Hotel Ibis Brussels Centre Sainte Catherine

Having been to Brussels twice, Ibis Hotel has never disappoint me as the geographical location on the map is great for tourists like me who wish to stay near within walking distance to the amenities. Hotel Ibis Brussels Centre Sainte Catherine is located in the city center of Brussels, about 550m from the Grand' Place and the popular "Manneken Pis" that changes clothing throughout the season. Not only that, the location is within distance to museums, popular shopping areas and super mart. Though it may be a 3 star hotel, cleanliness and services are generally well maintained across the board.

Our Room

Furnishings are modern which we felt comfortable at and all rooms come with air condition. With technology being so advance and necessary, you do not need to worry about paying for that as the hotel is equipped with free Wifi throughout the levels.

Big Bed

I would not say that the room that we stayed in was spacious but I must agree that they have applied a clever use of space with the TV Console. Just the back of the TV Console, you get to see hangers to hang your clothing as well as towels.

TV Area

We did not worry much as long as our bed were comfortable and big enough. Space in the room is still acceptable with a writing desk.Toilet might be a little cramp but still its bearable for someone who is spending more time outside as a tourist than staying in the hotel most of the time.

Toilet

Hotel Ibis Brussels Centre Sainte Catherine
Location: Rue Joseph Plateau 2, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

La Ferrandaise

Stumbled upon La Ferrandaise by chance as we were walking down the streets and was excited when we saw the decal mentioning that La Ferrandaise is one of the Michelin recommended restaurants.

La Ferrandaise

In my opinion, Restaurants in Europe are kind of humble and inconspicuously located as most of the time maybe because of the weather, their dark glass doors were closed and its hard to tell if they were open for business or even there is a crowd. Looking through the menu pinned right next to the entrance, our eyes were fixed on the promotional menu.

Facade of La Ferrandaise

Environment is modernly designed with some of their specialties scribbled on the black board. The place is popular among the locals and have a lovely cozy ambiance adding a romantic touch by the lighting.

Interior 

Restaurant was rather crowded and tables were placed quite close to each other with narrow walking aisles in between.

Environment

We had the prefix lunch menu that combines the Entree, main and dessert at an attractive price which we felt that was a steal. A good thing is that their menu will be changed from time to time and you wont get the similar combination of food.

While waiting for our set menu, We were served with some warm breads.

Starters

Soup was served in a petite cup. Since menu was fix and we did not really communicate much with the servers, we did not get the names of every individual item served. It tasted sweet and yummy like pumpkin soup.

Soup

Though La Ferrandaise offers an extensive white list, we still prefer the juices as they were more on the budget side.

Apple Juice - € 4,00

Having 3 courses on a plate has not been common for me and I was kind of culture shock even though I was expecting its portion size. With such portion, I'm confident I will complete the meal but that was not so true later on.

Prefix Lunch Menu - €16 

Starting my meal from left to right and I have absolutely the least idea of what I am eating but it's kind of interesting to order something I don't know. What a sweet start to the meal! The entry was something grainy like cereals in milk (Puree form) topped with apricot and nuts.

Entry

Moving on to the 2nd dish which is also the Main on the plate, it threw a surprise to me as the mini pot was much heavier than my expectation looking at its size. This is the dish much more closer to my heart and had my vote among the rest. With delicious mashed potatoes served with tender beef slices, they had already filled half of my stomach.

Main

The last dish was not to my liking as I'm not very used to all kinds of cold cut meat and livers. In the end I only have a few mouthful of the meat and clearing off the vegetables and cherries.

Cold Meat

My dining partner is at advantage as he enjoys second portion of the cold meat from me. I dislike the after taste of liver meat thus I will give this a miss.

Cold Meat

Heading to the area near the toilet, you will see such interesting corner. Baby friendly place spotted with a baby chair.

Interesting Corner Near Toilet

It was a great find and we were very contented to have our lunch there. Food was wonderful and value for money as compared to other places dining in France. Even being the only Asians in the restaurant, I find that the level of service is commendable, professional and prompt. This is the best lunch I ever had in Paris during my trip.

La Ferrandaise
Location:  8 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris, France
Website

Ladurée Champs Elysées

Ladurée, the popular name that you may hear somewhere for their macarons. Though we have this located in Singapore's Takashimaya, I never get the chance to go there thus I took this opportunity to visit the shop in Paris. Laduree is a chain stores in Paris and I had visited one of their store in Paris's famous shopping Street, Champs Elysées.

