About Selma

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Firma Pickles – Burgers & Wines, Rotterdam

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pickles

Rotterdam has a new fancy food hall called Markthal; it houses all sorts of food stands and restaurants and we decided to try out Firma Pickles – Burgers & Wines as the name contains three things we like: pickles, burgers, and wine! I had walked by earlier that afternoon with a female friend of mine, D, and we had asked if we could make a reservation for that evening. One waiter said no, and then another waiter came up next to her, points at the first waiter and then plants a kiss on her cheek. She flinched backwards and I, too, was in shock at this extremely inappropriate gesture. The first waiter looked uncomfortable as well and slowly made his retreat. Unfortunately, my mind goes blank when completely unexpected things happen, so I didn’t come up with clever retorts until we walked away. Though I suppose a slap in the face would have been the best response. D was a bit sharper than me, my brain was still short circuiting when she said, “So can I get a reservation now?”, and we were told if we come back that night we would get a table. We scrubbed her cheek clean and lamented about the male chauvinistic society we live in, and went back later to try the damn burgers (and pickles and wines).

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Vis aan de Maas, Rotterdam

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oysters

My oyster craving had still not been satiated so we went looking for a seafood restaurant and wound up at Vis aan de Maas. This restaurant sits in an unusual area of Rotterdam (for restaurants), definitely not somewhere you accidentally walk by. Since the weather was nice and we were planning on drinking, we took the subway and made the error of letting me navigate us. For the record, I can read a map and follow instructions. I had simply entered the wrong address into my phone. A 10 minute walk turned into a 25 minute walk where we witnessed all sorts of street activity from a Rastafarian party to an adult on a tricyle that accompanied us for a good 5 minutes and told us not to cross the road when the light was red, safety first! Never a dull moment in Rotterdam. (more…)

De Falafel, Rotterdam

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de falafel

Looking for a quick lunch in downtown Rotterdam? We chose De Falafel, which is situated right outside the metro station Beurs. It’s a tiny place with only 5 seats as most people get their falafel to go. The falafel here is freshly made – there is a bowl of batter and the lady behind the counter uses an ice cream scoop to portion and place the falafels in the hot oil. The result is crispy falafels with great flavor. (more…)

Gauchos Grill, Rotterdam

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gauchos

Last night I had dinner with my two favorite buddies, Boaz and Dion, at Gauchos Grill. The boys wanted steak, so steak was to be had! As expected, the conversation was ridiculous and I wondered how long it would take for the restaurant to kick us out. Fortunately, the loud chatter from other tables and the constant sssstttt of meat being grilled over an open flame meant no one could really hear us.  (more…)

Chili Time, Rotterdam

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chili time

Looking for dinner on a Friday night without having made reservations is always tricky. Do you wait in line for at least an hour at the popular spots or try something new? My friend A and I were standing out in the cold and rain and across the road was Chili Time, a Thai restaurant we had seen before but never tried. A quick check online gave mixed reviews, but mostly positive, so we went ahead and gave it a try. With a name like Chili Time, and a bunch of chilis depicted on the menu (the usual 1 to 3 chilis for spiciness level), we were expecting some serious heat. Well… not so much.

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L’Entrecôte Museumpark, Rotterdam

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L'Entrecôte Museumpark

We were looking for a simple yet good dinner for this Wednesday night and came across L’Entrecote Museumpark. A place that does one thing, and one thing only, the iconic French steak frites. They write in their menu that they have taken the concept from the Parisian Le Relais de Venise – L’Entrecote and brought it to Rotterdam. Another comparison could be made with Le Relais de L’Entrecote, which we have been to, and has three restaurants in Paris. The reviews online were very positive so we had high hopes and, thankfully, weren’t disappointed.   (more…)

Sausage at Prague Airport

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sausage

I tell everyone about this kielbasa sausage, Vahala – top product of Czech origin. The Czech name is klobása. Some people laugh at me and wonder how I can get so excited about a sausage. Fair enough, laugh all you want, but trust me, you must try this sausage. I’ve convinced a few people to try it out, and every time I have my 35 minute stopover at Prague airport on my way back to Amsterdam, I grab the sausages and run to my gate.

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Staročeská bašta, Frýdek-Místek

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menu

We spent our second night in Frýdek-Místek at Staročeská bašta, a Czech cuisine restaurant. It also had pizza, burgers and buffalo wings, but for the most part, authentic Czech food. Czech cuisine is very meat-based, and in particular pork is abundant. Do not order fish in this country! The meals are the kind that will sustain you through a long winter, so heavy and with lots of carbs. A staple is the dumpling (knedlíky), which is wheat or potato based. The wheat ones are steamed and then sliced like bread, and have a strong resemblance to the Chinese mantau (steamed bun). So perusing the menu I was looking for something with pork and dumplings… (more…)

Benu, Frýdek-Místek

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map czech republic

This is my fourth and final work visit to Frýdek-Místek in the past six months. Wondering where that is? It is a tiny town in the Czech Republic, population 60,000, and perhaps 30 minutes from Ostrava. It used to be two independent towns, Frýdek and Místek, divided by the Ostravice River. But then the prince of Frýdek fell in love with the princess of Místek and they united the two towns. That is obviously a blatant lie, but it makes for a better story than the truth, which is that the Nazis forced the towns to merge during the occupation in WWII. Enough of the history lesson, because this is where it gets weird. There are a lot of Koreans in this town. In a big city this would, of course, not be weird. But this is Frýdek-Místek! The very first time I travelled here I immediately noticed the large amount of Korean men on the flight. What are they doing here, I wondered. Turns out the answer was simple, there’s a Hyundai factory nearby. And then came the gem: where there are Koreans, there are Korean restaurants. So I go to Restaurant Benu every time I’m here. Last night my predictability in food choice was proven when a colleague that lives here decided to try to find us without calling and here was his reasoning process: they’re out for dinner. There’s two likely places, the Irish pub or the Korean. Selma is with them. They are at the Korean. (more…)

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