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Pub Pauza (Warsaw, Poland)
by dangaroo Pub Pauza is one of several pubs in a row on one of the main streets in Warsaw - Aleja Jana Pawla II, it's unlikely you'll end up here if you're just visiting the old town but if you're visiting the former Jewish Ghetto or staying in one of the big hotels in the business district then there's a good chance you'll come into contact with ... it. Aesthetically Pub Pauza is not on par with the neighbouring pubs, it changed hands about a year ago and went a bit of a revamp but it still looks rather similar to how it used to, the range of beers is poor but the price at just 7zl (1.60 GBP) per 0.5l is not bad, buy a few drinks and they'll normally throw in a free bowl of peanuts - a luxury in a country where pub peanuts are often as pricey as a pint of beer. Pub Pauza is a 24hr pub and the clientelle changes at different times, sometimes you get groups of young friends in, it seems quite popular with slightly older folk and is often rather empty. Friday (and possibly Monday too) are karaoke nights when things get quite rowdy, it seems to attract more in the way of local nutters than the average night, perhaps they are just frustrated pop stars - after all. The main reason I visit this pub on occasion is that something happened to my TV aerial so I can no longer pick up the channel which shows Champion's League football, I therefore find myself in search of a pub in mid-week to watch games and usually places that show sport, charge high prices. This is one of the smaller places with a TV and the prices are acceptable, it can get busy though. Read the complete review |
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Magic Bean (Quito, Ecuador)
by zoe_page_1 "If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a MAGIC BEAN buyer... if you are a pretender, come sit by my fire for we have some flax, golden tales to spin. come in... come in!" - Shel Silverston Quito has two distinct areas ... of interest to tourists, the Old Town where you'll find the museums and monuments and other things to visit, and Mariscal, or the new town, where most of the hotels, restaurants and bars are located. While this may not be the handiest if you're out having a gallery day and want a good choice of places to lunch, it's absolutely no problem at all if you're simply heading out for breakfast first thing, which is what took me to the Magic Bean, located in the heart of Mariscal. The Magic Bean is a Gringo café in the centre of Gringoland, and not normally the sort of place I would actively seek out while abroad, but the menu was too tempting, and I was powerless to refuse. But we'll get to that in a minute. The Magic Bean is a popular hostel as well as a restaurant, and located on the corner of Mariscal Foch and Juan Leon Mera (or Foch - pronounced 'fosh' - and Mera for short). I approached it from the north, walking from my mother's apartment, and my first impression was that it looked like a beach bar that someone had picked up and transported from the coast, dumping it in the middle of a busy, mountainous capital city. With its corner location the building has two exposed sides, both with massive glass-less wooden window frames, and an ice cream counter connects the two (as in the picture above). Inside the theme continues, with bare wooden floors, bare wooden tables...and not-so-bare walls boasting large flat screen TVs. This is perhaps not the place to go if you're feeling a little delicate, the morning after the night before, as there's a bit of a media sensory overload: during my visit TVs were showing two different sports at the same time while the only sound you could hear was music from a third, unidentifiable source, plus the screech of some American students at the next table. I arrived about 8.30am and found a table though there weren't too many free. Various members of staff were rushing around but with none of them looking in my direction, I just went ahead and sat myself down. The table was bare apart from a mini menu card highlighting the current specials (their afternoon sweet treats on one side, their veggie menu on the other) and although I took my time sitting down, making myself comfortable, fishing out my magazine and so on, it was still ages before I got given a proper menu - in the end I had to ask for one as a waiter sped by, though he did then bring it quite promptly. In a way it was slightly redundant, because I'd been on their website and knew what I wanted. Though they serve food all day, it's the breakfasts that had caught my eye, hence the timing of my visit. Their selection is notably larger than most cafés in Quito seem to offer, both in terms of food groups and the variations within them - they do half a dozen omelettes, tons of fast food style breakfast sandwiches (one's even called the Egg McBagel), yogurts and cereals, but I was there for one reason and one reason alone: the pancakes. These are American style and they have 10 different options from fruity to chocolatey to nutty. They are also super flexible - the menu suggests a helping of two of them, but you can order three or just one, to suit your appetite, and customise with extras like whipped cream. When the waiter eventually passed again, I grabbed him, ordered what I wanted and set back to wait. And wait. In keeping with the rest of Quito, this place is on the slow side, and I had read half a magazine by the time my plate showed up. The menu says pancakes come with your choice of honey or different syrups, but I wasn't asked what I wanted and Maple came as standard. I had ordered whipped cream which didn't come out initially, but did later when I nagged about it being missing. My cutlery also came out with my order along with a paper serviette - even in fancier restaurants I don't think I saw linen (or cotton) at any point during my trip. The pancakes here - I'd ordered the chocolate chip - are absolutely massive, much bigger than the ones I'd had at IHOP in Philadelphia the week before (yep, a country that does even bigger versions than the US - who'd have thought?) Two were more than enough, and I began to understand why my mother, who