Category Archives: Travel

Copenhagen: Christian Puglisi Part One: BÆST

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_8bd3

Bæst

One of the chefs in Copenhagen that we really like is Christian Puglisi, a Sicilian-born chef who moved to Denmark in the ’90s. Before this trip we had only dined at Manfred’s and it was the highlight of the visit. So this time we decided to try as many as possible…beginning with Bæst!

A few highlights from the Bæst website with their food philosophy:

A place where the best Danish, local, sustainable and organic produce is combined with Italian craftsmanship to create a unique dining experience. Made by hand and eaten by hand!

Instead of importing mozzarella, we make it ourselves with the best raw milk – from our 16 cows grazing at Farm of Ideas, just 50 km from the restaurant – and stretch it by hand several times a day.

A restaurant where pizza is made of local flour, gently fermented, then baked at blasting 500°C in a wood-fired, custom made oven, built for us in Naples.

 

Continue reading →

STHLM Brunch Club

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_8bc1

Koen’s shashuka with poached eggs

 

We made it to Stockholm! After 2 days on the road we finally arrived to our new home in Sweden!

Okay, but like I mentioned in my last post, we still need to make the drive back to Belgium and then fly to Stockholm to finally be residents in our new city! At least the trip back we only have two small suitcases, so it’s safe to park our car. So for the drive back we’ll revisit Copenhagen and spend a few days there, then overnight in Hamburg, before ending in Antwerp. Exciting!

But before we can leave we wanted to try one of the restaurants in our neighborhood for brunch and were happy to find STHLM Brunch Club! I love all day brunch places and was excited to try it out before hitting the road. We were a bit nervous we’d have to wait (no reservations) but I think 10 on a weekday is not their busiest time 🙂 Brunch was fantastic, as was the bottomless coffee!

Continue reading →

Copenhagen: Plant Power Food

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_8bb7

Inside Plant Power Food

We’re moving to Stockholm!!! But it’s going to be a long process… After a lot of researching and planning we decided on driving to Stockholm with our essentials, then driving back to Antwerp, then flying back to Stockholm. A lot, I know – especially considering I accidentally let my driver’s license expire, so Koen will be doing the 18 hour drive twice while I keep him awake and happy 🙂

On the way to Stockholm means a car full of valuables, so we took two days, only overnighting in Copenhagen. So that means we woke up early drove through Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany, then drove onto a ferry and took the boat to Denmark, then the final two hour drive to Copenhagen. We arrived late and needed a good night’s rest. But before the final leg to Stockholm, we indulged in a delicious plant-based  brunch at Plant Power Food in Nørrebro (Northern neighborhood in Copenhagen).

Continue reading →

Restaurant Siphon in Damme, Belgium

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_86cd

Restaurant Siphon

Restaurant Siphon in Damme is where Koen used to eat every summer with his family when they’d stay on the coast. When I came to visit him for the very first time, Koen took me to the Restaurant Siphon for dinner for a delicious fire-grilled steak with a glass of red wine!

It was such a nice coincidence when our friends suggested having dinner here because they were staying in Knokke, on the Belgian coast. Of course we were very enthusiastic and gladly drove 1.5 hours to have dinner 🙂

Continue reading →

Fiskebar: Koen’s Birthday

Posted on by

0

DSC07796

The Birthday Boy

 

This year for Koen’s birthday we headed to one of our favorite seafood restaurants in Antwerp – Fiskebar Fiskebar on the Marnixplaats. We enjoyed oysters, North sea shrimp, and fish…plus we were excited to find a limited edition sea buckthorn beer from Mikkeller on the menu!

Continue reading →

Kaiseki New Year’s Eve Dinner

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_8678

2 glasses of Veuve Clicquot to start our evening

Koen and I see New Year’s Eve as a reason to indulge. Normally that means champagne, lobster, foie gras, and any other decadent food or ingredient we can think of – but this year we decided to challenge ourselves to create a kaiseki dinner for the two of us.

Continue reading →

Stockholm: Pubologi

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_85ea

Pubologi in Gamla Stan (Old Town)

 

Part of the fun of being in Stockholm is visiting all of the islands. For dinner we headed to the Gamla Stan, Old Town, for dinner at Pubologi. This is again a recommendation from a colleague who lives in Stockholm and she said the menu is always changing and super creative. We weren’t disappointed. I loved the seasonal ingredients and innovative combinations! I especially enjoyed dessert – I’d never eaten pine needles before!

Continue reading →

Stockholm: Bakfickan

Posted on by

0

fullsizeoutput_85cf

Walking through Kungsträdgården, a park in the city center

Bakfickan is one of the restaurants located in Stockholm’s Opera House. Earlier this year we dined at the Michelin-starred Operakällaren, and were excited to go to the more casual Bakfickan for some typical Swedish dishes.

The space is very small – only 28 seats – and very cozy. I ordered my go-to dishes: Toast Skagen and Meatballs with all of the typical fixings (brown gravy, potato puree, lingon berries, and pickled cucumber slices). The meatballs were soooo delicious! Definitely the best I’ve had in Stockholm.

Continue reading →

Stockholm: Babette

Posted on by

0

DSC07251

-6 Celsius outside

Babette was recommended to us by a colleague for dinner. She had me at cozy little winebar, but peaked my interest even more when she told me they have a small but interesting and constantly changing menu and great pizza!

I did a bit more research and read that this is a chef’s favorite – that in the weekend you may find some of Stockholm’s most famous chefs enjoying a glass of wine! Babette was opened by three sommeliers and one chef, so it makes sense that wine is at the forefront of the menu. From Stockholm Food Stories, “Notably, the restaurant opened up in an old pizza joint and they have kept the pizza oven as the main cooking item – which of course adds an extra layer of complexity for Olle T Celltom when cooking the food. The pizzas are tasty, made with really good produce and innovative thinking when it comes to how to combine the quite classic Italian toppings on the pizza, and especially it is impressive to be abele to produce the pizzas in a standard pizza oven. One would have guessed that they like so many places would have flown in a oven from Naples, but no. This is your oven from the pizzeria on the corner.” So of course we had to split a pizza!

Continue reading →