I walked in enticed by that wonderful smell of baking wafting through the doors, greeted by the yummiest looking pastries, pain perdu and breads. Alongside was the French style Bistro with dishes such as the signature six-hour cooked lamb, Eggs Benedict and the dish which the restaurants foundations lay – the Pain Perdu. Downstairs you can enjoy home style modest favourites a la carte and freshly baked breads and pastries.
As I walked upstairs I felt like I had come to a different restaurant, I was suddenly in an Andalusian lounge with the exotic smell of shisha wafting around. That is when I was given my menu and read the Bertin story, a tale of love. Downstairs was based on Selena, Bertins first love in Alsace, unfortunately she ended up marrying his best friend but we are so happy that the yummy Pain Perdu was born out of his love for trying to make her the perfect recipe. Later he met Esmeralda in Morocco and upstairs was an ode to her, a cute story that drew the place together.
I loved how chilled it was, huge comfy sofas, finger foods to share and the best shisha I have had in ages! We tried a mixture of everything as it all sounded amazing and when it arrived, it did not disappoint. The merguez was amazing, a dish that is usually not my favourite but it was so fresh and seasoned to perfection. The flat-bread was also yummy as were the peppers but there was no room to sample the tagines, paella de mariscos or other yummy dishes so we will definitely be heading back! We saved room for the piece de resistance – the pain perdu. It was similar to a bread and butter pudding but you sprinkle rock salt over it and pour caramel on top and OMG there was a party in my mouth! Make sure you head to Bertin’s to experience this gooey deliciousness!
If you are a shisha lover they had some of the best shisha I have ever had, I usually will have a little of someone else’s but it was so smooth and the flavour was really intense so I had one all to myself! You can also buy your own shisha pipe which comes customised with your name in the beautiful leather Bertin case (see picture above). It was a really nice place with great food, ambience and concept and I will definitely be visiting again.
I just came back from a meal at Tribeca Kitchen and Bar and thought I should give you all food envy by sharing my delicious experience. This New York inspired hotspot is fast becoming my local haunt, I even kicked off my birthday celebrations there this year. It is such a wonderfully creative space that just captures that NY swag, the graffiti art, lighting set in plumbing pipes and the antique inspired furniture with an urban chic twist are just some of the charming quirks. I have to say the fact that it has a platform to showcase local talent is a big plus point for me. Us Dubaians just don’t have enough spaces to display our home-grown talent and I feel this little piece of New York is very welcome to park on JBR. Now the good part…FOOOD! So another reason I love it is because It filled a gap for a funky organic eatery. The kitchen is headed by award winning Chef Giovanni De Ambrosis, who passionately couples exquisite food with artistic form, hailing inspiration from Mediterranean cultures and fusing them with American Contemporary Cuisine.The bar features all the classic beverages as well as organic wines and signature cocktail options. Tribeca is committed to organic produce wherever possible and I loved the simplicity of there menus – paper pinned to a piece of cardboard with a clothes peg and it actually looks really cool, all these little touches of using recycled building materials wherever possible display Tribeca’s commitment to global sustainability. The meal was delicious, I think you can always taste the difference with organic food! The Burrata was to die for and the Prawns with Polenta in A Coconut Sauce were yummy! Chef Giovanni cooked the Beef Tenderloin to perfection, it was literally melt in your mouth amazing and the Honey Glazed Chilean Sea Bass was also divine, the sweetness really worked with the fish. All finished with delicious desserts, the apple crumble with Ice cream tasted like Christmas in a bowl and my partner in crime was stumped with her dessert because she had no idea how to eat her deconstructed cheesecake tower but when she finally figured it out it was also amazing, the sourness of the passion-fruit coulis complemented the sweet creamed cheese and crumble. Yea we ended the night in a food coma, you should definitely check it out if you are in JBR, (in the JA Oceanview Hotel.)
We were super excited to try Don Al Fonso’s Michelin star 5 course degustation menu! The celebrity chef hosted his dinner with his wife and they talked us through each course that was served. It was no surprise when I learned they had won the Ospitalita Italiana award last year which certifies authentic Italian cuisine around the world. It really was a taste of Italy, even the Olive Oil was divine and the ingredients were sourced from regions in Italy to which each dish was typical.
