English Countryside Charm: Holbeck Ghyll

I'll be sharing about the two Michelin restaurants I brought my family to during our Summer road trip in UK last year (Part II coming up!).  I had been to both before with my own group of friends in Easter of 2013 and decided that they would make great stops for the family when they came up to visit.

I much prefer the Michelin restaurants outside of London because they are the perfect excuse to take a day trip out to enjoy what the English countryside has to offer, and their meals are generally very value for money without being too theatrical or pompous.  Just good ol' fresh ingredients, cooked really well and served in decent portions that would keep the men happy.

Date of Visit: 31 May 2014

First up is Holbeck Ghyll, the Michelin restaurant in a small hotel of the same name seated atop a hill with lush and tranquil surroundings.  It's the perfect kind of place for a getaway and to have the full experience of warm British hospitality.  It's also the one place that I confidently recommend to friends who are making a trip down to the Lake District, because I know the quality of their food and hospitality is consistently good.  If I were having my future wedding in the UK this would definitely be a top contender but too bad I have no such budget for that haha.  Okay enough talking, time to share the good stuff!

The winding road leading up to the hotel grounds

Hong Kong 'Ho Ho Sek'

Date of Visit: 12-15 July 2014

A very belated post, but I thought I should still share the goodies we had the privilege of trying when we went to Hong Kong over this summer.

Day One

Woke up bright and early to take our 9.30am flight to HK!!!  Was so excited and still packing away the night before so I slept really late, but that didn't stop me from waking up early.  This post comes really late but I hope the photos and rusty recollections will still do the trip justice!

I will miss trying to scramble away from the HK water dripping from goodness-knows-where and just feeling absolutely pleased that I was in foodie heaven.  From the cheap to the expensive, everything was simply sublime and every meal had me beaming with happiness even if it was something as simple as scrambled eggs or wanton mee.  Needless to say, the cheap prices made it easy on the wallet and was a great bonus.

GRUB, Singapore

Date of visit: 5 July 2014

K and I are 'westies' who are perfectly fine with staying within our side of Singapore since there's plenty of good food to be found nearby, so for us to have made a trip down to Grub on a Saturday morning and actually thought it was well worth it, is quite a big deal.  

I can see why this new café has been the talk of the town and why it deserves the attention it's been getting.  It's now on my list of cafés to return to for comfort food and a relaxing brunch with loved ones :)  Indeed, it's legitimately delicious food that I would be proud to serve in my own home, just like what they'd hoped to achieve.

Food Galore In Bruges

Date of Visit: 24-26 March 2014

This past March, K and I headed to the lovely city of Bruges (sometimes referred to as "The Venice of the North") in Belgium for a short getaway and we found quite a few gems there which I thought I should share with all of you here!

Bruges is a one-hour train ride away from Brussels, and we really liked that it had an old town feel to it as compared to the more modern Brussels.  Definitely a place for leisurely dining and sightseeing and although it may not be everyone's cup of tea since it can come across as quite boring, it suited us just fine because the good food made up for the lack of activities.

Den Gouden Harynck, Bruges

Date of Visit: 25 March 2014

One of the lower-key restaurants with very simple and cosy decor.  We might have missed it and not known it was a Michelin-starred restaurant if we had just happened to walk past.

I loved how the table layout and space between the tables made the place come across as very unassuming and understated high-class.  You don't have to pull out the bells and whistles to impress when your food and service can speak for themselves.

Quite amusing to be the only young Asians in a restaurant full of Westerners who looked like they are retirees or about to retire.  I guess we got an authentic local experience!

I much prefer this kind of Michelin restaurant than the more well-known ones that everyone and their parents and best friends have seemed to already made their rounds at.  Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London is one such example.  The downside of such places is that the menu seems to lose its novelty after many people have posted photos of the signature dishes like tipsy cake and meat fruit.  The excitement and surprise element are no longer as strong.

They had a menu that was simple to understand and fuss-free!  The kind that I like very much :)

We chose the lunch set menu (€39 per pax) which was basically a 3-course meal planned by the chef, so that meant we couldn't choose the courses.