Carolien's travel blog!

Exploring the world one bite at a time

Page 16 of 41

Ossuary underneath the Church of St. James: “A must see!”

This place truly is amazing. Unbelievable that this underground ossuary only got rediscovered in 2001. I loved the fact that there is modern art displayed in the ossuary. The music especially composed for this place makes for an unforgettable experience.

Ossuary underneath the Church of St. James, Jakubske namesti 101/2, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
http://ticbrno.cz/en/podzemi/kostnice-u-sv-jakuba
+420 515 919 793

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Ossuary underneath the Church of St. James also on TripAdvisor.

Thuan Lien: “Authentic Asian Cuisine”

This place is on the outskirts of Brno, so you need to take a bus or a cab to go here. The location in itself isn’t really inviting, but the food makes up for that. Thuan Lien serves authentic Vietnamese food without frills and what is more: it is very cheap. I had the Bún tôm noodle soup. Really very tasty and all that for only 100 czk.

Be warned: during lunch hour this place can get very busy, but since service if quick and efficient, you’ll never have to wait long for a table.

Thuan Lien, Olomoucka 83/61a Vietnamska Trznice, Cernovice, Czech Republic

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Thuan Lien also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 3/5, food 5/5.

Cosmopolis Cafe: “Lovely cake”

Looking through the window at all those gorgeous cakes, I just had to go in for a piece of cake and a hot chocolate. This café has a really nice atmosphere and a classic feel to it.

Ordering was somewhat of a challenge though. I was seated on the first floor and tried to explain in English which cake I wanted, since those weren’t on the menu. I was pointing in the mirror at the cakes below me, but the waitress didn’t understand which cake I meant, so she brought me the wrong one.

Not that big of a deal, because the chocolate cheesecake I got was absolutely fantastic. Perfect and moist. Lovely! The hot chocolate was also very delicious. Both were quite heavy, so it felt a little bit like a chocolate overdose.

Service could be better though, I had to wait quite some time before ordering and it took an equally long time to bring me the bill.

Cosmopolis Cafe, Zelny trh 314/2, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
+420 542 106 080

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Cosmopolis Cafe also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 3/5, food 4/5.

Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul: “Lovely view from the towers”

This cathedral is well worth a visit. The building in itself is beautiful and gives you an insight in the history of Brno. Do yourself a favour and buy a ticket to climb up the stairs of the tower. There is a small museum with some beautiful liturgical objects, but it is the view that takes away the top price. Spectacular. Mind you, there isn’t much space on both viewing platforms, but it certainly wasn’t busy when we visited.

Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Petrov 268/9, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
http://www.katedrala-petrov.cz/index.php/cz/
+420 543 235 031

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul also on TripAdvisor.

Restaurant Pavillon: “Great food in a beautiful environment”

The building in which this restaurant is located is a reconstruction of a functionalist building that was demolished in 1964. The building reopened in the nineties on a slightly different location. The interior is gorgeous in its simplicity, with a high ceiling which gives you a spacious feeling.

The Pavillon is an exceptional location for fine dining. Staff is very friendly, well trained and speaks English almost fluently. Of course we ordered the seven course tasting menu with wine pairing (for a total of 1665 per person). How could we resist?

Food was really excellent. Every course was prepared with a lot of care and looked beautiful. My favorite dish was without a doubt the deertopus, a lovely combination of grilled saddle of deer and asian style octopus. Please do try this dish, you will be amazed.

From our waiter we learned that the chef of The Pavillon in the past had worked with Gordon Ramsey. A great reference indeed!

To finish of the meal in style my boyfriend asked the waiter for a locally made digestif. It’s always nice to learn more about the local food and drinks. My boyfriend got served a glas of Becherovka.

My only (very minor) complaint is that the chairs, although comfortable, make a lot of nice when moved.

Restaurant Pavillon, Jezuitska 6, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
http://www.restaurant-pavillon.cz/
+420 541 213 497

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Restaurant Pavillon also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 5/5, food 5/5.

Borgo Agnese: “An unforgettable experience”

We had read so many great things about this restaurant in Brno that we couldn’t wait to try it out for ourselves. We made a reservation through the website, but since we didn’t receive any confirmation (the website indicated that we wouldn’t get a confirmation, but it seems to me this isn’t a good system: if anything goes wrong, your customer doesn’t know if the reservation went through or not). Since we traveled all the way from Belgium,we asked them kindly to confirm our reservation by e-mail, which they did.

From the very moment we entered the restaurant we felt super welcome. We even got assigned a waiter who could speak Dutch (we are Dutch speaking). A big and unexpected surprise when you go for dinner in Brno. We did highly appreciate the effort our waiter put in explaining everything in Dutch.

