Memmo Alfama Hotel, Lisboa

Our first visit ever to Lisboa and Portugal. Airline tickets were bought at 99,00 EUR around Christmas time and my Christmas present. I had the task – I love – to find a hotel. There were some to choose from – Lisboa not being heavily overpriced like London or Paris – and my online searching – on tripadvisor etc. soon made it obvious that Memmo Alfama Hotel (MAH) was looking like the right choice.

Besides the GREAT location in what is described mostly as the best quarter of Lisboa to visit and enjoy, Alfama with it bars, cafes, restaurants, art shops and small alleys and picturesque corners and squares everywhere – the hotel offers modern interior design,

plus  a 3 level roof terrace with stunning views of Lisboa and the river and cruise ships coming and leaving on a daily basis.

We were blessed with nice weather as you can see. And having breakfast outside at 12 degrees – in the sun with a jacket, was maybe met by a small (you are crazy) nod from the ever-smiling and very service-minded waitress Carina, who offered red blankets to the crazy northerners. The sun soon rose as did the temperatures to 16-20 degrees so we felt we were for sure doing the right thing.

As good as it gets

Thats the missus, right there in the middle 🙂

The breakfast (Included in price) was with all you can expect and a la carte egg dishes, pancakes or whatever you more or less wanted including freshly pressed juice in small old fashioned milk bottles.

The hotel offers a complementary tour every morning, all you need to do is sign up and be there at 10.00 . And we did just that. 5 out of 7 people were there at 10.00. And the last two British ladies had to be called in their room and soon after they too emerged.

Our tour guide, Rogerio Bento, was witty – entertaining and with a glimpse in his eye and a love for Portugal and Lisboa and Alfama he did not manage to hide very well. Here are some shots from that tour.

At the end of what turned out to be close to two hours, Rogerio was giving an individully chosen amount/tip from all for his efforts and time spent. You can reach him at Tailor Made Travel under +351 91 9902430

I shall finish this little post with my conclusion of the hotel, and just prior to that say: We love Lisboa and will be back for sure. You meet friendly and service minded people everywhere if you are lucky but somehow the level was just higher here in Lisboa. And the vibe of the city really impressed us. Nice taxi drivers, affordable prices for cab, food, wines and a nice selection of shops – not only H&M, Springfield etc. but also local shops and brands usually not seen up here.

My conclusion:

The moment we entered the hotel a warm welcoming Pedro and his colleague made us feel at home. Showed us all the areas of the hotel and told us about the name “Memmo” and how you can yourself personalize your stay and memory. He showed us the terraces – the bar, and our room later when it was ready. He was very helpful in finding the right places to eat or to confirm me in my choices. He suggest a waterfront restaurant, showed pictures of the place from the internet, and when I said I want THAT table, that was the table I got when we walked into the restaurant 6 hours later.

The bar and breakfast team being on top of their toes to meet your every wish and especially Carina was a light to see every morning for breakfast, joking and smiling. We wish you all the luck in the world.

When we checked out we were asked to fill out a form, and Astrid asked me if I had any comments. I only wispered, I think this is just about the best hotel I ever stayed in. And mind you there has been a few Hyatt’s and Four Seasons along the way.

The terraces all beautiful, however on the first day a very annoying Dutch family occupied two sofas and one chair all by themselves and made no move to re-arrange themselves when we visited the top terrace. The following day while breakfasting next to us outside, the same woman, talking very loudly on her mobile phone with loudspeaker on, so she could eat and talk at the same time !!!! Horrible and rude behaviour that had all other tables looking at her as well. Idiots everywhere I guess. But funnily enough kids under 16 are not allowed in hotel. That’s sad. Because this means we cannot show them this place next time around. And I think personally rude people should not be allowed. Our kids certainly behave better than this.

But back to the MAH. The people here, all staff makes this place come alive like I have never seen a hotel alive before.

Add stunning views and great selection of taps and wine in the bar and you feel more than at home. And we thank you all for that.

Only things to complain about apart from the Dutch family – is the however modern and well working  – VERY tiny bathroom. It was simply very small. But great beds and an eye for detail throughout the room.

But Memmo Alfama Hotel, we sure will remember you and Lisboa with great smiles – and your fine little hotel comes with our highest recommendation. I did not want to leave, and what more can you achieve as a hotel. We salute you. And Portugal. We love you.

 

 

 

 

 

Le Jules Verne, Paris – March 2016

This lunch was planned a few month ago to coincide with the semi-marathon of the missus. However, due to her bad knee, she decided not to run. I decided to stick to plan – that being that I had presented the idea of dining on top of the world to one of my best friends Jörgen – and he as always being a good sport about it –  saying yes and inviting Miss S along. The eve before we had both spent with the infamous Helge Schneider – and the laughs of that evening still lingered in the air as we headed down in the car on a cold Sunday morning for a decadent lunch experience.

