Hotel Indigo Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

September 2016, Our 1 night/2 days stay experience

When planning our trip to Scotland in September 2016 we thought long and hard which hotels to book in Glasgow. One of our choices was the Indigo Glasgow, because it was unusual in regards to its history and design.

Originally the building was the first power station in Glasgow, supplying the surrounding houses with electricity.

Indigo is part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group and their boutique offering, which means the Indigo brand within the IHG Group offers a more individual design and heritage as let’s say their Holiday Inn properties. 

This particular stay was our first experience with the brand during our one night stay.

The hotel is not far from the Main Train Station and the Hilton Glasgow [in which we stayed a few yeas ago] and housed in a Georgian building. There are steps leading up to the entrance with a revolving door.

The lobby was small, but full of character and original details with the reception to the left and the restaurant and bar by Marco Pierre White to the right. There was a seating area for two with complimentary local newspapers offered near the elevators.

We liked the high ceilings and stucco walls.

Check in was done quickly and Fraser, the receptionist, chatted with us about his trip to Berlin.

We were soon on the way to our Standard King Room on the 4th floor.

It was larger than we expected with very high ceilings and windows.

Our views were over the courtyard and surrounding houses.

The room had a feminine feel with red tones and flower printed wall paper. The flower theme continued throughout our room incl. the golden curtains and the carpet. There was also a wooden floor.

Another color used was white to give a contrast against the reds used.

We loved the room and its romantic feel. It was enhanced by a photograph of a Glasgow landmark and by a part of the wallpaper incorporating another local landmark.

The bed was comfortable and large. The headboard was made of leather and accentuated the theme of the room by having red buttons added.

On one nightstand was a modern but 50s inspired radio and IPod docking station. It was cool and we liked it. 

The writing desk had the “Sunday Times Travel Magazine” and “This is Glasgow” and “Welcome to the neighborhood” brochure including other Indigo hotels, for example Duesseldorf, Tel Aviv and Edinburgh. 

A small mirror was also a welcome addition by the writing desk.

The free Wi-Fi internet was blazing fast at all times when we used it.

The flat screen TV had only regional channels and the most important news channel available was BBC News. No real problem, but a more international selection would have been nice, especially when staying longer at this beautiful boutique hotel.

We enjoyed the chair with ottoman and coffee table.

There was also a wardrobe with mini bar, which was complimentary, and one that was sensible. It included one Schweppes Lemonade, one Diet Coke, two Strathmore still water, two Tunnock’s milk chocolate covered caramel wafer biscuits [More of these please!] and one pack of Real Crisps, hand cooked with sea salt and malt vinegar flavor. We took the wafers, the water and the lemonade. Having not tried Tunnock’s before we are now big fans and buy them regularly, even when not in Scotland.

There was a full size free-standing mirror too.

In room dining was 24 hours available. Some dishes were from Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Bar & Grill. Otherwise there were for example sandwiches, starting from 5.25 GBP (ca. 5.95 Euro / ca. 6.70 USD), soup of the day 6.50 GBP (ca. 7.35 Euro / ca. 8.25 USD), Thai Chicken Curry 12.95 GBP (ca. 14.65 Euro / ca. 16.40 USD) and desserts from 2.95 GBP (ca. 3.35 Euro / ca. 3.75 USD).

Tea/coffee making facilities were available too and the tea was by Brodies of Edinburgh.

The bathroom was medium sized and stylish incl. beautifully printed tiles plus sink, toilet and shower only. There was a rainfall shower head and a hand held one. Amenities were by Aveda, which we like and use at home too.

The staff was responsive to any of our requests, like delivering more shampoo or replacing our hair dryer, when it didn’t work all of a sudden. All these services had been promptly delivered with a smile.

Our rate included breakfast, which was small, but of high quality and sufficient.

One hot item was included per guest and the cold items were served buffet style. There were three types of bread and pastries, two types of cheese and juices, some cold cuts, fresh fruits including watermelon and strawberries, one muesli, cereals, granola, milk, a smoothie, seeds and dried fruits.

The muesli was a bit difficult to get out of the container and I never figured out how the toaster was working.

Special mention has to go to the gluten free section.

We really loved our stay and thought the one night was too short. We would love to return again to this wonderful boutique hotel offering from IHG incl. Glasgow hopefully in our future.


©2017

Balfes @ The Westbury Dublin, Ireland

Since Balfes at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin was always busy, we pre-booked a table for brunch during a weekend in March 2017. There was a time we could simply “pop in” but this isn’t possible anymore due to demand during busy breakfast/lunch/dinner and brunch hours.

