Wistub du Sommelier

It's been a long while since this blog has been updated. Unfortunately both of us didn't find the time to blog, but nonetheless we did find some places with exceptional food :-)

One of these places is the Wistub du Sommelier in Bergheim, Alsace, France. Run by a couple, she is responsible for the wine, he is responsible for the cookery. Both are doing a perfect job, a well fitting wine to a brilliant menu. I started with Foie Gras, continued with Risotto of Asparagus and Saffron from the Alsace and finished with the best Crême Brulé I ever tried. Acompanied by some very good white wines from the region it was a near perfect menu. Finished by a digestive from Jean-Paul Metté it was a nice experience.

Reservation is advisable as we managed to get the only table available in the small restaurant by sheer luck.

Casa de Chá

Casa de Chá
Originally uploaded by nfcastro

Tea House inside a medieval castle (Figueira de Castelo Rogrido, Portugal). Very warm (inside; quite cold outside...) place with a nice tea selection. You will find it near the Castle main entrance.

Bacalhau Com Broa, Em Cama de Espinafres

Originally uploaded by nfcastro

Faz-se uma cama de espinafres cozidos. Sobre ela depositam-se as lascas de bacalhau obtidas a partir de generosos lombos do mesmo. Cobre-se com um refogado de pimentos, cebola e alho. Rega-se à vontade com vinho branco e azeite, juntando-se sal e pimenta a gosto. Cobre-se com uma fritura de broa moida em azeite e vai ao forno para dourar. Acompanha eventualmente com batatas assadas e seguramente com um tinto encorpado.

Semmelknödelsoufflee mit Pfifferlingsauce

Semmelknödelsoufflee mit Pfifferlingsauce
Originally uploaded by perreira -> ipernity.com/home/nils

Soak some dry white bread (cut in small bits) in milk for some time. Add slightly fried Echalotte and Speck (Ham) and one or two egg yolks. Add beaten white of egg. Put into soufflee forms and put it in the oven at 200°C for about 20mins.

The sauce is fried echalotte, ham, chantarelle mushrooms and cream, thickend whith ice cold butter. Salt and pepper to taste...

Tea Time

Casa de Chá
Originally uploaded by nfcastro

A magnificent selection of teas. A must in Granada.

Wurstlstand

Wurstlstand
Originally uploaded by perreira.

All around Vienna you'll find these Sausage Parlors. You can get there nice hot dogs and similar stuff. Try "Eitrige", literally "purulent", a sausage with cheese bits in it.

Cafe Central

Cafe Central
Originally uploaded by perreira.

Vienna, 1. Bezirk, Herrengasse 14

One of the more chic cafés of Vienna. It also has a Wikipedia entry. I had lunch there, quite nice. A very stylish place but not as expensive as it appears. Nice place to go...

Cafe Hawelka

Cafe Hawelka
Originally uploaded by perreira.

Vienna, 1. Bezirk, Dorotheergasse 6



One of the famous vienna Cafés, it even has an entry in Wikipedia.
The coffee I did not try, but as it is not possible to get bad coffee in vienna :-) The Budweiser (the beer from Budvar, not the awful stuff from the US of A) was good, but expensive. A definite must if you are at Vienna, if the beer would be cheaper I would make it one of my favourite cafés.

Cogumelos on Flickr

Crustacea
Originally uploaded by perreira.

Cogumelos Aporcalhados is proud to present you the flickr group of the same name... A place to put your pictures on culinaria, good restaurants and bars, recepies etc.

Sharpness

Sharpness
Originally uploaded by perreira.

There is nothing more handy than a sharp (and I mean SHARP) knife.

Restaurant Sintra - Erlangen

Erlangen, Martinsbühlerstraße 1

Opened recently, Sintra is the only portuguese Restaurant in Erlangen. Located at Martinsbühler Straße, it is a bit off the main roads, but still not that remote, being close to the E-Werk.

We had a "Bife de Pimenta" and a "Coelho a moda de Sintra", which were both excellent. The service was very nice, although a bit confuse. The two (very good looking) ukranian waitresses were extremely kind, but still not very experienced. We ordered a red Borba, which arrived as a white Borba. (As the white Borba is also quite good, we didn't refuse it...).

The restaurant definetly needs more personell in the kitchen, the food took extremely long to arrive. It was well worth the wait, but still... Sometimes it seemed that the waitresses also had to help in the kitchen, which is usually not good.

General impression: quite good, but needs improvement. The place has potential, if it manages to get the kitchen sped up and the service a bit less confuse. The prices are a bit above average for Erlangen, we payed something like 25 Euros per person for a meal and wine.

Casa do Alentejo

Lisbon, Rua das Portas de Santo Antão 58

A bit of Alentejo in the centre of Lisboa. You not only get the finest food, you also enjoy a house with an interesting architecture. Influenced by the arabs, the style of Dom Manuel and various other mixtures, Casa do Alentejo is a gem of architecture. Combine this with excellent food and some of the best wines of Protugal and you are close to heaven...

Percebes

Percebes are a species of crustraceans, they are a kind of Barnacles (Pollicipes cornucopiae). They grow in the surf of the rocky coasts of the Algarve and Galicia and are collected by local fishermen. These fishermen have to climb down the cliffs and collect the percebes while trying not to be smashed by the waves on the rocks, the most dangerous job on the european continent. Percebes are a rare delicatesse.

How to eat them

Secure the upper part.



Fiddle around until you can get the outer skin of the foot to move.



Remove the outer skin.



Enjoy...

Casa dos Pasteis do Belem

Lisbon, Rua de Belém 84-92 Homepage

In the centre of Belém, the place for Pasteis do Belem (or Pasteis de Nata as they are known outside belem). A Cafe with a lot of back rooms, offering much more space than it looks like. Since 1837 you get the finest and best pasteis here, eat them while they are still warm!

Cafe Internacional

Much less well known than Peter's Cafe Sport, the Cafe internacional is the place for the locals in Horta. It looks like the place where the telegraph engineers met in 1900, having the charme of a place lost in time since about 100 years. Much less overcrowded and much more a normal cafe than a tourist attraction we preferred it to Peter's. Definitely a must and an insider's tip if you are visiting Faial!

Kreativpause

Sorry for not updating, but Cogumelos Aprocalhados have been travelling around Europe to find new and interesting places... Check back to see where we have been.

Restaurante República

Location: Faro, Rua da Republica

Opening hours: Lunch all days except sunday (?) and dinner all days
Prices: expensive, but well worth the money

A place where, when you ask what the chef recommends, you get shouted at that everything is recommendend, this is not one of those places where only one dish is good and the rest is crap, here everything is good. And amazingly enough, the chef is right. Everything is brilliant. We had sole with clams which was excellent, as dessert we had Tarte de amendoims and some other typical algarvian sweets, you just cannot have enough of it. A must!

The first steps of a future gourmet

Extreme Home Schnitzeling

Don't try this at home.

The Fat Lady Sings

Location: Obere Karlsstrasse, Erlangen, Germany
Opening hours: most of the time
Prices: above the Erlangen average, but still OK
Overall Rating: One of my favourite pubs



What do you say about a place where they play songs like The Menstrual Rag, have a good steak, fish and chips, have homemade chips, sandwiches, devilish hot pizaas and good beer? It is run by a fun irish-man, if he isn't bringing your beer it's one of the nice waitresses. Just a fun place to be, a nice pub. We need more of these, definitively.