Whisky Adventures in Scotland

Patrick Travel, UK Life

WhiskeyLast week I took a couple of days off to trip up to Scotland with some friends to go on a Whiskey Tour of Scotland. We flew into Aberdeen to drive down to a postcard perfect farmhouse in Dufftown – a place surrounded by whiskey distilleries. Glenfiddich’s distillery lies not far from where we were staying though we hit a few other ones from Speyside (the greater area). Unlike the Islay whiskeys, Speyside ones tend to be less smokey and cleaner on the palette though newcomers to whiskey drinking will tell you they all taste the same.

Through the whiskey barrelLike most good tours through any brewery or distillery, at the end you get a sample of wares to try. The most impressive range was at the Abelour distillery that gives you six drams to test out at the end – including one small one of the still (the end result of the distillation process that has a stunning 70% alcohol content).

The Scotch Malt Whiskey SocietyI really enjoyed the trip to Scotland. It has amazing scenery with rolling hills filled with trees, sheep, cows and horses. We ate some black pudding and haggis with breakfast, and even got to try the infamous (heart attack inducing) deep fried mars bar. Scottish people are extremely friendly and warm, making visiting all the places we visited all the more enjoyable. I even bought a bottle of whiskey that I found by the Dufftown Distillery distilled in the year and month of my birth. Scotland also has some fantastic produce with fresh fish, and hearty steaks and meat which means it’s really hard to not eat well.

A great trip with fantastic company – thanks Jason, Ali, Gavin, JK, Dave, Jake, Kate, Tom and Claire! You can check out a set of photos here.

A Weekend in Paris

Patrick Travel

CakesWaking up in the very early morning hours on a Saturday morning (say 5am) is not one of those things I’d choose to do very often – but given the option of going to Paris for the weekend is one small sacrifice I thought I could make this week. Luckily for me I managed to get a couple of cheap Eurostar tickets to head over to the lovely city of Paris for the weekend. It was a good test of travelling to a country whilst being vegetarian and successfully made too, though with some difficultly but more of that later.

Eiffel TowerCatching the Eurostar makes so much of a difference compared to going by plane since there is no lengthy trip to the airport and you arrive in the centre of the city both ends. Better yet you also get a lot more room and catching a snooze is relatively easy even in economy class.

The LouvreBoth days was packed with travelling to all the different sights that Paris has to offer. Fortunately the first Sunday of the month also means that all the museums in the city are open for free that also means that you get to enter all the museums much faster. On Sunday I managed to do a whirlwind tour of several of the museums including the Louvre, Museum D’Orsay, the Picasso Museum and the Rodin Museum. The Louvre is quite an exciting place to visit but is overshadowed by the large number of crowds drawn there for the Mona Lisa and the now popular Da Vinci Tour. I really enjoyed the Museum D’Orsay as well for its variety but the upper floors started to get really quite claustrophobic in the afternoon. My most favourite museum for the weekend was definitely the Rodin Museum – most of it is actually outside with a beautifully kept garden littered with a number of Rodin’s statues including the famous thinker. I think it seemed like a classic hang out spot for a lot of Parisians since I noticed a lot of people hanging around all the numerous benches and steps in the garden, reading their books at a leisurely pace.

Arc De TriompheSurprisingly I didn’t find it excessively difficult eating out in Paris as a proper vegetarian – I think it helped that my guide books pointed me to a couple of vegetarian restaurants. My of the diet for the weekend seemed to centre on pastries, egg, cheese and mushrooms. Unfortunately most of the French food was out since the focus seemed to be around lots of meat (chicken, duck, beef, fish, etc) and it was a shame since I was looking forward to some very nice French cuisine. I almost got tripped up on the way home by attempting to eat a spinach tart for dinner before heading home but quickly found out after a bite it contained bacon. Needless to say I ended up passing on it.

Looking out from the Eiffel TowerI really enjoyed my weekend in Paris – the public transport system is extremely efficient and affordable although it’s also a very pedestrian friendly city. The language barrier, though higher than I expected didn’t really end up being such a barrier, especially if you really tried to give French a good attempt. There are plenty of activities and areas to appease all types of travellers and I’ll definitely look forward to going back when I go off experimenting with vegetarianism.