 

We were brought to our table and as expected nearly all others were already occupied. Our fellow diners ranged from couples to families, to a birthday party and a business group.

 

The waitress was attentive and offered tap, still or sparkling water. We ordered a large bottle of still Acqua Panna, a Florsheim signature cocktail made with white rum, Vermouth, Crème de Cacao, lime juice and grenadine and two chili hot chocolate.

 

The cocktail was at first creamy and a bit dry and turned later floral and sweet. A beautiful offering.

 

Our chili hot chocolates were very spicy with real red chili peppers, so if you can’t take the heat or don’t like spiciness I wouldn’t recommend you order it, as for us, we enjoyed our beverages.

 

Our starters were Tuna tartare with avocado, Goma Wakame seaweed and Kimuchi sauce. It looked colorful and the sweetness of the seaweed went well with the tangy sauce, the tuna and the creamy avocado.

 

Main courses were the BodyByrne Turkey Burgers topped with guacamole, paprika sweet potato wedges, salsa and healthy coleslaw.

 

The Westbury works closely together with BodyByrne in order to offer nutritious and healthy food.

 

The burgers came without a bun.

 

The coleslaw was Asian inspired and the sweet potato wedges were a delight. The whole combination was very tasty. Some foods can make you tired, but our main courses left us energetic, satisfied and not hungry at all.

 

A meal wouldn’t be complete with dessert, so our indulgences included grilled peppered pineapple with rum sauce, pink pepper and cardamom ice cream and crème brulee. Both desserts weren’t overly sweet.

 

The pineapple’s sweetness went well with the peppery notes, the generous sauce and the spice of the cardamom.

The crème brulee was beautifully presented with ice cream and flowers on top and was not sweet at all due to the Matcha green tea used.

 

We enjoyed our meal. The staff was busy, but attentive and brought our bill quickly. It was ca. 107 Euro (ca. 120 USD).

 

This is a restaurant we visit regular and will do so in the future.

©2017

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain

One of the purposes of our visit to Bilbao for a weekend in August 2016 was the Andy Warhol exhibition “Shadows” at the Guggenheim Museum.

We stayed very conveniently at the Gran Hotel Domine, just across the road. Please see our review.

The Guggenheim - the architect was Frank Gehry - has wonderful flowing lines and we enjoyed the design.

We liked also that artwork like Jeff Koons’ “Puppy” and other sculptures were accessible outdoors around the museum and the artificial lake without paying entrance.

The entrance, hall and atrium felt monumental, bright and airy, something to be explored when visiting this iconic venue.

Due to us having booked our tickets online we could avoid all lines of people, we showed our  tickets at the check point and could enter without any delays.

One of the first art installations we encountered was “Installation for Bilbao” by Jenny Holzer. You can walk through it and there are digital displays of phrases in different languages.

“Shadows” was on the ground floor in a very large exhibition room. Andy Warhol created it in 1978. It started out as one painting in multiple parts. It was the second time only that all 102 prints which belong to this series had been exhibited in full.

We loved the high white walls and the contrast to the colorful artwork. Some of them were quite gloomy – different shades of grey, black and white, while others were popping into the eye (different neon colors, like green, pink and yellow) or warm (red and earth tones).

It wasn’t monotonous at all and we found it quite inspiring, sitting sometimes on one of the benches to watch how other people reacted to the art and study the prints from afar.

Photography is generally not allowed at Exhibitions we found out.  While “Shadows” and the atrium were an exception, here we could take photos, which we enjoyed beside the other visitors. The museum itself can be seen as one fascinating artwork which should be studied rather carefully in detail of architecture, detail and elegance in the heart of Bilbao.

Other exhibitions we visited including: “Louise Bourgeois. Structures Of Existence: The Cells” and “Windows On The City: The School Of Paris, 1900 – 1945”.

Both were very impressive and very different.

There were many other paintings, sculptures and the building itself including terraces to be explored. Visitors could spend the whole day there.

There are two restaurants and one bar on the premises. All of the outlets are run by Josean Alija and Nerua holds 1 Michelin star. The Bistro offers good value with a three course for 25 Euro per person (ca. 27.95 USD).

We went to the bar and enjoyed snacks. It was self-service when sitting indoors and waiter service on the terrace.

Like the whole environment of the museum, the bar space was stylish.

To our surprise birds found their way into the bar area too and one of them was hungry, so it took a bite out of one of the cakes and was gone as quickly as it came. What a fascinating bonus!

We had one still water, two cod omelets, two white tuna and vegetable empanadas and one ham sandwich. It was very tasty indeed. A quick and satisfying taste of Spain.

