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Friends who had visited Myanmar before us had completely skipped Mandalay, but we wanted to take our time exploring as much of the country as we could, so we (somewhat hesitantly) added a few nights in Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city, to our itinerary.
View of Mandalay from the Hotel Yadanarbon’s rooftop
It’s only about 445 miles north of Yangon (but, in case you’re wondering, if you’re going roughly 25 mph on a train, that’ll take you about 16+ hours). When we arrived on the overnight train around 9am, completely and utterly exhausted, we found scores of people at the train station, all hounding us to [...]
Everything about the W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak was fun, lively and the perfect place to begin our honeymoon. As I’ve covered in a previous post about the hotel (you can read it here), our very own pool villa was everything I always wanted in a honeymoon + more.
But, when we ventured away from the private pool and quiet oasis of our villa, the rest of the W always had a lot going on and plenty to experience. There was always a lively party, plenty of Balinese culture to take in and rum drinks overflowing by the pool – no matter what time of day or night. Much of the crowd was always gathered at one of the two on-site restaurants, so this post will [...]
149 Wentworth French/American $$$$- Fine dining experience How to save $: Best bet is to go during restaurant week but even that will put you at $85+ a person after wine, tax and tip!
Eager to jump on Restaurant Week early, we made reservations at Circa 1886—a restaurant we’ve always wanted to try.
Deriving its name from the construction of the Wentworth Mansion that it shares a property with, the restaurant is housed in a great historic building with lots of character.
The first thing I noticed is that Circa 1886 is much more formal than I imagined. Plenty of men were wearing blazers and ties, but you’d be fine in nice slacks and a button-down [...]
Oak is, allegedly, a Charleston staple. You won’t hear this from everyone, however.
Oak is part of the Indigo Road group of restaurants, along with the likes of O-Ku, the Macintosh, etc., and, with a track record like that (all of these restaurants, we’ve tried and loved), how could Oak be bad? In fact, Oak was the first restaurant in the Indigo Road, so surely it’s fantastic?
I made the reservation this time, and Oak is never easy to just glide into last minute. About a week out, we had to settle for a reservation close to 9pm. Jeffrey didn’t know where we were headed when we left home and, though I tried to get him not to, he [...]
Ok, so, admittedly, we looked forward to dinner all day long because it was a good excuse to get out of the freezing cold. We pulled up Urbanspoon and found that Le Hobbit Bistro was a good mix of everything we were looking for: good French food, a walkable location, a lively atmosphere, not too cheap and not super expensive. We made reservations but when we arrived we noticed that we probably didn’t need them.
We walked from our hotel to the restaurant. While very walkable, it was outside of the walled city and a decent ways up Saint-Jean. Although Urbanspoon qualifies it as “late night,” we noticed that it was only open until 10pm on the [...]
479B King American $$$$ – Plan on dropping some cash here Part of Indigo Restaurant Group: Includes Oak Steakhouse, O-Ku, & The Cocktail Club
The Macintosh is one of Charleston’s highest-rated restaurants on Urbanspoon. Coming in with a 90% rating, you’d expect the food to be good.
The good news is: you’ll be right. It may very well get my vote for the best dinner in Charleston. At the very least, it’s secured a top-three rank. And, in 2012, it earned a nomination from Bon Appetit magazine as one of the 50 Best New Restaurants in America.
Located on Upper King, the big glass doors showcase the inside [...]
308 S Hunter St, Aspen, CO Lunch, Dinner $
While staying in Snowmass, CO, we caught the free shuttle bus from the “downtown” area of Snowmass to Aspen one evening. More about the free shuttle at the end of this post.
Because our stay in Aspen was very short – only a couple of hours – and it was a freezing cold January night, we decided to do some quick research and pick a restaurant near the shuttle bus stop and one with some atmosphere. After a search on Urban Spoon, we headed just down the road to La Palapa, advertised as an authentic Mexican food joint.
Because we’re from SC, we wanted to try some Mexican food in [...]
76 Queen Lunch, Dinner $$$ How to save some cash: Try to go during Restaurant Week (if they’ll keep participating?), you’ll pay $30-$40 for 3-courses vs appx $50-$60 for 3-courses during normal times
Voted “Best New Restaurant in America” by Bon Appetit in 2011, Husk is one of the most talked-about restaurants in the city–it has been for a few years now and continues to be immensely popular.
After hearing mixed reviews from our friends (“You better like pork before you go in there…” and “I know everyone loves it, but I didn’t…”), I was admittedly skeptical that my high expectations may not be met.
Located next door [...]
1110 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. American $$$
Jeffrey and I were in DC recently and happened to stay just around the corner from Lincoln. After doing some quick research on Urban Spoon, we decided on the Lincoln because of its close proximity to our hotel and its good reviews (92%!).
When we walked in, true to its name, there were penny’s inside the floor. Pretty cool touch for a restaurant that takes its name from the President whose face is on the penny. The restaurant had a laid-back atmosphere with plenty of people, but it didn’t seem crowded at all. And, it’s not too nice — it wasn’t quiet and you don’t have to [...]
1631 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, QC Bistro, American $$
Having heard about those restaurants that deliver entire meals in the dark, we decided to check out Montreal’s local venue, O’Noir. It added a lot of extra excitement to the night’s dinner, and we both looked forward to the experience all day, discussing what we thought it’d be like.
Reviews stated that the food was, at best, average, but what you’re really going for is the experience. Although going to a restaurant for something other than food is…well, strange, we remained excited about the “activity.”
You don’t just stumble upon [...]
