European Reviews
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UK:

O'Neills Pub in Birmingham (ChinaTown)
Review date: 30/5/2000
Visited early on a Thursday night for food & etc. Bar food was good at cheap (for UK) prices. Cover Band started around 8pm. Did good covers of Irish (pogues) & gutsy UK (James etc). Drank Caffreys on tap (excellent) & Becks beer.
A huge dancefloor fight (pissed guy bumps into other guy's girl). Very entertaining fight (about 15 people).
Trouble cleared pretty quickly.
Tourists drank there as well as townies. Very friendly , heavy drinking athmosphere.
Clearo.
Recommended . (30/6/2000) Rating:Score for Friendliness: 5
Score for Food & Drink :4
Score for Hygiene factor : 4
Score for Connecting factor :4
Score for Ambience factor : 3
Score for Kids Allowed factor : 1

Sweenies
Castle Street
Reading, UK

Typical English Pies!
Even if you don't like English food which not many people have a high
opion off this great.
They have a list of Pies which they call out to you.
They have a menu. Do take a look beforhand since you'll never remember
what they call out.
Or listen pick one if you hear it and if you hear a better one than that
switch over.
Use selective memory here.
As veggies go you have a choice out of several variaties as well. So you
pay for the pie and for every choice of Veggies a bit extra. They taste
great.
Only one vegetarian option but it is good. and the rest is all meat. But
it is always bussy there and every body who I brought there liked it.
>From the entrance you would not think it as a restaurant since they have
a counter where they sell them for lunch.
But the place goes a long way to the back and in the cellar they have a
lot of spaces as well.
The deserts are also very typicall and great! I am also not a great
opinionist for English food but this one always goes down very well. And
they way they keep up calling the menu out to all the customers amazes
me everytime. Susan A. 28/7/00
Rating:
Friendliness   5
Food & Drink 5
Hygiene        4 (not sure since I can't look into the kitchen but never got ill)
Connectivity   6
Ambience    4
Kids allowed   5

London
Coffee@Brick Lane
154 Brick Lane
London E1 6RU
02073751112
Having walked around in London? Feel like a coffee?
This is the one.
you can read magazines and papers and browse the net. They only have
three pc's so it's not like an internet cafe.
You can buy the cups by half a liter if you want. It's nice coffee.
Nobody bothers with you but you have the feeling you can talk to
everybody. Very relaxing athmospfeer. When we sat there one of us fell
asleep for about half an hour and it was just fine.
A lot better than these stupid chains of Starbucks, Costa Coffee and all
these other stupid joints in London which are all of a suden such a
hype. Some of them don't even have toilets.
This one might be a bit of the beaten track but worth it. Not yuppie a
bit hippie maybe just a great place to enjoy a nice cup of coffee.
Susan A. 28/7/00
Rating:
Friendliness   6
Food & Drink 5
Hygiene        5
Connectivity   5
Ambience    6
Kids allowed   5

IRELAND
The Corner House, Coburg Street, Cork (Very central) Review Date: 14/07/00

If you like to feel utterly at ease and comfortable in a pub and not be concerned with how you're dressed or how others are dressed and just relax with a pint with some good friends, this is the Cork pub for you.Very friendly, warm lighting, wooden furniture, excellent bar staff, live folk music during the week but can get very full at the weekend. Has aroaring fire in winter, a bit touristy in the Summer but excellent selection of beer and whisky. Bar food basic.Kids are welcome during the day but not in the evening.Rating:
Score for friendliness: 5 Score for Food and Drink: 3 Score for Hygiene factor: 5 Score for Connecting factor: 4Score for Ambience: 4 Score for Kids Allowed Factor: 3
Slainte! DearbhlaUPDATE: 18th Jul 2000
The Food and Drink should be 4 and the kids thing should be 4 cause kids shouldn't
be in the pub in the evening anyway. There's lots of space for them to run
up and down during the day. Loads of kids there on Paddy's day for example.
Dearbhla again!

Long Valley Pub
Winthrop st,
Cork City

Recently renovated but still great vibe .
Sandwiches are still amazing. Music not 40's jazz any more .
Pints excellent . Good place to meet a local for a chat!

     Friendliness:        4
     Food & Drink:        5
     Hygiene:             5
     Connecting Factor:   3
     Ambience:            6
     Kids Allowed:        3

Maura : 31/1/01

Dublin

Bangkok Cafe
106 Parnell street
01-8786618

This is a superb small Thai restaurant.
I discovered it when it just opened up and it is gorgeous.
Later on I noticed that you had to book a table in advance in order to
get in.
The guy is Irish and his wife is from Thailand. They are lovely people
and everytime I have been there she would come and ask if the food was
o.k.
I am a great food lover and can only understand that they are doing so
well with all the other overprized crap places in Dublin.
The only downside to them is that they are in the North. But for me that
was great since I lived there and the south restaurants are not great
anyway. The prices are o.k. I would on average spend £40 pounds for two
people all included.
In the beginning they told me that they would turn the cellar into a
wine bar but if they have till now I do not know.
They openend up about 3.1/5 years ago. Susan A. 28/7/00
Rating:
Friendliness    6
Food & Drink 6
Hygiene       5 (not sure since I can't look into the kitchen but never
got ill ever noticed anythiong disgusting)
Connectivity    6
Ambience    4
Kids allowed    4    (not sure if they have special kid stuff)

