Campos coffee oh so good!@Sydney

Our gracious host, Mr Trav says that this place serves the best coffee ever. That strong statement got us caffeine addicts excited altogether. This cafe is located in the viscinity of colleges and universities, hence packed with students, lecturers and then ...us!

A cuppa costs between 3-5 AUD. All 4 of us have a specific coffee preference. Myself, long black. Joy, latte. Neets, double shot cappucino. Trav, ice coffee with a scoop of ice cream, if possible.

Mr Trav was right. By far the one of the best brews I'd tasted. A little bitter yes, but the aroma was fragrant and the most importantly, the coffee wasn't burnt which happens quite regularly on long black nowadays.

When I took a sip of Neet's cappucino.. fuh! Deliciouso! Besides the perfectly roasted coffee beans, I believe the other key ingredient was its fresh milk. The milk in Australia is unlike the crappy, thin skimmed milk we get back home. The creamy, frothy milk really made the cappucino cuppa star quality material.

I'm missing Campos already!

They sell their beans too, if anyone wishes to barista in their own backyard. Some pastries and desserts were also sold there to complement a good cuppa coffee. We skipped the pastries, as our next destination..... big greasy fatty breakfast with bacon and eggs!

First Sydney lunch@Lumiere Cafe, Sydney

Finally, the long awaited all-girls trip had finally arrived! The 8-hour flight on the AirAsia A330, was horrendous. Too cold and too tight. But it was all worth it when we finally stepped on Sydney soil. The first meal we had was in Lumiere Cafe. And boy oh boy, the awesome food totally fired up our Sydney mood!



Neets, with her all-time favourite eggs benedict. Based on her facial expression, this must have been one chart topper egg benedict. Do not be fooled by the eggs and holondaise sauce camoflauge, hidden underneath were thick layers of bacon. OMGOSH. AUD 19.

All I know was that, I NEED COFFEE. Without a single dose since we arrived, I was alive, but mentally asleep. And finally, a long black! Kau kau style. A waking booster right away, alright.

Joy and I shared the BigBreakfast. At first she was reluctant to share, hunger pangs. But luckily I succeeded persuading her to share the meal with me. The portion was so big! The thick layers of bacon were hidden underneath the greens and beans. Tastewise, 9/10. YUMS! Total damage was quite bad though: 22 AUD.

This was the STAR dish. By far the best cheese cake I've ever tasted in my life. It was nicely thickened, slightly sourish only to match the sweetness of the strawberries.. and most of all, it was SO creamy. Thumbs up!

Here goes my buddies with our gracious host, Mr Travis, bred in Sydney for nearly a decade now. Without him, Lumiere would've missed us and we would have missed one of the greatest cheesecake moments.

Kudos to all!

Hard Rock Cafe@Barcelona

Finally, the conference came to an end!

While the shoppers group left to the shopping district immediately after, myself and Mr C stayed back and enjoyed a little bit of the Mediterrenean sea... and Chics. Topless, naked, etc. I managed to influence Mr C to jump into the sea also. Well, what are the odds that we get to swim in the Mediterrenean waters. That sentenced motivated him to take his shirt off and jumped right in.

The water was so cold, brrrrrr. And the waves were choppy too. So nice to just froggy style swim my way around.

After a quick dip, we headed to La Ramblas to meet the rest of the group. We decided to dine at Hard Rock. Good old fashion western, deep fried, greasy but delicious food! I ordered the ribs, which was a length of 2 palm sizes! YUMS! I felt like a caveman.

Mr C ordered the beef burger. Nothing special, but having days of tomato based food, this was a great change!

Drinks to go. After a hard week of work. Phew. It's great to unwind.

Coincidentally, Saturday was a day where locals / foreigners are given the freedom to carry out freedom of speech activities. On that day, two major protests were going on. The first was the freedom of gay rights protest. THOUSANDS of gays, lesbians, drag queens, etc flocked the streets giving out free condoms and carrying the rainbow flags. The second protest was a group of Egyptians, including women and children protesting against war in Syria.

Whee! My second HRC accessories collection. Too bad the accessories range in Sydney sucked big time, else I would have bought more!

The view of Barca along the streets at 11 pm.

Indian Food Finally!@Barcelona

One of the cabbie drivers introduced us to this Indian restaurant. I had no clue on its location as the cabbie driver just drove us there. The entire neighbourhood transformed. From busy, brightly lited, city like area to dark, dim, broken homes, graffity walls solemn housing areas.

Many Lebanese and muslims from other parts of the world live in these areas.

Whatever it was, all of us were craving for GOOD SPICY food and this restaurant was spot on!

The tandoori chicken and lamb kebabs were super spicy and tender, and I'm sure they could give a good fight with our top indian food back in Malaysia.

Mango and plain lassi. YUMS. Thickened, frothy, sweet. Two words kept popping up in my mind, "Pampered. Comfort".

The mutton briyani.... SALIVATES. Cooked with long, fragrant basmathi rice. The mutton was spicy, flavourful and tender too. Needless to say, we all binged like crazy after days of tomato paste bland food.



The view of the sea at 6 am. Gorgeous isn't it. I will never forget this view and the smell of the salty sea breeze.

Park Guell entrance. Hello! Almost like Hansel and Gretel tale coming to life.

Glorious dinner@Botafumeiro, Barcelona

This seafood restaurant was highly recommended by locals, as well as my European affiliate colleagues, who frequently have business trips in Barcelona. I had been warned that it would cost about 30-40 Euros / pax.

