[Trip] Scotland – Ben Nevis

So we decided to go for a quick Scottish road trip before Hogmanay begins. We drove through the Ben Nevas before heading to Inverness. It is about 3 hours drive from Edinburgh, when we went, the weather was overcasted and the drive itself wasn’t too bad. There wasn’t too many cars on the road. The landscape is really beautiful. . It reminds me of the drive from Queenstown to Christchurch during winter. There are mountains covered with snow. There is a steam train which runs to Edinburgh to Fort Williams. That is where Harry Potter train scene is based. To get onto the steam train, you will need to book way way in advance, I was told that it gets sold out sometimes 6-12 months before the schedule. Ben Nevas is the mountain, it is the Scottish Alps. The boy wants to stop over to have a look. If we had more time in UK, we would have decide to go to Scottish Alps to ski. When we arrive at the parking, it isn’t full. It was good because it is not as packed as what we thought it might be.

We took the ski lift up to the mountain. That is where the base of the ski ground is. It is quite nice, as there isn’t too many people. When we went, it was early lunch period, we decided to bring a quick lunch there. The food isn’t great but the view is quite nice. We both love the snow scene. We saw people hike to the ski field and people brought their dogs along to the ski ground. It was interesting to see a dog running around in the snow. We checked that the ski class isn’t too expensive and there is a few to choose from. However it was an unplanned stop, we didn’t bring our snow gear with us. We didn’t get to ski during this road trip, the boy was quite bummed about it. Hopefully sometimes in my future, I would love to visit this ski fields again.

[Trip] Scotland – Inverness and Lochness

Inverness is located at Northern part of Scotland, we decided to go on a road trip to have a look around the area. When we drove up from Edinburgh, we went pass Ben Nevas and Lochness. Lochness is very beautiful, we went there during the evening and early in the morning. It shows a different view depending on when you visit. Of course, we didn’t see the monster. We didn’t get a chance to see on a boat tour for Lochness or visit the museum, as we ran out of time. But what we saw is a beautiful scenery of the Loch. Basically the Loch is bigger version of the lake. I do recommend driving by the Loch, every moment is quite breath-taking.

Inverness is quite a small Scottish town, we only did a stopover at the town. We got to see the castle at night, but we didn’t get to go in and have a look. We left quite early in the morning. Although it was just after Christmas when we went, the town isn’t too busy. But some of the restaurants were booked out, we ended up going to a pub for dinner. We did go to a Scottish pub after dinner and experience the Scottish dance and music. It started at 9pm, but the pub was packed by then. The pub was located almost next to Mercure hotel, it is about 5 minutes from the hotel. If we were going to stay longer in Inverness, I do recommend to go to the castle which is located at the top of the hill

[Food] The Bamboo Flute

The boy’s friend recommend this restaurant in Marylebone, he noticed it as it was on the free newspaper in London. So we decided to give it a try, as his friend basically said it is the best Chinese restaurant in London. So we went there, the restaurant is located not on the main road. The nearest tube station is Great Portland street, it is about 5 minutes walk from the station to the restaurant. It isn’t hard to find, as there isn’t much restaurants on that street. The restaurant reminds me of fine dine Chinese restaurant, it is brand new set-up, quite clean. They use white as the background which gives a clean and brand new atmosphere. The staff direct us to a table, we were the only customer at the time.

We ordered dishes and soup for our meal. The speed of the food is alright, it is about 15 minutes wait from ordering. The service is quite decent from the staff, he is quite quick on his feet. The dish portion is quite small however the fried rice is decent. The favour is quite nice, as it does have the wok touch in the dishes. The presentation of the fried rice is quite good, as it comes in bamboo style. I do wish that they use the bamboo to cook the fried rice, then it would have the bamboo favour in the rice as well. It is quite similar to the Chinese dishes we have in Hong Kong. The soup was a slight disappoint to me, as I thought I would expect the Shanghainese style, but I got the Cantonese style of Hot and sour soup. The favour is still quite good, but I was expecting to see the Shanghainese style more. The price is quite pricey in my opinion, it is about £25 per person for 3 dishes and 2 soup. I do recommend to try the fried rice at the restaurant.

Address: 145 Cleveland Street, London w1T6QH, England

[Food] Baozi Inn

So we always go passed this place and always get the sticks for snacks. What I mean by sticks is actually skewers, the way how they are made is they boiled the skewers in a hot and spicy broth. The way how the boy likes is by cooking on a charcoal open fire. To me, they have its own style and favour. Sometimes you have to go with what was given. Baozi in Chinese means buns, it is something that Chinese people get for snacks in between meals. It is quite popular as it is not messy to eat and the bun is quite soft, it is different to Western style of bread. This place is located in Chinatown, quite close to Leicester Square. You won’t miss the place as when you walked past the restaurant, you can smell the hot and spicy smell from the broth. There are 2 entrances to the restaurant, one is for takeaway, mainly for skewers and the other one is the main eat-in restaurant.

