Jul 29, 2015

Lebanese Flower, Abu Dhabi

Selma Restaurants, Travel Abu Dhabi, Dinner, Lebanese, Lunch 0 Comments

We spent Easter break with friends in Abu Dhabi, and our first night was spent in a tent in the Lewa desert. The desert itself was a surreal experience, beautiful endless sand dunes, and no one around for miles. All we saw were camels, their dung, and of course dung beetles. We left the peace and quiet of the desert behind, washed the sand off of our bodies, and spent some time exploring both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which could not be more different from the serenity of the desert. All that was left to remind us of that magical place was sand (which was everywhere!) and camel’s milk ice cream. Spoiler alert, it tastes like really sweet vanilla. But the city has a silver lining, and that is food options. So for one of our lunches, my friend brought us to Lebanese Flower, a restaurant chain that serves great Lebanese food. (more…)

Jul 26, 2015

New Orleans

Selma Restaurants, Travel Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Krioyo, New Orleans, Seafood 0 Comments

Two and a half days is all I had in New Orleans, filled with meetings but with gaps in the schedule here and there so I could explore the city and try the food. I managed to fit four spots in, Johnny’s Po-Boys, Mr. B’s Bistro, Cochon Butcher, and Coop’s Place – covering an interesting spectrum of New Orleans fare. We stayed at the Intercontinental, right on the edge of the French Quarter, so everything was within walking distance. Arriving well past midnight, but with a free morning until after lunch, I had already planned where I would have my brunch that morning – Johnny’s Po-Boys. (more…)

Jun 21, 2015

Mogg and Melzer, Berlin

Selma Restaurants, Travel Berlin, Lunch 1 Comment

We had read about a pastrami sandwich at a Jewish deli called Mogg and Melzer in Berlin that was, apparently, the bomb. We made our way over there and when our trusty phones told us we had arrived at the location we looked in confusion at the huge, uninviting brick building, where was this restaurant? A small, unassuming sign to the right of the door told us we had come to the right place. We opened the door and entered into the foyer of what was once the first Jewish girls’ school in Berlin, built in 1835. The building has since been renovated to become a Jewish cultural heritage site combining both art and gastronomy. And it is here that Mogg and Melzer is hidden away. (more…)

Jun 19, 2015

The Bird, Berlin

Selma Restaurants, Travel Berlin, Burgers 1 Comment

Berlin offers so many different food options you almost don’t know where to start. But one thing that would not be excluded from our list is burgers, proper good burgers. We’d been to Burgermeister several times but our friend promised us something even better this time, The Bird Berlin: “All burgers are made from 250+ grams of premium German beef. The quality is high enough that other places would serve it as steak, but here it goes through our grinder every day to become the best burger this side of the Atlantic. Grilled to order and served with our freshly hand-cut fries, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a homemade pickle.” We couldn’t wait!

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Jan 20, 2015

Truki Pan, Curaçao

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Back in the day when we went out on Curaçao, one of the things I always looked forward to most was after the party, after the drinks… that hot fried, crunchy, chewy, spicy, saucy mess in a Styrofoam box. See, on Curaçao, as with any food loving culture, they know that what one needs, really needs, after a night of alcoholic debauchery, is something to eat. Something good. The late-night dining and street food scene on the island is dominated by food trucks called truki pan, short for trùk di pan, which translates to sandwich truck. In the past, these trucks used to only sell sandwiches, hence the name, but pretty soon fries were added with a variety of grilled meats or seafood. When night time hits, the neon lights on the truki pans shine bright as a beacon for the hungry… calling.

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Jan 15, 2015

Kuminda Krioyo, Curaçao

Selma Restaurants, Travel Curacao, Krioyo, Lunch 0 Comments

Kuminda krioyo, the local creole food, is always one of the first things we look for when coming to Curaçao. These meals consist of hearty and filling dishes, often featuring stews, fried fish, and local starches such as funchi, aros moro, and tutu. This time around we decided to sample the food at three different restaurants: Dokterstuin, Zus di Plaza, and Pop’s Place. (more…)

Dec 21, 2014

Hanoi

Selma Travel Hanoi, Street food 0 Comments

Where do I even begin? I’ve never found it so difficult to start an article, but the overwhelming amount of information to share has caused a bit of writer’s block. Do I split it up into several articles, do I just write one really long one? Having put this off for a few days I’ve decided to just get started, we’ll see where we end up at the end of all this.

Hanoi is an amazing, beautiful, and very lively city. You can find food at every street corner and it is all delicious – we didn’t have a single bad meal. We spent 5 days in Hanoi and ate our way around town, sitting on plastic chairs on the side of the street most of the time. Our strategy was twofold, first of all we googled a bit and found some recommendations online, and when we had gone through all of those we simply went to the places that were crowded with locals. So let’s get started… (more…)

Dec 16, 2014

Bangkok street food, part II

Selma Travel Street food, Thai 0 Comments

On our way back to Holland we had an 8 hour layover from 6pm to 2am. Too long to stay at the airport, and more than enough time to get into downtown Bangkok and back. We took the Airport Rail Link, which is a cheap (99 baht = 2.5 euros) and fast option to get into downtown Bangkok. If you don’t have a lot of bags this is definitely a good option as it took only 30 minutes, whereas with a taxi it takes at least 45 minutes, though usually longer thanks to traffic. We got out at Phaya Thai station and took the skytrain (BTS) to Thong Lo station. We were heading for Sukhumvit Soi 38, the famous and very popular street food street in Bangkok, frequented by both locals and tourists. (more…)

Dec 12, 2014

Bangkok street food, part I

Selma Travel Street food, Thai 0 Comments

We had one night and morning in Bangkok before going to Phuket, and made the most of it by wandering around the Siam Square area and trying everything we came across. I hate to admit, but we actually screwed up to begin with. We were in the malls looking for cufflinks and decided to eat at the food court in the mall. Now usually food courts are quite good in malls in Asia so we had high expectations. Unfortunately, the flavors were bland and a pork dish we ordered was even smothered in some sort of crazy palm sugar sauce, so we quickly left and hit the streets… (more…)

Dec 10, 2014

We’re back!

Selma Travel 0 Comments

Sorry for not posting anything the past few weeks, we were on vacation! And though we thought about writing while away, and even brought the laptop, sunshine, cocktails, relaxing and exploring new cities got in the way. But we’re back and ready to share our stories from Bangkok and Hanoi with you. We threw ourselves at the street food in both places with reckless abandon and survived without any major problems. I suppose years of training in Jakarta has hardened both our stomachs, but to be honest, the street food was extremely fresh and the streetside stalls clean (enough). So stay tuned for more!