When You’re Desperate to Satisfy those #InNOut Cravings in Europe…

After our day out in Lisbon, when my cousin walked me back to my hostel and saw where it was located, she realised that I was staying near this really good burger place – one that could satisfy her In-n-Out cravings! – and recommended I try it.

After she left, I waited awhile for my travel buddies to return and as it crept closer to 7 I started to get really hungry…burger time?

I decided to Google Hamburgueria do Bairro and see just how close it actually was – just a 5 minute walk around the corner. I couldn’t resist! I made the quick walk over.
I ordered the Camone, a beef burger with fried tomato, caramelised onions and cheddar.

Considering conversions, it was half the price of what I paid for a gourmet burger (I believe it was about €6) in the UK and included a generous helping of deliciously seasoned fries as well!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any great pictures due to the lighting in hostel room, but here is an idea of the portions:

I had had decent burgers in the UK, but this was pretty much everything they lacked – full of flavour, very seasoned but not overpowering… the grilled onions really set it off.

So if you’re ever craving a burger in Lisbon, I definitely recommend this place. Even if your not staying quite as close to one as I was, it is worth a trip! (It appears there are quite a few locations around Lisbon so should be easy to find one).

For more information (in Portuguese) visit http://www.hamburgueriadobairro.com/.

Pastéis de Belém: The OG Portuguese Egg Tart of Lisbon!

After taking a night train to Lisbon – from Madrid – we arrived at our hostel early in the morning. I had managed to get some sleep on the train, so I was rested enough (barely) to start my day. I had plans to meet my cousin, who had been living in Lisbon for five months at that point, so I was excited to just go with whatever she had planned.

It was a lovely day – the sun was out, which was a nice change from the UK and an unfortunately rainy time in Spain. I saw amazing views from the top of the Rua Augusta Arch before taking the train 15 minutes down the road to Belém. There I visited the monastery and spent some time just taking in the view of the Belém Tower on the water.

Next came my favorite part – snack time! Not just any snack, but those signature ‘Portuguese Egg Tarts’ I had been seeing around for years but never tried. I was lucky to get my first taste of the pastéis de nata right in the exact spot where they originated. The Pastéis de Belém bakery reminded me a bit of the chocolate and churro shop in Madrid.

“Yes, I always wanted to do food reviews, go to a new place sample menus and then write down how much I liked the food…And thanks to Khaana and Cocktails I finally have a place to do that! But before this, I started scribbling down moments from my travel experiences on another site ‘Memories and Moments’ and one of the food related posts I had decided on was this delicious moment from our visit to Lisbon…  the famous Passeis de Belem.

There were so many things I was looking forward to in Belem, including the Jeronimos Monastery which is Vasco Da Gama’s final resting place,but what my mind was thinking of 70% of the time while I was there is when would I get to stand in line to admire textures of delicious custard egg tarts of Pasteis de Belem, that promise to melt in my mouth. 

Elisabeth was meeting her cousin and this one of those rare occasions where we didn’t feast together gushing over the beauty before us”

-Yashodhara

It was packed, so much so that we could not find seating and had to order to-go – not before I got a chance to look around inside – my mouth was watering!

I ordered two tarts and we found a place outside to sit and enjoy. My first thought was that I was surprised that the pastry was flakey, as I had expected it to be a heavier crust. I sprinkled it with powdered sugar and cinnamon as instructed by my cousin. Yum! The flakey pastry was the perfect vessel to deliver the custard to my mouth. It was just a sweet egg custard, but it was fresh-out-of-the-oven and the perfect treat. Two was satisfying, but I could have eaten more!

“I had gotten myself a gorgeous cup of rich hot chocolate cause I just couldn’t resist. But those tarts were so good that I completely regretted not ordering more than the 3 for myself.

They were not too sweet, had layers of flavors, they were delicate and yet so rich in all the goodness. This place has been there so long and it is as good as a heritage tourist attraction, a must visit for any traveler or tourist…truly had a soul satisfying experience” – Yashodhara

A must for any trip to Lisboa!

Belém 84-92, 1300-085 Lisboa, Portugal
+351 21 363 7423

http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt

xx Elisabeth

You say ‘Belgium’, I hear ‘Waffles’…Mokafé is a must! #Brussels

For the last leg of our spring 2015 Europe trip, the group of 5 Media & PR girls split, with two staying on to sun on the beaches of Portugal, one heading straight back to the UK and Yasho and I heading to out final destinations of Brussels and Amsterdam.

A rainy night in Brussels…

We flew from Lisbon to Brussels and were met with a rainy evening that included a nice dinner of shrimp scampi (with wine and cheese) at a restaurant & bar near our hostel and a walk through the Grand-Place area, marveling at all the chocolate and sweets shops (my favorite, of course, being ‘Elisabeth’). And this oddly…racist?… but fitting to me (as I am very, very pale!) sign I saw inside of one:

We could have told you Elisabeth was the whitest ages ago!

Luckily all the girls I traveled with appreciate good food, so I was able to fulfill a lot of my foodie desires throughout my trip. Once there was just two of us, though, we had a bit more time and freedom to plan out all the food places we wanted to hit – so we did!

