Most recent post
By now, it probably won’t surprise you that I often choose my travel destinations based on their reputation for great food. So when I recently decided to spend five days in Hong Kong, my preparation mainly consisted of compiling a long list of restaurants and cafes to...
By now, it probably won’t surprise you that I often choose my travel destinations based on their reputation for great food. So when I recently decided to spend five days in Hong Kong, my preparation mainly consisted of compiling a long list of restaurants and cafes to visit. For foodies, Hong Kong is a fantastic city. The best dim sum, affordable Michelin-starred restaurants, and a wide range of trendy hotspots as well as traditional Hong Kong cafes where time seems to have stood still. Are you heading to Hong Kong soon and looking for places to eat? Then this article with my personal top 10 of best restaurants in Hong Kong will definitely help you out. 1. Ho...
ALL POSTS
I’m starting to run out of ways to describe a London afternoon tea. Seriously, does anyone have a food writing for dummies book they can recommend? After so many tea blog posts last year, I decided to wait a bit before sharing my afternoon tea with Chiara at The Rose Lounge. True, all the photos with Christmas decorations now don’t really make sense anymore. But hey, see all these rose petals? And our table was in the shape of a heart (which I totally missed by the way). It could just as well be a Valentine’s theme, right? So let’s just go with that.
If I’m being honest, the real reason I wanted to eat at the Corner Room is because of its interior. It’s one of those places that kept popping up on my Instagram feed and I just wanted to see (and photograph) it myself. Visiting friends and family are always a good excuse to try new places, so before my sister had to fly back to Amsterdam I took her to the Town Hall Hotel for lunch.
There are so many different things to do in London. Which means that when you’re here just for a short visit, you’ll either need to leave some things out or be super efficient. Such as combining an afternoon tea with a sightseeing bus tour. Which is what I did a few weeks ago when iDBus invited a group of bloggers for the BB Bakery Afternoon Tea on a real vintage 60s London double decker bus. Don’t expect white tablecloths, fine china or waiters walking around to serve you more tea. No, this is all about a fun, unique – and let’s not forget – tasty experience.
There’s no way around it. When in England… You will have afternoon tea on a regular basis. Add some London bloggers to the mix and you might find yourself having one more often than most Brits. I realize it was only a couple of weeks ago that I wrote about the last #LDNBloggersTea (that admittedly took place in September), but with so many afternoon teas to choose from in this city we need to keep up the pace. So forget about quitting carbs and sugar to fit into that fabulous party dress (never gonna happen) and lets just indulge ourselves with a delicious afternoon tea at the Lancaster London hotel.
A little warning for friends and family of bloggers. Don’t spend too much time reading their blogs and listening to their stories about blogging ‘adventures’ (drinking afternoon tea can be an adventure too right?), or you might run the risk of turning into one of them. I’ve seen it happening, and let me tell you… it ain’t pretty. I’m kidding of course. But it turned out that I wasn’t the only one in Paris focussing on taking nice pictures and finding foodie places to write about. My friend Sandra (who took the photos of me with my ONA bag) is becoming a serious food blogger with her first stories on Holland’s most populair culinary website Culy.nl. So how do two foodies spend two days in Paris? Eating of course!
Last week I heard the first Christmas song on the radio. The lights are up on Oxford Street. And everybody is sharing John Lewis’ Christmas TV ad with Monty the Penguin on social media. There’s no denying: London is getting ready for the holidays. For a group of London bloggers, Christmas started a bit earlier this year. On a warm, late summer afternoon in September at the Conrad London St James hotel where we were getting together for another #LDNBloggersTea.
There are places that have such an excellent foodie reputation, that you would visit them just to go crazy on the food. I love exploring the typical local cuisine when I travel, but when I was planning my trip to Prague I had no idea what to expect. I heard many great stories about the city, but not often did these stories say anything about the food. So I was about to visit a country that I’d never been to before and where I had no idea what to eat. Challenging… Unless you plan a food tour on your first day. And let a food loving local not only show you the culinary treasures of Prague, but also some beautiful hidden gems along the way.
Oh, how times have changed. When I moved to New York in 2003 I didn’t even drink coffee. And because there was no Starbucks in the Netherlands back then, I thought walking the streets with a Starbucks cup (not with coffee) in your hand was the coolest thing ever. These days, people are not only asking me if drinking coffee is all I do in London (based on the number of coffee pics on Instagram and here on the blog), I even make a list of the best coffee places in other cities when I travel (no Starbucks!). So let me show you the places that I think have the best coffee in NYC.
I unfortunately don’t have an unlimited budget to dine out (if only…). I’m not complaining, but let’s say that you won’t find me in restaurants with a Michelin star very often. Let alone a restaurant that has two!
