Dinner in Amsterdam

During our stay in Amsterdam the owners of the B&B we stayed in recommended several restaurants.  We actually had to go twice since the first time the wait was too long.  It's an Indonesian place called Restaurant Blauw.  This was the first time we had Indonesian food and it was quite an experience at this popular place. 

Jackson had the traditional full course meal.  I don't know what all the food was called but it was served on many plates.  We took pictures -

Indonesian Dishes

Afternoon tea

Jackson and I have enjoyed the treat of having afternoon tea in many different cities.  So when we were planning our trip to London I wanted to be sure and have tea in the famous department store Harrods.  Their Georgian restaurant is described on the Harrods website -

Afternoon Tea at the Georgian

The Georgian’s quintessentially English afternoon tea stands amongst London’s finest, and when enjoyed in such regal surroundings, is an experience to be savoured, remembered and repeated. Freshly cut sandwiches, scones and pastries are accompanied by your choice of tea from Harrods private tea gardens.

It is a beautiful restaurant with a piano and the piano player wore a tuxedo.  Our waiter was very attentive and I loved the little sandwiches and cakes.  It actually was a moving experience for me to have tea in Harrods.  I'm not sure why but maybe it was just another dream coming true on this vacation!

We bought some loose leaf tea in the gift shop.  It's a set of three fruit flavored teas including strawberry, lemon and kiwi.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Harrods

Bon appetit!

My favorite dinner in Paris was at the restaurant called Mon Vieil Ami (my old friend) which we found by accident.  We had been shopping at a fancy bath store called Durance - http://www.durance.fr/.  It was time to eat so we asked the clerk if she knew of a good place for dinner nearby.  She told us about Mon Vieil Ami and after some searching we found it.  It is a beautiful restaurant and the food was tres magnifique! 

I had a delicious pork dish but unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of our meals.  We started doing that later on during this trip.  The dessert I had was wonderful too.  We sat next to some friendly people on holiday from South Africa.  We talked about the upcoming World Cup. 

Here is the website for Mon Vieil Ami - http://www.mon-vieil-ami.com/uk. I highly recommend it!  To paraphrase Father Intintola from The Sopranos, "This meal is beyond reproach!  Word up!"

Random thoughts...

There are few snacks I enjoy more than a molasses cookie and a skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks!  I have yet to find a molasses cookie that can beat the Starbucks version.

There is a coffee shop in Seattle's Westlake Center called Dilettante Mocha Cafe.  Besides coffee and mouth watering chocolates, they sell a sparkling citrus drink I had in Europe called Orangina.  I think the first time I had it was on the train from London to Paris.  We enjoyed taking the train to all of our destinations.  The train stations were beautiful.

http://www.orangina.eu/en

I was pleased to see Orangina again at the Dillettante Cafe, even though it costs $2.75 for a rather small bottle!  It was a nice memory from our trip.