From Taupo to Napier!

Rain and cloudy today! These have been the two major coordinates of today! Not my favorite ones! In this context we have had to find some stuff to do.

After a great morning running session along the Taupo Lake, we took off to the Wairakei Terraces and Thermal Health Spa. There we spent about three hours. Most of the time spent there was amazing, especially the pools and the massage; the walk around the so called geyser and vegetation is not worth, so save the money!

From the spa we went back to the Acacia Bay, but because of the weather we shot two pictures and then left to the central Taupo for lunch at Piccolo Restaurant.

After the lunch, with the clouds surveying the region we decided to head to Napier. As soon a we set the address on the GPS we learned that there are about 150 km between the two cities. Moreover, we understood that we will drive mainly through the nature since at the exit from Taupo there is a traffic sign indicating that the first petrol station will be after 130 km!!! Our thoughts proved to be true when we found ourselves driving around green surroundings, with interesting vegetation and many slopes and S curves. Even though there was an deserted area, we meet also a police car checking the traffic…to our big surprise.

After almost two hours we entered Napier. The city was threatened by dark and heavy clouds, but they got away with the time. The city is nice, having a special charm due to its architecture and proximity to the sea. We had a walk in the windy and chilly weather and then had dinner at Mister D Restaurant.

Tomorrow we plan to visit some of the attractions in Napier, afterward we’ll travel many km to Wellington. We are waiting forward to this trip.

Exploring New Zealand – Coromandel

Three days ago I arrived in New Zealand for the first time in my life, being ready to travel across it for 20 days; I am not alone, but with my girlfriend.

The first two and a half days I have spent in Auckland, and it was awesome. However, today we have got to the moment to pick up the car we have prebook it before our arrival here: a Toyota RAV4, from Budget. The staff from Budget in Auckland (Beach Rd.) were very nice and the car is almost new: only 11.150 km on board. However, whoever choose to come down here with a driving licence not in English, have to think twice. I had one issued in Denmark, but with everything in Danish, and they were about to cancel my booking. In the end they found someone to translate my driving licence; it took one hour and it costed 69 NZD.

Going further into my day, driving on the left side of the road was something not known to me, so it was full of fun…however I got it pretty easy. I was surprised though by two things:

• the limit speed in the highway -100 km!!! and,
• the design of some segments of roads. For example the one to Coromandel Peninsula…it has segments of road very narrow and very close to the edge of the steep edges of the road; moreover there are no parapets.

We drove from Auckland to Coromandel Town. The driving occurs mainly on the highway, but there are also the last 60 km that are dome on the peninsula and the scenery is fabulous. I stopped every few km to take pictures.

Once in Coromandel, we went to our motel booked before coming here. There are not hotels or stuff like that. Coromandel is pretty much like a village, but a very nice one. Moreover, the design of some of the houses and public institutions are very nice, remembering me of the ones seen in the american old movies with cowboys. So far here I have been to the beach and I “went out”. The beach is not covered with sand but with little stones; however, it is very nice the view and the driving to there.

For eating out everyone coming here must visit Mussel Kitchen; it is amazing. For evening I tried Pepper Tree…very good as well!

This was for today! Now I am going to bed, ready to take off tomorrow to the Waitome Cave, Hamilton and the settling at Matamata.

 

 

Sometime is good to eat spicy…especially if it’s delicious too!

This story is as simple as possible, or the circumstances make it simple. It happens that I have few Pakistani coworkers, with who I spend a lot of time due to the nature of our job. Thus we have a lot of time to talk all the things in the world; but one of the topics we like a lot is food, the Pakistani cuisine especially. I had tried before the Pakistani cuisine in some restaurants but I was not very prepared in the way that I didn’t know too much about the food and what I would like to eat, though after each of these experiences I was very satisfied. However, now I took advantage of this situation, and I debated with my Pakistani colleagues the most of the aspects of the Pakistani cuisine. Moreover, they made recommendations to what particular restaurants to good in Copenhagen in order to have a more intense and authentic Pakistani experience. Two of them even brought to me Pakistani food cooked by them home.