If you read reviews of Le Jules Verne, you will learn that most people find food disappointing, views unbeatable and service very French. The restaurant is of course if you do not know it situated on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, and has regained it’s second michelin star while run by Alain Ducasse.

Michelin stars are easier obtained in Paris then anywhere else it seems, and some of most disappointing michelin starred meals have actually been had at two starred restaurants. As for my expectations, I hoped Le Jules Verne  would be better than it’s reputation and feared it would not.

There are two menus for lunch and dinner in the weekends, and weekdays a more affordable lunch menu is also available. But here on a Sunday, the small menu will set you back 190 eur, and the big one 230 as far as I remember.

Arriving in Paris, we parked the car without any problems some 800 meters away, and walked up towards the impressive building and the “private” lift that is reservd to the diners of Le Jules Verne.

I love Paris

Looking for our ride.

Security is understandably high, you are screened and only allowed to enter waiting room for lift, if you have booked a table. An American tourist, who tried to sneak her way pass the security, or was maybe just very naive, was met by a very rude and argumentative controller who VERY unfriendly told her to go back and wait down below until he had time to deal with her. She didnt leave, which I would have – but waited for clearance from the restaurant above. She never got it – even though there was actually lots of space as it turned out. Guess the controller was not too impressed by her sneaky ways or her rubber boots.

The ride up in that “private” lift, with the views of the tower and Paris around you, certainly helps building up the expectations of a very special meal.

When entering the restaurant, we were met by very friendly waiters, checked off on a list again, and showed to our ….WINDOW…table. 🙂 No window table can normally be reserved – you get it by chance – or good name I guess. In this case it was surely by chance.

Some shots to get you going

The tables, beautifully set, the three dining rooms very classy and a little bit packed but since not very fullit still felt like a room with lots of air on this day.

Great bread was offered and the Jules Verne logo everywhere.

W had opted for the “smaller” menu consisting of 4 dishes, plus the usual greeting from the kitchen which in this case was listed on the menu, and was the only one. Far from the army of amuses you are used to in other places at this level.

But tasty it was and probably the best arrangement of the day.

Marinated Sea Bream with citrus.

Pan-seared Duck Fois Gras with Walnut condiment

I think this was the best dish for me of this menu, but as you can see, arranged – as what we had realized by now was the style of the chef – in a very “laid back” brasserie style.

Warm green Asparagus from Provence, vin Jaune Mousseline

I love asparagus, and these were nice, the mousseline far from perfect, and again an arrangement I could have matched in my kitchen.

Seared Beef Fillet, Truffled Macaroni, cooking Jus

Beef cooked more bleu than saignant and on the cold side temperature wise, but the biggest flaw was in my opinion that no truffles were to be found nor tasted as described on the menu.

Pre-Dessert – Pineapple/Coco Palet, Passion Fruit and Ginger Sorbet and next to that different sweets.

Very nice pre-dessert with a very poor presentation. Same can be said about the sweets 🙂

Cripy “Tower Nut” Chocolate from own Manufacture in Paris

Nice that they finish on a high note, very nice dessert served with a separate nutty ice-cream.

Last round of sweets – and then a digestive from the small list of spirits, which to our surprise were reasonably priced.

My conclusion:

It was not as bad as feared, it was definitely  not as good as I had hoped. The service, especially the sommelier, where flawless, and smiling and my request for a signed menu was met without a fuss.

The views and the atmosphere almost unbeatable. The tables are too close, but hell – you are dining at the Eiffel Tower.

But – but – but. At this price, and with this name – Ducasse as much as Tour Eiffel and Le Jules Verne – one must expect food at a very high level. The only high level here being the attitude not what was served us. All food was nice and eatable and had few flaws Had it been served to us in a Brasserie at 1/3 of the price all would have been good. But it was not.

Wine menu which we chose had nice wines, and very French choices, but with good names and vintages and fitted the food.

We thank Jules Verne for having us, and if you guys reading this want to experience this as well, go right ahead. But do not do it for the food. There are better meals to be had also in Paris.

We were all three happy we had tried this in our lives. Checked. Will we be back. For sure not. There are other restaurants equally high priced that will bring food to die for, not only views. Falco, Sollerod Kro, Victor’s Fine Dining – you are light years ahead of Le Jules Verne. You might not bring views of Paris, but that is being made up for in so many other ways.

But thank you Jörgen for this lunch and for your friendship, your advises through my life and for always being there for me. It was a great experience. Thanks Miss S. for the female touch at this lunch and your company. We will have better lunches I am sure. And to the American tourist from the beginning, I hope you found a better price/quality ratio than we did, and I am sure we had better views 🙂

My rating below will reflect the extremely high price you pay for the privilege it is to dine in Le Jules Verne.

My price / quality rating for this visit:

Food 5p (10), service 4.5p (5), ambience 5p (5), 14.5p (20).