had eaten here herself the month before, hadn't managed to finish them all. Although I enjoyed my pancakes, I thought they sounded a bit better on paper than they actually were when they showed up: conversely I think their oversize was a bad thing, because the chef was rather stingy with the chocolate chips and since you had so much pancake dough, the ratio was all off and I had lots of mouthfuls of just plain pancake to plough through. Some other diners at neighbouring tables had ordered other pancakes off the menu, and theirs seemed to be just plain ones with whatever they'd ordered plopped on top (a slice banana, some strawberries and so on). I think it was only the chocolate chip variety that was supposed to have the added ingredients mixed into the batter, so maybe they just haven't had enough practice to hone their mixing-in skills. At almost $5 for just one item this isn't a cheap breakfast for Quito - you can pay $3 - $4 in many other places, and get some eggs and bread, with a juice and a coffee included - but I did feel I'd got my money's worth with these. Strangely, the cream that came out, eventually, was a very small helping and I really didn't think it was worth the additional $1.50, though in the end it didn't show up on my bill so I wasn't charged for it anyway, and couldn't really complain. In addition to "The Hearty Magic Bean Breakfast" the restaurant also serves up "Natural Lunch Fare" and an "Eclectic Dinner Menu", though these are really the same thing as it's an all day menu that includes sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, empanadas, salads and all sorts of weird and wonderful specials, from Coconut Grilled Shrimp "Kabobs" to stuffed eggplant and Filet Mignon. While I'm not sure I'd want to eat the latter in a place like this, even if I did go back to eating meat for a day, you can't fault them on their menu range, and there really is something for everyone, with a large range of' vegetarian dishes to choose from, plus a dedicated children's menu. Throw in an extensive dessert menu (10 different types of cakes, plus cookies, ice cream and so on) and more drinks than you could ever work your way through, and I could certainly see myself eating here a lot if I lived in Quito. The fact that this is a Gringo café means they are really set up for tourists. They have menus in English and staff who more or less speak English. While this means you may hear annoying American, British and Australian accents from every corner, it does mean they have a much more varied selection than many other local places. Take the drinks menu, for example. In most places in Quito your choices will be soft drinks, maybe 3 or 4 fruit juices, or a coffee or hot chocolate. Here they go beyond far this with a range of 15 juice mixes (apple-pineapple-strawberry-lemon, for example, or carrot-beet if that tickles your fancy). They also have more than a dozen smoothies on offer, 6 milkshakes (or you can make your own flavour), and more than 30 cocktails including some served hot and others as frappes. Some of the items have silly names - I would have wanted to ask what they consisted of before ordering a "Black Sheep Inn Veggie Burger" to be washed down with a "Dulce Atardecer" - but it added to the charm and really made this place stand out out of all those I visited during my trip. They have a range of tempting, and good value promotions, something else a bit 'Gringo' about the place (but in a good way). Depending on the time of day you go, you might get a free hot drink with your breakfast, or a free refill on your coffee. Alternatively, later in the day you could order one of their special sharing plates which serve two (and come with a drink each). They even do, and I think this is genius, a Pancake Happy Hour from 3pm until 7pm on weekdays, where you get one pancake (plenty big enough for a snack) and a drink of your choice for a reduced price, or you can get a free coffee with a selected cake or pie from their menu, if the pancakes aren't temping enough. The only thing not Gringo about the Magic Bean is the service which I touched on earlier - it was slow and while it wasn't unpleasant, it certainly wasn't service with a smile either. At one point while I was there all the tables were full and a couple of new parties had just walked in but there still seemed to get people in and out faster. While it's nice not to be rushed, it can be a bit annoying if you have somewhere to be, or if you are just hungry as literally every step of interaction with the staff - from getting the menu to ordering to your food coming out to requesting the cheque took noticeably longer than it would do in Europe or the USA. I suppose you could use it to your advantage though: Wifi is available free (though I didn't see anyone using this while I was there) and if you'd taken a laptop you could turn the tables on them and see how long you could drag out a single drink... The Magic Bean may be as far from authentically Ecuadorian as you can get, but it's an extremely popular place and you will struggle to get a table at times. Every time I passed it was chocker, no doubt thanks to the fact it's mentioned in pretty much every guide book. While you might not want to eat lots of meals here during a stay, it's certainly worth a look in once or twice. For Quito it's probably mid-priced, but the servings are large and the choice extensive, which make it a bit of a winner. The full menu is available on their website and is currently up to date with what they plop in front of you in the restaurant (though is missing prices, perhaps an indication that these are likely to go up from time to time): http://www.magicbeanquito.com/ Read the complete review |
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Halo Cafe (Queenstown, New Zealand)
