble deciding whether to stay in Knysna or Plettenberg Bay. In the end the general concensus was Knysna is for old rich people and Plettenberg Bay is for college kids who like to get drunk. Well we're neither of those. But we picked Knysna because The Heads looked interesting. The Heads flank either side of the entrance to the lagoon from the Indian Ocean. Going in and out of the lagoon is very dangerous because of the hidden rocks and the rough seas. There have been many famous shipwrecks in history.

The west side of The Heads is part of the Featherbed Nature Reserve and is only accessible by a limited amount of tours. This tour was pretty highly rated. Yet all it consisted of was a tram ride to the top and then a walk down a trail. Except that there were several people in the group who were not in shape enough to walk or were children and we had to wait for them as we weren't allowed to get ahead of the group. There also wasn't a ton of vegetation and really no animals to see. This was really the only disappointment of our whole trip so I can't complain, but I just really can't recommend it. Thankfully we hadn't booked the tour with the accompanying buffet lunch. I can't imagine that was great food.

Oudtshoorn

2011-03-30T07:00:00.003-05:00

We drove from Wilderness north to Oudtshoorn then on to Knysna in one day. The main reason we were going to Oudtshoorn was to see the ostriches. Well I wanted to see the ostriches. Nick hates birds and would not go near them.

There are also the Cango Caves to explore or the Cango Wildlife Ranch for animal lovers.

We only really drove through the town but I wouldn't recommend staying there. It seemed very touristy and a lot of the hotels looked kind of rundown to me.

This was our guide

The ostrich giving a man a kiss

I'm getting a hug from the ostrich

And now I'm riding an ostrich!

Yes I'm falling off right here

Who doesn't love a face like that?

This part of the tour is called the ostrich "massage"

Nick is standing on an ostrich egg. This was the closest he got to an ostrich all day.

After the ostrich farm, we spent the afternoon driving the Swartberg pass over a 17 mile gravel road

There were stunning views

And locals having picnics

And finally we reached the top

There was a lonely picnic bench at the top

On the other side of the pass is Prince Albert. Frommer's had told me this was a cute little village. In reality we found it creepy. The whole town looked deserted. Not a single person walking on the downtown streets. We had trouble finding somewhere to eat lunch. Do not follow Frommer's advice to overnight in this town. Stick to Wilderness or Knysna.

Wilderness Manor Guesthouse

2011-03-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

Wilderness Manor was another adorable guesthouse. Our main need was a location close to dinner at Serendipity. Gerald and JD were the perfect hosts. When we checked in they poured us welcome drinks and sat down to talk about all the activities and things to do in the area. Since we were there on New Years Eve they provided every room with a bottle of champagne and came home from their party to ring in the new year with their guests. They provided beach bags with towels and all the little things to make the guests feel like home.

We only stayed one night and I really regretted it - both because I loved the town and the guest house. Wilderness Manor is a great place to base yourself for trips all along the Garden Route from Oudtshoorn to Plettenberg Bay.

Serendipity

2011-03-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

So the real reason I chose to stopover in Wilderness is because there is an excellent local restaurant there named Serendipity. It's in a large house right on the estuary and there's also a guesthouse.

It was New Years Eve so I wanted something a little special. It was also our third tasting menu in a row! By this point I was only wearing clothes that had stretch in the stomach.

We were able to walk right down the street from our guesthouse.

When you arrive they take you out back where they explain the menu to you and you have a drink as the sun sets as you look out over the estuary.

This had prickly pear and champagne.

We decided to go with the wine pairings again. They let you pick how many wine pairings you want, anywhere from 2 - 5 glasses and the waiter (who is the chef's husband) picks wines that will match the dishes.

Amuse bouche

The first dish we had a choice between a trio of tomato and smoked snoek. We both chose the tomato.

Second course was cauliflower and blue cheese soup.

Third course was seared supreme of smoked trout.

Then a palate cleanser of berry and cap classique slurpie. Alcohol slushies? Yes please!

Fourth course was a beef fillet.

Cheese course was a duet of cheeses.

We shared a port wine tasting as part of our wine pairings.

There were two dessert choices. One was cape date and brandy pudding.

The other was cashew and white chocolate mousse.

I loved the homey and laid back atmosphere of this restaurant coupled with the wonderful food. It's definitely worth a stop in Wilderness for.

Wilderness

2011-03-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

We left Franschhoek and headed west through some back roads to get to Wilderness along the Garden Route. It was a beautiful drive.

Wilderness is a sleepy little beach town with a small downtown, beaches, and a river/estuary.

I liked Wilderness the best of any place along the Garden Route. It was laid back and non-touristy. There were large beaches with plenty of room.

The water was freezing even though we were there right in the middle of their summer.

A few miles in the hills outside the city is this view of the "Map of Africa". The way the two rivers come together makes it look like the outline of Africa.

Gable Manor Guesthouse

2011-03-21T07:00:00.003-05:00

We stayed at Gable Manor Guesthouse in Franschhoek. We splurged and got the honeymoon suite since it wasn't much more than a regular room. There was a living room, a bedroom, a giant bathroom, and 2 giant closets. I'm fairly certain this was bigger than our condo.

Do you see the size of this bath tub?

There was a little balcony that we shared with the room next door.

I really liked the area around the pool.

We skipped breakfast one day but the day we went it was fantastic.

The Tasting Room

2011-03-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

The Tasting Room in located in downtown Franschhoek and in walking distance of most of the hotels in the city. The Tasting Room is another top 100 restaurant in the world and this one did not disappoint. I daresay this might be the best meal we've ever had.

First, they bring a glass of champagne.

Next, we got a variety of amuse bouches including pork rinds.

I believe these were apple something.

Little tomato cones and aubergine lollipops.

A bread plate of flatbread and a delicious cornbread with a tasty butter.

And finally, this is a mini glass full of garden tasting foam and mushrooms gelee. I found this to be really interesting and it tasted so fresh.

There are 2 menu options, one is an "African Surprise" 9 course tasting menu or a prix fixe meal with 5 courses. Nick chose the African surprise menu with wine pairings. I chose the prix fixe as I'm not brave enough to try anything labelled as a surprise. I also skipped the wine pairings as they made me entirely too full the night before at Rust en Vrede.

African Surprise - Course 1

Lightly smoked luderitz oyster, chorizo, cucumber and granadilla

Paired with Monis pale dry sherry

Jen - course 1

corn soup

African Surprise - course 2

Lemon poached west coast crayfish tail, prawn wafer, marshmallow

Paired with Graham Beck brut

African Surprise - Course 3

Cured foie gras, prosciutto, cranberry and whisky dressing (that foie gras on the left has a bacon jam in it too!)

