My First Trip to Europe - The Food & Drink Post

 

There were lovely tours during the trip, but I was really in it for the food, beer, and wine.

The food in London was unimpressive largely because we had few chances to seek it out on our own. The dinner we were provided at a hotel on the first night was just not good: hamburgers or fish and chips. The fish was bland and not at all crisp, and the burger was merely okay. I did manage to get good fish and chips at a pub in Trafalgar Square, though. Breakfast provided by our hotel was also much better.

Our hotel also had a nice bar, and I discovered that the Gordon's Gin in England is NOT the Gordon's that we have in the United States. Theirs is much better, and I really wish we could get their little canned gin & tonics.

France was also a situation where we had limited opportunities to sample the local cuisine, but where we could it was usually good. We did have dinner at a French restaurant provided one night by the tour, but that was planned to be acceptable to a bunch of teenagers, so it was a quiche with a green bean salad. I think the quiche would have been better if it wasn't still cold in the middle.

Bistro food in Paris is great. Four Saisons in Montmartes served me a delightful tagliatelle bolognaise, and the cafe down the street from the Eiffel Tower served the first escargot that I have ever truly enjoyed. As a side note, I have a picture of our check from the bistro in the Louvre. I find it amusing that Lavender's soda cost four times as much as my glass of wine.

Switzerland provided some opportunities to try new things. Bistro Gornergat-Dorf introduced me to röstis, which I have mentioned before. It's a simple idea by very satisfying. We also got sorbets for dessert. I got the Sorbet Princessie, which seems to be lemon served with a little glass of Prosecco, while Lavender got the Sorbet Framboise, which came with a little shot of strawberry schnapps.

In Crans Montana, we tried a restaurant called Le Mayen, where Lavender got some fondue and I tried Beef Tartare for the first time. When you order Beef Tartare, they ask how spicy you would like it (I asked for medium), then they bring you a little spoon of it so you can check whether the spiciness is right before bringing the whole dish. Nice concept, although I was a little confused at first.

Fondue is also serious business in Switzerland, as indicated by this endcap in one of the local grocery stores.

Most of our meals in Röthenburg were provided by the tour, but we did have lunch in town one day at Reichs Kúchenmeister, and when I saw wild game goulash on the menu, I knew what I was having. I also got an Italicus Spritz while we were waiting for lunch, and that's definitely a discovery I brought home.

Hopefully the teenagers didn't discover that there are vending machines in Germany that you can buy wine or beer from.

Finally, we did need to run by a grocery store in Röthenburg for some things, so we walked to a nearby Lidl, which is much like an Aldi (not the same company, though). Out of curiosity, I checked the adult beverages aisle. This picture isn't anywhere near all of it. Why can't we have nice things in the US?