#UAEPR and Sending Irrelevant Emails

January 26, 2016January 26, 20162 Comments

I have been bombarded with PR emails for the last 2 days – mostly about restaurants opening or the change of the restaurant brand in some way. My thoughts have been on the majority of these PR emails:

a) I don’t care
b) How is this relevant to my business?
c) Do they not have copywriters to review the stuff before it is sent out.
d) Address it to me and not to the “Editor”.
e) Why are they being sent to my DeCluttr Me email address.

Thankfully due to a friend who owns one of the PR firms, I found out which company provides the lists to PR firms in this city. I quickly googled and contacted them asking them to stop emailing to my DeCluttr Me addresses especially as it was not relevant content.

I got a very quick reply from the MD of the list company. His reply “I have removed Shelo9’s Cheeky Rantings from our listings of Dubai blogs in [Name of List provider]”.

I was very impressed by his very quick reply and that it was from the MD and not some minion, but eh what?? Shelo9’s Cheeky Ranting does not have any link to the DeCluttr Me email addresses (except I own it all *evil laugh*).

Just because of one # phenomenon (#needanaddress), it would seem the list provider thought it was perfectly acceptable to add my non related email address to their list without my permission and also without fully reading my latest blogs which focus on customer service (the irony!)

I know data protection is non existent in this country, but don’t these companies have a moral compass at all?? Or better still common sense?

If I can do anything today it is to provide these handy tips to these list creators and providers:

First check if you have permission to add the email address to your list (this is very important).
Check what the writer of the blog specialises in and if they will want to be added to a PR list; and
What their business is about if you are emailing to their business.

Points 2 and 3 should also apply to the PR firms as well. It is easy to not take ownership of the contacts as you have received the list, but check if these contacts will actually be interested in the product you are promoting.

If you are on Twitter, check out #UAEPR and see the amount of tweet complaints from tweeps like me who get bombarded with non relevant emails. You will also see PR companies using the #UAEPR to jump on the bandwagon with no understand that the hashtag was produced to take the mickey out of these same UAE PR firms.

By the way I am not grumbling about getting PR emails. I am happy to get emails relating to organizing and decluttering, and due to a new side part of DeCluttr Me, etiquette and personal grooming, but anything else is just spam invading my email box. Use your common sense and discern what the reader actually wants to read and what lists they want to be added onto. Don’t just annoy them with PR.

The New, Improved Bu Qtair

December 28, 2015December 28, 2015Leave a comment

The New Bu Qtair

Bu Qtair is famous in Dubai. It has been showcased on BBC World and on Anthony Bourdain’s No Limits Show (the pre CNN series). It is so unlike anything else in Dubai and is a perfect place to take visitors from abroad to show the non-bling side of Dubai.

Set in an old corrugated iron giant shed thing, it was rough but clean (what we didn’t see wouldn’t harm us…). The menu was limited to fish in masala (Sheri and Hamour being the main fresh fish choices) and prawns in the same masala. You got to choose the fish, kilos of prawns and then wait for an hour for it to be fried. Once ready, your name would be called and you would be given a plastic table to sit on with plastic plates, paratha, fish sauce and cabbage salad. Whilst waiting, we would sit on plastic chairs and drink a cup or two of tea and people watching.

Now that has all changed. The cabin/shed thing has disappeared.

The old spot for Bu Qtair.

The restaurant has moved to the opposite side of the road to a purpose built restaurant (see above). The system for ordering is the same. Queue (for bloody ages) to order fish and prawns. pay the guy, wait in the designated waiting area, get your name called, sit at a table and eat.

Whilst waiting in the order queue you will be pushed out of the way by passer-bys who want to go clean their hands in the sink. Due to non-excellent planning the sink for washing the hands is beyond the order queue. Not clever.

151228 The queue for food next to the hand wash

In front is the queue to order the food. Behind is the sink area to wash your hands. If you were waiting, there would be a lot of people pushing past with dirty hands to wash their hands.

There are seats inside but this area was overrun with customers who had ordered and were waiting for their food. The actual waiting area is outside past the purpose built dining area. A lot of customers didn’t see or understand the concept of sitting in the waiting area (which now has proper benches as well as those old plastic stools to sit on).