We paid 17 Euro (ca. 19 USD).

We were amazed by the art on display, the building and the great food. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is definitely on our list of museums to re-visit, when visiting beautiful Bilbao in our future again. It’s a memorable city, friendly people, and as experienced at the Guggenheim, a cultural destination which shouldn’t be overlooked when planning on which city to visit when in Spain.

©2017

Le Cafe Metropol @ The Gran Hotel Domine, Bilbao, Spain

During our stay at the luxurious Gran Hotel Domine in Bilbao, Spain, we went to dinner at their restaurant Le Café Metropol in August 2016. This restaurant in the meantime since our visit has been now renamed Le Café, but seems to offer still the same high quality locally inspired menu as before when we visited.

 

The feel of Le Café Metropol felt glamorous and modern at the same time while looking through large glass windows towards the Guggenheim Museum.

 

We decided to live a little bit like the locals enjoy and shared our dishes too from the memorable offerings. Beside us, there was another visiting couple and a local couple nearby seated by the windows at this beautiful space in an equally beautiful and design-led hotel in the heart of Bilbao.

 

We ordered a large bottle of still water and a peach juice. The tapas/pinxtos we shared were Ham Iberico de Bellota with bread and grated tomato, Biscay Bay salted anchovies with roasted peppers and bread with olive oil, marinated salmon Carpaccio with beetroot tartar and salad, oxtail snacks with slightly hot hummus and green asparagus fried in Wasabi tempura, tonkatsu and soya.

 

We loved all of the dishes. Some were “classics” like the ham, bread and tomatoes, while others were new to us, for example the oxtail snacks. We liked that some of our platters were traditional Spanish and others fusions of different continents.

 

The quality was high and all our individual dishes tasted beautifully and authentic IMHO.

 

One type of bread was unusual. It was more like the German Zwieback (rusk).

 

The saltiness of the anchovies worked well with the sweetness of the peppers.

 

The salmon came alive with the beetroot tartar and the oxtail was moreish and well balanced with humus.

 

Our desserts were Greek Yogurt and fruit salad with mint syrup and citric slush.

 

The yogurt was creamy and came with pistachios and berry compote.

 

The fruit salad remembered us about Thailand, especially how fine the fruits were cut. The slush added an interesting acidic flavor/texture balance and was refreshing.

 

Staff was attentive, efficient and warm.

 

The bill was 82 Euro (ca. 91.05 USD).

 

Due to good service, quality and interesting food and overall architectural design of the Le Café Metropol we would want to enjoy lunch/dinner again at this venue.

©2017

Lost in translation

Mohammed Fakir was in his thirties, dark haired, stocky and short. He was strong, though, and spoke good English. He was preparing for his meeting with his new boss Coldham Fintan Noose III. He liked him, whom he called Mr. Fin. The tall, blond American was not very fussy and didn’t put on any airs. As a boss he was fair too.

 

Mohammed knocked on the door and entered when he was invited into Mr. Fin’s sanctum. Mohammed realized immediately something was wrong with his boss. Mr. Fin had a tan, but he seemed white underneath it. After some small talk they went on to discuss the roster. “Aaban would like to change shifts with me next week only.” Mr. Fin didn’t react. “Ehm.” Mohammed cleared his throat. Mr. Fin looked embarrassed and apologized for being absent minded. He agreed to the change, if Mohammed wanted to do so. This was another thing Mohammed liked about his boss. Mr. Fin left a lot of freedom to his security team. As long as the building site was protected he didn’t meddle too much. The same went for the work schedule. Mr. Fin created the roster, gave it to Mohammed, who checked with his colleagues if it was okay and came back to Mr. Fin to discuss changes and preferences.

They moved on to other business. “Zunnoon is getting married and we want to buy him a gift. Would you like to contribute?” Mr. Fin was miles away in his thoughts. Mohammed coughed to get his attention. His boss was sorry. Normally Mr. Fin was totally focused and sharp minded, so Mohammed wondered what had ruffled his feathers. Mr. Fin said: “I must apologize. Do you think we can take a short break? It's nearly lunch time. Do you know a good Chinese?" Mohammed didn’t know exactly what lunch and a good Chinese had to do with each other. He hadn’t encountered any Chinese before, so he had to research who was suitable and come back to Fin. At least he had a clue where to start. He was befriended with the head of security of the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka and thought his friend would be able to help him.

