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The neatly plated, bite-size city of Parma is home to some iconic Italian dishes and foods. Reggiano parmigiano and Parma di Prosciutto (world-famous parmesan cheese and Parma ham) both come from here.

And if you pull the camera back a little, the broader Emilia-Romagna region is where things like bolognese, balsamic vinegar, tagliatelle, tortellini, ragu and even mortadella all come from.

So it’s little wonder that Parma is full of bars and restaurants serving just the most delicious dishes.

Locals here know what good food and good produce means, and the high standards are set, met and respected everywhere you go in this gracious yet down-to-earth river city.

If you want to know exactly what to eat while you’re here, check out our story on 7 Things You Must Eat in Parma.

For the best activities and tours in the region, click here!

Find the best rates on accommodation in Parma here.

Our Top Picks on Where to Eat and Drink in Parma

Only a short train ride major travel hubs like Milan and Bologna, we’re surprised to find Parma quite unused to tourism. Locals are friendly enough, though they seem surprised to see visitors.

Once we’ve fulfilled our primary goal of visiting a parmesan factory and a prosciutto farm a little out of town (you have to do this tour by the way, it’s fascinating), we settle down to exploring the food offerings of the city.

Trattoria del Tribunale — authentic Parma-centric dishes in an old-school setting

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Just off the main food street of Luigi Carlo Farini, this immense, Tardis-like old-school restaurant is packed with the charm of proper Italian hospitality.

The menu is full of Parma classics served with relish and pride. I came to Parma with a list of things I wanted to eat here; I tick most of them off in here!

Everything we order here is superb, and the service and atmosphere are impeccable. Get here early though as queues for tables build up fast.

Trattoria Corrieri — where the locals go for atmosphere and great food

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A recommendation from another restaurant, Trattoria Corrieri snatched the crown from our favourite — Trattoria del Tribunale — on our very last night in Parma.

Down the side of the University of Parma, this wonderfully homely little trattoria is full of warmth and life. We walk into a dining room packed with laughter and happy voices, staff move with purpose and good manners, and the food is simply splendid.

Add to that the exposed brick, the gingham tablecloths, the waistcoated waiters and the ‘meat cellar’ full of prosciutto legs and all kinds of other salumi, and there’s nothing Corrieri doesn’t have.

Osteria Virgilio — a bright friendly lunch spot

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On the western side of the Parma River, in amongst the alleys and once working class neighbourhoods of the Oltretorrente, the little Osteria Virgilio serves well-made Parma classics with a sense of flare that matches its wine lists.

We stopped in here for a spot of lunch and were impressed. They also had one of the dishes I was seeking: the caval pist — horse tartare. But this is so finely minced that it has almost a pesto smoothness.

We’re so comfortable in this little osteria that we find it hard to leave, especially with so many tempting bottles of wine around us.

Tabaccheria Caffetteria Giulia — drinks and snacks for aperitivo hour

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On one of the main streets of the passeggiata through Parma, Giulia is a lively little cafe with street-side seating, a quick-serving bar and plenty of tempting snacks in the cabinet.

We stopped here for a couple of glasses of wine at aperitivo hour, where you can grab bites to eat with your drink at a nominal fee.

The service is friendly, the drinks are well-priced and the snacks are very tasty. Tick all those boxes!

Enoteca Tabarro — fantastic people-watching and pretty good wine too

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Close to where we were staying in Parma, this funny little wine bar likes to take itself a bit seriously, but if you can overlook the man-splaining, you can score some excellent people-watching.

Order quickly so the guy who works here can’t get settled and grab an outdoor seat at one of the giant wine barrel tables. The wine, which is great by the way, will taste all the better.

Honorable Mentions

We didn’t get round to eating in these last few places, but they’re worth checking out. We’ll definitely try them the next time we’re here.

Osteria dei Servi — for meat grilled over coals and handmade pasta

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At the edge of the markets by the river, this place was completely full when we were here (in winter), but they did recommend we go to Trattoria Corierri, so that deserves credit.

Focused on authentic, homely dishes from the region, this place specialises in house-made pasta and grilled meat that they cook on a huge round charcoal grill.

Da Pepen — for top-level panini

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There’s nothing quite like a freshly made panino from a deli in Italy, and these guys are well-known for theirs. They do things like fresh fig, prosciutto and gorgonzola panini, but also horse meatballs in a sandwich if you’re game.

Ciacco Gelateria — for Parma’s best gelato

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This is a big call — especially without having tried it — but this is apparently the best gelato in a town that knows good food. The website looks slick and the flavours on offer sound quite avant guard, but owner and food scientist Stefano Guizzetti seems to know what he’s doing. We’ll be back, Sefano.

The post Where to Eat and Drink in Parma, Italy appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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From the Südtirol to Sardinia, from Palermo to Polignano a Mare, Italy’s food map is a patchwork of gastronomic endeavours.

To Italy, geography is food.

Every step you take here brings you to another dish, another local speciality, another unique morsel that owes its existence to the plates of that place. Some have just one food that equates to that region.

And then there’s Parma.

Ninety minutes south of Milan, the town of Parma and its broader region of Emilia-Romagna is the origin story of many of Italy’s keystone foods.

From Parmesan cheese (parmigiano reggiano) and Parma ham (prosciutto di Parma) to balsamic vinegar, mortadella, bolognese and even lasagne, they all come from here.

Check out our Naples food safari, where we find a dozen tasty things native to Napoli

We did this tour of a proscuito and a parmigiano factory in Parma – it was awesome!

Find the best rates for hotels in Parma here

7 Things You Must Eat In Parma, Italy

– Tortelli – (a.k.a tortelli d’erbetta) is a stuffed pasta usually with chard, spinach and ricotta. This is a popular dish in restaurants, but we found this one in a food truck at the markets in Piazza Ghiaia.

You can also find sweet tortelli, filled with crushed grapes and mustard served with butter cheese sauce. This is still considered a savoury dish and is served as an entree or main. It’s also handy to remember that tortelli is vegetarian while ravioli is the same shape pasta, but is usually meat-filled.

– Torta fritta – is often served with entrees of cheese and meats, these delightful crispy crunchy bread squares are fried so they puff up into pillows.

In Bologna these are called crescentina and in Modena they’re gnocco fritto, but they’re the same thing.

– Coppa – refers to ‘single-muscle’ cured meat. In this case, we’re talking about the precious culatello di Zibello. Taken from a particular part of the prosciutto pork leg, this rare and highly-prized cut is known as the ‘king of salumi’. 

– Anolini – is a little ‘bellybutton’ filled egg pasta stuffed with beef stew and cooked in a beef or capon broth. This is a hearty, satisfying dish.

– Caval pist – is a controversial dish. It’s tartare — therefore finely chopped or minced raw meat — but made with horse. It’s so finely minced, the consistency is like pesto. This dish is also sometimes called ‘pesto di cavallo’.

I’d never tried horse before and was expecting the meat to have quite a strong gamey flavour, but it was incredibly mild, almost bland. A touch of salt and lemon lifts the flavour, but it’s the fine texture that’s most impressive.

