– Avalon Myanmar – Myanmar River Cruise – April 2017
Avalon Waterways – Myanmar – Part VI (Kya Hnyat to Kyauk Myaung)
Avalon Waterways – Myanmar – Part IX (The Ship: Avalon Myanmar)
Avalon Waterways – Myanmar (Burma) – Reflections: “Isn’t This Amazing!?”
*Azamara Club Cruises – Azamara Journey – Singapore to Dubai (April 8, 2018)
* Azamara Quest – Southeast Asia and Japan (February 2015)
– How Close to Luxury Can Celebrity’s Smallest Ship Get? – Part I
– How Close to Luxury Can Celebrity’s Smallest Ship Get? Part II
– How Close to Luxury Can Celebrity’s Smallest Ship Get? Part III
– How Close to Luxury Can Celebrity’s Smallest Ship Get? Part IV
– How Close to Luxury Can Celebrity’s Smallest Ship Get? – Some Final Observations and Thoughts
– The Prologue to the Travelogue
– The Adventure Begins…With a Bump or Two
– Settling In Made Easy
– Luxury Touches Here, There and OK, Not, Everywhere…But There Are Lots of Them!
– Asian Flair Onboard and On Shore
– Private Tours, Israel and Conflicts in Perceptions and Perspective
Celebrity Equinox 2009 – Egypt…Impressive and Depressing
– Dining With the Captain and the Reidel Wine Seminar
– The Last Dinner (Tuscan Grille) and Disembarkation
– What Happens When A Class Act Meets Highly Discounted Cruise Fare
– Lisbon to Monaco: Crystal As a “Move Up” & “Move Over” Luxury Option – Part I
– Lisbon to Monaco: Crystal As a “Move Up” & “Move Over” Luxury Option – Part II
– Lisbon to Monaco: Crystal As a “Move Up” & “Move Over” Luxury Option – Part III
– Lisbon to Monaco: Crystal As a “Move Up” & “Move Over” Luxury Option – Part IV (Food & Wine!)
– Princess Cruises Doesn’t Treat You Like Royalty; Celebrity Cruises Does! Which is a Better Value for the Upscale Cruise Guest? Part I
– Celebrity Silhouette vs. -Royal Princess – Which Is A Better Value For The Upscale Cruise Guest? Part II: The Standard Veranda Staterooms
– Celebrity Silhouette vs. Royal Princess – Which Is A Better Value For The Upscale Cruise Guest? Part III: Treating You Right From The Start
– Celebrity Silhouette vs. Royal Princess – Which Is A Better Value For The Upscale Cruise Guest? Part IV: The Wine Lists Speak Volumes (As Do The Beverage Packages)
Regent Seven Seas Voyager – August 2017
– Italy and Corisca 2014 – Part I
– Italy and Corisca 2014 – Part II (Getting There, The Stateroom and First Impressions)
– Italy and Corisca 2014 – Part III (“You Can’t Teach Five Star Service” and Bonafacio, Corsica)
– Italy and Corisca 2014 – Part IV (Calvi, Monaco, Portofino, Porto Azzurro…and Stale Bread)
– Italy and Corisca 2014 – Part V (My Last Day…and How The Chef’s Team Makes It Happen)
One thing I wasn’t really expecting when I decided to travel to Colombia was a Michelin Star level of cuisine or, to be honest, such a cacophony of flavors that are unique and subtle at the same time.
As you know from my first day’s local culinary and cultural experience: Goldring Travel Heads to Colombia – A Culinary & Cultural Experience (Part I – Getting There and Diving In) I was pleasantly surprised. But I wanted more. I knew there had to be more.
The night between the two-day Buyers’ Marketplace I was attending was designated as a free night to be used to explore Bogota, Colombia’s restaurants and nightlife. So, with options open, I began my research. One restaurant, actually chef, kept rising to the top: Chef Leonor Espinosa. It was a very easy decision what I was going to do.
Chef Leo, as she is referred to, has won pretty much every award possible, being named the World’s Best Female Chef, the Best Chef in Colombia, Conde Nast’s Top 100 Restaurants in the World, Top 50 Restaurants in Latin America, and more. Colombian Leonor Espinosa is recognized as the “best female chef in the world” – BBC News Mundo
Her current restaurant, La Sala de Leo (Leo’s Room), is a small, stark but warn, restaurant that offers a few options, but – well, you know me – and I went for the 12 Course Tasting Menu with Wine and Spirit Pairings. But this menu is not merely 12 courses, but a culinary journey through all of Colombia’s six regions and, as I would learn, fifty-two (52) different sources of ingredients.
Making this experience even more amazing is how the flavors from different regions are combined and/or played off of each other. A few years ago, I had a dining experience in Lima, Peru that had a similar concept, but Chef Leo has taken it to an entirely different level!
Rather than explain each dish, what follows is the menu (provided upon request after the culinary adventure) and a map showing where each ingredient was sourced from. Taking things further, on the back of the menu is a QR code that takes you to a detailed description of each ingredient from history to techniques.
Overall, it was the most beautiful dinner I have ever enjoyed anywhere in the world. Each component of each dish was not only expertly displayed, they complimented everything else being presented at the same time. (By the way, as you will see, thee may have been twelve courses, but many of the courses had up to four separate dishes!)
As beautiful as this culinary journey and experience was, I have to say that what will always stand out is the number of unique flavors and their combinations. Honestly, no single dish or cocktail blew me away, but alas the sum of the parts was far greater than any individual dish.
What is more important is that whatever you may have thought the Colombian food scene was before, I am confident that it is far more elevated now!
Give me a call, drop me an email, or send me a Facebook message!
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Goldring Travel LLC
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US: (877) 2GO-LUXURY (877-246-5898)
UK: 020 8133 3450
AUS: (07) 3102 4685
Everywhere Else: +1 530-562-9232
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