Falafel Fit For A King

Ahh the joys of being able to travel and eat wonderful vegetarian street food. I am a HUGE fan of falafel and was pretty excited when our tour guide Mohammed took us to one of the best falafel places Amman, Jordan has to offer - 'Hashem!' Mohammed claimed that even the King and his royal family had eaten at this place, and the food was definitely inexpensive and delicious.

I will admit that 'Hashem' is not the cleanest restaurant in Amman, but it's definitely a backpacker's paradise. The place is always packed with locals and tourists alike, so you know the food has to be fresh. I don't think they had a menu, but Mohammed ordered it all for us... Delicious bread, foul (beans), hummus that was to die for, mint tea and more tasty food that I can't name.

So if you ever go to Amman, make sure you don't leave without hitting up the 'Hashem' restaurant... A full meal will cost you around 3 JD,  and you definitely won't regret it!

Mohammed & our Tour Group

Dining at Namsan Tower

I’ve wanted to have dinner at the top of Namsan Tower ever since I got the chance to visit the place when I was 18 years old.  The tower is very dear to my heart, as it’s featured in my favorite Korean drama (Boys Before Flowers) and gives people a magical and spectacular view of the city of Seoul. When I found out I’d be visiting Korea for Christmas, a birthday dinner at Namsan was at the top of my priority list!

There are 3 restaurants at the top of Seoul tower – with only one (the french one) being a revolving restaurant. Unfortunately, when we called to make reservations we were told that all dinner tables were sold out for the entire week.  So we settled for lunch instead, and headed up for the meal of a lifetime.

It takes an hour and 40 minutes for your table to slowly revolve around the entire tower, so lunch or dinner is never done in a rush.  The lunch course starts at around 45,000 won, and you can expect to pay an additional fee for tax and service. There was nothing vegetarian on the set menu, but my mom was able to explain it to the wait staff and luckily they were able to whip up several courses of food for us to eat.  We ended up eating…

• French bread with an olive oil / vinegar dip
• Artichoke, mushroom, and pickle appetizer
• Ravioli, filled with spinach and an egg yolk
• Chestnut soup
• ‘Spaghetti’ (a basil pasta dish with almonds)
• Coffee ice cream
• mini chocolate cupcakes with green tea.

At the end of the day, the food was definitely not worth what we paid, but the view and experience was well worth it. It’s kind of hard to take good photos of the view during that time of the day, but it was definitely amazing being able to point out districts in Seoul and see the entire city.  I’d definitely do it again (if I had the money…) in a heartbeat!

Skipping South Padre

South Padre is supposed to be the Miami of Texas. Wild Spring breaks, beautiful beaches and endless fun. At least that’s what I heard. Now I didn’t get the chance to visit South Padre during spring break, but I did get to go last weekend… and if I have ONE piece of advice to anyone wanting to go to this place? – DON’T.

I’m sure it’s a completely different place during Spring Break or other holidays, but we arrived late Friday night to a quiet island, empty aside from a few couples and teenagers walking around.  We checked into a cheap (and horrendous) hotel called the ‘Beachside Inn & Suites‘ and almost vomited because of the pungent stench of curry that filled the lobby & hallways.

I wish the rest of our short 24 hour stay went better, but it really didn’t. We ended up driving around the island trying to find something to do, but found almost everything to be closed. From the mini-golf courses, to abandoned buildings that were once clubs, the island seemed like one sad, uninhabited place. The beach was beautiful (by Texas standards) but we didn’t have much time to sit and actually enjoy it. Plus, we wanted adventure!

The only redeeming portion of our trip was a restaurant just off the island called Manuel’s.  We found this hole in the wall place off of yelp and decided to give it a shot. The place was pretty packed, and I ordered a ‘breakfast taco,’ which wasn’t even on the menu but was recommended by most reviews on yelp.  The result? The most fantastic, giant taco I’ve had in my entire life. Since I’m veggie, I ordered it with beans, eggs, potatoes, cheese, and fresh avocados… Mmm.  I think it was like $7, and it came with chips and amazing salsa as well..

