Tag Archives: cheese

Croque Italienne – Patisserie Valerie

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Croque Italienne - Patisserie Valerie
Grilled granary bread sandwich filled with prosciutto ham, mozzarella and topped with sundried tomatoes, black olives and gruyere bechamel. Servied with a salad garnish. £6.70
Patisserie Valerie, London ENGLAND

This was a great variation on the a croque sandwich. I think it was the combination of the crispy granary bread and the “Italian” toppings covered in gruyere bechamel, all broiled to bubbly perfection that made this dish delightfully interesting. Noms! And the “salad garnish” was more substantial than I expected, score!

Raspyberry Heaven smoothie and OJ - Patisserie Valerie
Raspberry Heaven smoothie: raspberry, blueberry, mango and apple. £4.05
Freshly squeezed orange juice. £3.05

Monument of the Great Fire of London view

View from the top of the Monument of the Great Fire of London, including the 30 St Mary Axe building (the Gherkin).

Valdostana – Princi

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Valdostana - Princi
Ham, cheese, artichoke and mushroom. £4.60
Princi, London ENGLAND

I didn’t know what a valdostana was, but it looked good and hearty in the display case so I thought I’d give it a try. Apparently, valdostana refers to a region in Italy and what I ordered was a torta valdostana. It was very tasty and rich. The inner layers of dough seemed a bit undercooked though. Maybe there was just too much butter in the dough. Look at me complaining about overly buttery crust, lol!

Americano - Princi
Americano. £4.60

Green Park
Green Park.

Cheese and wine – Z Hotel Soho

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Cheese plate - Z Hotel Soho
Assorted cheese, olive, biscuit, raisin and hazelnut bread. Complimentary
Z Hotel Soho, London ENGLAND

The Z Hotel had a great complimentary cheese and wine break available in the early evening. They set it up in their cafe and actually had a pretty good selection of snacks and alcohol. We only made it down for one evening, but we had a great time. I was generally impressed by the professionalism and service from the Z Hotel staff overall. Although the rooms were super small, the central location of the hotel was perfect for this visit! 🙂

Red wine - Z Hotel Soho

Red wine. Complimentary

Palace Theatre
View of the Palace Theatre from my Z Hotel room, Cambridge Circus, West End.

Breakfast plate – Dolce Sitges

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Breakfast plate - Dolce Sitges
Spanish tortilla, Iberico ham, sausage, scrambled eggs, hazelnuts, cheese, toast, orange juice, coffee.
Dolce Sitges, Sitges ES

The breakfast buffet at Dolce Sitges was pretty kick-ass! This was only one plate I ate, but they definitely had much more to offer. We were unapologetic about loading up on breakfast before heading out for a day of sightseeing, hehe. We paid for it, right? And I felt like we would burn off the calories anyway. One downside to eating SO much breakfast was that I missed out on some food opportunities while touring simply because was still full. #touristproblems 🙂

Iberico ham legs
Iberico ham legs. This was a first! I’d never seen carving stations like this before where you can order as much ham as you want and the attendant will carve it directly off the leg. Now that’s what I call “cut-to-order”!

Grilled baby squid

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Grilled baby squid
Served with steamed vegetables.
Sitges ES

Ugh, I can’t remember the name of this restaurant. It was located inland in their downtown area near(ish) the train station. Oh well. The food was pretty good though and the service was excellent. Our waitress was very sweet and helfpful. We sat outside in their back patio area and had a wonderful meal. These baby squid were adorable and tasty too! I would have enjoyed a different side than the steamed veggies though.

Crostini and Luis Canas rioja

Complimentary crostini with roasted peppers and cheese. Luis Canas Crianza 2007, rioja.

Casa Bacardi Sitges
Casa Bacardi Sitges. I thought it was weird to have a large Bacardi tasting room/museum in Sitges, but I’m usually clueless about most things. 🙂

Beef roll ups – L’Arganier

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Beef roll ups - L'Arganier
Flatbread filled with beef, cheese, tomato, pickle. Complimentary
L’Arganier, Paris FR

We had sat down outside this restaurant for a quick drink break from walking around. After we had ordered our drinks, the waitress brought us this plate of roll ups which we weren’t expecting. We really liked her and thought that this was cute. We noticed that we were the only table to get the complimentary snacks in our area and we really weren’t sure why. It’s times like this when it would’ve been great to know French. 🙂

Les Invalides
L’Hotel national des Invalides (Les Invalides). This huge complex is pretty impressive, but the Hardouin Mansart chapel dome is certainly the centerpiece.

