Kember & Jones deli café in Glasgow

Yesterday we took a trip to the Scottish city of Glasgow and I fell head-over-heels in love with its West End district. Somewhere in the heart of this beautiful and laid-back district, with cafés and restaurants on every corner, I turned to my husband and asked him: Where has this city been all my life? At 134 Byres Road we found Kember & Jones deli café and when I opened the door I was home. We got a table upstairs with view over the ground floor where we took in the wonderful atmosphere of this place.

I never write any of those 'my week in Instagram' posts on my blog (sorry folks, I find them pointless) but when I took the camera out of my bag to snap photos of the West End district to share on the blog, I realised that I had left the battery in the charger at home ... duh! Luckily my husband had his phone with him so I was able to snap these two at Kember & Jones and share them on Instagram. This only means that I have to return to Glasgow one day.

Back to the café. Personally, I cannot stand it when my latte is served in a large glass. Dazzled by the café's rustic interior style, I forgot to ask how they served it at Kember & Jones and it arrived in a medium-sized, vintage-looking glass, which didn't bother my latte-soul at all. More importantly, it was good! I ordered a sandwich from their menu with roasted vegetables, hummus, spinach and harissa chilli dressing, with beans and salad on the side, and it was heavenly. When I thought this café couldn't enchant me anymore I found pretty much all the cookbooks on my wish list on display on the ground floor (Sunday Suppers by Karen Mordechai and A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse by Mimi Thorisson, just to name a few, and I added to it The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers). This café is simply a charmer.

As a final note, let me just say that if you ever travel to Glasgow or have a stop-over, don't make the mistake of staying only one day. I could spend days in the West End district alone. In fact, I think I could spend days just enjoying the cafés, restaurants and scenery on Byres Road.

Espresso macchiato & lunch at Konrad

On Saturday I spent a lovely day in the city with a friend of mine. On the agenda was to try the coffee and have lunch at Konrad in Rue du Nord (follow the link to see the photos I took a few weeks back). We got a table outside where we sat in the shadow and started with the coffee. I know that I'm a self-proclaimed latte person but lately I have been stepping out of my latte comfort zone; ordering espresso macchiato when I sit down at cafés and grabbing a latte if I'm on the run. Brave steps.

I am no coffee expert and have no idea how to explain the perfect coffee cup but all I know is that my espresso on Saturday was perfect. (In case you are interested, a friend of mine who happens to be a coffee and an IT geek/expert has created this awesome app called Barista's Log. Makes me wish I knew more about coffee tasting.)

After the coffee we went inside to enjoy lunch. Konrad is well known for its curry dishes but on Saturdays things are kept simpler in the kitchen so I ordered a quiche (vegetarian) with salad on the side. The food was delicious. Seriously, I'm still thinking about it and just waiting to go back to have some more. With my meal I enjoyed a glass of organic rosé, which added to the perfection.

As you can see in the photos, this place is one of those unpretentious ones that I happen to like very much. Konrad is a non-smoking place in an old building in the heart of the city with a mix of industrial, wooden and leather chairs. There are exposed beams in the ceiling, the walls are white and one wall is covered with flowery wallpaper. There are no menus, everything is written on blackboards. It's also a bar and a comedy club.

I don't do uptight places. I like it when café/restaurant owners put more effort into creating a relaxing atmosphere than spending money on fancy decor. Konrad is exactly that kind of place, unpretentious and relaxing with a friendly staff.

Konrad, Café & Bar
7 rue du Nord
Luxembourg

At Café de Flore, Paris

Today I decided to take you to Paris, yet again, to a rainy afternoon in the 6th district. A wonderful Paris cliché is going to Café de Flore on the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Benoît. It seems as if for decades nothing has changed in there; as if you could expect to see Sartre and Beauvoir sitting there with their friends talking about philosophy. Or over at Les Deux Magots, only a few steps away.

Café de Flore was a haven in the pouring rain. We sat outside under the awning, completely sheltered, enjoying coffee and the tarte maison, which on that day was a lemon tart. The café was crowded and the streets were filled with people in a hurry carrying umbrellas. I think Café de Flore is one of those places that have become a second home to some Parisians. There were people sitting inside that looked so comfortable. It felt as if they had moved in. They were sitting alone at a table with all their stuff, quite oblivious to what was going on around them. I thought to myself, if I came back the next day would they still be sitting there?