 

 

 

Imperii, Leipzig – March 2016

Tripadvisor is not always a bad thing when searching for new inspiration. I found Imperii in the top 10 of restaurants in Leipzig. The fact that Falco is number 7 on the list (!) being one of the 2-3 best restaurants in Germany and one of my favorite places to dine – ever – only shows that “tripadvisor people” do not have a clue.

But luckily I have 🙂 and I therefore use Tripadvisor mostly to find inspiration and sometimes even a gem. And I found one.

When stumbling over Imperii, I followed the link – and was met by a very professional and inviting homepage. And THAT is always worth exploring. If people make and effort – to go into detail at this level – then they have something on their mind or at least they think like I do and love attention to detail.

The main bar room seen from  above.

Now Imperii besides the cool funky and stylish bar room offers you a more light coloured lounge on first floor as well as a cosy smokers lounge below. The huge community table in the middle of the room reminded me of beloved Caves Madeleine in Beaune.

Yes I loved the chairs…

On our first eve here we shared a wonderful salad for I think below 10 eur and I then opted for the pulled pork burger.

My favourite meat these days. Pullled pork

Now with this burger came the only complaint of the two evenings we spend here. And because I love the guys working here so much and appreciate their style, hard work and dedication – I shall put my critic mildly. I think…the BBQ sauce lovely as it might have been, totally overpowered the delicate meat of the pork. I strongly suggest you serve the sauce next to the burger in a bowl, so customers can decide to which extent they want the dish to taste like BBQ or meat. The dip was great as was the wonderful sweet potato chips that we ordered with the salad, – with a GREAT homemade mango mayonaise. Great bun too.

My first encounter with the actual wines of the Wine Punk.

Love this rose so much. Thanks for recommendation Heiko my brother.

Great Salad

Best chips and dip ever

Actually I should make two post this time around,..because I feel like I have so much stuff to tell about this place. I shall try to keep it focused. We had GREAT drinks. First night by Andre and his fashionably bearded colleague also named Andre 🙂 – and on the second evening, some more decadent or stylish creations from guest bartender Doreen Philipp.

Some shots….

Wonderful Doreen

One bartender prettier than the other…

And one of her wonderful creations

Andre – Patrick – Andre

What we admired from the moment we stepped in was the great style and especially the great lighting. The different shaped light bulbs inspired us so much that I had to ask where they had bought them.

Just around the corner – great shop Andre told me- it’s Called S T ! L – conceptstore leipzig – you cant miss it. And I did not. And soon we will have new lights over our dinners it seems.

Thanks Stefanie, your shop is not to be missed. I wish I had a shop like that. What I met in your shop besides the light bulbs was a great selection of life style and designer products and —-two old friends of mine—– which brought a smile to my lips and thirst to my palette. To find Le Galante and La Maitresse here – well I was surprised. And happy. Check out her shop online here https://www.stilconceptstore.de/

 My Conclusion:

Back to Imperii. I am so happy I found this “pearler”. Your cocktails and selection of good gins etc. are one of a kind. For me to then actually meet the producer of Juniper Jack London Dry Gin – Joerg  Fiedler – here at the bar !!! was besides funny also a great honour. I love your gin Joerg. Hope you can make it over to one of my events.

As for the team behind Imperii. You guys in front and your kitchen and chefs – you all know what you are doing and why.  Great price quality level, great wine list.VERY attentive service. What more can you ask for?

I hope you liked us too – because hell yes we are gonna be back. You guys rock. All staff with an eye for their customers, including the blond girl on the second eve, who was truly amazing as well. When I asked to see the bottle – the first evening – I was not only shown the bottle by Patrick. I was given an introduction to a wine, as if it was the finest wine on this planet. It was indeed a very nice one 🙂 by the famous Wine Punk. Marco Zanetti, I salute you.

I had my first ever whisky sour here, and man it was great too. I give Imperii the highest of my recommendations and shall close my eyes – almost – for the flaw with the BBQ drowned meat. Hey, maybe some guys might prefer it like this.

I just think one should have the choice. I have deducted 0,5 points for this, on a more detailed note, I think the burger went from a clear 10 – to 5 or 6 due to this.

Keep up your style and level and the sky is the limit guys. What I saw on this trip was surely the view “Above the clouds”.

My price / quality rating for this visit:

Food 7.5p (10), service 5p (5), ambience 5p (5), 17.5p (20).

Above the clouds – ELO

 

 

 

Rocca im Gehry’s, Düsseldorf – March 2016

Going to the annual Wine fair in Düsseldorf is a kind of fun highlight in the cold month of March. This year Jörgen could not join, but luckily my best friend Barbara was up for the fun and stress it is trying out a good 100-150 different wines per day.

The day we arrived was actually my birthday and I called Rocca in the afternoon but they were full, so that evening we simply had a great burger. The day after I called again and we were happy to get a table. So after freshening up  (a hot shower is what you need after the hard job of finding the right wines for the FWRR 2016 collection) –  we arrived hungry and tired. It was a great meal, a very attentive and pretty waiter called Sofi had the amount of fun and interaction you expect for such a trendy and stylish steak house.

