Greenleaf London

Patrick Asian, Restaurants

Greenleaf is the latest surprise to be sprung around the insides of Holborn. The interior is bright and inviting – quite different from your very traditional Chinese restaurant. Clean white marble table tops replace white tablecloth typically quickly stained with tea. We went on an opening offer for 50% off and were one of three tables for the night.

They brought us spicy prawn crackers to nibble on whilst we perused the menu, though decided on a very large feast to follow.

You can see a very different, non-typical Chinese restaurant – easily mistaken for a different one.

We started with the ribs as a starter, soft enough to pull off the bone, though a bit worryingly fried.

The scallops were much better. Smoky and generous in their serving with beautiful scallop shells.

I’ll generally order aubergine in most restaurants – the meaty flesh offering deliciousness and Chinese style with minced pork and a bit of salty fish brings a strong umami element to the entire dish. Fortunately this one wasn’t as oily as I originally expected.

The fujian fried rice (egg fried rice, topped with a saucy seafood/duck combination) was exceptionally well done.

And finally a whole fish served with sesame oil, spring onions and soy. A classic and very well done dish.

I have to say that I was quite impressed by the meal, and made even better by the 50% off deal they have currently going. I’m not sure whether I’d pay the full price but the at least the quality of the food was worth it. One thing that I can say is the awkwardness of the attendants who seemed to hang around much more than they really needed to, whisking away bowls whenever we were done, topping up water at the slightest drink but awkward in that we would have enjoyed more privacy without them being so obvious.

Name: Greenleaf Restaurant
Found at: 48 Red Lion Street, WC1R 4PF
Website: None found

The Good (and not so Good) at Goodman’s

Patrick American, Restaurants, Steak

I’d heard a lot of great things about Goodman’s. It’s one of the two steak groups in that competes for the “best steak” places in London, at least according to a number of foodies. Last year, we had our Christmas gathering at Hawksmoor last year and opted to try Goodman’s this year instead.

We had a reservation for 8:30pm but decided to meet up for a drink at Aqua first. To call that place heaving would have been an understatement with the bar full of very beautiful people, and many others simply preening themselves. It passed 8pm and we decided to try for a drink at the bar at Goodman’s rather than another one at Aqua. We arrived early. Just after 8pm and, as expected, were told that our table wasn’t yet ready. We didn’t really mind this, as we figured we were a bit early, but looking back, we really should have simply had another drink at Aqua because the bar area isn’t particularly suited for waiting, filled with other guests dining at the counter.

Time passed and at 8:30pm, one of our party decided to ask if our table was ready. The maitre de assured us that the party occupying our table was simply paying and that we would have our table after five more minutes. Five minutes passed and nothing. So we waited five minutes more before deciding to ask again. One of my dining companions asked the maitre de again who repeated back exactly the same statement, “five more minutes.” We were seated at 8:50pm. He was not impressed.

Finally getting seated (after having a reservation!), we were starting to get a bit hungry. I’m pleased that bread was placed on the table, shortly after all the menus made their way down. Soft, creamy salted butter and slightly warm rolls made good partners to tame the building hunger. Our waitress, a friendly lady, told us about the various cuts on offer and took our orders of the steak, sides and wine. A pleasant and efficient experience that would prove not to last the rest of the night.

Being with a group of Italians, we all ended up ordering the Burrata. I’d never had this rich dish before (mozzarella mixed with cream). Served with crispy chorizo, small tomatoes and a small bit of crispy sourdough (£12), I was very impressed with this dish. Unfortunately my dining partners (and I) were less impressed that we had to ask for our wine after the round of appetizers sat at our table for a while.

We finished our decadent, delicious starter with the plates sitting there for a good twenty minutes before they were taken away. Fair enough they were busy but for 12.5% service, I expect much better.

Like other, well regarded restaurants, Goodman’s have their won steak knives.

Our waitress came up to us, just before all the food arrived, apologising she hadn’t asked if we wanted any sauces. We ordered some (stilton, pepper, and bernaise) but by then all of our food arrived. It was an impressive collection of food. The four of us split a 1kg steak (Scottish grass fed only!) (£120), and unlike last year’s Hawksmoor experience, this one had been cooked perfectly. Pink and juicy, charred on the outside. Given all the sides we’d ordered, it was a good thing we didn’t order bigger steaks.

The downside was when the maitre de arrived ten minutes later, asking us how everything was going and still those sauces had not yet arrived.

Fortunately the side dishes were pretty good, worth tucking into while we waited. Above is the creamed spinach with blue cheese (£4.50).

