The Artist formerly known as Himself

We had a treat this weekend! Himself placed in an art competition at our favourite café, and won (which he was kind enough to take me to) a tasting and glass of wine for two people at the Wine Bar – Screaming Beans.

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Well! Where to even begin?!? I’ll start by saying that everything we had was amazing, subtle, delicate, and yet rich and satisfying. We allowed the kitchen to choose our meal for us, because it’s always fun to put yourself in the hands of the professionals! Would you like to know more?

Final Days

There are certain things which people see as quintessentially Amsterdam. Of course, when you’re being tour guide, you tend to take people to the things that call to them the loudest. In the case of N, his Mecca was and is, the Heineken Brewery.

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From what I understand the brewery is no longer in this space, but the building is preserved now in the form of the “Heineken Experience”. Himself and I left them to this one while we went off to sit in a café and have cake!

Would you like to know more?

Out for Dinner

Amsterdam has an abundance of good restaurants, so one night after craving dumplings for the last 3 days, we made our way over to the Good Fortune Restaurant. We got the window seat.

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I was too hungry to get a photograph of the first course, and of course that was when I had the dumplings I’d been craving. We had Gyoza, a Japanese style chicken dumpling, and some steamed pork buns which are one of my favourites!

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For my mains I ordered Peking Duck on noodles, and it was one of the best dishes I’ve had in ages! Himself had Cuttlefish for starters and then a Szechuan dish with rice.

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As you can tell by how little remains, it was delicious and we enjoyed it immensely!

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And no washing up!

Blackbird Café

Onwards and upwards! Last Saturday had some of the most glorious weather Autumn has to offer.

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Overlooking this spectacular view (and with a discount voucher) we sat down to a spot of lunch at the Blackbird Café.

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Himself just needed to ingest copious amounts of fuel, and went for the Hawaiian Pizza.

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I felt like being a little more daring and ordered the Crocodile Burger!

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Crocodile is a very delicately flavoured meat. Vaguely peppery. I think it may have been a little too sweet for me with the mango chutney, but I was informed they have to cater to tourists’ tastes which tend to run in that direction.

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Darling Harbour can really be a wondrous place. So long as I don’t have to deal with too many tourists I really enjoy being there!

I think I’ll have to procure some crocodile for myself and experiment with cooking it …

Rubyos

Rubyos – Our favourite restaurant. Convenient to us just at the Broadway end of King St, we have never had a bad experience there. We were introduced to it by some friends several years ago now. The food is superb, the service exceptional, and the ambience is conducive both to a romantic dinner for two, or a gathering of friends.

In this instance we were given a thank you gift for a dinner to our favourite restaurant. Without hesitation we knew where we would be going, and thanked our hosts for their generosity, though the prices are by no means exorbitant!

We arrived late having had a small fubar with a taxi reservation, but arrived to be greeted with a smile and led to our favourite table; Front Window in the corner, watching the traffic and passers by.

We know the menu fairly well and had to pare it down to just what we would have the capacity to eat in one night! With wonders like Fried Haloumi, and Seared Kangaroo Fillet, this isn’t as easy as it sounds! We went for some old favourites, having had a mildly stressful day and wanting to be able to unwind at leisure.

Excuse my dodgy photography in this post please. Good Restaurant lighting isn’t the same as good photography lighting when you only have a small snappy camera on hand!

From the Grazing Menu we began with the Flash Fried Calamari (where the photography failed completely). Next came the Soft Shelled Crab.

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Then some Moroccan Spiced Salmon.

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And last (but never least) the Wagyu Beef Meat Balls.

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If you have never experienced meat that has the ability to melt in your mouth before, then you simply have not lived! Each dish was an exquisite masterpiece of flavours, with the portions size just perfect to move on to the next course.

By the time we had finished eating, though the desert and cheese menus are rather spectacular, we opted for another favourite.

The Espresso Martini.

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In short, if you’ve been looking for somewhere to go, look no further!
Bon Appétit!