1. The Rock Pool Cafe - Mousehole, Cornwall, UK - £
www.rockpoolmousehole.co.ukbreakfast, lunch, dinner - (approx £15 for a grazing lunch for two)
+ unrivalled sea view | beautiful decor | gorgeous food | freshly baked scones | friendly staff
- none
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| Happy honeymooners :3 |
We found this place by chance on our honeymoon in Mousehole while trying to find somewhere to park the car. Tucked at the back of a cliffside car park at the entrance of Mousehole is this beautiful gem. It's a cafe with the most spectacular view, right on the edge of the cliff face you feel like you're hovering over the sea. They serve delightful cream teas, savoury platters, cakes, coffees, cornish "Moomaid" icecream; needless to say we found an excuse to eat there every day. It's beautifully decorated in a vintage seaside tearoom style and sells locally made ceramics (we bought a quaint tile decorated with a heart to use as a coaster for our teapot). There's an outside area with a gorgeous beach hut that you can sit in for a little shelter while you look out over the sea and tuck in to your cream tea. The cakes are to die for in this fabulous cafe and the freshly baked scones are deliciously moreish, you won't be disappointed.
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| He's doing it right |
Tip: Don't forget it's jam before cream in Cornwall!
2. The Park Restaurant - Bruges, Belgium - £££
www.parkrestaurant.belunch, dinner (45 euros pp for 4 course menu, 75 euros pp for 4 course all inclusive menu)
+ traditional dining | beautiful restaurant | great service | delicious food | set menu deals | open on Christmas Day
- none
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| SANTA HATS! |
What an amazing restaurant to spend the evening of Christmas Day at! We decided to do something a little different this year and go away for Christmas and Bruges seemed like the ultimate choice for our first Christmas away as a married pair; beautiful streets, beautiful canals and beautiful food. The Park Restaurant is a French restaurant owned by two brothers with old fashioned wining and dining as it should be. We walked in to find santa hats placed on all of the tables - so obviously we donned our hats immediately and took pictures - and then the celebrating began! It was a set menu for 90 euros, including aperitifs, wine, an apetizer on the house, 4 courses and delicious macarons with our coffees. We hadn't realised that wine was included with the meal (even though it clearly says it on the menu) so we'd already been to two pubs on the way to the restaurant! Needless to say we were completely sloshed half way through the meal, so much so that when Nick went to take a picture of his dessert he dropped his phone into it instead (so embarrassing in a room with a delightfully calm atmosphere when the phone goes CLANG into a plate!) that's why you can see a dent in his delicious souffle pictured below. Anyway, it's rated the best place to eat in Bruges on Tripadvisor for a reason. The food is fantastic, the restaurant is beautiful, the service is impeccable, there are really no negatives for this fantastic place. If you're visiting Bruges get yourself booked in.
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| See dent ^ |
Tip: They're doing an "internet promo" on their website, 75 euros per person for 4 courses, a glass of champagne, adapted wines, a glass of port and coffee or tea (you'll need that).
3. Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall - Watergate Bay, UK - £££
www.fifteencornwall.co.uklunch, dinner (approx £50pp for a standard meal of starter, main and dessert with wine / coffee)
+ sunset beach location | all profits to apprentice programme | taster menu | delicious food | delightful service
- none
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| Apparently they're not supposed to let you keep all of your glasses lined up.. that's why people were staring! |
Now, we may be entirely biased because this was our big blow out meal for the last night of our honeymoon, but this is just set in the most beautiful surroundings. We were sat facing the beach with the huge glass doors wide open in front of us so we could soak up the most incredible sunset and watch the last of the surfers retreating. We absolutely love the ethos behind Jamie's Fifteen: all profits made go to the Fifteen Cornwall Apprentice Programme which trains young people to become amazing chefs and service staff. We had the taster menu and I had the 5 course wine pairing to go with it (unfortunately for Nick, one of us had to drive home). The food was scrumptious and one dish has remained in our hearts - deliciously slow cooked beef with beautifully buttery mash. We often talk about the perfect end to our Cornish honeymoon and recommend it to all Cornwall goers.
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| Beautiful |
Tip: Go in the evening to see the gorgeous sunset and partake in the taster menu.
4. Bastard - Malmö, Sweden - ££
lunch, dinner (approx 350 SEK per person based on 3 dishes and a drink)
+ Swedish tapas | chefs choice option | its called Bastard | fresh local produce | friendly waiting staff
- none
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| One of the only pictures we took |
Malmö is a wonderful place to visit, and an even better place to eat. We didn't really know what to expect from Malmö except what we'd seen on The Bridge (and we didn't want any murders in our midst) so we were excited to visit some Swedish restaurants and sample the local cuisine. This restaurant came high in the list of recommendations and we couldn't exactly pass by a restaurant called Bastard without booking a table.. and we're so glad we did! We had a fantastic evening learning about the dishes which are all made from local fresh produce, sampling cocktails and eating our way through the "chefs choice" menu recommended by our waiter. We hadn't asked how much it would cost so we thought we'd brace ourselves (if it was anything like the price of alcohol we knew it would be expensive) so we were pleasantly surprised that it was around 300 SEK each (less than £30). This consisted of 3 rounds of dishes to share between us (in total we had 8) - it's common to have a menu of meals that you choose a few plates from - like a swedish tapas. It was our last night in Malmö so we (easily) convinced ourselves to have a dessert and opted for the sticky toffee pudding which was out of this world. All we can really remember is that the taste was phenomenal and much better than traditional english sticky toffee pudding (if I hadn't had so much wine by that point I might have been able to describe it better).
Tip: It's a pretty busy restaurant and highly rated on trip advisor so book before you turn up if you can!