Ladurée Champs Elysées

I was kind of surprise that it is actually housed in a big building and there was a very long queue. Fortunately the long queue for those who wants to dine in and for those who are taking away may join the queue inside next to the counter. Likewise, before entering, we have to pass through a stringent security check by the officers.

Add caption

Items were all spread out on the Marble table top and with patrons lining up in the snaky queues waiting to be served. While waiting, I was sweating due to the amount of heat generated in Laduree as I have my winter clothes on. Nevertheless, I was more excited over the items and it did not really bother me much.

Lining up for an order

Food items like the pastries looked elegantly designed and stunning while the croissants, muffins were just simply tempting.

Do you want some bakery stuff?

The way how pastries were packaged looked classy however, this also means that the price paid for the pastries had perhaps factored in the price of the packaging. Maybe this is what up-scale pastries is all about?

Packaging

Eclair was yummy! The choux dough was about 20cm in length and with a semi-bitter chocolate that coats the top part. That's was kind of surprising as I expected it to be more on a sweet side.

Eclair Chocolat - 5,00 €

Having the Carre Chocolat was indeed a therapeutic one. The luscious amount of chocolate with alternate layers of chocolate cake as well as crispy and crunchy bites of chocolate was simply irresistible. Felt very happy having it.

Carre Chocolat - 6,10 €

There were alot of flavours of Macarons to select from and we had picked 12 different kinds. Shells of the Macarons are soft, sandwiching the delicious flavoured ganache filling. I was expecting Macarons was more for the sweet tooth but surprisingly it was not that diabetic sweet as I would have thought.

Mini Macarons - 2,00 € x 12

Although I'm not someone with sweet tooth, having visited and tasted Ladurée was a total new experience to me. I was quite lucky watching tourists rushing out to the nearest bench right in front of the store sharing the joy of Macarons purhcase with their group of friends and each biting off one part of it, screaming for joy that they have actually tasted it!  

Ladurée Champs Elysées

Location: 75 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France

Nearest Metro: Line 1 - Georges V

Website

Hôtel Mimosa - Paris

In order to minimized the cost of our Europe travel, we have tried to save more on our accommodation as we shared the same sentiments that we were mostly out throughout the day and only back for a sleep in the night thus spending too much on luxurious hotel is out of the picture. Having been to Paris twice, the hotels which I used to stay were cramped and came with old school furnishing. Shops, restaurants and bars are found around the hotel and which Galeries Lafayette is just 1.8km away.

Streets near Hotel

Hotel Mimosa is in the heart of Paris, a good walkable 600 metres from Place de La Republique and 200 metres from Grands Boulevards. The hotel offers a modern furnished guest rooms and most importantly a free Wi-Fi internet access. They also have flat screen TV, electric kettle and wardrobe.

Bedroom

Private bathroom comes with a shower, hairdryer and toiletries were provided. We were very happy as it was very spacious.

Room with toilet

Theme color is black and modernly equipped with shower-heads and anti slip flooring.

Toilet Interior

Breakfast is optional and can be purchased upon check-in. The breakfast area is an open space, modernly designed with faux rocks walls, just beside the check in counter.

Breakfast Area

Our stay was pleasant with friendly services. Like most of the hotel in Europe, there isn't an elevator provided for small scale hotel thus carrying up big luggage along the steep stairways maybe a challenge for some.

Entrance to Stairways

Overall, though it might be little outside of the tourist area, it is still walkable distance within the Metro and Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Throughout the nights stay, area was quite safe and was not rowdy.

Hôtel Mimosa
Location: 16, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010 Paris, France

Hard Rock Cafe - Paris

Visiting Hard Rock Cafe has been in my itineraries for most of my trips. Marking my 3rd Visit to Paris Hard Rock Cafe, I was surprise when my dining partner decided that we should settle our dinner there since we were buying the collectibles.

Hard Rock Cafe

Securities in Paris had been tightened after various terrorists events and that applies to crowded area like shopping malls, restaurants and even Cafe like Hard Rock.Though its

Dining Area

Just right after we enter the Cafe, you will be able to find the Rock Shop on the right.

Merchandise

Like most of the Hard Rock Cafe, the accent of their English is not far away from our understanding. The friendly service make us feel very comfortable.

Menu

Good blend of orange, mango and pineapple juice infused with Bacardi Superior Rum, Bacardi Dark Rum, Disaronno AMaretto and grenadine, served with orange and maraschino cherry.  A really good mix of tropical fruits living up to its name.