After such an intense “training” I decided that I could manage the situation, and I was ready to visit a Pakistani restaurant. However, even though they made recommendations to where to go, in parallel I conducted my own research of the restaurants, and I ended up with other options. So I decided to go at one of the top Indian restaurants in Copenhagen based on the reviews; Restaurant Guru. Restaurant Guru promotes itself as a Indian restaurant but due to the small differences between India and Pakistan when it comes to food (as I learned from my colleagues but also through my own experience) I considered it and I will talk about it as a Indian/Pakistani restaurant!

So, I took my wife for a day out, and after a very good time wandering around Copenhagen, the dinner time came, and we headed to Guru Restaurant. We didn’t have any reservation, because we didn’t know exactly the time we could make it to the place, so we just pop in, hoping there would be some available tables. The day of our visit was Sunday; we first were able to go there at around 17:30, but arriving in front of the restaurant we noticed through the big windows that no other customers were inside, although the restaurant was opened. We don’t like empty restaurants so we decided to make a go around, hoping that at our return there would be more people inside. We came back in about one hour from our first try, and again through the windows we saw there where two tables taken at that time. It wasn’t exactly the kind of atmosphere we were expecting, but our hunger couldn’t wait and so we entered.

At the door there was a smiling waitress welcoming us and taking us to a table next to the window. Form there we had a view over the whole restaurant; it is very big, with many tables. Moreover it is very clean and designed in a modern style, very different than the other Indian/Pakistani restaurants I had visited before.

Then it came a waiter with the menus. My wife had still to figure out what she wanted, I knew by heard from before my visit what I would like. Hence, I ordered chicken biryani, fish pakoras and –as drinks- a big glass of mango lassi.

Before we even got our ordered we saw the waiter bringing a colorful plate on our table; and, before we even got to ask him about it, he said it was a treat from the house: pappadams with a trio of chutneys. Nice gesture! We enjoyed the pappadams…a lot. It was like eating chips with salsa; and believe me, eating chips with salsa is one of my favorite sports. It burned me but I kept eating.

Then our order arrived. First the lassi: flavored, with a beautiful color, dense and delicious. I like it so much that I ordered one more until the end of the dinner, although this one big glass was enough; but it taste was fantastic. One funny thing about mango (especially the salty one), is that it is popularly called “the white whisky“. This is what I found out from my colleagues. They also told me that a glass of the white whisky is just perfect for a good sleep!!!

Then the fish pakoras arrived, and it was as enjoyable as the pappadams, just that it tasted like fish ;-).

At last I received the attraction of the night: chicken biryani with peshawari naan. Amazing dish: very hot, rich and a lot. It was such a huge portion that even after I was full and my wife also had eaten from it, I still had a lot on my plate, so for sustainable reasons I ask to get it to go.

This dinner was one of those moments when one regrets s/he cannot eat more.

Like I said some rows above, Restaurant Guru is a bit different from the authentic Indian/Pakistani restaurants, not only in the design but also in offerings; one more thing to support my point is that at Guru one can also get alcohol as well!

After such a succesful night, I was very impatient to meet my Pakistani coworkers and described them my experience. They seemed glad to so I enjoyed the kind of food they love that much that they eat every day!

However, this dinner has spiced up not only that evening but also my tastes and my knowledge in matter of food and cultures! So in case you find yourselves in Copehagen and you will like to warm up a bit, then Restaurant Guru can help you in that regard.

Bon appetit!

When “best” is beaten by “best”: Best Cafe in Copenhagen in 2015 – Mad og Kaffe!

I believe that there is not such a thing as a best place for something e.g. best bar, best restaurant etc. However, some places might get such appellations, but they only apply to a particular time, and they refer to individual opinions. In regards to this thought of mine, I may admit I myself have some places I call them “best” in something; and most of the time I add this appellation to their real name until I discover another “ best” place…and more or less this is what has happened to me today! This is because today I got the pleasure to visit for the first time a great place in Copenhagen, Mad og Kaffe!