So when you receive an email from a company asking if you want to try one of their experiences. And on that list of experiences is a 2 Michelin star lunch…You’d also do a little happy dance right?
As much as I love exploring all the cool coffee places in London and starting my weekend with a delicious flat white, I'm actually more of a tea drinker. I start and end my day with a nice cuppa and there's usually a fresh cup at arm's length during the day....
Time for another coffee break at one of London's best coffee shops. Working my way through the London Coffee Guide's top 30, I decided to go to Notes this time. There are four Notes coffee shops in the city and since I didn't have the guide with me, I went to the...
Serving their own locally roasted Workshop coffee, everything about this place feels very ‘neighborly’.
It had been a long day and I was hungry. Very hungry. And even with all the fancy food that's available in London, when you're looking for something comforting, what's better than a good old (well, preferably fresh actually) pizza? Pizza Rossa Londoners love pizza....
What better way to spend a Sunday morning than reading a newspaper and drinking a nice flat white at one of London's best coffee shops? With so many independent cafés to choose from, I'm glad there's a London Coffee Guide that lists the best ones in the city....
I once did a wine tasting course together with a friend and my sister. We thought it was a good idea to learn 'how to impress people in a restaurant when ordering a bottle glass of wine'. To be honest, I don't remember much about it, except that it's fun to drink a...
And so it happened that I ticked three dishes off Time Out's 100 best dishes in London list...all in one afternoon. I was meeting our guide, or actually guides, at Old Spitalfields Market. I love this part of London. It's where I get my hair done, enjoy...
It might be pouring while I'm writing this, but there's no denying... summer is here. I had signed up for Blogshop at Home this weekend which means I was tied to my computer most of the time in an apartment without air-conditioning. So I was really...
Trying to get a table at a restaurant with a celebrity chef that doesn't take reservations during the day is nearly a mission impossible in London. You could of course wait in line for about two hours. But since an empty stomach brings out the worst in me, I try...
Only foodies will understand that I already knew two months ago where I was having brunch on Sunday. At Duck & Waffle. Even though they're open 24 hours a day, it's still fairly difficult to get a reservation. Especially at times when...
We all know what alcohol can do to your brain, but in this case I'm afraid I cannot blame the wine. I forgot to bring my camera! Luckily the people at Waitrose were better prepared than I was, so as an exception to the rule I'm sharing not my own, but photos made by...
Lily Vanilli is not your ordinary bakery. First, it's only open on Sundays. Second, celebrities and big brands love her. And when I asked the guy behind the counter which cake he recommended, he asked me if I liked beetroot and courgette. We're talking cakes here,...
I say 'Brazil'. You say...World Cup? Olympics? Before last Tuesday I would have probably said the same, but now the first thing that comes to mind is food. What else? To celebrate this Brazilian summer, Brazilian food bloggers Rosana McPhee and Luiz Hara teamed up...
The Dutch may not be world-renowned for their food, but just like any other expat I do have this craving from time to time for snacks from home. Raw herring with (raw) onions, stroopwafels (syrup waffles), erwtensoep (split pea soup), hutspot (mashed...
There's a first time for everything. And yesterday was the first time I made my own pasta. And I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty damn good at it. Or maybe it had something to do with the professional help of the Cookery School team. Cookery School at Little...
Are Scandinavian cafes the new black? Seriously, they're everywhere. You might remember my visit to Fabrique and Nordic Bakery which sort of started this new obsession with anything Scandinavian. And I found a new place to add to the list. When my friend came to visit...
Outdoor dining doesn't really seem to be a London thing. The weather might have something to do with it. But then again, in the Netherlands (same depressing climate) terraces pop up everywhere as soon as we feel the first warm ray of sunshine. Luckily I found...
Oops, I did it again... So much food, so much coffee. Having friends over for the weekend is great and all, but my idea of showing them the best of London means showing them the best brunch and coffee hotspots. Or in this case, places I haven't been to yet, but that...
The question for me when I started planning my trip to San Francisco was not so much what to do, but rather where to eat. Right before I left, Condé Nast Traveller dedicated a whole feature on the new foodie capital of America, and they were right. Farmers' markets,...
Living in London sometimes feels like you're on a (foodie) trip around the world. French macarons, Scandinavian pastries, Indian curries, Peruvian ceviche and even Dutch pancakes...it's all here. You soon start to appreciate each country's talents. And when it comes...
I love living in South London. And no...you don't need a passport to get here as some North Londoners keep suggesting. It's true that you'll find more of the famous London landmarks and attractions north of the river, but the south has plenty to offer as well. Such as...