Longhorn Steakhouse- A Review

Somehow I have never been very enthusiastic about visiting Steakhouses anywhere as I don’t eat steaks per se. Just over a fortnight back, my dear friend and his wife suggested that we visit Longhorn Steakhouse, they had good things to say about it. While they are Europeans (Dutch & British) and enjoy steaks, I was skeptical but my zeal for trying out a new restaurant was overwhelming and I agreed.

When we had visited Orlando in Florida some years back I had driven past Longhorn and  a few months back came across this one in Riyadh when we had gone for dinner to Red Lobster another American Chain which is right next to it.

 

Longhorn Steakhouse was a pleasant surprise and loved it so much that I visited yet again with a separate set of friends the following weekend. They loved it too! I did not eat any steaks on both visits as I don’t eat beef but everything else that we ordered was a dream.

 

Well, you must begin your meal with their House Chips & Dips. They are freshly made and served  hot, with a lovely dip. The chips are sprinkled with some dried herbs which give it a distinct taste and aroma. This coupled with their signature barbeque dip just disappear in the rumbling tummy before you bat your eyelids.  They serve hot, crisp country bread with some butter which is complimentary. The problem with us hungry souls is that we are unable to resist anything served hot especially when we are famished.

 

House chips & yum dip served hot!

To quench our thirst in my first visit I did order the iced lemon tea and in my 2^nd visit we ordered 2 kinds of margaritas. The Strawberry margarita won hands down.  Mammoth glass, fresh  strawberries used and great to taste.

 



Strawberry Margarita- refreshing !



 

 

Other margarita ! Did not meet my desire...

Literally mouth-watering isn't it?

 

For the mains, we ordered trout fish which is served with your choice of a salad (we chose the Caesars) and sides- we ordered some jacket steamed potato served with cream. You could also choose the regular veg salad instead of Caesars and for sides there is a choice of french fries, grilled vegetables etc.



Trout with jacket potato

 

They serve 2 fillets of trout both of good size in one portion and can be shared by people. Trout is a fresh water fish and usually found in cool (10–16 °C), clear streams and lakes.  The fish does not smell and I love it. I had my share of it when we were visiting Cyprus a few years back. The herbs that are used are subtle and leave a delicate lingering taste on your taste buds, do squeeze some lime generously.

We also ordered some chicken with portabella mushrooms, the portion again was generous, the fillets perhaps tad thicker than desired but the accompanying sauce was superb. We had ordered some mashed herbed potatoes as sides with this dish.



Portabello Mushroom with Chicken and mashed potato

Two of my friends ordered a steak -well done. Their verdict was also similar. Good portion and high on taste.

 

 

Foodies like us cannot stay away from sugar and desserts isn't it? So we ordered the dessert sampler, which the four of us could not polish off although it was delicious. The apple was pie served with icecream, strawberry cheese cake, molten lave cake with cream. Paradiso ! Ambrosia..

Dessert sampler

Now, finally to the price. For the ambience, portions and quality, I would rate it a great value for money restaurant. We were not disappointed.

 

Yes, we will go again...

 
(Photo Credits : Kappiarath Muralidharan)

A cruise on River Seine, Paris..

Love sunsets? Love cruising on azure waters? I do!! If you could enjoy both these combined with the sights and sounds of Paris, why will you not take it?

Sunset -not on the Seine though!

 

On our first evening in Paris, after visiting the Notre Dame and enjoying some superb gelato and crepes in Amorino (which I have covered in my earlier posts), we decided to just walk down the banks of Seine to head for our evening cruise and discover the monuments of Paris by sunset.

 

To my mind, there is no better way to start your holiday in Paris than an evening cruise on the River Seine. After due research on the net, I decided on the -http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/home/ .

 

The Cost per person for the evening cruise is 10 Euros for adults and 5 Euros for children when booked online. I strongly recommend buying the tickets online as they come cheaper.

 

The cruise departs from Paris’ oldest bridge, the Pont-Neuf and lasts for an hour or so. Metro Stop – Pont Neuf is just on the opposite side of the bridge to the dock. 2 minutes away. Easy to get there and easy to  go back when the cruise is done. The tip is to get there early and get seats right up in the front of the boat.

 

 

The cruise takes you past the glorious Paris monuments from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower and you get to enjoy the wonderfully lit sights of this city at dusk. Paris is also a city of bridges which you will cruise past and enjoy the sounds of the gushing water of the River Seine. The photography opportunity of the lit monuments is something which one has to experience. There is English commentary on the cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

We really had a terrific time on the cruise and clicked some wonderful pictures. Once done we got out and walked towards the Louvre Rivoli Metro which is 600 m/ 8 minute walk and boarded the Metro Line 1 towards  La Defense Grand Arche and got down at Franklin D Roosevelt Station from where the apartment is under 5 minute walk.