And a delicious truffle mac and cheese (£4), though being italians and disliked pasta being treated this way, only one of my companions was tempted to try it. I found it delicious though. Eventually our sauces arrived and everything was rather complete. The steak was excellent – juicy and smoky, and did just the job.

Our dessert menu arrived, and though full, convinced ourselves rather quickly that it was worth trying some of the dessert menu. Well, we would have if someone came to took our order. It was a good half hour before our waitress returned to take our order. On top of that, our water bottle had been taken away, and not refilled during this time.

I went for the calorie dense, Brownie sundae (£6.50) (minus the whipped cream). Chunky and delicious.

A couple of of the creme brulees (£6.50) were ordered. Pretty good reports on this.

And finally a cheesecake (£6.50), also apparently very well made.

Overall I have to say that the food was definitely very good, but our experience of the evening was tainted by far too many incidents. When the bill arrived, we informed our waitress that we weren’t going to pay the service. Interestingly, her reaction was first to ask what was wrong, and then after explaining the events of the evening, said that she had to go to the manager to get her to “take the amount off the bill”. This was fascinating, because for us, the bill already showed the amount that needed paying without service. We waited, another ten minutes for the manager to return.

At the point of the evening (almost midnight and after some very nice wine and dessert wine), I can’t really remember if we had to re-explain our circumstances. She came back and said that she took off a round of drinks apologising for the service. We explained back that it wasn’t necessary, and all we really wanted to do was to not pay the service, but she insisted.

Would I come back? Given the quality of the food I think I would. Service is a funny thing, variable on lots of different factors. They did a good job to redeem themselves, and just hope that they actually took the feedback on board, rather than simply not pass it on to our waitress.

Name: Goodman Steak Restaurant
Website: http://www.goodmanrestaurants.com/
Found at: 24-26 Maddox Street, W1S 1QH

Return to Spicylicious

Patrick Asian, Copenhagen, Restaurants, Thai

I recently spent another weekend in Copenhagen, just after presenting at Øredev in Malmö. One of the restaurants I wanted to eat at on my return to Copenhagen was Spicylicious. Although it’s in a very dodgy part of town, on a street that is the complete opposite of the clean, well behaved citizens of the city, Spicylicious is worth the short trip away from the main train station.

Even though we’d booked a table for 9:15pm, the restaurant was heaving with locals. It’s the sort of place for dinner, especially on weekends you really want to book unless you aim for a very early meal. They specialise in pan-Asian cuisine although it’s probably a bit more accurate that it’s a combination between Vietnamese and Thai food. We tried two different appetisers, the Satay Gai (DKK70) and Kung Mapraow Tod (DKK70). Unfortunately both dishes were a little disappointing – the chicken a tad dry and the prawns not as crisp as they really should have been.

It doesn’t really matter because I wanted to come back here for the main event – the curries. We went for a fairly moderately spiced Panaeng Curry with chicken (DKK120) and a much spicier Green curry with guinea fowl (DKK130). We were both far too full from the food to try any of the desserts and very satisfied with the curries.

Name: Restaurant Spicylicious
Website: http://restaurantspicylicious.dk/
Found at: Istedgade 27, Copenhagen, Denmark

Horvath’s Round 2

Patrick Berlin, German, Restaurants

I’d eaten at the much acclaimed Horvath’s at the beginning of the year. It’s an unusual find in Kreuzburg, focusing much more on the higher end of the market offering modern twists to Bayerish cuisine.

It’s more of the place you’d take your parents to meet your partner for the first time, rather than as a casual night out. Fortunately Berlin is as happy serving a bunch of geeks (seven of us to be exact) as they are entertaining German families.

We opted for a mix of the the tasting course menu – me, of course, hoping to try as much as we could given the time. The courses end up much more than the six expected courses.

They first brough a bread basket to the table, a mix of wonderfully different styles including one that had notable chunks of black pudding throughout. My favourite, of course, a lighter bread surrounded by a crisp crust lightly dusted in flour.

Just as unusually, their “butter” proved to be a combination of cream cheese, some butter and some toasted pumpkin seed oil. The oil proved less popular at the table as it was surprisingly bitter, not the smooth subtle flavours one would normally expect of a more classical olive oil at the table.

It’s a while since I wrote this up, so the details of each dish are less forthcoming, however I hope you enjoy seeing some of the pictures anyway. Here I think we had a pureed celeric with some fresh celery and apple. As the first dish, it proved refreshing to the pallette.