Not only was it delicious but it drove home the term “feast your eyes”, the presentation was immaculate and we felt bad eating some of the courses as it felt like we were ruining this piece of art on our plates. If you want to try the most authentic Italian food in Dubai, we suggest you head to Don Alfonso in the Shangri La SZR!
We woke up and decided to go to the Belen mercado for breakfast, it was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel, on the way we passed the famous Belen neighbourhood. It is a floating shanty-town with 7000 inhabitants. The colourful houses on stilts are a wonderful sight and in the rainy season these stilts are immersed in water. The inhabitants can only leave their houses by boat and market traders come door to door in their canoes to sell jungle produce. Unfortunately when I was there it was the low season and its dirty, unhealthy and dangerous to walk around so we observed it from a distance. You get street guides offering to take you in but I wouldn’t advise it.
The market was fascinating, it was huge and sold everything you could imagine. Every street sold something specific so you had a street of clothes, another of shoes, one of the shaman witch doctors, fruit and veg and meat! These last two were the most interesting streets for me, I had never seen some of this fruit and veg in my life and was so fascinated by the colours and shapes of these different fruits. I bought one of each to taste, the flavours were so foreign to me, I had literally nothing to compare these new flavours to and it was a great food experience! Next stop was the meat and fish street, unfortunately this was where I saw the most animals during my jungle experience…none of which were alive.
They had everything from caiman meat, to turtles to fish that I had never seen. I walked up and down taking pictures and asking what fish they were, it was a mixture of fascination and disgust. I could write an entire blog on this particular issue but I won’t because after living with a family in the jungle I realised this was a means of survival for them. There are so many issues to be addressed such as implementing limitations on hunting of particular species but many of these civilisations are even unknown to governments, they are so remote that creating such laws would be useless. For example the family we lived with were allowed to cut down as many trees as they wanted, there were no conservation laws whatsoever even for rare species. Something definitely needs to be done but the issue is very complex.
We tried many new foods but I didn’t dare eat the grubs, everyone kept telling me they were delicious with the mango salsa but just looking at them made me want to vomit. Lena said they pop in your mouth like eyeballs and then slimy stuff comes out but they taste good…I often say “No thanks I would rather eat my own eyeballs” but actually..I wouldn’t eat any! We decided on a typical Peruvian breakfast Lena had Ceviche (fish dish cooked in the acid of lemon) and I had Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice), in Peru you get used to eating dinner for breakfast! Belen market is a must see for anyone in Iquitos, its colourful and full of locals, it doesn’t cater to tourists so you get the real deal! Just make sure you don’t take any valuables, its known for having thieves and is the most dangerous neighbourhood so always be aware of your surroundings and don’t ever look lost!
The rest of Iquitos was also a colourful experience, the weather was tropical and the greenery was lush. One day me and Lena tried to get to a lake and the mototaxi took us to a puddle instead…it was across town in the same direction but obviously not the right place. We got off anyway as it was a tiny village that looked really interesting. There were houses scattered around and a few small tiendas, after walking around for a few minutes we had seen it all and decided to head to a tienda (cornershop) to get some drinks and play cards. The owner quickly set up a small table outside with a view of the river and we got some snacks and just sat there chilling for an hour. Passers by were really friendly and it was a cute place. That evening we went for dinner to puerta Bellavista, it is another market except this time where all the fish and meat is you choose yours and they cook it for you on the barbecue! It was where the locals ate and was cheap and delicious. I loved Juanes, it was rice steamed in banana leaves with spices, I ate it everyday that we were there.
A typical house in the village we were taken to.
