O'Restaurant in Nyon, all about terraces, water and fish

NYON, SWITZERLAND – Nyon has just become endowed with a three-in-one lakeside food spot that promises to be an excellent addition to the growing town’s quality food options. One of my favourite restaurants from the outside (I never ate there, oddly enough) has long been the bright orange and blue Cafe Latino at the east end of the city centre, near the dock.

Owners Santiago Wegmann and Benoit Rol have renovated the building, and it’s now home to three eateries run by the company O’Les Terrasses du Lac.

The pair two years ago renovated and recaptured Lausanne’s love affair with the old Pizza Mario on the rue du Bourg in Lausanne.

The top floor is now Le Deck, a 90m2 lounge bar with a wonderful view of the lake, available for private and corporate parties but otherwise open to the public.

The ground floor houses begood, the third restaurant in a chain whose first one opened near Paris. Its second restaurant is the Outlet in Aubonne, in canton Vaud. Begood, with 70 seats, has four families of menus that are centred around affordable, tasty and healthy eating: befit, for longterm weight loss, becoeurful for low-cholesterol eating, bezen for easy digestion, and betonic for a vitamin boost.

The main restaurant, on the first floor, just above the lake, is O’Restaurant, which specializes in fish, especially freshly caught Lake Geneva fish, although meat-lovers will find they can also order lamb fillet, grilled steak or a tartare de bœuf.

O Les Terrasses, 3 restaurants in 1, opens in Nyon

The restaurant complex gives back to Nyon one of its historic treasures. The building dates back to 1820. It was home to the Hotel Odelet in the 19th century, famous for its “feet in the water” terrace directly on the waterfront and shaded by two giant chestnut trees. The idyllic situation changed in 1904 when a second phase in the construction of the city’s quais cut the hotel off from its waterfront.

New owner Santiago Wegmann has recreated the building’s old love affair with the water by making a terrace on each level the focal point. Thirty-two of the 80 seats in the main restaurant are on the terrace, for example.

Open daily from 08:00-01:00, 7/7. Reservations: +41 22 994 4000.

I spend a lot of time reading, researching and tweeting about food and restaurants these days, so I thought I’d jot down my tweets from the last few days. These are from both The Rambling Epicure and Swiss Foodies and should give you an overview of what’s going on in the foodie world this week, in Switzerland and around the world.

These tweets are often focused on Switzerland, but also include a lot of links to Swiss, French, German, British, American, Canadian and other research on food.

Sometimes I couldn’t resist writing about the snow and skiing conditions, because that determines how a lot of us in Switzerland plan our weekends, and therefore what restaurants we go to or what recipes we cook up. And of course occasionally, watches and wine . . . and this week, the Vancouver Winter Olympics and those cute wooly pigs you see in the photo.

Remember, these are just tweets

Remember these are just tweets, so they are short and sweet. They are not particularly orderly; I just tweeted the information as I found it.

I suggest you skim over the headings, and if you’re interested, just click on any of the links that interest you in order to read the detailed article.

Who knows, this might even tempt you to start tweeting yourself!

The list is long, so I’ll list the main topics, which are marked by headings in bold: Restaurants, Recipes, Swiss news, International news, Food trends, Nutrition, health, healthy lifestyle, Chocolate, Wine, Miscellaneous food and related info, Skiing, snow, lifestyle, and Nice quotes.

This week’s tweet list

Restaurants

Taste the latest in the food world, the wooly pig, 23 & 24 Feb. at du Chalet-des-Enfants in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.

Tired of roestis and pasta in Verbier? Good classic French at La Grange, no surprises.

The Rambling Epicure: check out our restaurant listings.

The Bernerhof hotel in Gstaad has a restaurant for everyone’s taste: pasta, Chinese, traditional.

Tired of roestis in Zermatt? Check out authentic Japanese cuisine and sushi at Myoko, Seiler Hotel.

The food at King’s restaurant Verbier is a delightful mix of English, French, and world influences.