Round two, a chunk of duck liver with a majoram glaze and a caramellised corn pudding accompanied by some other pureed vegetable stuff (I think). If you look closely you can see there was a very thin sugar crust layering on top that provided both the element of crunch and sweetness to an otherwise very rich dish.

Next followed a really delicate dish confit fish filet with dark berry sauce, and mushrooms. The dish had been finished off dotted with lots of capers and two chunks of a very small sour cream cream. Mmmm. Delicious.

Next up was a softly cooked venison strip. I honestly can’t remember what it sat upon but I do remember it being amazingly tender and very well cooked.

Our next course would make vegetarians envious with generous chunks of aubergine with a generous selection of fresh chanterelles sitting on some more pureed turnip.

Being Bayerish food, one doesn’t expect too many vegetables and predictably changed with the next round, a duck breast accompanied by a selection of pototo and red cabbage.

Some of us then had the additional cheese course, a strong blue cheese that went really well with the small sultanas dotting the plate.

Dessert finished off our meal with an amazingly fresh red carrot sorbet, a soft cake, and a couple of other puddings. Everyone was so impressed by the strong flavours of the red carrot sorbet, someone even asked for the recipe.

With tea arrived a small selection of biscuits and soft caramels but I literally coudln’t eat anymore.

An enjoyable evening and a place I would definitely return to again.

Name: Horvath’s
Website: http://www.restaurant-horvath.de/
Found at: Paul Lincke Ufer 44a, Kreuzberg, 10999 Berlin

Kopps

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Berlin is probably the paradise city for any vegetarian or vegan place in Germany. Not really a country known for its affection for meat, The Happy Cow lists just as many, if not more, vegetarian places in Berlin when compared to even larger cities such as London.

Kopps is the latest addition Vegan restaurant on offer, the decor following the trends of clean walls, large windows and very modern decor. As a Berlin friend told me, “Very Mitte.”

I happened to chance upon the week they opened, serving a very excellently valued four course menu for only €15 excluding drinks.

To start was a pumpkin soup served with roasted pumpkin seeds. The use of coconut milk in this dish made it taste slightly more tropical than what it probably should have but it was still very, “lecker” (tasty!).

Second round came the red beetroot ravioli filled with a cashew-herb ricotta and a fennel salad. Not only was it really well presented but I really enjoyed the contrast of the slightly sharp fennel against the typically sweet beetroot. A clever concoction and one that I’ll try (though probably with the use of real ricotta instead of some weird vegan substitute).

The main course was an attempted “meat substitute”, including a roasted soya roulade with red cabbage and potatoes. A tasty dish although I found it slightly over-seasoned for my liking.

Round four, and by this time, I was pretty full. However it was definitely worth the effort being a delicious chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce. Given it being a vegan place, I have no idea how they managed to make the mousse so creamy and delicious as I was expecting some sort of gritty, or slightly off tasting mousse. A definite highlight and something you should try.

Name: Kopps
Found at: Linienstr 94, Berlin Germany 10115
Website: http://kopps-berlin.de/

La Cantina at Tausend

Patrick Asian, Berlin, Restaurants, Tapas

One of my work colleagues, Tom talked about this very interesting restaurant hidden away, literally with just a door underneath the bridge that crosses the river into the Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station. It’s best to book ahead for the restaurant, as even just for popping into the bar appears to require some level of planning. Or at least you need to be dressed to impress with most people wearing suits, or stylish dresses for the ladies.

The restaurant isn’t very big although several people seemed to be dining at the bar there. The food focuses on both Asian, and Spanish foods. Not really a fusion, but more a variety that spans both. I’m a little skeptical of places like this, but I can say that it seemed to work okay.

Be prepared to spend. Although it won’t break the bank, the dishes are small and you will need a few to probably fill up. Here we have the aubergine with miso sauce (€7), a light miso sauce infused with sesame. It’s a very good classic Japanese dish that I love and they did very well.

Spicy pimientos in padron salt (€6) never fail to impress. They arrived steaming and fresh, very full of spice. Mmmm. Very nice.

This dish of garlic prawns (€10) definitely came with lots of prawns. They weren’t the big prawns I’ve seen and I’ve had better, more spicy garlic oil at other places in Berlin but it was still good.

A decent serving of sashimi (€17) arrives looking very impressive.

The main courses aren’t cheap by Berlin standards. I went for the grilled miso cod (€28) and it literally comes by itself. As did the US prime beef steak and it’s best to get some sides although this adds up. A serving of herb risotto, or mixed vegetables or green salad at €5 or garlic rice, udon or edamame at €4.

