Seasonal Paradise

British Food

This is the food that built me. Mum made a plate of my old favorite. Yorkshire puddings n graaavy included.

Occidental Bar

Occidental Bar is the last cigar bar in San Fran. Cigar bars can't employ anyone. Only owners can work in cigar bars...as their health is under threat for working in a smokey environment.

Went with Justin Parfitt. Discovered Lagavulin Distillers Blend and enjoyed a Padron Anniversary series cigar.

Justin Parfitt, HeyLets

My very good friend and god parent of our daughters, Justin Parfitt. Enjoying a great steak in San Fran. Justin is pioneering a fascinating new startup called HeyLets. An app that is the next generation on from FourSquare.

Cheeky Gregory's Coffee in New York

Gregorys Coffee in New York are very cheeky.  When they saw my Starbucks mug they pointed it out to me, and then after I left, I noticed the cheeky buggers had put a Gregory's sticker on my mug.  Outrageous.  Love it!  Good for them.  How can your company breed that kind of brand-pride amongst its employees?




They're the yin to Starbucks yang.  They've effectively looked at the flaws in Starbucks business and out-Starbucked them.  Here's the main things I've noticed.

Walk-in Experience
Starbucks: Long line.  Wait, kick heels, feel slightly neglected.
Gregory's: Long line, but crazy fast service.  Within 5 seconds of walking in the door someone has taken my order.  Definitely not feeling at all neglected here, and the people are a little more perky and happy, and enjoying the busy-ness.

Coffee
Starbucks: Consistently good.
Gregorys: Consistently great!

Look n Feel
Starbucks:  Green and brown.  Armchairs, wood chairs.  
Gregorys:  Gray, dark purple, black, bright lights. Benches and steel chairs.  Not necessarily better, just a contrast to Starbucks.

Baristas
Starbucks:  Sometimes a little tired. 
Gregorys:  They seem a bit more involved, fun and irreverant.

Food
Starbucks:  Caged, refrigerated and packaged.  
Gregorys:  Fresh baked, not packaged or refrigerated.  The one on 46th Avenue and 5th even has a bakery in the back...



Here's an example of how Gregory's one-ups employee morale.  Over Valentines they ran a promotion.  Bring in a Valentines card or gift for the baristas, and get a free coffee.  Showing the love.  Nice!  

Gregorys tagline is we 'see coffee differently.'  I think they do.  

 

A Bit Of Sausage And Books

Waterstones Picadilly is my favorite book shop.  The sausage and mash is first rate, at 5th View.  Waterstones has 6 floors of books and 8 miles of shelving and was the inspiration for 'Are You Being Served.'  

 

iDate Moscow

Rethymnos Fish

We spared the lobster and went for the Snapper.

Perfect Greek Salad

Enjoying another Greek salad at Irena's favorite restaurant in Athens on Adrianou Street.

La Pergola, In Rome

La Pergola at The Waldorf Astoria offers probably the finest dining experience in Rome. We took the 9 course sampler. The final course was called 'The Grand Dessert' and comprised another 18 courses of desserts, which we hadn't quite planned on or paced ourselves for. 'A wafer thin mint?'

Desserts at La Pergola

Wafer thin mints?

Grimsby Fish n Chips With Neil

After the Internet Dating Conference in London I took off to my home town in England, Grimsby, and went biking and hiking with my school friend Neil.  I've known Neil since I was 14 and we share the same taste in English food.  Fish and chips.  We went to Beckets in Cleethorpes.  The fish and chips was the best I've ever had.  We ate our fish and chips out on the Pier at the beach.   

Octopus In Marsascala

Last Sunday we trekked out to Marsascala on the South East side of Malta, for octopus. They put up a fight.

Enticing Entrance to Bacchus In Mdina

Bacchus Restaurant Review

Bacchus is the best deal in Mdina. We passed by this restaurant when we took a guided tour of Malta which included Mdina, back in May 2008. It was built in 1650 but the outer walls date back 2000 years. The food was great and the house wine mediocre. The surroundings were very much in keeping with the entire feel of Mdina. Dark, old, quite and underground. We had two appetizers which were more than enough food for us, a bottle of wine and a tea and the bill came to less than 30 Euro all in.

Tatitas Restaurant Review

Tatitas is in San Lawrenz about 10 minutes walk from the Kempinski hotel in Gozo. In the summer Tatitas is swarming with people and up to 100 seats are set up outside right in the church square. Off season we were one of three sets of diners for our Sunday lunch. the manager served us directly and the service was faultless and excellent. Our guidebook ranks Lt-Tmun as superior to Tatitas but we beg to differ. Prices were comparable but the seafood was clearly better. I had the special with a local fish that I forget the name of and Irena had the calamari. Both were beyond excellent. We didn't realize calamari could taste so good. We toasted through a half bottle of Veuve Clicquot, enjoyed a dessert of home made apple pie and finished withvtwo cappacinos for a bill of 100 euro all in. Our weekend escape was almost complete after visiting Tatitas. Now on to Mdina.

Lt-Tmun Victoria Lounge Review

We took in our first Gozo island meal at the Lt-Tmun Victoria Lounge in Victoria ana Rabbat, the capital of Gozo, in the middle of the island. the service was good, the food very good and the surroundings relaxing and homely. My sea bass was a let down for being a tad bland. Irenas veal was just perfect. She later admitted to me that she had pointed at something else on the menu and that she didn't actually like veal, until this meal. Now she likes veal. All in all, four stars.

Octopus Pizza

Octupus Pizza
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

Octopus pizza in Malta's harbor at the Hilton.

Monkeying Around At a Tokyo Temple

Monkeying Around At a Tokyo Temple
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

We picked up some sweets at a stall in the street opposite the Tokyo Buddhist
temple.  They taste good, and are quite decorative as well.

Japanese Sticky Sweets

Japanese Sticky Sweets
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

Say, these sweets are really sticky.

Taking To Green Tea

Taking To Green Tea
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

Green tea just feels better then other teas.  It feels great drinking it,
especially as part of a ritual, and it leaves you feeling even better
afterwards, unlike coffee.  ...In fact Tokyo, all round, just feels better.
We love Tokyo.  The food, the people, the entire experience was as close to
utopia as we've come yet.

Cotton Candy At The Vera Beach Fair

Cotton Candy At The Vera Beach Fair
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

I haven't eaten cotton candy since I was a kid.  This was made for us right before our eyes and was the best cotton candy we have ever tasted. 

Czech Lunch

Czech Lunch
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

Lunch at Irena's parents.

Jinmao Tower Decadence

Jinmao Tower Decadence
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

If ever you're in Shanghai, treat yourself to a night at the Jinmao Tower
Hyatt Regency. It's the highest hotel in the world. Here we are on the 76th
floor. We'd planned on checking in and then hitting the clubs, but the view
was so incredible we just spent half an hour ogling out of the window, and
then decided to have dinner in the room. If ever a hotel room could offer a
life changing experience, this is it. Our favorite hotel in the world, so
far.

Hunan Cuisine

Hunan Cuisine
Originally uploaded by Mark C Brooks

Last night The Dragon Lady (Ping) treated us to a Hunan dinner. Fish, spinach (kinda, sorta), and some crunchy awesome veggie dishes. Fantastic! Hunan cuisine is spicey, but not as spicey as Szechuan.

Eat Like The Natives

Eat Like The Natives
Originally uploaded by mcbrooks71

The local Carrefour offers up great local food. This is China's equivalent

of fast food. Healthy, fast and fresh.