The First Meal in Prague - Lunch

After walking around our first day - we were hungry and opted for a meal at a bar that was relatively empty. As all the restaurants were in the same way, empty; we figured that they were open just for people like us - tourists on our own meal schedule.

Of course, not long after we sat down, perusing the menu, a bunch of people - admittedly tourists - came in! It became full quite quickly!

Anyway, the place was just called "U Cerveneho raka" and was full of dark woods and wooden furnishings. 

Just before the storm - ceilings and wooden furnishings - an empty calm space.

Oddly enough, the wooden furnishings were pretty comfortable. Or else, we were just too tired. Anyway, the waitress came by and we asked if we can swap out the appetizer for the dessert and she said yes! Nice!

They gave us the bread basket which was nice and fresh.

Bread basket - a variety of different bread

 

So we ended up eating the same thing - flattened chicken breast which was fried and served with lemon and fries.

Flattened breaded chicken breast with french fries.

The meat was plain fare but the tangy ketchup - heinz but more tangy than homemade ones - made up for it. At least for me. Barb had to add salt and pepper to her portion.

I liked their american french fries which were crispy outside and starchy inside. Yum.

Dessert which was a raspberry jelly donut and whipped cream

Dessert came later and was actually a raspberry jelly donut - warm and fresh whipped cream with chocolate drizzle! Delicious!

I have seen the bad reviews in terms of service but honestly, they were quite nice to us. The only problem was trying to pay. The check was hard to get and we just got up and paid at the bar. We just don't have that issue stateside. But I find in Europe, they let you sit as long as you want. No rushing!

Here I must acknowledge that beer is way cheaper than anything else to drink! Soda, cocktails, etc all cost way more than beer. Had I been a college kid, Prague would have been my city of choice. Ha!

Bar U Cerveneho Raka

Karlova 30
110 00 Prague
Czech Republic

Hours:

Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 10 a.m. - midnight

A taste of home in Prague

After a long day of sightseeing - across the Charles Bridge and back, up and down cobblestone streets, we were really, really tired. We rested (I took naps in Europe...lots of em :) ) and decided to go next door for a taste of home.

Yes, my friends, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Lol. And they let their people (at least the host) drink for I saw him take a shot when we sat down.

It was a bit of muck, as we entered and there was no host. The host/staff all speak great English and he showed us to a table and gave us menus. The typical where are you from etc did fall from his lips but it was alright. We were ready to drink and eat...

First we got the drinks. Barb tried the Hurricane, not so good outside of Nawlins'. And I tried the tropical rock. I loved it. :)

Hurricane

Tropical Rock

The hurricane is a Nawlins' signature drink and it was not really that great here. But my tropical rock was awesome! Sweet and yum.

Pulled chicken

As for food, Barb got the pulled chicken which was decent. I am guessing it tasted just the same as Hard Rock Cafes all over the world. I would say ask her because she's just the appendage to my posts as she doesn't even comment on the food. Ha! "It's ok" is pretty much what she says. 

I got the pulled pork because I found that Prague has good pork. Yes...European pork seems yummier than home. That's what I feel and I'm sticking to that opinion.

The only thing I hate is that they pour the sauce on...I like the sauce on the side, I'm not always into getting the meat so very drenched in sauce. Sometimes you want to taste the meat!

Pulled pork

My meat was decent - quality of the meat is decent and the sauce was the same as a Hard Rock back home. I deconstructed my sammich because it was just chock full of meat and the ratio of meat to bun was too much for me. Oh and the ketchup was a bit tangier than it is in the States.

Purple Haze

Barb switched to Purple Haze. I got another Tropical Rock (told ya I liked it) and after sitting at the table a while, (we got the Lennon hat table) we went back to the hotel - right next door - Hotel Rott - a nice hotel, by the way.

Great host and waiter made this experience way better than you would think. And if you weren't tired tourists, you'd be hard pressed not to go to Old Town Square - just around the corner!

Hard Rock Cafe Prague
Dům U Rotta, Malé náměstí 3,
Praha 1, 110 00, Česká Republika
Tel. +420-224-229-529
Hours:
Restaurant: Daily 12:00PM - 12:00AM
Bar: Daily 12:00PM - 01:00AM
Rock Shop:Daily 10:00AM - Midnight

Barok

The first night we were in Prague was a lovely one. We walked around, admiring all the lovely buildings and passed by very old synagogues and churches. 