I guess one of the most impressive parts of the evening was sipping on cocktails provided in their lounge. Although amazingly smoky for such an airy room, it didn’t really seem to fill up although we did come on a Wednesday and we left my about midnight – both probably very early standards that you cannot properly measure the place by for Berlin standards.

An impressive light at the end of the bar is enough to light the the entire room. Its rays scattered by the mirrored ceiling into the rest of the very darkly furnished bar. Saying that the bar staff know their stuff is a bit of an understatement. Not only do they have their huge list of signature cocktails but it’s pretty easy for them to whip up something they’ve never made before (at least the classics) and they do it pretty well.

Name: La Cantina at Bar Tausend
Found at: Schiffbauerdamm 11, Berlin
Website: http://www.tausendberlin.com/

Lucky Leek

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants, Vegetarian

Continuing the great adventures I’ve had with the Happy Cow website, I ended up at a relatively new vegan restaurant located in the heart of gentrified Prenzlauer Berg. They had a few tables outside when I went as it wasn’t so cold, and had probably about eight or ten small to medium sized tables on the inside. Make sure you reserve if you want a spot on popular Friday or Saturday evenings as they are often sold out.

It’s modernly decorated and offer a changing menu both daily and it looks like their regular food changes as well. I guess a focus on seasonal produce and local ingredients definitely make it worth while.

I had the food pretty much from the daily menu. A wonderful yellow pepper gazpacho, a slight adaptation from the typical spanish dish with plenty of chunks of fresh vegetables and a very spicy garlic bread that went well with the dish. It was a huge serve for being an appetiser and a bit more and I think it could have served as a main.

I’m glad that it didn’t though because the tagliatelle was marvellous. My Italian friends would have been impressed by the al-dente-ness of the pasta and combined with fresh steinpilz (porchini) and wonderful truffle flavours, was just an absolute delight to eat. Fresh cherry tomatoes bursting with their sweet goodness provided a nice counter balance as did the fine strips of chilli sitting atop the dish – not advertised but wholly welcomed by myself.

It’s probably on the pricier side of being a vegetarian, but the portions were well worth the price and the flavours alone demonstrated how impressive vegan cooking could be.

Name: Lucky Leek
Found at: Kollwitzstrasse 46, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
Website: http://www.lucky-leek.de/

Die Henne – Alt Berliner Wirtshaus

Patrick Berlin, Restaurants

This restaurant is so much of an institution, it’s one of those rare restaurants in Berlin where you must book ahead. They have their speciality and pretty much just does it all on its own – a version of a fried chicken where the chicken is soaked in buttermilk resulting in a super crisp skin that is also just as juicy on the inside.

While they also serve some wurst and either a cucumber salad or potato salad, there’s really not much to choose from if you come here. Don’t bring your vegetarian friends or they’ll be eating side salads chock full of mayonnaise. The main even here is the chicken, so don’t bother coming if you’re not planning on having it. It’s that good. Of course they have plenty of other things on offer, particularly a huge variety of schnapps to enjoy as a post-dinner drink.

Here’s a picture of the chicken that arrives steaming fresh. They do each one fresh, and it takes up to thirty minutes before the chicken comes out from the tiny kitchen, super crisp and juicy on the outside. While it’s good for the wait, bear in mind that it is still a certain type of fried chicken (but a good one at that!)

Here’s the potato salad (above) that comes along with the main dish. Don’t be fooled as these are tiny portions and are really there to help mop up the extra chicken that’ll be left over when you’ve eaten the small piece of bread that comes with.

A really nice venue for when you want something that will be consistently be made and results in a delicious result.

Name: Die Henne – Alt Berliner Wirtshaus
Found at: Leuschnerdamm 25, 10999 Berlin, Germany
Website: http://www.henne-berlin.de/

Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester

Patrick French, Michelin Starred, Restaurants, UK

My sister and I have this agreement when it comes to any event where presents are involved: Don’t buy me anything I don’t really need. The consequences of this mean that often we spend time buying each other experiences, rather than material goods that will often go unused. When it came to my birthday this year, she suggested that we dine at the 3-starred, Alain Ducasse in the Dorchester.

I’ve been past here, plenty of times before although normally it’s on the the top floor of the double decker buses that zoom around Hyde Park as you admire the fancy cars that sit in their driveway. Not tonight! This time, all suited up to go (apparently a “highly” recommended dress code of at least a jacket) and enter the hotel we are.