Hurricane - €12,90

Another item under their Comfortably Rum Menu. Pina Colada is a frozen concoction of Bacardi Superior Rum and pina colada mix.

Pina Colada - €10,90

Worrying that the European size dishes were too much for our stomach to contain, we decided to share a combo meal between ourselves. There is a choice of duo or trio combo with a difference of 0.30 difference. Combo is a perfect choice for people who want to have more variety as it gave you a choice of ribs, chicken or pulled pork.

Hickory-Smoked Barbecue Combo - € 20,95

Having tried Hard Rock Cafe Food from different countries, we were quite comfortable with its quality and service. The Smoke House menu is awesome with signature fork-tender meat marinated. These baby back ribs were rubbed with their signature seasonings and basted with hickory barbecue sauce, most importantly these baby back ribs meat fell off the bone easily.

Fried Onions on Ribs

Sticking onto the Hickory Barbecue sauce will be the delicious fried onion that got me hooked.

Fried Onion

Striking a balance with the meaty meal, we order Salads topping up the combo meal. The romaine lettuce was tossed in their homemade Caesar dressing, topped with grilled chicken breast, croutons and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Caesar Salad

What I like best is their variety of homemade dressings, ranging from ranch, honey, mustard, Caesar, blue cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, lite Italian and oil & vinegar. It just make having salad a never boring dish!

Caesar Salad and the Choice of Sauce.

As far as visiting Hard Rock Cafe is concerned, I was not only impressed by the level of service they had rendered in Paris but also the rest of the outlets I have been to Internationally. Servers were very fluent in English and were good in recommending the dishes to us which make us feel as good as home.

Hard Rock Cafe Paris
Location: 14 Boulevard Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France

Restaurant Haesje Claes

I got hooked by the taste of Traditional Dutch Food and insisted we have another Stammpot before saying good bye to Amsterdam. We visited Restaurant Haesje Claes which was recommended by the Tourist Centre and in fact we should be visiting them for dinner during our first night in Amsterdam but due to our itineraries, we kept it for 2nd Night.

Restaurant

Menu

Part of the Intterior

Comparing to The Pantry from the first night, Haesje Claes is bigger, catering to more seating with 2 levels of dining area. Environment was definitely more rustic with wooden flooring, furnishing and given a homely feel under the orange lighting as well the hospitality from the service crews. 

Interior at Level 2

Interior

Place was bustling with people and if you looked around, it feels like you are entering a grandma's house with old school stuff that you have never seen before.

Interior

Interior

Though it may be old school design but I still like the low lighting ambiance that create a good atmosphere with burning flame on the candle stand.

Burning Candle

Worrying about being filled fast and Since Im looking for Stammpot in my meal,  we cant go wrong with their fixed set menu "Amsterdam Menu 24,95 which consists of 3 courses and a cup of coffee.

Coffee 

As for myself, I took the opportunity to have some beer again!

Beer

Starter

This is another version of Pea Soup I had with ingredients in it. Taste was pleasant with sausage, bacon, carrots, potatoes and celery in combination. The style of soup and even the side that comes with it was a total different picture from what I had last night and was filling. Instead of toast, they had a slice of rye bread with thin slice of bacon for pairing.

Pea Soup with Sausage, bacon

What's in the Soup?

Bacon on Rye Bread

Main

Time for seafood and that's the main reason why we had Poached Salmon Fillet. Not much of Wow Factor here but Salmon was cook to the correct doneness and given the buttery and herb flavour Bearnaise Sauce amd lemon squeeze, the fillet was down in my stomach within 3 minutes, leaving the mashed potatoes behind.

Poached Fillet of Salmon with Bearnaise Sauce

Topping up the Set with another main course, Stampotten. There are 3 in the menu to choose from and I had the one with Sauerkraut. Meatball was savoury but I do prefer the ones I had last night. Sausages, so to speak was an average fare, not something out of expectation.

Sauerkraut with meatball, sausage and bacon - 16,25

Dessert

Our meal comes to an end with the Lemon Pie as the last course. At least the colors had brighten up the dish and it gave a refreshing feel with its fruits on the plate (Kiwi and Orange).

Lemon Pie with Cream

Having Sausages and Sauerkraut in our meals these two days, I find that Dutch Cuisine is kind of close to what a German Cuisine is. Overall, Haesje Claes is a good recommendation if you want to enjoy some authentic flavour from the Dutch.

Restaurant Haesje Claes
Location: Spuistraat 275, 1012 VR Amsterdam, Netherlands