The random village where we sat and played cards
Fish with Juanes
By the river in Iquitos there is a lovely malecon, we came here the first night to eat and I loved it. It was like an Amazonian covent garden – bars, restaurants and street performers and people selling random things (mostly jewellery). There was this buzz in the air and I loved the atmosphere. We ate at Dawn on the River restaurant which I would highly recommend, the food was delicious. A Peruvian American fusion of flavours and it really worked, everything was simple but cooked perfectly. While speaking about “must-eats” El Sitio was AMAZING!! Its a restaurant with an array of different skewers – fish, cheese, meat, chicken, veggies – you just pick up whichever ones take your fancy and they are barbecued. A really cute old man grills them for you, originally he used to have a grill on the pavement outside and he did so well that he now had this restaurant which was completely packed and once the skewers are finished its over so get there early to sample the best ones!! If I had found that on the first day I would have eaten there everyday..thats how good!
The malecon also had an artisanal market if you turn left from dawn on the amazon, its full of beautiful hand-crafted things many of which are made by Amazonian’s clearly under some kind of influence. The tapestries are created by ladies while drinking Ayahuasca, each piece is unique and intricately woven and the colours are breathtaking. I found out they are actually made in Pucallpa. Iquitos is not the place to go souvenir shopping unless you are buying things made there as it is not accessible by road everything is imported and therefore more expensive, it was one of the most expensive places I visited in Peru.
If you are doing jungle tours in Iquitos make sure you research them thoroughly and know which you want to do because the tour vendors will confuse you. They follow you in the streets really trying to persuade you to visit their tour companies and every hostel sells tours to, in fact so do most restaurants and so you can’t escape it. The night we went to book ours we ended up being so confused and annoyed and they are all so desperate for sales they say anything so you don’t even believe them. I was persuaded by a tour, spent 2 hours discussing it and then we decided to just do it and then the guy ends up saying its full. We got so fed up we decided to just forget it all together, I remember being annoyed in India by people selling me stuff but this was on another level. It was literally people fighting over you, telling you not to talk to this tour company or that and it was like you were caught in a tour war. We were walking back to our hostel and we saw this guy on a motorbike who Lena had spoke to a few days ago who had a tour company, he stopped and asked us if we managed to book a tour and we said no so he took us to his office…the tour was very different to what I initially had in mind but we were certainly in for an adventure! We had booked it for two days as the next day we were going to the monkey island, for those of you who have seen this video, you know part four is going to be entertaining.
Colombia was the first trip that I did without any research or preparation but I had a plan. I just jotted down recommendations from people and facebook pictures of places I thought looked nice. I felt very unprepared, I didn’t even have a guide book, usually on the way to somewhere I would read about it but this time I was going in blind. It was actually a very exciting way to travel, just knowing that I would probably like the place but having no idea whether it was historical, cultural, touristy, dangerous, good for night-life or good for hiking.
On the way to Guatape I knew it had a massive rock that you can climb and that it looked beautiful and was surrounded by water. I knew I wanted to climb the rock and try and find a boat to take me for a little cruise around and everything else would be a surprise. The bus drops you to the bottom of a hill on which stands the gigantic rock, scattered around are the most vibrant Motos (tuk-tuk/Rickshaws) I have ever seen and trust me, India has some colourful ones so they were pretty epic. I looked at the rock standing over 200m high and thought it will be exhausting climbing those 649 steps to the top so the moto taxi till the bottom of the rock would be a good idea to conserve my energy. It ended up being slightly faster then walking as at some points it felt like it was going to start going backwards but we got there in the end.
The way the rock was formed was incredible, it had a crack through the middle in which they had built stairs. You could see it from miles away, it stood higher then any of the mountains around and the landscape was stunning. The walk up the rock took about 20 minutes, I stopped every few minutes to catch my breath and admire the incredible views. There were so many tiny islands around us, I had never seen anything like it, it was gorgeous and the higher you climbed the better the views, the islands continued for as far as I could see and nestled in the centre of the islands were some very colourful buildingst. When I got to the top of the rock I was exhausted, they had built a viewing deck on top of a turret with a further 100 stairs or so. I walked around the top to admire the different views on every side and then proceeded to climb the final 100. It was gorgeous up there, I could have literally stood there for hours. There was a gift shop and restaurant up there and we sat and had some ice-cream before climbing back down.