Assorted cheese plate – La Perle

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Assorted cheese plate - La Perle
Planche de fromages. Bleu d’auvergne AOP, emmental, Cantal AOP, camembert. 13€
La Perle, Paris FR

Omg, when this came out we were unsure if we had miscommunicated with the waitress and were subsequently served 2 orders of the cheese plate. Our French is nonexistent and she wasn’t completely fluent with English (god bless her for baring with us). There was SO much cheese! Instead of worrying about it, we decided to just go with the flow and eat. We if had to pay for 2 cheese plates we were fine with that. The cheeses were delicious and very filling. I was fooled by the hard pat of butter on the plate which I mistook for another cheese, lol! In my defense it really tasted different from American butter, hehe. I’m still puzzled why they serve butter with cheese and charcuterie as if any more fat is needed. There was no way we were going to finish this cheese plate so we ate as much as we could. It ended up being a single order! Sheesh, how can anyone eat that much cheese. 🙂

Sliced baguette - La Perle
Sliced baguette. Complimentary

The Wall for Peace

The Wall for Peace, Champs de Mars. Clara Halter and Jean-Michel Wilmotte, 2000. Inspired by the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem.

Croque madame – La Cooperative

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Croque madame - La Cooperative
De pain de campagne, frites et salade. Ham and cheese sandwich topped with fried egg, country bread, French fries and salad. 9,90€
La Cooperative, Paris FR

I thought I’d try a croque madame in France! Hmm, I’m not sure if this is how they’re supposed to be normally, but I wasn’t a fan. The bread was really toasted, as evidenced by the dark broiled cheese and dry edges, so it was hard and difficult to eat. I’m used to croque madames that are softly oozing with melted cheese and perhaps some bechamel thrown in for added moisture. This plate was gigantic though so it was a great value. I could only eat half of it, but the girl at the table next to us had no trouble finishing hers off, omg! The fries were also limp and bland.

Louvre Museum
Louvre Museum. Everything is so huge in Paris! The number of beautiful buildings is astounding so it’s not difficult to constantly be snapping pics. We walked the grounds of the Louvre but never made it inside. We didn’t want to bother with the long line and we were getting too tired to fully appreciate such a large museum once inside.

Ham and cheese omelette – Le Rostand

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Ham and cheese omelette - Le Rostand
Omelette mixte (jambon et fromage). Garnished with chopped chives. 10€
Le Rostand, Paris FR

This cafe is conveniently located across from the Luxembourg Garden. There’s plenty of seats outside and they’re all covered by their awning. The staff is very nice and professional and the food was delicious. Omg, this omelet was huge! And perfectly cooked. It was soft and oozing with cheese – a perfect meal to kickstart a day of sightseeing.

Coffee - Le Rostand
Coffee.

Palais du Luxembourg
Palais du Luxembourg. This beautiful is the seat of the French Senate. Wow, what a great work location! And it’s in the Jardin du Luxembourg which is a picturesque setting.

Open flame chicken meal – Goood Frikin’ Chicken

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Open flame chicken meal - Goood Frikin' Chicken
Marinated over night in an herbal marinade, cooked slowly on open flame til tender and done. Served with macaroni and cheese, side salad, olive oil pita, and garlic dip. Half chicken $11.75
Goood Frikin’ Chicken, San Francisco CA

I love the marinade that they use for their chicken! It’s SO delicious and I end up devouring the entire chicken, skin and all. Actually, the skin is my favorite part, hehe. Although their mac and cheese isn’t oozy-gooey I still love it. It’s full of cheesy flavor and works well with the Mediterranean spices used on the rest of the food. And of course I could eat stacks of their pita and garlic dip. Noms!

Chilaquiles Veronica – San Jalisco

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Chilaquiles Veronica - San Jalisco
Tortilla bits scrambled with two large eggs, cheese, onions and salsa complemented with chorizo, nopales and fresh Mexican-style sour cream. Served with black beans and rice. $9.95
San Jalisco, San Francisco CA

This was a lot of food, and it was delicious! You shouldn’t order this if you’re counting calories because this dish will definitely break the bank. I enjoyed that the drenched tortilla chips weren’t soggy, and the combination of sauce and gooey cheese kept everything together wonderfully. The addition of cactus and chorizo definitely put these chilaquiles over the top. Noms!

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2013

Chips and salsa - San Jalisco
Chips and salsa. Complimentary
I have to say it, the chips always taste a bit stale here. 😦

Wild mushroom and gorgonzola pizza – The Tropicale

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Wild mushroom and gorgonzola pizza - The Tropicale
Roasted garlic, diced tomatoes and fresh thyme. $13
The Tropicale, Palm Springs CA

The flavor combinations in this pizza were to die for! The wild mushrooms were earthy and the gorgonzola was sharp and pungent. The roasted tomatoes and garlic were delicious and the crust was pretty good too. I generally prefer a thinner, more airy crust but this thicker crust was needed to handle all those great toppings.