Great rose, perfect waiter

The food was so good that I had no doubt when we the next day found ourselves in the taxi having finished this years Prowein – I said to Barbara, what you say…we head straight to Rocca, and then finish this year with a drink in the hotel Bar.   Table was booked, and the smile that greeted us from Sofi was worth a million. A second pretty waiter from Marocco did her tricks with serving the recommended Rose and it was sure that she as well had chosen the right profession. And THAT is a nice thing to experience. People who love what they do and do it with passion.

We loved the decor – the classy leather chairs…

Very comfy as well as pretty chairs

Best looking wine cooler ever….

Great selection of wine, great lightning throughout the restaurant

First day we both had an Argentinian Angus Entrecote, with a shared side dishes plate and the second day we opted for the Chateaubriand with Salad and BBQ sauce.

Le Chateaubriand

Great potatoes

My arrangement

On both days meat was cooked to perfection medium rare and all side dishes was presented tasty and fresh looking and with a purpose. I tried the Sauce Beurnaise the first day as well. But we both found the BBQ sauce was the best of those two.

Meat wise you may opt for Argentinian, Australian or US beef and I think I saw a glimpse of some Wagyu cuts as well 🙂

Lots of air in the great room, kitchen above

Smiling chefs

My conclusion:

When you enter the Mediahafen area which was a new experience for me, you are met by one building looking better than the other, funny facades, shapes, materials. Situated next to the Rhein, I can imagine this is a great spot for al fresco dining in the summer. The Rocca has a VERY stylish enterior and deco and your expectations are immediately sky high. We loved the warm colours – great lighting and sense for details in every corner. Great Bread and butter, great food, fast and fun and respectful service, – what more do you want. Sofi – the smile you gave us upon our return  is worth a pay rise. You tell that to your boss. Thanks for great service.

This was for sure a step up from last years steak-house that was actually more expensive  on top of that. Wine list is great – and gives you possibility to not leave bleeding if you dont want to.The fact that we came back two days in a row says it all I guess. We give Rocca our highest recommendation and hope to be back one fine day, lets say Prowein 2017

Barbara, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having such a prominent role in my life – being my best friend. To always have an ear – or two, in good times as well in bad times.

FWRR thank you for taking this Prowein experience to a much funnier level. We shall never forget the tastings at Rhuby 🙂 Thanks for keeping up with my bad sense of humor and for your trust and support to the FWRR project. I could not have done it without you.

My quality price rating for this visit:

Food 8.5p (10), service 4.5p (5), ambience 5p (5), 18p (20).

 

 

Chez Marie – Beaune – September 2015

I was invited to come down and see the harvest of Louis Max in Mercurey and brought Jörgen who kindly enough offered to drive and on top of that invited me for dinner at my favourite restaurant, but thats another story.

The topic of this post being the newly found Bed & Breakfast of Marie and Yves in central Beaune. They offer 2 different double rooms and two larger appartements which comes with small kitchen etc. The biggest one havng living room – 2 seperate bed rooms and the the smaller one 1 bed room and room in living room for a fold-out bed. The appartements are priced at 110-135 eur depending on season and occupancy. The double rooms somewhat cheaper. The units – “gites” are situated just a 500 meter walk from dead center of Beaune.

Here is some shots to give you an idea, – its simple but with a touch of homely feel and clean and with an eye for small details. I loved the fact that the free internet code – was written on a piece of paper sticking out of a book on the side-board – with the title….Chez Marie 🙂 Nice.

The courtyard…

More courtyard – deco

Large bathroom

Large bedroom – with high ceilings and stone wall

Kitchen and dining area

-and a second small bedroom upstairs

When checking out the next morning we found out that a huge breakfast was actually included in the price, consisting of fresh croissants and baguette, which I by the way saw Marie pick up on her bicycle 15 min before 🙂 – homemade yoghurt, homemade musli, freshly pressed orange juice, homemade marmelades etc…sparkling water was added with a smile,

Chez Marie comes highly recommended. We shall be back for sure. The warmth and hospitality of our hosts is what you want when you stay outside your own home.

Marie and Yves…

I shall leave you with a huge THANKS for making our stay memorable and with some shots from the 2015 harvest in Bourgogne.

Mark Wright live in Luxembourg – 19th September 2015

When: 19th September 2015 – 20.00 – doors, drinks- and snack-bar open at 17.00
Where:  Sang a Klang Concert Venue in Pfaffenthal.

