Singapore is known to be a foodie destination and one of its most well-known gastronomic experiences is a meal at a “hawker center.” See anytime Anthony Bourdain is in Singapore. And if you don’t follow everything Anthony Bourdain does, (1) you should, and (2) a “hawker center” is basically a food court (like a mall food court) where Singaporeans eat very high quality food for less than a small fortune.
Hawker Center decked our for Chinese New Year!
Dan & I flew into Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 on Scoot Air from Langkawi International Airport earlier this year. Since we were arriving and needed to collect our luggage, we were uncertain if we would be able to visit a lounge on our way in. However, given the cost and expense of Singapore, and the number of good lounges in Singapore, we decided to give it a try!
Arriving at Singapore Changi.
Dan and I traveled to Porto, Portugal earlier this year after some Lisbon-area wedding planning, and our visit reaffirmed my decision that I absolutely love Porto! It is really one of my favorite places in Europe. Maybe its the beautiful scenery, maybe its the old school buildings and Vespas, or maybe its the delicious food and wine. But in any case, I just love Porto!
Who doesn’t love this scene?
Just in time for Dan and my third Oktoberfest, here is my take on the greatest beerfest in all of the world! We will be there the second week and are also attending the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart! Prost!
Le Restaurant Bar Andre is most certainly the most famous restaurant in La Rochelle, France (if you are unfamiliar with La Rochelle, read about it here). Restaurant Andre is located right in the heart of La Rochelle, in its Vieux Port just below La Rochelle’s iconic towers. Restaurant Andre has been open since 1947 and now occupies a web of dining rooms, each with a slightly different sea theme. Restaurant Andre is an excellent place to try some of La Rochelle’s fresh seafood and a place to check off your La Rochelle bucket list!
La Rochelle’s famous towers!
La Cité du Vin opened on June 1, 2016 and I visited a few short weeks thereafter after drooling over Bordeaux’s “wine amusement park” on Condé Nast Traveler! Not quite an amusement park in the traditional sense, La Cité du Vin is a wine museum dedicated to the history of wine and the wine cultures of the world. And it was plain amazing!! Per la Cité du Vin’s own website, the wine museum’s mission is to “promote and share the cultural, universal and living heritage that is wine with the broadest possible audience,” with a focus on emotions, sensations and imagination, and the museum certain did a good job of that! We allotted about 3 hours for the museum and lunch and could have spent so much longer (and everything wasn’t even open yet since the museum had just opened)! Plan accordingly!
Dan and I visited the city of Bordeaux and its surrounding wine regions in June 2016. For those unfamiliar with Bordeaux wine, there are no actual vineyards in the city of Bordeaux (it is a regular city with a large university). The famous “Bordeaux wine” comes from a number of small regions surrounding Bordeaux. Wines take their name from the specific small region in which their grapes are grown, and the flavor of grapes that make up the wine derives from the “terroir” of each specific area (roughly translated as a combination of the soil content, temperature, rain fall, sunlight, etc. of the individual region). See the map of the many wine regions and sub-regions surrounding Bordeaux:
La Rochelle is a beautiful French seaside town located on the mid-Atlantic coast in the Charente-Maritime province of France, and I just got back from spending a long weekend there! La Rochelle is known to be popular with French vacationers, particularly Parisians. However, it is not very well-known in the US, and I probably would never have visited La Rochelle except my college (yay University of Richmond!) had a study abroad program there (I opted for Paris) – and I have a “map of France” t-shirt from Anthropologie that features La Rochelle… In addition to being featured on an Anthropologie shirt, La Rochelle is quite historical, as it has been around since antiquity, and is the port from which French settlers left for the new world (i.e. Quebec!).
Andres Carne des Res is a restaurant in the town of Chiá, Colombia that is most well-known for its crazy party atmosphere. Chiá is about a 40 minute drive from Bogotá and makes an easy day (or evening) trip. I visited earlier this year. The food was really great and the restaurant was very fun, but it was not quite the party that I was expecting (maybe I didn’t drink enough). Still a good time, and still highly recommended.