We ended the day with dinner at a restaurant just off Champs Elysee...
 

Eiffel Tower you will, Amorino you MUST...

While travel is one passion, food is another fetish that I have. While on this journey in Europe I will be taking you through some lip smacking, visual treats, enough to make you feel famished and yearn for more.

After we spent some wonderful time basking in the glory of the Notre Dame and clicking pictures we decided to walk across the Seine over the bridge to some cul-de-sacs.

 

We had some time before getting on board the evening cruise on the Seine and hence thought it would be a great way to initiate ourselves into the Parisien culture. We found some nice memoirs and curio shops where we picked a few things as we kept walking down the cobbled streets in this area.

There were some Asian restaurants serving Indian cuisine, some Greek, some Middle Eastern restaurants serving the usual ‘doner’ and ‘shawermas’.

 

 

 

We then stumbled across this shop where there was a long queue for buying gelatos and I immediately wanted to get in there and my family was also equally delighted to go in.

 

IF YOU ARE IN PARIS, you MUST and I INSIST you MUST visit the ‘Amorino- Gelato Al Naturelle’.  With over 50 shops in France and 20 of them in Paris you will find it difficult to miss one. We visited the one on 16, Rue De la Huchette, across the Seine and a 5 minute walk from the Notre Dame. Especially on days when you have been walking around and tired, this is one place where you can just spend a good 30 minutes and get those batteries re-charged

 

Can you see the people in a queue behind the door?

Well, let us begin with their renowned gelatos. Served in cups and waffle cones, they are a sheer treat to the tired senses! Absolutely delicious ice-cream, presented like a pretty flower in the waffle cone with a center round scoop and then 'petals' made from a spade-like scoop. Each petal can be a different flavour, if you so wish.

 

 

Some of the favourites that I could assess from the people in the queue were Pistachio, Chocolate Orange, Caramel 'au beurre et sel', Tahitian Vanilla and Equatorial Dark Chocolate. The gelato doesn’t come cheap however one just can’t have enough of it.

 

They also offer some amazing waffles; we had ordered for a Waffle with chocolate but were served with crepes. No regrets though, every bite a sheer delight.  They serve Crepes with Caramel, Crepe with Chocolate and Crepe with Ice cream and I am sure each one outdoing the other.

 

What caught my fancy were macaroons with ice-cream. It was rather late and I just did not feel like ordering one as I had my fill. Macaroons with Ice cream- Mango sorbet, Pistachio in between the macaroons was something I had never tasted although I had tasted Laduree and Fauchon macaroons, I thought I would keep it for my next visit to Amorino, which eventually never happened. I had a learning here, if you yearn for something, go for it. Don’t keep it for later, who knows, you may never get there again. Don’t deny yourself of this DIVINE experience.

 

They serve some delicious Latte Macchiato, Cappuccino and Americano Espresso here as well. My only regret is that we visited it JUST once…As they say, keep pining and some day we shall get there...

 

 

 

6 dreamy days in Paris !

Our first port of landing was Paris. It doesn’t take much to fall in love with this city. In fact, it is usually love at first sight. For me, this happened in 1999 when we first visited Paris. It is indeed one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Whether it's a riverside vista that takes in the Seine, the countless bridges, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the Eiffel Tower, or the view of elegant buildings and mansard roofs from your room window, one cannot be but smitten.

It is my endeavour my readers to have a seamless holiday and hence I have tried to give all the information in this blog while trying to keep it interesting to read as well. So here goes…

Arrival into Paris & Day 1:

CDG Airport to Paris: (This section is very useful & a recommended read once you finalize your trip or else you can go to the next section i.e. Rest of Day 1)

We landed at the crack of dawn at the Terminal 2C, Charles De Gaulle (CDG) Airport. Immigration was a breeze and took us just a few minutes. CDG airport is in Roissy, about 28 kms from Paris city.

The CDG airport is one of the busiest airports in Europe and if you are not going through an organized tour it will be useful for your onward commute to your hotel in Paris. CDG has 3 terminals; Terminal 2 consists of seven sub-terminals: 2A to 2G. This can sound intimidating but no worries; all you need to do is follow directions at the airport and tips in this blog.

If you know the airline that you are travelling, you can click on the below link to find out which terminal you will be landing.

http://www.easycdg.com/1/airport-guide/which-terminal/which-terminal-information-paris-cdg-airport-charlesdegaulle/.

 There are several ways to reach the charming city of Paris from the airport.



