Travelling means food.

I love travelling and travel planning, and I'm so glad that I've found a man by my side who loves it as much. We like to do all kinds of trips, and quite often we travel to see some event. But one thing is always a big part of the trip - food.

Usually we are checking in advance what kind of interesting restaurants and other food related things like markets, the destination has. I've had few bad experiences along the way, usually these happen the first evening when you're super-tired and mega-hungry and just want to go to the first restaurant on the tourist path. WRONG. Of course planning ahead does not always save you from mistakes and sometimes it's good to be spontaneous, but in general it does make the travelling more enjoyable. And if you've made your research, you will less likely pay rip-off price from frozen food warmed in microwave.

I am almost always first thinking about the food and food culture when choosing a destination. Any destination can be exciting if there is good food! Events, sightseeing and that stuff comes later then. Only beach and sea and sun can go ahead of food. :P

But were not fine dine kind of foodies, more like great value for your money kind. Which does not necessarily mean eat-as-much-as-you-can buffet, but more the good quality of the food. Sometimes I do dream about going to upscale places I was brainwashed in the university but then the voice of sanity tells me otherwise.

Thanks to the university (I have bachelor degree in Culinary Management), the people I met there and my "career" as a waitress, I might sometimes be a bit difficult company when having dinner. I do eat everything I mean EVERYTHING so that's not it. I've just become much more critical when it come to the quality of food and service. I really hate paying for bad food or service. In the other hand I believe that I can appreciate more the hard work the restaurant staff is doing in order to serve us a nice dinner, or lunch, or breakfast.

I thought maybe someone would be interest if I would list few restaurant that we really liked, so here we go..

Sztrass Burger, Wroclaw, our new favourite, is perfect for lazy Sundays. They have huge and tasty burgers, made from fresh ingredients. And very affortable prices.

Sometimes I still dream about the northern-Asian food of Gaijin, Helsinki. It's a bit pricy, but for sure worth of the money.

In Gingerboy, Düsseldorf we had some excellent home-made noodles and delicious duck. I could go back just because of this restaurant.

Brunch in Rigoletto, Dortmund makes me wait for the next football trip there. ;) They have everything I wish to have on perfect brunch. With that price they should.

Also brunch in Hotel Barcelo Raval, Barcelona was very cool. You can enjoy cocktails in the roof terrace with view of BCN, and they also have DJ.

Honest Burger, London had very delicious burgers and fries in cute, home-like atmosphere.

Transit, Berlin has affortable, delicious Asian food. They have a lot of quite small portions so you have a chance to try more.

I'm was not a huge fan of Schnitzel before, but in Marjellchen, Berlin I saw it's true soul. DELICIOUS. In addition the owner knows every language yes, even Finnish, and goes from table to another just to chat with the customers. Like it or not. ;)

U Babci Maliny, Krakow has the best pierogies I've eaten. Service is non-existent, but food is cheap.

I was positively surprised about El Rodizio, Dresden as it was the first restaurant we found when we were super-tired and mega-hungry in Dresden few weeks ago. Very nice salads with fresh seafood. Don't know about their steaks though...

We had very tasty tapas in La Bombeta, Barcelona. I heard it was once "an insider" place, but when we visited there was a big group of Asians and other non-Spanish people. I hope the owners can still keep it as authentic.