The moto driver was still there, he asked us if we wanted to go to the town and pointed to the colourful buildings I had seen earlier. The drive there was bumpy but beautiful, the picturesque landscape continued and as we got closer the town came into view and it was so bright and colourful. As we stepped out I couldn’t stop taking pictures, the buildings were all different colours and the walls were adorned with paintings and colourful wood panels. The motos did not stand out in that town, they just blended in. They even painted the ceilings of their motos! We wandered around the quaint streets and then headed for the waterfront to find somewhere to eat. We had a great meal with a wonderful view and then I began the hunt for someone to take us on a boat ride. After bargaining for ages we found a guy to take us on his speedboat for half an hour, it was pricey and if you have more time I would recommend waiting for the big ferry tours. It was a beautiful ride and even from miles away you could see the huge rock. I could have spent longer in Guatape, it was so colourful and cute and it just made me happy! From the boat you could see the islands had huge mansions on them and our driver showed us some cottages that you could rent for holidays, I would love to stay there for a few days. There were many water-sports on offer and it was just serene and a wonderful place to unwind. I hope one day I get to go back to Guatape 🙂
I woke up feeling like we were about to fly of the mountain. The driver was going around 80 kmph going round really steep bends that were 7000ft high in the mountains. I pulled back my curtain to see where we were but we were in the clouds and visibility was low. That scared me even more because I knew the driver couldn’t see either and we were on a double decker bus which literally felt like it was about to fall sideways. We were on a 10 hour overnight bus ride to Chachapoyas. We had heard stories of how exhausting the treks we had planned to do were so we all knew we should try and get some sleep but my heart was pounding for the next two hours.
We reached our cute little Hostal Ñuñurco, just 4 blocks from the centre of town which was nestled in the majestic mountains. We began our 2 and a half hour drive to Kuelap, it was nerve-racking at times because of the narrow winding roads on the mountain edge and the inability to see oncoming traffic around the corners, but we made it.
Kuelap is a fortress 3000 metres above sea level which contains the ruins of more then 400 Chachapoya structures, some were homes and others were mass graves. The fortress walls also served as cemeteries where more then a 100 bodies were buried. Other pits contained animal and human bones which are thought to be sacrifices. One structure was an ancient compass…I know this because I sat on it thinking it was a pile of rocks and was immediately told to get up.
The panoramic views were beautiful and it was still a pretty quiet site not overwhelmed by tourists. It is known as the Machu Pichu of the South and is still relatively untouched. As recently as 2010 70 bodies were excavated and while we were there an investigation was going on into a new body which was discovered.
On the way back we stopped at a lady’s house who was cooking us lunch, we had the option to sample the local delicacy…guinea pig, I opted out as it looked like a rat on a plate but others in the group enjoyed it.
We went out that night to an artsy little bar called La Reina and slept for a few hours before our trek to Gocta, the 5th tallest waterfall in the world. I had never horse ridden before but as it was an option I thought it would be fun. I wasn’t really prepared for the lack of handles, the steep slopes and uphill climbs, nor the horse intrepidly walking along the cliff edge but I suppose it added to the fun. One member of our group got a crazy horse, she decided to get off and not a minute too late as he literally went buck-wild charging towards us neighing and bucking. I talked to my horse Pisco the whole way after that, telling him to be a good boy and to try not to throw me off his back and it worked because I made it back in one piece.
The waterfall was breathtaking, it really was beautiful and worth the 6km trail there.
If you’re in Peru, I would highly recommend a trip to Chachapoyas, I wish we had stayed longer to enjoy the town more. There’s a really cute restaurant called Terra Mia which had amazing waffle breakfasts and delicious freshly made sandwiches which we took for our hike. You can try the best Pollo a la Brasa (rotisserie chicken) for just 5 soles (£1) including fries, a salad and a juice located in the hostel Rumi Huasi. Their service was really fast which is unheard of in Peru and was perfect before we got our bus home.