The new clean sparkly kitchen

It is not clear by the staff or the signs that all customers have to wait in the waiting area and that their name will be called out by the staff. They will then be given a table to sit on.

It was amusing to watch the customers trying to grab tables and then being told to move off the tables for customers with food. However, it got to the point that the waiters were practically begging these people to move off the tables and facing a lot of attitude. I stepped in twice to reassure customers that they would get a table once their food was ready.

The restaurant needs to have a poster or massive sign explaining the process for eating at the restaurant: ordering, buying drinks separately, waiting, sitting and eating. They can read the process whilst waiting in the really slow ordering queue.

151228 bu qtair food

The food was the same as normal, although our prawns were a bit cold. So (as another reviewer mentioned recently) same same, but different location.

Is it worth visiting. Absolutely. Do you need to have more patience than before. Yes. We got there for 7ish on a Monday. After that, it was heaving with people. It might be due to the holiday season and cool weather, but it could be the norm now.

On a side note, we wandered around after eating and found a restaurant practically next door selling the same concept, called Al Fanna. The place was completely empty for some reason. It seemed to be very new and I can’t vouch for the taste of the food, but it looked exactly the same as Bu Qtair. Maybe worth trying next time.

Enjoy if you do go visit Bu Qtair.

Shelina

Foodie Blog – High Tea at the Burj Al Arab

December 16, 2013Leave a comment

A few years ago my Mum came to cheer me up and I decided to spoil her with High Tea at the Burj Al Arab. At that time we were seated in the main lobby. Since then my Dad has complained endlessly that he has not had the privilege of going to the Burj for High tea with me. As Dad was here to visit last week, I put right to wrong.

This time when I made the booking they offered us a seat at the Skyview Bar. Of course I couldn’t decline this kind offer. I didn’t get the obligatory email with reference number, so had to call to obtain it the day before our reservation as you cannot get into the grounds of the Burj Al Arab without this number.

Once in, we weren’t offered the Majool date you used to get on entry but were advised by pretty ladies where to go to get the Skyview Bar lift.

Once up we got to the bar, we were seated by the window (I had requested for it and thankfully got it) with a view of the Palm and the World. Dubai would have been nicer but hey we got a view.

The tea menu is no longer as expansive as it used to be and had a page of wellness teas. Firstly, yuck and second who is going to pay AED495 for wellness teas when you are stuffing your face with cakes, sandwiches and stuff. We started off with date tea (it was ok bit datey) and I had the Jasmine Pearl tea. It was ok but after a while all the Chinese tea tastes the same to me. Maybe I’ve been spoilt for too many years drinking the expensive stuff given to us as presents from Dad’s mates. You can try as many different teas as you like during the High Tea so we tried a variety but ended up liking the English Breakfast tea in the end. You can’t change us Brits.

First course was shortbread with fruit. Buttery but not too rich and with the tartness of the fruit was a nice start to the tea.

Shortbread with fruit

Next up was stuffed turkey from the Chef’s carvery. Being December and nearly Christmas there was a theme of Christmasy things for the tea. The dish was lovely and would have been nice to have more but anyway.

Turkey from the Chef Carvery

Next up were the sandwiches plated on a metal Burj Al Arab. All very clever. The sandwiches were:

Salmon with come caviar on it. – nice
Chicken tikka roll – nice
Tuna mayonnaise on squid ciabtta – interesting and nice
Beef sandwich – my favourite
Cucumber sandwich – it’s the same wherever you eat it.

Sandwiches

We were able to have more helpings of the sandwiches as they brought a giant tray with them. I had a few more of the chicken tika, beef and tuna sandwiches.

The next course was scones and pastries. The scones were accompanied by date, passion fruit (yuck) and strawberry jam along with Devonshire Cream. I’m a purist and I was very happy with the Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam.

Pastries

The cakes were mostly coffee based and ok. Nothing spectacular to write about. I find pastries in Jumeirah hotels are always a disappointment.