When we walked in, we were greeted by countless numbers of picture frames hung on the walls. If you look closely, you will notice that the photos showed all kinds of famous celebrities who visited Botafumeiro. Some examples that we saw were Shakira, Eva Longoria, Enrique, Nadal! photos, taken with the chef but I could tell that his was most proud of his picture taken with the ex- American president, Bill Clinton. The photo and its frame was the largest among all the hung pictures.

Squid ink seafood paella. I didn't get to try this dish, but those who did said it had a lot of 'wok hei' in it. Hmmm.....

We initially ordered the escargos, thinking they would come cooked with butter and garlic. Instead, they came on a pile of ice, along with the oysters. I ain't a fan of shells, but the rest who ate all gave a big thumbs up for its freshness.

This was my dish, grilled monkfish. Freshness was 10/10. Flavour was so so. Not sure what a monkfish looks like but the meat was pretty supple and tender, thinly layered of chargrill coating its sufrace.

Each table had a dedicated waiter serving, and ours did a fantastic job. Although I must say, his way of serving the crab was rather peculiar. My doctor ordered a crab dish, and at first it came on a plate, the entire crustacean, red and cold. My eyes widened thinking how to eat it.

The waiter was laughing at our reaction and later explained that he brought out the crab  to show its customer first, proving a good quality crab would be served. He even mentioned that the crab's name was Motolo. Now that made eating it a "whole lot easier"knowing its name. Minutes later, the crab was nicely dissected like an experimental lab rat, served as a cold dish.

WIERDDDDDDDD......

This was a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with raspberries and soaked with bourbon. This... would get you high just as quick as tequila shots. One scoopful of it, got the alcohol shot right up to my brain. I could feel my cheeks immediately flushing from the heat.

Definitely one dessert you woud like to eat, knowing that you're gonna have some sassytime later through the night! *winks* If you know what I mean.. haha.

This white wine was.. spectacular. Peachy, light, with a hint of grass. Perfect for seafood dishes. Deep down, I wanted to quietly have another bottle on my own. Damn..

Such nice hospitality! Since we had a big group and clearly, we gave them a pretty good profit, they gave us some local desserts .. for freeeeeeeee! The chocolate truffles were damn good, but the best was the almond flakes. Kinda reminded me of chinese new year cookies, I don't know why.

The famous Sagrada Familia church, designed by Gaudi. Gothic looking, with pastel colours on the tips of the church. It is still not fully constructed and the cost of building it fully depends on the entrance fees of visitors. However, the cost of going into the church is just too expensive in my opinion. The entrace fees was 15/20 Euros. Even more expensive than the Vatican!



Dinner@El Choquito, La Ramblas

It takes quite a long while to get accustomed to the long daylight timing in Barcelona. The sun rises at 530 am and sets at nearly 10 pm.

During summer/ siesta season in Spain, locals dine late and start their daily work activities late too. Dinners usually start at 9 pm, and if one requests to have dinner at 6 pm (like us in Malaysia), people would stare with astonishment.

By 730pm local Barca time, we couldn't wait any longer and decided to have dinner, whether it was considered early or not in the eyes of locals.

Mr C, the rice fan, was waiting to try out local spanish paella.

HUGE pan of rice came on our table. Rice = super banyak. Prawns = super kecil and kurang. Some clams and chopped bits of scallops were added in also. Not the best paella I've tried, as the rice was still a bit undercooked.



The sangria, was superb. Sweet, tangy and the only thing missing was.. A JUGful of it. Taking into account of our jetlag and having to wake up early next morning, I took a raincheck on the idea of having a jug of sangria.



730 pm Barca time, was 130 am Malaysia time. My tummy was in sleep mode already. Not feeling very hungry, I ordered tapas instead, which came along with my glass of sangria. One slice with jamon (pork), minced pork meat blended with cheese, and torched goat's cheese.

The sliced french loaf was cold and hard (not sure if locals loved ém like this but I would prefer them to be warm, crunchy and toasted).

The jamon was porkified, my breath smelt of it after a slice. Similar taste to our local dried meat, bakkua. The middle one tasted like spam, not to my liking.

This was my favourite :) Smelly goat's cheese, torched and grilled over a thin layer of caramelized sugar. Initially, over the first bite, the smelliness would drive your tastebuds up the wall. After taking several bites more, I started to like its taste. Much like drinking wine.

My colleague on the other hand, totally disliked it. One bite was enough to tell him that his next bite would kill off his entire appetite.

Total damage: Euro 27.

Quick late lunch@Artisa, La Ramblas, Barcelona

Upon my first day's arrival at Barcelona city, I took a quick evening tour around La Ramblas. Due to the 6 hour time difference, it should be my dinner time back in Malaysia. It's no wonder the tummy started growling!

I stumbled upon this interesting looking cafe, run by two cute guys! The cafe's called "Artisa". They serve all sorts of cakes and pastries, crepes, sandwiches, and home mde gelato, and most importantly... home-roasted coffee beans, with coffee served barista style.



I took the ham and cheese sandwich + coffee + 120 ml water set, cost Euro 4.95. Not bad at all!

Ciabatta bread was used to hold in several layers of juicy ham and cheese, toasted to perfection. The ciabatta was light, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and boy oh boy... the ham was really good. Meaty, flavourful and juicy.

The portion was huge, and I shared it my colleague. The picture only showed half its size.

Steal deal!

I chose latte for my coffee choice. True enough, the coffee was buttery and fragrant, with a slight hint of burnt charcoal smell. The bean roaster machine was placed nearby the bar. '

A really interesting cafe indeed! The cute baristas/owners were bonus points, of course :)