I arrived at 5am in Lima and rushed to get a taxi to the bus station (Taxi Green are recommended), as I sat in the taxi, the driver asked me to hide my bag under the seat in front. He said it was the law as there are many car-jacking’s and it prevents us from being targets. I quickly removed my earrings from the night before in Miami and I looked pretty rough from the flight so I wasn’t really worried about anyone targeting me. I was offered an emergency exit seat on the plane before I knew the plane was like a hundred years old so I took it. Unbeknown to little old me, a freezing cold draught comes through the rickety door for the entire flight.
Anyways, I was greeted by beautiful warm Peruvian weather and I was SO happy to be warm. The driver asked me where I’m from and was very excited to know I was from London and proceeded to play me the Oliver Twist audio book which was strange but somehow comforting. “What is ‘Getcha!’ he always says I’m gonna Getcha, what is this word Getcha! Getcha!” I explained and he pulled the taxi over for me to write it down for him “I’m going to get you” I tried to tell him it’s an accent and not really a word but he insisted it be part of his growing English vocabulary which I thought would be pretty fun for the next Brits who took his cab! “Hello! I’m gonna GETCHA!”. Then he started talking about the movie and I had to tell him my bus was leaving soon so I couldn’t stay and chat even though he was lovely and very entertaining. Had I known I wouldn’t get to speak English for another 24 hours maybe I would have stayed to chat a couple more minutes as he was a cute old man but hey…you live and you learn.
I boarded the double-decker bus with blacked out windows, reclining seats and footrests which was a dream after that plane journey. Cruz Del Sur was the name of the company, they made National Express look crappy and they are known to be the best bus company in Peru, I would highly recommend them. The stewardess on duty handed out blankets and pillows and as I unpacked mine I could smell baby powder, wow, scented blankets! I noticed there was Wi-Fi on board so I suppose the 13 and a half hour journey could have been worse. I Skyped friends and family on the way showing them my first glimpses of Peru and it was really cool! The driver for some reason chose not to drive over 50km per hour although he was allowed to do 90 so in fact it was a 15 hour journey. I watched Spanish films and took pictures of the beautiful changing landscapes. I thought it would feel really foreign but every new landscape seemed familiar, the coastal scenes looked like Cape Town, the desert looked like the UAE, the mountains and luscious green vegetation brought flashbacks of Uganda. Although I don’t speak a word of Spanish the lady next to me insisted on talking to me in Spanish every hour for the first 10 hours and then resorted to talking to herself. I just nodded and smiled and then pretended to sleep a lot, the stewardess didn’t speak a word of English either. I soon learned that nobody did. I was met by a driver in Chiclayo who was supposed to take me to my place of residence.
Around 11pm, we showed up at this house somewhere close to the beach and I could hear the waves. I was met by Alex, another local who didn’t speak English, he showed me to a room. I wasn’t sure at that point where I was as he couldn’t answer any questions. The room had an unusual number of mosquitoes so I asked if he had a spray but unfortunately he didn’t. It also had someone else’s things in it, I later learned a girl was moving out when I moved in and it was in fact my room.
I asked him for a key, pulled out my sleeping bag and fell asleep pretty much instantly but awoke every few minutes to the sound of mosquitoes screaming in my ears…I’m not kidding they were SO annoying. I woke up the next morning looking like Quasimodo. I’m allergic to mosquito bites, I slept with my sleeping bag over my head but I guess one of those little s**ts got in there with me and feasted on my face. I literally looked like I had been beaten up, bites on my eyelid, forehead, one under the other eye and a couple on my cheeks. I had about 30 bites on my body but at this point they were the least of my worries.
I had my first day of Spanish class and then first day of work in the afternoon…great first impression. I think everyone wants to be the cool kid on their first day, well I just looked stupid, I went in with massive sunglasses on and eventually took them off and apologized for my face to which everyone was like “oh I can’t see anything”. I wasn’t sure whether they were being polite or whether it was because they hadn’t seen me before so they just thought I looked like that but anyways, they said I could take the day off and rest if I wanted to. I met a girl called Robin who offered to come with me to Chiclayo and showed me where to get a mosquito net and I got every kind of mosquito killer available. Sprays, coils, plug-ins, swats and plenty of repellent, I was on a mission and I succeeded. My room has since been a mosquito free zone, I burn those coils like incense and do a daily spray before I leave for work. I cleaned every surface and wall with a mixture of bleach and Raid mosquito killer so they know not to chill on my walls and I purposely left one of their deceased friends on the windowsill to make them aware that they are not welcome here.
