2 Weeks in Amsterdam - Part 1 - Visited 6/16-6/29/2018 3.5 - 4.5 Forks

Kitchen and Bar Van Rijn    Rembrandtplein 17, 1017 CT Amsterdam                                    3.5 Forks

One of the main reasons I've been so behind in my blog is that I recently started a new and exciting job at Booking.com and I've been doing a lot of traveling as a result of it.  One of the fun things about the job is that it's HQ'd in Amsterdam, so I had to head over there in June for a few week of training.  I hadn't been to Amsterdam in a really really long time, so I was really excited to check it out.  Unfortunately,  my schedule was jam packed with work stuff and I was super jet lagged but I was able to check out some good restaurants while I was there. 

Sadly, I was so busy with work that I didn't really plan much in advance so when a colleague of mine suggested Kitchen and Bar for the first night we were there, I didn't have too much of an objection.  It was conveniently located right by work, so it was easy enough to get to but it also meant that it was right off one of the main touristy squares.  Luckily the weather was pretty decent, so we got a seat outside but the place felt more like an outdoor cafe where you grab a few beers while you people watch vs. a true restaurant experience.  As a result the menu is kind of uninspiring but not totally void of decent sounding things to eat.  We got a gem salad to start and I got the salmon (23 euros) as my main entree.  Of course I sucked the table into getting fries to share because I can't so no to fries and also because we're in Amsterdam and every place serves fries.  Both the salad and salmon were pretty good - the salmon was "Asian style" which just meant it came on a bed of noodles, shiitake mushrooms and had some curry sauce to it.  It was an absolutely fine dish just not anything mind blowing.  The sad part of the meal was surprisingly the french fries - while it's really the Belgians who are known of their fries, the Dutch also put french fries on a lot of menus, so you'd think they would be perfect.  These were overcooked and wasted calories.

Overall the meal was fine - it kind of felt like a meal I could make at home myself but still in a appetizing manner.  It wasn't necessarily a gang buster way to be introduced to the food scene in Amsterdam but then again, Amsterdam isn't really known as a food city (although it is getting better).  Total bill was covered by a colleague but the prices were fairly reasonable for the area it was in.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bakers and Roasters  Eerste Jacob van Campenstraat 54, 1072 BH Amsterdam                      4.5 Forks

Obsessed.   I am still thinking about my breakfast here and can't wait to go back in a few weeks.  A colleague in Amsterdam sent me a nice long list of places to check out and this got a lot of great reviews, so I put it as my first stop for breakfast.  Not surprisingly, similar to the craze that is going on in the US, this popular breakfast spot is influenced by New Zealand/Australia.  I honestly don't remember breakfast being all that good when I was in Australia but that was several years ago, so maybe things have changed?   Apparently now, everyone around the globe loves a good "brekkie". 

Everything about this place screams Instagram and millennials but I still loved everything about the place.  The moment I walked in, I felt an immediate love to the place.  The menu is adorable and everything on the menu sounded amazing - they have lots of yummy egg dishes, chia bowls, acai bowls, plus salads and sandwiches.  It's like a hipster paradise.  I opted to be more "healthy" and got the vege brekkie (14.50 euros) - it came with 2 organic eggs (I got them soft scrambled), grilled haloumi cheese, avocado, breakfast potatoes, creamy mushrooms, homemade chili jam, and hot buttered toast.   The meal was HUGE and it could easily feed 2 people at once, so definitely come with an appetite.   Everything on the plate was wonderful, delicious and very well prepared.  The eggs were perfectly soft scrambled and the paired well with the chili jam (a perfect combination of sweetness with some heat).  If anything, the only complaint I have is that it was too much food and the mushroom was almost too heavy for the dish.  I would have preferred some fruit or extra avocado instead.  Also, since I was in a bit of a hurry, it was hard to really enjoy my meal - it would be a perfect meal if you have a long lazy Sunday morning and could really spent hours sitting here with a newspaper and coffee.

There are two locations and I tried the one that is Centrum area but during my next trip out to Amsterdam, I'll look to try the De Pijp location and compared.  Either way, this is a total must try breakfast/brunch list on my list.  Total bill:  18 euros with tax

De FoodHallen  Bellamyplein 51, 1053 AT Amsterdam                                                              4 Forks

As many of you know by now, I am a sucker for food halls.  I know they can be super touristy but I can't help myself.  I love the variety that a food hall offers and the excitement and buzz around them.  Sophia and I decided to check this place out after work on a random Tuesday and it was surprisingly packed. 