Barock is across from the New-Old Jewish Synagogue and an intriguing little building one block over from the synagogue.

They have live music at night and we decided after going away to come back and have dinner there. And boy, was it a bit interesting.

We ordered drinks first and I forgot what Barb had but it's not on the menu on the website - just on the menu we had when we went in. The long task of picking out food was next.

Raspberry Mojito yum.

Another drink

Barb finally picked a pasta dish...Again as she never contributes - I can not attest to how good the food was!

A pasta dish

I believe it was Spaghetti Pomodoro and I remember she enjoyed the tomatoes.

Spaghetti Pomodoro

I opted for the traditional Czech menu and got a lovely pork tenderloin in creamy mushroom sauce with pancakes. The mushroom sauce was too delicious. I dipped everything in it! It was lighter than I thought it would be considering that it is a cream sauce. It reminded me of another sauce but the bites of mushroom really were a treat. The pancakes were light - more like a crepe and paired perfectly with a bit of tenderloin and sauce.

Pork Tenderloin with mushroom sauce and pancakes!

I do recommend getting something from the traditional menu when you go to Prague. It's almost always better than eating other types of food there and usually the flavors are not typical of home so it would be a missed opportunity.

Up close with my food

For dessert, which took a while because of a huge table that came in - all American men, I might add, toasting their brotherly love, we got the three flavors of flan - coconut, passionfruit and vanilla.

Coconut, Vanilla and Passionfruit Flan

Barb ate the vanilla flan - I had to taste all three before figuring out that one. Passionfruit was a bit sour but still enjoyable. I think the natural sweetness of the passionfruit got lost in the real sugar and that's why it was a bit sour. The coconut had delicate taste of coconut in it so the coconut wasn't pronounced enough in the taste. The vanilla was very good. They obviously used a good vanilla flavor in it but I did not see specs of bean so it must have been an extract - possibly even a Madagascar vanilla.

All in all, all three were not overly sweet - they balanced the top crust of sugar with the flan underneath so you are left with a nice tasting but not overly sweet trio.

The music was live and they took requests so someone asked and got a Sinatra song! Otherwise, they sang a bunch of American songs...from at what we heard.

However, it was still quite enjoyable and wait staff was very nice. The restaurant was a nice atmosphere too even if it was catering to the tourist crowd.

Barock
Pařížská 24, 110 00 Praha 1
tel. 420 222 329 221
Opening hours: Mo - Sun 10.00 am - 1.00 am

Caught in the rain

After some sightseeing, I decided that I wanted a box of  champagne and tea macarons. And so we went off for a quick stroll over to Dalloyau.

About two blocks from the destination (which sat right across from Luxembourg gardens, I might add), it started to drizzle. About one more block, and it was pouring!

A brief respite from the rain - see all the empty seats up front? Usually packed

Quickly as we could, we ran into Cafe Luxembourg which sat next to our destination but more importantly, it was dry. We opted to sit behind the tables which was closest to the edge of the canopy as it was nice to face the streets, looking at the people in the rain...

Cider Yum

After taking an enormous amount of time asking questions and deciding, Barb opted for the cheese "sandwich" and I opted for the pate. :) And a cider. The cider was refreshing! It was nice to sit and chat and just look at the scene.

Cheese in a baguette

Did I mention I neglected to let Barb know that a croque monsieur was a grilled cheese and you just need to opt out of the ham? No? Well I did...and she got a cheese sandwich...cheese in a baguette, sliced and untoasted.... The look on her face was hysterical. Sorry, Barb. But the cheese should have been good...it is Paris, after all!

Pate!!

I love French pate. Maybe it's because I grew up in a house where my mom told me how good french goods were - from her days as a child when grandpa was alive and imported many french goods - one of which was pate. Of course, this is not the fois gras but regular fois made from pork. At any rate, this was really good!

Be more personal with my pate...

I also love french baguette and I mean real Parisian stuff - not the crap we call baguettes at home. The flour I think makes a difference. Theirs come out crispy outside with a spongy soft and slightly sweet center. Delicious. Afterwards, I got my delicious macs and we went back to the hotel for a bit before setting out again.

