Paris 2014 (ROUNDUP)

Below is the archive of posts from our trip to Paris!

PARIS DAY 1 - The Eiffel Tower & The Louvre

PARIS DAY 2 - The Arc De Triomphe & Concorde (+ Notre Dame & Galleries Lafayette)



EATS: The Hippopotamus Bar & Grill



EATS: Tabac Du Roule

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READ MORE | The Bellman Cafe & Konditori - Stockholm

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EATS: Tabac Du Roule

First, I just wanted to comment on how small this restaurant was. Tabac Du Roule was literally footsteps away from our hotel, so we decided to give it a try. Back to its smallness, it housed maybe twelve people for the restaurant, a bar with a few seats and a cigar shop. Who needs anything if you have food, beer and something to smoke? (Disclaimer: Kids, don't smoke or drink. That's bad for your liver, lungs and people around you. The question before this disclaimer was a joke, I'm serious.)

Trying to stick with the theme of Frenh food, I decided to take a croque Monsieur (sandwich of cheese and ham) with fries and a light salad while my mom and sister respectively chose some entrêcote steak and and a hotdog with fries.

Upon receiving my sandwich, I gladly took a bite. The sandwich was very ordinary and it lacked ham. It lacked ham very much. I was clearly disappointed and unsatisfied with. Y choice.

I struck a deal with my sister to give me half of her hotdog (The hotdog was clearly a FOOTLONG, and the fact that my sister wanted a "light meal" made her a bit annoyed) as I offer her half of my sandwich.

Her footlong was surprisingly better than my sandwich... it was better by a MILE. 

My mom's entrecôte was great. She ordered it medium wit some fries, a salad and some sort of peanut sauce. She let my try the steak that had a char on it which I liked. I think that the steak was below my mom's expectation because she thought it was tough.

This restaurant was not a very good one. I wouldn't recommend it food-wise, but what do I know? Maybe they rank much better as a separate bar or a separate cigar boutique...

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EATS: Hippopotamus Bar & Grill

Our first official meal in Paris was at the Hippopotamus Bar & Grill near Forum Les Halles. We were strolling around the area when we thought of having dinner, and we found this place! It seemed to have an inviting atmosphere from the outside. We were hoping to find good food here, to satisfy our first impressions of Parisian offerings.

Before going in though, we were very intrigued if they served real hippo meat. You might be on board with our thinking, believing that they do serve hippo meat, or you might be hysterically laughing now, thinking on how idiotic it would be to serve hippopotamus meat in a restaurant.

I decided to get some steak with fries and Béarnaise sauce. With mine medium rare, the steak was perfect (either that or it has been a while since I ate steak)! The fries were as crispy as can be and the sauce... I should tell everyone that I'm a sucker for Béarnaise sauce.... It's so awesome!

My mom got the same thing I had, except with a medium well steak, a baked potato and a sauce of sour cream and chives.

On the other hand, my sister settled for some chicken nuggets and fries... mmm? (Granted, it's from the kid's menu)

Onto dessert! I promised myself that our trip to Paris would be incomplete if we didn't savour crème brûlée! 

The burnt cream was served in a clay pot and was delightful. It was a shame that they didn't blow-torch the top... that would've made the dessert much more exciting to eat!

My sister had some chocolate mousse. She let me try a teaspoon-full and it tasted very bitter. I'm not a fan of dark chocolate (milk chocolate all the way!). I feel the same way on white chocolate. White chocolate just tastes... weird.

The Hippopotamus Bar & Grill gave me a positive first meal in France. The ambiance was very welcoming to children and adults alike. There wasn't that much people when we ate there, giving us a more comfortable experience. I would definitely recommend it. Très Bien!

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PARIS Part 1 - The Louvre & The Eiffel Tower

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EATS: Hippopotamus Bar and Grill

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Our first main meal in France (I don't know if you consider McDonald's something "main", but you get what I'm saying) was at the Hippopotamus Bar and Grill near Les Halles.

We were actually intrigued before going Ito the restaurant, frightened about the fact that they actually serve hippo meat, but we were quickly relieved upon spotting an English menu. My petite knowledge of French helped, but I still couldn't quite understand most of the foods.

After ordering, the kind lady that attended us served us a basket of bread and a bottle of water as complements. The bread was hard on the outside... Shame they didn't serve us some butter with it.

My sister opted for the children's menu. She got some chicken nuggets and French fries (see what I did there?) for her main course. 

My mom and I went for the Hippo Steak (Pardon me if that's not what it was called), which was NOT made of hippopotamus meat. I ordered mine medium with fries and Bernaise while my mom ordered hers medium well with a sour cream baked potato and barbeque sauce.

The steak was beautifully cooked, much better than in Jensen's Bøfhus back in Stockholm. The Bernaise was okay, but it wouldn't be something worthy of a highlight. Fries were good: not too crispy and not too covered with oil.

 

Something good about our deal was that everyone got dessert. My sister wished for a chocolate mousse and my mom and  I went for a Frenc classic: creme bruleè.

Our overall experience in this restaurant has been very pleasant.

I remember our first two weeks in Sweden where we had lunch at TGI Friday's near Kungsträdgården and how this ranked better than that. The Hippopotamus Bar and Grill is definitely a recommendation, 8.5 out of 10.

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5 More Days! {More Iconic Philippine Things}

We're boarding a flight to the Philippines on the 16th, and I'm so excited!  Here's a list of more iconic things you (and I) will find in the Philippines.