We decided to go try eat-in one night, luckily we went there early, as it can get quite packed during dinner period, anything after 7pm. The place is quite crowded and small, the table are quite close to each other. You can hear other conversation going as well as your own one. The service from staff is similar to what you get in Chinese restaurant, just order. The speed is quite quick from the restaurant, the presentation is alright. The portion is quite good for its price, it will definitely fill you up and the price is quite decent. It is not expensive and the favour from the food is so similar to what you get in China. I do recommend trying their dumpling and noodle soup.

For more information, please visit their website: baoziinnlondon.com
Address: 26 Newport Ct, London WC2H 7JS

[Food] Noodle Bar

We were wandering around aimlessly at Chinatown area, we came across this restaurant. We always walk past it but never really took a chance to look at the menu. We always see that it is quite busy and there is a queue outside the restaurant all the time. So we decided to give it a go after seeing the menu. I like noodle soup style of food, I don’t know why but I just do. After seeing it on the menu, I definitely want to give it a go. So we got a table downstairs, the restaurant itself is quite small, I think that is why there is queue all the time. On the way to our table, we saw the cooking bench and noticed the chef is making the noodle from scratch, we immediately knew that the noodle is heaps good at the place.

So we ordered noodle soup for our meal, unfortunately roasted duck was sold out so I got hot and sour noodle soup instead. The speed of the food is quite quick but the service was similar to other Chinese restaurant we have been to. The portion is huge and it is definitely enough to fill a hungry person. The price is quite cheap despite of its location, I think their target customer is oversea students. There are 2 types of noodles which you can choose from, one is called dan mein (which is like egg noodle type) and the other one is knife slide noodle. I quite like knife slide noodle as the noodle is thicker and has the texture of chewy dough. It tastes really good when it is soaked in broth. The broth is really good with soup, they have different soup for different ingredients of your noodle soup. Beef stock for beef related noodle soup, chicken stock for chicken related noodle soup, etc. Unfortunately we didn’t get any skewers but we noticed almost every table ordered the skewers, this is a sign of a must try dish too. I do recommend to try their noodle dishes and the skewers.

Address: 33 Cranbourne Street London WC2H 7AD

[Food] Long Ji

The boy likes this café because of the exterior design of the café. It is the map of Hong Kong Metro system and also they have noodle soup which you can design your own fillings. This is one of the typical Hong Kong street food/lunch that local gets. We have been to this café a few time, our most memorable one is during Chinese New Year when our families weren’t in the country. Normally in Chinese New Year, families gather around and have great amount of food and celebrate a new year. So we decided to have the same thing, except without the family part. During busy meal period and Chinese New Year, this place can be quite packed although they have like 3 levels of table. Each level has about 10 tables, most of the time we were able to get a table without a wait.

Normally we get the noodle soup and also Hong Kong style milk tea as our drink, the noodle soup is quite similar to what we have in Hong Kong. The boy likes to choose his own, which is so totally different to my choice. I like the pig skin, raddish and green vegetable in a curry broth and thin rice noodle. The portion is alright, it is just enough to fill you up. The favour is quite nice, it is similar to what I have in Hong Kong. The speed of the food is quite quick, normally you would get your food within 15 minutes. The price is quite decent and on a cheap side, I think they are targeting oversea Chinese student. This café is located quite close to Leicester square tube station, it is about 5 minutes walk from the station. Just behind the café is Chinatown.

Address: 47-49 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0AN

[Food] Jen cafe tea specialist

So we decided to try this place after the boy saw the lady making dumplings at the front of the store. He is a big fan of dumplings in general. This place is located in Chinatown, quite close to Baozi Inn (actually next to it). To get to Chinatown, the closest tube station is Leicester square, it is about 5 minutes walk from the station. It is quite small café (Green on the corner), there are about 10 tables in the restaurant. The atmosphere reminds me of the typical Hong Kong style café, which they will kick you out when you finish. It is not a café where you sit and enjoy yourself.