Ways to reach Paris city from CDG Airport



 

For more information you may click on

http://www.easycdg.com/1/ground-transportation/ground-transportation-access-paris-cdg-airport/

The quickest and most convenient way is to take the RER train and we did exactly that. However if you have too much luggage and are arriving during peak rush hours you may want to consider an alternative form of transport.

Follow the signs "Gare SNCF"/"Railway Station" to make your way to the train station.

 

Commuting between terminals (T1, T2 & T3) is also well marked and either on foot or CDVAL the inter-terminal airport train.

If your arrival is in one of the sub-terminals of Terminal 2. The below will be useful to you.

 

Charles de Gaulle railway station is underneath terminal 2, between terminals 2C/2E and 2D/2F, it consists of a 5-storey building.

Buying tickets:

There are 2 ways in which you can buy a RER ticket:-

Ticket-vending machines: Credit cards with an embedded microchip and PIN will work in these. Mine luckily had one so we ended up using the machine.

Ticket counter: Where you can pay with cash or a credit card. However these may be shut down late nights and early morning.

This ticket is good enough for you to reach your destination using both RER and Metro lines, keep inserting it in the turnstiles. I bought 2 Carnets (kar-nay) of tickets. Each Carnet has 10 tickets and can be used in the Metro.

Typically you would be getting down in one of the first 3 stations mentioned below, depending on where you have chosen your hotel/apartment and then take the connecting Metro Line to reach your hotel. We did just that….

 

 

 

 

 

The connecting Metro Lines are mentioned alongside the station for example: From ‘Gare Du Nord’ you could take the Metro Line 2, 4 or 5 OR you could also connect to RER D & E. The Metro is super convenient and again cost effective. We got down at the ‘Chatelet Les Halles’ station and took the Connecting Metro Line 1 to finally alight at Franklin D Roosevelt Metro station on Champs Elysee. Our rental apartment was a 4 minute walk from this metro station.

While using the transportation just remember “Correspondence" in French means roughly "transfer point" to connect with a different Metro Line & "Sortie" means "exit”.

I strongly recommend going through the enclosed link before using the metro. You will enjoy using the metro once you familiarize yourself with it.

http://parisbytrain.com/tag/paris-metro/

Rest of Day 1: I had taken printouts of directions using google maps to go from the Roosevelt Metro station to the apartment at Rue Du Colisée. The directions, distance and time taken are precise so please do use google maps.

The apartment was located on Level 2 of the building and after an overnight flight it was quite tiring heaving the bags up but we managed to do that, had coffee with some brioche and slept for a few hours. The weather in Paris was just fabulous, the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds and an occasional light drizzle. We were famished by the time (2 pm) we were ready to hit the streets of Paris.

We got down and just outside the apartment building was a restaurant ‘Mezzo Di Pasta ‘serving pastas and salads, just the right things for us. With hungry rumbling tummy’s we polished the pastas and some salad with ‘still aqua’. The restaurant was functional and served the office goers and not a fine dining venue. We were a happy trio with the stomach’s becoming content. We then set of to visit the Notre Dame. We used the Metro and got there very comfortably. 

Whether you opt to explore the historic, fashion-conscious, bourgeois, or bohemian and arty sides of Paris, one thing is certain, the City of Light will always enthrall.

Notre Dame

 

So au revoir until my next...

 

 

 

 



 



Our Itinerary and maybe yours as well !!

Are we ready to start off on our voyage today? While we enjoy the sights and tastes on this journey, I will also be giving you various links, tips and information that will be very useful whenever you plan a holiday. Holidays can be wonderful,  if well planned. I personally enjoy planning holidays myself and dont prefer going on organised tours confined in a bus & with no flexibility to the schedule.

 

You can actually plan your holiday by blindly following this itinerary and going through my blog. I will also be more than delighted to be of any help in planning your itinerary and stay as I LOVE doing it.

 

You could write to me at prashantrao@hotmail.com with the Subject : ITINERARY HELP.

 

 

Our 18 day itinerary of Europe covering 5 countries was as follows:

 

Paris, France                - 6 days (including French countryside & day trip to Keukenhof, NL)

 

Wengen , Switzerland  - 4 days

 

Salzburg, Austria          - 3 days

 

Vienna, Austria             - 2 days

 

Prague, Czech Rep      - 2 days ( We should have kept this for at least 3 days)

 

Paris, France                - 1 day

 

 

A sneak peak of things to come !

 

We have covered Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Germany in our earlier visits.  In fact we loved Wengen in Switzerland so much that we included the same again our itinerary. Similarly we loved the Tulips in our earlier visit to Keukenhof in Netherlands so this was also included as a part of the itinerary. Paris was also added for the same reason.

