This year is off to a super slow start. The end of December was already quite slow, with me not wanting to do anything at work and mostly just sitting around the office wasting time. Year end is always like that, though, since HQ in Germany shuts down and a lot of people are on leave. But then I had a fantastic whirlwind trip to Europe. My friend Julia was home in Austria, and our friends Cy and Veronika were in Prague for about a week, so I went with my friends Graeme and Mwende to see everyone, and we had a little Shanghai reunion in Europe.
We started out in Graz, in southern Austria, to visit Julia's house and the original Zotter Chocolate Theater. I've been to the theater before, so that part was fine. But the night before was pretty great. We got in and went to her house, where we had a fantastic meal made by her dad. There were like 5 courses and homemade pizza and lots of delicious wine. Then there was hot tubbing and saunaing, which was surprisingly pleasant considering it was like -10 C and we were outside. It also helped that we were drinking in the hot tub, and that there was a dog present, and that I didn't jump into the frozen lake like pretty much everyone else.
Then it was a road trip up to Prague, where we spent like 3 days eating. We barely saw anything touristy. We just went from restaurant to restaurant. We did a beef tartar crawl as well, to try 3 of the been tartars that Cy wanted to try. It was a fantastic idea, especially since beef tartar is like my favorite food.
New Year's Eve was pretty chill. We had a booking at a restaurant that Veronika's family friend had recommended. It was a really nice, homey place with modern Czech cuisine. Really nice food. Nice wine. Nice conversation. We were there for the stroke of midnight, so missed the fireworks and partying outside, but it was nice and warm inside, so I guess I can't complain. I think I would have rather been outside in the middle of everything, but it was a nice way to spend the evening. I guess the only thing really of note was the food. Like I said, very little touristy happened.
Then we went back to Vienna for a couple nights, where again not very much touristy happened. We did go and check out the Museum of Natural History, but once again, mostly just food. Lots and lots of food. Another beef tartar, even. And we went to the #9 restaurant in the world, called Steirereck. We ended up doing this 7 course meal with wine pairings and all kinds of extras, and it was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. The food was all very good, honestly nothing to blow your mind (although there were 2 dishes in particular that really did stand out: an arctic char and a pheasant dish), but all really good and perfectly executed. But it was the all around experience that was amazing. The service was impeccable, probably the best I've ever had. The staff were so attentive, providing us everything we needed before we even knew we wanted it. And they were all super knowledgeable about whatever it was they were supposed to be doing. So when the guy came over with the cheese cart, for example, he could tell us in detail everything about each cheese and why it was done. And there were a lot of cheeses to know about. And they gave us a card with each course which detailed the dish, and rather than just writing all kinds of fancy ingredients and techniques you've never heard of, they made little footnotes explaining what things were. It was fantastic. Seriously amazing experience.
I feel like my description of that trip was horrible. I didn't talk about anything but food. Which is actually pretty accurate. We ate more than that though. And we did more than that too. But I guess those are the important things. Plus I'm tired and have a headache, so that's all your getting. Plus a song.
And for the first song of the year, it's a great one from last year called Sour Mango. This is the first single off of Gabriel Garzon-Montano's upcoming sophomore album, and it's a good one. He has two more singles out, which are also good, but this is the only one I could listen to non-stop.
We started out in Graz, in southern Austria, to visit Julia's house and the original Zotter Chocolate Theater. I've been to the theater before, so that part was fine. But the night before was pretty great. We got in and went to her house, where we had a fantastic meal made by her dad. There were like 5 courses and homemade pizza and lots of delicious wine. Then there was hot tubbing and saunaing, which was surprisingly pleasant considering it was like -10 C and we were outside. It also helped that we were drinking in the hot tub, and that there was a dog present, and that I didn't jump into the frozen lake like pretty much everyone else.
Then it was a road trip up to Prague, where we spent like 3 days eating. We barely saw anything touristy. We just went from restaurant to restaurant. We did a beef tartar crawl as well, to try 3 of the been tartars that Cy wanted to try. It was a fantastic idea, especially since beef tartar is like my favorite food.
New Year's Eve was pretty chill. We had a booking at a restaurant that Veronika's family friend had recommended. It was a really nice, homey place with modern Czech cuisine. Really nice food. Nice wine. Nice conversation. We were there for the stroke of midnight, so missed the fireworks and partying outside, but it was nice and warm inside, so I guess I can't complain. I think I would have rather been outside in the middle of everything, but it was a nice way to spend the evening. I guess the only thing really of note was the food. Like I said, very little touristy happened.
Then we went back to Vienna for a couple nights, where again not very much touristy happened. We did go and check out the Museum of Natural History, but once again, mostly just food. Lots and lots of food. Another beef tartar, even. And we went to the #9 restaurant in the world, called Steirereck. We ended up doing this 7 course meal with wine pairings and all kinds of extras, and it was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. The food was all very good, honestly nothing to blow your mind (although there were 2 dishes in particular that really did stand out: an arctic char and a pheasant dish), but all really good and perfectly executed. But it was the all around experience that was amazing. The service was impeccable, probably the best I've ever had. The staff were so attentive, providing us everything we needed before we even knew we wanted it. And they were all super knowledgeable about whatever it was they were supposed to be doing. So when the guy came over with the cheese cart, for example, he could tell us in detail everything about each cheese and why it was done. And there were a lot of cheeses to know about. And they gave us a card with each course which detailed the dish, and rather than just writing all kinds of fancy ingredients and techniques you've never heard of, they made little footnotes explaining what things were. It was fantastic. Seriously amazing experience.
I feel like my description of that trip was horrible. I didn't talk about anything but food. Which is actually pretty accurate. We ate more than that though. And we did more than that too. But I guess those are the important things. Plus I'm tired and have a headache, so that's all your getting. Plus a song.
And for the first song of the year, it's a great one from last year called Sour Mango. This is the first single off of Gabriel Garzon-Montano's upcoming sophomore album, and it's a good one. He has two more singles out, which are also good, but this is the only one I could listen to non-stop.
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