Moods, Baštová 3, Bratislava, Slovakia

Probably not the most common destination in Europe but surely a beautiful city, Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. It is popular as a stag destination but also has a picturesque old town that is well worth a visit.

Amongst the touristy restaurants in the Old town we found a little gem that deserves to be talked about.

I got attracted by a sign saying "Moods. Food. Wine. Joy". As it sounded like my life motto I felt like visiting this place. It is located in a narrow cobbled-stone street off one of the main streets.

You go down to the basement to find a modern and spacious wine bar/restaurant on 2 different levels. Bottles of wine and design objects reflect the wine theme. It is decorated with taste and attention to details. I was impressed straight away.

The waitress  was smiley, friendly and enthusiastic. She was kind enough to translate the menu explaining the place was recently opened and didn't have an English menu yet.

They have five main dishes, each one corresponding to a recommended house wine. The dishes vary in price from €7.90 for the Roast pork neck, stewing apples and Bavarian dumplings to €15.90 for the Beef tenderloin with plum chutney pancake stuffed with goat cheese.

They have a choice of appetisers/tapas that are also good value, presented beautifully and made with quality products. Prices start at €2.00 for rillettes up to €5.90 for Pork tenderloin with zucchini or marinated sirloin with a mustard dressing for example.

We decided to order their house wine to try Slovak wine, the waitress brought their Dobrá nálada Blaufränkisch 2011 (€8.90) described as an "elegant wine with high tannin content in the full aroma is dominated by ripe cherry and cinnamon flavors-spicy notes". 

To accompany this lovely wine, we ordered a nice plate of local cheeses (€6.90), the Oškvarkové rillettes served on baguette (€2.00) and the marinated goat cheese with plums wrapped in bacon (€3.20). The food was great, it looked good and it tasted beautiful.

 
We ate to the beautiful sound of piano and double bass played live in a corner of the restaurant. The place downstairs looks like a wine cellar with changing light colours, making a very romantic setting.

I definitely fell in love with this place. The decor, service, food and wine ticked all the boxes. It looked trendy but was actually a bargain compared to the prices we pay in Dublin.

I highly recommend this little gem if you're ever in Bratislava!





Moods - vináreň pod baštou, sro Moods
Baštová 3, 811 03 Bratislava Baštová 3, 811 03 Bratislava
http://www.moods.sk

Bistro St Germain, Bratislava, Slovakia

A great find during my stay in Bratislava was this little coffee shop named "Bistro St Germain".

We were wandering around the city centre, outside the old town and my eye caught sight of a sign "Bistro St Germain" standing at the entrance of a tiny alleyway.

A charming terrace outside with fairy lights and plants, inside it seems that time had stopped since in the 1930's.
The place looks so retro with old books, vintage armchairs,wooden board games and bird cages.

 An ideal spot for an afternoon cake or a relaxed lunch after sight seeing, I thought it definitely looked like it could have been in Paris in the St Germain des pres district.

I didn't try the food but saw appetising dishes coming out of the kitchen such as baked camembert with salad, burger with avocado sauce and lovely looking quiches. They have a daily selection of freshly baked cakes too. They have homemade iced teas and lemonades that I tasted and enjoyed very much while taking a break from the heat outside.

It is well worth visiting for its unique retro atmosphere and cosy setting.

Bistro St. Germain
Obchodná 17
811 06 Bratislava
http://www.stgermain.sk/Vitajte!.html

Coquelicot bakery, Montmartre, Paris, France

 Oh la la! Paris is in my heart and this bakery too.

Everyone knows or has at least heard of Montmartre, mostly thanks to the movie "Amelie".

It still looks like an old village within Paris filled with artists, good venues and lively restaurants and cafés.

(Lunch) The Fumbally, Dublin 8.

I have been waiting for this new place to open at the weekend for a while now.
This is the kind of place I like, with vintage furniture, art books on the tables and cool looking people.

The place is spacious with high ceilings, big long wooden tables, an old piano in the middle and a corner with vintage sofas and armchairs that looks perfect for chilling out over a cup of tea while reading a book or chatting with friends.

Mr. FFID's Pancake recipe

I've never made pancakes in my life. I know it may sound weird but being French I'm more of a crepe person if you know what I mean.

Mr. FFID is the pancake master of our house, he serves them with bacon (bien sur!), maple syrup and scrambled eggs. He agreed to share his delicious recipe. Merci Mr. FFID!

Euskal Etxea, Barcelona, Spain.

 I know that this place is not in Dublin, but most people end up in Barcelona at some stage. It is one of the best European cities for many reasons and it's always useful to know a good place for food while on holiday.
We were lucky to have our friend Xevier, a native of Barcelona who showed us the city.
He introduced us to "Euskal Etxea" and we got hooked straight away, so much that we went back three times that week.

The place is located in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona, on Placeta de Montcada in the basque cultural centre.
There is a seating area at the back that can welcome about 30 people and there is the bar area in the front.