FRANCE

Le Petit Leo
7 Rue Léopold
75014 Paris
Reservation: 01 43 20 76 55

Tucked away in a narrow sidestreet in the heart of Montparnasse, Paris, is this Epicurean’s delight - Le Petit Leo. This tiny restaurant, (only 6 or 7 tables), offers an authentic Parisian dining experience, in an atmosphere far-removed from the backpacker commercialism of the Marais. And it is far from the kitschy and stylised simulacrum sold in the rash of souvenir shops outside Notre Dame.

This is still very much the heart of Paris, and old Paris, (in fact most people in Montparnasse seem to be about 90). It is a part of Paris made famous by Josephine Baker, Picasso, Hemingway, Satre and Beauvoir, and the redoubtable Serge Gainsbourg, who hung in the cafes along here. Those days are long gone, and now the residents are retirees and university students, (looking for good cheap coffee and escaping the tourist crush). It’s all a stone’s throw from the trendy St Germain and the Odéon, and of course, the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens.

The interior of Le Petit Leo is beautifully simple and old fashioned, in that ‘granny chic’ kind of way. It’s small, but intimate rather than cramped. The tables have white linen cloths, and there was a fresh bunch of lily-of-the-valley in a vase on each one. There was also an enormously fat cat that wandered in and out, coolly contemptuous king of all he surveyed, (Parisians have a relaxed attitude to animals in restaurants - as long as they are civilised - so if you’re anal about animals, don’t bother eating out in Paris).

The menu was all in French, and it was all French cuisine, (therefore not good for vegetarians). The food here is nothing short of fantastic! We started with something simple - bread, wine, salad. As a main my partner had a deliciously tender salmon dish, while I had a Basque chicken stew with vegetables and herbs. Sensational! Our host became more ebullient and friendlier by the minute, as he kept pace with his patrons, downing the beaujolais with delicate abandon, and suggesting further delicacies to tempt us. Eating at Petit Leo is an art form, and Monsieur looked thrilled when his customers appreciated this, right down to the last bite of the Tarte Tatin, (apple caramel tarte), and the final sip of raspberry liqueur. The wine, almost needless to say, was superb.

We left feeling perfectly satiated and in a state of bliss. It was almost post-coital. Upon leaving Monsieur presented me with the lily-of-the-valley that adorned our table and then bade us bon voyage.The whole night cost us around $90 Australian, (May 2000), which is excellent by any standards, considering the quality of the food, the wine as well as the unique experience.

Rating:
Friendliness: 6 (beaujolais enhanced)
Connecting factor: 1
Food and Drink: 6 - some of the best I have experienced.
Ambiance: 6
Hygiene: 5 - some people might not like the animals. One customer brought in a small dog. Didn’t worry us.
Kids allowed: 3. Not really the sort of place to take kids, although it wouldn’t be discouraged, it depends on how old (and civilised!) the kids are and if they can sit and eat dinner without going crazy! This place is small, so it might be awkward for young children.

Antoinette Martin
25.7.00

TURKEY -

MAY 2000 How to eat like a millionaire in Turkey(and actually be one at the same time).Visitors to the thriving metropolis of Istanbul are offered a plethora of culinary options. The are 12 million people in Istanbul, and they all love to eat...Magnaura Cafe/RestaurantAkbiyik Caddesi No 27, Sulthanahmet, IstanbulIf you'd like a quiet evening next to a roaring fire, perched overlooking one of the oldest street's in Istanbul, Magaura's is for you. Set in the heart of Sultahnahmet - the old city of Istanbul and the formerConstantinople - Magnaura's offers a respite from the nightlife throng of Beyoglu, pulsating to four on the floor dance beats over The Bosphorous.Within 100 metres from the stunning Aya Sophia and the internationally renowned Blue Mosque, Magnaura's is an ideal hideaway from the touristy Divan Yolu strip immediately adjacent to these ancient monuments.

Dinner for two with drinks, appetisers and desert cost 21,000,000 Turkish lira. Don't die of shock just yet - and no, there's no point in giving you an exchange rate on the ever devaluing Turkish currency with 100% inflation a daily reality.

But in May 2000 that cost the two of us about' $20 USD. Its an inexpensive but highly pleasurable evening out.... so much so that we dined there three times! Clientele is mainly expat, but its also a very relaxed place to spend time.
Designed as a split level affair, the three story building is cosy in any little corner you choose to inhabit; so private conversation is achieved with ease. The menu is a mixture of delicious traditional Turkish fare, free fresh caught that day from the nearby Sea of Marmara, and high quality international cuisine. Appetisers of fresh Turkish bread, olives, cheese can accompanied by quantities of Raki - the seductive national beverage.Recommendations include the Stuffed Eggplant, any fish on the menu, and the sumptuous traditional Turkish desserts.

