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O Ze Carteiro (Lisbon)
by koshkha
~Jose the Postman~
Visiting my colleagues in the Lisbon office is always a treat. Not only are they a super bunch of lovely people but they can be guaranteed to take me to some excellent restaurants. My visit back in December 2012 was a brief one - in on Thursday, out on Friday - but they still managed to take me to two superb ... restaurants. Lunch on Thursday was at one of their regular spots, a restaurant and cervejaria (beer place) called 'O Ze Carteiro'. Our office is in the Santa Iria district in the north of Lisbon and this place was about 10 minutes drive from there.
I believe there is more than one place going by this name since Tripadvisor lists the same restaurant name with a different address. The place I am reviewing is at Morgado S. Antonio Bolonha Lt.16 LjB. The name - O Ze Carteiro - actually means Jose the Postman. The plates are decorated with a cartoon of a postbox holding a beer in one hand and a letter in the other. I'm afraid I thought it was a piece of toast.
~Special Delivery~
We arrived in two cars and found just one parking space so the other colleagues double parked, leaving word that they would be in the restaurant and would move when needed. In the UK if you tried something like that you'd probably instigate a major episode of road rage but it's considered entirely normal in Portugal. It was raining heavily; so heavily that a Sporting Lisbon football match that evening was cancelled because Portuguese footballers don't like to run around in the rain. We ran inside, left our umbrellas at the door and waited for our table.
The restaurant is a big one and has recently more than doubled in size by taking over the premises next door. We were in the newer part of the restaurant and it was light, bright and a little bit like a cafeteria to look at. Despite the expansion in size, the place was soon completely full and we were placed next to a private dining area where a company were having their Christmas lunch. My colleagues commented that it was a shame they'd doubled the size of the restaurant without doubling the size of the kitchen or the number of staff and it soon became apparent that service was going to be very slow. It seems this was particularly bad on this occasion because of the large group taking up a lot of the staff time. I guess every time you deliver a plate, someone's going to demand another drink or a clean fork and they're hard to get away from.
We ordered Coke Zeros for everyone and eventually got the menus. Realistically there wasn't really a need to have a menu as the most effective way to choose was to watch what was being taken to the tables around us and then pick something that looked good. On this occasion what looked good was a large brochette of octopus and shrimp at Euro12.50 a plate. The colleagues know I love octopus and seem to revel in having a foreign visitor who doesn't wrinkle her nose and say "Yuck" when they mention this beast. They know the portion sizes well and recommended we order just three portions for the four of us and I was happy to go along with that. Although they are all slender little ladies, I know that where seafood is concerned, they can eat like men twice their size so if they said three would be enough, I knew I wasn't going to starve.
~Nibbles~
The drinks arrived and we were faced with the selection of nibbles on the table. It's common practice in Portuguese restaurants to lay out bread, cheese, butter and sometimes quite complicated things to tempt you. Be aware that you will most likely get charged for these. Perhaps we could have resisted if the food hadn't been served so slowly and by the time it arrived we'd polished off three bread rolls and a small round cheese. The bread was inexpensive at 45 c a piece but the cheese was an additional 3 euros.
We must have waited more than half an hour for our food to arrive and when it did arrive it wasn't as hot as it probably should have been which was a shame. If it had been hotter the food would have been close to perfect. The quantity - as had been predicted - was phenomenal. Each of the three plates contained a long skewer loaded with chunks of octopus, large prawns with their shells peeled off but their tales still in place, and big pieces of onion. On the side was a pile of spinach, a mass of small potatoes in their skins and a pile of salad. Aside from the spinach which was cold and unpleasant, everything was delicious. The octopus was firm and slightly chewy, the prawns were juicy and lightly seasoned and the salad had slices of beef tomato which were extremely tasty. One of our colleagues is intolerant to onions and garlic and I believe the restaurant had made up one of the skewers without the onion which was good of them, although they then forgot and put onion on the salad.
We skipped pudding because the afternoon was half gone and we really needed to be getting back to the office although two of us had a coffee. I'd been up since 6 am so I needed a little kick and I knew that no Portuguese coffee is more than two mouthfuls and wouldn't take long to drink. I picked up the bill which was just a few cents over Euro50 for the four of us which I thought was a great result. The dish we'd chosen was one of the most expensive on the menu but I'd still say it was excellent value for money.
~No website - I guess you have to send a letter~
Sadly the restaurant doesn't seem to have a website even though they give a web address on the receipt. This means I can't be sure about the opening hours and days but since booking is advisable, I'd suggest to call and check - or better still ask someone who speaks Portuguese to give them a call. I am confident that the slow service we received was not typical and knowing that the local team go here at least twice a month reassures me that it's normally much quicker.
~Details~
Restaurante Cervejaria - o Zé Carteiro, Lda.
Lugar do Morgado Santo António Bolonha, Loja 16, Loja B
Póvoa de Santa Iria
2625-248 PÓVOA DE SANTA IRIA
Tel 219 567 619
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Dyen Sabai (Laos)
by dkm1981
We went to Dyen Sabai restaurant after spotting an advert for it on the edge of the bamboo bridge in Luang Prabang. It is a very funky restaurant that offers a selection of Lao food and cocktails in comfortable surroundings with fabulous views of the Nam Khan river.
