Copenhagen

Copenhagen was lovely, and there was really no basis for choosing to visit there, only that it was somewhere new. 

Copenhagen is obviously home to one of the world's best restaurants, but it was unfortunately closed during the time that I was visiting. Giant bummer, but we certainly found enough to do (and of course eat!)  

Nyhavn was beautiful, even at night.

But very cold and windy!

Checking for mermaids and seals

Best sign ever.

Braised lamb shank with celery root puree

Kebab with basically the best fries ever

Local beer of course.

Pub food. It was perfect,  Salmon with some white wine and buerre noisette foam and avocado puree.

Pub fare.

Mexican food!

After a month without Mexican, this was basically the best thing ever

Outdoor breakfast on Nyhavn.

They provided blankets.

Cheers!

In Season

I love the Farmers Market!

Today, I made feta zucchini fritters with sriracha cilantro aioli

  And a nice tomato tart, with Cosetta's mozzarella. 

Chinese New year

I just found these old pics of Chinese New Year in Thunder Bay. Put on annually by the Chinese-Canadian association..and go figure, when i lived there, I missed American style Chinese food, and now I miss the Canadian Stuff. 

Der Elefant

Der Elefant was suggested by a number of people in Warsaw, so a visit was basically inevitable.

The decor is a mix of minimalist and vintage industrial. 

The canard cassis was pretty great. As I joked, some mallard for the Allard. 

I don't usually order dessert...

But, the Manfred (Lemon sorbet and vodka) sounded too good to pass up on. 

With a nice little espresso it was fantastic, 

Light and tart! 

naturally a digestiv followed 

great dinner! 

Old town lunch at U Barssa

A walk through the Old Town of Warsaw, on a sunny day is a beautiful thing. 

After a little bit of shopping, and a couple hours roaming the Nowy Swiat, some food was seriously in order. I was sort of in the mood for Italian, so we walked around looking at the menu's. This place had pasta, So, quite frankly, that was good enough for me, 

Also, I did not order pasta. 

U Barssa had four kinds of perogy on the menu. We debated between 3 of them (the mushroom and sauerkraut was a no go, since I don't like mushroom and Denise doesn't like sauerkraut), and the waitress told us that she would bring us a mix. 

This was not what I was expecting... 

These are basically the fanciest effing perogies that I have ever had. 

at 11-2 are the meat perogies, stuffed with braised meat and spices. 

3-6 are the Russian style perogies with potatoes and cheese, topped with the most amazing caramelized onions. 

7-10 are spinach and feta. Simply amazing. 

They were all so perfect and flavourful. Please note the pretty lower in the middle of the plate, and the blossoms scattered around the edge of the plate. Yeah, the food was super schmancy looking, but it was more than just nice to look at. This food was seriously amazing. 

I ordered Beef Cheeks with thyme, pureed potatoes and veggies. 

(and flowers)

The meat could have been cut with the stem of a delicate little flower. The flavour was so perfect, and the meat was cooked perfectly. 

Denise blew my mind, and ordered the Polish tenderloin with green peppercorn sauce. 

I may have helped myself to a bite. 

I think that it is the worst thing when you take a bits of something and taste that the sauce is from a jar/can/packet and feel that sense of utter disappointment? 

This was just the opposite. That euphoria that comes when you experience a dish that has the sauce that is just right... sometimes, knowing that there is someone in the kitchen who cares enough to make something this delectable... its just fantastic.

Obviously, in high traffic/tourist areas there are a lot of restaurants that can get away with serving overpriced slop. Naturally we agree to the price of the dish when we order it, never truly knowing what if going to end up on the plate in front of you. We assume 'Hey, it's Europe! It's gotta be good', but that is sadly a pretty hit or miss assumption. 

The view was lovely, looking over the ice skaters. 

And of course, more walking through the old town was necessary after all of that rich food.