– Culatello tagliolini – uses prosciutto di parma crisped in sage butter and covered in parmesan cheese to sauce and flavour the tagliolini thin ribbon pasta. As you can imagine, this is a superb dish. I could eat this every day and never get bored of it.

– Mostarda di mele – apple mustard is a typical northern Italian condiment, but it commonly comes with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano as an entree.

The sweet, warming spiciness of the mustard is the perfect accompaniment to Parma’s two greatest creations!

Bonus – Rosa di Parma – the Rose of Parma

This is quite a dish. It consists of a veal fillet rolled up with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano so that, when it’s sliced, it looks like a rose. The middle must be rare. We never found this one, but you can see a photo of it here.

Aperitivo Hour

Although Parma is in a different region to Milan, aperitivo hour is strong in this town. At around 6pm, so many places around Parma have plates and plates of different types of food – from sandwiches to salumi to pastries.

All you need to do is find a seat, order a drink and pick your plates. Some places have this as a free snack with your drink, others offer it as an inexpensive pre-dinner bite and everyone gets involved!

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If you’ve been to any of Laos’ bordering neighbours of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and China, or if you know anything about them, you’ll find things eerily familiar when you’re in Laos; familiar, but not the same.

This feeling of cultural de ja vu is never stronger than in Laos’ food scene.

As we walk through the night markets of Luang Prabang or stop in at little local cafes in Vang Vieng, there are dishes we recognise, but that maybe have different English spellings or a twist on ingredients.

At first it’s unsettling.

We wonder if these are just a Lao interpretation of a Viet soup or a Thai curry, but it eventually dawns on us that perhaps this is the original dish and that it’s these other countries who have adapted it with their own take.

Or maybe its one of those moments when two things can be true at once.

Either way, there are many dishes in Laos that you have to try. Here are seven of our favourites.

For more of our stories and videos on Laos, click here!

We travelled through Laos with Inside Asia Tours. You can see the itinerary we took (and book it!) here.

Here are the hotels we stayed in while we were travelling through Laos if you’re looking for somewhere lovely yet local to stay.

7 Dishes To Eat In Laos

1. Duck Laab (spicy ‘meat salad’)

Made with spicy mince, lime juice, toasted ground rice, mint and chilli, laab is a common enough dish on the tables of Thailand. However, Thais usually make theirs with chicken.

The original Lao dish, which is where laab comes from btw, is made with duck.

The extra fat and flavour from the duck meat makes this richer and more satisfying — though I’ll take laab however it comes!

2. Kanom Krok (coconut pancakes)

We first fell in love with this sweet street-food snack in a food court in Bangkok, and every time we’re in Thailand we hunt it out. Crispy on the outside, and creamy and sweet in the middle, kanom krok are delicious.

So when we discovered there’s a version of kanom krok in Laos, we were stoked.

Often, vendors will put two together creating a ball. Don’t be put off by the eyeball aesthetic; these things are the best. Literally translated as ‘sweet hotplate’, these half-spherical treats are essentially tiny coconut cream pancakes made in a special griddle.

Thais tend to add different toppings like crispy onion, sweetcorn or taro, whereas Laotians often leave their kanom krok plain. Having said that, we have found both in both countries.

3. Ua Si Khai (lemongrass chicken)

Quite an unusual dish, Ua Si Khai translates as ‘lemongrass stuffed chicken’ and is traditional Lao cuisine.

Basically, it’s spiced chicken mince that’s stuffed into a split lemongrass stalk and grilled. The fusion of lemongrass into the mince is delicious, though it can be frustrating to eat as extracting the chicken is a bit tricky. Worth the effort though.

This dish can also be made with minced pork, though chicken is more traditional and is the ‘khai’ part of the dish’s name.

4. Lao Khao Soi (pork noodle soup)

Khao Soi is popular in northern Thailand, and there’s a similar version in Vietnam (we’ve heard it called ‘spaghetti pho’, which I think is quite funny), but the Lao Khao Soi — khao soi from Laos — is our favourite.

This hearty, spicy street food is basically a noodle soup with a rich base of chicken stock and bolognese-style tomato and pork. The noodles are usually fat rice noodles that really grip the soup well.

We first experienced Lao Khao Soi in the night market in Luang Prabang. We went back to the same stall every night we were there — even if we’d already had dinner!

5. Aw Lam (royal eggplant stew)

Sadly, we only found this dish in one little cafe in Vang Vieng, but Aw Lam is famous in Laos for being a royal dish in Luang Prabang when it was the ancient capital.

This stew has a rich peppery stock base, but instead of ground meat, this one uses minced eggplant to add texture and body. Traditionally, sliced beef or chicken is added to the top, but in this case, the cafe uses pork, along with snake beans and steamed greens.

You eat this stew with sticky rice and try to resist the temptation of ordering a second bowl when you’ve finished.

6. Sticky Rice

We couldn’t write about Lao food without mentioning sticky rice. As much as laab is Laos’ national dish, so sticky rice is the number one staple. In fact, it’s an addiction for most Lao people.

The way to eat sticky rice is to pull a chunk off with your fingers and squeeze it into shape. You can use it to dip in sauces or fashion a spoon with it to scoop up food.

Sticky rice adds so much texture and sweetness to a main dish, but is so important to Laotian way of life, it is its own entity as well.

7. Kaipen (crispy river weed)

One of our favourite snacks in Laos — especially in Luang Prabang — is kaipen. It looks like Japanese nori seaweed at first, but this is in fact dried river weed.

The process for making this snack is quite laborious, but after pounding and washing it for hours, then boiling it in stock and squashing it, and then drying it for several more hours, this deep green crispy morsel is covered in toasted sesame seeds.

It’s one of the most satisfying beer snacks we’ve discovered since we came across taralli in Puglia.

We travelled as media to Laos with Inside Asia Tours, but our experiences and opinions remain our own.

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Just over an hour’s drive (or train ride) from the busy chic streets of Milan, Parma is a quiet Roman riverside town with the heart of a gourmand. What fashion and finance is to Milan, so food is to Parma.

But what Parma is particularly proud of (and good at) is a simple staple. However, this town’s version of cheese and ham is anything but simple.

How To Visit A Parmesan Factory And Prosciutto Makers

For years now, Christina has dreamt of standing between the towering shelves stacked with huge wheels of ageing parmesan cheese.

So when we were in northern Italy recently, we made this a mission.

It turns out there are quite a few tours that visit parmesan and prosciutto factories from Parma. We chose ParmaLook’s Parmigiano Reggiano dairy and Parma ham maker tour.

This half-day tour leaves in the morning from central Parma and drives us into the beautiful Emilia-Romagna countryside.

First stop is the parmesan cheese factory.

– Read more of our stories from around Italy here.

– Check out more great things to do and tours to take around Parma here.

– Find some of the best prices on accommodation in Parma here.

Visiting A Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Maker

The tour begins in a huge barn with large conical copper vats half-sunk into the concrete. These vats are the beginning of cheese-making process — if you don’t count the cows that have to be milked twice daily.