Show: Recording Artist – Singer/Song writer Mark Wright from UK, will perform his third concert in Luxembourg. It will consist of his own material, as well as covers of Elvis, Beatles, Sinatra and more rocking oldies but goodies from the 70’s- 80’s and 90’s – and of course a Bruce Springsteen song or two. Last time Mark’s take on “Shout, shout, let it all out” brought the house down. Mark is one hell of a performer, and the last shows he performed in Luxembourg were sell-outs. There is a 150 people max. on the floor and 50 on the balcony. But we have decided on a max. audience of 125 people for this event. So be quick.

*
Drinks and Snack Bar: Small plates, Charcuterie, cheese and Sushii will be sold  at reasonable prices. All wines are sold by the glass and are from the selection of Food Wine & Rock’n’Roll’s Garage Sale in Helmsange. Softdrinks and beer will also be available.

*
Parking: Parking is difficult but – there is parking possibilities on the opposite side of the main road 100-200 meters away, or else Clausen is a 5-10 min walk away. But taking a cab might be better for many reasons. We plan to have a blast.

*
Tickets: Adults: 25 Eur. Kids under 18: 15 Eur. Please order your ticket by transferring the amount equivalent to your requested tickets to FWRR’s account with BCEE, IBAN LU64 0019 4255 6226 3000, BIC (Swift): BCEELULL, Ref. Wright and your full name – and you are automatically on the guest list.

Doors/Bar: Open at 17.00 and venue closes before midnight

Please sign up today – support FWRR – and good music

Restaurant Osier, Walferdange, Luxembourg – May 2015

Osier is THE talk of our little town these days. Having only opened a few weeks ago.

The center of our small commune – Walferdange – with its Town Hall – the school – concert and sport venue across the street – and next to that – baker, pharmacy etc. – actually already holds a good dozen of restaurants – but one can never have too many to choose from right ? :-).

Although we have I think – 3-4 Chinese restaurants in Walferdange, the opening of Osier has been subject to personal high expectations. For two reasons 1), the others do not blow me away, even if they probably do what you can expect – and 2) The old BEAUTIFUL building that now is the home of Osier, is one hell of a grand building, and it has been a pity to see that building empty and in decline. So, seeing the renovation starting, and being able to follow the carefully and respectfully repair of the old “mansion” only increased my expectations.

The Menu

Osier is described as an Asian restaurant and the menu with full-blown pictures show the customers a great selection of Sushi, Thai dishes along the traditional Chinese ones.

Pretty Xiaowei with the al fresco area behind the glass door and windows.

The proud owner and manager Xiaowei is not only very pretty and smiling. She is also having an eye for detail in respect to choice of colour, cutlery, comfortably chairs etc.

Shot from the smallest of the three rooms

And the largest room in the back, leading on to the terrasse.

What I like about the enterieur is the fact, that it is modern, – but also has Asian influences for example a huge piece of wooden art on one wall and other Asian decoration in the back of the restuarant. The blue modern light source on the ceiling gives the whole restaurant a modern look. A nice added bonus is the al freco dining behind the house, – away from the busy road, – That is a HUGE bonus in compare to other restaurants in the area.

The cutlery, the china and the deco chosen surely shows that Xiaowei has a plan to make this Asian restaurant stand out. And I think she has succeeded in just that. Her husband is in charge of the kitchen, and the whole restaurant has a nice family vibe to it.

Since the opening a few weeks ago, we have had several visits here, and had a chance to try a few of the dishes on the menu. Even though I opted for Peking Duck – my all-time favourite Chinese dish 🙂 on some of those occasions.

Here are some of the shots I have taken so far:

A small greeting from the kitchen…

Meals at Osier – like in other good restaurants starts with a small complementary taster – sushi in this case.

Very tasty soup 🙂

Deliscious …

This little dish, I suggested to my dining friends, and they said no we try this or that….and when they tried mine….they all applauded. The dish is a winner. Try it yourself 🙂

Chicken skewers…

One little complaint here. If the idea is to eat it with your fingers…the tasty sauce on the handle of the skewer does give very greasy fingers….:-)

One of many Sushi combinations…

I think by now you get my sentiments…this is a restaurant trying to present the dishes in a modern and appealing way, and I think they are succeeding.

The Peking duck, you get to work – if you want to 🙂

Crispy as it should be

My result 🙂

Vegetables and Tofu for the missus

From all the main dishes we tried so far, I think the Peking duck is among the best I have ever tried. The Luxury version of that dish, is a 2-servings dish where after you have been presented the whole roasted duck – are treated to a first serving of the traditional Peking duck and then the second serving – a very tasty dish where the remaining duck meat is used to create an insanely good tasting duck/vegetables dish. This dish I guess will become a signature dish of the restaurant – and is naturally only served for two people minimum.

Yasmin Tea….

Not for me 🙂 but greatly presented.

