Jul/090
Restaurant Cyrus
First off I have to say it’s really a shame I don’t have any pictures from this restaurant, because everything was pleasing to the eye; the food, the decor, even the presentation of the wine was something else! 2 thumbs up to the restaurant, and one in my eye for not bringing a camera!
I visited this restaurant with two collegues back in July 2006 when I was in San Francisco taking a training in relation to work. I spent 6 weeks there, and during one of the weekends, me and the two other Europeans (British and Swedish) who we’re there decided to rent a car and go to Healdsburg in Sonoma Valley to visit a restaurant, Cyrus, which had been highly recommended by a sommelier we met during another restaurant visit.
Upon arrival we we’re escorted into the bar adjecent the dining room, and offered a liquid apptizer. After a while we taken to our table, discretely located in one of the restaurants quiet corners, without feeling cramped.
I have to say that the thing about this restaurant was the way the food was presented. Unlike traditional American cooking, nothing was in abundance. Needless to say, we didn’t leave feeling wanting anything and least of all to fill a void in our stomach, but the point I’m trying to make is that in some magical way they managed to make every dish a selection of smaller dishes, greatly varied in taste, yet coming together like a symphony of tastes; each dish presenting a different melody and each ingredient a different instrument.
The restaurant focused heavily on local wines. Sonoma, beeing the largest wine producing county in the US, has a great selection of wines. Some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted came from the US west coast, and some of the best wines I tasted from the US west coast I tasted during this visit. Selecting wines to match a dish composed of 3-4 smalles dishes, and an endless array of tastes was a challenge, but it was a challenge meet and defeated by Cyrus’s skillful sommelier.
In retrospect I have nothing bad to say about this restaurant. If you’re ever in Californina, this restaurant is well worth a visit. I’m told that it’s also a good alternative to the more expensive and exlusive French Laundry in Napa Valley, and it proves once and for all that Americans can cook to!
Visit the restaurant website here
To make up for not having any pictures from the restaurant, here are a few scenic shots from Sonoma in general.
Jul/090
Berlin for New Years 09
So this is an old happening, but I didn’t have a blog at the time, and I’d still like to share the experience simply because it was a good one!
My friend Torstein’s father owns an apartement in Berlin, and Torstein had courtly invited my girlfriend and I to stay there with him and his wife Hilde for new years. Personally I had never been to Berlin, hell I had barely been to Germany, so I was not about the let the chance pass! To add to the story, this is the same Torstein that has me hooked on foie gras and perversely delicious variations of shellfish. Naturally he planned a few restaurant visits along the way, from a fancy twist on Austrian cuisine, to the big blowout at Facil, a Michelin star restaurant well known for their awesome decor and equally awesome food!
During our stay we went shopping at B5 outlet mall, we visited all the sights like the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and right next to it the Myth Germania exhibit, showcasing Hitler’s plans for the rebuilt Berlin after the war. Hitlers bunker is situated right next to the jewish memorial, but it’s only marked with a small plaque to avoid neo-nazi pilgrimmers flocking to the site. Getting around was easy as Torstein and Hilde had been smart enough to rent a car for the duration. We used it quite alot, and I suggest anyone who goes to Berlin to do the same, atleast for a day or two.
We ofcourse visited some of the typical tourist places like Brandeburger Tor, the Berlin wall and Potzdamer Platz. We also went by the new Hauptbahnhof, the main train station, with trains in 4 stories, going everywhere in Europe.
That the Berlin people are free-spirited became evident during a visit to the the Badeschiff. The badeschiff are several barges turned into a bar and a swimming pool. During the winter they’re covered and heated, but even then they have an outside area. As we changed I passed a woman walking out of what I thought was the mens dressing room, turns out it was uni-sex. Not only that, but when came down to the pool, we saw that we we’re about the most dressed people there. Most of the guests we’re nude, and luckily not 50+, but rather our age, in their twenties. We didn’t quite find our inner nudist while there, but we didn’t mind that the rest of the people did. Alas no, I don’t have any pictures from here…
New years celebration in Berlin is a perverse thing! It was fckng cold (-20c by night). and we took to the streets to join the party. Short story even shorter, the Germans are quite friendly, and even more so when they have something to celebrate. On the tram we met two girls, Julia and Alexandra, who tipped us on where to go to really see the party up close. We ended up on a bridge, can’t remember which one, but spirits we’re high and fireworks flew low and it was just like blitzkrieg, except everybody was happy and incredibly enough, noone got hurt!
All in all we’ve got great memories and good pictures, which you can see the rest of right here!
Berlin for new years with Torstein and Hilde
15 Photos
Jul/091
Luna Café – Good lunch, fair price
Hedda and I decided to go out to eat sunday lunch and we ended up at Café Luna. Luna is a lounge style café with a turkish and middle eastern menu. They’ve got both traditional pizza, meze and sandwiches.
We decided to make it simple this time and just have a 1 course lunch. I ordered a lamb sandwhich, while Hedda had köfte, which is turkish style meatballs. The service was good and the food came reasonably quickly, and as you can see it was a solid portion for lunch:
Lamb Sandwich
Köfte
The lamb was served on a skewer over a foccacia style bread, trimmed with salad. It went well with the yogurt dressing. The price was also good, and for a total of kr.262,- (€28) it was a good deal.
The interior of Luna is modern but inviting. It’s got a real lounge feel to it with wall decoration and frescoes on the walls. They mix old and new with some old style cushion seats in some sections, while having a neon light at the bar. The bar looks well stocked, although we did not go ape there on this occation.
La Luna
The bar
To sum it up, it’s always nice to discover a good place to eat for the first time, and it’s an added bonus when it’s in your own neighborhood.
Luna Cafe
Darres street 2
0175 Oslo
http://www.lunalounge.no
Jun/091
A €400 dinner
How do you spend in excess of €400 on a single meal. Simple; go to the Michelin website and look for any restaurant with 1 or more stars. My girlfriend and I visited Amsterdam a couple of weeks back and did just that. We ended up eating an extravagant dinner at Ciel Bleu.
The hotel is a bit outside the city centre, located in Hotel Okura, but it resides on the 23rd floor with a great view of the extended Amsterdam area.
I had the 8 course Menu Printemps, and my girlfriend had the more moderate 5 course Menu Alliance. The meal in itself was amazing, and here’s the photo evidence:
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- Bass
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- Mussels
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- Hake
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- Beef
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- Dusk
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- Stichelton and pear
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- Coconut, pinaple and rum
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- Suffle
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- Nearing the end
The sommelier was an elderly dutch gentleman with a wealth of knowledge. He was clearly passionate about his work, and had alot to tell us about the wines he served. I spent some time talking to him between courses, and I told him about some of the wines we tried the previous summer during our vacation in the US.
All in all it was an awesome meal and great service. We ate, we drank, we laughed and enjoyed the view as the evening grew dim and afterwards we strolled out into the sinful dutch night, content, full and a little bit drunk…