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Stephanie

Food, Travel

Manga Tuscany

November 11, 2012

In the limited but awesome Italian I learned on my recent trip to Tuscany, I’m pretty sure the above means eat Tuscany, which I attempted to do.

We stayed at San Felice which is an amazing old town that was turned into a beautiful hotel. Seriously, the whole town. It was small, but I still managed to get lost. This was the street our room was on.

The restaurant was even more awesome and I ate what might possibly be the best ‘amouse bouche’ (they call it that in Italy even though its French. Europeans!) ever. It was Parmesan creme brûlée. Like, cream with Parmesan and then a sweet candied top like creme brûlée. It was amazing. Then I had prawns wrapped in bacon. In my books, anything wrapped in bacon is 5 star. Then I had a yummy pasta and some kind of fish. But by far the first two things were the best.

San Felice is also a vineyard and the wine they produce is ace.

In conclusion, I think you should go there even though its kind of a pain in the balls to get to.

Food

Evans and Peel Detective Agency London

September 17, 2012

Stephanie

The girls and I needed a night out and my fab friend Kim suggested we go to to this Evans and Peel Detective Agency/Restaurant. Niche, right?

So, they don’t really give you any info. We had to make an ‘appointment’ ahead of time and then show up at the location near Earls Court. We met outside to think of our ‘case’. Since we made the reservation for 6 but only 5 of us could make it out of work on time, the story was we were missing out sister.

We buzz in the discreet door and then give the ‘case worker’ at the front desk a detailed explanation of the situation (Kim: “She looks like Stephanie, except black.”). We also asked for a hot ‘detective’ to comfort us, and weren’t disappointed. A very good looking Aussie came to take our drinks… and that was it.

We sat there in a room pretty much full of couples and drank £10 vintage cocktails and talked. Which is fine, but I thought there would be an continuation of the whole detective thing.

Ya, it was decorated well and the bartender had his head shaved save a hand print of hair (literally), but if i was going to drink overpriced cocktails, there are far less high maintenance and more entertaining ways to do it.

But, if you want to give it a shot: www.evansandpeel.com BTW, nobody enquired about our missing sister at the end of the night. Poor girl.

Food, Unsolicited Advice

An open letter to: Pork

July 25, 2012

Stephanie

First off, let me just say this post comes out of love.

Pork, please just be yourself. Nobody likes pork chops, so instead of trying to be ‘the other white meat’ appreciate your own amazingness. Be the best you can be which, incidentally, is bacon. I mean come on, seriously, how amazing you look in this pic with eggs cuddled up in your little brioche love nest?

Be comfortable in your own clothes. If people want white meat they are going to have chicken. They always have and always will. Once you accept that and move on with your life, you’ll finally find the happiness I know you deserve. Dammit, you know you deserve it.

You are so money and it kills me that you can’t appreciate it. Like, look, people even flavor crisps after you. That’s how awesome you are. People are willing to eat anything that just tastes like you. Read that last sentence again and really soak up what that means. You are like the Louis Vuitton of meat, even fake is better than nothing.

So, I hope this serves as a wake up call. Be happy in your own skin Pork, especially when it’s crispy.

Because we love you just the way you are.

Yours forever and always (especially on Eggs Benedict),

Stephanie

Food

Red Dog Saloon / Pizza East

July 22, 2012

Stephanie

3 Comments

So, I was going to write an amazing post all about Red Dog Saloon and their BBQ. But then I went all the f’ing way to Shoreditch and it was closed for some reason. My boyfriend thinks that everyone who worked there ditched work because it was so nice out. But, I did take a picture of the sign to prove I was there:

So, we walked (in my super cute strawberry print wedges, ASOS sale £12) to Pizza East.

Anyway, I had the salami, mozzarella and chilli flakes pizza. It was good but a little hard to eat (sauce to cheese to topping ratio was way off). And to be honest, I used to live in New York and really, once you have a slice of Bleeker Street pizza, everything else doesn’t stand a chance.

Here is said pizza anyway:

Highlight of the meal was the nice rose my boyfriend picked out (his job is to select the wine, mine is to drink it). I actually liked drinking out of the regular cup. Sometimes I think wine glasses try too hard.

Location: Pizza East. 56 Shoreditch High Street, London
Cost: About £12 for a pizza. £30 for nice wine.
Look out for: Actually, this is a listen out for. They had some great music playing a little too quietly including Johnny Cash and Bob Marley.

Food, Unsolicited Advice

My love affair with: Hot Dogs

April 26, 2012

Stephanie

Now, some people might think it phallic or unnatural that I am obsessed with Hot Dogs. Whatever, they’re the shiz. Anyway, here I will reminisce about some of the best hot dogs I have ever had.

Caveat: Best hot dog on this side of the Atlantic… nothing beats BBQ hot dogs at home (Canada).