From here we learn about the curds and whey, the pressing that gives the cheese its ‘wheel’ shape and the three-week brining process that gives the cheese its rind and extra flavour.

Finally, we go into the ageing room with its shelves of cheese that Christina has always wanted to see. It’s an incredible feeling to stand here with almost four metres of cheese looming over you.

We get to taste parmesan of different ages and drink lambrusco, a sparkling wine peculiar to the region, and that’s traditionally paired with parmesan.

We also learn more about the rules of making Parmigiano Reggiano. Here are the basics:

– Parmigiano Reggiano can only be made in this small region of Italy
– Milk for the cheese must come from cows living in the region and they can only eat grass grown here
– Parmigiano Reggiano must be aged for at least 12 months — there is no upper ceiling, but after about eight years, the flavour loses potency
– There must be no defects or air pockets in the cheese. Inspectors look at every wheel and tap it with a special hammer. If there are defects, the authentication stamp and the maker’s number on the side are scratched off. The cheese can be sold as parmesan, but not as Parmigiano Reggiano.

This factory makes five cheese wheels a day. Each one weighs 50kg and it takes 550 litres of raw milk to make each one. That means only 10% of the milk goes into the cheese itself.

It’s an amazing experience and so interesting to see how this cheese is made.

We also have chance to meet the 120 dairy cows that live on site. They don’t seem very interested in us — if anything, they’re a little snooty — and I wonder if they know just how special they are; a cut above the average bovine.

Next stop the Prosciutto maker!

Meeting A Prosciutto di Parma Maker

We pull up to what seems to be a regular house. From its front door, an unassuming elderly gentleman appears. This is Alfredo. He’s 78 years old and has been making Parma ham his whole life — though he says he’s retired now.

We follow him through the door and find it hard to believe he’s retired at all.

The scale of his operation is impressive. From the inspection room, where Alfredo looks at each ham leg, we move to the first drying room. Each ham is salted for 20 days before being washed, then it’s another 20 days of drying.

After that, hams are given around 120 days of ‘relaxing’ in near freezing temperatures before a paste of yeast and fat is applied to the base of the ham. Then it ferments for 12 months.

And this is all before the ham begins its ageing process.

The rules for Prosciutto di Parma is even stricter than the Parmesan cheese. Here are the basics:

– Compared to Parmigiano Reggiano, the size of Prosciutto di Parma’s Protected Designation of Origin is much smaller and is restricted to the southern province of Parma
– Pigs must live in the PDO region (though cannot live on the site of the factory)
– The pigs’ diet is also restricted. Interestingly, one of the things they’re fed is the whey byproduct of the Parmesan
– Hams are only from the rear legs, they must be between 12-18kg each and they can’t be too lean; they must have a minimum fat layer of 22mm deep
– Additives and preservatives are forbidden — only the pork itself and sea salt are allowed
– Prosciutto di Parma must be aged between 14 months and three years, and this doesn’t include the year and a half of conditioning we’ve mentioned

At the end of the tour, Alfredo gives us a taste of some of his Prosciutto di Parma. He uses his mother’s old slicing machine that’s at least 150 years old. It slices prosciutto so thinly you can see light through it. Our guide Matteo says the machine’s worth around €12,000.

Alfredo is one of the mere 120 Prosciutto di Parma producers, but collectively, they make a staggering six million hams a year! Alfredo works almost completely by himself, getting a guy in once a year when things are hectic.

It’s wonderful to meet these talented producers of two of Italy’s most loved, famed and delicious food products. Not only does it connects us closer to this country’s culinary culture, it fulfils a cheese dream too.

The post Behind The Scenes of Parmesan and Prosciutto in Parma, Italy appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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From the hilly slopes and crenelations of Fisherman’s Bastion in Buda to the flat, bustling Pest side of the city, Hungary’s capital is a wonderful city to explore.

We’ve always wanted to come here, to see the mighty Danube that cleaves this beautiful historic place in two.

Monumental architecture, a complicated history, a busy cosmopolitan city and a truly unique culture, Budapest is a town everyone should come with the highest of travel expectations and be prepared to have them fulfilled.

From a food perspective, however, we weren’t sure what to expect.

Click here to go to our other stories about Hungary.

Check out this awesome culinary walking tour around Budapest!

And for great places to stay in this wonderful city, here’s a list of hotels and guesthouses at the best price.

What we found though, was a rich diversity of cuisines and a city that prides itself on what it puts on your plate and into your glass.

Each heading has a link to Google Maps to show you exactly where these places are.

12 Places To Eat And Drink In Budapest, Hungary

1. Freyja—The Croissant Story

In the middle of funky District VII, this neighbourhood-style cafe does good coffee, but as you’d hope, even better croissants.

They do a wide selection of filled pastries too. Christina’s pistachio and my ham and comte croissants were excellent. It can get pretty crowded here though, so be prepared for a queue.

2. My Little Melbourne Coffee

This cute little cafe, serving presentable coffee and pastries, was close to our hotel on Madách Imre út and caught our coffee-hungry eye with the word ‘Melbourne’. It’s not quite up to the elevation of Victorian coffee, but it’s not bad.

At night this street and the laneways beyond absolutely go off.

3. Szimpla Kert

One of if not the biggest and best known of Budapest’s famed ‘ruin bars’. This huge crumbling edifice has a great atmosphere and attracts an amazing mix of people—even on a Monday night.

It’s almost like a department store of bars with each little room offering different drinks and a different vibe. Not sure what the food is like here, but come here for a couple of drinks and soak up the vibe.

4. Savoyai Terasz at Budvári Palota (Buda Palace)

Outside the main doors of Buda Palace, this place has probably the best views of any bar of the Pest side of the city from across the water. It’s a tourist bar, but it’s also a welcome break if you’ve walked all the way to the top of this hill instead of using the nearby funicular rail. Like us.

Great for a cheeky beer with a view—very cheeky actually at $10 a pint, but worth it all the same.

5. Leo Rooftop

Also on the Buda side near Budvári Palota, the rooftop bar above the Clark Hotel is absolutely lovely. Also with incredible views of the river and the city, this cool little bar does great drinks and food.

Book a table if you can, otherwise you’ll have to chance it at the weird reception at street level.

6. Twentysix Budapest

This beautiful bar in District II does excellent cocktails and wonderful food. Set in a huge building—or more the atrium of one—Twentysix feels more like an arboretum with tables surrounded by plants and a triple-height ceiling made of panels of glass.

7. Ildikó Konyhája

If you’re looking for an authentic Hungarian food experience, look for etkezda restaurants. Usually run by older locals as a mom-and-pop cafe, the food is always hearty and tasty, and the prices are usually very low.

This one — Ildikó Konyhája — is just a block back from the Danube on the Buda side and is wonderful. Christina’s creamy chicken stew and my beef stew were both great. Both came with nokedli—gnocchi-esque dumpling squiggles.

They also have pálinka here, a traditional Hungarian digestivo spirit. It’s potent, but tasty.