Paired with Cederberg bukettraube 2010

African Surprise - Course 4

Celeriac and buchu risotto

Paired with GlenWood semillon 2009

Jen - course 3

warthog!

African Surprise - Course 5

Sous vide paradyskloof quail breast, truffled quail egg, asparagus

Paired with Vergelegen vin de florence 2009

African Surprise - Course 6

Braised, free range klein karoo lamb breast, chakalaka marmalade, basil, salted grapes, roast garlic

Paired with Anthonij Rupert merlot 2006

Jen - course 4

Cheese course with a blue cheese

African Surprise - Course 7

Swissland goat's brie, rhubarb, southern black figs

Paired with Moreson pinotage 2008

African Surprise - Course 8

Pear and baobab parfait, lemon verbena, verjuice, pistachio

Paired with Silverthorn genie brut rose

Jen - course 5

dessert

African Surprise - Course 9 is missing

Orange and buttermilk cannelloni, jersey milk sherbet, fennel

Paired with Rickety Bridge natural sweet chenin blanc 2009

Mignardise

Obviously I kind of suck at food blogging since I'm missing pictures and forgot to make note of what I ate. However, this was one of the best meals of our lives. Absolutely do not miss this place. My favorite dishes were the warthog, the cheese course (both dishes), and the risotto.

I will say that service seemed to be a teeny bit lacking at both top 100 restaurants we went to in South Africa. Maybe it was because we had the most excellent service when we ate at L20 in Chicago, but I thought they could improve. There were times when both my wine and water glass were empty and the waiter was no where to be found to get me something to drink. I know that's a really picky comment but for such a highly ranked restaurant I expected it to be perfect.

Rust en Vrede

2011-03-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

Our first night in the Winelands we had made a reservation at Rust en Vrede, one of the top 100 restaurants in the world. As you can see, we ate well in the Winelands. Rust en Vrede is a 45 minute drive from downtown Franschhoek where we were staying. Poor Nick had to drive me and therefore couldn't drink very much.

We both opted for the 6 course tasting menu. I had the wine pairings as well. I don't have any pictures of the interior but I really liked the style of the restaurant. Great service but very casual. We were situated near the open kitchen so we got to see the chefs at work.

Our amuse bouche was these cute little pots of pate. One of the best parts of the meal, I have been dreaming about them ever since.

First course was pan fried scallop, Oscietra caviar, brown butter, yoghurt semifreddo, and a coriandor coulis. The scallops were very well done and paired so well with the yoghurt.

Second course was monkfish poached in curry oil, pickled yoghurt, cucumber salad, and an almond curd. I'm not a fish fan so it was only so-so for me.

Thid course was springbok with fromage blanc and honeycomb. The springbok was good but nothing like the mouth orgy we had at Foodbarn the day before.

This is right about when I hit my wall. I was still full from lunch. The wine pairings were huge glasses so I felt like I had been chugging wine. Ooops. I always seem to get really full for the meat course but then rally for desserts. The fourth course was fillet of beef, green bean and verbena puree with a warm potato salad, almond oil, and Egyptian lime confit. This was a lovely piece of beef even though it was a struggle to eat.

The fifth course was a cheese course. I like that most restaurants in South Africa had both a cheese course and a dessert course. I like cheese so much better. This was a tete de Moine, pressed dried vine tomato, rocket and pine kernel dressing, and a kumato chutney. I called it caulicheese since it looked like cauliflower to me. So much more imaginative than just a simple cheese plate.

This was an extra little dessert. I believe there was passionfruit in there. It was better than our last course.

The final course was "toffee cherries", 25 second sponge, almond ice cream, and a Mousse of Valrhona Caramelia Chocolate. I wasn't particularly impressed. Whatever those red things were on the plate had a taste that I didn't care for at all.

Final verdict: Neither of us thought the food "Top 100 in the World" worthy. My favorites were the little pots and the cauilicheese. Service was great although a tad slow, probably because it was taking me so long to finish my large glasses of wine. Split the wine pairings unless you have endless room in your stomach and you want to be drunk by the end of dinner.

Bread and Wine

2011-03-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful lunch at Bread and Wine at the Moreson wine estate.

Look at that delicious bread. They offer a bread making class on the premises.

I started with oysters. The oysters in South Africa are huge.

Nick had a mozzarella and tomato salad that was really interesting. The basil leaves had been crystallized in sugar.

My lunch was a giant plate of charcuterie, which they are known for. Everything is made by hand on site.

Nick had the smoked pork belly with avocado, red pepper, and corn relish. This dish was out of this world.

Dessert was a vanilla panna cotta with basil cream and balsamic strawberries. I'm not a dessert person. I kind of stole this from Nick and wouldn't give it back though, it was that good.

Le Pique Nique

2011-03-11T07:00:00.005-06:00

Our delicious picnic. Picnics are so much more fun when you don't have to pack the basket or lug it anywhere!

Wine Tasting - Day 2

2011-03-09T07:00:00.004-06:00

Day 2 of wine tasting was in Franschhoek. There is one main road in Franschhoek and there are wineries up and down the whole road. You can drive by until you see something that sparks your eye and choose that one. No appointments are needed unlike some vineyards in Napa.

We started out early at Graham Beck Winery. Graham Beck is the largest producer in Franschhoek. As such, they have a whole formal estate with a parking lot, business offices, and separate tasting room. No being served directly by the wine maker here. I am a lover of bubbles which is one thing they're known for. One of their champagnes was served at Obama's inauguration. Therefore I got the champagne tasting. There were 5 or 6 glasses of champagne that were at least 2/3 full. Before I knew it I'd had 4 glasses of champagne by 11:30 am and was drunk! Nick had a separate tasting that gave an overview of all their wines. So between the two tastings we tried about 14 different wines. I've also seen Graham Beck champagnes in a few places in the US since coming back from South Africa. I recommend trying them if you can find them near you.

Next was lunch at Bread and Wine at the Moreson Winery, an adorable little restaurant where we had another leisurely lunch. They had small wine flights at lunch that you can mix and match so we used that as our tasting.

Our last stop of the day was Stony Brook Vineyards. Stony Brook is a very small vineyard with a small and homey tasting room. We were served by one of the winemakers. It was very interesting to hear all the stories of how and why they chose certain grapes and what made one year's wine better than another. A very personal touch and quite a contrast to the morning's stop at Graham Beck.