Before someday ago I didn’t even know about it -and I had had already another “best” place close to my heart- but here’s where the magic of social media interferes: it happened that scrolling down the posts of my network, one of them captured my attention through the beauty of the picture; a lot of small little pieces of happiness were displayed in that picture, all with different colors which give them the power to attract many food lovers and not only. For me it was love at first sight! I saw that picture, and then I committed to find that place and try its food; I managed to do so, and now I am totally pleased with it. Moreover, this café, Mad og Kaffe, has won the title of The Best Café in Copenhagen for 2015 (http://www.aok.dk/byliv/overblik-her-er-vinderne-af-byens-bedste-2015).

It is the end of November in Copenhagen, and for the ones not used with what it means I can describe it in one word: grey; grey weather, grey sky, grey atmosphere, grey moods etc. This attribut reduce from the charm of many places as well, which may seem abandoned. This was also my impression when I arrived at Mad og Kaffe. Although it is located in the central area of Copenhagen, on the Sønder Boulevard, few minutes away from Dybbølsbro Station, the whole area seemed abandoned when I arrived there. Even though it has a lovely patio, which I assume it is a very popular spot in the nice days of summer, now the same patio is empty, used only by the smokers.

However, once I opened the door of the café another universe opened in front of my eyes: a lot of people inside, gathered around the numerous tables, enjoying dozens of copy paste pictures of the image that had driven me there, all these wrapped in a very cozy atmosphere.

I went there together with my wife, but without any reservation; thus for a moment, seeing the crowded atmosphere displayed in front of us, we thought there were not available places for us. Luckily there was a table for two, and a friendly waitresses escorted us to it. The table was so crammed between two other little tables, that the guests at those two other tables had to help us a bit and so make place for us to take our seats. But this situation passed unnoticed to me at least, being all deleted in my mind, because the only thing I could think of at that time was the memory of the picture I saw on social media taken at Mad og Kaffe!

When it comes to the food, there are three options to choose from, depending on what you want to eat and how much; therefore there can be chosen three, five or seven little dishes from the menu which is divided in five categories: vegetables, dairy, bakery, meat and fish, and treat of the day; the drinks are ordered separately.

This idea of placing the order for food in this way was pretty new for me, and I enjoyed it from the beginning. Thus I chose to have five dishes based more on my individual tastes rather on the way they could work together! I had avocado with chili and almonds, grapefruit with cane sugar, scrambled egg with chive and mushrooms, fried chorizo sausages and Croque Monsieur. Beside these I enjoyed a big jar of homemade lemonade with mint and ginger. Hence, I ended up with a very strange mix of spicy (chorizo, Croque Monsieur and chili), bitter-like taste (grapefruit and lemonade –due to its ginger) and the omelet.  One thing didnt give me peace though: I received two chorizo sausages, although on their website it is advertised as there should be three of them…and all this dissapointment because -boy!- these sausages were delicious! Nevertheless I did enjoyed the whole brunch, and I mixed all the dishes in the way I know best.

As a conclusion, having brunch at Mad of Kaffe was one of the main attractions and one of the best things it has happened to me in October 2015. The awesomeness of this place don’t stay in its food or drinks particularly, because although they are delicious I had tried the same things before, and I enjoyed with almost the same intensity. Yet, the combination, of great food, fantastic atmosphere, novelty, and good prices make from Mad of Kaffe a must visit cafe in the city. The brunch itself has been the best so far…of course, until I will discover another place with another amazing brunch! However, for the time being Mad og Kaffe is the ultimate place for brunch that I can recommend to everyone living or visiting Copenhagen, and it definitely deserves the title of the Best Café in Copenhagen!

Black thin tagliattele lobster, cheese, friends, and great memories….

In my opinion the Italian cuisine is one of the best in the whole world, if not the best one. Personally I love it so much that I would even travel for it. The captivating thing is that even though it looks so easy to cook Italian dishes, in fact it is very difficult to obtain the same delicious meal as an Italian does…repeat, this is only my opinion, and my recent trip to Italy cemented it even more. I traveled to Italy, particularly to the Piedmont region, to meet some friends, and even though I was there for them in the first place, I couldn’t resist the temptation to eat out as often as possible, looking to try out everything but especially the Italian food.

One of the places I enjoyed a lot was Ristorante PiQuadro, in Arona. Of course, I didn’t go there because I knew the place, but because my friends invited me and some other friends there, saying that the food is amazing. As I am always open to new experiences especially if they are linked to food, I was totally ok with this restaurant proposition.