Sadly, etkezde restaurants are becoming harder and harder to come by. Here’s an interesting story on how and why they’re dying out.

8. Millennium Da Pippo

In the lively city suburb of Terézváros, Ristorante Millennium da Pippo shows off Hungary’s international side. From the red and white gingham tablecloths to the prosciutto slicer, this place is about as Italian as it gets.

The food is excellent serving real Neapolitan style pizza, plump and oozy burrata and superb vitello tonnato—a dish you rarely see outside Italy.

9. Gettó Gulyás

This friendly yet upmarket restaurant in District II serves traditional Hungarian dishes, but at the other end of the culinary spectrum to an etkezde, where the kitchen is keen to show off real flare.

We shared a few dishes to make the most of the menu. Entrees of grilled bone marrow left in the half-bone, beef tartare and goulash were delicious. Then mains of beef tenderloin special and veal paprikash.

The professional service guiding us through menu felt like we were being up-sold at first, but actually resulted in a better meal. This was our last dinner in Hungary—a suitable highlight to finish on.

10. Mazel Tov

A similar, though more down-to-earth vibe as Twentysix Budapest, this cavernous eatery is full of greenery and is topped with a high glass ceiling.

Serving beautifully made Mediterranean and fusion Middle-Eastern dishes, Mazel Tov is another great example of Budapest’s broad food vocabulary.

We shared a mezze selection (the hummus was outstanding) and a meat platter of sausage, patties and pittas, and a huge pile of chargrilled chicken pieces. If you have a table reservation, ignore the queue and go straight in. If you don’t have a booking, prepare yourself for the possibility of a semi-long wait.

11. Retro Lángos

If you’re really hungry and want a delicious, heartwarming snack, you’ve got to try the traditional Hungarian lángos.

This dish hits so many of our guilty-pleasure bliss points and the busy Retro Lángos on Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Way (Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út), one of the main arterial streets through the Pest side of Budapest, is a lángos specialist.

Somewhere between a pizza, a donut, a pancake and okonomiaki, lángos is a flat puffy crunchy disc of deep-fried dough covered in your choice of toppings. These usually start with a base of sour cream and Retro Lángos offers everything from turkey, tomato and mozzarella to spicy Mexican chilli.

The Hungarian lángos we both order, with sour cream, roasted bacon pieces, red onion and grated cheese, are not only formidable, but incredibly satisfying.

12. Széchenyi Thermal Bath House

Strictly speaking, not a bar or restaurant per se, this magnificent thermal bathhouse inside the Neo-Baroque palace built specifically to house the baths in 1909 is a must-visit while you’re in Budapest (here’s our full review of the Széchenyi Thermal Bath House).

While you’re here, you can pick up snacks and drinks from the cafeteria, but that’s not why we’ve included this venue here.

One of the private bathing options here is the Thermal Beer Spa, where you can relax in 36°C water infused with hops, yeast and malted grain. And for the 45 minutes that you’re soaking in your beery wooden tubs, you can pour yourself as many glasses of local lager from the tap next to you as you like!

Bonus food!

Kürtöskalács (you might’ve seen it as kurtosh) or ‘chimney cake’ is a popular sweet you can find all over Budapest, mostly from little food vans.

Built in a spiral shape, this tasty snack is in fact a kind of cake that’s twisted into a helix shape then cooked until crisp. It’s called chimney cake because when it’s hot, steam pours out the top like a chimney.

You can get a variety of coatings on the outside of your Kürtöskalács and some are filled with things like cream too. I can’t remember what we had, but it was tasty and fun to eat.

Kürtöskalács is – or was – specific to Transylvanian Hungarians (now Romania) and goes back to at least the 1600s.

The post Feeling Hungary? Where and what to eat and drink in Budapest appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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We love exploring new cities, and although Christina and I have transited through Vienna many times, we’ve never had time to leave the airport and see it.

But on our train journey across Europe, we were able to stop in on this fascinating city, a centre point of so much history and culture.

Click here for our full Essential Guide of Vienna.

Find out more about activities and tours you can do in Austria’s capital here.

Check out the best deals on hotels in Vienna!

And as we discovered while we were there, Vienna also has an excellent variety of things to eat.

Here are ten places to eat and drink in Vienna Old Town west of the Danube.

Coffee And Breakfast In Vienna

If you’re not in a hotel that includes breakfast in Vienna, you might be in trouble. Things don’t seem to open very early here, so you might be better off hitting the supermarket and having something ready for the morning.

Having said that, there are coffee options.

Caffe Delia’s – 8 Tuchlauben, Vienna

This cute cafe with outdoor seating does great coffee in the day and is the perfect spot for a cheeky glass of wine in the evening.

We took advantage of both offerings as well as the excellent people-watching thanks to the cafe’s corner location.

Surrounded by historic architecture and indeed within a beautiful baroque building, Caffe Delia’s is an easy must.

Fenster Cafe – Griechengasse 10, Vienna

Translating as ‘window cafe’, this tiny venue isn’t much more than a hole in the wall. Fenster Cafe turns out probably the best coffee we had in Vienna and it’s also open before 10am, which makes it doubly important.

However, prepare to pay a premium (two small flat white coffees for AU$15 in 2022). This is in part because it’s in the Old Town and because of its opening hours.

More to the point, Fenster caught Instagram’s attention when it started offering coffee served in an ice cream cone. I have no idea how much that would’ve been. We just went for cups.

Lunch And Daytime Drinks In Vienna

Billa Corso Neuer Markt – Herrnhuterhaus, Neuer Markt 17, Vienna

Only a couple of blocks back from Stephansplatz on Neuer Market is a Billa Corso. This is a ubiquitous supermarket chain all over Austria, but a bit like Eataly’s supermarket cafes, you can buy your lunch an eat it here too.

It has outdoor seating too, but best of all it’s open on Sunday (a miracle in Vienna Old Town) and it’s open before 10am too!

Buffet Trzesniewski Dorotheergasse – Dorotheergasse 1, Vienna

Trzesniewski has to be one of the most unique lunch options in Vienna. This is a buffet shop that offers finger-food style open sandwiches. Narrow bread slices with toppings all finely chopped into a paste, the rationale is that they’re easy to eat.

Almost in the shadow of St Stephen’s Cathedral, (though there are other branches in the city) this sandwich shop offers 25 varieties of sandwich.

It’s a concept that started in 1902 when Polish expat Franciszek Trzesniewski opened his first store and it’s still hugely popular today. All toppings are freshly prepared on the day.

Choose from things like apple and beetroot and Swedish herring with cucumber and egg or more traditional toppings like cucumber, egg and salami or fan favourite bacon and egg.

Rochus – Landstraßer Hauptstraße 55/57, Vienna

Although this is outside the Old Town walls, this lively local bar and restaurant is a cracker and made an ideal lunch spot for us.

With good beer, even better atmosphere and real Austrian comfort food on offer, this is a perfect lunch choice. My wienerschnitsel was tasty and satisfying, and Christina’s kalbsbutterschnitzel (a veal schnitzel patty) was tasty albeit a tad weird.