Wine Tasting - Day 1

2011-03-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

We spent our first day in the Winelands in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is a quick hour drive from downtown Cape Town. You could make it into a day trip and stay in Cape Town or you could even join a bus tour out to the Winelands. Personally, I think it's better to do it on your own. There are a crazy number of wineries in the Winelands. We basically picked the places that we thought looked the coolest. We enjoy wine but can't really tell you much about it so we weren't too serious about our tasting.

Our first stop was Waterford Wine Estates. We picked Waterford because they have a chocolate and wine pairing. I cannot recommend that tasting enough. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate but this was the most delicious chocolate and it paired so well with the wine. The chocolate wine tasting was 60 rand or a little less than $10. I had the standard tasting for 30 rand or about $5. The tasting occurred in a beautiful shaded courtyard that felt very Italian or Spanish. Waterford also has a special wine drive in a jeep. Unfortunately we couldn't fit it into our schedule which of course was based around food.

Our next stop was lunch at Le Pique Nique on the Boschendal Wine Estate. They have tables set up outside under the trees and the waiters bring you a picnic basket full of all sorts of goodies like meats, cheeses, salads, and pates. It was a huge meal and so relaxing to have a leisurely meal in the shade. You can also order wine by the bottle or glass from the estate to go with the lunch. If you'd like to dine at Le Pique Nique, make sure you make reservations for your picnic basket. Actually, you need to make reservations for everything before coming to the Winelands, especially in the high season. They have a ton of wonderful restaurants. Without a reservation in advance you may wind up eating at the local pizza joint. And South Africa isn't exactly known for their pizza.

Since we'd only tried one wine with lunch, we decided to head over to the tasting center and try more Boschendal wines. We split a tasting between the two of us for 15 rand or $2.

Last stop of the day was Rustenberg. We chose Rustenberg because we really liked the design of their tasting room. Very modern. Rustenberg was a little off the beaten path and was uncrowded. We stood at the bar tasting with a staff member who guided us through the whole thing. I believe the tasting was also free, at least for their more affordable wines. The specialty wines may have had a fee associated with it. We ordered a bottle of wine and they suggested that we take a walk in the gardens while they brought it up from the cellar and had it wrapped up. They have a beautiful garden with lots of flowers and ponds.

One last note: many of the wineries are closed on Sundays so take that into account when planning a trip.

Africa Cafe

2011-03-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

Africa Cafe is definitely a touristy experience. There was singing and dancing. It was well worth it though to try native dishes from all over Africa. Everything is eaten with your hands! You pay a flat price and the food is brought to your table family style. If you want more of anything just feel free to ask. It was a little pricey for South Africa. Our bill was $120 for 2 people and a couple of glasses of wine.

The menu

Traditional Vetkoek - Lightly Fried Bread Balls

Mozambican Organic Sprout Salad

Sesame Chicken Kebabs

Malawi Mbatata Cheese and Sim Sim Balls - Sweet Potato, Cheese, and Sesame Seed Balls

Chanua Fish - Hake in Chickpea Batter

Tanzanian Mchicha wa Nazi - Spinach in Groundnut Sauce

Moroccan Warm Lentil, Chickpea, and Rice Salad

Zimbabwean Sweet Corn and Sweet Potato Mash

South African Karoo Lamb Stew

Xhosa Spinach and Maize Meal Balls in Fragrant Sauce - Steamed mielie meal and spinach balls in carrot sauce flavored with paprika

Portia's Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

Broccolli & Nut Salad

Basmati Rice

Cape Town - Food

2011-03-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

When people think of good food they don't tend to think of South Africa. But Cape Town is really a culinary capital and we had some delicious meals. We didn't take any pictures but perhaps this information will be helpful to other visitors.

The first night we arrived was Christmas Day. We'd been travelling for 40 hours and hadn't eaten anything but airplane lounge food dinner two days before. I knew a lot of restaurants would be closed on Christmas Day and the ones open would likely have specialty meals. I emailed our guesthouse, de Tafelberg, in advance for a recommendation and a reservation. I knew after our travelling we wouldn't want a 3 hour meal. We also didn't want fast food after all the nasty stuff we ate for two days. They recommended Societi Bistro, a neighborhood Italian restaurant. It did not disappoint. We were really happy with our casual sit down meal with good, cheap wine.

Day two in Cape Town was a Sunday. A lot of restaurants are also closed on Sundays in Cape Town. We chose to eat at the Asian restaurant Wakame in Mouille Point for the view of the beach and ocean and for the seafood. Unfortunately it was too windy to sit outside. We had some really good food like the deep fried soft shell crab and the tuna tartare. I ordered the special Mozambique prawns which are huge. Except our waiter suggested that I order 6 of them. I couldn't eat more than 3 and I was stuffed. When you hear Mozambique prawns think more like the size of a small lobster, not a shrimp.

The next day we ate a very light lunch/snack at Den Anker at the Waterfront after our Robben Island tour. Den Anker is a Belgian restaurant. It's a little pricey but good. The only downside was due to the crazy snow in Europe that had shut down a lot of the airports, the restaurant hadn't been able to get their shipments of Belgian beer and were out of a lot of them. Obviously, not the restaurant's fault.

Our final Cape Town meal was at Fork, a tapas restaurant. If you know me, you know I love small plates and tapas more than any other food. I like being able to try a lot of different things and I love appetizers way more than a main dish. Fork did not disappoint. They have a really innovative menu of small plates. Besides some traditional choices, they had more exotic choices like kudu and ostrich. We didn't try the ostrich but the kudu was quite good!

Cape Tour

2011-02-28T07:00:00.001-06:00

A tour of the Cape peninsula is a must do on any Cape Town itinerary. It was one of our favorite days on the trip. We started out at the Waterfront and drove along the coast along the beaches in Sea Point, Camps Bay, and on into Hout Bay. After leaving Hout Bay we continued our drive along Chapmans Peak Drive, a beautiful drive along the very edge of the coast high in the air.

At the end of Chapmans Peak Drive we saw a sign for wine tasting. Since we had some time before our lunch reservation, we stopped to go wine tasting at Cape Point Vineyards. They have a lovely menu with snacks and a cheese tray if you'd like a light lunch.

However, we were eating just down the road in Noordhoek at Foodbarn. Of course the name "Foodbarn" does not conjure up ideas of high quality cuisine. But you are wrong! This place is quite a foodie haven.

I had the Bistro menu which includes an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I can't remember what my appetizer was but it was seafood and the sauce it was in was delicious. My entree was "Andouillette": Spicy pork belly and chitterling sausage, wrapped in a crispy spring roll, served with sauteed apples and potato fritter, finished with an apple cider and thyme juice. Not surprisingly, I had a cheese plate for dessert. All that wine makes me want lots of cheese.