The Walserhof in Klosters is a perfect place to celebrate special occasions, and the food is top notch.

Everything you need to know about eating in Zermatt.

Check out the divine rolled truffle pizza at Quirinale in Geneva.

The Cottage Café in Jardins de Brunswick in Geneva is a great place to meet for afternoon meeting.

Site that lists restaurants in Switzerland that do home delivery.

Gildo’s and La Fromagerie restaurant in Gstaad offers fondues with or without truffles.

Try perfect foie gras poêlé at La Table d’Adrien in Verbier. Chic hip place to go as well. Reservations required.

Hostellerie du Pas-de-L’Ours. Great restaurant, old-fashioned winter veg, great variations on classics. Crans-Montana.

Chez Heini: the place to go for good lamb, great wine list.

Curiositas is as much a museum experience as a restaurant experience. Table by the skeleton or the shrunken head?

Restaurant: Vertig’O in Geneva: elegant business lunch with WiFi.

Brasserie Lipp in Geneva: the ultimate brasserie.

London: The VaBene Brewer Street – you have to try it for lunch, quality food great price and quick turnaround.

Recipes

Recipes and flavor combinations for fennel, when you get tired of eating all those root vegetables!

Recipe: Creamed parsnips with roasted winter vegetables and walnuts recipe.

Vinegar sauces both tasty & healthy. Vinegar helps lower blood sugar & lose weight says one study.

Photo courtesy of Five Prime.

Recipe: How about a new twist on roesti: apple roesti.

Recipes for dessert lovers, especially good chocolate recipes, by pastry chef Pierre Hermé.

Kids in the Kitchen: chocolate and orange mousse recipe, a good Wednesday afternoon family activity.

Recipe: Sautéed Whiting With Lemon Cream Sauce.

The Rambling Epicure: Recipe: lazy man’s breakfast: cappuccino oats.

Recipe: pulled pork and updated coleslaw. Great on a winter’s day.

Winter recipe: Pork Stew with Hard Cider, Pearl Onions, and Potatoes.

Seasonal recipe: Seville orange and almond cake, adapted to European kitchens.

Gordon Ramsay’s 10 easy Indian recipes.

The great cardoon, Geneva’s AOC vegetable.

Winter recipe: cream of parsnip soup with aged Mimolette cheese.

Recipe: cheese tart washed down with good beer is the Basel tradition.

MyKugelhopf hoi zürchers: best fondue in Zurich: http://bit.ly/canAIx & best cheese shops to make your own: http://bit.ly/9eMKGX (in German from züritipp)

THE RAMBLING EPICURE Recipe: Geneva specialty, white wine potatoes, to be eaten with sausage.

How to make your own citrus extracts at home! And it’s dead easy.

All about roesti and recipe!

Simple recipe for oven-baked “carrot fries”.

Soup and sausage on a cold winter’s day: RECIPE.

Recipe: cranberry and orange relish. Great with game dishes of all kinds.

Swiss and international food news: loads of links for restaurants, recipes, etc.

Recipe: kohlrabi and dill stew. Perfect for a winter’s day.

ChocolateCheese cake & Sablé au chocolat in one #cuisine, Eclair à la pomme, caramel au beurre salé in another…must I really taste all?

Recipe: make your own delicious chocolate macarons with bergamot buttercream filling.

The Minimalist: A Dinner Date With India and Spain.

Great site for interesting and unusual combinations to make easy healthy salads.

New Zealand’s quirky breakfasts, recipes included.

Great recipe for a cold winter’s day: Mulligatawny Soup.

Swiss news

The Swiss have a food pyramid too!

Find the farmers market closest to you in Geneva.

Latest food fad: the wooly pig. Try it 23 & 24 Feb. in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.

Statistics on tourist accommodation in December 2009 and year 2009 – 2009 marked by a decline in overnight stays.

Challenging but surprisingly stable Swiss Tourism.

Adapting to a thrifty new world of tourism.

