The Hill Station + Meet The Blogger

Here is a project or concept that I like but I can’t quite figure out whether it launched or not.

It’s called The Hill Station and it is a restaurant/cafe/delicatessen in Sapa (Vietnam). The Hill Station has a website which says it opened 2011 but beyond that, all I found was the identity/graphic design work for the concept and a couple reviews.  Design was done by Studio Egregious.

Finish your website “Hill Station”!!  It looks like you have a really neat business that more people should know about.

Photo Source: An Vu

There is more identity work to be seen on the Dieline and Lovely Package if you are interested.

It’s a mystery.  Has anyone been to Sapa and visited The Hill Station?  I would love to hear about it!

In other news, I am headed to Stockholm tomorrow night (Friday) to attend MEET THE BLOGGER Stockholm this weekend.  I missed last year’s event in Amsterdam and thankfully I was reminded from reading a post on Emmas Design Blog about the conference.  So off I go.  I’ve never attended a blogger conference and have no idea what to expect.  I hope I walk away with some new insights and can’t wait to check out Stockholm (grab a cinnamon bun or something!).  Some days I feel like I have so much to learn about blogging and wonder, am I doing “it” right?

I am certainly looking forward to meeting the bloggers behind Bright Bazaar, Bloesem, By Fryd, Heart Home Magazine, Lotta Agaton, Vosges Paris , La Maison de Anna G, and Joelix.  I’ve been blogging for over four years now and believe it or not, have been following some of these blogs the entire time.

I will report back next week on the conference.

If you’re attending meet the blogger, don’t be shy! Introduce yourself.

Ituri Salon: Hair Salon Love

If you read a lot of design blogs you may have noticed that hair salons don’t often get mentioned on design blogs.  You see restaurants, you see houses, you see hotels, you see retail stores, but hair salons… get left out.

Here is my effort to give hair salons some love and appreciation.

This is the interior of Ituri Copenhagen.

I was there tonight and shot some pictures while I waited.

This salon does hair, makeup and nails for theatre and non-theatre folk.  

ANNNDDDD…….. you gotta love late night Wednesday hair appointments-I think they are the only salon in the city open until 9pm on a Wednesday. 

I like the diamond interior theme running throughout Ituri and also noticed they decked out their chairs with pillows and throws from Ferm Living,- which I later found out also blogged about them.

ITURI
Esplanaden 6-8
DK- 1263 Kobenhavn K

Very Fitting: Gummy Bear Chandelier

How was your weekend? Mine was relaxing.  I went to an excellent neighbourhood organic Italian Trattoria that I will post about later this week (Date Night #5), called Che Fe.  I also watched not one, but two (actually one and a half) movies: Beautician and the Beast (huge Fran Drescher fan here!!) and I started watching an really interesting documentary about the indie video game industry called Indie Game.

I was so intrigued by the documentary (not Beautician and the Beast) that I am trying to figure out how to parlay the indie game movie into a new assignment next semester for a distance learning class I am teaching called Marketing Planning.  The thoughts are still marinating in my head.  (So if you are my student and reading this- don’t jump to conclusions 🙂

Back to gummy bears- Why is a gummy bear chandelier fitting you ask?

A) I love gummy bears.

B) I ate a lot of these over the weekend while watching Beautician and the Beast.

C) I have found a superior gummy, which I will post about later.  Did you know that North American gummy bears and European gummy bears do not taste the same? Surprise surprise!  The gummies here seem to contain more fruit and less sugar and they are tasty.  I have a stash from Bears and Friends (a little bit of fruit gummy heaven) in Dresden that is housed in various jars around my flat.  I also tasted a few gummies last week from a Copenhagen candy store that were excellent and keeping with the Euro-gummy experience.

When I saw this gummy bear chandelier, I just had to share it with you.  Artist Kevin Champeny made the “candelier” from over 3000 hand cast acrylic Gummi Bears for Jellio.

Photo Source: 1-4

A Look at Sabio By The Sea

Here is an interesting restaurant interior.