Nick ordered off the a la carte menu. His entree was hands down the best thing we ate the entire trip and one of the top things of our lives: springbok in a vanilla jus. Foodbarn was a wonderful restaurant with a casual feel.

After our leisurely lunch, we continued our drive along the coast. Down in this part of the peninsula it was much more deserted and the wind was much stronger. It truly feels like the end of the world. We continued down to Table Mountain National Park to see the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. It was freezing cold and there were hurricane like winds. Since we had a marathon hike up a very large hill it was kind of nice that it was so cool. Johannesburg is 1500 km from the Cape of Good Hope while Antarctica is only 3000 km. The Cape of Good Hope is not actually the most southern point of Africa. But it was close enough for us.

Last stop: Boulders Beach in Simon's Town for the penguins. I love love love penguins and was so excited to see them. In fact I wanted to climb over the railing to touch them and go swimming in the water with them. In reality, you are confined to a boardwalk elevated above the beach and the penguins are down on the beach below. They were quite adorable and not smelly at all. If only I could have fit one in my suitcase.

The Waterfront

2011-02-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Victoria and Albert Waterfront is a shopping, eating, accommodation, and activity destination in Cape Town. It's a little touristy but not overly so and definitely worth a visit. There are several luxury hotels. There's all sorts of excursions that involve the water from shark diving to tours of Robben Island. There's restaurants ranging from ice cream stands to nice dining. And there is any kind of shopping you could ever want to do from crafts markets to high end local stores.

Robben Island

2011-02-22T12:48:00.026-06:00

Buy your Robben Island tickets in advance! I'm not a last minute person by any means. In fact, I'm often over eager. But I was trying to be more laid back and waited until 6 weeks before we left on vacation to plan out what we wanted to do in Cape Town. There was one boat left with 2 tickets available for us to do the Robben Island tour. ONE. During the whole 4 days we were in town. In my opinion, this tour is a not to be missed experience and gives a great background as to the history of apartheid and the resulting racial tensions that are still in South Africa today.

First, you board a ferry boat to take you to Robben Island which is a couple miles offshore. The ferry boat is very nice. You can sit inside in the comfortable seats and air conditioning or sit outside on the top or stand along the deck.

Then you are loaded into busses. There, a guide drives you around the island, showing you different sections such as where the guards lived and explaining the history. We really lucked out and had the best guide ever. I know he was the best since he'd been the one to show Obama and other visiting dignitaries such as kings and queens around the island. And speaking of dignitaries, there are rooms and conference facilities on the island for them. Knowing the history of the island, and seeing how creepy it is now that it's deserted, I'd never want to stay on the island overnight!

The next stop is the actual prison facilities. There, we were transferred to another guide, all of whom had been political prisoners on Robben Island at some point. This part of the tour was just heartbreaking to hear about the conditions they lived in and how blacks versus coloreds were treated. White people weren't brought to the island at all. They had better prisons on the mainland.

Finally, the last part was a return on the ferry to Cape Town. The Robben Island tour was one of my favorite activities of the two weeks we were in South Africa and it's a definite do not miss.

Here is an explanation from Wikipedia about the differences between black versus colored under apartheid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_under_apartheid#Coloured_classification

Kirstenbosch Gardens

2011-01-24T10:47:00.001-06:00

Kirstenbosch Gardens are located around the back of Table Mountain. They are huge! The Cape area is part of the unique Cape Floral Kingdom which contains a plant called fynbos which is a basically a little shrub. The plant diversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom is amazing.

Since it was the day after Christmas many extended families had brought picnics. Sunday evenings there are also concerts in the gardens during the summer months.

Plant and nature lovers will love this place and could spend hours here. Others, it's definitely worth a walk through as it's really beautifully done.

Table Mountain

2011-01-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

The first day of our trip we visited Table Mountain and it was probably the hottest day of our trip. I have never been more glad that we didn't hike up the mountain. In addition, after hearing stories of people waiting on the mountain to rob tourists who are hiking (what are they going to get? my water bottle?) I wasn't so keen on hiking anyway.

I thought we got there early. But not considering the large amount of cars parked on the road winding up the mountain. We had to park at the bottom and walk up the hill to the cable station. We had bought our tickets in advance at http://tablemountain.net/ Definitely buy your tickets in advance. Your tickets are then valid for a couple of days and you get to skip a wait in one of the lines.

We had another long line to wait in to take the cableway up though. Lines are so long because the weather in Cape Town is crazy and the cable station is often closed down. So when there's a nice day, all the tourists in town will show up at the attraction. And while it may be clear in the morning, the strong Cape Doctor winds can blow in the clouds known as the "table cloth" of the mountain that cover the mountain and can shut down the cable station. These sudden winds and clouds can also make hiking very dangerous. Point being: as soon as the weather is beautiful and that table cloth of clouds is off the mountain, get your butt up to the cable station if you want to see the top.

We liked this sign.

When we finally reached the top there were beautiful views of the city below, the entire Cape peninsula, and off into the Winelands. There is a restaurant up there if you want to grab some lunch or a drink and plenty of little hiking paths to explore.

de Tafelberg Guesthouse

2011-01-19T12:46:00.002-06:00

We stayed in so many wonderful guesthouses that I can't even pick a favorite but de Tafelberg in Cape Town might be it. Ann and Kris (the owners) were extremely helpful in setting up dinners for us in advance, calling cabs, and giving us advice on what to see in Cape Town.

De Tafelberg is located in the Oranjezicht area of Cape Town at the base of Table Mountain. The guesthouse is decorated beautifully. Our room was on the lower floor and opened out onto the pool area.

Breakfast was served every morning from 8 am to 10 am and was delicious. Many different things to choose from and Ann and Kris will cook bacon, eggs, and other breakfast foods to order. There's also meats, cheeses, yogurts, several different kinds of juices, and cereals.

There is fenced in parking so you don't have to worry about anything being taken out of your car overnight.

There is an honor bar that offers wine and cold drinks that was very convenient for an after dinner drink or a cool drink in the afternoon.

Our favorite part is the little cabana out by the pool. You can use it to lounge around in when the sun becomes too hot during the day or to have a drink or read a book at night.

I really can't say enough about this place and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Cape Town.

A Quick Restaurant Recap

2010-11-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

I'm completely behind on blogging due to business in other areas of my life. I still have to blog about a 4 day trip to Vancouver in July (go! Vancouver was amazing!). And I have a ton of restaurants. Since I didn't even take pictures at most of them I'll just give a rundown here.

Do not miss: We recently dined at Balsan in the new Elysian Hotel and Stephanie Izard's Girl and the Goat. Both were absolutely fantastic meals that I cannot say enough about. Girl and the Goat is a hard reservation to get so make one really far in advance.