Prodigy Melodie Zhan celebrates Chopin’s 200th birthday at Victoria Hall in Geneva.

Swiss businessman leaves Libya.

Migros supermarkets to offer sound with food labels, for sight-impaired.

GenevaLunch Nestlé pleased with its 2009 results.

Keep up with the Swiss Foodies Swiss and world foodie news by clicking here.

Beer makers face squeeze in demand.

Swiss Diamond frying pans: the safe non-stick frying pan.

Salt war in Switzerland has started as cantons go abroad.

The big Basel carnival bash! Lots of good food on the agenda!

Site that lists restaurants in Switzerland that do home delivery.

Whistler Olympic Park designer Paul Mathews started in Switzerland!

How fresh are your eggs? New website in Switzerland lets you use number on egg to check its freshness.

The Basel carnival, one of the biggest in Europe, started yesterday. Watch this cool video.

Tartare, the all-time Geneva favorite. L’Illustré tells you about tartare in all its forms.

Where to buy food straight from the farm in Switzerland. Just click on your canton.

Lecture/luncheon in Geneva: the state of Britain today.

Opera: Otello in Lausanne.

Combating the Food Crisis is the primary Objective: At the Annual Media Conference held in Bern.

The Rambling Epicure’s Mindful Eating Manifesto 2010, my New Year’s Resolution, foodie news.

The Ecole-Club Migros now gives some of its cooking classes in English.

Rachid Hamdani’s first statements.

International  news

UK science professor specializes in science of cooking: molecular and post-molecular cuisine.

How to Order a Beer in 50 Languages! http://su.pr/2y4LwM

(image credit:PHOTO: Ben Nilsson/Big Ben Productions. ARTIST: Sakai Hiroyoshi)

The first chain restaurant in the US was opened by a Briton in the 19th century. Fancy that!

France’s most feared restaurant critic François Simon likes to control what he eats and not let the chef decide.

Interesting: Melissa Clark says NYTimes does not pay for recipe testing for her articles. She has to bear the cost if she wants to. #rsfood

All about New Zealand’s quirky breakfasts, with recipes thrown in.

Top 10 list of food songs from Slash Food.

The real difference between restaurant food and food you make at home.

10 of the best English cheeses from the South – Times Online.

Bialetti Mikka Express cappuccino maker, morning’s best friend.

The new trend: nanobreweries, producing artisanal beers.

The UK’s Top 10 fish and chip shops 2010.

Post-molecular cuisine: 21st-century techno.

Martha Stewart is at it again, with an Everyday Food magazine and an iPhone application to boot.What’s a nanobrewery? A scaled-down microbrewery, often run by a solo entrepreneur.

French fast-food chain Quick causes uproar over its decision to serve only halal beefburgers.

Check out this mind-boggling ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi. Exquisitely beautiful!

In San Francisco, local food is sexy thanks to smart marketing and the fine of art of presentation.

Fascinating blindfold comparison between local & organic foods from Walmart and Whole Foods.

Enterprise Hotel Happy Hour “English Style” 4-03-2010 – Milano – Events.

Walmart’s Heritage Agriculture program encourages buying from farms within a day’s drive of one of its warehouses.

Ranting and raving about processed food.

The Omnivore Food Festival will be held in Deauville on Feb. 22 and 23. Read this interesting take.

Michelle Obama asks governors to help anti-obesity initiative.

An Iowa farmer explains the meaning of sustainable agriculture. Full of good info.

An Iowa Farmer explains the meaning of sustainability. Full of good info.

The Best Boutique Hotels & Luxury Hotels for jetset nomads.

A fascinating blindfold comparison between local and organic foods from Walmart and Whole Foods.

Food trends

All about the wooly pig, some of world’s most juicy and flavorful meat and fat, raised using special Austrian techniques.

Latest food fad: the wooly pig. Try tonight and tomorrow 23 & 24 Feb. in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.

Interesting combination: dark chocolate, hot peppers and mango.