Evening And Dinner Options

L’Osteria Wien Bräunerstraße – Bräunerstraße 11, Vienna

Within the grand baroque walls of the Palais Pallavicini, this busy Italian-style eatery is really popular with the locals, so book a table.

We didn’t, but managed to squeeze in at the bar for a cheeky mezzo litro carafe of Moltepulciano.

Amazing for people-watching and perfect if you’re feeling like a formidable Napolitano style pizza, make sure you add L’Osteria Wien Bräunersraße to your list.

Reinthaler’s Beisl – Dorotheergasse 2-4, Vienna

I only include this one as both a seeming must-do as a tourist in Vienna and a cautionary tale.

Traditionally, a beisl is a kind of down-to-earth pub serving homely food at reasonable prices.

Reinthaler’s Beisl just off Stephansplatz is ostensibly that, with all the trimmings of a Viennese ale house. But once you’ve found your way to the end of the perma-queue, you’re fed into what I called ‘Vienna’s premier sausage factory’.

Staff churn through the covers, squeezing you onto a shared table, forcing you to order as soon as you sit down, then slopping the food in front of you as it comes out at soup kitchen speeds.

The wait staff then stand over you with the eftpos machine, literally asking you how much you’re going to tip on top of the surprisingly not-reasonable bill.

The food’s not bad, but it’s more about the experience I guess.

Bars

1010 Bar Cafe – Plankengasse 2, Vienna

This dim-lit atmospheric little bar does great cocktails and has a wonderful local vibe with a real mix of patrons.

Just off Neuer Markt plaza and next to the interesting Donnerbrunnen Fountain, it’s well worth seeking out this tucked-away bohemian speakeasy if you’re feeling like an excellent martini or house negroni.

Billa Corso Hoher Markt rooftop wine bar – Hoher Markt 12, Vienna

About halfway between the canal and St Stephen’s Cathedral is another Billa Corso (I told you they were ubiquitous) right opposite the Hotel Topazz Lamee.

Although this store does all the same kind of things the other Billas do, this one also has a wine bar above it.

Here, you can choose from the wine list or, amazingly, you can buy the bottle you want in the store downstairs and they’ll serve it to you at the bar!

Le Cru—Comptoir de Champagne – Peterspl. 8, Vienna

Barely a block back from the busy plaza of Stephansplatz and in the shadow of the pretty domed roof of St Peters Church, Le Cru has a surprisingly local low-key vibe.

Specialising in small producers of French Champagne, this little bar offers tasting experiences and takeaways, but also has a weekly by-the-glass menu that’s pleasingly affordable.

Bonus: Late-night snacks and drinks

Zum Goldenen Wurstel – Spiegelgasse 1, Vienna

As you’d hope, sausage vans are everywhere in Vienna, but Zum Goldenen Wurstel, close to St Stephens Cathedral, has to be the most popular.

Open late, it’s just the ticket when you’ve had a few beers and are wandering back to your hotel but you feel like a snack. You can even grab a beer here too.

The only downside is the boggling range of options that you just don’t get with a sausage sizzle or regular hotdog van: with bread, without bread, which sausage (there are at least 16), do you want it grilled or boiled, with onions, chips on the side, with sauce, which sauce… it’s quite overwhelming.

But it’s worth it!

Are croissants from France or Austria?

To elaborate the claim we made earlier, yes, it seems that the famous croissant, an icon of French cuisine, has its origins in Austria.

From as far back as the 13th Century, Austrian bakers have been making kipfel or kipfli, the progenitor of the famed crescent of buttery flaky pastry.

Settling in Paris in 1839, an Austrian soldier named August Zang opened a Viennese bakery and made his brioche-based kipfel for the French, who took it on with great enthusiasm.

But it wasn’t until the early 20th Century that the croissant recipe changed from brioche to the butter-laminated yeast dough bakers use today.

The post Where To Eat In Vienna Old Town appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Smooth rich caramel studded with the satisfying crunch of cashews and topped with a dense layer of dark chocolate ganache in a case of crumbly shortcrust pastry, this chocolate cake is not only delicious but easy to make too.

This recipe is part of our gift guide e-magazine Hint, which is packed with awesome gift ideas for everyone. You can read the issue where this recipe features here.

I’ve recently fallen into the role of ‘dessert guy’ with a group of friends that meet up for dinner every Tuesday.

They’ll casually knock up a beetroot, feta and rocket salad with caramelised walnuts, slap down a cheese and charcuterie board full of creamy d’affinois and wafer-thin prosciutto, pull out trays of succulent home-made buffalo wings or slice a perfectly reverse-seared rump cap or giant tomahawk steaks as if it were, well, any other Tuesday.

Aside from the incredible food, the banter on these Tuesday nights is always a healthy bombardment of take-downs and quips, so when the dessert part of dinner somehow fell into my lap, I knew a bit of effort was needed.

So far, this caramel cashew choc tart is proving to be the most popular, so I’m glad it’s one I can make ahead of time and that it’s pretty easy to put together.

Easy Caramel Cashew Choc Tart

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

– 1-2 sheets of frozen shortcrust pastry
– 200g unsalted roast cashews
– 180g brown sugar
– 115g butter
– 2tsp vanilla extract
– 250ml thickened cream
– 200g dark chocolate

Method

1. Fit the pastry into a baking tin (I use a 25cm flan tin), trim the edges and blind bake at 180°C for 10mins. Remove blind-baking weights and baking paper, and bake for another 10-15mins until the pastry is cooked through and golden.

2. On another baking tray, roast the cashews for 5-10mins until they turn slightly golden. Cool in a bowl.

3. Caramel: combine the sugar, butter, vanilla and 160ml of the cream in a pan, bring to the boil then simmer for 8-10mins or until thickened and the caramel coats a metal spoon.

4. Spread the cashews over the surface of the pastry then pour the caramel over the top so the nuts sit under the surface. Allow to cool—you can put the whole thing in the fridge—until the caramel no longer wobbles when you move the tin.

5. Ganache: break chocolate into a bowl then boil the remaining cream (85ml). Pour the cream over the chocolate, and stir then whip until combined and smooth. This is now ganache.

6. Spread chocolate ganache over the caramel in an even layer* then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Serve in slices with whipped cream, ice cream or just on its own.

* I also like to sprinkle a pinch of salt flakes over the caramel before I add the ganache to elevate the flavours a little, but you don’t have to.

If there is any left over, it’ll keep in the fridge for around three days.

The post How To Make This Easy Caramel Cashew Choc Tart appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Every year we run this wrap of which stories were the most popular from the last 12 months and it’s always one of our favourites to put together.

For a number of reasons.

Customarily, this is the last feature we publish for the year, so it represents a bit of pens-down feel-up time. But apart from that we’re fascinated to see which of our stories resonated with you the most.

It’s quite hard for us to pick favourites. And not just because we put a lot of hard work and love into all our articles. I think it’s because we’re just too close to it. For us, every story we run is part of our lives, so each one really is a piece of us.

It would be like choosing your 20 most favourite days of the year!