Very good: I've also been to Sunda, Sushi Samba Rio, Spring, and Naha that were delicious. Unfortunately Spring is closing as of January 1. Naha I only went for lunch so I can't wait to return for dinner at some point.

Slight Disappointment: Piccolo Sogno. I'd heard so many rave reviews about this place. Reservations were hard to get. Food was good. But not overwhelmingly good. I've had lots of better Italian around town.

In other exciting news, the Chicago Michelin Guide will be available November 18. My new goal is to eat at every michelin-starred restaurant listed. That should keep me busy for a while.

Chicago Gourmet

2010-10-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

We had the pleasure of attending Chicago Gourmet at Millennium Park this past Sunday. We got there early and lined up to get in. There were over 50 food booths, countless wine, beer and alcohol tasting booths, cooking demonstrations, food and wine seminars, and book signings.

They had a separate line for people with Groupons to check in and the line went very fast.

First stop was for some booze at the prosecco booth. Yum.

Unfortunately I can't remember the details of all the dishes and we didn't get pictures of everything but I'll do my best. We started at the Mediterranean tent. Avli Restaurant was serving an octopus dish.

Riva had tuna with watermelon on a piece of crispy bread. I didn't really care for the watermelon flavor with the tuna.

Prosecco had a delicious risotto crabcake.

Cod salad from C-House. Flavor was a little too smokey for me.

One sixtyblue had a spicy lump crab meat with apple, melon, and mint and some foam that was our second favorite dish of the night.

Spring/Green Zebra had shrimp with some sort of fancy lettuce and a piece of what seemed to be vegan cheese to me. The shrimp had an excellent flavor. The cheese was disappointing.

The Gage had some sort of fish with foam over a butternut squash. The fish was pretty good, the squash was not.

Oceanique had a seafood salad with lobster and scallops that was very good.

This dessert was from the Gage and had pumpkin in it with a marshmallow on top and a caramel crisp on the side.

Baklava custard with pecans from Chalkboard.

Squash ravioli from Piccolo Sogno. I haven't been that impressed with Piccolo Sogno after both dinner there and this tasting. Others rave about it though.

Buttermilk panacotta from Floriole Bakery.

The French tasting tent. We had a coq au vin from The Chopping Block that was so tender it fell right off the bone. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture.

LM's station.

Cinnamon rice pudding from LM. I found this too sweet and I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon. Nick loved it.

Heirloom tomato salad with watermelon from Epic. Although the tomatoes were delicious, this is something I could have made at home in 3 minutes.

Les Nomades - chilled soup, mini macarons (almond), and chocolates with passion fruit and pumpkin fillings.

Cafe des Architectes had a saffron bouillabaise which was one of my favorites of the day.

Firefly was serving a delicious mini-BLT with some of the best bacon I've ever tasted on a brioche.

Tacos from Zapatista.

At this point I needed to rest my belly to get ready for round 2.

So we had some beers that came in cute little cups.

Round 2 started. This was our favorite dish of the day. Sunda was serving a miso soup with crab meat. We can't wait to make a reservation at Sunda now.

A blackberry dessert by Sixteen. I think Nick voted this his favorite dessert. I was skipping most of the desserts to leave room for food.

I waited in the longest line ever for L2O and was kind of disappointed. L2O was serving a tandoori shrimp with mango that was nothing special.

Dirk's Fish and Gourmet Market was serving this very filling shrimp and rice dish.

A little muffin with chocolate filling from Bittersweet.

My favorite dessert as I love macarons. Chocolate, sesame seed with chocolate, and foie gras macarons.

Next was the Gastropub tent which turned out to be a huge disappointment as 3 out of the 5 restaurants had run out of food by the time we got there. And we got there only about 45 minutes to an hour after they opened! First was pheasant balls by the Paramount Room. We'd never had pheasant before and were pleasantly surprised.

We also had a reuben from Luxbar that we didn't get a picture of. We're not sauerkraut fans so this wasn't our favorite. Balsan was serving a pig trotter terrine which we'd had the previous night at dinner that was pretty good.

Sepia was serving a lamb sausage that we really enjoyed.

I convinced Nick to try the veal sweetbreads from Chicago Firehouse. They weren't our favorite but they weren't gross like he thought they'd be. We didn't get a picture of those either.

Stetsons was serving beef with pumpkin grits. The pumpkin grits were delicious.

Park Grill had beef and tomatoes which was a little plain.

One of the dessert tents was sold out as well but we got a mini dessert trio with mousse and a cookie from C-House.

The Asian tent was our last stop and was out of several things as well which was not surprising considering the event was almost over. We had Asian pulled pork from Red Light that was wonderful and a spicy Indian fusion soup from Vermillion that I loved as well.

I would highly recommend attending Chicago Gourmet 2011. Both this year and last year had Groupons available for the Sunday event that were a considerable savings over the usual ticket price.

Paris - Day 4

2010-09-29T07:00:00.066-05:00

Last day in Paris. 4 days was definitely not enough for us! We started at the Eiffel Tower where we waited a ridiculously long time. We didn't get to go all the way to the top because it was closed until just before we went up due to the wind. Then by the time it opened the line for the top was extremely long since no one had been allowed up all day.

We ate lunch along Rue Cler which is known for being a great market street where you can pick up your fish, your cheese, your bread, and everything else you could need from the little shops. Unfortunately it was Monday and a lot of things were closed.

Then we headed over to the Champs Elysees. We had two very important stops to make. Stop 1 was at Lauduree to try some of their famous macarons. We got yelled at for taking pictures.

Stop 2 was at the Louis Vuitton flagship store. I've never seen such craziness. I saw people buying multiple very expensive bags at a time. I also saw people at the airport with whole trolleys full of their purchases that they were waiting in the VAT line for. If you're in the market for an expensive purse I recommend making your purchase in Paris. Due to the exchange rate, the purse was slightly cheaper. Add in the fact that I got my VAT refunded and didn't have to pay 10% sales tax if I'd bought in Chicago and it was about $200 cheaper.

We had to hurry because were meeting up with Liz and Ellen again to do a bike tour around town. You know it was an American company running this tour because they made us wear these hideous safety vests. The French would never left safety get in the way of something as important as fashion.

Not long after we started, we got rained and hailed on (for the second time of the trip!) which is why we are also wearing these sexy ponchos in addition to the vests.

You can see the ominous clouds coming.

After the rain finally stopped it was quite beautiful at night, although also quite miserable being as we were soaking wet and freezing.

The best part was biking around the Louvre at night. So quiet and beautiful all lit up.