Food trends in Switzerland and the world.

Nutrition, health, healthy lifestyle

Find Out Your Carbon Footprint and How to Reduce It.

4-yr-olds who regularly eat dinner with family, get enough sleep & watch TV < 2 hrs a day 40% less likely to be obese.

The weight gain diet.

Vinegar sauces, both tasty & healthy & vinegar helps lower blood sugar & lose weight.

Something as simple as sitting down to dinner together as a family can go a long way in helping a child fend off obesity.

The Rambling Epicure: Eating healthy monosaturated fats. How to distinguish good fats from bad ones.

Are US supermarket sales dropping because people are flocking to farmers markets? 8:01 AM Feb 17th

Mindful eating: what The Rambling Epicure has on the agenda for 2010.

A new look at the surprising resilience and growth potential of the human brain – AARP Magazine.

Kids in the Kitchen Let’s Move Healthier choices, exercise = HEALTHIER KIDS. Michelle Obama’s campaign.

New seasonal vaccine to contain pandemic H1N1 strain.

The aquaponic garden, spotless and clean. The new rage.

Green leafy foods can be dangerous if not washed properly. Get the scoop here!

Latest news: the importance of getting back around the table.

Chocolate

The perfect marriage of chocolate and beer.

Recipes for dessert lovers, especially good chocolate recipes, by pastry chef Pierre Hermé.

Wine

Learning to love sweet wine.

Soil is not just soil. The Féchy winemakers in canton Vaud get serious!

AMONG THE VINES Swiss women helping build int’l wine group.

Miscellaneous food and related info

Migros supermarkets to offer sound with food labels, for sight-impaired.

Some of my favorite food blogs.

Get the full scoop on how to choose the right kitchen knives for you from a professional chef.

Chocolate show in Nice 5 to 7 March. Both Baboo and easyJet fly there, so it’s an easy leap!

Twitter war between New York chefs! Is Twitter gaining power in the world?

Did you know that the Paris Brest turned 100 in January?

Loads of links to follow food trends in Switzerland and abroad, plus restaurant listings.

What can you do with vanilla bean paste (and why use it instead of beans or extract)?

Exclusive: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web

Swiss Diamond frying pans: the safe non-stick frying pan.

Skiing, snow, lifestyle

Villars-sur-Ollon’s Fanny Smith will be skiing in the Skier X Women’s Final at 13:35 today. Don’t miss it!

Overview of snow conditions in Swiss ski resorts.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics are first sustainable games; the Olympic Museum in Lausanne has a special exhibit about it.

Beautiful video showing the history of the Winter Olympics.

Best snow sliding in Switzerland!

Achy muscles from all the skiing? Try out exquisite spa packages at Lecrans hotel spa in Crans.

Budget ski deals in European hostels.

Switzerland gets its 5th gold medal!

At least 10 ski stations near Zurich expect 10 cm of new snow overnight!

Klosters ski report: 130 cm snow of very good quality.

Great powdery snow conditions around Sion, 240 cm in Anzère and 210 in Saas-Fee.

Villars-Gryon snow conditions.

Europe’s top ski festivals. Go for it!

Check out this mind-boggling ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi. Exquisitely beautiful!

GenevaLunch overview of Swiss skiing conditions this weekend.

Plan your driving carefully on Saturday. Lots of ski vacationers will be heading home.

Swiss women go for the gold in Vancouver.

Swiss curling team beats US in a close match.

Skiing conditions around Bern.

* * * Olympic sports, curling: Swiss men beat USA * *

Ski chalets and apartments for rent in Gstaad.

Engelberg got the biggest dump in Switzerland (again)- 25 cm this time. See you up there today! #freshpow

The Mégève snow forecast for this weekend.

Gstaad snow report and skiing conditions.

Skiing conditions in Verbier this weekend. 1 cm more snow expected.

RT @as3780: Tonight, jungle fever at the Chopard Party at the Palace Gstaad ! By invitation only. 7:51 PM Feb 20th

Ski conditions in 72 stations near Geneva.