5. The Canary Gin Bar - Bath, UK - £
www.thebathgincompany.co.uk/the-canary-gin-bar/drinks (approx £5 per gin cocktail)
+ gin | knowledgeable bar staff | mojito bar upstairs | speakeasy atmosphere
- closes at midnight | not open on Sundays
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| Keep your eyes peeled or you'll miss it! |
Okay, you got me, this isn't really an eat (unless you want to eat the garnish in your cocktail) but it needed to be on the list. This is a fantastic gin bar (opposite an awesome guitar shop that kept Nick happy for hours) with a brilliant speakeasy style atmosphere. Along with most of europe at the moment we're totally obsessed with gin, so looking for a gin bar for our visit to Bath for Nick's birthday seemed pretty sensible. It's a complete gem, there's a mojito bar upstairs (I can't tell you anything about it because we didn't leave the gin) and the most incredible selection of gin we'd ever seen. The bar staff knew all about the gins and accompanying mixers when we quizzed them on what was in the cocktails we'd randomly picked. I chose a pink gin that was beautifully mixed with pink lemonade and rose petals! If you love your gin, this is the place for you.
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| How elegant |
6. The Apothecary Coffee House - Rye, UK - £
www.apothecaryrye.co.ukbreakfast, lunch, afternoon tea (approx £20 lunch for two including coffee and cake)
+ unique style | delicious cake | good portions | cosy | original coffee house atmosphere
- extremely busy (centre of town)
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| Lots of books for readin' |
This deceptively large coffee house is set in the heart of Rye town centre, named presumably because it was indeed an apothecary. The windows are large, there are bookshelves overspilling with old books for customers to read, the furniture is cosy and mismatched and the portions are generous. We had lunches of homemade quiche and salad and then tucked heartily into big slabs of cake with our coffees. It was a delightful little place to duck out of the torrential August rain (thanks England) to dry off and warm up.
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| Waiting patiently for cake |
7. Cafe & Restaurant 8tallet - Copenhagen, Denmark - ££
timos.dk/restaurant-cafe-oerestad-8tallet/breakfast, lunch, dinner (approx 350 DKK for 3 courses per person)
+ waterfront setting | best pancakes | really friendly staff | child friendly
- end of the metro line (which is also a plus point in some respects)
Actually we didn't eat much here but it made it on to the list because the pancakes I shared with my niece for elevensies were the most delicious pancakes I've ever eaten. The cafe is sat on the waterfront with a lovely view and looks like a wonderful setting to eat dinner. We'd certainly recommend it as a place for others to try. I understand it's quite a popular restaurant so it's probably a good idea to book if you're going in the evening.
8. Barra Fina - London, UK - ££
www.barrafina.co.uklunch, dinner (approx £20 per person for lunch)
+ spanish tapas bar | clean, modern feel | buzzy atmosphere | beautiful tasting food
- it's likely that you'll have to wait (but it's not a bad wait)
This tiny tapas bar is worth the confusing stroll around London's back streets to find (I'm sure it's actually perfectly easy to find if you're a city dweller). You're greeted by a lovely host who will probably tell you that you'll have to wait a while for a seat, but trust me it is definitely worth the wait. It's not a bad wait either - we had glasses of sherry brought to us and ate our way through a couple of plates of cheese and bread. You can't book so you'll want to avoid peak times if you want a table immediately, although it strikes me as the kind of place that will always have a queue because it has such a good reputation for its food. Be prepared that you won't be sitting at tables, you'll sit (comfortably) around a bar and eat your food there amongst the buzz of the kitchen. It's probably easier to accommodate smaller groups but I've noticed on the website that they also do private dining.
9. Folk a Rock - Malmö, Sweden - £
folkarock.se/breakfast, brunch, lunch (approx 200 SEK for lunch, coffee and cake)
+ cafe and record shop | great atmosphere | tasty food | friendly staff
- none
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| Cool vibes |
Located off of the most gorgeous old square in Malmö is this incredible cafe / record shop. This place really hit home with me, I've been dreaming for a long time of opening a cafe and used to dream with a close friend who is no longer with us of opening a cafe and record shop combo together. He would have absolutely loved this place. The walls are covered in band posters and there are CDs and records dotted everywhere. The downstairs is where the cafe is and you can sit pretty much anywhere - there are different areas with different styles of music playing so you can sit where you feel you belong. The tables are chairs are a mismatch of styles, comfy sofas are dotted about and there are musician's biographies lining the bookshelves. Upstairs is a huge music shop with pretty much every genre you can think of; it takes me back to the good old days of actually having to go out and buy your music, sifting through bands you'd never heard of and picking up a few bargains by proxy. Did I mention the food was damn good too?? It's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Malmö (which is definitely worth a visit regardless).
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| Say yes to cheesecake |
10. Bocca Di Lupo - London, UK - ££
www.boccadilupo.com/lunch, dinner (approx £25-30 per person, depending on hunger levels)
+ Italian food | tapas style | great food | brilliantly named dished
- none
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| And a happy birthday to me! |
This fantastic little Italian restaurant combines my two absolute favourite things: tapas eating style and Italian food! The menu has so many delicious options and tells you which Italian region each dish is from. This was the first time we ever tried pumpkin ravioli (which we'd highly recommend) and the first (and only?) time Nick has had a coffee with a raw egg yolk in it. We certainly kept ourselves entertained when Nick ordered "grandpa's balls" for dessert - which were actually very tasty - and I'm pretty sure we worked our way through a good bottle of wine (or two). We've absolutely been meaning to go back here and, while looking on the website for this blog post, have noticed that they also sell a cook book! We could soon be eating grandpa's balls every night.
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| The moment we'd all been waiting for. |
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This is a great post! It has inspired me to do something similar! Have a wonderful day! X
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