As we arrived at the place, we could feel the buzz from outside, and once we entered –in the way to our table, I noticed that all the tables were taken at that hour -20:00, on a Saturday; not a really surprise given the time, but still a very nice atmosphere!

Another thing I noticed on the spot, was that Ristorante PiQaudro has a thematic design…music being the theme they chose to animate the delicious time guests spend there. There are everywhere links to music, even on the tables, where the plates with food are set on the classic CDs.

As soon as we took our seats, we decided “to do some business” and so we were ready to order, three courses each person. The first one was suggested and ordered by our friends for all of us. It was a plate with four different delicious little pieces of happiness…. Sardines, seafood, goat cheese and beef tartar. The enumeration I make here is accordingly to the order we were recommended to eat these small dishes. Because I love cheese so much, I liked the most the goat cheese; but all four dishes were delicious; even the beef tartar, which I usually don’t like it tasted great in that Saturday night…of course being pushed down my throat by some egg yolk and bread…it might sound a bit too much the combination, and I would say not very suitable: mixing beef tartar (which is however not easy to eat it unless you are a fan of it) with raw egg yolk which is also a big challenge for many, at least for the ones not used with it. I would say the tartar would go better with some lemon …but I ate it the way it was served, and now I am happy I accepted the challenge!

The food couldn’t taste good without some good red and white wines and sparkling and still water!

Second dish, actually the first course of the dinner was my own choice. After a thoroughly check of the menu, I settled my eyes on Black thin tagliattele lobster! I choose it not because it was the most expensive dish under the fisherman section (16 €), but because I had never tried the combination, especially the black tagliattele. The excitement was big and the patience very small, but I filled the time with a small chat so in no time my dish was on the table. It looked splendid and it tasted amazing. The soft taste of the lobster mixed with the tagliattele gave it a much flavored taste and made this dish memorable for me. The dish came in no time, and was gone in no time!

Not that I could even ate more, but because I love it and I wanted to try the cheese plate, I also ordered it as the closing dish of that superb night. The cheese plate arrived and its plating was fantastic, I like it even more than the plating of the Black thin tagliattele lobster. Of course the cheeses were Italian, and of course I wanted more details about them. Trying to obtain more info, I discovered that Ristorante PiQuadro has a waiter specialized in cheeses, so I got to talk directly to him about the great display I had got on my plate. From him I found out that he goes himself at least once a week and purchase the cheeses after his taste them at the places he visit. Then, based on his evaluation the cheeses are bought and served in the restaurant to the guests. Of course there are also indication about the way to enjoy them, namely from left to right, all this for a more intense and delightful experience. Once I finished them I could say this was the best cheese plate I had ever got in a restaurant, especially due to the fact it didn’t have blue or red cheese.

Although I said I thought of the cheese plate as being the closing of the night, an Italian dinner is not Italian unless you enjoy a coffee and a limoncello at the end of the dinner. I did so and then I found it so difficult to go home…luckily there were my friends, else I would have been there even now….!

Thank you Ristorante PiQuadro for this memorable experience, and I am looking forward for visiting you as soon as possible.

Lunchtime on the Peblinge Lake!

Summer is about to be over, at least in the northern part of Europe. Yet there might be few more days with very beautiful and warm days, when any of us would like to spend the day somewhere out, chilling next to a drink and enjoying a nice view.

Thus for all of those belonging to this category of people, I might have a suggestion, at least for those living or visiting Copenhagen. My suggestion is to go and spend some quality time at Kaffesalonen (http://www.kaffesalonen.com/), on the Peblinge Lake (Peblinge Sø).

I was there myself on the beautiful Saturday that has just past, and I had a great time. The interest in this place had been built up by my brain some long time ago. It is so because it, my brain, linked the excellent position – on the lake – of the cafe, with my interest in exploring new places and enjoying a day next to the water…and this link was made all the time I travelled by bus around that place. So, at a moment when all the Danish media was talking about the great weather from this last weekend and about the best and sunniest August in the last 11 years (http://www.dmi.dk/nyheder/arkiv/nyheder-2015/08/dejlig-varm-august-maaned/), I couldn’t remain cold to it, and I decided to go out and enjoy the day at this particular place from my must-do list, Kaffesalonen. With no reservation, but with my girlfriend and two more friends, we hit the road together towards this cafe.