The Restaurant: The restaurant is a jumble of several buildings, all with outdoor and indoor seating, and all with crazy, crazy décor! With different themed rooms, it reminded me of everything from a German festival to a Moroccan souk. Staff were dressed in theme (although not necessarily to match the room), there was a live band and a gentleman walking around giving all of the women free sunflowers (that wear about two feet tall). We did not make a reservation and were seated immediately on a Sunday evening, and since the restaurant is so large, you probably only need a reservation in the busiest of times. See below: there is also dancing on tables and a cigar bar.
The Drinks. The drinks are very fancy here, and very pricey compared to other Colombian establishments. While pricey, they are also pretty strong and well prepared. We enjoyed some sparkling wine as well as a cocktail! The fun glasses are not yours to keep.
The Food: The food was superb! I was expecting more atmosphere than food, but the food turned out to be excellent! However, be prepared – the menu practically a book. About 20 pages of delicious things to suit all tastes. Per a recommendation, we started with arepa de chócolo. Amazing. This dish consisted of a sweet arepa stuffed with cheese with a special sauce for dipping. We liked this so much that we went back to Andres Express (see below) for another serving!
For mains, I went with the coconut shrimp. Again, huge dish and delicious. The shrimp were served with coconut rice and another lovely dipping sauce(!).
Dan ordered the steak, which he seemed to enjoy. It came with fried potatoes (not the best). After the mains, we were stuffed so we couldn’t order dessert. You can easily share food here.
How To Get There: There are very limited public transportation options in the Bogotá area in general. They best way to get here is to take a car. We hired a driver for the evening from Tours of Colombia, who also did our day trip to Villa de Leyva. The cost was $49/person round trip ($98 total), plus we tipped our driver. Our driver picked us up at our hotel, waited as long as we wanted at Andres Carne des Res and then drove us back to the hotel. While pricey, it was worth the piece of mind knowing that we had a ride to and from. If you do not hire a driver, it is easy to get a car from Bogotá to Chiá, and, surprising to me, easy to find a car home. See the below list of prices. I do not recommend driving, as the drinks are strong and overindulging is encouraged.
Can’t Make It To Chiá? If you can’t make it all the way to Chiá, there is a Andre Carnes des Res in Bogotá in the Parque 93 neighborhood. Note that this restaurant is neither as crazy nor as big, but it is in Bogotá proper. In addition, an Andres Express – a fast food version of Andres Carne des Res – is in the same area.
Andres Carne des Res: The original. Calle 3 N° 11A – 56, Chiá, Colombia. T: (571)8637880 | (571) 8612233 . Reservations typically not required. More expensive than other Colombian establishments. All Andres restaurants share the same website.
Andres Carne des Res: The location in Bogotá. Calle 82 interior centro comercial el retiro #12-21, Bogotá, Colombia. Claims to be open 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. everyday. I would confirm before going too late.
Andres Express: The fast food version. This is the location in Parque 93, although there are others in Bogotá. 11, Cl. 93 #12, Bogotá, Colombia.
Tour of Colombia: The tour company through which we organized our car. $49/person round trip. All organizing done via email. The driver was prompt, polite and safe. While this company is pricey, I cannot recommend them enough!
Andres Carne des Res is more expensive than most restaurants in the Bogotá area, but it is a destination in addition to a restaurant! If you want to enjoy the food without the crazy atmosphere, check out Andres Express, which serves the same food at much more reasonable prices!
A few weeks ago I spent a weekend in the Catskills Mountains. Specifically, Phoenicia. Phoenicia is a small town (technically a “hamlet”), about 20 minutes from Woodstock (the more well-known town in the area), in the Catskills Mountains. The town is tiny, with one main road, surrounded by mountains with lots of hiking. Phoenicia has recently received press by way of a few new business ventures opening in the sleepy town, including the Phoenecia Diner – which is probably the most popular place to eat in the area! Vouge magazine mentioned it in a piece on travel in the Catskills Mountains a while ago, and it seems to be all the rage with the hipster crowd.