Sabio By the Sea was designed by The Stripe Collective in Singapore.

I like busy ceiling.  The mix of antler lights, pendant lighting, rope and horse heads (instead of stag heads?!) seem to work together.  Plus the view that opens onto the marina isn’t too shabby as a background for tapas.

Photo Source: 1-4

Date Night #4 Host

The bells are ringing outside my flat- It’s 6pm time to pack it in and go home.  At least that is my translation of the 6pm bells.

It has been a busy week of marking for me.  If any of you have ever taught a class, I think you would agree with the challenges of grading a large number of papers.  It is very time consuming to get each paper the attention and feedback it deserves.  I will leave my commentary at that!

I had my first visitor last week, my mother-in-law.  I thought my sister-in-law may also show up but she called last night and is planning a visit in the spring.  That’s probably a better idea seeing how last weekend’s temperature with the wind chill was about minus 15 (although it only registered -2!!).  There is something about seeing the Little Mermaid statue in high wind and minus 15 weather that doesn’t bring the same pleasure as viewing it in warmer weather.  She was still beautiful posing among ice and rocks.

Date Night- as promised, a small recap of our weekly Friday night restaurant in Copenhagen.  The three of us venture to Host last Friday.  I wish I could show you food pictures of our three hour dinner (more on that later) but it was so cosy in their (READ dimly lit for cosy effect AKA DARK) that nothing would turn out without blasting an obnoxious flash.

Host is a new(ish) restaurant in Copenhagen and is part of the Cofoco Group (they have a bunch of other good restaurants in the city).

I was excited to see the interior (it’s been talked about a lot in the blogsphere/design press) and to taste the food of course.  The interior is just beautiful.  There is a lot of wood, there are trees, candles, industrial fixtures and big windows.  They have created the perfect dining environment.  For those who are considering a visit, I will warn you that the menu is small.  There are two options: A set menu of three dishes or an a la cart menu with four dishes (one appetizer, one main, one cheese, one dessert).  My husband and mother-in-law went for the set menu and I choose two items from the a la cart because I do not eat pork or shellfish.  If you are vegetarian and think you will go hungry, apparently you can make a special request to the kitchen. Otherwise, the veg options are zilch.

They had:  Scallops with artichokes – hay, blackcurrants and something involving clams.  Next up was the main that consisted of roasted pork belly with beetroot compote with mustard grain – toped with pickled dehydrated beetroot and smoked Danish cheese.  Dessert was a yogurt ice cream topped with peanuts with milk chocolate, warm white chocolate foam with raw licorice.

The set menu came with an amuse bouche which was veal tartar with a root vegetable on top and a palate cleanser half way through the meal- savoury oatmeal in a mushrooms broth with dried violet leaves.  I liked the oatmeal a lot actually.

I had the ox roasted in onions – pickled beech mushrooms – watercress – morel sauce which was absolutely delicious.  I also tested the a la cart dessert of yogurt ice cream with tart apple compote, apple vinegar meringue and chervil sprinkled on top. I did not know I was a fan of ox but however it was prepared, it tasted delicious. 

Before you are served, the waitress brings you a round loaf of fresh Manitoba bread that is to die for.  It comes with an intense parsley olive oil + sea salt for dipping.  We polished that off quite quickly.

Photo Source: 1, 2, 3, 4 

We all enjoyed our meal but the issue was with duration of time.  I do leisurely dining. I’ve dined in relaxed settings before, but last Friday night was a bit excessive.  The meal dragged!  It felt like we were waiting an hour in between courses.

It was so slow it came to me asking our waitress what was going on?  Was the kitchen having a time issue? She replied it was her.    After I spoke up, the pace picked up.  I wish it did not have to come to that because I would not rush back in fear of excessively slow service.  Yes, perhaps she was having an off night- I get that but the three of us were finding the length of time painful.  We did not leave until 11pm.

This week I am headed to a local bio Italian joint which should be nice.

Hope your week is going well.

Have you dined at any interesting spots lately?  Do share!