Like most food halls, there was a good diverse line up of food stalls - there was Vietnamese, Chinese, Sushi, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Dutch and German just to name a few.  All the food stalls have menus in English so it was super easy to figure everything out.  The one thing I miss a lot when I travel is eating Asian food, so I opted to go for the Vietnamese stall since they had a banh mi sandwich on the menu.  The wait was a bit long but the bar is literally right across the way, so grab a beer while you wait.  Who would have thought you could get a delicious pork belly banh mi in Amsterdam?  The bread was super soft and it came with the usual line up of pork and refreshing pickled veggies.  The one con was that I was still hungry afterwards but the pro of being in a food hall is that you can always get more food.  I didn't really want anything fried and while I'm usually skeptical of sushi in a place like this, I decided to go out on a limb and give it a go.  And you know what?  It was surprisingly pretty damn good.  I got a simple spicy salmon hand roll and the fish was great, the rice was the right texture and the seaweed nice and crispy.  Both Sophia (who lives in SF) and I were impressed with it and kind of regret not getting more.  

I'm not sure if there are necessarily other stalls that I would want to checkout next time, but my initial impression of my experience here very positive and I would definitely recommend it to others to check as fun local experience.  Plus everything was very affordable - everything I had was under 10 euros.  Cheapest expensed dinner ever!  

Photo Credit: Yelp

Felice Visited 6/12/2018 2.5 Forks

Felice  15 Gold St., New York, NY 10038

I have been lucky enough to snag a new job at Booking.com and one of the first things my new boss told me was to go "bond" with my team aka have a team outing.  Luckily, my team is super into food (I already know I'm on a great team) so the easiest thing to do is to go have a team lunch.  Although I have worked downtown almost my entire career in NYC, I've never really worked in this specific part of the Financial District.  Despite it's not so pretty exterior, this part of the city has a LOT of lunch places given the high concentration of corporate offices. 

I asked my team to pick a spot for lunch since I didn't really know the area well and one of my managers chose this place since it was close to the office.  I had never heard of it and it's actually in the lobby of the Gild Hotel which I had never been to before but had heard of.  It's a pretty nice hotel for the area, although not at the caliber of The Beekman or Four Seasons nearby, but it's a cute boutique right in the middle of it all. 

The restaurant is Italian with a focus on Tuscan flavors.  While I love Italian food, it's hard to eat it for lunch because it's usually so heavy, so I opted for a salad.  They actually have a pretty good salad selection and I got the Carciofi ($17) which came with thinly sliced raw artichokes, arugula, shaved parm, hearts of palm, cherry tomatoes and Dijon mustard.  I added chicken as a protein and I was super excited because this is a combination of really yummy vegetables that you don't really see together too often.  The rest of my team got a combination of salads, pastas and other dishes.  

The salad was a pretty big size and my first few bites were wonderful.  I love the combination of the raw artichoke with the cheese and arugula, plus I felt super healthy eating it.  If I had given my review based on my first few bites, I would give it 4 forks hands down.  But what did this review in is that I was almost half way through my salad when I saw a huge bug in it - it made my stomach churn when I saw it.  I'm usually someone who can deal with a hair in my food or even a slightly dirty restaurant but when there is a full on bug in my salad, I do not stand for it.  Unfortunately, I had eaten most of my food before I saw it, so I didn't feel like I could send it back (although now thinking about it, I probably should).   Despite all this, I'm still willing to give this place another try but it was definitely not a very pleasant first impression, although the rest of my team seemed to really like their food and was in total food coma when we got back to the office.  Total bill:  $292 for 8 people

Photo Credit: Yelp

Pergola Visited 6/7/2018 3 Forks

Pergola  36 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001

I'll keep this review quick because it's not really like Pergola is a true restaurant - it's really more a hookah bar/club for the Murray Hill crowd.  My good friend Vivi was in town visiting with her daughter and it was a rare opportunity to have a girls night out with her, Maggie and Lav.  The location was kind of random, it's in a weird side street in the Flower District and in all my years of living in NYC, I would have never stumbled upon this place. 

When I arrived, it immediately reminded me of the kinds of places you go when you first move to NYC.  Everyone was dressed up like they were ready to party even though it was a random Thursday night.  Maggie and I got there early and the hostess said that we could wait in the back until our friends came. We asked if we could get a drink and she never really answered our question and then when we grabbed a table behind the bar no one came to take our drink order.  Finally our host came back and said our table was ready upstairs.  The upstairs is a really weird layout, it's like a square but only with tables along the side of the wall so the middle was empty.  There was less eating from the crowd and mostly smoking.  The hookah part didn't bother me at all, but it was just a weird environment to be in.  

As for the food, it's got a Middle Eastern flare to it.  I wasn't super hungry for some reason and ended up ordering a kale salad with shrimp (I know, how lame).  The salad came with baby kale, grilled corn, feta and walnuts.  It was a totally fine salad but nothing super inspiring or mind blowing.  I felt like we should have ordered bottle service instead of food here.  In the end, it was the company here that was more fun to me and if you're still in your 20's or 30's and want the hookah experience, I would recommend this place but if you're looking for a quiet night out with the girls and catching up over good food and drinks, there are plenty of other places in NYC that would better suit your needs.  The bill was graciously covered by my friends for my birthday.  

