Antimultivitamin for Red Pif

Design worlds are colliding!  One of my favourite artists/illustrators in Prague, Antimultivitamin, whose work I saw at last year’s at Design Supermarket, designed the logo for a wine bar I love in the city called Red Pif.  If you haven’t been, Red Pif is the wine bar in Prague 1 that has massive window shutters that look like wine bottles (you can see in the illustration below what I am referring to).  The restaurant and bar has a beautiful interior and an impressive looking wall-of-wine.

Photo Source: Antimultivitamin

This year, Design Supermarket returns to Prague December 5th-9th.  I can’t wait to see what new, local designers I discover this time round.

Somewhere in Provence

I am somewhere in Provence today hopefully visiting this “quaint” place: Comptoir Loranger

Photo Sources: 1, 2-3

What Does a 21Euro Reindeer Burger Look Like?

I can show you…. I ate one in the Helsinki airport’s Restaurant & Deli Fly Inn two weeks ago en route to Toronto.  Believe it or not, the primary reason I chose to fly Finnair from Prague to Toronto was to make a stop in the Helsinki airport for a reindeer burger; that and I had read somewhere that the Helsinki airport was one of the better, more enjoyable airports to layover. So why not give it a shot, right?  We booked our flights and I waited for two whole weeks in anticipation for this burger.  Was it going to taste gamey?  Would I like it?  Was I really prepared to eat Rudolph, as my husband teased me?

Before I get to the burger, I will say the airport is aesthetically beautiful.  It is wood, wood, wood and more wood.  Modern, shiny, minimalist, and full of design objects.  The lounges and restaurants are furnished with Finish designed products such as Iittala plates, cups, dishes, mugs and I even found a few very comfortable Eero Aarnio Bubble chairs (Finnish Designer) to sit in!

The burger was served on a fresh bun with lettuce, tomato, mustard and cheese.  It was cooked medium rare and was the type of messy, gooey, drippy burger where you pray for hand wipes or several napkins.  I was surprised by how un-gamey the reindeer tasted and quite enjoyed my lunch.  The only drawback was of course the price!  We paid 21 Euro each for two burgers.  Yikes!  However, after consulting with a friend from Sweden, he said that 21Euro is not outrageous for a good burger in a Scandinavian country- that and of course the price was marked up given that we were eating it in an airport.  What can you do when you are held captive in an airport and determined to try reindeer.  Suck it up.  The other cool thing about the restaurant where we dined on reindeer burgers was that it overlooked the runway so you could watch planes fly in and out.

Some final closing comments on this experience:

1. The airport is indeed beautiful with its sleek, Finnish design, Paulig Coffee and Marimekko and Stockmann boutiques BUT- it is an incredibly expensive.  Noticeably expensive.  I was sad to see that the Starbucks was under renovation because its menu price list could have helped me prove its high cost of goods relative to other cities.

2. Outside of a cafe or three, a bar, and one expensive restaurant, this is not the airport to be hungry in.  We both felt that the food options were sparse and unsatisfying, which is why we were lucky enough to retreat to the lounge to find a few more snacks.

3. Finnair put us on an old Boeing 757 with the drop down TV screens and zero leg room on a transatlantic flight that was packed.  Not the most pleasant and it reminded me of a discount flight that you take to the Caribbean, but I can dig it.  What annoyed me the most was the lack of accommodation for take on luggage. I had a full out argument with two Finnair staff members when they gave me an ultimatum, as I was boarding the plane over whether I was getting on the plane or not when they told me I had to check my carry-on luggage (regulation size) at the last minute which contained my wedding dress, shoes, veil and jewelry.  I was not prepared to deal with the emotional stress of having lost bagged in Toronto and ended up emptying the bag (and checking an empty suitcase) and carrying all my wedding gear on my lap for 9 hours back to Toronto.  Sorry Finnair… my business will be taken elsewhere on future transatlantic flights. Brides be warned!!

4. The reindeer burger was awesome + worth it for the experience.

Anyone have a similar experience with cool airports, interesting airport food or beautiful lounges?  Would love to hear your thoughts.

Snog

It seems like there are always last minute changes to make when it comes to weddings.  A change in flowers, a change in spellings, a change in event order, a change in entertainment, and a change in dresses.  In my case, I changed dresses three times! 🙂  I hope all these changes work out in the end as we are 18 days away.

Last time I blogged about ice cream in London, I found a minimalist looking shop called Polka Gelato.  Today I wanted to switch gears from gelato to frozen yogurt and from minimalist chic interiors to something  fluorescent, fun, party, bright, wild and space-like.

Enter: Snog

Snog was the answer to a gap in the frozen yogurt market.  The team behind this shop vowed to bring a bit of the frozen yogurt goodness trend that continues to blossom all over the world to London. They did so in such a wonderful and colourful way thanks to the talented Cinimod Studio.  How could you not smile looking at retail space that looked like this (see below) and has adorable mushroom stools for seating?

The other thing about Snog is its name.  Snog means to kiss. Both the company website “Ifancyasnog.com” and its packaging plays right into the double entendre.

Photo Sources: 1, 2 

They currently have several shops in the UK, the Middle East, Pakistan and Brazil and even have their own music playlist on their website.

Anyone need a snog at the Olympics?

View Snog Frozen Yogurt London in a larger map

Here Are Some Other People Who Fancy A Snog:

1. The Telegraph:  Tried and Tested: Frozen Yogurt

2. Emma McQueen: Snogging is Good For You

3. The London Insider: Snog Frozen Yogurts

4. Dezeen: Snog Frozen Yogurt Shop by Cinimod Studio

Speaking of Coffee: I Need Coffee!

Do good things come in twos or threes?  Today, good things come in twos as I am blogging about another coffee shop.  To extend the coffee theme a bit further from yesterday’s coffee post…. I visited I Need Coffee last week.  It’s the new coffee shop just south of Karlovo Namesti (Na Moráni 7)  in Prague.  One day after lecturing, I took the tram en route to the farmer’s market by the river when I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a new spot opened on the corner.  I made a mental note to come back and stop in for a visit.

I love this coffee shop’s interior design.  They went all minimal-industrial-Scandinavian with poured concrete floors, lots of light wood seen in their counters and bar stools, one big blackboard wall and the rest, stark white!  They play a mix of rock + indie music and have funky, bright posters on their wall.

I sampled some home made ice tea and next time I will try some of their yogurt and perhaps a cookie.  My partner in crime had the coffee and said it was decent.  Since I Need Coffee! has two big windows facing the street, this is an ideal place to people watch or daydream or both!

OvenLove

I saw this project on Behance Network from designer, Stuart McQuarrie (Artlstudios) in Glasgow, Scotland and had to share it with you all.  If you love kitchenware I think you will appreciate the branding for OvenLove 🙂

Photo Source: Stuart McQuarrie on Behance Network

What I can’t figure out, is whether this project came to fruition.  I searched high and low for an OvenLove site but nothing turned up.  Either the company is in serious need of SEO or it was just a design project.  If someone knows the answer out there in the blogsphere, I would love to know.