Cotidiano

A little while back I stayed over at my cousins place in Munich.  In the morning, we were to lazy to make anything, so we decided to go out for breakfast. We didn't exactly know where we should go so we just ventured about till we stumbled upon this lovely little place called Cotidiano. 

Neither of us had ever been there before but it looked good and they had a sign that said: All day breakfast. You can never go wrong with that, can you?

The place itself is furnished with only wooden tables, chairs and has shelves filled with homemade jam and other delicious things.

It has big windows which let in a lot of light and it gives the restaurant quite a warm feeling. It's a very comfortable place.

It took us quite some time to figure out what we wanted to have, since you could combine all sorts of breakfast-y stuff or order a whole breakfast. 

In the end we decided to order one of the smaller breakfasts and just add some little bits and pieces from the menu. 

If you know me, which you do if you read this blog, than you will know that a picture of me isn't complete without pulling a face. As you can see my cousin is the same, must run in the family after all. 

For drinks we both got something called hugo but without alcohol. It essentially is sparkling water with elder syrup, mint and limes. It is very refreshing and since it was a really hot day it was the perfect way to start our breakfast.

And after taking forever to decide we finally managed to find the perfect breakfast for us.

My cousin got a bircher muesli with fruit bread and a almond croissant.

 I settled for egg with tomatoes and granola with berries and yogurt.

At Cotadiano all the bread that you get is homemade and there is a jar of homemade jam on every table.

And the food is absolutely delicious.

So if you are ever in need of a place for breakfast, Cotadiano would be my recommendation!

I swear it was heavenly, I have no idea why she looks so grumpy :D

x

J.

Food Friday - Marley's

Hi everyone :)

While my dad and I were wandering around Hamburg hungrily, we came across a hotel that seemed to have a lovely restaurant attached.

We read the menu they had outside and decided to give it a go, as just by reading it we had already seen quite a view things we felt like eating.

Marley’s is the quite elegant restaurant on the ground floor go The Madison in Hamburg, with great food and friendly, courteous waiters.

The chairs look a lot less comfortable then they actually are and the decorations on the table are simple but quite tasteful.

I can’t for the life of me remember what my dad ordere but it was an Asian dish that they had on their daily menu so you are probably not very likely to have that. I had a ceased salad with salmon as I wasn’t feeling to adventurous. 

Before our food arrived we got a bit of bread and butter. I don’t know exactly what it was but they gave us this really thin almost crisps like bread that had caraway in it and it was soooooo good. I could have happily eaten a bathtub of that stuff, even though I do have no clue what exactly it was.

We both enjoyed our food a lot but the salmon I had was just exceptional. It just fell apart and was cooked to perfection. 

meet my very smug looking Dad :)

I have to say my dad and I quite enjoyed our late night dinner at Marley’s, they don’t have a lot of food on their menu but the things they do have are cooked with a lot of love.

So if you ever are in Hamburg, or even staying at The Madison do please check out this place. I can guarantee you will enjoy the food!

x

J.

Hamburg - 'Schönes Leben'

Hi everyone :)

Are you up for another post about Hamburg? I so am ready to relive this memory, because let me tell you it was a really really good one!

Both my dad and I enjoy some good food and since we only had the breakfast situation covered by our hotel, that meant finding places to eat for lunch and dinner. 

And we did find some pretty good places if I may say so myself. 

For now lets look at the cute little place we went to for dinner on Saturday.

‘Schönes Leben’ is situated in the ‘Fächerstadt’, which my dad and I stumbled upon by accident. 

We hadn’t really made any plans for dinner but were quite hungry, so we just strolled through Hamburg in search of some food.

And ‘Schönes Leben’ is what we came across. It was one of many little places in one street but it just looked a lot more inviting from the outside then the others did. And boy am I glad we chose to head in, as the food was absolute heaven.

The restaurant itself is placed in a really old house from the 17th century. Its decor is slightly tacky but did fit the place extremely well.

All the lighting is provided by chandeliers that are probably as old as the house itself and the painted ceiling is especially beautiful to look at.

As I did like the place quite a lot and couldn’t stop taking pictures I was very happy to hear that the toilet was on the second floor and I was able to see more of the gorgeous house. 

Upstairs they do have more dining room space that I presume is used for special occasions. The gallery is something I am quite envious of because I love these things and am quite keen on having one myself one day.

But enough of the interior design lets get to the good part: FOOD.

And my god was it good. My dad went for a classic dish very well known in Hamburg called  ‘Labskaus’ and I wanted something salady but just a plain salad sounded a bit boring so I went with goat cheese backed in honey with wild herbs salad and pomegranate. 

Before we got our mains however we got a little special from the kitchen which versprechen an excellent main course.

We also got some bread with a very tasty dip/spread.