His friend gave him the phone number of a suitable person. It took Mohammed some time to convince Mr. Lim Zhuang Da to come urgently to Fin’s office. Mohammed proudly presented the Chinese to Mr. Fin, who burst out laughing. Mohammed wondered what was so funny. Mr. Fin said: “Pardon me.” He still giggled. Calming down he continued: “Well, thank you for your effort, Mohammed.” Mr. Fin surprised Mohammed and Mr. Lim by switching to Mandarin. Then he switched back to English, so that both could understand him: “Mohammed, I’m impressed you could organize a meeting with Mr. Lim so quickly and without a lot of prior notice. I will remember that. Mr. Lim, would you be able to recommend a restaurant serving excellent Egg Fu Yung?” Mr. Fin’s lips were twitching. Mohammed suddenly realized Mr. Fin had asked for a good Chinese restaurant, not a person. Mr. Fin had been diplomatic and thank goodness not caused Mohammed to lose face in front of Mr. Lim and taken it with humor. All understood the implications, though, and soon were laughing about it. “Of course. The Red Dragon is famous for it.” Mr. Lim replied, when they had caught their breath again. Mr. Fin invited Mr. Lim and Mohammed for lunch, who agreed to join him.

Lunch and having something to laugh about seemed to have restored Mr. Fin’s equilibrium. He was focused again on work.

©2017

Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, Spain

We knew about the Gran Hotel Domine in Bilbao since it opened in 2002 and joined the Leading Hotels of the World and managed by Silken Hotels of Spain - now it is a member of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Lifestyle and independently managed. 

Somehow Bilbao always went below our radar at first and we managed only to go there for the first time in May 2016. At the time we stayed at the Barcelo Nervion in one of their beautifully designed suites (Please see review). We loved the city so much we returned in August 2016 for a weekend (1 night) and finally stayed at the Gran Hotel Domine.

The Gran Hotel Domine is very special, it's a beautiful design-driven luxury hotel. The hotel was the complete responsibility of Javier Mariscal, an artist, beside the bathtub design by Philippe Starck. The building material, furniture and artwork were all made in Spain. This was the first time ever a hotel in Spain was called "100% Made in Spain". All food served in the restaurants and bars are also sourced in Spain.

We took a taxi from the airport, which took approx. 15 minutes and cost 25 Euro (ca. 27.80 USD). We were surprised that the main entrance is at the back of the building. We always believed it was opposite the entrance of the Guggenheim Museum, but that is the side entrance.

There were displays of items for sale, for example Basque soaps, and the numerous awards the hotel has won.

When entering the atrium we encountered Javier Mariscale's "Fossil Cypress", stones in a metal enmeshed net. It was something we were looking forward to see and was impressive. It stretched the whole six floors and was 26 m high. We were surprised some guests had left their signatures on the stones they could reach.

Reception was at the other side, facing the Guggenheim Museum together with the Le Cafe Metropole at the time - the Metropole has been dropped and is now known as Le Cafe - and the Splash and Crash Cocktail Lounge. 

There was also a stylish seating arrangement with interesting lightning features and a small garden with waterfall, where the bubble lifts were hidden.

Check in was a breeze and within two minutes we were on the way to our room on the second floor.

Overall the hotel felt artistic, warm, supported by the use of earthy tones, and our medium sized Executive Room felt chic and residential.

We liked the wood panelling, the views over the Guggenheim Museum, the little table set up for the tea/coffee making facility (Baque Tea), the unusual painting, the Nakamichi stereo system and the accompanying Jazz, Blues and Swing CDs. We listened to one, which was excellent.

There was a wardrobe and a comfortable large bed with gorgeous embossed GHDB logos.

The wardrobe opened unusual, like an accordion and had limited storage space, but suited our needs for a short stay.

Beside this were a fully stocked mini bar, a chair and a metal and wood covered writing desk.

Mini bar prices ranged from 3 Euro / ca. 3.35 USD for water, a small Toblerone and Olives to 37 Euro / ca. 41.10 USD for a half bottle of Mum Champagne.

The flat screen TV offered 58 TV and radio channels incl. local channels and news channesls from around the world.

Magazines and books completed the detailed room picture and included The Dapper Magazine, the Preferred Hotels and Resort Lifestyle catalogue among others.

The bathroom was large with a bath tub and shower combination, double sinks and a separate room for the toilet and bidet.

The amenities were by the White Company London, which we like and we thought the choice fits with the style of this beautiful hotel.

Breakfast was included in our rate and served on the top floor of the hotel. The venue had indoor and outdoor seating and felt very special with the romantic ambience and beautiful views over the city, the Guggenheim musuem and beyond. The sunshine and warmth helped too.

The breakfast was luxurious and included a wide selection of items, including Cava, different types of fish, cold cuts, cheese, bread, pastries, yogurt, fruits and much more.

