Truffles at a very affordable price in Central Milan

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What food or foods would you think about when you think of Italy? Would it be cheese? Or prosciutto? How about pizza and pasta? Perhaps Prosecco or Limecello for the alcohol lovers? How could we forget about TRUFFLES!!!!

Alright, I’ll be honest, I did not think about truffles when I was in Italy… I always thought truffle was the delicacy of France, but not until my local friend in Italy showed me to this cute little local restaurant near Centrale Station in Milan – Osteria dei Vecchi Sapori. It is about a 15 minutes walk from the station, or alternatively, you could catch the metro to Isola station, and the restaurant is 7 minutes away.

Exterior of the restaurant

We’ve got a reservation at 6pm for an early dinner, and waited for about 5 minutes for the table to get ready. When I walked inside the restaurant, I was quite surprised, as the restaurant was already almost full at this time. I was told that it is very difficult to have seats for walk-in, so better make a reservation before you go.

My friend and I sat down, and the waiter who served us was extremely friendly and knowledgable about the menu. We told him that we want to have some truffle dishes, and he suggested us to try both the black and white truffle so we could compare the taste. At the end, we ordered Beef Tartar with Black Truffle (€12), Fresh Noodles with White Truffle (€18), and the Milano famous dish Veal Marrowbone with Polenta(€14).

Wine list

Menu

The Beef Tartar arrived first as an entree, and oh my, I was so surprised when the dish arrived with the huge amount of fresh truffle on top of the minced beef! We were advised to mix the minced beef with the raw egg yolk and truffles and eat together. I’ve also tried a piece of the truffle by itself, the texture was somewhat like raw mushroom, except with a extremely strong smell of gas/petroleum. The meat tasted fresh and tender, and together with the egg yolk and truffle, it was very delicious. The portion was so big that it didn’t felt like an entree at all!

Beef Tartar with Black Truffle

Festive Special – Igloos by the Thames River by Coppa Club

Have you ever imagined how dinning in an Igloo would feel like? You can now try out this special experience at Coppa Club in London.

You can see The Shard from here as well!

The Coppa Club has installed eight igloo-style PVC party-domes along the Thames, with the stunning view over the Thames, with the Tower Bridge as your background. Each dome is fully heated, and is equipped with sheep skin blankets to enrich that festive cosy feeling. Three of the igloos will have large circular tables which can seat groups of up to eight, while the other igloos are kitted out as cosy riverside lounges.

Tower Bridge View as the Background

Value for Money – French cuisine in Beijing

La bonne cuisine est la base du veritable bonheur – Good food is the foundatio of genuine happiness!

From the same group as the award winning French restaurant Brasserie FLO, Cafe Flo offers a more relaxed and affordable dining experiences in one of the hippest area of Beijing -San Li Tun.

Entrance of Cafe Flo

Cute bike decoration at the front of the cafe

Recently opened in July 2016, Cafe Flo on the third floor of Taikooli (Sanlitun) had already attracted many journalist and blogger to write about it. This is the third branch of this restaurant, and is a low-key copy of the popular high-end French restaurant Maison Flo (formerly known as Brasserie Flo).

The restaurant offers both indoor and outdoor dining experience. During the summer season, strong cooling fans are available at the outdoor area, and you could easily spent your whole afternoon under the sun here.

Indoor seating area

There are quite a lot of choices of food and beverages in their menu, covering entrees, main course, desserts, and all types of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Their platter for sharing looks extremely delicious, too bad I was by myself and could not try them out.

A typical lunch (excluding alcoholic drinks) would be around USD$30/person, which is quite reasonable. The presentation may be simple, but the taste is outstanding!

My lunch