Kaffesalonen is centrally located, some 10 minute walk from Nørreport Station, in Nørrebro’s direction. Then, just after passing Queen Louise Bridge, which is the most crowded bicycle bridge in the whole world (https://designtoimprovelife.dk/busybikecph/), we turned left (the cafe can be easily seen from the bridge) and there we are, ready to meet one of my interest summer spots in Copenhagen.

Kaffesalonen – on the left side of the lake!

Without being welcomed or anything like that we walked alone around the place, looking for a spot to satisfy everyone of us: chairs, tables, standing, sitting etc. In the end, we decided to seat in the area that looks like it was designed for picnic.

There we had the menus as well; menus that I would say offers a quite good diversity of drinks and food.  After a thoroughly check of them, we decided to order; but for this we had to go the bar.

The bar!

India Pale Ale Beer!!!

At the bar we thought we could order both food and drinks, but we were wrong: only the drinks could be ordered at the bar, for the food it is necessary to cross the street and go to the cemented location of Kaffesalonen, and place the order there. However, we ordered the drinks and with them went to order the food.

On the way there I unpleasantly discovered that my beloved ice coffee was actually ice-cream coffee, a totally other think that, despite its desired refreshing effect, it is very sweet and it has nothing to do with the ice coffee I know, like and want: coffee and ice, dot. Disappointed to have been paid 45 kr for a drink I didn’t want, I was looking for a better experience from the food. Like I said, the cafe is just over the street, and it looks like many other coffee shops in Copenhagen: that Danish style, with simple arrangements, bare walls and, in this case, grey walls although they were designed for sure to be white. When at the desk, I had another disappointment: the waitress told me that even for my Caesar salad, the average waiting time was of about 40 minutes!!!! I was blank for a second, then I started joking and in the end I still ordered the salad, paying 119 kr, knowing that we would be there for at least one more hour; but still 40 minutes!!!!

My Caesar salad

These chain of events were the most challenging facts of that afternoon, because once we return to our fancy spot we started talking and having a great time while enjoying the hot rays of the sun. The place is magnificent! Imagine only: you are in the middle of the city but in the same time you can lie down, even strip, and enjoy the sun next to the lake! It was all I needed. In the end, I received the salad too. It was very good, but the memories of those 40 minutes made it taste less delicious that it actually was.

We spent there about three amazing hours, and then we had to go with the thought that we have to return there again, maybe next year.

As a last line, I don’t specifically recommend Kaffesalonen, but I recommend its position and its great asset…the seating on the lake.

Wandering along Amager Beach!

In the last couple of days weather has been great in Copenhagen and its surroundings; a lot of sun and temperatures up to 25-28 degrees Celsius! With other words a time just perfect to have holiday, relax and enjoy a cold drink, preferably on the beach. I am not among the lucky ones when it comes at matching the perfect summer weather with my schedule, so I can only envy those out there having a wonderful time in Copenhagen, while I am just looking outside through the window of my flat.

This situation makes me remember last time I enjoyed a day at the beach here in Copenhagen! I have this experience very fresh in my mind since it happened just three days ago, when I succeeded to make a window in my schedule, and I escaped to one of the beaches in Copenhagen, Amager Strand. However, I didn’t go there for having a bath in the sea, I just walked along the beach together with my girlfriend, enjoying the views and the timeless-like atmosphere.

Our escape started at Femøen Metro Station. Around 7-8 minutes from the station is the closest point to get to the amazing outdoor swimming pool, Kastrup Søbad. It is a very uncommon swimming pool, just offshore, in the sea water! To this, its innovative and fancy design adds even more excitement to everyone visiting it. Moreover, here it can also be seen the Øresund Bridge, the only link between Denmark and Sweden, together with tehe rest of the Nordic countries!

Kastrup Søbad seems to be aslo the southern end of Amager Beach.

Kastrup Søbad!

Øresund Bridge!