The staff was excellent and reminded us in regards of friendliness and attentiveness of the one at the Palais Coburg's Clementine im Glashaus in Vienna, where we stayed a month before our 2nd visit to Bilbao.

We loved our designer environment of the hotel and we would want to stay again at this hospitality gem when visiting hopefully Bilbao again in our future.

©2017

The House of Tides, Newcastle, England, United Kingdom

A week before our holiday in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK my fiancé found out there was a 1 Michelin starred restaurant located there by the river Tyne. We decided to try our luck and booked a table for two in such a relatively short time frame. We could even choose our preferred time online.

Lunch at the House of Tides is only available on Fridays and Saturdays. We went on a Friday in May 2017.

We liked the Vegetarian Tasting Menu, because it fit our needs best and sounded on the one side grounded, but also a bit adventurous and was another all vegetarian experience after having had lunch and dinner at the Zirbelstube, which holds 1 Michelin star, in Stuttgart, Germany, which was very Avant-garde and exciting by Chef Sebastian Prüßmann who left this restaurant recently for personal reasons.

The House of Tides is located in a 16th century building near the Tyne river and below the High Level Bridge. The chef patron is Kenny Atkinson.

When we arrived we could spy a bit into the kitchen. It was similar to our experience at Sant Pau in Tokyo, where the structure is postmodern and diners can't look into the kitchen, but pedestrians can.

When entering the restaurant we were warmly greeted and our jackets were taken. The bar on the ground floor was cosy.

We were asked if we wanted to go up to the dining room on the first floor or preferred to have a drink at the bar. We decided to go ahead with lunch, so we were brought immediately upstairs.

The restaurant had kept the original beams and other features. We liked the feel of the dining room. 

House of Tides was nearly booked out. Our fellow diners were mostly older and British, but there were some Asian and younger guests too which added to the atmosphere IMHO.

Service was impeccable, warm and welcoming. Having provided our dietary requirements before, they just double checked who couldn't eat what.

We decided to have the complete vegetarian tasting menu excluding the cheese course. 

Our still water was sourced from the area [Northumberland] and was called Marlish and suited our meal.

Our signature House of Tides cocktails were Rum Re-Fashioned (rum, brown sugar and ginger bread syrup) and Tropical Tides, made with Durham Vodka, which comes from nearby, plus Passoa, Passionfruit and Mango. 

Both cocktails were very delicious and the Tropical Tides specifically brought back memories of sunny and warm holidays.

The meal started with Ewes Curd, Linseed, Apple; Carrot, Fennel, Meringue; Onion, Cream Cheese, Truffle and Feta, Gooseberry, Mustard.

There was cheese on a thin disc, a cone filled with ewes curd and linseeds, a macaroon and a lightly fried cheese with micro greens. All of it was treated as finger food. It was delicious and the different textures and flavors were to our taste and we would have no problems to have it all over again.

Next was a more traditional dish of Fermented Rye Bread and Cultured Butter. Both were excellent.

One of our favorite dishes was the Parmesan Royal, Quail Egg. It was a pastry filled with poached quail egg and a fluid Parmesan sauce. It was quite large and a bit messy to eat, but had great taste and was fun. 

This was followed by more traditional courses of Asparagus, Jersey Royal Potatoes, Morels (The mushrooms in his dish were replaced by Tenderstem Broccoli.) and Ragstone [goat cheese] Gnocchi, Spring Vegetables.

Both made us think of the season. They were beautiful to look at and tasty. The gnocchi were among the finest we enjoyed so far during our culinary experiences.

The Gariguette Strawberries and Curry Leaves came in an artistic globe and was a palate cleanser.

The crowning glory was Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut, Gold Leaf - a fantastic light signature cake. The design of the gold leaf on the cake matched the plate perfectly.

My fiancé enjoyed a glass of Royal Tokaj Blue Label 2009 with the desserts which he found wonderful and moreish.

The crockery was equally sourced from Newcastle upon Tyne and surroundings, which we actually liked a lot.

To round up our meal we decided to have green tea and treats, which were caramel chocolates. They were like the Parmesan Royal, large and better eaten in one go. Otherwise the fluid caramel center would spill.

We spent 2.5 hours at House of Tides and were rather sorry to leave after paying our bill of ca. 164 GBP (ca. 191.20 Euro / ca. 212.20 USD) including 12.5 % Service Charge.

We would return again, because we liked the atmosphere, the architecture, friendliness of the young and good looking staff and the memorable dishes. We believe the lunch menu is indeed good value at 55 GBP (ca. 64.10 Euro / ca. 71.20 USD) plus Service Charge, considering the superb ingredients used.


©2017