Location:
1428 6th Ave, New York, NY
Sometimes you just want simple bacon, eggs n' toast for breakfast. Add pototoes in the mix and I'm in heaven.
For $6?
Can't beat that.
I love NYC.
New York City: Magnolia Bakery
Location:
1240 6 Avenue, New York, NY
You knew it was coming (if you follow me on Instagram, that is). There are several locations of Magnolia in NYC, and although I never made it to the original location in West Village, this one at Bloomingdale's wasn't too shabby.
Have you been? The cupcakes are divine - the red velvet cupcake was mighty tasty.
New York City: Bice
Location:
7 East 54th Street, New York, NY
Upon the recommendation from our hotel, Bice was the venue for dinner one evening when we met up with some friends. If you're looking for classy Northern Italian fare, with house-made pasta, meticulous service at a high price point, look no further than Bice.
New York City: Bread
Location:
20 Spring Street, New York, NY
We celebrated N's cousin's birthday with her friend at Bread in Soho. Great venue for brunch and, well, bread.
A very cosy spot that was fully jam packed. The service was excellent as were all the dishes. They even threw in a tiramisu cake on the house.
New York City: Dos Caminos
Location:
825 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Came highly recommended. Didn't know it was a chain. And for someone who spent more than 8 hours at the Met without eating anything, I was, to say the least, starving. The service was top knotch, and because we said we were incredibly hungry they brought out everything in literally 10 minutes.
The rice and beans were unlimited, and we (mostly me) had about 5-6 refills.
The fish dish was spicy just as I ordered, just wonderful. Ah, to have it once more.
New York City: Brooklyn Diner
Location:
212 West 57th Street New York, NY
www.brooklyndiner.com/menu.htm
On our way to the hotel in NYC, we passed by the Brooklyn Diner and immediately decided to try it out sometime. Turned out our hotel was only a few blocks from it, so we walked back for lunch. The place was packed with what looked like business men with heavy mid-sections. After seeing the menu, then our dishes, it was easy to know why. The portions are massive, quite like their prices. $18 for a sandwich? Um. Okay. Tourist trap, likely.
I chose their "famous tuna sandwich", mainly for the Ezekiel bread which I've always wanted to try.
N got the turkey sandwich, which was basically Thanksgiving dinner in a sandwich.
The tuna sandwich was greasy, yes, but good. Ezekiel bread was delicious, although covered in butter, taking away it's health factor. The fries were perfect. I don't eat turkey, but the mashed potatoes and gravy were divine.
It's easy to see why this place is so popular, but if I were to eat here everyday, the Ezekiel bread won't help none.
New York City: Sapphire
Location:
1845 Broadway, New York, NY
After taking in the last runway show at NYFW one evening, I was in the mood for Indian food. We ended up at Sapphire which is near the Lincoln Center and across from Central Park.
The piping hot peshwari naan is, hands down, the best I've ever had! Our food was served onto our plates. The salmon was marinated and flavourful. And our request for less mutter (peas) and more aloo (potatoes) in the aloo gobi mutter dish was in fact, granted and well-executed.
Everything was incredible! We literally cleaned up every dish to the last morsel.
We were so content with our meal that we went over to thank the gentleman at the front and tell him that we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. He ended up being the owner, Satish Arora, who then very graciously offered us drinks and desserts at the bar. We obliged and was amazed when we saw a bottle of Crown Royale in his name!
We had a wonderful time chatting with Satish about his life in NYC and also found some common links of his in Toronto. The decor is all authentic and brought over from India and the restaurant is very popular with celebrities as well.
Thank you for showing us a delightful time Satish, we look forward to coming back soon!
Provincetown, MA: Fudge Factory
Location:
210 Commercial St # 1 Provincetown, MA
Go for the fudge, don't stay for the service.
I guess you have to stay for the service in order to get the fudge, though.
As it was the only fudge store open in Provincetown over the MLK weekend, and as we didn't know any better, we went into the Fudge Factory. Contrary to Yelp reviews, you're not able to try the fudge anymore and also contrary to Yelp reviews, our server was quite rude. Perhaps it was an off day for him, or it was someone new, but it left us with a bad taste in our mouths, which we quickly sweetened up with their yummy fudge.