We decided to follow our friends' recommendation of eating our tapas the "typical way" which means you have to stand while eating. Not easy for us after hours of walking in the streets of Barcelona around Gaudi's sights. My eyes got bigger at the sight of the food that were displayed on the bar. The shelves were filled with what they call "pintxos". These are basically a little snack or canapé pinched together by a toothpick. Our friend explained that we had to take a plate, could help ourselves and that we had to keep the toothpicks as they were counted at the end to calculate the bill. I was so amazed that customers could be trusted like that, whereas in some other places you have to pay for your meal before it is even served to you. The price of a pintxo here is €1.80 each. There are many kinds: serrano ham, tortilla de patatas, mini croissants filled with ham, salmon canapés... A great variety of meaty and fishy pintxos are on display.

 I loved the fact that the waiting staff came from the kitchen with trays filled of warm pintxos and shouted out the name of the food to invite the customers to help themselves. They brought the creamiest mushroom croquetas, ham and cheese with bechamel sort of toasties, etc...

 The bar area was filled with locals and tourists, chatting away, drinking beer and nibbling on these delicious pintxos. 
I fell in love with the place, the principle and the food. I couldn't help myself from taking pictures of every little canapé as they all looked so yummy and different.
Defintely a place to try if you're ever in Barcelona.


Euskal Etxea
Placeta Montcada 1-3  08003 Barcelona, Spain
933 10 22 00

http://www.euskaletxeataberna.com/eng/

Octopussy's seafood tapas, Howth, Ireland

I love going to Howth on a sunny day. It is just the perfect image of Ireland as I imagined it before I moved here.

What I like even more is eating seafood there because it is fresh and tasty like nowhere else.

One day after work, I went to Howth with my fiancé and wanted to eat at a terrace so we decided to try Octopussy's seafood tapas.

Campo Viejo Tapas trail 2012, Dublin

What a delightful way to spend an afternoon during this miserable Irish summer.

Luckily I bought the tickets before they sold out and didn’t know what to expect for 20 euros. I knew that we would visit 4 tapas places where we could taste 3 of their best tapas accompanied by a glass of Campo Viejo.

We started at the Market bar where Paul, our Campo Viejo host for the afternoon, greeted us with a glass of Cava. We had the nachos with salsa, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and jalapenos. I had those before and they are filling and great to share on a night out. The second tapa was a plate of deep fried calamari with a chili mayonnaise that I found light and golden. We also had a plate of patatas bravas (deep fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce & garlic mayo) that I found as authentic and tasty as many of the ones I had in Barcelona a month ago. Three tapas in, one glass of Cava and one glass of Campo Viejo, I was already full but looking forward to the rest.

We headed to Salamanca, stopping on the way to listen to Paul and his stories about Spanish and Irish connections. The first tapas was a deep fried tiger prawn, it was filled with red pepper and bacon bites which gave a nice texture and originality to the dish. Then, we had a spicy pork skewer served with a ham and manchego cheese croqueta.  Croquetas are one of my favorite tapas, if you go to Spain or one of the tapas places in Dublin, try the mushroom croquetas, they are strong in flavor but I find them delicious. The last tapas was quite a big portion, I was getting full at that stage but never the less could not resist a poached egg with fried chorizo topped with a creamy sauce. The staff were really nice and brought a colouring book and a lollipop to the little boy who was sitting at our table with his parents doing the Tapas trail.

Last savoury stop was Havana on Georges street. I like this place because there is always a good atmosphere and live music on at the weekend. The first dish was a pincho of black pudding with apricot sauce. The portion of black pudding was huge and the sweet/savoury combination worked pretty well. I really enjoyed the second tapas which was a filo pastry under the form of a spring roll filled with goat cheese and spinach accompanied by a fig sauce. My French pallet loved the pronounced taste of the goat cheese. Spinach and goat cheese go really well together. We finally had a fried gambas which was nicely spiced.

The trail was heading towards the end when the sunshine made an appearance. We ended our lovely day at Salamanca Fusion, the only place where I have never been before. A beautifully presented plate of 3 deserts was served with our fourth glass of Campo Viejo. The tapas of brie and manchego cheese served with an onion confit was a beautiful match. The raspberry malibu panacotta was light and refreshing. I ended with the crema catalan which is Catalan version of crème brulée. The Spanish man playing guitar in the background made us forget the lashing rain for one moment. It was already the end of a pleasant afternoon!

This event was a bargain considering it only cost 20 euros. The portions were big and they were perfectly accompanied by the wine. The host was a great story teller and made it run really well. I am sold on this original idea and already looking forward to next year for another tapas trail.


http://www.campoviejotapastrail.ie/index.php?page=thetrail

This is an independent review, I paid for my meal. 

Happy Bastille day with Ladurée!

Blog update: Laduree does not operate in Brown Thomas anymore.

World famous french pastry brand Ladurée is everywhere...even in Dublin.
For a little treat or the perfect gift you can go to Brown Thomas (88 Grafton Street Dublin 2) at the Ladurée counter on the ground floor.

A macaron costs only 1.70eur and they have a wide variety of flavours. I personally think the salted caramel macaron is the best flavour ever.

On Bastille day they offered a macaron of your choice with every hot drink. Merci Ladurée!
They sell gift boxes in different sizes which I think is a  really good gift for any occasion.

Ladurée at Brown Thomas Dublin, 88-95 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, Ireland

• T. +353 (0)1 605 6666
• F. +353 (0)1 605 6750 

This is an independent review, I paid for my macarons.