Switzerland’s Martina Kocher No. 1 in luge final for the moment! 7:44 AM Feb 17th

Nice quotes

Life puts some things on our plate, and you have to slowly eat them, slowly digest them, even when they’re not to your gourmet liking.

cyitaiga Quotes – especially positive suggestions – are very strong medicine.

cyitaiga A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.–Bob Hope

cyitaiga The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life.–Charles Schwab

cyitaiga “Great and big things can happen when simple and small things come together.”–Author (Fahad)

cyitaiga A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.–Richard Branson

Rediscovering the beauty of what it means to eat together as a family. A beautiful video.

Get serious about what you put in your mouth.

Have you checked out The Rambling Epicure blog on genevalunch.com?

For the last week or so, I’ve had Valentine’s on the brain. I’ve been posting restaurants offering special Valentine’s meals, chocolate shops making all sorts of beautiful Valentine’s chocolates, as well as hotels offering Valentine’s packages on the Swiss Foodies Twitter account.

Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono.

I’ve been trying to get you in the spirit, but now it’s time for the final countdown, because time is running short. To make things easier, I’ve gathered all the Valentine tweets here so you can start making plans for the weekend!

This list is by no means exhaustive and I may well add to it during the week, so keep in touch either here on The Rambling Epicure, or by following the Swiss Foodies tweets. Every time I stumble on something interesting, I’ll make sure and tweet it.

Valentine’s specials: something to suit everyone’s budget and schedule

1. On Sunday, 14 February 2010, the CGN is sponsoring Valentine’s lunch cruises on all their major routes.
2. List of restaurants all over Switzerland with Valentine’s specials; just click on your canton!  Please note that I haven’t tested these restaurants, but they should include something appropriate for everyone’s taste, location and budget.
   
3. Valentine’s package at L’Auberge in Baulmes for CHF105, including gourmet dinner, champagne, wine and room. They adhere to the Slow Food philosophy.
4. Restaurant de Bois Genoud Le Castel in Crissier. See our post of 1 February 2010. Elegant setting, organic, biodynamic food grown on the property, and real gourmet dining.
5. Valentine’s events in La Gruyère.
6. Valentine’s package at Bernard Ravet’s splendid L’Hermitage in Vufflens-le-Château, CHF500, including hotel, champagne, 9-course dinner, and breakfast. The package goes for CHF500 per person per night. Price justified by the restaurant’s 19 out of 20 rating in GaultMillau, the setting, that it belongs to Relais & Châteaux, and the presence of Nathalie Ravet, named best Swiss sommelier in 2007.
7. Commercial listing of Geneva restaurants serving special Valentine’s dinner. Please note that I haven’t tested these restaurants, but they should include something appropriate for everyone’s taste, location and budget.
8. Spa, chocolate bath, and GaultMillau 13-rated restaurant at Ferian Art in Saas-Fee in a drop-dead beautiful setting and exquisite decor.
9. Hôtel des Armures in Geneva: special Valentine’s package including room, champagne, breakfast and chocolate, for CHF860 for two nights. Located in the very heart of Geneva’s old town.
10. Ramada Park Hotel Geneva offering Valentine’s Day brunch as well as candlelit dinner. CHF75 for Sunday brunch, and CHF79 for candlelit dinner.
    
11. How to make a chocolate heart for your sweetie, but please substitute Swiss chocolate!
12. From chocolate lollipop to cup of organic dark hot chocolate, dip into hot milk and stir for few moments. For those who really don’t have much time but want to make a gesture!
    
13. Exquisite Italian food for romantic Valentine’s dinner at San Marino in Lausanne.
14. My Switzerland also lists a number of romantic Valentine’s getaways, mostly in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
15. A real deal, but in high style: The Mövenpick in Prague is offering the best Valentine’s package I’ve found. €114 for a couple for one night, with a real spread.
    