From there we walked north. The weather was nice, with clear sky and good temperature, although the wind blew quite hard at that particular time. The beach is wide, clean and with sand; yet, the water has plenty of stones, seaweed and it is pretty cold. But, we are in Denmark, not in an exotic destination, famous for the best beaches; although if you don’t consider sea’s characteristics, the view is close to what one may have seen in other destinations with nice beaches.

Apart from the beaches, there are also parks, where people come to enjoy their spare time without getting wrapped in a sand layer.

As a negative side of beaches in Denmark, and so of Amager Strand  as well, I have notices that there are not many bars, coffee shops or other kind of shops around the beach; but this might be due to the proximity of the city streets with their shops. However, there are some places with drinks and ice cream, and we even discovered a cafe. It is called Allehånde Cafe (http://www.allehaandecafe.dk/).

Salmon sandwich!

Fadøl with view!

Allehånde Cafe!

It is a very nice one, on a boat, at shore and with view to the sea. There I served a cold beer -the popular Danish fadøl– and a salmon sandwich. They have a pretty diverse menu for both drinks and food, and the prices are not higher than in the city, although the view is better I would say; so, I do recommend this place if you found yourself wandering around Amager Strand.

I mentioned some rows above that day was quite windy, and that it created the unpleasant feeling of having the sand in your eyes, properly. Yet the wind seemed not to bother everyone; this is because that day was like gold for the kiteboard lovers. There were many of them enjoying the very good wind, which is actually not rare to Denmark, but as one of the kiters told me, to have good temperatures, a perfect clean sky, and such a great wind, it is yet not something they have every day. We enjoyed a lot this on site show, and took a lot of pictures with our phone cameras!

We wouldn’t have gone from there, unless the evening was coming and we had to follow other plans as well. Thus, from there we walked to the Øresund Metro Station, from where we took the train back to the city center.

It was a great walk along the Amager Strand beach, and I think this can be a very nice activity to do in these very nice and hot days in Copenhagen; I refer here especially to tourists, because I am sure the Danes and the others living in Denmark for some time know about this beach and they will take it over.

My advice: enjoy it at its max!

Burger crumbs from Cocks & cows SP34, Copenhagen!

I love burgers…no matter from where, when, how etc. I usually associate them with adjectives like: delicious, nourishing, fast and cheap :-)! Of course this is not the case all the time; sometime burgers mean also art or fancy meal.

Refering to the city I arguably know the best, Copenhagen, there are several good places with good and very good burgers, and of course there are different rankings used to name the best burger places in the city. These rankings include many places, but some of them are present in almost all the tops, which might be an indication of their value and appreciation from customers’ side.

One of these places is Cocks and cows! With a very weird name, but very appealing in the same time -although there are neither cocks nor cows in the restaurant- Cocks and cows is a chain of burger restaurants in Copenhagen which has been nominalized several times for the best burger restaurant in Copenhagen (http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/cocks-cows-sp34-gdk916953 ; http://www.aok.dk/restaurant-og-cafe/cocks-cows-paa-gammel-strand). Almost any time one searches on internet “the best burger place in Copenhagen” the majority of the results will suggest or include Cocks and cows.

This is how I decided for the first time to visit Cocks and cows; it happened about one and a half year ago; that time I visited the restaurant situated on Gammel Strand Street. Although the burgers were delicious, the overall experience was not memorable; or to put it another way, the only thing I could really remember was the name of the place stamped on the top bun of the burger!

That was my first experience with Cocks and cows; yet, few days ago I decided to visit Cocks and cows again. I decided to do so not based on my previous experience, but on some other things like: availability, mood, curiosity, venue etc.!