What I think I’m trying to say is thank you! Thank you for the perspective.

But even more than that, thank you for reading our little bit of the world, for taking notice and for enjoying what we do.

We hope we’ve entertained, informed and helped you in some way.

20. 10 Things to Do in the Hunter Valley

We start things off with one of our absolute favourite parts of Australia – the Hunter Valley. Sydney’s closest major wine region, the Hunter has so many beautiful wineries to visit, but it’s got a lot more going on there than just vino.

We’ve written so much about the Hunter Valley over the years, we’re not surprised this one got into the top 20. And you can expect a lot more stories and inspo on this stunning part of NSW in the coming months too.

In the meantime, sit back and enjoy our quick video summing up Australia’s oldest wine region.

19. 7 Netflix Shows That Will Inspire You to Travel

Here are a few ideas of shows to binge over Christmas that’ll get you right into the travel mindset and have you scrolling flight prices before you realise! 

7 Netflix TV shows that will inspire you to travel

18. Revenge Travel Hitlist – Where Are You Travel Dreaming?

I think we’re all feeling the same way about travel at the moment: the sooner we can do it, we’re going to go at it hammer and tongs! Here’s where we’ve got our travel crosshairs aimed when the world is sane(er) again.

Revenge Travel Hit List – where are you travel dreaming?

17. How to Have Just One Glass of Wine – Coravin Review

Such a clever product, the Coravin allows you to pour out as much wine as you want without you having to worry about the rest of the bottle going to waste.

We also recently wrote a review of the brand new Coravin Sparkling, which keeps Champagne fresh and fizzy for up to a month! Check out our review here, but also our video where we road test the Coravin Sparkling on a bottle over four weeks.

How to have just one glass of wine – Coravin review

16. Beyond The Big Guitar – Our Essential Guide to Tamworth, NSW

Tamworth is known for its country music festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. However, there’s a lot more to this lovely, historically important country town than just its annual music celebrations.

Beyond the Big Guitar – our Essential Guide to Tamworth, NSW

15. 3 Gins for World Gin Day and How to Use Them

If you’ve read us for any length of time, you’ll know our relationship with gin is very close. For this year’s World Gin Day, we took a look at three very different gins – a world-best Aussie drop, an English trend setter and an international favourite – to see how they compare and how to drink them.

3 gins for World Gin Day and how to use them

14. Riva Surya Hotel – Riverside Luxury in Bangkok Oldtown

We do love travelling to Thailand – and it seems you do to! Our last trip to the Land of Smiles – in fact our last international trip before the pandemic struck (we landed less than a week before Australia closed its borders!) – saw us staying at the beautiful Riva Surya.

You can also see our video walkthrough of this magnificent waterfront hotel here.

Riva Surya Hotel – riverside luxury in Bangkok Old Town

13. How to Make This Peated Whisky Cocktail from an Old Family Recipe

As I created this cocktail, I was aware I was pairing one of my favourite things (peated whisky) with one of my least favourite things (man flu). But my family’s remedy for feeling poorly goes so well with this excellent scotch.

How to make this peated whisky cocktail from an old family recipe

12. Hai Fatto Tredicci – Why 13 Isn’t Bad Luck in Italy

Weirdly missing 13th spot by about 50 pageviews, this story fascinated me. I’d heard Italy doesn’t think 13 is unlucky, but I never knew why.

Hai fatto tredici – why 13 isn’t bad luck in Italy

11. 5 Iconic Hunter Valley Chardonnays You Must Try

The Hunter Valley is known for its Semillon, but I’d say its Chardonnays are at least on a par. Putting these 5 examples toe to toe with the best Hunter Semillon would be an interesting challenge indeed.

5 iconic Hunter Valley Chardonnays you must try

10. What Is a Colourwalk? How to Take Your Travel Photography to The Next Level

As we enter the top 10 most popular stories, it’s no surprise to find Christina’s insightful piece on travel photography. 

Christina started creating Colourwalks of our neighbourhood mid-lockdown when we couldn’t leave our suburb.

It was a great way to feel like there was more to her walks than mere exercise, but she quickly discovered that it’s the perfect format for making travel photography more meaningful and cohesive. 

What is a Colourwalk? How to take your travel photography to the next level

9. Drive Your Own Great Barrier Reef Submersible from Home

We all love a bit of armchair travel, but what if – from your armchair – you could literally explore the Great Barrier Reef in real time? This incredible company lets you drive a real life submarine around the warm waters of Queensland any time of day or night!

Drive your own Great Barrier Reef submersible from home

8. Where to Stay in the Hunter Valley – Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort

Check out our video walkthrough of our villa and the grounds here.

Where to stay in the Hunter Valley – Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort

7. Bay Of Fires Winery Annual Release – The Only Good Thing to Come from 2020

Bay of Fires Winery annual release – the only good thing to come from 2020

6. Where to Stay in the Hunter Valley – Aldora Cottage, Pokolbin

Check out our video walkthrough of this gorgeous cottage in the Hunter Valley.

Where to Stay in the Hunter Valley – Aldora Cottage, Pokolbin

5. The Long Table Lunch of Our Dreams

On our last trip to the Hunter Valley, we were lucky enough to be invited to Whispering Brook Winery‘s truly magnificent Olive Long Table Lunch, which they do at the start of every June festival. 

This lunch, set between the glades of olive trees along a banquet table that stretches on and on, is like something out of a movie. If you don’t believe me, check out our video of the afternoon here.

4. Hint Magazine 2021 – What We All Want for Christmas

We are so thrilled that our gift guide made it to number 4. It means you really value the incredible work that Christina put into the photography and design of our magazine – and hopefully the copy I wrote as well.

Hint Magazine 2021 – what we all want for Christmas

3. Top of The Steak – How to Make Café de Paris Butter

I genuinely thought my title for this was great when I wrote it. It’s supposed to be play on Top of the Lake – the brilliantly haunting TV drama starring Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham and Peter Mullan. 

Anyway, please don’t think that’s a reflection of this recipe. It’s superb and the café de Paris butter is delicious!

Top of the Steak – how to make Cafe de Paris butter

2. Lucio Pizzeria – Where to Find a Slice of Naples in Sydney

We’re absolutely stoked that you loved this story about Lucio’s so much. The pizzas – in fact all the dishes here – are so good and Lucio is a lovely guy. 

We were lucky enough to meet him and chat with him one chilly night in late April, and we probably made him feel a bit homesick just by the number of times we told him it felt just like we were back in Naples. 

Lucio Pizzeria – where to find a slice of Naples in Sydney

1. Thailand Dreaming – Things We Miss Most from The Land of Smiles

I mentioned earlier that you clearly love (and miss) Thailand as much as we do. Well, this is confirmation of it!

Our top most popular story – voted by your pageviews and interaction – is all about this wonderful country and all the things we’re missing about it. 

From the sublime beaches, to boisterous streets; from tranquil mountaintop temples to thrillingly manic nightmarkets… and that’s before we even start talking about the food! 