16. All local chocolate makers will be competing with all the others to create the most beautiful, original Valentine chocolates possible. See our Easter post about chocolate shops in Geneva.
17. In our initial countdown to Valentine’s, we also listed Durig in Lausanne for its organic, fair-trade chocolate hearts that you can order online.
18. For those who don’t count pennies but love fine food, the Richemond in Geneva is offering an all-out spa, champagne, gourmet Italian dinner (the chef is none other than Fulvio Pierangelini, Italy’s top chef 2009), full breakfast and room for CHF1025 for two.
19. For those who love antique cars and have the time and money to hop over to the French Riviera, this is a real find. The Hôtel Beau Rivage in Nice has a Valentine’s package that includes a jaunt in the countryside around Nice in an antique Lotus for a whole day. The package includes two nights in the hotel, the car for one day, breakfast in the room and one dinner at the restaurant of your choice (they offer two) for €530 for two people.
20. It’s Monday, so I can’t get hold of L’Esquisse in Lausanne. I don’t know whether they have a Valentine’s menu. All I know is that they have a refined menu and the setting is beautiful. I vote on it being romantic, no matter what the occasion.

I discovered this almost hidden Swiss-style café-restaurant many years ago on my treks back and forth to the Beaulieu clinique.

Mr. Borella started as waiter at the Lion d’Or during its golden age. He later set out on his own and has been in this same location for about 25 years. Mrs. Borella cooks and Mr. Borella serves. They are from the Dolomites, so they cook hardy, traditional dishes, as well as some well turned-out Swiss classics.

The price is about as right as you can get, and they buy all their ingredients from local producers. The tomatoes taste like tomatoes and the salads, well they come straight from Chapuis.

Nologo Restaurant

This is Japanese food like you eat in Japan, not adapted for Western tastes. Wonderful mixtures of unusual flavors and ingredients like you’d never find in your regular, standardized-menu sushi bars.

Don’t count on them being friendly, just think about what’s on your plate. Tiny space so reserve well ahead.

Quirinale

I’ve only had the truffle pizza, which is the house specialty, but I have been dreaming of it ever since.

Emmanuel de Savoie is part owner I hear.

Great central location, chic and full of jetsetters, and a little pricey if you eat a 3-course meal with wine. They do have lunch specials however, and that truffle pizza . . .

Cottage Café

When you have to meet someone near the quai du Mont-Blanc or in the Pâquis neighborhood, this is a great stopoff if you don’t have the pocketbook for the more upscale Richemond and Beau-Rivage venues right behind it. Plus, it is in a beautiful setting, right smack in the middle of the Brunswick gardens.

It’s nice in both summer and winter. The terrace is spectacular, of course, and you even get glimpses of jet d’eau from time time. Inside, it’s cozy and funky.

Breakfast includes birchermuësli, homemade jams and freshly squeezed juices. They have a daily lunch menu, serve pastries in the afternoon, and tapas starting at 18h00.

There is a selection of good quality local wines by the glass or bottle, along with some wines from other places.

Would you prefer a table near the skeleton or the bar?

After the success of the Palais Mascotte, a tired Geneva institution and cabaret started in 1833 that he brought back to life, he has now converted an old warehouse next to MAMCO, the modern art museum, into an exciting café and restaurant, Curiositas. Curiositas is almost a museum in and of itself, with its display cases full of “curious” collections of seashells, butterflies and surprising knick-knacks.

The menu is more classic than one might expect, but also offers some original variations on classics, such as the duck parmentier with turnips and red currants, or foie gras with oxtail. French chef Sergio Schoener delights in turning out color combinations not common in the world of food. Pastry chef Lionel Gérard comes to Curiositas with the label Ducasse on his CV.

A 3-course daily lunch menu goes for CHF 48 and a daily special for CHF 23. Breakfast is served, as well as light afternoon food.