 

Before we get into our first destination, a few things that I would like to share:

 

Travel /Transportation :

 

The best way to travel in Europe is by road or rail so that one can enjoy the countryside and hence we did use air travel only to fly into Paris from Riyadh and then to get back. Within Europe all travel was by the fabulous train network and by  air only from Prague to Paris as the train journey is really a long one.

 

For international air travel bookings, you should  review www.expedia.com and www.kayak.com, they give you a great choice of connections, airlines, fares and are both reliable. I have not had problems on refunds or changing travel dates thus far.

 

If you are sure that you will not change dates of travel or will not cancel your holiday then you can get sweet deals . Such tickets are inflexible and have zero refunds. I wasnt sure of travel dates and ended up paying more.  Once you identify the airline/connections then go to the relevant airline website and check if they are offering something better in terms of costs. If so, book on the airline website only. If not, book through the website which gives you a better deal and is reliable or trustworthy.If you are in India, www.makemytrip.com is a good travel aggregator to consider. We booked our tickets on Saudia Airlines website directly for the entry and exit into Europe. The rest were all booked on the individual rail websites.

 

Within each city in Europe, we travelled like the locals. We walked, took the trams, metros and the train network. These give you a wonderful flavor of the city and are really efficient. We also saved a lot of time and money as well. Switzerland particularly is exemplary in all respects. Every form of transport is simply superb, timing, safety et al.

 

It looks daunting and challenging, isnt it? I assure you, it just isnt. ! Continue reading the blog over the next few weeks and you will believe me.

 

Stay/ Accomodation :

 

Whenever we plan holidays which are more than a week, we prefer to stay in serviced hotel apartments or apartments available on rent or hotels which offer a laundry room as we can travel light and have our clothes washed frequently. Hotel rooms in Europe are rather small and in some places almost cramped so my suggestion in to go for apartments as they offer space in addition to the amenities of a home. Hotel bookings can also be done on www.booking.com

 

Some hotels offer a laundry room with coin operated washers and dryers. Very often hotels like the Mercure, Ibis, Marriot have this but not always. During this trip I booked apartments offered on rent by the apartment owners using www.tripadvisor.com . The website is just a medium to identify, review and contact the apartment owner for availability and pricing. Booking is confirmed by the apartment owner on email usually after a token advance or deposit is wire transferred to them. I used Paypal to transfer the money to some of them. All the apartments we booked had a washing machine/dryer, a kitchen or kitchenette and a wifi. Morst importantly, their locations were prime, close to metro stations, major attractions so that travelling around is convenient. We were lucky as all the apartments we chose were simply fabulous in all respects. The other website which is also very good is www.airbnb.com . You will get a great choice of apartments on this website as well.

 

 

.Get ready for the first destination.....Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love to travel, but hate to arrive...

While I have been working in the banking industry for almost 24 years now and enjoyed the journey, did I ever tell you that I have been nursing a hidden desire.?

 

A desire to be on the move always, travel, click, write and if I am lucky get paid for it as well.! No harm in dreaming, isn't it ? After all, life is all about pursuing dreams.

 

Albert Einstein's adage " I love to travel but hate to arrive " is perhaps apt for a day dreamer like me. 

 

I admire these guys working for National Geographic and other travel channels as they can travel all around the world. and also get paid for it

 

Life is not however that easy, life is all about priorities and  if you love to travel, make travel a priority. Just add it to some of your key priorities in life and then work towards it and you will soon find out that you can execute it with consummate ease.

 

 I remember St Augustine's quote here "  The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"

 

When we are young, it is easier to travel. You don’t need big bucks; all you need is a camera, a backpack and some detailed planning. There are so many pristine locations both in India as well as overseas many of them undiscovered and cheap. Budget travel or frugal travel is now  a reality with the Internet throwing options at the click of the mouse.Well, for those who want to splurge, then the options are unlimited.

 

While the Japanese and Chinese ( difficult to correctly identify between them) are found in big groups travelling all over Europe, one notices that Indians are tough contenders for the number one slot. In our recent holiday in Europe, we not only found the usual travel groups from Cox & Kings, Kesari travels etc but lots of families travelling on their own. We bumped into one such family from Hyderabad at the Wien Meidling (Vienna ) station who were on their own and not with any tour group. They were travelling into Vienna from Rome by train.

 

Westerners on the other hand work hard all their lives and start their travel only once they retire. One can find hordes of Americans, Europeans and perhaps Australians from Down Under.

Over the next few weeks, I shall get down to sharing our holiday to Europe including culinary delights as well.

 

 

Pain Au Chocolate  @ Paul's, Paris.

 

 

So fasten your seat belts and get set and ready...

Schipol Airport, Amsterdam