Le Grand Hot Dog 2009

Mi amore en Paris. May you rest in peace somewhere along the Seine. This is honestly one of the best hot dogs I have ever had. It was your standard dog, in a fresh baguette, covered in the tastiest cheese ever, grilled on the spot in a toaster oven and then topped off with ketchup and (North American!) mustard. I acquired this foot long god outside Notre Dame and was settling nicely into my bench on the bridge overlooking the Seine. Sadly, I only enjoyed one bite of it before some freak mini tornado showed up and blew it right out of my hands and into the Seine. Seriously, I almost cried. I was broke and could not afford the €2.50 for a new one, so I’ve had to cling on to that one bite and savor it ever since.

Ze Dick Hot Dog 2008

This gem was discovered my first trip to Germany when I went to Munich for Oktoberfest. Aside from the copious amours of beer I had, this was definitely a highlight for me. The dog itself was fairly average. Bun was fresh, as you would expect because people were eating them like it was the only food left in the world. To be fair it was the only edible thing with in a 1 mile radius, and when you had as much to drink as I did, anything more than 1 mile away may as well have been in Canada. Dog itself was spicy and the flavor of the mustard worked well with it. Solid 8/10. And yes, I ate the whole thing.

Big Ben 2009

This is what remained of a hot dog I ate from a street vendor in London after leaving Movida one night. I don’t remember buying it and I don’t remember how the sauce got all over my shoes, but I do remember walking down Regent Street, shoveling it in my face and thinking that I was the shit, that right then and there my life couldn’t get any better. That is why it is on this list. And that is also probably why I took this picture on the night bus home.

Merida 2010

This is the prime example of a hot dog you don’t eat. I was in Barcelona for work and the camera man was hungry so he suggested this place. I told him that under no circumstances were we setting foot in that ‘restaurant’ and then took a picture of the ‘menu’ to taunt him with. Also, it looks like an albino’s penis.

I have eaten hot dogs since 2009, many of them, I just didn’t take any pictures and they weren’t as memorable as the preceding entries. My search for The One continues…

Food

Burger and Lobster

April 25, 2012

Stephanie

2 Comments

After seeing it on several sites/magazines, one drizzly Tuesday my girlfriends and I decided to take the plunge and try Burger and Lobster.

First things first, send one person from your party as early as humanly possible to put down your name. My friend Malin managed to put our name down at 6:30. Undeterred by the projected 2 hour wait time we headed to Hakkasan in Mayfair where I had the Hakka cocktail which not only came in a beautiful bamboo shaped glass, it also provided a decent buzz for the wait.

Venue: Hakkasan
Location: Hakkasan Mayfair, 17 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QB
Cost: £11.50 for a cocktail
Look out for: tables full of cute men in suits on business dinners

After an hour at the bar in Hakkasan we moved on to meet the other two ladies in our party at Babble (59 Berkley Square). Where I had a £4.50 Vodka soda and was asked to have my picture taken with a random woman in the loos. We left shortly after that.

At 8:30 we were called by the manager Alex and told to make our way to Burger and Lobster. When we arrived there was a further 45 minute wait but we had the reasonably priced house wine (A Sangiovese red) and got drunker while leering at the table of gorgeous men in the booth by the window.

When we finally sat down at 9:15, a lovely Irish girl took our order which was made simple because you have 3 choices: Burger (with or without cheese and bacon), Grilled Lobster with butter or garlic and lemon butter, or a Lobster Roll. All come with chips and a salad. I thought about having the burger (all prime cuts of meat, buns made in house) but Malin insisted that “Nobody goes to Burger and Lobster to have a burger, we could have just gone to Byron.” Fair point.

Now, I’ve been to Maine and had several Lobster rolls, so I was willing to give this one a shot and compare it directly. There are no words to describe how good this was except to say it went from this:

To this:

In like, 14 minutes.

The rest of the girls had grilled lobster which was equally as mouth watering and the main point of conversation. This was my favorite piece:

Kim (who is new to eating lobster): “How do you know which part to eat?”
Cat (Canadian and eats loads of Lobster): “Just put it in your mouth and if it tastes good swallow.”
Me (clearly raised in a barn): “That’s what he said.”

We followed on with dessert and again there were only two choices: Bailey’s mousse (as Kim said to the witness: “You had me at Bailey’s”) with salted caramel or vanilla cheesecake. We ordered both, and both were amazeballs.

Vanilla Cheesecake

When we finished we asked the waitress to send over Alex, the manager and gushed for a solid 10 min abut the food. He offered to take us downstairs and see the kitchen and the brothers and sisters of the Nova Scotian lobsters we just ate.

He totally looks Canadian, right?

So to recap:

Venue: Burger and Lobster
Location: 29 Clarges street, Mayfair London W1J 7EF
Cost: £35/each for four girls with wine and dessert.
What to wear: Something sexy and stretchy. I had a food baby well into the next day. They also provide chic bibs we all wore.
Look out for: Cute Welsh rugby players who will walk you to the tube and invite you all out for more drinks.
Verdict: I never thought I’d say this, but Burger and Lobster is worth the 3 hour wait.

Stephanie Wahlstrom

Hey! Cute top! Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Seriously, though, I like what you've got going on over there. Anyway, my name is Stephanie and I am a Canadian writer living in London. I like to eat, travel and make people laugh. The Accidental Socialite is the name of my debut novel and this blog where you'll find tales of my mishaps and far too many references to bacon. Enjoy!