• Jollibee. Probably the most iconic food chain in the country. It sells everything from fried chicken, to burgers, to pasta, to breakfast... All sorts of stuff. I do like their Breakfast Burger Steak though (it's just basically a breakfast burger patty covered in gravy plus garlic rice).

• Street Food / Street Food Vendors. You will see tons of people cycling with carts of nuts, or "fish-balls" around Manila, or even your own neighbourhood. Prices? Very, very cheap. Don't forget to try kwek-kwek (quail eggs dipped in batter before being deep-fried)! Fish-balls aren't really "ball" shaped though. 

• Tricycles. I think tricycles are those bicycles with three wheels... But if you refer to them here in the Philippines, they mean a method of transportation, perfect when going short distances. They're made by affixing a side-car (to accommodate passengers) with a wheel plus a motorcycle.

• Sari-Sari Stores. Roughly translated, "sari-sari" means "variety". These kind of stores are just basically small spaces (it wouldn't be a surprise if they're even just on a house window) on a house, made for selling a variety of things to the neighbourhood. There are no big chains of these, and these are just mostly for neighbourhood convenience. The owners of these kind of stores are independent (mostly). 

A Typical Outside of a Sari-Sari Store

Picture from Wikipedia

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EATS: Subway's Sandwiches

Before this happened, me and some of my friends ate cookies from Subway. Click Here to read it.

Last Sunday, me and my friends wanted to grab some lunch from Subway, so we did!

Subway Melt {Zoom}

Subway Melt

Gloria and I chose the Subway Melt, and just bought a footlong to share (SEK 50). It was really awesome that they can customize what vegetables or sauce you can put on. We chose every vegetable except onions and tomatoes. 

The sandwich wasn't "the bomb" but it wasn't terrible either. Subway restaurants are so rare in the Philippines, so I've never ate there before. The sandwich could have been in the toaster more though, it was kinda cold.  MORE CHEESE, PLEASE!

Steak and Cheese

Meanwhile, Linh had a Steak & Cheese 1/2 Footlong (SEK 40-49). After she finished this, she bought another sandwich! She bought a Chicken Teriyaki 1/2 footlong (SEK 40-49). Clearly, she was very hungry.

Gloria polished her lunch off with a cookie, while I bought my cookie for my sister.

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MORE EATS: 

- All Star Sportsbar ~ Stockholm

- - SUBWAY COOKIES

- Pizza Hut @ Klarabergsgatan

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EATS: Jensen's Bofhus - Vasagatan

So remember that time we ate on an Irish Pub because my sister hit her goal weight? Well I hit mine too and this is my celebration! Click here to see the Irish Pub blog post!

Oh my God. We've been living in Stockholm for two months and we've ate in multiple Jensen's Beefhouse locations around Stockholm numerous amounts of time before this.

So as always, there is a massive queue in Jensen's. I guess that they have great Lunch Steaks for a great price (SEK 59!).

So I ordered the Jensen's Classic Steak Bearnaise (SEK 169 for 190 grams; SEK 189 for 250 grams) which is a rump steak with crisp fries, grilled vegetables and a Bearnaise sauce. Interestingly, the menu says that the sauce is kinda "chili", but it is not. Not a hint of peppers on the sauce. I ordered the steak as I always do, medium.

NOTE: Jensen's Beefhouse does not cook steak Medium Rare or Medium Well. They only serve their steaks Well Done, Rare or Medium.

Close up of my steak. 

The steak was very nice indeed, along with the Bearnaise sauce. The only thing I hate is that some parts of the steak are chewy and tough. The grilled vegetables were great. They didn't taste like vegetables at all. Definitely the best kind I have ever had. Since fries are fries, they were good as well. 

No "treat" is complete without dessert. I opted for the Ice Cream Bar. The Ice Cream bar costs less than SEK 35. You can have an unlimited amount of ice cream quite a variety of toppings. 

A list of toppings from memory are: crushed nuts, mini-Smarties, two kinds of sprinkles (one had sharper colors and one looked kind of pale), chocolate sprinkles, vanilla and chocolate wafers, mini-meringues, chocolate covered rice crisps, mini-marshmallows and my personal favorite, crushed Oreo's. You also have a selection of either caramel, chocolate or strawberry syrup to top your calorie-filled creation. 

The Ice Cream Bar

The first ice cream I had was a medium amount of Ice Cream, topped with the meringue, peanuts, marshmallows and the two sprinkles and strawberry. I called this "Happy Birthday". The next ice cream thing I made was "Chocolate Mudslide". I basically covered the sides of the cup with chocolate sprinkles (they stuck because this is also the one I used for the first ice cream), put a small amount of ice cream and topped it all with crushed Oreo's, the chocolate rice crisps, chocolate sprinkles and chocolate sauce. 

I really love Jensen's Beefhouse because their food is outstanding. If you are going to eat here, be sure that you are patient. It's really popular among the people and lines are crazy. Also, they seem to take quite some time before you get entertained by a server and to also receive your meal. We often eat here at lunch, because queues are shorter. 

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Jensen's Böfhus (Jensen's Beefhouse)

Vasagatan 24

111 21 Stockholm, Sweden 

Restaurant near Arlanda Express Stockholm City and Central Station (T-Centralen)

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SHOUTOUTS: Joylene Love D. Suarez | Michael Trivino | Daniele Grigaite

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