On the bottom row of the Burj plates were muffins, chocolate chip cookie and crème brulee. The crème brulee did not have the crisp sugar topping which Dad and I found akin to blasphemy. How can you not have the sugar crisped top!? It’s wrong. The crème was lovely but it wasn’t perfect. The cookie was nice and soft and the muffin; it’s a muffin what more can I say.

Muffins, cookie and creme brulee

Whilst we were getting a sugar fix we also were offered Christmas cookies, which had some bizarre non-sensical names, which could have been German. They were nice enough especially dipped in our tea (told you we were too British).

Christmas cookies

The final course was a lychee and rose sorbet. I am not a fan of lychee based products and drinks. Give me a lychee and I’m fine, anything more and I’m not amused. We also received a box of chocolates to take home. I kept that unopened to give to Mum as she wasn’t able to join us on this trip.

Chocolates and Rose and Lycee sorbet

Have to say the Manager was very good (looking [sic]) at the end of the meal about trying to sort out the lack of Sirius card still from Jumeirah after all these years. Haven’t heard from Jumeirah since last week so I’m betting that after 8 years I won’t be any closer to getting rid of my temporary card. :S

All in all the food was nice and we had a good time. The staff were really friendly and patient with us and our multiple tea requests. The place was mostly full of tourists. One lady thought that wearing a see-through white top and see-through trousers was a great idea as she had a see through shawl on top. It’s never acceptable. I have no idea how she was allowed into the Burj. A family next to us decided to call Scotland and Pakistan and boast they were at the Burj for most of the tea which was piss annoying. Fine, yes you are excited but seriously?? Otherwise me and Dad had a lovely very genteel time.

Here are some photos of the Burj just to prove we were there.

Burj Al Arab interior

Burj Al Arab fountain

Burj Al Arab front

Foodie blog – Yildiz Saray – Turkish

November 22, 2013November 24, 2013Leave a comment

Bread and dips

Ayran

Iskender

Adana

Turkish tea

As a newly made entrepreneur and with an aim of saving money going out is now limited to non top brand expensive restaurants unless someone else is paying (Nobu would be nice if you’re offering). My friend is in the same boat so we decided to go to deepest darkest Deira (ok it was lit so not so dark) to go get some cheapish filling food. After reading my favourite foodie blogs in Dubai, we decided to try out Yildiz Sarayi.

The restaurant in the Concorde Hotel on the side and looks like a posh Arabic/Turkish restaurant. We sat in a booth which was nice and cosy. To call the waiter they had those call buttons on the table which was handy as you couldn’t see the waiters ever from where we were sitting.

The reviews had raved about Iskendar which i have not had in a long time and craved, so we decided to forgo any nibbles and order the mains of Iskender and Adana kebap along with some fattoush, to add a bit of healthy salad to the mix.

Whilst waiting for the mains, a basket of warm sesame seeded bread and dips were served. The bread was soft and delicious and enhanced with the tomato based dip and labneh (not bitter which i like) we had a few pieces (just a few as we knew we had big mains coming). The bread was that thick wholesome bread you would love to dip in a saucy curry.

Then came the Ayran., which is the Turkish version of laban. At 20dhs its a bit steep, but it was lovely. Not too thick or too watery with the right amount of saltiness to not over thirst you.

Next came our mains. Iskendar, if you have never had it before,it is cubes of bread, with layers of doner kebab on top, a lovely rich tomato sauce and with yoghurt either on top or on the side (as it was for me). The yoghurt seemed generic but the rest of the plate was tender and delicious. For once I finished the plate before my friend who usually gobbles everything on site within 5 minutes. His Adana Kebap whilst looking plain was full of flavour in the soft pieces of lamb kebab. I didn’t try the rice but he had no complaints so it must have been good.

After resting our tummies, we ordered Turkish tea which was served using two teapots (one with the tea) and the other with the water to add to the glass. I have never had the tea served in this way even on my trips to Turkey but it was a nice end to our meal. We were a bit full by then to eat dessert, but they did look good.

Our meal came to 200dhs with 20% off as there was an offer at the time we went to the restaurant. Not overly cheap, but not extortionate for a filling meal in a very nice looking restaurant.