Check out some photos from my weekend away here.

Rock Center Cafe

Patrick Food, New York, Restaurants, Travel

MadelinesOur uncle, who I was staying with over Christmas, highly recommended tracking down some pretty fancy french toast somewhere around the Rockefeller centre for breakfast. He told us that they apparently soaked brioche overnight in the egg mixture for the next morning and they were somewhat unique. After a bit of trial and error (note that the Sea Grill do not do breakfast), we found the french toast dish served at the Rock Center Cafe, an extremely popular place overlooking onto the scenic ice skating rink and Adonis statue.

Prices at the cafe are overpriced for breakfast with coffees around USD4 but I can understand this given the popularity of the ice skating rink and the cafe’s prime location looking onto the centre of the rink. When seated a waitress served us a shot of a strawberry smoothie and some madelines (surprisingly we didn’t get charged for either), and then some water almost immediately. Throughout the meal service was pretty consistent and it was just about right – not too much in your face but someone around to ask for something.

French toast at the Rock Center CafeSince we came here for one dish alone, we decided to both get it and a side of bacon (for its salty contrast). As you can tell from the picture in this post (click on it to get a larger version), the four slices of bread was absolutely massive, covered in berries and icing sugar. So the verdict… Perhaps its an American thing but I thought that everything was far too sweet and I found myself constantly reaching for anything to counteract it including my coffee, water and the bacon. Other than that, the bread was nice and soft and eggy and the berries extremely fresh (and just as sweet). The bread was a touch dry but I think that’s the nature of brioche and the maple syrup that accompanies the toast can help counteract that. It was a delicious treat that certainly got you going for the day, and a great experience to sit next to the ice skating rink.

Details: Rock Center Cafe (Breakfast only from 7am to 10am)
Found on: 20 W 50th Street, New York, NY, 10020
Contactable on: +1 212 332 7620
Highlights: Lovely location next to ice skating rink with decent food and decent service.
Room for improvement:The french toast was excessively sweet and prices a little bit excessive for the food.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Pescatore

Patrick Food, New York, Restaurants, Travel

When I was in New York, I managed to catch up with Gerrod and Kristy a couple of times and we visited a couple of nice restaurants together with their current visitors Karl and Caroline. The most recent one we visited was Pescatore that conveniently wasn’t too far from where they lived. This restaurant is split into two floors with apparently the bottom floor a totally different and definitely more positive experience than if you sat on the top floor. Gerrod thankfully booked in advance (it’s one of those things that you just have to do if you want to go eat somewhere in Manhattan at a normal dining hour) and they seated us at a nice round table as soon as we arrived.

As it sounds by the name, this restaurant serves Italian food and after dinner I concluded it was pretty decent stuff too. By the time we sat down I think we were all pretty hungry so we ordered appetisers and an entree (a main course dish) soon after we arrived. When the first course arrived I think we were all stunned by the size of the plates and could have easily been almost a meal on its own. The calamari plate was huge as was the bruschetta and the bowl of lobster bisque I ordered was absolutely massive. I thought the lobster bisque was fantastic – it had the right level of creaminess and just enough flavour without being overbearingly fishy. Better yet was the huge number of lobster chunks all throughout it and the small toasted bread to give it additional contrast. My mail meal, a grilled snapper was also nice though I thought it was slightly overcooked and their effort to completely debone the fish was incomplete. Service was pretty good all night around and the waiters seemed to top up our water glasses just enough times and they were never in our face.

Details: Pescatore
Found on: 955 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10022, USA
Contactable on: +1 212-752-7151
Highlights: Great dining atmosphere on the ground floor. Great valued appetisers.
Room for improvement: My fish was slightly overcooked and my fish still had a couple of bones left in them.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

Morimoto in Philadelphia

Patrick Food, Restaurants, Travel

Morimoto from the OutsideOther than a small sign embedded into the wall, and surprisingly discrete green doors leading into the restaurant, it is easy to walk by the entrance to Morimoto’s restaurant on Chestnut street that lies not too far from the Independence Hall. I ended up selecting this restaurant for lunch when I was in Philadelphia because it is one of two restaurants (the other ironically in New York City) owned by Iron Chef Morimoto.