Our waitress was really aufmerksam and was quick to answer all our questions, not only about the food but also the house itself which was a welcome surprise, that my dad took full advantage of. 

By the time our main course arrived, which was fairly quick might I add, my dad and I had happily demolished both starters we were given and were waiting for the rest of the food that was coming our way.

It looks great right?

I can tell you it tasted even better. I was fairly certain what my dish was going to taste like and what I had in mind but my dad was completely in the dark as he actually had no idea what exactly he had ordered.

He is a bit weird that way :D He just wanted to try ‘Labskaus’ no matter what it was, neither of us are completely sure yet about it’s ingredients but it did taste really good. Or so my dad said since I didn’t try it because we didn’t know what was in it :)

The goat cheese was more than delicious, it wasn’t completely melted yet and fell apart when you ate it. The strong taste of the cheese was evened out by the sweetness of the honey and the combination of both was absolutely great. I wasn’t so sure about the pomegranate but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It really turned the dish into something absolutely divine. 

I could have quite happily eaten twice the amount of cheese, that is how god it was.

So if you ever are in Hamburg and are in need of a good place to go to for some food please take my advice and make your way to ‘Schönes Leben’

Schönes Leben

Deichstraße 37

20459 Hamburg

x

J.

Food Friday - Mr. Onions

Hi everyone :)

Are you as excited as I am that food Friday is finally back?

Lets do this :)

A couple of weeks back me and a friend went to a restaurant/cocktail bar after our dancing lesson to grab a bite to eat.

They serve a bit of everything, different varieties of salads, burgers, pizza and some pasta dishes.

Its simple food but nonetheless really good.

Mr. Onions interior is very simple with comfy chairs and good lighting.

I decided to have cocktails with my dinner as it was happy hour (6pm-9pm) which meant that some cocktails cost a s much as a glass of coke. I obviously had a non alcoholic one :)

I had some minty thing called fresh mint which had limes, brown sugar, fresh mint leaves, orange juice, passionfruit juice, peppermint sirup in it. I asked for a bit of grenadine sirup as well and that cocktail was the most delicious thing. I haven't had a cocktail this good in a long time!

My friend just had a beer so that is not really worth showing because I think we all know what beer looks like.

For dinner I settled on a chicken salad that came with some garlic bread and my friend had a baguette with some things on it. I don't really remember what it was but I have been told it was really good :P

Both of these things were delicious but the garlic bread has to have been the best I have ever had. It was pure heaven and I would quite happily eat a whole plate just full of that!

So if you fell like having a nice meal after your lecture then Mr. Onions is definitely the place to go. The prices are very reasonable and it is like a 3 minute walk from University.

Also go check out their website: Mr. Onions.

x

J.

Food Friday - Matterhorn

Hi everyone :)

While I was In New Zealand, my host parents took me out for an amazing dinner to a restaurant called Matterhorn.

And boy can their chef cook. It was food heaven people, trust me I have never loved a meal this much!

And it is not only about the food but the service and design of the place as well. Everything just came together and made it a perfect evening.

It would have been pretty special anyway with being reunited with the 2 most amazing people of my second family but eating at Matterhorn gave it the final touch.

As soon as you walk in you are greeted by nice people who take you to your table, as the restaurant is quite well visited we had to wait for a bit, but got offered a place a the bar and just had drinks first.

When we got asked what we wanted to name our table (so they could let us know as soon as it was ready) and my host parents told them we would name it Jana bear they even took the time to listen to the story behind that.

So we took our seats at the bar and ordered some drinks.

They have this light bulbs set up above the seats at the bar, but they are not fully light so they are glowing kind off orange which gave the whole room a really warm atmosphere. And had us wondering how they did that for quite a while :)

Matterhorn taken from TripAdvisor 

It is quite dark in the whole restaurant as all their lights are not fully light but that just makes it so much more comfortable and it kind off makes the whole thing a bit more private. Sadly that meant that taking pictures of our food was a bit hard too but I think we still did quite well :D

So after we got taken to our table, we were handed the menus. Now at Matterhorn you don't just get your dish and are done with it, their menu is set out to be shared and the waitress kindly took her time to advise on how we would be getting the most out of this.

On their menu they have various starters as well as meaty mains and vegie ones and for three people you are supposed to get between 5 and 6 dishes. 

This is were the service at Matterhorn started to really blow us away.  Because my host dad is allergic to quite a lot of things, including fruit, tomatoes and nuts,  eating out can become a bit of a hassle. Well not if you are going to this particular restaurant!

We told them about his allergies and our waitress took our menu to their chef and had him mark all the things my host dad could eat and the chef even was kind enough to switch the oils he used in some of his dishes so my host dad could have them. It was a really nice thing to do and actually allowed us to have way more things then we first thought.