The restaurant is located across the river from the main ... sites of Luang Prabang. It is accessible via a number of ways. During the dry season you can walk across the bamboo bridge, which costs a few pennies before six but is free after. At night it is lit up by rather pretty chain lights which guide you all the way up to the restaurant. In the rainy season when the bridge isn't there, you can get one of their free water taxis. There are also two permanent bridges that you can use (one of which is for pedestrians and mopeds only). it is well sign posted.
We actually booked a table the night before we visited, which I would recommend because it is a very popular place for dining and just for chilling out. One of their signature dishes is the fondue, which requires a special table so if you want that (and you should!), you'll need to tell them when you are booking. We got to choose our table when we booked, which was nice. It is quite a big restaurant and there are lots of different tables. There are some little nooks with larger tables in that are almost like private rooms. There are also lots of tables where you sit on the floor, which is what we did, and I recommend wearing loose fitting pants!!
We went for the fondue, which is where you get a little contraption that my husband said looks like a giant 1980s style lemon squeezer, which is placed a bucket of hot coals. You get a basket filled with fresh vegetables, eggs and noodles and then a plate of meat of your choosing. We actually opted for steak and then an extra portion of chicken. There was plenty of food and we probably could have gone without the second plate of meat but it was nice to have the choice. You get a quick lesson on how to cook your dish and then away you go. You pour some stock into the bowl part and then throw in your vegetables, an egg and some noodles along with as much chilli and garlic as you like to make a stir fry soup type thing and then you cook the meat on the top. It is a whole lot of fun and even with two novices, the end product was actually very delicious. We found that we had enough ingredients for three large bowls of food each which was more than enough for us. To be completely honest, I probably wouldn't order the fondue again because I personally prefer to have my food cooked for me by the professionals, but you definitely have to do it once because it really is fantastic fun.
The restaurant has a very chilled out atmosphere and you could easily go there for a couple of drinks or for a full meal. They have a selection of board games and books that you can use whilst you are there, which shows that they are creating an atmosphere of laid back fun and we really enjoyed it. The surroundings are fantastic and the restaurant is mainly al fresco so you can soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the natural surroundings.
The restaurant is open all day and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can choose from their wide selection of cocktails which range from £2 to £5 each. Tips are all shared amongst all the staff. They ahve a pretty good website at www.dyensabai.com, which has directions, menu and a bit of information about the restaurant and its origins.
We paid about £17 for two of us to have the fondue (with extra meat), dessert and a couple of drinks each including some delicious cocktails for me. This is exceptional value for money even in a country where prices are comparatively low anyway. I would highly recommend the restaurant for either a meal or just drinks and a relax.
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China Tower (Zakopane)
by dangaroo
Food in Poland's popular tourist destinations outside of the cities is rather poor. The restauranteurs push to maximise profits in what is a short season. Despite the fact that Zakopane has tourists all year round, the situation is not much better. Having spent over 6 hours in the car, I was rather peckish and spotted a Chinese ... restaurant just off the main drag. Four of us went there on Valentine's Day, we were happy to get a seat as we hadn't made a reservation.
The downstairs was closed, so other than the oriental music and the smell of food luring us upstairs, it was not particularly inviting but we pushed on up there anyway. We attempted to sit down at a table for four but the room was arranged in such a way that to sit there meant having to manouevre the people behind us and squeeze in every time the waitress needed to pass. After a few minutes, we gave up and sat at a 5 seated that had become available. It was still a squeeze and I was basically back to back with the chap behind me. I suppose I should have counted myself lucky that he didn't have BO!
The table top had been transformed into a giant menu, which I found a nice touch, as was the bell to ring for service. It certainly would have been if it wasn't just one girl on who had to run around like a blue house fly. She certainly did her best and no one could have a bone to pick with her. The restaurant was doing its best to flog small cans of fruit juice, I opted for a slightly stronger beverage but in hindsight the juice may have been a better option. The lager was rather flat and certainly worth no more than the 6zl I paid for it.I ordered some spring rolls and crispy chicken whilst my wife had a spicy beef dish. As always in Poland, both meals came served with the obligatory 'surowka' , a giant portion of cabbage that I feel never really suits the meal but eat anyway and then feel like a fat rabbit afterwards.
Crispy chicken, essentially just a breadcrumbed breast is usually as safe as it gets and my cautiousness paid off here with my dinner partners practically wincing their way through their meals which were a concoction of salty meat and cheap vegetable products. The ingredients that were being used were recognisable as having come from 'Biedronka', one of the country's budget supermarket chains. It was certainly the first time I had seen runner beans that had been in brine, used in a Chinese dish. Hopefully it's the last.
The toilets were located downstairs, which may have been why the downstairs section was closed. If the food is anything to go by, I could see it being a popular place to visit. A meal and beer will set you back about 25zl, which is cheap but there are much better cheaper restaurants to be found and its no coincidence that after eating in this place, we cooked our own meals for the remaining nights during our most recent visit to the lovely mountain town.
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