Istanbul (4) - Park Samdan, Reina

Our dinner post Kanaat at Reina was less exciting. Reina is one of those places that it is good to see and be seen. Its in Ortakoy part of an upmarket strip of nightclubs and restaurants near the first bridge. The Boyfriend, his friends and guidebooks all seem to have a similar opinion on Reina – they love to hate it. They hate the occassionaly chavvy and over the top-ness of the place, the pretentiousness , overpriced drinks and service, and the crowds, the mix of gold-diggers, too old businessmen and tourists, and yet people, including The Boyfriend and his friends go there a lot... We visited on both a Monday and a Thursday and on both times the place was packed.

Istanbul (3) - Kanaat

Kanaat, located on the Asian side of Istanbul, is a renowned restaurant for home style Turkish cooking. The Boyfriend face glowed as he stared at the menu-and his eyes grew wide – the way mine do at the sight of a Net a Porter sale - pointing out the things that he hadn't been able to eat outside of his parents home. Obviously, this meant that every dish was compared to The Parent's version - and whilst all fell short, it was only by a little - extraordinarily high praise. (Please note - The Turks are a bit like the Italians in the sense that no food is as good as Mama's, whereas most people in the UK go out to eat better food than they can find at home, most Turkish people seem to feel that anything found in a restaurant is never as good as home leading one to wonder why they even have restaurants in the first place? Anyway, any Turkish person you meet - if discussing some type of food you want to try, will normally invite you to their home or in the case of one of The Boyfriend's friend will offer to ship you their mother's version of the dish in question. So basically any Turkish restaurant is a really an imitation of the best Turkish food.

Istanbul (2) - Sultanahmet Koftecisi

Our second day in Istanbul involved a trip to the Grand Bazaar. After two hours of wandering around in circles looking at thousands of almost identical scarves, bags, bowls and packets of Turkish tea, The Boyfriend was close to abandoning me alone in the middle of the thing. The final straw came after a ten minute discussion with a store owner about two very similar bracelets, The Boyfriend let out a howl of frustration and it was time to leave. Walking quickly we left the Bazaar, and headed down the main street in Sultanahmet. This was a probably a good thing - my arms were starting to strain under the weight of new purchases as I knew my suitcase would in three days, but hey, at least my wallet was lighter.

 We were headed for Sultanahmet Koftecisi - a 90 year old restaurant specializing in Turkish meatballs. Despite its location in the heat of tourist Istanbul, proximate to the Blue mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Cisterna, this was by no means a tourist trap. Reassuringly, there were mainly locals, and a distinct lack of catering for English speakers.

Istanbul (1) - Zuma

So The Boyfriend and I had four days in Istanbul. For The Boyfriend this is no excitement, being an Istanbulli and all. For me this would be the highlight of my year. Now I know its pathetic to go all the way to Turkey to eat in a restaurant that I could technically eat in in London. I accept that. I judge myself. I judge others who do the same. Will I eventually end up as that person who leaves the UK and only eat in restaurants where they recognise the name? I hope not and I have a long list of reasons that attempt to justify heading to Zuma in Istanbul on one of our four nights. 

Travels in Italy (4) - Rome, San Crispino Gelateria

I expected most meals in Italy to challenge my thoughts abut food. I expected the pasta I ate to show me how "real" pasta should be. The vegetables, to show me how "real" vegetables should be cooked and the beef to show me what "real" beef was like. High expectations, non? But on a culinary pilgrimage to Italy would you expect any less?


In reality, only one experience confounded my thoughts about food - San Crispino. It seems like a lot to say about an Ice cream place. I accept that. I, myself am not a big ice cream fan, in our 10 days we only ate the stuff twice but San Crispino changed the way I felt.  San Crispino is now infamous as Rome's best ice cream. There's two locations, but we headed to the one near the Trevi fountain.

Travels in Italy (3) - Conti Di San Bonifacio, Tuscany

Somewhere along the dark and windy road from Siena to Ribolla, The Boyfriend and I were in a car crash that killed us both instantly. We must have been. It is the only explanation for how we woke up in heaven the next morning.

Okay, not really. But it is not bad, right? It took all of one hour the next day before we cancelled on our next hotel and extended our stay for an extra two days. The hotel is tiny, only five rooms and for most of our stay we were the only guests staying.

Travels in Italy (2) - Tuscany

We had five days in Tuscany, and in those five days, with a car and a trusty TomTom we covered most of the area. I have no idea why but both The Boyfriend and I had very high expectations of Tuscan food. For some reason we seemed to think that even if we ended up in a Tourist Trap food would still be much better than your average restaurant. As if any restaurant in Tuscany was automatically destined to be better than the rest because of the region's culinary heritage. How wrong we were. Of the ten meals only three were memorable. Another three were goodish, and the other four were either okay or crap. They are ranked in a complex equation of quality of food + view or venue + price, and by complex I mean we just vaguely remember which ones were the best -a suprisingly difiicult feat (but understandably difficult if you look at how much wine we consumed, sometimes I'm amazed we even managed to take photos of the stuff). Anyway, here goes.

Travels in Italy (1) - Florence

After two months of hectic work for The Boyfriend, and exam season for me, we decided to reward ourselves with a holiday. The first stop of our two week trip was Florence. 

We had two days in Florence. Four real meals and The Boyfriend and I were determined to make the most of them. Having been so busy we failed to book any restaurants (a big no-no in Florence, especially in summer) we turned up at midnight on Friday, armed with three guidebooks and absolutely no knowledge of Florence or Tuscan cuisine. Of our four meals - two stood out Il Cernacchino and Trattoria Cibreo.

da Polpo

The Boyfriend's move to Covent Garden three months ago was easily the best decision ever. Not only do we have Opera Tavern, my new favourite place, Machiavelli and Laduree but now we have da Polpo, yet another Russell Norman restaurant. 

La Fromagerie

I've been dying to go to La Fromagerie for ages. My normal cheese place " La Cave a Fromage", in South Ken, has been seemingly getting further and further away -  a product of my increasing laziness and lack of desire to leave the Holborn/Covent Garden/Mayfair/Marylebone area.  So one day my cheese and wine buddy - The Bestie and I decided to try it out.