The interior is a stunning work of art with a crested wooden wave floating high about your head and intricate designs impressed along the walls drawing down to the sushi bar and kitchen area at the back. Division by frosted glass tinged with colourA sculpture at the entrance splits the room into two with two walk ways splitting the main dining area into four main rows lined with glass tables and very comfortable modern wooden chairs. Each set of tables are separated by a thick layer of frosted glass embedded with a pulsating light at the bottom that cycles through calming tones of colours including purple, green, blue, and red. The shifting colours also incidentally pulse through the Morimoto sign that sits outside. Trendy lounge music pipes throughout the restaurant and even though the restaurant was fairly empty throughout my lunch the music never became overwhelmingly loud.

Cool interiorsThe interior is a stunning work of art with a crested wooden wave floating high about your head and intricate designs impressed along the walls drawing down to the sushi bar and kitchen area at the back. Though not Michelin starred, I thought the food was going to be more expensive given the name behind it but most dishes were reasonably priced. Morimoto offers a better valued set lunch including a salsad miso soup and a main course ranging between USD16-21 dollars. You can of course order individual dishes off the menu or the sushi menu but they also offer a set of tasting menus ranging from USD40 to USD80. I decided to pick one of these since I thought it would be the best way to not have to choose one particular thing and get a taste for many different courses without ending up with lots of food leftover. Based on the cost, the number of courses and the quality of ingredients improves as the price increases and better yet, you can still order it even if you are dining by yourself. Read on to find out what I ended up actually getting. Read more “Morimoto in Philadelphia”

New York Subways

Patrick Annoyances, New York, Travel

SubwayOne big difference I’ve noticed since coming to New York after living in London is how upfront people asking for money are. In one day alone I think I had about five different groups of people go through my subway car asking for money. Some of the more memorable ones since being here include:

  • A Mexican guy that played his guitar who never spoke a word of English, singing in Spanish, tipping his hat as a suggestion and saying thank you in Spanish.
  • A group of young kids (12 or 13 years old) who went outright and admitted they were trying to make money for themselves accepting donations and selling Starburst lollies (or candies as they say here)
  • A guy who had had his legs amputated sitting in a wheelchair who moved down a carriage at a time at each subway stop asking for donations.
  • A normal homeless guy rattling his cup as he walks through all the carriages.
  • Another homeless guy asking for anything (food, clothing or money to spare) using a story that he just had an operation on his leg.

Philadelphia

Patrick Travel

Yesterday I decided to take a day trip out to Philadelphia since I’d never been before and it’s close enough to catch a bus to and from New York City. Chinatown buses run regularly between the two cities each hour from early in the morning to late at night and it’s extremely cheap at only USD20.

Liberty Bell

It was a beautiful day in Philadelphia with almost perfectly clear blue skies and it made walking around to all the various tourist attractions quite nice. I first took a trip to the Visitors Centre and did the round trip of all the sights in the Old City. The famous cracked Liberty Bell sits just a block down and is easy to find once you make your way through all the security points. It’s not as big as I thought it would have been but the crack certainly is. Independence Hall sits one block further and you can take a free guided tour of the place where the Declaration of Independence was first approved and where a few of the original draft copies still sit.

Cheese SteakI also tried visiting the US Mint but it had shut for the New Year break so I took to walking around town for a little bit more. Lunch I had at Iron Chef Morimoto’s awesome restaurant for lunch (another entry soon to come). I also ended up visiting the Reading Terminal Markets – apparently the equivalent of the London Borough markets but definitely lacking its wide variety and I finally walked past City Hall and the tallest building in Philadelphia, One Liberty Place.

Given the fantastic weather, I thought the city was quite nice with many large walls around town painted with colourfully bright murals. I did notice a huge number of homeless people though and even saw a few people causing trouble being dragged away by the police. Before heading home for the evening, I popped down to Pat’s King of Steaks – the place where the famous Philadelphia Cheese Steak apparently first started and just down the road from its overly neon lit competitor Geno’s. I had been advised to skip the Cheese Whiz and went for the Provolone instead and ‘wit’ (meaning with onions). It was alright but I don’t think I’ll be ordering it again anytime soon. Philly is a great day trip from New York and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who’s seen all the sights of New York City. You can see more pictures from my trip here.