The restaurant website is http://www.yildizsaray.ae/Default.aspx

and you can find them:

Emirates Concord Hotel, Al Maktoom St. Deira, Dubai, Tel:04-252-2142

Totally Fabulous Fujairah Food Tour

November 3, 2013Leave a comment

As a few of us were missing the food delights of Fujairah we organised a tweetup to join our good friends @daddybird and @kangayayaroo to eat ourselves full yesterday.

Our first pit stop was at Nepal Kitchen House where we had Peanut sandeko, chicken momos, mutton momos, thukpa (noodle soup), chicken chili, chicken tass (chicken and puffed rice), and aloo jeera fry (potato, cumin seeds, corriander). I loved the mutton tass last time and had been dreaming about it for this trip. Unfortunately the chicken tass whilst tasty, the rice was not as puffily nice as last time. :(. The chilli chicken and momos were delish though.

To give our tummies a rest we ventured up to Al Hayl Castle. The road was slightly bumpy but it was nice going through an old skool village (with beautiful doors for each residence). The castle is the very old home of the Fujairah Royal Family (saw 100 odd years old).

We then took our first tea break on one of the main streets, with the men coming to the car to give us our 1dhs karak chai.

Next stop was Salu Salo which is a Filipino restaurant in an alleyway. I couldn’t tell you which alley, but you can find it on Foursquare. Here we had: Bicol express, Bopis, Lumpia, Pinakbet, and Kare Kare were our choices. Bicol express is a stew in a coconut milk sauce. Bopis is heart and lung sauteed in tomato, chili, and onion. Lumpia is meat filled fried rolls, Pinakbet is a shrimp and vegetable dish, and Kare Kare is an oxtail stew in peanut sauce. I loved Kare Kare and Lumpia, but my mate G was a big fan of Bopis.

After that lovely meal we had one of the best karak chai’s i have ever had at Finjan Cafe on the Corniche which was served in a clay pot! It was 4dhs but worth it.

Our final meal for the day was at the very long titled Zamarod Al Afghani Rice Bukhari Restaurant. There we had mixed grill, mutton curry, lamb kofta, “special” flat bread and hummous. The hummous was freshley made and divine. Reminded me a lot of the lovely hummous we ate in Beirut. After a final cup of tea we left our lovely guests and headed back home. Full but happy.

(Thanks to Kangayayaroo for the list of food we ate from her blog post (with the same title) as I couldn’t recall them off the top of my head :)).

DXB part 2

September 22, 2012February 3, 2013Leave a comment

So further to my previous blog today, I thought I would write about my second home..Dubai.

After living here for 7 years I still get asked “why did you move here”. My story was one of fate and my living here as been a twisty path. I came here first in 2003 on holiday with my parents. Friends in the UK were perplexed by the decision to come here. No one had really heard of Dubai in England and they thought it was in Saudi. In 2003, the end of Sheikh Zayed was where the Mall of Emirates now stands. I stayed in Al Quasis and Bur Dubai in hotel apartments. I met my tailor at Dreamgirl who has remained our go to tailor since then.

2 years later I looked for a job outside of England, got a job quite quickly working for the airline here in Dubai as a lawyer and moved here. When I came for my interview George Clooney was filming Syriana and staying at the Fairmont. Burj Dubai (as it was then known) was at foundation level and Dubai Marina was full of cranes and not much else. I moved to a huge flat in Bur Dubai and had dramas after dramas for a year and a half. At that time there was no blogging, twitter or facebook. I wrote 2 page essay emails to about 30 friends every week telling them my stories. Some got bored, some were fascinated and some were exasperated by my tales. However all the tales were the reality of the weirdness of Dubai at the time.

I moved back to London in 2006 to study but the hold of Dubai was too much and I moved back in 2007 to work for a shite company that has now disintergrated. At the time of returning Dubai was exponetially blinging itself on a daily basis. If you left Dubai, you would return the following week to find new buildings had sprouted up on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Then there was the crash. Dubai fell hard and I fell even harder. My money was stolen by two theives who ran off to live the life of riley in the Far East and then back in the UK and I was piss poor for a few years. It was kinda good that Dubai was poor as well, we could suffer together and try not to spend too much money.