Liz and I looking slightly bedraggled.

After the bike ride, a river cruise along the Seine was included. Our guides brought wine which our group managed to polish off. The river cruise is a don't miss event in my book. It's nice to see the city from a different vantage point.

I can't say that I'd recommend a bike tour. First, there were lots of older people who kept randomly falling off their bikes or being very slow. One group made it about a half of a mile before someone fell and the whole group gave up which we then had to wait for our guide to take them back to the shop. It was also hard to bike as we kept having to stop and start because of Paris traffic. Finally the tour was supposed to run 6 pm - 10 pm, then we were going to grab a late dinner. The tour went until midnight and the Metro was nearly closed at that point. And I was starving! The company was excellent though and our guides were very entertaining and knowledgeable about the city so there were some high points.

Paris - Day 3

2010-09-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Day 3. Sunday in Paris. Not much is open including many neighborhood restaurants, the patisserie, and the fromagerie. This makes me sad as I want some pastries for breakfast. What do the French do on Sundays if nothing is open?

We had more friends from the US that were going to be in Paris while we were there! We met my friend Liz and her sister Ellen at Sacre Coeur. Sacre Coeur is located in the neighborhood of Montmatre. Montmatre was traditionally the bohemian neighborhood of Paris. Now it's pretty full of tourists.

Sacre Coeur is located on the highest hill in Paris. Unfortunately it was grey and rainy when we were there.

We wandered around the 18th arrondissement after Sacre Coeur but it was difficult to find a restaurant for lunch since everything was closed on Sunday. It was interesting to see an area that fewer tourists visit.

Centre Georges Pompidou is the modern art museum in Paris. It was designed by architect Renzo Piano (who also did the new modern art museum in Chicago) and built in the 1970s. The structure and systems are all visible and on the outside of the building giving it a unique look. We didn't actually have time to tour the museum but we got some pictures when we were in the area for dinner.

We had the most amazing and cheesy dinner. Pain Vin Fromage (bread, wine, cheese) is a not to be missed restaurant if you're a cheese lover like myself. They have several dinner fondues to choose from. We also each had a cheese plate of 6 to 8 of the most amazing French cheeses after dinner. I picked a plate based on a geographic area of France while Nick picked a plate of all goat cheese. You will never find better cheese anywhere else.

And finally, a picture of some delicious pastries. I wish they had shops like this by my house.

Paris - Day 2

2010-09-02T07:00:00.032-05:00

Day 2 in Paris was spent in Versailles. Versailles is an easy day trip from Paris. Take the metro to one of the RER C line stations then take the RER C line to the end station Versailles - Rive Gauche.

Versailles was majestic and covered in gold. There were a lot of pretty rooms and there was also a lot of gaudiness. The size of the palace is overwhelming. Buy your tickets in advance or take advantage of the Paris museum pass. It cuts down on a lot of waiting in line.

We had planned a picnic in the gardens of Versailles. Unfortunately while we were inside the sky darkened, it looked like rain, and it got much colder. We ate wine and cheese picked up a neighborhood fromagerie and baguette, cheese, fruits, and meats my friend's brother had picked up at his neighborhood farmer's market that morning. What I love about France the most is that fancy cheese is so much less expensive than in the US. And oh so good. I could eat this picnic every day.

We never made it over to Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's cottage/chateau that is located on the grounds as the rain was getting closer. The town of Versailles is actually a cute town to walk around if you have some extra time and get a little off the direct tourist road between the train station and the chateau.

After a lengthy nap for those of us who were jet-lagged and also stayed out until 2 am the night before, we headed for dinner. We ate at a cute little restaurant tucked in a back alley near St-Germain that my friend's little brother, our resident Paris expert, knew about then headed to a bar/club for another late night. Apparently I party much harder in Paris than I do in the back in the States.

Paris - Day 1

2010-08-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

We booked an extremely last minute trip to Paris. The last time I went to Paris it was 2000 and I was 16 and on a school trip. It was my first time out of the country and I thought Paris was so wonderful and magical. 10 years later, several continents, and many trips, I wondered if I would be disappointed with Paris the second time around. And I was not.

As soon as we exited the Metro in our hotel's neighborhood I saw shops devoted to bread, cheese, and pastries and knew I'd love it all over again.

We used up some of our hotel points to stay at the Holiday Inn St. Germain des Pres. We loved the location. The hotel was located very near the St. Placide metro stop on metro line 4 which was very convenient to get around the city. The area the hotel was located in wasn't very touristy which was nice. They had a lot of local restaurants, patisseries, and fromageries.

The rooms had recently been redone and were very modern.

First stop was the Musee D'Orsay, housed in an old train station and known for it's Impressionist collection.

We walked along the Seine and saw the famed booksellers open for the day.

The weather was crazy. It went from beautiful to ominous to hailing in 15 minutes.

Next we went on to Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the best examples of French Gothic architecture. Mass was taking place as we were there at the start of Holy Week.

We met up with some of our good friends at Notre Dame.

Next was Sainte-Chapelle, near Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite. Sainte Chapelle is a two story chapel and was built to house the crown of thorns in the thirteenth century. Sainte Chapelle is one of the lesser known sites of Paris but it was stunning.

We continued our tour of the city by walking over to the Louvre.

By now the weather is nice again.

We had bought a 2 day Paris Museum Pass. The Paris Museum Pass provides free entry to over 60 museums and monuments. The 2-day pass was 32 Euros. The pass is likely not a good deal if you only want to do one museum per day. Since we were on a quick trip and squeezing everything in, we were going from museum to museum anyway so it did work out as a good deal. Museum passes can be at the museums, certain tabacs, and tourist offices.

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world and also one of the largest. You could spend days in the Louvre so it's best to come with a plan. By this point jet lag was hitting. So our plan was to see the 3 main attractions in the Louvre - the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory.

The museum is a former royal palace and the architecture is just as interesting as the art within.

The Mona Lisa is actually a tiny little painting.

Winged Victory

Venus de Milo

Now for the real reason we came to Paris...the food. We tried foie gras and escargot for the first time. Okay I tried escargot, Nick wouldn't touch it.

My friend's younger brother was spending the semester in Paris so he knew all the hot night spots to go to. This is a tiny hole in the wall sangria bar in the 5th arrondisement.

Tokyo

2010-07-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

And finally, the last post from our trip to Asia that was 6 months ago. The first several pictures of of the Meiji Jingu shrine.

At night we tried to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office (TMG) for the view over the city. It was closed for some reason and we never found out why.

Tokyo Tower all lit up and right near our hotel.