Thailand Dreaming – things we miss most from the Land of Smiles

Here’s our video about the things we miss from Thailand, and all the things we can’t wait to see and do when we get back there.

Thank you so much for supporting us. We hope we’ve brought you the same joy we feel from creating these stories and sharing them with you.

Have a wonderful Christmas and see you again in 2022.

Jim & Christina xx

The post What was your favourite? 2021’s top 20 food, drink, travel and romance stories appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

As the Harbour Bridge has always spanned the city’s sparkling waters, and the sails of the Opera House have forever craned their necks for the view, so it seems that Lucio’s has been in Sydney since the beginning.

I mean, imagining a Sydney without any of these three landmarks is imagining a different Sydney altogether.

Since arriving in Sydney when he was just 21, Lucio has been making the finest pizza in the country.

In fact, in 2018 Lucio won best pizza in Australia at the Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza in Parma. He was also awarded fifth best pizza in the world.

And these accolades make absolute sense. All you have to do is try one of his masterpieces.

These days, there are two Lucio Pizzerias in Sydney – one in Darlinghurst and, since 2015, one in Zetland. But the original in Darlinghurst is where you really sense that Napolitano soul.

Lucky numbers, perfect pizzas and free dinners – Lucio Pizzeria turns 13

Unlike the rest of the world, Italy believes that 13 is a lucky number. The call of ho fatto tredici! – I have thirteen – is a favourite expression when someone hits the jackpot.

We’ve got the whole story about how 13 isn’t bad luck in Italy (but why 17 is) right here – it’s an interesting tale.

But this celebration isn’t just about a lucky number.

Not only has Lucio survived the hospitality-crushing effects of 2020, his baby has just become a teenager as well. Of course he should celebrate.

And in true Italian style, Lucio wants to celebrate with everyone!

So if you’re also celebrating 13 – whether it’s a birthday, wedding anniversary or if you celebrate the 13th of the month for whatever reason, Lucio is inviting you to come and eat for free! Check out the deal here.

Christina and I have just started our thirteenth year of being married, so we feel a bit of connection with Lucio’s. Even more so when I think we’re all on the same wavelength when it comes to food.

The dinner we enjoyed in Darlinghurst recently was excellent. And we got to chat to Lucio about Naples, food and his plans for the future as well.

Dining at Lucio’s Darlinghurst

The first thing that strikes us as we sit down at our al fresco table in the courtyard on Palmer Street is how very much like Naples it feels.

There are neither bells nor whistles here, and in a good way.

It’s a true reflection not only in the authenticity of the food, but also Lucio’s down-to-earth personality and his confidence in his food.

Sitting here with everything going on around us, we’re transported to the alleyway dining and true Italian-ness of Naples. It’s a wonderful city – a living museum. It’s good to feel we’re back.

The only difference here is that there are printed menus, which makes ordering much easier!

The food

For entree, we order the burrata con pan gratatto e spinaci. Sitting atop a pile of wilted spinach and covered in the crunchy crumbs of gratatto, this huge, glorious balloon of milky cheese bursts at the merest touch.

Decadent and delightful, yet simple and perfectly balanced. That’s Italian cooking for you.

We also try the casarecce con ragú d’angello. All made in-house, this is a real southern Italian dish. Spirals of firm, chewy pasta embracing the rich, unctuous slow-cooked lamb shoulder and its dark tomato sauce.

The casarecce here is different to the stuff we’ve had before. It’s made of tighter twists than fusilli but looser than those we’ve found further east in Puglia. It’s excellent nonetheless.

Finally we have the pizza from the monthly specials board. I’ve become obsessed with n’duja, so this pizza was an easy choice for me. If you haven’t had it before, n’duja is a super rich meat that’s soft and crumbly and turns to almost a sauce when you heat it.

It’s a traditional spicy sausage from southern Italy, but it’s only now becoming known elsewhere in the world.

This pizza – along with n’duja – has mozzarella and fresh ricotta. And it’s nothing short of perfect.

In true Neapolitan style, the edges of the pizza are quite puffy and ‘deep pan’ but it’s not dense. The centre is soft and gooey, but it’s not undercooked, which is something people tend to think the first time they have southern-style pizza.

Thin and crispy is not Naples’ style at all and I doubt it ever will be.

We finish off with a caffè corretto. This is a simple espresso ‘corrected’ with a shot of grappa – definitely my kind of dessert.

We leave feeling very satisfied, but still missing Italy hard.

It was wonderful to chat to Lucio, to hear his story and have a laugh.

Next up for Lucio

In mid-2021 Lucio’s pizzeria pair will become a trio, with a new venue opening in Kensington called Bar Lucio.

This will be a traditional Italian cafe offering proper Italian coffee and some classic Aussie breakfast and lunch snacks. The perfect storm.

We dined as guests of Lucio’s but our opinions remain our own.

The post Lucio Pizzeria – where to find a slice of Naples in Sydney appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Whenever Christina and I look for stories, we generally always try to create that mix of travel, food, culture, venues and lifestyle.

I think we’ve hit the bullseye with this one.

This Edition also has a lot of firsts for us. Our first (extended) visit to Wollongong, our first vegan yum cha, our first time to Hurstville and my first cosmetic facial treatment. 

We hope you enjoy this Weekly Edition.

Cheers  – Jim & Christina xx

We’re pretty excited today – we’ve got a lunch date! This is Bodhi, a yum cha restaurant in the park behind the St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

It’s a beautiful spot right in Cook and Philip Park, and really unique – not just because there aren’t many (or any?) other yum cha al fresco places in Sydney.

Everything they serve here is vegan!

And here’s our lunch date: on the left is Jarrod and Brooke from the brilliant Nip of Courage – a company championing the art of Australian craft spirits.

Behind the camera is Kathleen, founder, architect and general genius of the brand.

Next to me is the excellent Josh Walker from Timboon Distillery in Victoria. His craft whisky is absolutely delicious. You can read more about his Port Expression Single Malt in our review on the Nip of Courage site here. 

Josh also has a cask-strength whisky – the Christie’s Cut, which is gaining a real cult following, and has recently released a peated whisky – the Timboon Smoky 1881 – a smooth, delightful whisky.

In fact Bodhi has a bottle behind the bar if you want to try some.

It’s great to see everyone, but the food at Bodhi really has distracted us all from our reunion. 

We settle in for a sustained eating frenzy, sampling so many of the dishes brought round to us by the lovely staff here.

This is radish cake, also called daikon cake, turnip cake and – in Singapore – carrot cake.

As we’ll learn later in the week, this is a traditional dish for the Lunar New Year, but I’ll seriously eat this any time of day, month or season. It’s delicious. None of the names it’s known by really do it justice.

Many of the dishes here you’d expect to find on the vegetarian menu of a yum cha restaurant, but these prawn gao ji are a real surprise.

We’re really not sure these aren’t vegan, but the staff all assure us they are. They really do have the taste and texture of actual seafood, and they’re delicious too.

Before we all depart, Kathleen orders a quick dram of Josh’s newest addition to Timboon Distillery’s armoury: the Timboon Smoky 1881. 