So far I am really enjoying my experience here, I am in a seaside town in the North of Peru completely untouched by tourists other than the students who come to the school. More then anything I love living by the water and the amazing sunsets everyday. You just live the Peruvian way which is pretty chilled, timing doesn’t mean a thing and there are little restaurants which are actually in people’s houses all over town. You get a really authentic homemade food experience and grub here is to die for. So far I haven’t had a single thing I don’t like, the chef at the school has this magic touch when she cooks and makes everything delicious. We have BBQ’s every fortnight which she prepares and no exaggeration it was the best BBQ I have ever had! I am learning Spanish for four hours every day and I guess because nobody speaks English outside of work you are forced to practice. I was really proud of myself yesterday, I took a trip to a market and managed to bargain in Spanish, obviously I learnt the necessities first lol (will blog about the little treasures I bought in the fashion section later).
I have so much more to tell you but you will have to wait till the next blog …
Probably one of the best events I’ve attended in ages, Fendi collaborated with Harpers Bazaar to dress some of Dubai’s most familiar socialites head to toe in Fendi for a shoot they celebrated at Sake No Hana. The Photographs were framed and placed around the aristocratic themed venue. It was a beautiful crowd with some of the Middle Easts biggest designers attending such as Rami Al Ali and the Golkar brothers of Emperor 1688.
Japanese bars are definitely big in Dubai at the moment, places like Zuma, Okku and Nobu are pulling in crowds and have been scooping awards for the best places to go. I have been wanting to have dinner at Sake No Hana for a while so was great to sample their delicious canapé’s, they were so beautifully created you felt bad eating them but they epitomised great Japanese food, simply cooked with fresh ingredients that complimented each other beautifully.
Nothing better then the combination of fashion, great food and music that had us dancing all night!
One of the coolest things I’ve ever done was to go on the Blue Safari when I was in Zanzibar. We drove for an hour or so to get to the place where the boat leaves from. When we got there we were greeted by rocks crawling with these snake/lizard things there were 100’s of them living in these rocks along with other creatures:
Because it was low tide we had to walk through the shallow water for ages to get to our boat and on the way I came across a sea urchin in a rock pool:
The boat takes you to a sand bank in the middle of the sea which is a natural island that exists only for a few hours while the current causes the sand to pile up. We went snorkeling there and it was just the most amazing thing. I remember just going off on my own for like an hour and exploring this whole world that we couldn’t see. IT WAS AMAZING! The colours of the fish and coral, I wish I had an underwater camera but those scenes are still clear in my mind. The deeper I went the more amazing it was, I swam through these rocks about 10m below the surface and there were thousands of these purple, blue and yellow fish. Then I found this huge open shell and i remembered the underwater level on Mario lol so i poked it with a piece of dead coral and it snapped shut just like in the game (you have to get coins out from them in the game) It was really cool!
Then we made our way to an island where we would have lunch, all fresh fruit from the island and seafood that I had just been swimming with. On the way we saw whales and dolphins, it was just so beautiful there were sooo many altogether and I wanted to jump in with them but the tour guide said I wasn’t allowed 😦 So we got to the island and again we had to walk pretty far because of the low tide.
I felt like I was in a dream because it was so serene and I could hear this amazing music, when I got closer I saw there was a band playing music to welcome us all to the island. My parents are east African and I went there with my whole family for a wedding so we knew a lot of the Swahili songs so we started singing and dancing with them and trying to shake our booties like them but …we couldn’t haha.
After lunch we relaxed on the beach, you could see this magnificent natural structure;
it was just an amazing day and all my family were there like 30 of us no exaggeration so it was soo much fun, felt like a day in paradise 🙂
If you ever go to Zanzibar make sure you do the Blue Safari!
Zizzle 