food, reviews and of course coffee
I was visiting the Netherlands attending a conference in Delft, I had some time before my flight home to explore part of Amsterdam. After walking around a bit, I decided to stop for a coffee.
I quite liked the look of Screaming Beans, even if the name was a little unnerving. I ordered a flat white and took a seat.
This was hand crafted coffee which looked great and was delicious. Though small and cosy, it was a welcoming environment and a pleasant place to spend some time drinking coffee.
Well I think it was coffee…
It wasn’t very good.
I was visiting the Netherlands attending a conference in Delft, I had some time before my flight home to explore part of Amsterdam. After walking around a bit I remembered that the last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2023 where I was in Amsterdam for a conference. Back then I had some time to explore the city as well and had a delightful coffee at Kaldi.
I decided I would try and find Kaldi again, though the obvious solution would be to be to use Google Maps, what I actually did was use Apple Photos find the picture of the coffee I had taken which had the geo-location data. I did then need to check Google Maps to see where I was and in my head work out a route.
I actually found it more easily than I thought I would.
I went in and ordered a flat white, and took a seat. It certainly is a popular place, more for coffee to go, than sit in. It wasn’t long before my coffee was ready, it looked great.
The coffee was delicious and I really enjoyed sitting in Kaldi, drinking coffee, and watching the world go by through the window.
So, I guess, the next time I am in Amsterdam, I think I will try and find Kaldi again.
One of the things I quite like about Lidl and Aldi are their themed weeks, where they have limited stocks of different kinds of products based around a theme, usually a country such as France or Italy.
Recently, Aldi did an Italian themed week, I picked up some pasta, but also what was a Tiramisu dessert which was described (or translated) as Coffee-Wet Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Cream.
This did amuse me, but also got me thinking about who does this kind of translation, in this instance at the Balconi factory in Italy. Do they not check with a native (or at least a fluent) English speaker about the translation?
You sometimes get weird translations with Chinese, Korean or even Japanese products, but usually with European products, the translation is more accurate.
So anyone for a slice of wet sponge cake?
Actually I quite liked it.
I had driven over to the Darts Farm Shop in Topsham, which has a bank of Tesla chargers available. After working out the best way to position my Funky Cat to charge I headed into the Farm Shop.
This was a lovely farm shop with lots of local produce. I was very tempted. I did though head over to the cafe to get a coffee and pass the time as the car charged up.
Unlike many other farm shop cafes this cafe had table service, which was nice. They had a lovely sounding menu, however, firstly I wasn’t hungry, and even if I was, they had just finished food service when I arrived.
I ordered a flat white, and it wasn’t long before it arrived.
It was a well made coffee and I really enjoyed it.
Had a lovely flat white at Caffé Nero. Smooth and full of flavour.
Remember, when making coffee, use a cup.
I was spending the day in Dunkerque. I wanted a coffee and I remembered a small patisserie and viennoiserie, Maison Vaucamps, that I had visited back in July last year when I was last in Dunkerque travelling back from a holiday in France and Germany.
Maison Vaucamps, as well as cooking some amazing cakes and French specialists such as pain au chocolate, traditional Flemish pastries have been Maison Vaucamps’ family specialty for many years. There was a wide choice of pastries and cakes to choose from.
I ordered a coffee and a merveilleux. The merveilleux is a traditional cake from the North of France and Flanders. I had the pistachio version, which was whipped cream with Sicilian pistachio paste, pistachio meringue pieces. My whipped cream was still a little frozen in the middle, but this actually didn’t detract from the eating experience.
My coffee was excellent, and I enjoyed my little bit of French coffee time.
I was giving my car a charge at the Instavolt chargers and popped into Tim Hortons for a coffee to kill some time as the car was charged.
In the end I went with an espresso and a Boston Creme doughnut. The coffee at Tim Hortons isn’t half bad, and I much prefer it over the coffee from Starbucks. In the past I would usually have a flat white, but more recently I have been drinking black coffee. I drink black coffee at home, so it isn’t too surprising that when going out for coffee now, I am choosing black coffee.
The doughnut choice was limited, but then it was evening, so not too much of a surprise there. I went with one of the “simpler” doughnuts, rather than one of the premium versions. I do like a Boston Creme doughnut, and this was a nice doughnut. It was soft and fresh, the chocolate topping was good, and the creme was tasty. It wasn’t too sweet either, which is quite surprising for doughnuts. The coffee was a good contrast to the doughnut.
I had arrived earlier than planned in London and headed to Ealing. I went for a short walk and then went for coffee. I was going to go to Artisan, I had enjoyed a coffee there on a previous visit. It was though very busy, and it was also very warm (what with the hot summer weather and all).
However, in the end, I went to Gail’s Bakery and had a flat white.
The service was friendly and warm. The coffee looked nice and I took a seat. Only downside was the cup had no handle and I had no tray, so I had to carefully carry the hot beverage to my chosen table.
Coffee was delicious.
Did like the cakes and snacks they had available, the bread also looked delicious.