My conclusion:

Osier is worth a visit, and deserves huge success. Alone the idea of having an eye for detail and quality and the sheer taste in many of those dishes should hopefully provide Xiaowei and her team with just that. I recommend this restaurant to all my friends and customers in Walferdange, Or if you are ever in the area – please stop by and try this one out. The service is suffering a little, in rush hours you might have to wait more than at your usual Asian restaurant, but – they have to find themselves and find their routine and balance first, and when the food you are presented are at this quality, I do not mind the extra minutes 🙂 . I shall not forget to mention the Thai Coco curry. Order it a bit spicy and you will be in heaven. As for Ambience, I think this is the best you can expect for a Chinese restaurant. No offense :-). But the grandness of the building shines through. The 100 year old curved windows have been kept, and the wooden floors and modern blue lighting – it has some class. Wine list is large, mainly with wines from well-known importer Rossi 🙂 and old friend of mine. I hope to see my wines in here some day, but if not – I will just enjoy one of the many offerings the list hold. I shall rate this as a gastro chinese restaurant. It is not a 3 star Michelin establishment, but it is certainly a fresh breathe of air in our little commune. And I will be back here as often as I can afford it. I wish Xiaowei and her husband and team all the best and give Osier my highest local recommendation :-). But one little word of advice dear Xiaowei. You need to find a better Sake 🙂 Ask me, and I will tell you where you find it 🙂

My quality / price rating:

Food 8p (10), service 4p (5), ambience 4p (5), – and add a happiness point just because I am personally damn happy to have Osier only 1 mile away . 17p (20).

Vecchio Mulino Beach Bar and Restaurant, Peschiera, Italy – April 2015

Hey friends and followers. It has been too bloody long, but setting up a new company, finding wines, importing wines, and SELLING wines 🙂 on top of the daily tasks of life, has been a lot more work than I imagined, and the posts here have been very infrequently to say the least. Spare time has been used to recover rather than writing down memories and recommendations. My plan is to try to get back on track with this blog, inspired by a reader who said she missed my writing here. But good news is that the wine business is fun and doing very well and the customer base is rapidly growing with many new tastings and events coming up.

But I know – I have a lot of catching up to do, and I will start with one of the latest GREAT experiences I shared with my family.

We visited the Garda Lake area, which was a first for me by the way. It was out of season and therefore we had the chance to experience the area without the hazzle and stress that peak season brings.

I might come back to Garda later here, but will share with you an experience I got to choose, having googled and tripadvisored around to see what would be fun to visit. Few restaurants stood out. But this one certainly did. From the way their internet site is build up with photos and descriptions of all dishes (and may I add, the photos do not lie, that is actually how the food looked for real) to the funny comments made and the general vibe and humor in the text blew me away .

The chefs here do not try fancy cooking – but they cook with great produce and love for simplicity and make certainly great combos.

The Vecchio Mulino Beach Bar is run by a young couple, Fabio and Pamela. It is described by many as the best place to eat at the lake.

Mr. Bo

Arriving early, – we sat down and started with some water and a beautiful bottle of my new favourite white – Lugano grapes.

The bar, with the boys.

The missus, Emil and Oscar and the Garda Lake

The service was not quite ready for us since we arrived fashionably early but the waiter made sure we were being served cold drinks with an eye for detail. Menus were handed and stuff explained.

Coolest menu ever 🙂

Do you notice something…Food Wine..:-)

Crispy white.

Even the coke looked great

The food is mostly served Tapas style and priced at 4,50 to 13 eur per dish, most around 6 eur. Now that is a price level we would wish to have around here.

First we were served a home baked bread

Complimentary Bread 🙂

Food arrived, I will show you what we chose:

Stunning…

Described as “Burrata Cheese on a red Pepper fondue with Porcini Mushrooms” – it was amazing. The creamy cheese hidden a bit here on the photo. That was a GREAT start – 9p.

Fish Balls

We were sitting in the hot sun – so the basil leaf deco soon looked very tired 🙂 The dish – “Lake Fish Meat Balls with our Signature Fishermans Sauce and Salsa Verde”. More basic, and the sauce more chunky and not as liquid and smooth as on the picture in the menu book. And I think if its a signature sauce – then it should be same – or at least similar every time you serve it 🙂 Little complaint, taste was good 🙂 7p

Yummi

Simple and impressive way of presenting it I think. “Grilled Vegetables with Thyme Oil” – 8p.

A southern touch…

“Fried Anchovies stuffed with Pine Nuts and Sage”. 8p. Loved it, this was all doing the sun justice and another white – the same 🙂 was ordered.

Best Dish of the day !

“Shrimps and Tequila Risotto with a tender heart of Acacia Honey and Tangerin”. Best risotto ever, perfectly creamy, and the taste ever so delicate. Astrid was over the moon for this one – 10p.

Final Dish

Cooked to perfection on the grill. This “Pink Pepper Sea Bass served with a Fennel and Garda Olive Oil Yoghurt sauce” – a nice finish, but not hitting the top marks of some of the other stuff. The pink pepper a great combo with the rest. 8p.

