Tchaikovsky Restaurant

Tchaikovsky Restaurant

We were lucky enough to discover the Restaurant Tchaikovsky whilst we recently visited Belgrade (Beograd).

This eating place links the Terasije Square and Balkanska Street in the Stari Grad region of Belgrade. The restaurant is a part of the Hotel Moscow, one of the iconic accommodation venues in the most interesting part of old Belgrade.
For more information about the Tchaikovsky Restaurant and the Hotel Moskva, we recommend that you visit their website at: http://www.hotelmoskva.rs/en/ .

Here, you’ll be able to discover a lot of information about the hotel and many of the celebrities who have stayed at the hotel over the last 100 years, and also download a copy of the menu for the restaurant, so that you too an drool over some of the great dishes on their list.

We succeeded in eating at this establishment twice in the two nights that we were visiting Belgrade (it was simply so good on the first night that we had to return).

We must acknowledge the great work of Executive Chef Stojkovic Kata and his team for putting toegther such a great selection and maintaining a consistent quality.

The range of selections on the menu is excellent. We counted 8 cold appetizers, 8 soups and 8 hot appetizers before we got to mains and desserts.

We tried a number of the soup choices, and have to say that each of our selections were absolutely delicious, each with a range of unique flavors, beautifully presented and a wide selection of breads to enjoy with the soup.

For mains, we sampled the grilled marinated squid, stuffed pork fillets and turkey breasts with gorgonzola sauce. Each of these were accompanied by delicious fresh vegetables.

The salad we selected, Sopska Salad, was just magnificent, with tomato, cucumber, ground black pepper and topped with grated fetta cheese. Following the first night, we had become aware of fine slices of hot chilli carefully disguised to look like cucumber.

Although we didn’t manage to sample the desserts, we must say that they also looked absolutely magnificent.

On our second night at the restaurant, we also asked the waitress about a possible choice of wine. Having explained that we enjoyed a dry red wine without too much bite, we were recommended to try a Serbian Cabernet Merlot variety that she personally enjoyed and believed would suit our tastes. She was exactly right! The wine was one of the best that we’ve experienced out of Europe, with a subtle complexity and nose that we found very enjoyable.

In terms of costing, we found that this restaurant didn’t break the bank. The bill for the second night (with our bottle of wine) came to just over 5,100 rsd (which equates to around ? 50). We consider that this is extremely good value for a meal of this quality served in lovely surroundings, complete with background accompaniment of a pianist on a grand piano.

Whatever you do, when you visit Belgrade, don’t miss this opportunity.

 

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Irish oyster shuckingOne of the things that we remember fondly of our visit to the Connemara is the fantastic seafood that we enjoyed during our stay. Amongst the things that we enjoyed were the local oysters and a really memorable whole salmon that we cooked on an outside barbeque.

Whilst looking up some news items about Connemara, I discovered an entry that I thought offered a very good example of the ways in which this part of Ireland is really grabbing hold of new opportunities, and applying innovation to build new markets.

Connemara Seafoods Ltd is just such a case in point. This Irish-owned family business, which processes shellfish products into value added products such as frozen mussels in a variety of sauces, recently won the 2006 Export Award of the Irish Exporters Association in the Seafood Exporter category.

The company was formed in 1997 as a spin-off from the family’s fresh shellfish firm. Ann-Marie Mulloy Gautier, co-founder of the company recently commented:

“The mussel industry in Ireland was growing and our market research showed consumer preferences were changing.People don’t necessarily have time to cook so we decided to establish a company that would add value to the existing shellfish products.”

Connemara Seafoods turnover has increased more than twenty-fold since the company was founded and it is continuing to increase substantially.One aspect of the business that really sets this company apart from many others is its strong reliance upon research and development to expand existing market opportunities and develop new ones.

“A core strategic activity is continuous research and development to improve current products, production and processes, to develop new products and innovative, advanced technological methods for processing our products.

“Ideas are generated from our customers, our industry partners, our own team and from research.  The ideas are then input into the New Product Development (NPD) process where they are rigorously screened prior to selection for development approval.

“Following the approval process there is further screening and testing of the product internally initially and then in the market place through our customers before going through a final sign off subject to meeting strict criteria in regard to market potential and commerciality.

This emphasis on R&D is typical of many of the new industries developing in this region. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website.

Whilst you are visiting the Connemara region of Ireland, please make sure that you take the chance to enjoy some of the freshest, tastiest and purest seafood products in the world.

Submitted by John Kumm www.onlinetravelconsultant.com

Categories : Destinations, Technology
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That’s right! We’re talking about the country in equatorial north-east Africa.

Addis Ababa is located on the high central plateau at a height of about 8000 feet – the highest capital city on the African continent.

This altitude ensures that the climate in the capital is temperate, despite its proximity to the equator.

You will definitely find Addis Ababa less touristy than many other destinations, but this doesn’t mean that the city is without a surprising level of sophistication and culture. The mix of cultures and infrastructure endows Addis Ababa with many fine eating houses and with an increasing level of nightlife.

Ethiopian cuisine is a wonderful experience. Meat, vegetable and sauce dishes (some spicier then others) are served on a large round platter covered in injera, a sour dough flat bread made from a locally grown grain. Addis Ababa has a wide range of quality restaurants serving Ethiopian, Italian and German cuisine.

Another place not to be missed is one of the biggest markets in Africa. It has everything that you would desire.

There is a wide variety of accommodation in Addis Ababa, from comfortable yet cost effective hotels (with prices down to some $US 50 per night for 4 star hotels) through to the luxurious and sumptuous Sheraton for those willing to part with up to $US 450 per night.

The hardest thing for many Westerners to deal with Addis Ababa (and the rest of Ethiopia) is the poverty. Beggars will constantly approach Europeans and can be very persistent.

Overall, this part of the world can make for a very different and interesting tourist experience.

To find out more about the region, and travel and accommodation options, you should visit the website of the Ethiopian Tourism Commission at http://www.tourismethiopia.org/

Submitted by John Kumm www.onlinetravelconsultant.com

Categories : Destinations, Vacations
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