Rating:

Score for friendliness :5 Score for Food & Drink :5 Score for Hygiene factor:5Score for Connecting factor: 2/na Score for Ambience factor:5Score for Kids allowed factor: 4
The Covered Tea Garden A another must visit in Istanbul is its refreshingly offbeat shrouded Tea Garden Plonked right between The Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, the Covered Tea Garden is another respite from tourist hordes. Staffed by exclusively male waiters, dressed to the 9's in tailored suits, the Tea Garden offers comfort underthe trees with a relaxing glass of apple tea. Admonished to 'come in, yes please'repeatedly, you find that once you've visited, you need not be persuaded again.
Be looked after, drink Turkish coffee and feast on fresh pastries, and look at the stunning vista of two of the world's most venerated places of religion... Turkish hospitality does have a certain formality, and regrettably, Women alonein public places are inevitably commented on- but the guardians of the TeaGarden are far too polite to let this occurrence of the streets invade their sanctum. Go to relax. In Istanbul, you'll need to.....
Rating Score for friendliness :4 Score for Food & Drink :3 Score for Hygiene factor:4 Score for Connecting factor:3Score for Ambience factor :5 Score for Kids allowed factor :4

Rumeli's
Ticarethane Sokak, 8 Sultanahmet, Istanbul
Top of the range, and still cheap at about $25-30 USD per head for full meal with drinks. Again, you can escape Istanbul's "Kao Sahn Rd"-Divan Yoglu - and dine in this converted house. The owners are Francophiles, and portraitsof Serge Gainsbourg and his sometime romantic foil Catherine Devenue hang on thewalls as jazz or classical music wafts through the intimate rooms, many of which have fireplaces. Its all class - the diverse menu consists of classic Turkishfare and the wine list is exceptionally priced given its diversity and quality. Rating:Score for friendliness :5 Score for Food & Drink :5Score for Hygiene factor :5 Score for Connecting factor:3 Score for Ambience factor :5Score for Kids allowed factor :4
Jonathan Alley, July 15 2000

NETHERLANDS
NamKee
Zeedijk 11
1012AV Amsterdam

A treasure.
Chinese, delicious.
Traditional Chinese food with a very large menu to choose from.
Everything tastes great.
I knew people who lived in China for a year and I sent them there. They
told me that it was China.
It will be busy always even though the street there is packed with
Chinese restaurants.
Why this one since it looks like a dumpy uncomfortable place?
The food. The food and once more The food. Every dish I have had there
is a delight to your taste buds.
They have vegetarian options but not too much. Once a friend ordered a
soup where there was meat.
We asked them to change it and they basically brought it back having
poured it through a sif. So as long as you as vegetarian are not too
picky you'd love it to. Susan A. 28/7/00

Rating:
Friendliness    4     (the Chinese are known to be rude according to ours standards do I care? no.)
Food & Drink 6
Hygiene        (not sure since I can't look into the kitchen but never got ill)
Connectivity    6
Ambience    2 (Eat and get out which is great since you are in the city centre of Amsterdams red light disctrict)
Kids allowed    4    (not sure if they have special kid stuff)

SLOVENIA

Review / Comments: Lubljana, Slovenia

I arrived by the spectacular train route from Vienna. Just before Christmas it was absolutely stunning with snow and the most amazing views of the mountains, even with little skiers going down. It's a good days train journey, through Bled, where it is worth a stop over if you have time, stunning views of the Lake Bled. Arrived in Lubljana after dark, on my own and female, but did not feel too intimidated. It was very cold, snowing, which only added to the dreaminess of it, when combined with the Christmas decorations. From the castle you can view over the town, which is surrounded by snow capped mountains. The town itself is stunning, so pretty its almost mystical. You can wonder through the town's market, the castle and the little cobbled streets. The architecture is beautiful. The people are a little more reserved but they are interested in finding out about more where you are from, they have not got to travel as much.

Friendliness: 3

Food & Drink: 3

Hygiene: 4

Connecting Factor: 3

Ambience: 6

Kids Allowed: 4

Melanie Neal

Email: melaniekneal@yahoo.co.uk

AUSTRIA

Review / Comments: Vienna, Austria

Visited a friend who, with fluent abilities in German, took me around Vienna the Austrian Way. Tram around whilst viewing the absolutely gorgeous buildings and architecture of this town, its stunning. I was there over Christmas and can highly recommend the Christmas market for atmosphere and mulled wine to warm your cockles, but take your fur coat, its very cold and well, all the locals have one... Bar Mass is a funky bar for consuming a number of drinks before moving on to the 'Bermuda Triangle' for a bit of clubbing. The Viennese know how to party - Tuesday night at 4am and they were still going strong!

Friendliness: 5

Food & Drink: 5

Hygiene: 5

Connecting Factor: 4

Ambience: 5

Kids Allowed: 3

Melanie Neal

Email: melaniekneal@yahoo.co.uk