Ristorante Pizzeria Amarone

Great Italian food. This was located in the Italian part of Amsterdam. Very authentic, and the staff were great.

For drinks, had a bottle of Zin to share for the table.

For food, got a margarita pizza to share, and the lobster pasta. Ended of the a tiramisu. All amazing.

China Sichuan Restaurant – Zeedijk

Second dinner in Amsterdam, where we met up with a few folks also traveling here.

For drinks, they had a limited selection (got Jameson on the rocks).

For food, most of it was spicy (could handle at most 2 out of 3 chili scores).

We got the spicy chicken, spicy green beans, 2 dumpling dishes, a spicy beef dish, and a spicy fish dish. All of it I would order again, but really like the fish (and dumplings were just ok).

Momo (Amsterdam)

First dinner in Amsterdam (3rd trip), which was conveniently located at our hotel.

For drinks, got an Aperol Spritz, and a whisky drink (Glen Morangie).

For food, Chicken skewered with peanut sauce, tempura, spicy tuna roll, Momo roll, Alaskan king crab roll, lobster roll, and a side of pad Thai. Would get everything again.

Bagatella

Tried this restaurant in the Marina district in San Francisco. Would definitely come back.

First, their bread was really good. It was fresh, and the garlic butter in came with was great.

For drinks got an Aperol Spritz.

For appetizer, got the meatballs and the gnocchi. Both great.

For my main course, got the seafood linguini. Also great, but wished the scallops were the larger ones (they were just bay scallops).

Finished off with key lime pie. No complaints there.

Dumpling Home

Great place to eat in Hayes Valley. Coming at 7:46 on a Friday is a good time, as putting your name down on the waitlist only yielded a 30 minute wait (you can grab drinks somewhere else while waiting).

For drinks, only beer and wine, so got a Prosecco.

For food, best thing on there was the juicy pork bao (first picture). Would get that again many times over.

Second best was the XLB with crab and pork. Usually I don’t like XLB, but this is definitely an exception.

The pork dumpling sesame sauce chili oil was pretty good (had a peanut taste). Also got kelp (seaweed) salad. I was indifferent (would get it again for vegetable).

The least favorite dish was the noodle with braised beef. It had a weird broth flavor. Would get something else.

Overall definitely coming back.

Rosemary’s Midtown

Grabbed Saturday brunch with some friends from New York at this place.

Got an espresso martini without any sweetener plus an Aperol spritz. Both were great.

For food, got the pesto pasta, the pappardelle verde, potatoes, French toast, and mushroom sausage pizza. All of it was great, and would get them again.

This place is a chain with locations through New York. This location gets Hampton people going to it apparently.

Note: didn’t take any photos for some reason, so all the below pics are from yelp.

The Standard Biergarten

We pregamed here before going to a day EDM event on. Saturday afternoon.

Normally I wouldn’t really care for Biergartens, but I would say I liked this one. The people, the vibe, and the drinks were good.

For drinks, I didn’t get any beer, but instead did an Aperol spritz. For food, got the Mac and cheese balls. That was great. Also tried the pretzel, which was a good snack.

One other thing we did was do a ski-shooter with Jameson. That was fun.

Note: next time don’t buy so many drink tickets since they can only be used for beer and food (like only get 2 or 3 next time, not 6). Also might be interested to try their actual restaurant next time (called The Standard).

Ruby Soho

Mentioning this place even though I didn’t take any pictures (photo attached isn’t mine) since apparently it’s a great place for drinking and for Toronto finance bros to make deals. Need to check it out again next time (but maybe right after a work day).

Aside from whisky, also got the nachos here (probably would want to get something else other than the nachos next time).

Charlemagne

A friend took me to this speakeasy in King West Toronto. He said they have the best espresso martini, and he was not wrong (I didn’t even ask for it without sweetener).

To get to it, you need to go to Cafe Renee, and go through the unmarked black door on the second floor.

Please Don’t Tell

A friend booked this speakeasy for his birthday (they had two separate reservations to fit our group of 12).

To get in, there’s a telephone booth inside the Crif Dogs restaurant. At the telephone booth, dial 1 and you’re good to go.

The place had great drinks. Not entirely sure which drinks I got, but of course it was whiskey or vodka based.

They also had food (got one of the hotdogs. Would get it again, but without the mustard next time).