Iconic places to eat in Europe

[237SJ]

I wanted to do Tea at the Ritz for my birthday (July) but it`s fully booked. I`m not interested in the Savoy and am doing Claridges in June for someone else`s birthday. I thought I go somewhere in Europe for the day instead. I don`t know where to start though. Tea in Vienna would be nice but I want somewhere really special. Or some other city perhaps. I`d probably go there and back in a day so would need a place with more than one outbound/inbound flight per day. Any ideas?

[The Builder]

If you want to stay "local" 237.............. fly to Cork. Leave the airport, turn left at "Jesus Christ" roundabout, and head for Kinshale, the gourmet capital of Eire. Often overlooked.

[joggerjayne]

Get an early flight to Geneva.

Hop on a train (the trains stop at the airport!). The train ride round Lake Geneva is stunning.

Have lunch at one of my favourite hotels ... the Mirador Kempinski, in Montreux.

http://www.kempinski....erview/image-library/

From your table, you can look out across Lake Geneva. It's stunning.

And, if you don't have to get back, it is SO worth staying over.

My BF lives not far away, well at the other end of the lake, but we sometimes just go to the Mirador Kempinski for a night, coz it's gorgeous.

[vodkancoke]

Alain Ducasse's restaurant at Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo is stunning. Lovely setting and delicious food.

Failing that, I like JJ's suggestion. I have been there myself and it is gorgeous. :)

[FredPuli43]

JJ is right about the restaurant in Montreux. As a bonus, you experience Swiss trains, which are very comfortable, quick and on time to literally the minute. Geneva itself is not a good place to eat, though the Hotel des Anglais, on the lakeside, does a traditional English tea, of all things. Odd thing about Geneva is that trains from the main station, though frequent to the airport, do not have a regular pattern in doing so. You may find unaccountable gaps in the service in the evening. The other feature, apart from the two-headed lizard which I assume still survives in the principal museum, is the tune played at the airport to announce flights. It plays the tune of the song starting "How much is that doggy..." but doesn't continue to "in the window". You are welcome to sing along and to complete the line; the Swiss are a tolerant people, their customs officers excepted (those are assiduous to the point of madness)!

[spudqueen]

I'm laughing at the thought of you trying to get to the Eiffel Tower restaurant and back in a day. It's in Las Vegas!!

There are plenty of wonderful places to eat in this country. If I was going abroad to eat, personally I would want to spend a few days there, not just run in the country, eat and go again. I like to experience the place. There must be somewhere more local you can eat. I have had afternoon tea at the Waldorf, and can highly recommend it.

[emmie]

Venice, not sure you could really get their and back in a day, it's a long way to go for tea..

[jno]

ooh-er, my link wasn't the best, was it, spudqueen. Try this one - really in Paris

http://www.restaurants-toureiffel.com/

[FredPuli43]

Venice for tea? It's such a fag cadging a lift on the boat to the Cipriani, m'dear, since it's only for their residents, but the rest of the places are so full of tourists.... absolutely ghastly!

I'm laughing at the Waldorf website " On the Aldwych, a tree-lined thoroughfare". Oh yes, up there with any grand boulevard laid out to designs by Haussmann! Do they mean that scruffy one way system, a crescent off the Strand, a racetrack generally double parked with coaches? It has about four trees, struggling for life. I believe they do.-

[boxtops]

Take the Eurostar to Bruges, and share a bucket of mussels in a restaurant in the square.... OH and I did that once, it was lovely.

[spudqueen]

That's more like it jno! I certainly hadn't heard of a restaurant up the Eiffel Tower which was why I clicked on your link. But the link to the restaurant up la Tour Eiffel looks promising. It certainly wasn't there last time I was in Paris (about 3 or 4 years ago). I will have to go next time I'm there.

[tamirra]

How about this for a real something different.
http://www.danslenoir.com/london/price.php

[Mosaic]

A space cake in Amsterdam....
Coffee and cake in Vienna (mit Schlagsahne, unbedingt!)
A cafe in or near the Victor-emanuel arcade in Milan and watch the 'beautiful people'