Provincetown, MA: Fanizzi's
Location:
539 Commercial Street Provincetown, MA
For the MLK long weekend, we decided to check out Cape Cod for the day. Yes, it was freezing, and yes, everything, save for a few shops, was closed. However, we were recommended Fanizzi's by the water and decided to grab dinner there before heading back.
We scored the best seat of the house, overlooking the water and the sunset.
The service was lovely and the place filled up quickly as the sun began to set.
We chose a dish of sea scallops n' pasta in marinara sauce and fish n' chips, both downed with beers. The coleslaw that came with the fish n' chips was to die for. It must have had some green apple or something, as it was both sweet and perfectly coleslaw-y. The bread basket arrived piping hot which is always welcome. We also had coffees and the molten lava chocolate cake, which took me well over my sugar quota for the day, but was totally worth it.
I can't recommend this place, enough. We'll be back this summer!
Amsterdam: Hilton Hotel: Half Moon Lounge
It was raining pretty hard as soon as we arrived in Amsterdam, and it remained fairly wet and quite chilly throughout the trip. As soon as we got to The Amsterdam Hilton, made famous for John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Bed-In-For-Peace", all we wanted to do was have a quick bite to eat and some tea. So, while we waited for our room (not the John Lennon/Yoko Ono presidential suite, alas), we dined at one of the hotel's resturants, the Half Moon Lounge. We ordered some teas and a falafel sandwich with a side of fries. How amazing was this sandwich? And the service was wonderful and unintrusive while we relaxed by the huge canal side windows. Highly recommend this hotel, which has beautiful rooms and bathrooms with gorgeous canal views and a spectacular breakfast buffet, which may make an appearance on Foodhogger, later.
TRAVEL: Montreal: Les 3 Brasseurs (3 Brewers )
Location(s):
A. 732 Sainte-Catherine Street West, Montreal
B. 1658, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal
www.les3brasseurs.ca
(All images photohogger)
Let me start with the pros of the restaurant:
Amazing beer-battered poutine. Great atmosphere: loud, bustling, was fun to be there during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Food (pros & cons):
Everything was grease-central (could be a pro for some?). The fish and chips came with overly battered and overly deep fried fish, so much so that the fried shell separates from the fish. 
The flatbread pizzas are so thin, which some peopel may prefer, but I say why bother! You practically have to eat the whole thing with a knife and fork which I know some prefer for eating pizza, but I like to pick it up like a pie. Loaded with lots of veggies so it wasn't bad. 
My understanding of, and the way I make, a Nicoise salad is with tuna, hard-boiled eggs, beans, tomatoes, olives, optional artichokes, red pepper and anchovies, all on a bed of lettuce. This one came with smoked meat instead of tuna. Since all of us eat mostly only fish, we opted for no smoked meat. It was alright, but would have preferred more of the original style of a nicoise salad. 
The beer-battered poutine (that we didn't order) was delish. We ordered regular poutine and thought that what we got was regular poutine, and wondered why it was so greasy. But as far as greasy poutine goes (which it all mostly is, anyway), it was a winner!
The cons of the restaurant:
What is with the section of the restaurant that is also part dish-clearing station/garbage take out? Please get rid of this section! I understand one has to clear the dishes and take out the garbage, but is there not a wall behind which this could be done? We had to sit there and be a witness to a server scraping off the plates into the trash and worse see one of them struggle to pull out the garbage bag from the trash can - minus gloves! Then the trash can fell over with a crash! Not something that you want to see before (or anytime) you get your meal.
Then, we were billed for the beer battered poutine ($8.99) which we ate unknowingly as we thought we'd simply ordered the regular poutine ($5.99). I realize it's only a difference of $3, but it was still the server's mistake which she acknowledged and insisted to correct but the manager then said couldn't be reversed. So our server told us not to tip her instead. How ridiculous is that? Needless to say we DID tip her on top of their mistake. She gave us each $5 gift cards to use back in Toronto. Thanks but you won't see us running over there anytime soon.
