So I’ve been back for a few days from a trip to Ponza. Which is an island off the coast of Italy. A hidden little island off the coast of Naples, which has a three hour ferry to get there.
It was a holiday where we both needed some much needed R&R, and Ponza provided it in spades. A quiet, sleepy fishing village on an island that is no more than a few kilometers across, Ponza provided us with a great location to relax and take in the scenery.
Highlights were a boat tour around the island and a nearby island where I swam in the sea (without touching the bottom, which was a first for me in the 42 years I’ve been on the planet), a gorgeous meal at a Michelin starred restaurant overlooking the bay, sploshing in pools, an ice cream boat that was quite frankly the greatest invention I’ve ever seen, and a quiet restaurant on the other side of the island who’s pudding we loved so much we brought home.
Anyway, I’d say go, but I’d definitely go back and I kind of like the fact it’s quietly chaotic and very Italian, and in a week we heard 3 British accents. So maybe don’t go. I like the fact we as a nation have never heard of it, meaning I can explore it.
So as mentioned on my Now page, I headed to Scotland about a month ago for a wedding and a cross-country road trip that sung to my soul. Taking a trip north of the border just makes me happy, and you can see why so much of the country’s culture is inspired by Caledonia.
But I’m not here to wax lyrical about that, oh no. Let’s focus on the food. My god. Seafood is ruined for me. I have eaten so much shellfish up there I may be slowly phased out and replaced by a big Hawaiian, after being jobbed out at an event where I had an expensive haircut on the company owner’s dime.1 Here – for future reference (thanks Elliot) – are some of the best places I eat. This fat Welsh lad can recommend these places.
Eastfield, Dundee
As mentioned on my Lemmings Statue post, the first night I ate at Eastfield – a nice small restaurant that was rammed in Dundee. It’s one of those places where the food is made based on the fresh produce that arrives every day, so there’s no point sharing the menu, but it was the only place I didn’t take a picture of the food because we couldn’t wait to eat it, it was all so good.
Definitely recommended.
Port-na-Craig Inn & Restaurant, Pitlochry
We needed a bit to eat before we went to see Lear in the Pitlochry Theatre, and there is a restaurant opposite it. Port-na-Crag Inn overlooks a beautiful river. We had a ceasar salad with chicken and haggis bites. They were delicious.
Probably one of the few times I actually didn’t eat Seafood.
The Grandtully Hotel by Ballytaggart
This is very much our spot.
Last year we went for a night in The Grandtully Hotel as a preparation before driving back home, and we loved it so much we came for 2 days this year. This boutique hotel and restaurant just calms and soothes me. The food is excellent too. I remember an onion bhaji with some banana chutney that was just excellent and a gorgeous fish pie where me and my partner said to each other “Did we really go to a bit of a fancy restaurant and order a fish pie?”. Also, take me back to the terrace with a pint watching the Scottish world go by.
Blas Na Mara, Fort William
This was a discovery.
We headed to Fort William for a bit, to have a boat tour of the Seal Island on Loch Linnhe. It was a day trip between hotels, and we stopped for a bit of lunch in Blas Na Mara’s seafood shack, which was hidden away.
The food was delicious, perfect for a wet day in Scotland. Lobster rolls and chips warmed us right up before we went on a blustery tour. Location isn’t great, but the food? Incredible.
Pierhouse Restaurant, Port Appin
The rain cleared and we went to Port Appin after seeing Castle Aaargh from Monty Python. We had a few beers before a meal in The Pierhouse at Port Appin, a quiet, tranquil seaside village. Spending an hour just watching the boats go in and out with very little noise was good for the soul.
We then decamped inside for a meal, and what a meal, we had sea bream and a langoustine starter, and roasted potatoes that were melt in the mouth. A wonderful meal.
Loch Fyne Restaurant and Oyster Bar
Finally from the trip we went to the Loch Fyne Restaurant and Oyster Bar, located on the shore of Loch Fyne, outside Inverary. Obviously we had oysters, but we also had a scallop with black pudding which was fantastic. I had a crab burger as well, which was just what I fancied, and it was delicious.
So, apologies for the fairly self indulgent post, but if you’re ever in the area of any of those restaurants, go!
As part of my Scottish road trip I mentioned on the Now page, I headed to Dundee as my partner had one thing she wanted to do (The V&A Museum) and I had one thing I wanted to do.
The Lemmings Statue is a statue in a park close to the site of the home of DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and depicts three Lemmings climbing up one of the columns on the entry to the park.
Lemmings was probably the first computer game I ever really loved. I yearned for the Cartoon Classics Commodore Amiga box set, and I used to draw them on all my school notebooks. I even fancy dressed as one for a school Summer Fate.
Sadly the Commodore 64 version came rather late on, so I never got to play it much growing up, but eventually when my Grandparents inherited a Atari ST, one of the games was Lemmings – the box you see in the photos.
DMA Design – the programmers of Lemmings – eventually became Rockstar North and launched the whole Grand Theft Auto series. The rest is history.
Anyway, it is a very cool art installation in Dundee if you are ever in the area. We also had an amazing meal in Eastfield so recommend booking there if you go.
I love Krakow. I’ve been there four times in the last 10 years, granted it’s a bit biased as I talked about before – my brother got married there in 2016 and having that knowledge on where to go, where to avoid and how to have a good time really helps. But sometimes you just discover a place that sets your soul into a warm embracing self hug.
I went to Krakow last weekend for WordCamp Europe. You’ve probably read a few dozen blog posts about it, mine is coming next week. At these events there are fringe events. One of those was after the first day of the conference – the Bluehost/Yoast Glow Party. A pride party in all but name.
Anyway, in a colossal senior moment, I travelled to the party a bit early and then realised I wasn’t 100% sure I locked the front door, so I double backed to the hotel. I’d hoped to go to a relatively uninspiring burger bar that I couldn’t find before the event, but on the tram on the way back to the distinctly average AirBNB-masquerading-as-a-hotel, I did some Googling and found a place next to the railway bridge I was staying by.
It had a few reviews, and looked interesting. A communism-era van serving Kielbasa – the Polish sausage cooked over an open flame next to the train and tram I have to get. That will do, I’m already running late and wanted to get in and out of the party before an early night before the Krakow parkrun1.
I checked the AirBNB/hotel, and walked to the van, and was greeted with a glorious sight:-
They must be onto something, right? Poland knows their sausage, and it’s a good queue of 20/30 people at least waiting for it. As the queue shortened (in a process that took about 20 minutes), I was greeted with a well oiled machine of cooking sausages over an open flame, like in those movies about New York in the 1980’s.
There was one thing on the menu – sausage, and a limited supply of drinks. Cash only. Very simple, but seemed to be a staple for a few Krakowians (Krakowites?) on a Friday evening. Their fish and chip Friday, I took the bread roll and my meal (which took about 20 minutes just to get), and stood at the table listening into conversations I didn’t understand. I felt like a fat, Welsh, bearded Anthony Bourdain.
Was it the best meal I ate in Krakow? No. The steak I had in Pimento was incredible. But the meal at KieΕbaski z Niebieskiej Nyski2, is a meal I’ll remember for a very long time.
Anyway, this post is another of those, as I went to Budapest last weekend, and had two amazing meals.
Ramazuri was in the “Buda” side of the city, and I had an amazing 3 course meal of Goulash, Duck and a cheesecake. The wonderful thing about it was that the accompaniments on each course was just as nice, if not nicer, than the main item. They were also super friendly, knowledgeable and accommodated our request to package the cheesecake as we were knackered after a busy week so just wanted to go home and watch a bad movie in our PJs1.
The second was even better. We discovered Galamb purely by chance – Fern saw it on our tour and “liked the look of it and dropped a pin”, and it didn’t disappoint. A Hungarian inspired tapas that each course delivered. I can’t remember what I had, but if you’re in Budapest, go there. The anchovy dip was fabulous. It says a lot that I didn’t take a single photo when I went!
So, forgive the self indulgent blog post, but this post will be for me when I return to Hungary in like 10 years or so. But go there if you are in the area.