Sensoji Temple. Unfortunately we didn't get to poke around the temple or the neighborhood too much as it started to rain. And yes, I did shop at the GAP while in Tokyo. It started out because I needed new gloves since mine had a hole in them but they had much cooler things than I saw in the US.

Tokyo - Eating

2010-07-19T07:00:00.114-05:00

Neither Nick nor I like sushi. We've tried it several different times, by good chefs, at the supermarket, you name it. It's just not really our thing. And we haven't really been exposed to much Japanese food as the midwest is not the place to for that (other than what other people call good sushi). So I was a little apprehensive about what we were going to eat in Japan.

What I did know was that I wanted noodles. We stopped at this noodle shop. There was a menu that had pictures to the right, we selected what we wanted and paid using this machine which was outside of the tiny shop. Then we went inside to wait for our food and eat at the little counter.

I had soba noodles with some sort of tempura and egg. Nick had udon noodles with tempura. Yummmm. I fell in love with soba noodles. And I even managed to eat them with chopsticks. The cook recognized that we are inept Americans and gave us forks as well. Ever since coming back to Chicago I have been on a search for some soba.

Later that night we went to Harajuku. We saw all the young girls in their crazy fashions and browsed through the shops. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything as that style doesn't fit with my preppiness. We also saw a Wolfgang Puck. It's not all raw fish in Tokyo!

We did not eat at Wolfgang Puck. We did eat at Harajuku Cafe Crepe. Unfortunately we'd devoured most of the crepe before we thought to take a picture. They wrap up these large crepes like ice cream cones and stuff them full of all sorts of deliciousness such as cheese cake, whipped cream, strawberries, and caramel. It was so good that we stopped by again the next day.

I would have loved to have eaten in one of Tokyo's many Michelin starred restaurants. Even though we love to eat, with our minimal time we didn't have the time to devote to a long meal. Plus we might have fallen asleep if we didn't keep moving.

We got up early the next morning to go to the Tsukiji fish market. What a great experience. The Tsukiji fish market is the biggest fish and seafood market in the world. We didn't actually eat here though.

We saw some crazy species of fish. Huge octopus, eels, and other slimy sea creatures along with tuna and crabs.

As I said before, we're not sushi fans. However, since then we've had a couple experiences with great sushi at a restaurant in Vancouver and several raw fish dishes at L2O. I wish we'd hired a guide to show us around and take us to the famous sushi counters located at the market.

Our final meal in Tokyo was to be lunch at a wonderful bento box place I'd found recommended on the internet. We never did find that little restaurant even with explicit directions. Instead we ended up at another restaurant in the neighborhood where I had a wonderful dish that had chicken and a wonderful sauce and Nick had another noodle dish. Both were excellent. I was so impressed by all the food I had in the short time that I hope to be back in the future for a full culinary tour.

Tokyo - Hotel

2010-07-15T07:00:00.049-05:00

We had less than 24 hours in Tokyo. Needless to say it was a whirlwind. We changed our plans not long before we left on our trip to include an overnight stopover in Tokyo between a long flight from Bangkok to Tokyo and an even longer flight from Tokyo back to the US.

We had the pleasure of having a delayed flight while leaving Phuket. Which meant we got to stay in the airport overnight instead of being able to steal a few hours in a bed. So we sat in some awkward plastic chairs for a while. Amazingly there were lots of other people staying in the airport overnight.

At the Tokyo airport, we stored all our bags and threw a change of clothes and pajamas into a backpack. We weren't messing around with taking time to lug our bags and to check-in to our hotel, with only 24 hours we were on a sightseeing mission.

We finally arrived after a day of sightseeing to our hotel at 10 pm. Tokyo is a notoriously expensive city. Especially if you consider we were just in Thailand and Cambodia. We were able to book a room at The Prince Park Tower Tokyo for about $175 a night. The Prince Park Tower was highly rated on Trip Advisor and received a Travelers' Choice 2010 Award.

We showed up at the front desk a little worse for the wear. We hadn't showered in a while, we'd been on a ferry and 2 airplanes since then, and we'd run around the city all day. Yet the front desk couldn't have been more hospitable. They insisted on placing our 2 small backpacks on a luggage cart and taking them up to our room for us.

The lobby was really nice.

I was excited to stay in a Japanese hotel room. The Japanese are known for their gadgets and they did not disappoint. I insisted on using every setting on the toilet. I particularly liked the warming toilet seat after coming in from a cold day of walking around. The lights had gadgets, the bath tub had gadgets. Yet they didn't even have WiFi, you had to hook up with a cord.

While the room was pefectly nice and adequate, it wasn't what I'd call a top ranked hotel in a major city as Trip Advisor seemed to indicate. Our decor was a little oudated. We decided to go with the room with 2 double beds since it was $100 cheaper than the room with a queen or king-sized bed. I'm wondering if the more expensive rooms were better.

The hotel does seem to have several amenities that we didn't get to check out since we were there all of 8 hours including a spa, pool, and restaurants.

Overall I'd say it was worth the $175 price tag since most lower level hotels in town seemed to be at least $130/night. However, if rooms are at their $400/night rack rate, I would either upgrade to a hotel that's truly stunning or pick a more budget friendly hotel.

Xoco

2010-06-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I almost forgot to review Xoco. Xoco is Rick Bayless's newest restaurant and is a casual sandwich/torta shop.

The downside is they don't take reservations. I met a friend there at 1:30 in the afternoon and we waited nearly 40 minutes just to order our food.

Not many places are worth the wait but this one was. I had the Jamon torta with La Quercia Prosciutto Picante, Otter Creek Organic cheddar, black beans, avocado, chipotle mustard, and a fried egg for $12.50. It was heaven. And big enough that I got 2 meals out of it. I had an aqua fresca that was to die for. I believe it was hibiscus flavored.

They also serve caldos (soups), bean-to-cup hot chocolate, churros, and breakfast as well.

This place isn't too far from my office. I'd be back once a week if the line wasn't so long. Highly recommend if you get hungry during off meal times though.

L2O

2010-06-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

We scored a reservation at L2O for Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Saturdays are all booked up months in advance and this isn't a week night type of place in my world.

For men, jackets are preferred. Don't be the douchebags we saw that show up in jeans and an untucked polo. People were giving them The Look. Oh wait, that was me. This isn't the Olive Garden.

We were seated in the lounge where we started with drinks. Nick had the strawberry-basil Caipirinha with fresh strawberries, Thai basil, and Leblon cachaca. They brought a silver tray with all the ingredients over to our table and made the drink in front of us.

I opted for the House Aperitif with sparkling wine and raspberry-rooibos tea cordial.

Then we were taken to our table. The restaurant is fairly small and very plain, with a Japanese feel. The focus is definitely on the food and the wonderful service.