Now Dubai is rising again like a phoenix and I am now contently happy with my life here. After living in posh Jumeirah for 5 years, I decided that my kitties and I need to move and explore more of Dubai so now we are away from the beach and in the desert in Motor City.

The chavs that ran away in droves in 2008 leaving their cars at the airport are now encouraging their brethern to come here to make the most of the tax free lifestyle. The roads are blocked again, there are queues to get into bars and copious amounts of money are being spent on champagne in dives such as the Cavalli club.

We now have Twitter, et al to keep us in touch more seamlessly with the rest of the world in real time and people now know that Dubai is not in Saudi and that we don’t dress up like ninjas (unless we go to a fancy dress house party).

Life is the same as anywhere in the world, except when you go to the gym you are more likely to park next to a Ferrari than a Ford Focus and that tea shop in Satwa will be packed full of Sheikhs and Sheikhas beeping their horns for some karak chai. My friends and I discuss the merits of pest control companies and whether the gel stuff can be put in places away from our cats preying mouths (a lot of us have pets here), how many maids should you have in your pad to finish in an hour and we also stand on the slopes of Ski Dubai deciding whether we should go to Lebanon or an ex-CIS country for our Winter snowboarding trip.

This country is a transition country and people come and go. Its a melting pot of people especially fuck ups running away from their own country/people (me included). You will be with one group of people and then you will stupidly date someone in that group and boom you will be outcast if it all goes pete tong. Or a girl will have complexes which result in your being outcast for being you. Finding good friends on the same wavelength and in the same relationship status as you is hard. Once you are coupled up, you are generally coupled up and the singletons (normally me) are left stranded. Lonliness is a huge problem here but luckily there is social media to keep you company on your bad days. Also there is now a travel group – Escpae travels – based here which has brought people together who like travelling around and hanging out with other expats (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/EscapeDubai).

https://www.facebook.com/EscapeDubai).</p>

Tolerance is limited despite the various nationalities here and racism is rife. Being an English East African Indian working in an Indian company is a minefield of issues and judgements which still arise after 3 years of working there. I am vilified by the Indian men (especially the men) for not accepting my background. Considering my grandparents never returned to India once leaving in the early 1900’s and my parents only went once for a holiday, you’d think they would get into their thick head how people can be un-Indian (thats a word for today); but nope the Indians in this country take it as an offence that we would not consider ourselves Indian foremost.

The other minefield is the varoius Arab nationalities in this melting pot. Everyone in this country are now bloody experts in Arabic politics especially since the Arab Spring. We can all sprout an opinion on what is going on in the region and can even tell the nationality of the Arab men in their kundoora depending on the colour of their headscarf. I personally have an affiliation for the Emirati; they look more regal than the Saudis (yuck), Yemeni (not bad), Omani (old skool Mombasa like), Bahraini, Kuwaitis, etc.

Food is abundant from expensive, American chains and dirt cheap indians. If you want to eat any cuisine, it will be here. Bread is always a disappointment for Europeans but the rest is generally amazing. I have been to Nobu twice here but never in the UK and I won’t go to Hakassan as i thought it was shite in London. The best Indian food is not at the chain called “Asha’s” but in Karama or in Bur Dubai. My personal favourites are Gazebo (North Indian) or Ravis (Pakistani). Khaleej Palace Hotel in Deira looks like a dive but has the best Chinese restaurant in my opinion in town, an amazing Japanese resturant and Cafe Entrecote (same as in Dubai Mall) but you can drink in this hotel branch. Dubai Mall and Dubai Festival City have food corridors rather than halls of various good restaurants. However, Dubai Mall has the most shambolic car park system in the world. All Dubaians get pissed off when entering and leaving that place.

Shopping is immense and we get a greater choice as we get all the brands from all over the world. I love Crate and Barrel for furnitues and home stuff, but we also have the stalwart Ikea (bigger than at home) and a shop called The One which is a local enterprise which has really good (slightly overpriced stuff). Clothes shops – we have it all but pay more than back in Europe so most of us will go home a few times of the year with an empty suitcase, fill it up and claim our VAT back. The only shop not here is Primark which is great so we look different from the herd when wearing Primarni in the malls, bars and clubs.