Borgo Agnese is a truly beautiful restaurant, located at the site where the early history of Brno began. In the restaurant you can even have a look at part of the Gothic chancel of the All Saints Church, which was destroyed during the Swedish siege of Brno in 1645. Great food and history combined!

It was our first evening in Brno, we were exited to be in this new city, so we decided to go for the full option: the degustation menu SLOW FOOD. Ten courses, accompanied by wines. Total price: 2048 czk. Expensive, but well worth the money. Each course was prepared with great care, presented like a little piece of art and pared with superb wines. I do have to say that 10 courses turned out to be a bit much. Personally I found the two courses after the sorbet, although very delicious, a bit too big. But really, that’s nit picking.

We had a really unforgettable evening here!

Borgo Agnese, Kopechna 980/43 Brno-Stred, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic
http://www.borgoagnese.cz/
+420 515 537 500

Visited February 2016. You can find my review about Borgo Agnese also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 5/5, food 5/5.

Publico: “Excellent lunch menu”

This is a great place for lunch. A lunch menu (soup, a main course and coffee) costs only 11,90. Quality of the food is good and the atmosphere is really nice with big works of art on the walls.

I made reservations for a group of eight persons and our table was ready for us when we entered. Some friends had to leave earlier so they asked to get the main course at the same time when the rest of our tabel got their soups. This was no problem at all.

The salads were nice and the ravioli I ordered was lovely. I like the fact the we were not restricted to only three main courses. Everybody could order what they liked. Only my friends who ordered the saltimbocca were less enthousiastic about their food.

Publico, Rue des Chartreux 32 Rue des Chartreux, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.publicobxl.be/
+32 485 54 60 95

Visited January 2016. You can find my review about Publico also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 3/5, food 4/5.

Konigsallee: “Lovely place for a stroll or (expensive) shopping”

This must be the most beautiful street of Düsseldorf. Even if you don’t feel like exploring the expensive shops on both sites of this avenue, you can stil enjoy walking around to take in the scenery.

Konigsallee, Konigsallee, 40212 Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
http://www.koenigsallee-duesseldorf.de/en/startseite.html
+49 211 86399025

Visited December 2015. You can find my review about Konigsallee also on TripAdvisor.

Fischhaus: “Expectations not met”

Seeing as this place is a fish shop and a fish restaurant all in one, I had high expectations. But to be honest, those weren’t met. Service was mediocre at best and the food itself was ok, but nothing exceptional. My meal (Filets Von Der Nordsee Seezunge Auf Steinpilzrisotto) was not warm enough. I got the impression my plate was left standing for a while before it got served. The portion was big enough, but the fish was prepared in too much butter to my taste. The plate of my brother was also not warm enough.

We also made the mistake of following the wine recommendation on the menu. The Roncal Gondello from the Spanish region Galicia costed only 14,90 euros and it tasted also like a very cheap wine. Do yourself a favour and order a more expensive wine.

Fischhaus, Berger Str. 3, 40213 Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
http://www.fischhaus-duesseldorf.de/index2.html
+49 211 8549864

Visited December 2015. You can find my review about Fischhaus also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 3/5, service 3/5, food 3/5.

Swissotel Dusseldorf/Neuss: “Lovely hotel”

Stayed for two nights in this hotel. Our room was very clean and comfortable. The (separate) beds were very good. The screen in the bath was too small though, which resulted in a flooded bathroom after taking a shower. We stayed at the eleventh floor and the view on the river was really gorgeous.

The hotel is not located in the city center and the surroundings are not very inviting, but you’re only a short tram ride (15 minutes) away from the real heart of Düsseldorf.

Some girls at the reception were more friendly than others, but in fact they all tried their best to speak English to us when we indicated German wasn’t our mother tongue. Also loved the bar area, very inviting and good cocktails.

Breakfast was excellent. Lots of different options to choose from. Loved the made to order omelets, the smoked salmon, the gravad lax and the fresh fruit. The bread was also freshly baked. Service at the breakfast was very attentive.

Only complaint we had, were the conditions of the sauna. The changing rooms just weren’t very clean and in the room where the saunas were situated you had to wade though a pool of water of one centimeter depth. Not very appealing, to be honest. Although it was indicated that the saunas could only be used without bathing suits, most of the guests ignored this. The layout of pool, sauna and fitness room is kinda weird. Lots of people walk through the fitness room in their bathing suits to reach the pool.

Swissotel Dusseldorf/Neuss, Rheinallee 1 41460 Neuss, 41460 Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Stayed December 2015. You can find my review about Swissotel Dusseldorf/Neuss also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, rooms 5/5, service 4/5.

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