Some of the flavors of Amorino

Then we walked around some more - alot more - I can't lie. I made Barb walk like she was on pilgrimage. And we rounded and rounded until we hit Amorino!!!! I had given up on getting this.  The special thing about Amorino is that their gelato is served in layers on in a cone. Beautiful!

Rose of Pistachio and Rum Raisin

But this means you can try many flavors! I didn't and opted for the rum raisin and pistachio. I can tell you, it was a few petals of manna from heaven. Truly creamy, flavorful and delicious. The pistachio was very rich and very good. The rum raisin was delicately flavored with rum and vanilla with plump juicy raisins. Fantastic shop.

Cafe Luxembourg

58 Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75006 Paris, France

Tel. 01 43 54 20 03

Amorino

4 rue de Buci 75006 Paris
Tel : 01 43 26 57 46

Opera District with Escargots

The last morning of the last full day in Paris, we went to Sainte Chappelle, a gorgeous chapel with the most beautiful stained glass windows.This was on the same island as Notre Dame so we walked north to Hotel de Ville, where you find the city buildings. Somewhere around is Mariage Freres, a tea salon with lots of loose leaf teas. And since I had tasted the lovely white sakura tea at lunch the day before, I wanted to purchase this for myself. 

Well, the map they give you is vague and so we ended up looking for someone to ask. We found a friendly Parisian who along with his friend gave us the directions!

On the way there, we spotted a Savon de Marseille shop and I absolutely had to go in. And it was as dangerous as I thought it would be. I ended up with a good 8 bars of their soap - 2 of the lait (milk), 1 citronelle, 1 lavender, and more that I can't even remember at the moment. The shop smelled great - they had a lot of items and also the lavender sachets were half off so of course, I bought a pack. I also spotted a soap umm in the specific shape of a specific part of the male anatomy in flesh tone... That stayed in the store. ;)

After I got my soaps, we walked on to look for the street where my tea awaited.

Mariage Freres has several storefronts on the same street. One contains an tea museum that you can actually enjoy the history of tea in. All of their folks are knowledgeable in the type of teas they sell and are helpful and polite, regardless of what and how much you buy. I bought the Sakura blend - white and green. Since I was in Paris, I figured I'd just buy my tea here - as there's no real guarantee I'd find it in NY.

So after we walked around, with me having amassed oh, about four bags...of Marseilles soaps, Mariage Freres' Sakura teas, and shoes, looking for food. While I found a place using tripadvisor city guide, Barb went around because there were so many bistros around where we were already - having started in Marais, we ended up going into Opera. :)

At any rate we passed by several bistros and found Grille Montorgueil, with some seating outside and more inside along with a bar. We opted to sit indoors. There were several tables already full inside - they also had a downstairs.

Grille Montogueil -

We perused the menu and of course Barb had questions but our waiter, very nice bald dude, spoke everything *but* English which was evidenced by his broken English phrases. The younger, cute waiter spoke English and was very helpful.

I got the escargot - which traditionally is from Burgundy and sauteed in garlic and butter. Barb refused to try even one and so I ate the lot of six. I found the garlic not too overwhelming and actually quite good. At about $10 USD, not bad. I did not use the gripper because it needed a lot of force and I was able to just hold it with 1 hand and pull out the tasty bits.

Escargot with garlic butter sauce - green sauce you see.

Then we picked some dishes off the menu. I couldn't find the items on the menu they posted at their website...

Beef with potatoes

Barb chose their beef with potatoes dish. She finished quite alot of it but I was not sure she enjoyed it that much.

Some sort of fowl with rice and sauce

I picked the fowl with rice - but see, I forgot to log what they named the dishes but when I looked at the regular menu posted at the website, I did not see this dish.

In any event, the sauce lent the breast a good taste and I did drench each bite I took of both rice and fowl in the sauce. I was able to polish off my entree with a glass of reisling, another drink I forgot, and cuba libre.

Like all restaurants in Paris, service is relaxed and you have ample time to enjoy your food and company. The wait staff was very friendly and we were able to rest our weary feet for a while until we got to a metro to return to our hotel to drop off my packages.