There are three dining options. The fixed price menu is $110 and consists of a raw selection, a warm selection, a main selection, and a dessert. There is also a 12 course seasonal tasting menu for $165 and a 10 course luxury ingredient tasting menu for $245. The luxury menu includes things like foie gras, lobster, morels, caviar, and wagyu beef.

The one thing I was disappointed in was they were out of soft shell crab by the time we got there. This is at least the 3rd restaurant I have been to in the last 2 months that's been out of soft shell crab. I'm going to start having to make my dinner reservations at 5 pm to get it.

We decided to be adventurous and try the 12 course seasonal tasting menu. I love shellfish but I'm actually not a huge fan of fish but I figured if anyone did fish right, it was this restaurant.

We were very impressed with the sommelier who selected a wonderful wine for us that was only $44 for the bottle. When I asked for a suggestion I was worried I'd get one out of our league. The wine was so good that I've hunted it down at a local wine store and am going to go pick up a case.

We had multiple amuse bouches at this restaurant. Our 12 course meal actually turned into 17 courses. Our first was salmon tartare with cactus and a dried banana chip. The tartare was excellent.

The second amuse bouche was octopus.

Then came the bread. A mini baguette and a mini croissant for Nick.

And an onion and anchovy roll (don't get this if you're on a date) and a butter roll for me.

And although we've been shoving food into our mouths for a long time already, our tasting menu actually starts. The first of the raw courses was the medai with a plum sauce. The medai was excellent and the plum sauce was very tart and lingered in your mouth for a long time.

Raw course #2 was an tuna tartare taco with dried corn and a cilantro sauce. This was one of our favorites of the night. The dried corn gave it a great crunch.

The third course was tofu. This was the only one we didn't like. Enough that Nick asked "why would anyone want to be a vegetarian?" after tasting it.

Our last raw course was fluke (flounder). Also one of our favorites, there were teeny dried shrimp and chiles in the bowl.

On to the warm courses, our fifth course was the salted cod with fingerling potatoes, smoked ribbon, and caviar. These were the best potatoes I have ever had. So smooth and creamy.

The next was Tai snapper with ingredients to taste like a Thai curry. I'm not a huge fan of curry but the fish was so soft and buttery. It came with a green thing that had been in liquid nitrogen so that smoke came out of your mouth when you ate it.

The last warm course was my favorite of the whole evening. This was peekytoe crab in a foie gras emulsion.

And a close-up.

The 8th course and the first of the main courses was shabu-shabu hiramasa. You get to cook the fish and accompanying greens, and mushrooms in the pot, then dip it in the sauce.

Course number nine was where I hit a wall. So full but so much good food left to come. This was halibut with peas, arugula dumpling, bacon butter, radish, and onions. The bacon butter didn't taste bacon-y enough for me. I think they were going for a more subtle flavor.

The last main course was beef short ribs with Pinot Blanc, consomme, and spring onions. Had a slightly Asian taste to it. By this point I couldn't fit any more meat into my mouth I was so full.

Next, it was time for the desserts. We got not only the 2 desserts from the tasting menu, but 3 additional desserts. I'm not a huge sweets person so 5 was too many. They were very good though.

The first was this little bite of chocolate. Very rich and intense chocolate flavor.

The next dessert was perfect although I forget exactly what it was. They talk too fast and there's too many courses to remember! It was a pineapple flavored nugget in a pineapple flavored light cream. The cream was so light and such a good finish after so much food.

This was the first of the two dessert courses on the menu and was raspberry, golden yuzu, and mascarpone. There were little gold flecks in there with teeny individual nubs of raspberry. I feel kind of bad for whoever's job it was to separte each raspberry into the little nubs. This was quite a work of art.

And finally the last course of our tasting menu was a peanut butter souffle. It could be that I'm not a huge peanut butter fan but I wasn't that impressed. Sure it was good. But it wasn't a work of art like the previous dish and the taste wasn't outstanding.

Finally, the mignardise. A chocolate shell with almond flavored filling and a coffee macaron with chocolate filling. This macaron rivaled the ones I had in France. I'm sure it would have been the best macron of my life except I don't like coffee anything. The coffee flavors were subtle though and it was delicious.

I think with 5 dessert courses one of them should have been a cheese course. That could just be me, the cheesehead, talking. The meal was spectacular. The service was phenomenal, you barely knew they were there.

L2O is part of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants. Around Christmas every year they run a promotion where if you buy $100 in gift cards for gifts, you get a $25 gift card free to use. The $25 gift card is usually valid between January and March and not valid for Saturday after 6 pm. We stocked up on these at Christmas specifically for this dinner and got another whole free meal out of it at another restaurant with our free gift cards.

West Loop Nail & Spa

2010-05-21T07:00:00.003-05:00

I don't usually review other vendors in Chicago but this one is so good I had to. Plus it's located right in my neighborhood and I always like to get the word out about local businesses. Not only are they convenient for me, they help my property values!

West Loop Nail & Spa is fantastic. A mani/pedi is $35, $32 if you go Monday - Wednesday. The place is brand new so everything is in good condition, neat, and clean. The pedicure chairs are top notch and give a great back massage. I've been several times and they've always done a great job. My manicures from there have lasted nearly 12 days.

Sushi Samba Rio

2010-05-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

Sushi Samba Rio has a great brunch deal on Sunday mornings. For $16 per person, you receive the choose of one item off the specialty, sandwich, or salad menus along with 3 mimosas, bloody marys, caipiroskas, or mocktails for those who want a non-alcoholic drink. The mocktails are orange juice, tomato juice, or a berry smash. Considering on the menu, each mimosa or bloody mary is $8, it's like I actually saved money by eating there.

A group of four of us went and tried four different dishes. We were all thrilled with our choices. Unfortunately, the service sucked. I know brunch isn't the big tip maker of the day, but our server had a major attitude problem. She also forgot our drinks and was slow with the others. I've never been to dinner (only to the bar for cocktails) but I hope it's better.

For brunch we had the asian pear pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruit compote, the cast iron baked eggs with roasted tomato, soft white polenta, manchego cheese, the eggs benedict with aji panca hollandaise, toasted brioche, and daikon sprouts, and the tuna and avocado salad with key lime, virgin olive oil, and micro chives.

This was fancy brunch food at a not fancy price. I'll definitely be back to sit out on the patio on another Sunday morning.

Ko Phi Phi - Sunset Bar

2010-05-17T07:00:00.011-05:00

The Holiday Inn has a bar on the other side of the peninsula from the beach on a hill overlooking the sunset. Perfect for a before dinner drink.