Postcards from Budapest

Oink! Oink! Native Mangalica pig, the real thing is pretty tasty too :) 

 ??!!

Dobos Torta - multilayered sponge cake with walnuts

Gerbeaud

During a flying visit to Budapest, I was recommended to check out Cafe Gerbeaud, a cake institution if there ever was one (founded in 1858)! The cake salon is situated in a lovely square very near to the pedestrianised shopping street of Váci Utca and feels very other worldly upon entering. I opted for a classic slice of Sachertorte coupled with an equally fattening hot chocolate with cream! Ma Chan went for the more elegant chestnut and blueberry macaron whilst Ba Chan put us both to shame with his order of a fruit smoothie :)

Cakes were delish but my hot chocolate was a little on the sweet side. There was also a very inviting range of goodies which would make great pressies for friends and family. I restrained myself to buying the Gerbeaud book plus a tablette for JD whilst Ma Chan went a bit more all out nabbing Easter eggs, chocs and biccies. A must visit for anyone heading to the Paris of the East! :)

 Buttery and crumbly sablé served with my hot chocolate!

 

I could've bought the whole shop!! Packaging was exquisite, swoon!

Tokaji chocs :)

  Some really purdy eggs :)

Saturday day trip - BBQ Shack, Brighton

JD has always had a soft spot for BBQ and had read good reviews about BBQ Shack in Brighton. We had been planning on heading south to try it out for a while and finally got our act together one sunny Saturday in March. Luckily for us, traffic wasn't so bad - the only blip was wrestling with Brighton's one way traffic system on arrival!!

BBQ Shack is located in a pub called World's End which is north of the town centre. Food is served all day on a Saturday which was just as well since we rocked up at the unsociable hour of 4pm for a late lunch/early dinner. We both plumped with a 3 meat plate (the options range from 1 meat up to 6 meat plates!!) - portions were generous and meat was yummy, only gripe would've been that the Shack had run out of BBQ sauce.....a little worrying just before the Saturday dinner rush? Be sure to check out BBQ Shack if you are ever in Brighton town :)

My plate of ribs, pulled pork and link sausage served with onion rings and chips, extra side of slaw -  unhealthy but tasty stuff!!

Coffee and cake at Kaffeine

What I would give for some nice tasting coffee with no latte art as opposed to mediocre coffee with good latte art, sigh? One further gripe, no point in making banana bread/cake with unripe bananas - it tastes shit!! 

Conclusion - head to Kaffeine for mediocre coffee and unbanana-like banana cake. (getting tired of going to coffee places which promise a lot and fail to deliver)

Final postcards from Barcelona (and Figueres!)

 

Sunday dining - Big Fish

Sadly, as a lot of visitors have experienced, Barcelona does not have the best dining options for Sunday dinner as most of the restos in the city shut up shop for the night. For our final meal, I made reservation to go to a seafood resto in the Born area of town called Big Fish as it was one of the only places open on a Sunday evening and I was tempted by the contemporary decor on their website. Even though I had made a booking online, they could not find reservation upon arrival but there were spare tables so everything was fine.

Big Fish does not have a massive menu and seemed to be the place to eat sushi in Barcelona. Not really fancying sushi, we opted for the more traditional 3 courses from the a la carte. Food was pricey; our starters were really good, my main was also good but JD's turbot lacked seasoning. JD really enjoyed his dessert but I made a bad choice on mine. I had also asked for a glass of dry white wine to go with my meal which smelt great but tasted pretty awful so a patchy meal in all. After all the great meals we have had to date, I'm not sure if we would re-visit Big Fish...lighting wasn't great so apologies for the not so stellar pics....

 Amuse of coarse fish mousse (perhaps bacalao?) 

 My starter of scallops - does not look much but they were HUGE!! Diameter of 4-5cm and that's AFTER cooking!!

 JD's starter of cod buñelos (fritters) with pan amb tomaquet - great portion and very tasty. JD's only gripe was he wished there was some sort of sauce accompanying the dish.

My main of lobster rice - more refined than the dish I had at Restaurante Santeaguino and the rice tasted more like lobster than just generic seafood. My dish was only served with the meaty part of the lobster this time and no head, which was a shame...

JD's main of turbot and wild mushrooms - fish lacked seasoning which is unexcusable. Quite pricey (almost 30 yoyos) for the portion.