Anniversary in Paris

 Personal, Restaurants, Travel  No Responses »
Oct 192010
 

I spent last weekend in Paris with my girlfriend celebrating our six year anniversary. We left early on Saturday morning and got home around 9:30 Monday night so we had a good few days to see the main sights. Jordan had never been and I only have very vague memories of being there as a young child so it was fun wondering around seeing the famous landmarks.

I ended up getting a bit annoyed at the Louvre. I don’t particularly like crowds of tourists (hypocritical I know) and the Louvre seemed to encompass every tourist in Paris standing in front of me in a queue. We decided against actually going in due to the crowds. We then took a long stroll down the Champs-Élysées taking in the scenery and heading towards the Arc de Triomphe.

Sunday was by far the best day. We started with baguettes for breakfast before heading over to the Paris catacombs. The queue was pretty horrific but the experience was definitely worth it. You can’t quite comprehend the number of dead people decorating the walls with their skulls and other bones. It’s not quite as spooky as you might think – just very daunting when you think about the time and effort that’s gone into the arrangement.

After the catacombs we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. I have a bit of a thing for tall buildings so we paid our 13€ and got the rickety lift to the top. The view is obviously impressive and the queues were actually much better than I expected. Jordan was impressed that they had a toilet on the top floor.

In the evening we ate at Le Porteger du Marais – a vegetarian restaurant located close to the rather striking Pompidou Centre. The meal was really tasty and was finishes nicely with a lovely chocolate fondant… mmmm.

The next day we wondered around Montmartre. We found the Moulin Rouge and ate at a brasserie that turned out to be a bit touristy and not actually very good.

Overall it was a pleasant getaway. I’m not sure I’d go back again in a hurray though. Prices for hotels, food and drink are extortionate which can get a bit annoying. We also couldn’t work out why people find the city so romantic when everywhere smells of piss and you’re constantly dodging dog crap on the paths!

Strada Milton Keynes

 Food, Restaurants  1 Response »
Apr 062010
 

The Hub in Milton Keynes is an odd place. Central Milton Keynes never really got the whole restaurant thing. There were a few chain Italian places, one really nice Malysian place and a whole load of horrible family restaurants. That was meant to change with the opening of The Hub. Here were some up proper restaurants in a swanky location that should impress even people not from MK that are actually used to decent eating. Of course they are still all chain restaurants but at least we’re trying.

The location is nice and it makes a change to the frankly quite frightening Theatre District. I imagine on a summer’s night it looks quite trendy with everyone sitting out in the central court yard.

Last Friday we decided to try out Strada. We had a table booked but were still asked to wait at the bar whilst one was found. We were only there five minutes but I always feel awkward just waiting around holding my coat (there was a hanger but it was accompanied by a sign proclaiming Strada’s lack of responsibility if my coat was stolen).

Once we sat down the service was fairly average. No one asked if the food was OK or anything which was annoying as Jordan wanted to mention the unripe avocado in her salad.

The food was alright. My gnocci starter served with a cheese sauce had bit of a skin which made me think it’d been sitting out but at least it tasted OK.

My chilli and broccoli pasta was really tasty. I really hate over cooked broccoli so I was happy when I was greeted with a satisfying crunch.

The main issue I had with the place was price. Now I’m not saying it’s an expensive place at all but I just feel that it was a little overpriced. This may be because I used to live in Brighton where we had a small chain of Italian restaurants that provided really tasty, authentic food for very little money. I don’t know… I’ve eaten some really good Italian food so maybe I’m picky.