Good Food and Views are Worth the Journey
Casa Batlo is the most popular Antoni Gaudi designed landmark to visit in Barcelona after La Sagrada Familia. This house is an undersea fantasy with walls, colours and motifs that evoke the feeling of being under water or in a whale (sort of like Jonah). Being on the luxury shopping end of Passeig de Gracia, Casa Batlo is a convenient place to visit if you've got plans to do a bit of shopping.
When the Batlo family appointed Gaudi to build their home in 1904, he was already...
If you want a simple meal in Barcelona that lifts your spirit, Bar Canete is a great place to go. This is a buzzy tapas bar that has no gimmicks - just good food, drinks and a fun atmosphere helped by an enthusiastic team. In a nutshell, it's the ideal spot to come after a long day walking around.
We had a great time here, helped in large part by a our waiter David - great smile and jovial - reminding me a bit of Robin Williams. He makes good gin & tonics as...
Palau Guell is, in my view, a must-see Antoni Gaudi building in Barcelona. As it's still relatively lesser known than Casa Batlo and La Sagrada Familia I don't think it's as crowded, which makes for an enjoyable visit. And with its location not far from the Barri Gotic, it's a convenient add on to a walk around the old quarter of Barcelona.
Antoni Gaudi, probably the best known art-nouveau era architect in the world, has left Barcelona with a number of amazing edifices. La Sagrada...
I went to watch the SEA Games boxing semifinals here in Singapore and got an added bonus from catching the closing games of a Sepak Takraw match between Malaysia and Indonesia. It was good to see a couple of the Singaporean boxers make the finals, especially as they're coached by someone I know, and there were certainly some impressive Filipino and Thai boxers. But it's the acrobatics of Sepak Takraw - which is like volleyball played by three players and using only feet (the ball was...
A good corned beef reuben can now be found in Singapore. New York style deli Sascha & Sons is serving up all the goodies - chopped liver, lox, bagels and blintzes. Where other cafes didn't quite get the balance right, this one is spot on.
I came for brunch and tried the pastrami knish, corn beef reuben and meat loaf sandwich. The pastrami knish was really good - this is not the potato based knish you usually see in New York, this is better. It's a flaky, buttery puff pastry...