Since Cocks and cows is a chain having three restaurants in Copenhagen, this time I decided to go to another restaurant of the chain, Cocks and cows SP34. The booking I made was for Sunday evening. Surprisingly at the moment I made the online booking –three days before the actual visit- all the tables were available; first thought: something is wrong with this place; although, I knew this place was very appreciated in the city, thing which confused me even more. Anyway I didn’t change my mind, and Sunday, at 19:15 I was in front of its door. I wasn’t alone, but together with my girlfriend and two friends. Although it has its own entrance, we were asked to enter through the entrance of the hotel which is hosted by the same building. The first remark: there were customers in restaurant (contrary to the feeling I had when booking the table); not fully booked but enough to create and support a good atmosphere for a great evening. Once at the bar, after the waitress found our reservation, we were asked whether we would like to seat in the restaurant or on the terrace. Since we didn’t know about the terrace, we asked it to be shown to us before we could made a decision. Kindly, the waitress took us to the first floor, where an intimate and quiet terrace opens in-between the walls of the buildings. We liked it and decided to stay there. Like Visit Copenhagen says very well this terrace is “an intimate oasis in the middle of buzzing Copenhagen”. No noises, no traffic, no people staring in your plate…!

First we received the menus, in English, and then we were given some time to consider what we would like to have! Personally I was happy to see in the menu the Jacobsen Brown Ale beer, and I went for it without any thoughts; as for the burgers, The New Yorker winkled at me and I couldn’t resist its call.

Beside the sandwich, as the menus are now made in many burger places, the customer is asked to choose separately the type of the bread, the sides, and the dressings! Of course each of them has its price! My choice: sweet American bread with salty fries, no dressing! Then we got engaged in discussing different topics. Meanwhile the drinks arrived, but for three of us only; for my beer I still had to wait about five more minutes.

No long after that, the burgers arrived. Then the silence took over and our hands, jaws and mandibles started working. Delicious! My burger was made with steak, which was so juicy…exactly like those served in genuine steak houses, like Mash (in Copenhagen).

I enjoyed so much the burger that I totally forgot about the fries; so I served them as chips for the beer! Worth mentioning or not, this time the logo of the restaurant was on the bun was well, though it was a bit difficult to decipher it; yet this time the taste of the burger got stuck in my mind, and not the logo!

All in all I had a great time at Cocks and cows SP34, and I left from there with better memories than after the first visit. Not the last, to the great experience a funny situation contributed as well! It all happened when at the moment we decided to pay the bill, I went to pay it at the bar, and while I was returning to my table, with the bill in my hand and my eyes resting on the numbers (especially when I noticed I paid for the tap water as well!!!), I could hear a gentleman from a table close to ours, calling me and saying, in Danish, “can we also get the bill, please?”! I was very confused, and all I could say was: “excuse me!?” after which he repeated his request. Finally understanding his request I started laughing, and I replied “well, I am not a waiter, I am just a client as you are too!” Then, the discussion was interrupted by long moments of good laugh, coming from both tables and not only!

What could I expect more for a that night!? However, I cannot asses  in what degree this place is one of the best burger restaurants in Copenhagen, but it definitely satisfyed my expectations for that specific night.

Go and try it, see what you get out, and then share your experience so the other readers can make the best decision for a great evening out in Copenhagen!

Definitely one of the best places for brunch in Copenhagen: Cafe Pixie!

Are you a tourist or a local looking for a great place to enjoy a brunch alone or together with someone else? I might have a place that you may like it! It is called Cafe Pixie (http://cafepixie.dk/), in Copenhagen.

I chose to eat in this place after I had seen that it is promoted not only by VisitCopenhagen (http://www.visitcopenhagen.dk/da/kobenhavn/gastronomi/top-10-brunch) but also by AOK (http://www.aok.dk/restaurant-og-cafe/de-5-laekre-brunch)  as one of the best places for brunch in Copenhagen, and now that I visited the place by myself I can definitely agree with these two Danish sources.

Cafe Pixie is located close to Nordhavn Station -it took me about eight minutes to get there by foot-, and so somehow away from the touristic areas of Copenhagen, which gives it the feeling of an authentic experience. Next to it is another cafe, Bopa Cafe, which seems to follow the same business plan. However, when I first had the two of them in sight, I could say that Cafe Pixie might offer something more exciting than their neighbors; its patio was bigger and full of people, while the other one had not so many customers at the time of my visit.

Like I said, when my girlfriend and I arrived at Cafe Pixie, almost all the tables were taken, but luckily we got a table, without having a reservation. Few seconds later our order was taken: two brunches and two big latte.