Schlemmer has resuscitated several dying venues into “must” night life stopoffs, including the Petit Casino, the Restaurant l’Horizon and Psycho. As he says in Le Temps of 14 January 2010, outsiders just think that Geneva is a sleepy town. If they only knew all the fun that goes on behind those Calvinist façades!

Curiositas, rue des Vieux Genadiers 8-10, 1205 Geneva, +41 022 321 30 37, next to MAMCO modern art museum. Map. Open from 08:30 to 22:00.

Links: Le Temps

Photo courtesy of Fiveprime

Genève Tourisme has published a list of the hotels and restaurants in Geneva that are offering special Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s meal packages. Some are at lunchtime, others in the evening.

The list includes restaurants in all price ranges, as well as details about dates, times, set menus, and locations.

It can be found in pdf format, under Christmas Dinners and New Year’s Dinners. Just click on “Download the document” on the Genève Tourisme site.

The menu includes pumpkin soup with pumpkin seed oil, apple and walnut salad with cranberry vinaigrette, roast turkey and giblet sauce with fig stuffing, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream for CHF 55, not including drinks.

The Thanksgiving meal will be served from 12:00 to 14:30 and from 19:00 to 21:30 on Thursday only.

Reservations are recommended.

Photo courtesy of Blogging Experiments.

When you work or live abroad, it is not always easy to organize a Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving Day is not a holiday in other countries, and it is often difficult to find the right ingredients. Sometimes it’s just easier to make a long weekend of it or let someone else do the cooking. I’ve looked around for some alternatives, and there are some pretty nice ones out there. Just make sure to reserve well ahead of time. The US Thanksgiving falls on the last Thursday in November, which is 26 November in 2009.

Venere gives some good suggestions for Thanksgiving in Paris, along with hotel recommendations, including the restaurant Thanksgiving. Le Saint-Martin offers Thanksgiving dinners for 3 days in a row, from the 26th to the 28th, with a thoroughly traditional fare, for €30 a head.

For hotels deals in all categories, check out Expedia.

Thanksgiving in Rome

The Hotel de Russie, part of the Rocco Forte Collection, is offering a Thanksgiving package in its Le Jardin de Russie restaurant. The package includes luxury accommodation for two for a minimum of two nights, a buffet breakfast in the restaurant or a continental breakfast in the room, and a Thanksgiving dinner for two in Le Jardin de Russie on 26th November. The price varies depending on the type of room you select.

The Thanksgiving menu will offer Thanksgiving salad, autumn salad with Porcini mushroom cream, turkey roll with mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, coffee, and petits fours.

If you speak Italian, the Italian Expedia site is quite good for current hotel promotions in all price categories. Otherwise you can get pretty much the same information on the French version (Expedia.fr).

Thanksgiving in Florence

The Hotel Savoy is centrally located on the Piazza della Repubblica, near the Duomo. Also part of the Rocco Forte group, it is offering a Thanksgiving package including luxury accommodation, a buffet breakfast at L’Incontro or a continental breakfast served in your room, and a Thanksgiving dinner for two on 26th November at L’Incontro.

The package is for valid for a minimum stay of two nights, from 25 to 28 November, and the Thanksgiving menu offers Thanksgiving salad, turkey roll, mashed potatoes, pumpkin flan, apple pie, and coffee.

If you speak Italian, the Italian Expedia site is quite good for current hotel promotions in all price categories. Otherwise you can get pretty much the same information on the French version (Expedia.fr).

Thanksgiving in Prague

The Hard Rock Café will be serving a traditional Thanksgiving menu all day, starting at 11 A.M. A two-course meal goes for CZK 525,  or three courses for CZK 650. Reservations recommended.

My husband Peter is a wonder when it comes to finding luxury bargains as he hops around the globe.

This weekend, London was our destination, and there’s no better place to spend Halloween. The recession is still going strong in Britain, so it is also a good time to take advantage of the multitude of deals to be had.

Hotel

Photo courtesy of MyHotel.

