Gülmen

Patagonian beer. Traditional. The taste is a bit rough, almost bitter. But surprisingly tasty. A very good surprise from the end of the world.

Stiller's

Let me warn you – this is a posh restaurant. The kind of place where you will be well treated, have good food and wine and pay accordingly. It is also a western restaurant. Meaning you will have little taste of China here. But, it is still a very good restaurant I have visited.

Stiller’s sits in The Bund, the river wall along the Huang Po, the heart of the 1920’s Shanghai, with all its western banks, its stock exchange and vibrancy. It is a most noble location I must say. And, if you understand it when you enter the building and you climb on the elevator to the restaurant room, you sure feel it deeply when you set foot in the hall, with its space neatly and classically disposed, its reds and darks and all the persons to serve you. But, that is not what really strikes you. That role is reserved for the view from the windows. The room faces the Huang Po and, especially, Pu Dong bank, with its skyscrapers (including “the bottle opener” and Jiang Mao) and TV Tower, immediately drawing you to a world of neon as no other, and incredible skyline, a glimpse of the future to come. It is impossible to take your eyes out of that amazing view…

The wine list is fair and good – there are some good reds and whites from Europe, including some German ones we would need to try. There are also other options, if you want to decide for a cocktail for you meal – I must say I looked at the caipirinha for quite a while. But the wine list (back to it) goes on well with the food list. I would definitively hold a place in my heart for the codfish (at the same time rich and soft) and I also liked the tenderloin steak – a classic choice. But there are different options, and, actually, given the quality of the entrees I tried, I would say you can’t go wrong with any of courses – scallops, vegetarian dishes, a good sole and then a variety of different steaks.

Desserts are also a treat on themselves – you a treat for yourselve. A delicious raspberry cheese cake, icecream and some chocolate cakes pose the ultimate temptation – and you will hardly resist one of them.

Stiller’s (and I must tell you I liked the name, though “Ben” was not around…) is a good restaurant for a nice dinner after a business, and competent if you want to impress – especially, because no one can really resist that view!

Where: Shanghai - China

Address: 505 Zhong Shan Nan Road – The Cool Docks – Shanghai, 200060

Phone: +86 (21) 61526501

Website: http://www.stillers-restaurant.cn/

Expensive: Over €80

Wu Tongju

I actually didn’t like a lot of things on this restaurant – but there is a very good reason why I am writing about it.

I was in Tin Xian Di area (a nice place full of restaurants and people) with a group of friends, searching for a Chinese restaurant, and this seemed like a good choice – it was our first dinner in China, and price meant safety. We asked for several smaller dishes (dumplings, noodles,…) and then a whole Beijing duck. The smaller dishes were good but not terrifying. But we definitively had issues – the service was terrible, they didn’t speak English (but one person), things were taking too long. And the duck took more than 1 hour to arrive our table, and only after a very serious threat of going away. But…

When the Beijing duck arrived, it was great. Tender, juicy, incredibly tasty! It seemed like it was melting in our mouths. It was by far the best Beijing duck I ever tried – though I had already had it in Beijing and at an amazing Chinese restaurant in Estoril (mental note: need to go back there and write a review about it). It was really delicious!

So, let me sum it up. The service is terrible, it takes too long, but, just go there and order Beijing duck.

Where: Shanghai - China

Address: Unit 1, No.22-23, North Block, 181 TaiCang Rd – Ti Xian Di

Phone: (86 - 21) 6387-0096 / 6387-0097

Expensive: 200RMBs for person

Last visit: August 2011

Last night's beer

Tsingtao was a good company last dinner. The truth is a beer is a lot better complement for a dinner in the damp and humid Shanghai night than any wine - even a white can't stay fresh for a long time. Tsingtao is the most popular beer around here - a light and soft one, easily drinkable.

Club Colombia

Club Colombia restaurant is located in a nice two-storeys Colombian villa next to Bogota’s T Zone. It is a very beautiful place, with a charming place covered by ivy and the green of the trees helping one to forget it is in the middle of the city. The rooms are scantily lighted, with large spaces, fireplaces and a nice atmosphere overall. You can also sit outside in one of the areas reserved for so, or chill out afterwards and take a late drink in the bar next to the entrance of the restaurant

In Club Colombia (a place that actually caught my attention because it shares its name with a local bear) we can taste good traditional Colombian food, like ajiaco (a great and rich soup), chicharrones (fried pork skin), empanadas, parrilladas (a barbecue of different meats) and several types of Caribbean and Cartagena’s rices (usually involving coconut and sea food). This restaurant also has great fish (which, though uncommon in this city, is still incredible if you think you are at 2600m high and so far from the ocean) so that is also a great alternative. And, beware of deserts – you can even ask for an icecream that includes popcorns on the side and that becomes really dangerous for anyone pretending to do a diet…

Club Colombia is a nice and a bit posh restaurant – not too much, but don’t expect a laid back atmosphere. It is still a good option for a nice dinner in Bogotá!

