A very bold week

Saturday to Saturday

Saturday started off with brunch at Taco Taco.

I had mimosas and the chicken and waffles which comes with amazing sweet potato fries and a delicious coleslaw which has a kick. The portion size was HUGE - it'd put American portions to shame! That doesn't mean I didn't demolish it because that is exactly what I did!! Ah-mazing.

Sean ordered white wine and he decided to be a veggie for the hour and chose the veggie breakfast. No photos of that. He did say it was all v well cooked.

We both had coffee which was v hot!!

The seats are like something out of a primary school. My only complaint is that the tables are really close together!!! We only had the table for an hour and most of that was spent eating so really it wasn’t an issue.

From there we went to the O’Brien’s Wine Fair in aid of the Jack & Jill Foundation. Lots of fun trying various different wines that I wouldn’t usually go for. Favourites were probably the Greek Gaia Agiorgitiko found at John Wilson’s (Wilson on Wines) table and also the Lingenfelder Scheurebe. 

After there it was a quick stop into Fallon & Byrne for coffee and some other items. Decided to try out The Barn coffee for a change. Was ok but definitely back to 3FE this week!

Then headed to The Cupcake Bloke. Just had to pick up some of their Tayto Cheese & Onion Chocolate Chip cookies. So glad I did – they’re surprisingly good.

Last stop that day was Peruke & Periwig for another glass of wine before heading home to the fire!

Tuesday we went to the cinema to see The Lady in the Van. Lots of junk food that day – popcorn, giant buttons & tangy minions jellies!!

Thursday I was in London for work. Started my morning off with a Butlers coffee and one of their chocolate flake sweets. As you do at 6 in the morning!! 

After the conference finished I checked out the Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street. The views over London are just incredible. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to eat there as the earliest table available was 10pm! 

That evening I had dinner at Rhubarb at London City Airport. I chose the pulled beef brisket roll. Was quite like roast beef on a roll. Delicious!

I bought these Fortnum & Mason sparkling shortbread in the airport shop – haven’t tried them yet!

I had one of these on the plane on the way home before I fell asleep :)

Then Friday. Fat Friday indeed. 

At lunchtime I picked up a box of the new Butlers Chocs Festive dessert menu chocolates. Yumminess!

Was out in Liffey Valley for shopping after work. 

Had dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I chose the Cajun blue chicken burger and we shared some rosemary fries. The burger was great, the fries were so-so (But I should mention that I am not a fan of potatoes so that's actually praise!) 

On Saturday we headed to Avoca in Kilmacanogue to place our order for Christmas (yes, I did just mention the "c-word") meat at James Whelan Butchers. 

While we were there I noticed that Revolution Bakery had a pop up there. 

I couldn't leave without picking up some doughnuts. I chose four - classic jam, vanilla and raspberry, apple crumble and salt caramel and honeycomb. I ended up giving two away to Sean's brother so didn't get to try them but the ones I did try. OH DEAR GOD were they epic. The filling just oozed out of them and I really enjoyed them on Saturday evening. 

Then went into city centre to pick up some Christmas (Yes there's that word again) presents and do some normal shopping. My first stop of the day was Kaph to pick up new beans. I grabbed an Americano to take away.

After there I went to The Cupcake Bloke. No cupcakes this week (although I did try some of the apple and cinnamon and it was v good) but I did get more of the Tayto Cheese & Onion Chocolate Chip cookies. 

They had mince pies there this weekend and got a couple to try – I will probably be in trouble for saying this but definitely my favourite mince pie so far :)

For lunch I went to the Ugly Duckling with Sean and his parents. I had to go with my usual prawn po’boy. More of a kick to it than previous - definitely a firm favourite!

Sean went for the new curried chicken wrap. His mum had the sweet chilli chicken again (She really is a fan!) and his dad chose the steak sandwich. V happy bellies all round!!

Really bad week – got to get back on the Rice Krispie Squares now this week!! Booooooooo :(  

Berliner

Day two in Berlin... Up early enough to go to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial. We got the bus to Brandenburg Gate. 

We found the location of the Fuhrerbunker - its now a curry wurst place and there are no markers although according to the tinterweb there are plans to reconstruct the bunker. 

We then took the u-bahn  to the Berlin Wall Memorial. This was on the wall of the station...

We then took a bus towards the Brandenburg Gate & Reichstag. Stopped at Hopfingerbrau Im Palais again. 

This time we had food - we all tried the Currywurst im Palais (Sausage & chips in curry sauce but a more spicier version) I had mine with a mango weisbeer! Imagine having that for breakfast?

But what the hell we're on holidays!! We then shared some apple streudel and I had an apple weisbeer. 

I had  booked the Reichstag Dome tour for that afternoon so it was just sooo nice sitting outside in the sunshine people watching. The Reichstag Dome is a great way to see the whole city and its free once you register your request online (You can do it when you get there but the queues were mental the day we went)

Back to the hotel for a quick change and then out for the evening. For dinner we went to Zsa Zsa Burger. 

I ordered a pink lady cocktail and then some coke zero. For my dinner I had a Bangkok Bang Burger - marinated chicken breast on a sourdough roll  with mango mayo. 

I like that they leave  the lettuce, tomato, gherkins, onion, crispy onion strings and coleslaw on the side so you can build your own. I got mine with Sweet Potato Fries..

Sean had the Iberico and his brother got the Kentucky. 

This place is small and hip and the burgers are all well cooked. The only downside for them was that the beer they're serving is Heino (yuk, apparently!) 

From there we took a bus to Tiergarten and headed to a huge beer garden, Schleusenkrug. This place really is large and sprawly. You could have eaten here too, the BBQ grill was open. The food smelled amazing and was nearly getting hungry. The place was v busy when we got there but we managed to find a table then headed to the bar to get some drinks. 

After there we took the S-Bahn to Hefner bar. Sat outside enjoying the warm Berlin evening with a Seabreeze cocktail.

We then took the S-Bahn and went back to Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt for wine, beer and pretzels. Just had to be done. 

Last stop of the night was a drink in the hotel piano bar.. Went with a Caiprinha this time to finish off a great day!