by larsbaby INTRODUCTION On my rainy birthday, we sought refuge for lunch in a cafe, and I had seen this place recommended in Lonely Planet. Located at the edge of town, it was a bit of a walk from our lodgings, but hopefully, it was worth it. HALO Although quite functional in looks, with metal legged hard wooden ... chairs and sparse wooden tables, with a split dark laminate wooden and stone floor, Halo actually feels like quite a cosy place. There is a lot of light thanks to full length windows on 3 sides, overlooking the neighbouring churchyard that must have inspired the name and street, so the only wall was behind the counter. When we went at midday on a Tuesday, it was very full, with room for about 40 people, although this felt cosy rather than cramped. It was very much a family place, with young families and babies welcome. We managed to bag the last empty table at the time. To the left of the entrance is the service counter, with a large whiteboard in front of it with the soup and specials of the days written on with black marker pen. Some magazines to read were on some shelves to the left of this. A big coffee machine sat in the centre, and a large cake display case to the right. A water fountain which wouldn't look out of place in a church added a nice touch in the left hand corner near to the entrance to the toilets, which were down a side corridor. A small crucifix hung about it. As it was November, a Christmas tree sat in one of the window corners. Behind the counter were some shelves holding glasses, spirit bottles and wine bottles. Some wooden slatted tables and chairs were outside, but as it was pouring with rain that day no-one was using them. Inside the tables seated 4-6 people, mostly tables for 4. Easy listening music played in the background added to the relaxed ambience. THE FOOD The menu was split between burgers of various kinds, breakfast treats such as a full breakfast and breakfast burrito. The specials were Thai beef salad with sesame seeds and coriander dressing and salmon with cauliflower mash and garlic and parmesan grilled asparagus, which sounded very promising, and when we saw someone order it, it looked just as promising. I was also tempted by the Moroccan lamb and Jamaican jerk chicken burgers. A bottle of tap water was on the table, as is the norm over there. To drink, I ordered a café latte, which was pretty nice, served in a large cup and saucer with a heart shaped swirl of froth on top. Ms Larsbaby had a chai latte which was about medium spicy compared to the New Zealand norm, and thus was pretty tasty. Served in a tall latter glass on a saucer, it was topped with a thick milky head and a thick sprinkle of cinnamon. Burgers seemed a popular choice all round, and we both ordered a Kiwi Burger to eat. No, that wasn't a bird, but 100% New Zealand beef on a white bun topped with lettuce, cheese, tomato a slightly runny fried egg and slices of beetroot. I gather the latter gives it its name. And what a delicious combo it was. The burger was lean and thick, the whole thing being so thick it had to be sliced in half and eaten with a knife and fork. I really liked the combination of flavours. The melted cheese added softness, the beetroot and lettuce crunch. We both felt very full after eating our burgers. The decent portion of big chunky chips on the side were light and not greasy at all; crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. SERVICE The waitresses all donned t-shirts with angels on them which was quite amusing. They seemed pretty helpful and friendly, although they way we received our bill was odd. We ordered a second latte each as the place started to empty. Then one waitress, unprompted, brought the bill to our table. Having conferred with some friends living in New Zealand, this would appear to be an unusual event, having never happened to them. Was this some sort of insult? We have no way of knowing, but what I do know is if that happens in the UK I find it a bit rude. My friend who lives out there says this has never happened to him and he also found it odd. Seeing as the place wasn't full and that we'd ordered more things, they should really have waited until we asked for the bill. Maybe they thought we wouldn't order anything else, but you'd have thought they'd ask if we wanted dessert. I guess this spoilt it a bit for us, but otherwise the service was excellent. CONCLUSION The popular spot proved an excellent choice for food, notwithstanding the strange circumstances surrounding our bill. Hopefully they will read this review and ensue that it doesn't happen again to the next tourist visitors. It's worth going to find out anyway, but they lose a star purely for that. CONTACT DETAILS Halo, 6a Earl St Queenstown, New Zealand. Read the complete review |
Bar / Cafe International |
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1 review Address: al. Solidarnosci 66a / Bar / Cafe International / 00-240 / Warsaw / Poland / Tel: +48 22 831 67 72 |
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1 review Address: Al. Jerozolimskie 65 / Bar / Cafe International / 00 697 Warsaw / Poland / Tel: +48 22 630 63 06 |
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1 review Address: Juan Leon Mera / Bar / Cafe International / Quito / Ecuador / Tel: +593 (02) 256 6181 |
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Address: 34 Molesworth Street / Bar / Cafe International / Thorndon / Wellington / New Zealand / Tel: +64 472 3065 |
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2 reviews Address: 29 / Bar / Cafe International /31 Old Town Square / 00-272 Warsaw / Poland / Tel: +48 22 831 02 63 |
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1 review Address: Unit 1 / Bar / Cafe International / 23 Princess Wharf / Auckland 8041 / New Zealand / Tel: +64 (09) 358 3118 |
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1 review Address: Lakefront of 50 Beach street / Bar / Cafe International / Queenstown 9197 / New Zealand / Tel: (03) 4429066 |
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1 review Address: 18 Sydney Road / Bar / Cafe International / Manly / NSW 2095 / Australia / Tel: +61 2 9977 0669 |
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1 review Address: 1 Earl St / Bar / Cafe International / Queenstown / Queenstown Lakes District / Tel: 03-441 1411 |
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Address: 4 Taranaki Street / Bar / Cafe International / Wellington / Central Wellington 6001 / New Zealand / Tel: (04) 381 2282 |
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