We settled for olives infused with garlic & rosemary for a started which my host dad couldn't have because they were marinated with lemon oil or something of that matter but they were really good.

Our main courses came on various platters and in bowls and we weren't really able to tell where what went so I'll just list what we had and you can all try and figure out which is which :D

So we had:

Gratin of red cabbage, date, parmesan & caramelised red apple
pot roast pork loin, baked apple, pink peppercorn, baby turnip & cider sauce

roast wagyu fat potatoes, toasted hay, buttermilk, crisp sage & almond beurre noisette

roquefort, poached pear, candied walnuts, honeycomb, chicory & fig vincotta

whole merino lamb leg, cumin butter, charred lemon, aubergine brinjal & coriander yoghurt

this did not look as yellow in real life :D

And this is what our table looked like :)

It was so much food and it was soooooo good. I think we only ate all of it because it was so freaking delicious. Like I said we found food heaven that night!

I especially liked the idea of sharing since I am someone who hates that I can only ever choose one thing of the menu. Usually I make the person that goes with me have the second choice I had but this time I didn't have to :D

It was perfect.

We had such a good time and the evening was topped off with the chef making a special dessert for us since my host dad couldn't have any of the dishes on the menu. 

We really did feel spoiled when we left.

It truly was an amazing evening, with incredibly delicious food, so so lovely waitresses and great conversation.

I can highly recommend this place!!!

If you wanna know what else is on their menu just check out their website or say hi on twitter.

x

J. 

Food Friday - Chicago

Hi everyone :)

It seems like ages ago already that I was in New Zealand. But today I finally managed to go through all my pictures I took and sort them out which is wshen I came across some I took at different kinds of restaurant that I went to with friends.

And we'll start off with one called Chicago.

It is right at the waterfront of Wellingtons harbor. They do typical American cuisine and an all you can eat pancakes buffet on Saturday mornings. Sadly it wasn't Saturday when I went with my friend L but we had a good time there anyway.

 Chicago's interior is exactly what I always imagined a American diner looking like, since I have never been to one :) I have also never been to America at least not if a 5 hours stop over at LAX doesn't count. 

As it also is a sports bar there always is some sort of sport being shown on one of the many Tv screens that they have in there. 

I especially liked the bookshelf above those seats around that table under the TV screens, it looks so comfortable. I really wanted to go sit there but it was such a gorgeous day outside that we couldn't spend it sitting inside just because I liked those seats so much. 

Both, L. and I decided on a burger and ended up getting the same one. It was really good so we did not regret it :)

this is L. he is a very dear friend that I miss loads when I'm not in Welington

They were really amazing and had I been there for longer I would have gone in on a Saturday morning. But to be quite honest I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed early enough to go there on both Saturdays I spend in Wellington :D

So if you ever are in Wellington an find your self craving a good burger that wasn't made in some fast food restaurant you should definitely give Chicago a go.

Also, go check out their website here

x

J.

Food Friday - Vapiano

Hi everyone :)

It is Friday. Yeah weekend.

But that for me also means that my semester break is finally over and uni starts again on Monday.

3. semester already, that is crazy, seems like it was yesterday that I stumbled into this crazy world that is university with absolutely no clue what I was doing.

To be fair I think I still don't know what I'm doing but shhh! 

So last week I was in Munich to help out AIFS at an exhibition. They are the organization that I went to New Zealand with. If you are interested in a year abroad you should definitely go and check out their website.

Since my cousin lives in Munich and I was there anyway we decided to go out for dinner after I was done.

We walked around for a bit until we decided that going to Vapiano was probably a good idea. 

If you're not a new reader you will know that I have been to Vapiano before but in Augsburg. You can read about that here.

The Vapiano in Munich however is a completely different thing. Sure they serve mostly the same things but the set up is a lot cooler.

It is situated in one of the many malls in central Munich and very popular. 

This particular restaurant is always well-attended and it can sometime be quite hard to find a place to sit.

So maybe plan with some waiting time that you can fill with sitting at the bar and having a drink. 

My cousin and I however were very lucky and were able to find a place to sit after a bit of looking around.

Vapiano is a self-serving restaurant however they do cook your stuff fresh at the counter and you can watch them preparing it.

I also really like the way they drew their menu on the black board above the counters.

The whole place is very open and hold in simple red and orange lights which makes for a real warm atmosphere. They have comfy arm chairs downstairs and wooden chairs and tables upstairs. 

The thing that I love about the interior of Vapiano in Munich is the round room that they have left in the middle. So sitting up stairs you kind of sit in a circle and can look down to the lower part of the restaurant. 

We went for a simple salad and a pizza tht wasn't technically a pizza but more of a bruschetta ish thing. 

It was delicious as ever and the fact that my cousins boyfriend treated us to dinner was a very much appreciated bonus :)

x

J.