Click on images below to enlarge:
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Our lunch:
- a spinach-and-mushroom crepe - decent/good, but would've been better
warm.
- veal pirogis (the last of the batch! the guy after me was
disappointed) - nicely oiled and with a fried onion flavor. great!
- stuffed cabbage - decent, but Di Yin's is better.
- various fruits
| For completeness, the inside of the stuffed cabbage.
| For completeness, the inside of the spinach-mushroom crepe.
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| The Distillery District
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| One of the many large brick buildings we saw as we headed into the old
industry and warehouse district, the Distillery District.
| Approaching the Distillery complex itself.
| The Distillery District complex. It's got a nice look (brick streets,
street lamps, etc.) though I can imagine if this was still an industrial
zone and hence dirty and smoky and gloomy and dark, I'd have a different
impression.
In the foreground left is the aptly named Brick Street Bakery. We
looked inside. I found cheesecake tarts (!), "hot XXX buns", and a
ginger bread loaf (don't think gingerbread cookies). I bought the loaf
for later.
| Another sample shot of the Distillery District. With the lamps, I get
this area would look good at night.
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| The area has lots of public art sculpture. This makes me think of
War of the Worlds.
| More public art: a bridge to nowhere. Or perhaps a bridge that requires
a leap of faith.
| Another sample shot of the Distillery complex, showing more galleries,
public art, old-fashioned clocks, and crooked lanes. Also don't miss
the large condo building overlooking it all. (Actually, if you flip
through the previous pictures, you'll see condos in the background of
many of them.)
| A colorful lane. Also shows wicker baskets for plants and open-air
seating for dining.
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More color: an old wooden wagon laden with flowers.
I like the double-meaning name of the restaurant in the background: The
Boiler
House.
| Inside one building that's like Alexandria's Torpedo Factory, with many
active art studios and galleries. It also has a lot of old industrial
machines and tools on display. These fit in well with the metal
sculptures.
| A panorama of Balzac's cafe. A blast from the past. It's got style:
brick walls, chandelier, old-fashioned bar counter, and old advertising
posters.
| A canele that I had as a mid-afternoon snack. Good. I don't remember
where we bought these; I think it was a few days before.
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| Misc
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| Looking out on a waterfall from the Sheraton lobby. I took this picture
on the way to dinner when we dropped in the hotel for Di Yin to meet a
friend.
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| Dinner at Khao San Road
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| Khao San Road, our dinner destination. I know it looks dark and closed,
but it's actually open and packed.
| We ate at the bar (around the corner shown). By the way, I like the
artwork on the walls.
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Khao San Road is a happening place. The foyer was always filled with
people standing shoulder-to-shoulder waiting for tables. Though noisy
(and with music), we didn't need to shout or strain to hear one another.
I guess that means it has good acoustics.
| Our "kaho soi": soft noodles and crispy noodles in a curry soup. Good
overall. The included beef was also good, splitting easily with a fork
and full of flavor, pink on the inside. A neat dish; everything has to
come together well for it to work (two different kinds of noodles for
instance); it did. Di Yin said this dish was a tad sweet and preferred
the other noodle dish. I didn't notice.
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| Tofu pad kee mao: stir-fried rice noodles with green chili, garlic,
green pepper, egg, broccoli, tofu, and more. Good. The fresh noodles
make it lively, as does the tofu's nice texture, with the right give and
snap.
| The restaurant is known for its squash fritters. We decided not to
order them because we thought were already getting enough food--we
noticed the portions are large. But, a couple down the bar from us
arrived while we were eating dinner asked us about the khao soi. We
told me about it but--even better--gave them a sizable portion to taste.
In exchange, they gave us a sample of their order of squash fritters.
The fritters ("gra bong") are squash grated into tangled ropes and
deep-fried. Decent, but we thought they had too much better. Not bad,
but I'm glad we didn't order it ourselves--it would be a lot of
deep-fried stuff.
| Our coconut tapioca pudding dessert ("sa koo ma prao"). Served warm.
It's a coconut milk pudding with a few string of coconut. I thought it
was rather glutinous but still tasty. Di Yin thought it was okay.
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