First morning in Belgium, we knew what we had to do: Belgian waffles! I believe Mokafé was featured on a Brussels guide we got from the hostel, along with the explanation that the proper Belgian way was to have them garnished with powdered sugar and nothing else. Of course I had to try it that way, while Yasho opted for a bit of chocolate sauce on the side as well. We also may have ordered some spiked hot chocolates to wash them down, as well!

Pure satisfaction right here!

“Well of course I did! Liz’s powdered sugar option was probably the more refined choice, but the doze of chocolate I had was something I do not regret. I’m a very simple girl, get me something delicious I’m happy, get me something delicious with rich chocolate and I am over the moon!” – Yashodhara

While I’m not sure how much of an art it is to produce a great Belgian waffle, I know these ones fit the bill! The perfect crisp exterior and warm, soft inside. I don’t have any other true Belgian waffles to compare it to, either, because for our next (and last) morning in Brussels, we chose to eat here again, and I got the same thing. The staff is friendly, the vibe is lively but not too busy – wonderful place to spend time in the morning enjoying breakfast and a drink at a leisurely pace with a friend!

xx Elisabeth

Mokafé

Galerie du Roi 9

32 02 511.78.70

Open Mon – Sun 7:00 – 23:00

How much is that Kronut in the window? #BarcelonaTravels

You know how sometimes, when you’re exploring a new city, a certain something catches your eye in the window and you know there is no way you’re leaving without it? Well, my first evening exploring Barcelona included that very experience – with a chocolate-covered pastry.

What’s in the box?!

Being from the States and a fan of all baked goods, you would have thought I would have tried a crossaint-donut (known by many names, at Chök it is kronut) by now. Unfortunately, I had only had a couple bites of a grocery store brand until this point. The ones I saw in the window at Chök were like nothing I had ever seen before – all completely covered in dark chocolate and each uniquely topped.

I had found it – the one to lose my cro-donut virginity to (grocery store brand totally doesn’t count). After a wonderful few days in Barcelona we had some time to kill before our flight to Madrid, so I returned to pick up my beloved. With careful consideration, I settled on a raspberry-yogurt topping (throwback to the granola bars I lived off of during the early days of undergrad).

A thing of beauty.

A couple hours later, while at the airport waiting to board, I finally dug in. The yogurt and raspberry bits were delicious! It was such an interesting texture – a thick, solid coating of chocolate around a light pastry – it was almost like three different treats in one. While €3-something was a bit pricey for a kronut that seemed to be mostly air, it was an experience, and the quality of the chocolate made me wish I could go back and try more of their products. Hopefully someday!

xx Elisabeth

Chök the chocolate kitchen

http://www.chokbarcelona.com

Carrer del Carme, 3, 08001 Barcelona, Spain

+34 933 04 23 60

Satisfying those shellfish cravings! BIG EASY LONDON!

You know when you put an Indian in Britain she craves Indian food…real Indian food and not ‘Poppadoms’ and ‘Tikka Masala’; and when you put a Bengali-Goan girl without real seafood she goes crazy!

And that is what happened to me! When Elisabeth and I booked one of our first Megabus to London, one of the first things I did was start browsing on where I could satisfy my crave for crab and seafood. Through a random hashtag on instagram I find Big Easy .

Trust me their Instagram page was absolutely the magnet that drew us to them… Check out the glimpse below!

– Seafood??? Yes!

– Big Platters??? YES!

And that is basically how we Google mapped our way to the Big Easy chain in Covent Garden! Elisabeth was too as excited as me, and perhaps the fondest memory of this food trip for us was how it became that trip where we finally broke any remainders of awkwardness we had as new friends.

Elisabeth was what I perceived as a quiet person who just nods a lot (might be because it’s hard to get me to stop talking) but the minute the waiter at Big Easy served her frozen Margarita I saw someone new!!!

Aww :’-D I had forgotten how new the friendship was at that point! Less than 3 months!

And while she was happy to see that delicious Lobster, I was more than happy to see that delicious seafood combo platter come my way!

Lobster, Prawns, Mussels, Squid, and CRAB

I was almost singing!!!

But that happens when food is good,  you either have adjectives that make you want to write a book, and sometimes you can’t think of anything else to say but – ‘Lets dig in’ and that is enough to sum up.

 

If you are in London and love your share of BBQ and Seafood this is an amazing place to be. I’ve heard their steaks and chicken platters are just as loved and they have a huge burger menu! Trust me wearing that bib and waiting for gorgeous food to come your way can totally create #FoodMoments your going to cherish!

As a kid, I grew up on the occasional seafood dinner – swordfish, shrimp (which I always had mixed feelings about) and my favorite, salmon – whatever we could afford at the time. As a teenager I came to appreciate the rich flavors of lobster and crab… dipped in lots of butter…and they became my choice for ‘special’ meals I got to pick – graduation and the like!

It was fitting for the splurge on our last night in London to be all that yummy seafood. I also liked that it was an “American” – style meal, even it is not the party of the country that I’m from. The fact that they labeled the toilets “Washrooms” gave away the truth, though – the founders are Canadian! xx Elisabeth  

Ciao – Yashodhara