My conclusion:

From the moment we entered till the moment we left we felt sure that this restaurant would provide us with a great lunch and felt at home in the laid back but attentive service level of the staff. The bar, the al fresco dining, the lake, the great tapas style food, which made room for many tastings. The wine list was a little on the small side, but I’m sure most of the wines are very carefully picked with an eye for detail and taste. Most bottles were 15-20 eur anyway, which is an outstanding price/quality level. The outside looked great, the inside was a bit disturbed by the “plastic” looking windows that were kept I guess only for the winter/spring season. I am sure they are gone come summer season. But siince we had 24 degrees we had only too much sun to worry about.

The high rating on tripadvisor is fully justified. This little pearler comes with our highest recommendation for basic, great food with fresh ingredients and freshly prepared ingredients and decoration. Small flaws like seeing the side skewer with lemon and what do I know on some different dishes do not change the fact that we would love to eat here once a week if we could. We wish Fabio and his team all the best and are sure they are looking for busy times and lots of success.

The boys had a final dessert, the missus broke a glass and I lost my credit card, but that is another story 🙂

As seen on the wall of the men’s room

Oscar loves his strawberries…

My quality / price rating for this visit:

Food 8p (10), service 4.5p (5), ambience 4.5p (5), 17p (20).

 

Domaine La Louviere, Malvies – August 2014

FWRR were granted the exclusivity of the the fine wines of Domaine La Louviere for Luxembourg earlier this year, shortly after we started up our own wine import business. The wines were among the first to be imported and among the first to be sold out. But do not worry – because there is still the great Le Galante on stock and maybe we can find a few of the reds too – even though our hearts cry every time a La Sedutrice or La Maitresse leaves the garage.

The outstanding artwork

The outstanding art of work 🙂

That hit the spot

But ever since the import started, Nicolas and Thore kindly invited us to come down down down south and have a look at the production and wineyards. And so we did. we stopped shortly before Barcelona it seems, and were amazed by the landscape,  which actually included more sunflowers than vines. I later told Nicolas, so this is the trick to wonderful herbal taste of the reds – you make them from sun flowers !!!!

Actually, wine maker and new on the team Jem (from Adelaide !!!) – showed us there were actually lots of wine grown on the land surrounding the Domaine.

Here´s some shots to get you an idea what awaited us.

The fountain and “market place” in front of the main building.

The beauiful trademark firmly placed 4 times on the fountain

The Pyrenees and high attitude make room for a great wine growing climate

Suns everywhere.

We were spoiled with good weather and Jem playing the perfect host, went shopping for us, right after arrival, and went to get us breakfast the next morning as well. That is great host playing. Good on ya.

First meal was cheese, charcuterie, fine La Louviere wines and …..more wines. What a nice arrival. Stefan made sure the beds were made and that all  of us were installed properly. A funny phone call from Nicolas set the tone of the stay, he was not to arrive until a few days later, but I could assure him we were well taken care of.

The next day we spend in beautiful Carcassonne, had a semi great lunch – and after returning to the domaine we relaxed with table tennis, rosé and ipads.

The big boys below Carcassonne

As always a Mr.Blue Sky when we are on a trip.

🙂

Hard to pick the shots to show you from the 200 I took inside the old city.

one last one

and back the Domaine as I said time to rest before shower and dinner. The dinner I shall come back to in a review coming up shortly.

3 ages playing with rubber bands.

Returning after dinner most people called it a night and I opened a bottle of Rhum and were joined by the Bruxelles/Amsterdam connection in what turned out to be a longer drink – talk and night. I went to bed WAY over bed time but had a great evening. And mind you no hangover the next morning for reasons unexplained to man,

Next day was spend partly at the near by lake and for my part, shopping and cooking for our hosts and us. I had asked Stefan to find a “room with a view” – and the table and setting blew us away. Thank you most sincerely Stefan for arranging this, the evening was truly awesome. A pearler.

Before the dinner Jem showed us around and we were explained what makes La Louviere so special and what they aim for. Nicolas arrived – almost not late and joined us for my Coq au vin, which I think he liked 🙂

New mates – Oscar and Jem

Dinner

A proud wine maker.

Table – and my humble sandwiches to get us going.

Waiting for the “coq” to arrive – Nicolas 🙂

Wine were plenty and good and I got a bit tipsy and called it a night. Judging from the look of some of the fellow diners the next day, that was a wise move.

Last day we spend exploring the area, and packing – sigh – I beat our host Nicolas in table tennis…and was both amazed and happy just doing that. Two things to be noted. One – I have a bad right wrist 🙂 and two  – I do think the score were adjusted a bit just around the 19-18 area, where I thought I was behind and then all of sudden was leading. Never mind. The victory was sweet. Oh so sweet.

Before leaving Nicolas told me some exciting and good news as for the product range of the domaine. Looking foward to that my friend.

We sincerely hope this will not be the last time we are visiting this great domaine. We thank you Nicolas, Jem and Stefan for taking good care of us. And we are looking forward to importing MANY more of your fine wines to the delight of our customers. I shall leave you with a few shots taken by my brother Heiko Schneider – one of the fans of the wines of Domaine La Louviere.