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The King's Kitchen Visited 6/1/2018 4 Forks

The King's Kitchen  129 W Trade St., Charlotte, NC 28202

I'll be honest and say that I'm generally not a huge fan of the South - it's hot, humid, and it lacks the diverse population that I crave.  But the one thing I do enjoy about the South is the food and hospitality.  It's comforting, hearty and there's something about the food that can't be recreated in the North. 

I was in Charlotte for only 36 hours but I couldn't leave town without trying at least one restaurant.  Normally I would try to go for a BBQ place but I couldn't find any within walking distance of my hotel, so I settled for the next best thing - shrimp and grits. AJ and I found our way to this place since it was literally across the street from her hotel and they explained that they donate 100% of the sales to feed the poor which is a lovely concept.  The menu was a greatest hits of everything Southern - fried green tomatoes, gumbo, po boy sandwiches, fried chicken, catfish, okra, the list could go on and on.  Since we were going to a rehearsal dinner afterwards we tried not to go too ape shit on the menu.  We split a pimento cheese ($8), sautéed mushrooms ($4) and both got our own order of shrimp and grits ($22).

If you've never had pimento cheese before, then you are missing out.  Don't be fooled - it's not fancy cheese...I'm frankly not even sure it's really cheese but it's a tangy, slightly spicy spreadable delight.  The waitstaff was super nice and brought AJ some veggies since she has a gluten allergy to go with the cheese.  It's definitely not the healthiest thing to eat but honestly, not much is in the South..which is why we got the sautéed mushrooms to balance things out but they were soaking in oil (in a good way) so I'm not sure how healthy it really was.  As for the entrees, they were delicious.  The grits were creamy but still with a bit of texture to it and it had an extra special ham flavoring to it, which is always appreciated.  I usually like really cheesy grits but since this had a lot of shrimp on it, I was good that it was a bit more simple.  The shrimp was cooked well (not to dry and with the right amount of bite to it) and went really well with the grits.  I was definitely a happy person after this meal.  It actually started to rain while we were sitting outside so they were nice enough to seamlessly move everything inside for us with no issues at all.  The waitress was so sweet and friendly that it reminded me of the good things that the South has to offer.   Also a shout out to their wine buyer as they had an awesome Châteauneuf-du-Pape  by the glass - that's pretty hard to find outside of France. While I'm not sure I'll ever find myself back in Charlotte, I enjoyed the one meal I had there and would totally come back for the fried chicken, okra and even pot pie.  Total bill:  $50/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Cleo Visited May 29, 2018 4 Forks

Cleo 444 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10016

Anuja, Amy and I had been wanting to go to Nur (another hot Middle Eastern restaurant) but they were all full, so we decided to check out Cleo instead which is inside the Mondrian Hotel.  If you've never been to a Mondrian Hotel, you're missing out - they've got a beautiful, funky, boutique vibe that I really appreciate. 

I generally am not a huge fan of hotel restaurants but they are slowing getting to be much better and if I were traveling to NYC and staying at the Mondrian, having dinner at Cleo would not be a bad thing at all.   As with most Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurants there was a bunch of dips, kebabs, octopus, lamb and they also had tagines which is more of a Moroccan dish but it fit well with the rest of the menu.   We got the prerequisite dips of greek yogurt ($9) and babaganoush ($10), salt and pepper fries ($8) because I'm obsessed with fries, lamb sliders for me ($13), zucchini chips ($14) and shrimp kabab ($16).   The dips were great and served with soft pita and we used the left over dips with the zucchini chips - which on their own, I wasn't a huge of fan of.  It might have been an overkill to get zucchini chips and fries since they're both fried and easy vehicles to get to dip.  Plus the fries were definitely much better so it made the zucchini chips feel inferior and unnecessary.  Of the 3 of us, only I eat meat so I ate all 3 lamb slides myself which is definitely a meal on it's own.  They were pretty juicy and served on soft challah bread with feta, harissa aioli, pickled shallots and peppers.  The feta made it a bit hard to eat but overall, really solid sliders but a bit much for one person to eat on their own.  Since I was so full, I didn't get to try the shrimp kababs  but they looked like they were grilled nicely and seasoned well. 

The service was friendly and nice but a bit confusing as there were multiple people helping us and it wasn't clear who we should be going to for things but it wasn't as annoying as it sounds.  While I had a lovely meal there and it was nice to be in a restaurant that wasn't super crowded, I'm not sure I would exactly say it's a destination restaurant in NYC yet.  The area is also not my favorite - it's kind of in their weird cross section of NoMad, Murray Hill and Kips Bay (in fact I don't even really have a tag for this area and kind of shoved it into Midtown which I know it isn't) but if you're in the area, check it out and definitely get the lamb sliders!  Total bill:  $60/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp