We had a leisurely evening free before a weekend chock full of opera and Broadway and settled on HAVE & MAR, owned by the famed Marcus Samuelsson but helmed by James Beard Award nominee Chef Fariyal Abdullahi. We arrived for happy hour at the bar and chose their signature HAV & MARtini drink made with Tito's vodka & gin, pickled red onion, gentian, vermouth & blue cheese olive which I loved, but Will was not nuts about. The dozen oysters were superb as well.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
NYC's HAV & MAR has it all (4-5-24)
Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Alexandria's VERMILION is victorious and Chef Tony Chittum tantalizes (3-30-24)
Our first dinner our after returning from our 8-weeks away was at VERMILION in Alexandria as we saw that Chef Tony Chittum had returned there after a long absence and totally turned around the menu. We were thrilled to see Chef in house and chat with him and find out that he still maintains his position and ownership at IRON GATE in DC as well!
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Ubud, Bali's SAYAN HOUSE is super (3-20-24)
Seems I skipped one posting about our penultimate night in Bali at Sayan House just a couple of blocks down the road from the Four Seasons where we stayed. Like the Four Seasons the location is on the top of the Ayung River Valley but at the very end of the valley so our view was a bird's eye one indeed just over all the properties hanging on the valley edge including the Four Seasons, and the sunset was indeed spectacular.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
AUYUNG TERRACE at the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan is super (3-21-24)
Our final meal before heading home was at our beautiful hotel on the AUYUNG TERRACE overlooking the resort and river valley. It's a nice setting and we had enjoyed wonderful breakfasts here every morning of our stay as well. The food is indeed typical Balinese/Indonesian but we did have to ask them to bring the spice levels up as it does seem to cater to foreigners.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
The DINING CORNER (at the Kayu Manis Resort) in Ubud, Bali is delicious save the duck (3-19-24)
Our second night in Bali took just down the road to the nearby Kayu Manis Resort and their Indonesian outdoor dining spot, The Dining Corner. On arrival we waited for an escort from the small outdoor reception lobby to the "corner" of the resort (about 4 minutes away) where the restaurant is located around their pool on a balcony literally in the middle of the jungle. We were offered a bug spray, which we quickly used, but really it was not an issue. What was a tad weird were the deep screechy sounds of the small geckos and then the fruit bats flying in the nearby trees looking for food; they were not small. We got some videos(all on FB with the food) and settled in with the menu as we enjoyed their night antics. Will ordered the Bintang local beer which he likes alot and I chose a carafe of white local wine from Bali called Plaga which was akin to an off-dry Riesling and went quite well with the spice in the food, albeit the heat was so oppressive, the wine, beer and even iced water was warm within 5-10 minutes; we were indeed dripping.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Bali's APERITIF is amazing Michelin-starred European-style/Indonesian/Asian flavors in an extremely elegant setting (3-18-24)
We arrived in Bali from our cruise and set off to our private pool villa at thew Four Seasons at Sayan, near Ubud in the foothills of central Bali. It's much quieter that the beach resorts and allows access to many wonderful sites and experiences of the beautiful Balinese culture. After resting all day poolside, we headed over to the Viceroy Bali, another 5-star luxury resort and their fining dining venue, Aperitif. The restaurant is in its own pavilion complex with a monstrous bar area (inside and out), pool table and more plus a huge, elegant dining room and open kitchen. We were royally greeted and chose to sit on the terrace overlooking the resort and jungle as we sipped our Aperitif Negroni made with Raku Japanese Gin, Vermouth di Torino, Campari, Sandalwood and Ylang-ylang...we loved them.
Friday, March 15, 2024
Darwin's SNAPPER ROCKS really rocks for seafood, wine and more (3-14-24)
Our last port on this 32-day cruise and final stop in Australia before heading to our final destination Bali was Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory. For a small city, it has a lot going for it and we decided to pop off the ship for a final dinner ashore as we were overnighting here. Our new friends, Priscilla and David, joined and we walked across the waterfront to the very busy and active dining spots just off the wharf. We chose SNAPPER ROCKS as the menu was quite varied and had, yes, OYSTERS. We really wanted some local ones, but the featured ones here were from Coffin Bay in South Australia, but we loved them as well. A couple dozen later we were thrilled as we chose them plain and also with finger lime "caviar" (really just a dash of these amazing limes from Queensland) and shallots ....what a great way to end our oyster journey.