Where: Bogotá – Colombia

Address: Avenida 82 No. 9-11, Bogota

Phone: (57-1) 249 5681

Expensive: Around €20

Garbo's Gazebo

The “Swedish girls” (as it is known) is a small restaurant in Cascais – actually, it is so small, it basically seems a big kiosk like the ones you may find around. It has a very nice space outside, on one of those cliffs where one like to linger for hours in a warm summer night, with fresh drinks and good company, overlooking the way the coast unfolds over the sea or the small fishermen boat down on the sea (or, during the day, after a relaxed bike tour, enjoying lunch with the Atlantic blue as company).

And what’s for eating? Let’s start by… starters, at the very beginning with a weird spread and its butter, that is absolutely divine and precedes any type of order. It doesn’t fit any of the traditional pates or spreads, but is really good! Then, you should really ask some starters, from ruccola to salmon with Swedish hovmâster or skagen toasts – go for something exotic, please, ruccola salad you can eat everywhere.

The menu presents a variety of dish, some “swedisher” than others (I think picanha, Bolognese or fish moqueca aren’t scandinavian cuisine…), but usually, I would recommend two families of dishes. Salads are excellent here, whether mozzarella with pesto, bluecheese or greek ones (or then… that great invention that is the “House Salad” and is nothing more than a mix of all the others). The other great option is… pizzas! And now you are asking why to order pizzas in a swedish restaurant – and the answer is… because they are “damn good”! Actually, they usually are delicious, very simple, thin and crunchy. And they have another small detail – they all have names related to Sweden! Being childstories characters, historic rulers, football or tennis players, furniture stores, models, they all relate to Sweden – a great detail!

And to wrap it up – deserts! I really would hint you to try the applecrumble with vanilla sauce, the kanelbullar or (if you are a chocolate addict as I am) a chocolate fudge.

Enjoy, this very simple but tasteful and laid back restaurant!

Where: Cascais - Portugal

Address: Casa da Guia – EN 247 – Guia

Expensive: Usually around €15

Yabani

São Paulo is definitively one of the food capitals of the world. The variety and richness of its restaurants is gathering global fame – and, let me tell you, that is entirely deserved!

One of the jewels of this vibrant city is actually Japanese food. São Paulo has the largest Japanese community living outside of Japan, and that explains why sushi here is so extraordinarily good – even more as Paulistas (the true name for a São Paulo inhabitant) were able to combine the delicacy of traditional sushi with the vibrancy and freshness of the tropics!

Yabani is one of those restaurants. It is located in the new business centre of the town, in Vila Olímpia, quite close to Itaim-Bibi. It is a long restaurant, combining Japanese and modern decoration, in the kind of light that you’ld expect in a good disco – dark and intimate. It has a long bar that goes the length of the restaurant and a small second floor, where you can sit and eat on the floor (if you don’t like that, just stay in the first one).

Start with some gyosas or miso soup, before having a look at the sushi, sashimi and tempura menus. They are all quite delicious, mixing the freshness of the fish and the juicy flavour of tropical fruits, but, if you follow my advice, you would also want to taste the “hot sushi” – I think it is great, and it is my number one choice whenever I go there! Actually, you may want to ask for a medley of sushi and sashimi that includes some hot pieces – just try to not abuse on the quantity (and that will be quite difficult)! Oh – and by the way! This goes well with Asahi or saké. You may also want to go for one of the various combinations of saké and fruity caipirinha, and you will probably like it! Go for it!

For dessert… Well I am a sweet teeth, so, I would go for a “petit-gateaux” with icecream (this hot chocolate fudge and icecream combination is delicious in this place) or a traditionally Japanese bean-icecream that is actually quite fresh.

So, let me tell you – this is definitively a place to go if you are in São Paulo and like sushi. And it is an almost perfect setting to go have dinner with a sushi fan you want to impress before going out and riding São Paulo night!

Where: São Paulo - Brazil

Address: Rua Professor Atílio Inocenti, 53 - Vila Olímpia

Phone: (11) 3078 – 7773

Website: http://www.yabany.com.br/

Expensive: Between 40 and 60 euros – it all depends on you sushi hunger