Oh, I must mention Jeff de Bruges - a chocolate shop we found on Rue Mouffetard, where there are lots of places to go get wine, cheeses, and chocolate! Well, this gem of a shop makes all sorts of pralines and chocolate bars with a nice variety of different cocoas in different amounts. I did quite enjoy the Papua chocolate milk blend and the Tanzania milk blend was also great. They also had Peruvian, Tanzania dark, and a few others. I think they are a pretty decent chocolate shop! They had some great chocolate treats for kids and a gelato stand outside. Too bad for the young man working the shop - he was the only one and it was empty as he worked with us but soon got busy! :) But we got to try a free treat for being patient, I guess. Maybe I'll see the shop in Amman when I am in Jordan. ;)

Mariage Freres
30 rue de Bourg - Tibourg
Paris 4me
tel. : +33(0)1 42 72 28 11
Metro Stop: Hotel de Ville
Hours: Check website for all locations and hours

Savon de Marseille Boutique
17 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France
tel. 01 42 71 40 21
Metro Stop: Hotel de Ville

Grille Montorgueil
50 Rue Montorgueil, 75002 Paris, France
tel. 01 42 33 21 21

Jeff de Bruges
112-114 rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris, France
tel. 01 43 36 77 82
Hours:

Monday	Closed
Tuesday	09H30-19H30
Wednesday	09H30-19H30
Thursday	09H30-19H30
Friday	09H30-19H30
Saturday	09H30-19H30
Sunday	09H30-13H30

La Mere Michele

Before we came to Paris, I looked up tripadvisor for food and found this place. La Mere Michele is a lovely tiny restaurant on rue Surcouf...say it with me... It is a small street off Saint-Dominique and do not make the mistake and start on the East side. It made for a long walk.

La Mere Michele Napkin

It is actually closer to the Eiffel Tower or the Rodin Museum and is dead-ended at Saint-Dominique. The one side where the seating is - is made of stone. They even have a kitty carving in a crevice in the wall.

Rawr!

We were greeted by a friendly staff of three. The owner tried her best to translate their seasonal menu, which was super nice of her. Very patient was the staff at our or I should say Barb's questions.

Bread basket and pepper!

In the end we both chose the chicken dish which was made of pieces of chicken with a lovely potato mash. The chicken was seasoned - maybe overly but Barb saw them heat it up in the micro before they plated it all lovely for our consumption.

Very tasty chicken and potato mash

The chicken as I tasted it was very tasty but also very salty. It may be that the sauce heated up was too salty but was perfect when it was fresh? I don't know. It was perfectly cooked though - each piece I tasted was delicious and cooked through.

The best part was the mashed potatoes. The potatoes were deliciously smooth and well seasoned. I believe they did it with olive oil.

At any rate, simply visit La Mere Michele. Their menu depends on the season and they close as most Parisians do in the first two to three weeks of August.

We were both too stuffed to eat anything else but I hope someday to return and try other items!

La mere Michele
26 rue Surcouf
75007 Paris, France
tel. 33.1441897705
Hours: Call to confirm

Jimmy's Diner

So yeah, we snuck in a visit to a Brooklyn favorite - Jimmy's Diner out in Williamsburg before we headed overseas.

I think they need to change their name to Best Milkshakes in Brooklyn because, well, we discuss that later. The black and white was thick but drinkably so. It took a while but it is rather small spacing. Make that pretty darn small space. So they actually had a list of waiting patrons - we put our name down and went for short walk. It's close to MacCarren Park.

The best Black and White so far.

They bill themselves as the best chicken and waffles this side of the border but... Look, I like a good sauce. I just don't like it drenched and drowning the waffle or chicken, which rendered the syrup that they even gave us useless... The gravy was rather bland and only served to make the waffle which was great *alone* -perhaps even better if it just had room to stand away from the gravy. You know...so we can put syrup like we're supposed to.

Drowning Chicken and Waffle.

The chicken was crispy but truly not outstanding. Other than the skin, the flavor didn't penetrate down through past the skin. It was rather disappointing. And it could have been avoided had I remembered to ask for the gravy on the side! Although nothing could make the meat more flavorful when it got into my mouth.

However, I sort of like its vibe and service but I would totally go back for different dishes or its brother restaurant.



Jimmy's Diner
577 Union Ave

Brooklyn, NY 11211

tel. 718.218.7174
Hours:
Daily 9 am - 10 pm
Delivery by bike from 11 am