We usually prefer classic English-style hotels, because the English really do know how to let you feel part of what is the best in the British lifestyle, but this time, Peter selected a boutique hotel, MyHotel Bloomsbury on Bayley Street just off Bedford Square.

MyHotel is entirely Feng Shui, minimalist and has a wonderful fitness center. The rooms are quiet and impeccably clean, the staff is pleasant and efficient and they speak very good English (which one cannot count on in London), it does indeed have a good feel about it, and the location is remarkably central.

Unfortunately, the hotel is the victim of British regulations regarding fire doors, so despite all the effort they had made to make it Feng Shui and calming, the fire doors ruined it all. Even the bathroom door slammed loudly. The clientele was extremely civilized, despite the fact that it was Halloween weekend, and the management was so conscious of maintaining the calm atmosphere, that they closed the bar on Halloween night.

Restaurants

In the UK, Top Table is an excellent site for booking fine restaurants at a nice price. With the credit crunch still alive and kicking, there is an abundance of choices, many offering forty and fifty percent off menu prices. Please note that the discounts do not usually apply to wine, supplements and service charge, and are sometimes limited to a limited number of people, but it can still significantly reduce the price of a meal.

Dining room of The Landau, photo courtesy of Top Table.

We regularly get Top Table offers at the L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in West Street in Soho. This weekend we went with Ana and Nicholas, two of our three children, who fall strictly into the bouche fine category, and lots of appropriate terms such as “yum,” “divine” and “I want to eat this every day in heaven” were to be heard, especially since the children ate Robuchon’s mashed potatoes for the first time.

Top Table is also offering other top restaurant deals at the moment, such as Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester on Park Lane, offering either 20% off the total bill or 3-course lunch for 2 people with 2 glasses of wine for £45.

One of my all-time favorite restaurants in London, The Landau in The Langham Hotel in Portland Place, is offering dinner for two, with 3 courses and a glass of Champagne for £37.50, or lunch for two, with 3 courses and a glass of wine £32. Tell the charming Italian maître d’hôtel Franco that the Galloway-White’s from Geneva sent you!

We always like to eat at at least one Indian restaurant when we go to London. Top Table was offering 40% off at the Hason Raja in Southampton Row in Bloomsbury. They specialize in Bengali dishes, but add the classic Indian and Pakistani restaurant dishes like chicken tikka, rogan josh, etc. to their Bengali menu. The manager and maitre d’hôtel had an imperious manner and was unfriendly, and the menu offered some original dishes you don’t find elsewhere, such as lamb with grenada fruit seeds. One of my main criterion in judging an Indian restaurant is the quality of the dal, and the dal was just all right and served coldish.

Leonor, our eldest, joined us for Saturday night’s meal at Patterson’s in Mill Street between Oxford Circus and New Bond Street; it was a pure delight. Scottish chef Raymond Patterson offers an exquisite balance between classic French cuisine, adding Scottish ingredients, thus giving an original, modern English style of cuisine. I loved every bite and will definitely put it on my list of favorites in London.

Despite the small dining room and superb quality, they too are offering Top Table deals, with a choice of 50% off the total food bill, a private dining room with complimentary champagne and canapé reception, or 40% off the total food bill. We managed to eat a wonderful meal in a wonderful setting, with a tab of around £120 for our family of five. (By the way, the portions are huge.)

The only meal we didn’t book on Top Table was our dim sum brunch at The Golden Dragon in Gerrard Street in Chinatown, which gets a rating of 22 in Zagat. They have some of the most delicious dim sums I have ever eaten in the Western hemisphere, and you must book ahead of time if you don’t want to wait in line for hours. Prices are right.

On Halloween, all of London becomes one big party

Photo courtesy of Coed Magazine.

Take note for next Halloween: London is so lively on Halloween night, and people dress in the most eccentric costumes possible. The streets are alive and buzzing, and some hotels offer Halloween weekend packages. Many clubs give a Halloween bash, and there are daytime activities for children in some theatres and other venues around town. No one does it better, I think.