Entertainment is great here. We have bars and clubs (most of the clubs are a disappointment though). The major artists come here or to Abu Dhabi for concerts. I go to Yas Marina island just on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi to see concerts every few months. Despite being an F1 fan I never saw a live race until it came to Abu Dhabi. I’ve now seen it every year (except the first year). David Guetta is here every week practically which is great for us (not!) and we get to see other artists who I would never have seen back home, such as Bikram Ghosh, a fusion tabla player who I saw last night. He knew how to use those fingers and the young man on the electrical stitar was bloody awesome.Plays and operas are pretty dire here but a good friend went to Muscat, Oman, last weekend to go to the Opera house and gave it a huge thumbs up review. With cheap flights and being an hour away I would be happy going to Muscat to see good opera. Comedy is not bad with an improv group here and also the top ones from the Comedy Club/Edinburgh Festival coming here every month.

I could go on with my guide of Dubai but I’ll stop for now. Our weekend is nearly over (Friday and Saturday is our weekend here) and I gotta get prepared for another long week of working. Also I really don’t want to become like those annoying bloggers who blabber on and on and on. So for now here is an abrupt end to a new chapter in my writing (until i meet another douchebag).

Tag Copenhagen!

March 9, 2012February 3, 2013Leave a comment

If you follow me on twitter you may be aware of my love for Scandinavia and anything to do with the area. Despite never being there I have been in love with the men, food, clothing, music and sweet looking reindeer.

An opportunity arose recently to get a cheap ticket from the UK to Copenhagen so in the spirit of craziness I bought the ticket and got my arse to Denmark to see some culture and Scandinavian deliciousness. Here is my adventure…

Of course being addicted to being on my mac/apple products (yes I am one of them now) I researched and found a lovely looking hotel on the harbour called 71Nyhavn.

The hotel is predominately for business people but I look business enough and hey it was a convenient location. The hotel was lovely and had a great restaurant more about that later but the bathroom in my smallish room was weird. I forgot to take a photo but the lack of separate cubiclelising the shower was weird. Weird!!!

There are touristy things to do but you have to see them to enjoy the beauty of them. My writing on them won’t be useful but here is some useful stuff to know when being a tourist in Copenhagen:

1. Buy a Copenhagen card – 72 hours. They can be bought at the main tourist office in Tivoli (very helpful) or in other places such as the Canal tours in Nyhavn. The card lets you go on public transportation in the central area for free and also to the museums and other attractions.

2. Copenhagen is practically dead on Sundays (but going to change in October 2012 due to a law being passed to allow shops to be open). Monday is also dead if you go from January to April. There are a few places open but not much.

3. Rosenborg Slot (Castle) – has the worst timings in the world ever to see the place. The main castle is open till 2 and then crown jewels and special exhibition are open till 4. A few of the attendants there especially one butch woman were really rude. But others were really friendly. Also get the QR barcode scanner for your iPhone so can scan info on the stuff inside otherwise you wont have a clue at what you are looking at.

4 Amalienborg Slot (castle) – beautiful palace with proper information on each room. Small but well done and the staff are really friendly. Outside don’t sit on the steps otherwise a Danish Royal Guard will come and tell you sweetly to get up (yes that happened to me).

5. Christiana – supposed to the hippie commune. I couldn’t find it even on google map and what I did find was a scary looking council estate.

6. Canal tours – its free with the Copenhagen card and you get to see a lot of stuff in an hour. You can’t hear anyone on the phone including the reservations line for Noma whilst on boat but still cool.

7. Noma (top restaurant in the world right now) – make a reservation to be on the waiting list online as soon as you know you are going to Copenhagen. Then keep your phone on high volume at all times to hear the bloody call. If you miss it you will regret it always.

8. Christansborg Palace – has a massive library with lots of books on Napoleon and none on Hans Christian Andersen. The dining room is massive as well. See..

9. Nyhavn – its cobbled. It has a sex shop on the street. They’re a lots of pubs and restaurants there and blankets for when you sit outside and its bloody cold as by the harbour side. Pretty area though and Hans Christian Andersen’s house (which you can’t go in) is here.

10. Dansk Design Centre – its not very big and they replay the start of Vogue too often but its still awesome. Do you know how much stuff the Danish, which we use, created in everyday life???