I’d read before my visit her some comments on TripAdvisor about this cafe, as it takes a long time to get the food; well, I cannot say whether that’s right or not. All I know is that in our case it took about 20 minutes to receive both the food and drinks; they were brought in the same time!

Once the food was on our table the feast started! The brunch looked fantastic and I kinda new from the very beginning that my stomach will have a hard time. But I didn’t care: I ate it all, this is how much I like it! Scrambled eggs, bacon, two pieces of grilled Merguez sausages, cantaloupe, grapes, cheese, yoghurt with muesli, salmon with cucumber, zucchini and mint, croissant, a little cake, Oland bread and of course the traditional and famous Danish rugbrød with butter….all of them very yummy, that I have their memory very fresh in my mind.

The atmosphere was also very nice: summertime weather , sun, and a lot of people at the tables around us…The service was very good as well; I will go as far as to say it was at a level one may expect only in high class restaurants.

At the end of this post, if it is to link this experience of mine with a famous TV commercial, it’d sound like this: distance to the cafe: 56 minutes; two brunches and two latte: 380 Danish Crowns (for two persons); my satisfaction: beyond words!

All in all I had a great time at Cafe Pixie, and I recommend it to everyone, tourists or locals, looking for a delicious and consistent brunch, in a pretty much authentic Danish atmosphere, and in a non-touristic area of Copenhagen.

Toldboden in Copenhagen…the perfect place to enjoy lunch in a sunny day of summer!

For a couple of days now summer has arrived in Copenhagen as well. Everyone is extremely excited about it, but there is also a bit of uncertainty given by the fear that all these very nice weather will go away in no time. However, this made us all -the ones born, moved or touring Copenhagen- forget about anything else and try to go out an enjoy this special edition of sun. In my case I have been looking for this weather since August last year, when the last days of summer left some memories in my mind. So, although, I kind of overslept last night, and I waked up kind of late, in this way missing morning sun which supposed to announce me about the nice weather of today, the moment I saw how beautiful the weather is I jump out my bed, put on my running kit and went out and run for a while. Once back in the house I took a shower and got ready to go out and have the “morning” coffee on a terrace. As usually I aimed for a different place, wanting to discover new places, new recipes, new people….With no idea in my mind I google it, and I found as a suggestion Todboden, somewhere in central Copenhagen, next to the water. So, I just saw few pictures with the place and I was sure this is the place I want to enjoy a part of my day.

The moment I arrived there I could recall that I kind of remember the place from my previous visits in that area, because that place is a touristic one as well, more or less in the way to the Little Mermaid. However, Toldboden has a nice patio, just perfect to enjoy a drink and/or something else in a nice weather; but it also has a very nice and big room inside, which can welcome many customers.

Hungry being I skip all the other aspects and I decided to stay in line for ordering the food, bearing in my mind the image of a nice dish that another customer just got, but which I didn’t know what exactly was. However, in meanwhile my eyes were given to see some other nice dishes so I got totally confused about what I would like to have. My turn comes and I decided to go for Steak Frites, and a Heineken.

In return I received a round pager which suppose to announce me when my order is ready so I can come to pick it up. With the hungry in my stomach, the beer in one hand and the pager in the other hand I took a seat at a table, obviously outside in the patio! After a waiting time of circa 15 minutes my pager let me know that it is the time for my stomach to celebrate. Anyways it was not only my stomach that should celebrate but also my eyes which were so delighted with the way my steak looked like

Steak Frites!

Steak Frites & Fish’n’Chips (my gf’s order)!

Once at the table, there was not waiting or thinking time…I jumped directly on the steak! It was delicious; and slowly, slowly I started feeling full, although the steak was still present on my plate. But this was not because it wasn’t good but because it was too much…ca. 300g. In the end I gave up, and I decided to share my food with someone in need, so I took it with me and gave it to a homeless.

However, before I left Todboden I took some more pictures to remember my experience there, but also to be able to share them with you, the ones reading this post, so you can have a more clear picture of what I am talking about.

As a conclusion, I won’t say bye, because we will meet again, but I will suggest you go and check out this place, Toldboden, as long as it is nice outside and you can enjoy the view as well.

View from the patio!

Patio’s bar (closed at the time of my visit)!

Bon appetite!