Don’t even get me started on how delicious the homemade tortillas were!

If I had a chance to go back to South Padre I probably wouldn’t – aside from Manuel’s delicious tacos. Again, I can’t speak for Spring Break or the Summer, but if you’re looking for adventure and an overall good time – off season South Padre is not for you. However, if you just want a pretty quiet place to go where you can sit by the beach and relax, then head over to South Padre… Just don’t spend a lot of money getting there.

A Vegetarian in Berlin

I have a new travel goal in my life. It’s to learn “I am a vegetarian” or “no meat” in every single language.

Granted, this phrase doesn’t exclude fish & seafood in some countries, and I still have no idea how to conquer the dairy dilemma as curdled milk and yak cheese make me sick… But I think “I’m a vegetarian” should be a good start.

Knowing this phrase in German would’ve done me wonders inBerlin.  We all know that the Germans like their Schnitzel and all other meats galore.  As a budget solo traveler, my wallet cannot afford fancy vegetarian restaurants, or anything above “Taco Bell” status. This budget limits me to the cheap street food and a supermarket diet.

My attempts to change this lifestyle usually leads to disaster, and Berlin was absolutely no exception. Let’s go back to December of this year.

I timidly entered a busy Chinese take-out place at Alexanderplatz(A prominent Berlin station) and squinted at the menu on the wall.  There were many bright pictures to choose from, and I quickly scanned each item until my eyes landed on #5.  VEG…IER.  (enter strange German letters in between those).  In my limited German knowledge, I’ve come to realize that some German words are spelled similar to english ones.

For example – Halo = Hello.  Bier = Beer.  Using this theory, why WOULDN’T Veg…ier = Vegetarian? It only makes sense.

I stared at the picture. Noodles & two eggrolls. Not one animal piece in sight. The eggrolls would be tricky, but I figured I could take a chance on those. You know, tap into my “adventurous” side. I looked at #5, and carefully planned my strategy.  After a deep breath, I stepped up to the counter.

“******?!”

I stared at the Chinese lady, briefly confused at the words coming out of her mouth. My strategic plan crumbled out of my mind, and I stared at the lady with a blank look on my face.

“************!!!!!!!!!!!” This time she was louder.

I’m sure my face either conveyed “retarded American” or “scared to death tourist.” A weary looking chef stepped up to the counter.

“wha numba yu wat?” He said, pointing at the menu.

“FIVE!” I practically yelled, throwing up my hand in the air and double checking to make sure all five fingers were still there.

“********?” The Chinese lady yelled another question at me. I stared at her again, trying to process words that I knew I would never understand.  She finally rolled her eyes and thrust her hand out at me. I quickly grabbed my precious euros and handed her six, not wanting to hear any more of her loud angry words.

Two minutes later she shoved a takeout box at me. I knew better than to ask for chopsticks, she looked like she could murder me with them.

No eggrolls. Well that I could live without, but part of me wondered if my “FIVE” had actually been communicated. I opened my box and saw a big white chunk of something on the top.  After poking through my noodles, I noticed more big white chunks.

Keep in mind that I don’t eat meat on a regular basis, so I’m slightly unaware of what it looks like.  I know what fried chicken looks like, I know what steak looks like.  But these big white chunks looked like nothing I had seen before.  My ‘adventurous’ side kicked in again.  Maybe it’s mushrooms?

One bite.

That’s all it took.  I still have absolutely no idea what it was, but it tasted like horrible chicken. It repulsed me to the point that I couldn’t even take a picture of it.

With that note, I headed back to the supermarket to indulge in my own Berlin special…

1 Euro supermarket pizza and a giant bag of navel oranges.

So right.

On so many levels.

Besides my brief Chinese indulgence, did you know I only spent 10 Euros on food during my 3 days in Berlin?

That my friends, is what you call #winning.