And to those of you who have not tried the wines yet. Feel free to pass by the garage sale of FWRR in Helmsange, Luxembourg or call me at +352661187904 – and let us arrange a tasting for you.

Style and taste

Herbal taste 🙂

and a final shot of the sun and the beautiful courtyard.

Bye Bye…

Hotel and Restaurant Les Florets, Gigondas, France – September 2013

This one has been sitting in my mind for quite some time. I actually thought I shared the wonderful stay we experienced there – but it seems I only shared it with you in my head.

I was at Les Florets the year before, and swore I would be back with my family. As it turned out it had to be the year after. As things went, I got to decide on how to spend the last few days of the summer 2013 vaction – and my mind was so made up. Gigondas, Hotel and Restaurant Les Florets, with a stop-over in Beaune driving down.

We got to stay here 3 nights. We visited the area, we got on top of the world, we dazed by the pool, had lots of great wines, and stunning food and service in this little paradise on earth.

I shall break the photos of the tour up in three chapters, one for each day and leave you to indulge in the photos rather than repeating my sentiments of the first stay.

Day one – 31 August 2013 – arrival, lunch pool and dinner.

The quiet romantic hotel with the al fresco dining.

Big boy Oscar

and hungry Emil

The view from the restaurant is simply breath-taking, the valley, the hills, the rocky mountains, the flowers – the perfectly set tables.

Aubergine in some fashion

Tomato, Avocado and I think Salmon

Fish for Emil – somebody remove that lemon foam 🙂

And the smile was back

After dinner rest and then the long awaited pool.

Lets finish day one with some shots from the evening.

 

*

Day two – 1st September – Breakfast – Mont Ventoux – Gigondas – rest – Dinner

Breakfast is great here, great selection and as mostly in France, great Croissants

Before we left for the mountain – I took some of the nicest shots of the boys ever, the colours where amazing, you can feel that Provence is just down the road.

 

After that we took the car up to the top of the world. Quite a ride – not as tough for us – as for the bikers, but all those curves get to you in the end. But the view from up there is worth the hassle. It was a windy day, still when we started the climb it was a nice 23 degrees celcius. On th top it dropped to 13 (!) No wonder, Mont Ventoux rises nearly 2.000 meter above sea level.

     

After those crazy hights  – it was nice to hit the valley of Gigondas – only to find there was a local festival, which came handy because the boys could use some of their saved energy, the restaurant I chose was close to crap, the wine not as nice as it should be – or could be, but all in all, sun was out, the missus pretty as ever –

After a rest and a shower I got to sit down – rest and endulge in a bottle of Condrieu from nearby Saint Cosme.

And right there in the middle of the beauty of all this, while waiting for the missus to come and join me, sipping the wine – I saw this old man reading his book, ever so quietly – and I thought – could there be any more quiet and beautiful way to spend your autumn.

Dinner was enjoyed inside, the mistral had arrived. I shall not bore you with too many details. We had open wines, they were all great. I had one of the best pieces of meat EVER.

What a piece …

and it was good night.

Day 3 – 2nd September 2014 – Breakfast – Crocodile Park – Avignon – rest – Dinner

The crocodiles came in all sizes, I think there was around 400 of them. Funny thing occured after 30-60 min. when Emil proclaimed. That one is alive !!! – He had not realized that apart from the wooden ones he sat on, – they were all maybe not moving alot – but most definetely alive and not to be taken lightly.

   

Avignon is worth a visit, great local food at Lou Mistral, not so funny incident occured when I left to look at a shoe-shop across the street while the others was on the toilet. Emil chose a different toilet, and came out first and thought we all left. I rushed back feeling like the worst daddy in the world, as Astrid and Oscar just emerged from the other exit. It can easily go wrong.

Back at the hotel – freshening up, playing games, and our last supper at Les Floret for this time.

Conclusion:

Like last time Thierry and Dominique and all the staff made sure we could concentrate on us and relaxe, endulge in the quietness and romance of the place and – just enjoy the good food and the great weather and the stunning views.

The kitchen even went the extra mile and cooked me the dish I had fallen in love wiht the year before, even though it was not on the menu. The chef came to the table, and I explained it to him in my poor poor French. And it was just as good 🙂

Just as we were all happy with Potsdam the week before, I think we were all quite happy here, focus was on relaxing and the good food, and that is of course more my idea of fun 🙂 So I thank you dear Astrid, Oscar and Emil – for coming with me on this long ride to the Southern Rhone and coping with all that food and romance.

I wish I could be back this year. Hotel and Restaurant Les Florets comes with my highest recommendation.

So with that wish I shall leave you with an oldie but goodie – One Summer Dream, written by Jeff Lynne a good 38 years ago.

Rock on dear Thierry and Dominique.