Eat: Gaudron, Brussels, Belgium

Gaudron

In a very beautiful part of Brussels, at Place Brugmann, you can find Gaudron, home to delicious food. They don’t only sell their famous mouth-watering raspberry tarts, but all kinds of pastries, groceries and home made food, to eat there or take away.

Many locals visit Gaudron to have breakfast or lunch inside or on the Parisian style terrace (that also serves as a great spot to watch people). You can buy your newspaper or a book at the lovely bookshop Candide, next to Gaudron. They share in fact the terrace.

I come there to buy our weekend newspapers and occasionally have a lovely breakfast or lunch next door, it always feels like a real treat.

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Dots

Shop: Noë, Brussels, Belgium

Noe

I love coloured shoes and could never find a good shoe shop in Brussels. Until a friend of mine bought a wonderful pair in a shop called Noë by Ketch’Up. A Belgian designer who makes shoes in 80 colours with different heel sizes for affordable prizes.

A girls dream seeing all those shoes lined up and it was hard to choose which one to take home. Eventually I bought two colours and was told that a woman once bought 13 pairs at the same time…

They also sell colourful and vintage style clothes for reasonable prizes by Fever.

By the way, not far away is another shoe shop with a good selection: Mellow Yellow, a French brand. Also very much worth a visit.

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Dots

Sleep: Grand Hotel Belle Vue, De Haan, Belgium

Bellevue

My colleagues gave me a very nice present for the birth of our daughter: a hotel night for the two of us. A welcome gift for new parents. We could choose between a few hotels and since we hadn’t been so often at the Belgium coast we opted for this one.
De Haan is a cute little town only about 20 km’s from the more famous Knokke. In winter it is quite calm,  but I can imagine this being a lively, happy place in summer with a very authentic feeling because of some of the beautiful old houses.

The hotel was only 10 minutes walk from the beach and gives an instant calm, luxury and relaxing atmosphere when you enter. It is very light due to the large windows and the  furniture and art seem to be carefully chosen . We were in the tower room and although it is usually smaller then on the pictures, it was a relaxing and pleasant room with a nice décor and old parquet. Antique pieces are combined with more modern ones.

I especially liked the morning breakfast in a sunny, open room, yummy things at the buffet and attended by a very friendly lady.
I decided that I would like to come back here in summer. Going from one seaside town to the other along the dunes by the coast tram, might be a good option.

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Dots

Eat: Red Rooster, New York, USA

Red Rooster

For my fathers 65th birthday my sister and I surprised him with a ticket to New York. The three of us went there last September for four days and had a wonderful time.

On our last Sunday we went for a late lunch in this restaurant, recommended to us by a friend. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

It is located in Harlem and when we arrived a jazz band was playing with a magnificent old lady at the microphone. She had a golden voice and it gave the whole place a wonderful, warm and at the same time vibrant atmosphere.

There were many local families, all dressed up, enjoying a drink, food and each other’s company.

The chef, Marcus Samuelsson, is a famous Swedish Ethiopian, cooking with respect for local culinary traditions.

It has a huge half oval bar at the entrance, bookshelves at the wall and comfy chairs in the first part. The restaurant is behind the bar with great pictures and art at the walls.

We sat close to the open kitchen and I couldn’t get the smile of my face because of the perfect combination of people, music, décor, food, light and atmosphere.

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Dots

Other: High Line, New York, USA

HighLine

This was one of the most special things we experienced while in New York: walking over the High Line. Old railroad tracks that were used since the 1930’s for cargo transport are now converted into a long, elevated, strolling park and opened in Summer 2009. Winding, 10 metres above street level, over 19 streets. It gives a very original view of the city, see throughs into apartments, hotels, galleries, warehouses and the Hudson river allowing for a total new experience of the city.

The lovely, rather wild flowers and plants are designed by Dutch garden architect Piet Oudolf. All kinds of terraces, mini shops, picnics and cultural activities are going on, there are lounge chairs awaiting you and around 26th street there is a kind of mini theatre seating where the life at 10th Avenue below is the stage through a large glass window: 10th Avenue Square.

You can get on and off at different points, the most southern entrance is at Gansevoort /Washington street in Meatpacking district. When we were there the end of the High Line was at 30th street, but plans where already made to continue building further on the last part of the track, till 34th.

It was hard to capture the feeling in the pictures I made, so definitely visit their website.

The High Line gives a total happy feeling, and people seem friendlier up there. Something not to be missed!

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Dots

At night & Eat: Buddakan, New York, USA

Buddakan

This restaurant was recommended to us by New Yorkers as the place to be. It is in the Meatpacking district where there are plenty of nice bars, restaurants, terraces and people walking from one to the other.

When you enter the place and get adjusted by the dimmed light, you feel an instant ‘wow’. I can well imagine the SATC girls having cocktails here. It has different areas, large with huge chandeliers or more romantic alcoves. The menu is modern Asian and the crowd is mixed. The decoration is beautiful and warm. Suitable for just a drink or having dinner. But definitely walk around to see it all.

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Dots