11. The Little Mermaid – as the Danish will tell you it is not the national symbol of Denmark. It is in an open harbour area so at the time of the year you will freeze to death seeing it and people go mental taking photos of it. Here is a quick shot I took of it. All say awwww.

Now onto serious matters…Shopping. Denmark is famous for clothes designers and design stuff for the home.

These are the places to go to for your fix:

DEPARTMENT STORES

ILLUM
Østergade 52, Copenhagen (00 45 33 14 40 02; http://www.illum.eu). A pretty department store. Not as big as Magsin but still good.

MAGASIN DU NORD Kongens Nytorv 13, Copenhagen (00 45 33 11 44 33; http://www.magasin.dk).Its like the Selfridges of Copenhagen.

LEGO Amagertorv 10, Copenhagen. – It is Danish and just brilliant to relive your childishness. I used the excuse of buying for my nephew the reason for going there.

FASHION

BY MALENE BIRGER AND DAY BIRGER AT MIKKELSEN
Antonigade 10, Copenhagen (00 45 35 43 22 33; http://www.bymalenebirger.com). Malene Birger, who started the famous fashion house Day Birger et Mikkelsen in the 1990s, is the unrivalled queen of Danish high fashion. I bought from Day Birger the most awesome clothes. It was like clothes heaven in there.

INTERIORS

ILLUMS BOLIGHUS
Amagertorv 10, Copenhagen (00 45 33 14 19 41; http://www.royalshopping.com). I mixed this up with Illum. Illums Bolighus has an amazing mutli floor haven of design stuff. It was orgasmic. I cannot emphasize how awesome this place was for buying everything and anything. They also had Designer Remix which is a fashion store and I picked up some stuff from them.

ROYAL COPENHAGEN Amagertorv 6, Copenhagen (00 45 33 13 71 81; http://www.royalcopenhagen.com). It is the Wedgewood of Denmark and very cool. Being close to Easter I got a porcelain egg. It’s almost next door to Illums Bolighus (see above).

FOOD

Copenhagen has become the gastronomic capital globally in recent years due to Noma, Paul and other restaurants getting the “stars”. There are other restaurants around which may not be famous but sold food which taste sublime. I don’t know whether it was the cold or something in the food, but I loved every thing I ate there. From the cheese roll to the whole lobster I was in food heaven. The choice picks were.

Lagkagehuset – forget the Baresso coffee chain (it was not good) and go to Lag. It has an amazing choice of Danish’s (geedit) and the coffee was good. The best thing in the world as well is to get a bread roll and ask them to put cheese in it.

Ida Davidsen – Store Kongensgade 70, Frederiksstaden, Copenhagen (00 45 33 91 36 55; http://www.idadavidsen.dk). They have over 250 smørrebrød (open sandwich), I had the steak tartar and also the salted fish sandwich (called Princess Marie). There are men at the front. One moody queen and the other lovable queen. He made me laugh whilst helping me choose what to eat. I finished off with the Danish apple crumble.

Restaurant Pakhuskælderen – located in my hotel 71Nyhavn. They had a tasting menu for the week which you could review every time you got in the lift so I had to try it out. The smoked duck breast with horseradish foam and beetroot was divine as well as the Chicken and Mushroom. The service was so good and they are accommodating. Thumbs up.

Noma – I would talk about it if I had not missed the call. *sigh*

I did take the train to Malmo for a few hours but Malmo disappointed me so I wont bore you with that tale but the service at the station (even when the train was delayed) and the train journey itself was great.

All in all Copenhagen was amazing for me. It was beautiful, cultural and amazing in its design and food areas. It is an expensive town and the Kroners went too fast out of my purse so I had to start using my visa for all purchases even small ones as there were not enough forex places to change money when I needed to change.

If you have some extra cash and want to go somewhere different then I highly recommend you get on an Easyjet/Emirates flight and go to CPH.

Shelo9's Cheeky Rantings

Founder of DeCluttr Me | Love Organising & Decluttering, Dislike Bad Customer Service | Solicitor, Speaker, Advisor & Blogger | Companion of 2 Cats

Tag: food