Josh has cleverly layered a level of peat to his whisky that adds a beautiful savoury character and lengthens the flavour.

I think our seperate expressions speak volumes: ever modest, Josh is quietly pleased, and I’m just in heaven.

Today, I’m being pampered by the good people of HydraFacial. It’s a therapeutic system that hydrates, nourishes and resurfaces the skin on your face, temporarily opening and irrigating pores . 

Because it does so much at once, a full HydraFacial treatment only takes half an hour! 

I’m laid out in my treatment chair while my therapist Peter applies the HydraFacial tool with its patented Vortex-Fusion action and MD HydroPeel tip to my face.

This ‘pen’ has three elements to it. 

At its tip, there are holes within a spiral channel which pump serums, acids and nutrients into the skin. There’s also a vacuum that sucks everything – including dead skin and impurities – away from the dermis.

Finally, the edges of the tip are graded to gently exfoliate your skin as the pen moves over your face.

Those four bottles in the machine represent the different stages of the treatment, which delivers things like glycolic, hyaluronic and salicylic acids, peptides, antioxidants and exfoliants deep into the skin. 

You can see the system explained and at work here in HydraFacial’s video.

It’s not necessarily a comfortable experience, but it’s in no way traumatic either. I leave feeling completely rejuvenated. My skin looks and feels smooth, clean and so nourished, and the best thing about it is it’s so quick.

The only problem: my face now feels several years younger than the rest of me!

Find the nearest clinic to you for your HydraFacial treatment here.

This evening, we’re very excited to be going to a pre-screening of a new Aussie movie.

Long Story Short is a romantic comedy set by the beaches of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. 

Taking inspiration from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Teddy (Rafe Spall) has a curse thrust upon him the morning after his wedding that causes him to leap forward a year every few minutes.

As he speeds through his life, Teddy glimpses the ruin caused by his stuttering habit of wasting time and opportunities.

I’m not usually a fan of the romcom, but this one – a tale of failure, epiphany and redemption (and of course love) – is clever, entertaining and really well-performed. 

Don’t miss this one. And remember to bring a tissue. Not many dry eyes leaving the cinema as the credits roll here.

Inspired by our friend Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella, I’ve taken myself to Rozelle to check out the work of Sir Reuben. You can see Lorraine’s Instagram post that set me on this mission here.

I’ve got to say, I’m very impressed with this sandwich. It’s been too long since my last reuben and this bad boy is definitely the way I wanted to get back on the horse!

This is just their classic reuben sandwich but the menu has loads of other options, including a fantastic looking schnitzel sandwich and a pork roll on Turkish bread too. Check out the Not Quite Nigella review of Mr Reuben to see what I’m talking about.

Their coffee is great too by the way.

We’re in Wollongong this weekend! Amazingly, this is the first time we’ve been here for any length of time and you know what? We’re pleasantly surprised.

Our friends have just moved up here from Melbourne and they’re having a birthday party for their sons. It’s the perfect excuse for us to come down and have a look around.

First stop: our friends take us to a new brewery that’s just opened nearby. In fact, this place is so new, it hasn’t got any beer yet… well, not its own beer.

The menu of the Dusty Lizard Brewing Co is still replete with some fantastic Aussie brews worth trying. 

The brewery’s namesake – a magnificent little bearded dragon called Dustin – comes out every now and again too. The owner had to get a small zoo licence to be able to have him here!

The licence is for 1-30 animals. Wonder what the other 29 will be.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to them getting their own beers on tap though. Watch this space closely. I reckon it’s going to be brilliant.

We make our way down to the water (it’s terrible but I didn’t even realise that Wollongong’s city centre was so close to the beach!) and are welcomed to this scene.

Wollongong’s harbour beach feels more like somewhere in Cornwall to me – the rocky harbour wall, the pretty little lighthouse and the calm seas. Lovely.

Even more lovely is the feat that our friend’s mum, who’s Lebanese, brings along. She’s made my favourites (which is important because today is really all about me!): sfeeha – Lebanese empanadas, kibbeh (Lebanese meatloaf) and her special omelette. 

She’s also fried up some Lebanese breads into a kind of bark, which is brilliant and worryingly moreish.

Love these little cupcakes for the kids too. I’m not allowed any though.  But that’s ok. There’s plenty of kibbeh. 

The park in front of the harbour beach is the perfect little spot for our birthday party. It’s good to hang out with these guys and celebrate with them. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be in Wollongong a lot more.

Today we’re joining a walking food tour of Hurstville to explore the wealth of East Asian food available in this southern Sydney suburb.

The tour is with Taste Cultural Food Tours, a charity and social enterprise established to build connections across cultures through food.

All revenue is invested into the community you visit or the Taste Tours Guide Training Program, aimed at young people, new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Taste Cultural Food Tours has a number of suburbs around Sydney to explore through food.

Check them out and book your tour here.

Our tour coincides with the Lunar New Year, so our guide Patrick has tailored the tour to show us more of the culture of behind this important date in the calendar.

We won’t be disclosing any venues of the tour here, as that’s the job (and surprise) of Taste Cultural Food Tours. But here are some of the things we try on our route. 

These delicious dumplings are a northern Chinese style, denoted by the much thicker skins and use of lamb for the filling. These dumplings are traditionally part of the new year celebrations and are a staple on the table. 

They represent an historic moment when a lord of a northern Chinese village prescribed dumplings secretly filled with special herbs to cure villagers’ frostbite.

It magically worked, so now dumplings resemble ears – and silver ingots for a good measure of prosperity.

Also traditional for the Lunar New Year is radish cake (which we also ate at Bodhi I mentioned earlier). This dense, chewy crispy-edged cake is made from daikon radish and served with a delicious chilli soy sauce.

I could eat this all day.

Our excellent guide Patrick brings us these exquisite egg custard tarts, also a traditional sweet at the Lunar New Year feast.

These sumptuous snacks are made with layer upon layer of thin-rolled flaky pastry and filled with eggy custard – you can only really eat one of these, but you want to munch on more.

I give chicken feet a go for the very first time and am pleasantly surprised. Much less bony and cartilaginous than I was expecting, and the sauce is excellent. 

In the Lunar New Year traditions, it’s popular to eat the whole chicken with an emphasis on the head and feet, which symbolises unity. 

In the same restaurant, we’re presented with this strange-looking thing. It’s a walnut bao – unique to this restaurant and specially made for Lunar New Year. 

Boa come in many shapes and forms, sometimes quite plain and boring. But this one, shaped like a walnut and coloured with ground walnut too, is quite the opposite.

As you bite into the soft squishy dumpling, you discover a rich, gooey sweet filling – it’s creamy walnut syrup. This is like eating the best Ferrero Rocher you’ve ever had!

It’s been a fascinating tour that’s showcased some real food gems hiding in plain sight. We’ve tried food we’d never normally even think about ordering, and have grown a deeper understanding of what happens in and around Lunar New Year.

Thank you Patrick and the Taste team!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Weekly Edition. See you again soon.

Jim & Christina xx

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