Category: Eating

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Dining in Italy: La Mola, Varazze

StefanGourmet

During our weekend in Italy we did not only stay in Turin to eat at Combal.Zero, but we also stayed at a friends’ house at the seaside in Varazze with an amazing seaview and the sound of the crashing waves lulling us to sleep. Her brother recommended La Mola just around the corner, and we liked it so much that we had dinner there the second evening as well. La Mola is the type of restaurant that you can find a lot in Italy: simple but good and honest food with friendly service for reasonable prices. Outside of touristy areas, … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Mola, Varazze

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Dining in Amsterdam: Lastage*

StefanGourmet

Lastage opened up less than two years ago at a stone’s throw from Amsterdam Central station. I tried it last year and was impressed with the quality of the food, wine, and service, especially considering the very affordable prices. Meanwhile they have been awarded a Michelin star, but the prices are still the same. You can choose 3 to 6 courses with 2 choices per course for 38 to 62 euros (US$ 48 to 78 at today’s exchange rate), with matching wines for 7.50 euros ($9.50) per glass. Given this price level this is a very good place for a … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Lastage*

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Dining in Italy: Combal.Zero

StefanGourmet

  My regular readers may have noticed that I haven’t posted for a few days. That’s because I was in Italy, to visit friends and to eat at Combal.Zero. In September we dined at Combal.Zero in Rivoli (close to Turin, Italy) for the first time and were totally impressed with the food. So much, that we wanted to go back there again soon. And so we did. Combal.Zero has two Michelin stars (I can only guess why there aren’t three), ‘tre forchette’ (3 forks) from Gambero Rosso (the highest rating from this leading Italian guide) and ranks 59 in the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Combal.Zero

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Dining on Costa Adeje, Tenerife

StefanGourmet

We’ve just spent a week on Tenerife on the Costa Adeje. Most of the restaurants there are cheap and offer mediocre quality at best. Reviews on the internet are not of much use because most people going here seem to like this mediocre food and appear to award five stars (out of five) only if the service is friendly. Although we have not sampled restaurants exhaustively, here’s my take from a week’s stay with links to the full reviews I posted on TripAdvisor. 1. Rosso sul Mare in La Caleta: our favorite. Authentic Italian, great seafood, nice decor, good view, … Continue reading Dining on Costa Adeje, Tenerife

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Nihonryori RyuGin gets very well-deserved 3rd star

StefanGourmet

I just found out that Nihonryori RyuGin in Tokyo has received a very well-deserved 3rd star in the 2012 Michelin guide for Tokyo. We had dinner there in February 2011 and it was the best meal we’ve ever had. Everything was delicious as well as technically perfect, and the matching sakes and wines were amazing. So was the check, but it was definitely worth it! I already wrote in my TripAdvisor review that a 3rd star could not be far away. I do not always agree with Michelin (there are especially too many 3-star restaurants that do not deserve them anymore) … Continue reading Nihonryori RyuGin gets very well-deserved 3rd star

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Dining in Italy: La Torre del Saracino

StefanGourmet

For the 12th anniversary of our first date, I surprised Kees with a visit to La Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense, near Naples. We had been there twice before (in 2008 and 2010), but this was the first time we went there straight from home without going anywhere else. La Torre del Saracino of chef Gennaro Esposito has two Michelin stars (worth a detour), but according to us that should be three (worth the journey). La Torre has two degustation menus (Proposta di Ciro of 6 courses and Proposta di Salvatore of 8 courses) that change with the seasons, … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Torre del Saracino

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Amsterdam dining: Utrechtsedwarstafel

StefanGourmet

Even though are favorite way of dining is to let the chef decide what to cook and the sommelier which wines to serve with it, we had never yet tried Utrechtsedwarstafel because of the pricetag (between 65 euros for 3 course with basic wines and 125 euros for 5 courses with premium wines) and mixed reviews on Dutch leading restaurant review site Iens. But since their formula is exactly the way we like it, we decided to give it a try and go for the full treatment (5 courses with premium wines). We had high expectations of the wine pairings, … Continue reading Amsterdam dining: Utrechtsedwarstafel