Being the first time in this hotel, I notice how the doormen manually revolve the revolving doors as you enter the building, and arriving for our 6:30pm (early I know!) booking, are greeting by no more than four or five different people in the lobby all decadently dressed up, as one would expect for such a well known British hotel.

We move into the stretched hallway, lined with gilded statues, overly ornate furnishings that shine in constrast to the dark streets we just stepped out of. Families celebrating birthdays, and obviously special events sit in comfy lounges entertained by a talented pianist and celebrate with a late afternoon tea. We walk amongst them as we move towards the entrance to Alain Ducasse.

Slightly early for our booking, we perch at the bar for a drink. The prices are sharp contrast to the cheap berlin bars I’m used to frequenting. Even when we went to Tausend to “splash out” on ‚Ǩ10 cocktails in Berlin, the ¬£20 equivalents here I’m sure are to be good. I opt for a simple classic Martini Bianco with a lemon slice as it seems to be my current apertif of choice.

The restaurant opens and slowly but surely we’re seen into the cavernous dining room. We are shown into one of the comfy corners. There’s plenty of space, and the drapes around make it feel a lot more intimate than waht the space realistically is. I note three two-person dining tables in our area, a couple already present against one side, we are seated against the opposite. Already able to overhear the furtherest table, I’m thankful the middle table remains unoccupied for the rest of the evening.

As we peruse the menu, a mountain of gruyere profiteroles arrives, freshly made, warm salty and ever so light. It’s tempting to continue snacking on them as we consider the two menus but I’m conscious we’ll be trying the tasting menu up ahead of us.

There are actually two different menus to choose from. A reasonable seven course menu that is listed on the website, and another using more in-season ingredients that comes in at almost double. We opt for the first and the menus are whisked away.

It’s not long until the bread basket lies. We have a choice from many breads. Not quite the same selection that Tom Aikens offers that requires a push-cart for just the bread itself, but good nevertheless. An interesting range from bread with bacon, an olive bread, sourdough, plain white roll and a baguette. Not super warm, but the winner for me is the small baguette, crispy on the outside and definitely freshly made.

It comes served with creamed cheese, and a pat of salted french butter shaped into what looks like a giant Chinese dumpling, or maybe more approrpiately, a bulb of garlic.

It’s not long before the first course arrives, a Spicy crab and broccoletti dish. The streak of red is some sort of spicy salt that definitely gives the dish zing. The foam on top suspending luscious amounts of crab, and a warmed jelly like seafood concoction that is as velvety as a very smooth foie gras. It’s a good start to the meal, a generous heaping of seafood and packed full of flavour.

In what seems like a trend to come, it seems almost as soon as we’ve finished one course, our plates are whisked away and another soon replaces them. I’m still uncertain as to whether or not they were rushing us (they weren’t really doing another sitting) or this was some aspect to the service that gets them that second or third star.

Anyway, the second dish arrives, Crispy raw and cooked vegetable tart served with a fresh herb condiment. This dish was not only spectacular to look at, but also an wonderful confusing mix of flavours and textures. Raw vegetables give the dish a fresh crunch that contrasts against the stewed vegetables that sit in a circle at the bottom of the dish. I break the flaky pastry dish, destroying the beautiful masterpiece, but eagerly using it to soak up all the amazing flavours that make up this dish. I almost think that my vegetarian friends would be amazed at finding this dish in a french restaurant, but a part of me suspects some of the strength of flavour from the sauces must come from a basis of animal stock. Not that I care as I scrape the last bits from the dish.

Our waiter presents, the next dish, apparently a very signature dish of Mr Ducasse, a “Saute gourmand”of lobtser, and truffled chicken quenelles. Exquisite, luciscious and no wonder Ducasse’s customers demanded for this dish to be brought back on the menu. Huge chunks of lobster sit amongst freshly made, perfectly Italian al-dente pasta, made even more divine by the chicken dumplings flavoured generiously with truffle. Strongly aromatic and a sauce so gorgeous that I cannot help but soak up some of the left over sauce with the remnants of my baguette. Probably breaking lots of ettiquette, but hey, I’m appreciating the food right?

Visually bland, at least in contrast to the previous dish, we start on the Simmered halibut, celeriac, shellfish and squid. I can only imagine how much butter (it’s French cooking, mmm-kay) went into the velvety sauce that surrounds the fish. A good meaty fish that flakes easily with a fork, with “tears” of celeriac dotting the plate. Shellfish came in the form of tiny cockels that provided pepper-like contrast to the dish.