Sitting next to the kitchen on visit number two (St. Denis location), we had a clear view of all the cooks in the kitchen, all the orders given, all the plates being served, and all the accidents, such as the dropping of a plate of salad near our end of the table. A hearty dose of salad dressing landed on four of us and what did they do to make up for it? "2 beers on us!" Thanks fellas...we were only a group of fifty! And the group menu they gave us was crap. Four options for dinner included: some flatbread with chicken dish, some sausage and sauerkraut dish, some veg lasagna and some chicken skewer dish with fries. I had the veg lasagna and it was soggy, covered in cheese and tasteless.
Besides that, the restaurant is so cramped (why else would we have been right beside the kitchen?) that our server(s) kept squeezing their ar*** between our two tables to get to another section of the restaurant. This happened all night long and I received several scrapes to my back from their pens! Definitely not a good dining experience.
I don't know who the three brewers are but they need to get their act together. The beer they brew? Not one of them did I fancy...but I'll let Beerhogger review them for you. 
Overall, A had slightly better food and service, whilst B is somewhere I never wish to dine again.
One can hope that Toronto's location is better, but I'm not holding my breath.
A.
B.
TRAVEL: Montreal: Nil Bleu
Location:
3706 Rue Saint-Denis
Montreal, QC
http://www.nilbleu.ca/
Hands down the best Ethiopian restaurant I've been to thus far. But don't ask me, ask my Mom and Mom-in-Law who couldn't stop raving about it. And they know how to cook, if you know what I mean.
The dishes we ordered were:
YETIMATIM SALAD $4.95 (tomatoes, onions, green peppers seasoned with lemon and olive oil dressing)
the VEGETARIAN PLATTER FOR TWO $27.00 (potatoes/cabbage/carrots, lentils, spinach)
and YEASSA TIBBS $14.95 (sole cooked with green peppers ginger).
One thing to note is that the fish came on the same platter as the veggie platter, which may not be good for those who are strictly vegetarian so be sure to make this request when you order!
We also ordered the house wine, which was a Spanish red and quite good.
They gave out damp napkins to wipe our hands with but didn't take them away like one would with hot towels, so we realized we had to keep them, and it made sense later as we ate that it was easier to wipe our fingers with. Be warned that you will leave with turmeric stained fingers nails (even after washing) after dining here, but let me assure you, it's well worth it!
Everything was delicious...and the injera kept coming until we were completely and utterly stuffed.
The exotic decor, which is what I want my home to look like (think animal prints, African sculptures, white leather couches) is beautiful and seems very new. 
My hubby who'd eaten at Nil Bleu perhaps 12 years ago didn't remember it looking like this! The fancy bathrooms round up the upgraded look. 
The service was a tad slow, but since we weren't in a hurry, it didn't bother us and overall the service was sweet and attentive. Thank you to Chakib & Rahel for making our Moms very happy :)
Great place for dates or groups and has outdoor seating. I've already recommended Nil Bleu to my family and friends who are visiting Montreal next month!
TRAVEL: Paris: Paul's
Location:
Outside the Louvre.
Paul, the French bakery (since 1889) came highly recommended by our friend A, so when we discovered a kiosk outside the Louvre, we stood right in line!
I must say, eating a chocolate chip baguette and tomato, mozzarella and basil sandwich under the shade of a tree in the Carrousel Gardens was one of the best experiences of the whole trip.
Michel's Baquette
Location:
(Yorkdale Mall) 3401 Dufferin Street, Toronto
www.michelsbaguette.com
One of my favourite "go-to" bakeries in Toronto is Michel's. It's an European-inspired cafe/bakery and there are several locations in Ontario. It reminds me of Paul's in Paris. No nonsense pastries, sandwiches and cafe lattes.
It's the perfect spot for a giggly group of girls women to go without bothering anyone.
The pastries are delicious.
Perhaps not as good as in Paris, but when you're with a group of good friends, who knows where you really are?
Mycitycuisine.org
Mycitycuisine is a great Wiki project aiming to help travelers discover local foods from all over the world. It's an open invitation to anyone who would like to include a dish that is indigenous to a certain area; a local dish. Not a recipe. A local meal or food.