The speed of the food is quite quick, you can see them making it as the kitchen is right at the back of the store. The food itself is alright, the dumpling is quite nice. The noodle soup which I had was average, I wouldn’t say it is the best one I had in London. The presentation is average, it is not the type which will appeal you immediately. The portion is average but with dumplings, it is just enough to fill you up. The price is alright, pretty reasonable. The service is similar to other Hong Kong café, which they are there to take order. I do recommend to try the dumplings, as it is similar to how they are made in Beijing.

[Trip] Spain – Madrid

Madrid is the capital city of Spain and it is home to Real Madrid Football Club. It is about 2 and a bit hours flight from London. They speak Spanish as their national language, but their English is quite good. You can get around the city with no or limited Spanish. They use Euro as their currency. Their public transportation system is quite good. We bought ourselves 10 rides pass, just remember you will need to purchase a supplementary ticket for the airport. You can get that when you are at the airport station. Their metro is quite good, it comes every 5-10 minutes during the weekend. We didn’t use the bus or train, so we didn’t know how good it is. The weather is quite nice when we were there, it was hot and sunny for summer. The hot isn’t like the humid hot, it has a nice wind breeze and dry hot.

They have a food market just off Plaza Mayor, it is quite small in my opinion. The food in there is quite pricey, but you can get cheap Montadito, which is 1EUR per skewers for some. It is good place to go in between meals or late night snacks. I quite like the Montadito, as they have a lot of them with Olives. It can get quite packed during meal time, but if you go there early or late of a meal time, it is quite nice to walk through. Madrid is a walkable city, there may be chances you can walk through a few stations. Sometimes it is much easier to walk than catch a public transport.

The palace is quite nice at Madrid, you will need to pay an entrance fee before visiting the state room. We have been through a lot of palace, this is an ok palace to visit. What amazed me is their armour room, which they display a lot of weapons which they use in the early 18th-19th century. It was quite fascinating to see the armour that they have and the weapons that they use in wars. It allows me to see how much the weapon have advanced since the ancient times.

[Trip] Spain – Botin

As recommended by my sister, we went to the oldest restaurant in the world. It is located in Madrid, quite close to the food market. We wandered around and came across the restaurant by accident. I knew the restaurant name from my sister. It is quite old and there is a Guinness Book of record certificate on the display at the restaurant front. It was quite interesting to see the restaurant front. We booked to have our lunch there before we left Madrid. We were seated at the upper level of the restaurant, we walked past the kitchen where the famous dish of suckling pig is cooked. Boy, do I see a lot of them?!

Of course, we got the signature dish for our main (the portion is quite big, 1 suckling pig dish for both of us). We got garlic soup for our starters. The garlic soup is amazing, it has a lot of favour in it. It is quite hot (I do love my hot soup), it is one of the best one I had. It is quite interesting as it uses ham, garlic, onion and egg for the soup. The suckling pig was awesome, I love the crispy skin, so crunchy, one of the best skins I ever had. The pig itself was quite soft and tender. I quite love the juiciness with the sauce. Everything just went so well together. The speed of the food and service from staff were quite quick, we finished our meal in 1 hour. The food is on the pricey side, but I still think it is value for money. I do recommend ordering the garlic soup and the suckling pig.

For more information, please visit their website: http://www.botin.es/
Address: Calle Cuchilleros, 17, 28005 Madrid, Spain

[Trip] Spain- The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas

So we went and visit The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, which is the famous bullfighting arena in Spain. It is located in Madrid, the closest metro station is Ventas. You look up from the station, you will see the arena. It is a nice arena with a Spanish touch. We were planning to do the tour around the arena, however we noticed that the ticket office was open. So we went and asked whether there is an event on that night, it turned out that there was one, for the trainee. Since we haven’t seen one before, so we decided to give it a go. We got the shaded area seating, which was pretty good as that day was quite hot and sunny. It was a pretty good view of the arena.

We got there about 30 minutes before it starts, so we got the audioguide and listen about the bullfighting event and its history. It was quite useful as we didn’t know how it works and what the sound means. So it starts off with the parade for Matador, if they took off their hats during the parade, it means that they are on debut on this arena. It was quite interesting fact. We got to see 6 Matador going through the bullfight, each took about 30 minutes each. They have 3 stages to go through before killing the bull. 1 stage is when Matador on the horse draws its first blood on the bull. The second stage is when 3 sets of 2 barbed sticks are inset on the bull, so that it weakens the bull even more. The third stage is the final kill which the Matador goes through a number of passes to weaken the bull before killing it with 2 stabs through spinal core for the instant death. Sometimes it takes a while until the bull dies. Once it is dead, it gets dragged out the arena by the mules and the staff cleans up the arena. To some, this is inhumane but to others, they see this as a sport. Whatever it is, to me, it is an experience.