We finish with the seafood course and then arrives our main meat course, Saddle of venison, grand-veneur, pumpkin, beetroot and quince. It’s a good thing too because it’s a sizable chunk. I take a sip of the Rioja wine that I enjoy even more having actually went against the sommerlier’s recommendation for a merlot, it’s strength of flavour matching well and not outpowered by the venison hung for only two weeks. He seemed to want to recommend all the most expensive glasses of wine which I’m sure were good, but my wine pallette’s not that refined. I take a slice of the venison, swoosh it around in the rich dark sauce, perfectly balanced with background notes of dark chocolate and enjoy the dish very slowly as the amount of food consumed starts to kick in.

Fortunately that was our last main course, with the cheese platter to arrive next. It’s spectuculalrly laid out with four different cheeses. A goat’s cheese accompanied by a red-pepper paste (very good!), a camembert with apple chutney, a hard cheese (can’t remember which) with a mushroom and macadamia paste (didn’t really do it for me) and my favourite of the evening, a roquefort blue cheese with quince chutney with a slight kick provided by mustard.

I found it a bit strange but they served it with a side salad topped with blanched almonds.

And more appropriately a walnut and sultana bread. Of course there were crackers as well.

Amazing the petite fours arrive without even being asked for tea and coffe and we’re both struggling to put away more of the food. There were six(!) macaroons. Flavours we think included strawberry, lemon and coconut.

The truffles were also very good – a hazelnut with crispy rice crackers remindining me of my favourite Finish chocolate brand, Geisha, and a more classic chocolate truffle.

My sister wans’t particularly thrilled by the sound of our last dish on the menu, and they substituted for her, the raspberry almond dish that looked delightful and appropriately red for my birthday (Chinese tradition says it’s good luck to be wearing red on your birthday).

Still not excited by the prospect, what arrived was definitely a good surprise in my book for the exoctic fruits dessert containing two different sorbets (vanilla and lime, mango and passion fruit), light puffs in the form of coconut meringue chunks of fruit and finished off by a warm mango passionfruit sauce. My only complaint was that it was a bit sweet for me (but I think that’s just me more than anything).

Thinking that we were completly finished, we were then shocked to have a whole dessert trolley roll up to us including many sweets, biscuits adn extra pastry cakes for us to choose from. We could have any and all although at this time, only opted for a small caramel and a pistachio pastry to split between the two of us.

They even gave my sister a nice “breakfast” take-away dish to go.

Everything about the evening was pretty good, as one would expect from a 3-starred Michelin place. I found the dishes coming a little bit too fast for my liking, but maybe that’s part of the service that is required for a place like this. Food was amazing, and some of the flavours really refined and divine.

Name: Alian Ducasse at the Dorchester
Found at: The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London W1K 1QA
Website: http://www.alainducasse-dorchester.com/

Assortment of four french cheeses (goat’s cheese, blue, camembert)
Exotic fruits – coconut meringue, vanilla lime sorbet, mango passionfruit.

Almont raspberry

Spoon Restaurant in Budapest

Patrick Budapest, Restaurants

Budapest has a huge selection of floating, moored boats for the unsuspecting (or even the suspecting tourists). After running the half marathon, we headed on down here given such a lovely day to have a very late lunch. We’d come down here before scoping out each boat and decided upon Spoon.

It seemed modern, a decent menu and popular based on the number of people on the boat, but all who could also be unsuspecting tourists drawn in by other previous crowds. No matter, as we were pleasantly surprised.

The menu is a surprising mix of Hungarian foods and Italian ones. We started with two more common local dishes, my sister opting for the sweeter and strangely pink, Apricot Soup.

Where I went for the more traditional paprika-laced Goulash Soup. Fortunately I found my light and refreshing with chunks of vegetables and a small number of beef bits.

Carbing it up, we both also decided to follow this up with pasta. I definitely needed more energy after the long morning run. I think this was some sort of Porchini Mushroom pasta

And mine was the seafood pasta served with huge prawns, lovely fresh lemon juice and strong sun dried tomatoes. Mmm.

We were surprised by how good the food was going to be in this place. Service was unbelievably friendly and we ended up having a very nice view of the river from our table.

Pleasantly surprised by the experience I wouldn’t hesitate to return. You will pay a bit more compared to other restaurants, but it is still an experience that won’t break the bank.

Name: Spoon Cafe Lounge
Found at: 1052 Budapest, Vigadó tér 3. kikötő, Hungary
Website: http://www.spooncafe.hu/