Asian

Brompton Asian Brasserie is the 2nd restaurant that Mr Novikov has opened in London (the first one being restaurant Novikov in Mayfair). Brompton Asian Brasserie is located in South Kensingto (another wealthy area just like Mayfair) and serves pan Asian food, the sort of food Novikov’s Mayfair Asian restaurant does. You can read more about Arkady Novikov in my Novikov review bur he is one of Russia's most successful restaurateur that owns more than 50 restaurants throughout in Moscow (some that I have visited and you can read those reviews).

Vogue Café is one of the trendiest places in Moscow. It is situated in one of the best locations, next to expensive hotels, bars, restaurants, Bolshoi theatre, opposite Moscow’s prestigious department store Tsum and a short walk from the Kremlin. It is owned by Arkady Novikov in his never expanding restaurant empire, and to open the Vogue Café, he teamed up with Vogue publisher Conde Nast and in July 2003 the Vogue Café opened. The place is super trendy, they describe this as “understated Euro-chic” and when you walk in there is a casual bar where people can go in the evening or during the day, and where they have an amazingly tempting selection of cakes, all of us that went there for lunch were amazed at the sight of this, in hindsight I should have taken a picture of these cakes, so if you fancy some French looking cakes, macaroons or anything sweet, do head here.

Manon is a very trendy restaurant in Moscow. It is a restaurant and a club, where after your dinner you can stay and dance and have fun. It is owned by the restaurateur Andrew Dellos and the group “Ginza project” which owns many restaurants across Moscow. My colleagues recommended I go to Manon for dinner. Manon is located in the centre of Moscow across from the Crown Plaza hotel and close to hotel Ukraine, which is a building that really does stand out in Moscow. It is easy to find Manon from the outside, as there are large letters saying “Manon” but once you get it, we got a bit lost as you have to go up to the 1^st floor and it was not that obvious. Manon is located next to another restaurant and we walked into the wrong one at first. 

I was visiting my mum in Munich and we went for a quick lunch to Ocui. I have been to Ocui a few times now and it always delivers a consistent good meal. Located in the centre of Munich, it calls itself an open cuisine and once you enter you are given a card which you give to various food stations that you visit throughout your meal, and where they upload the price and then pay for everything you have had at the end when you leave. The dining room is large with tables of various sizes and shapes scattered around the room, so you can find the right seat for you, and in the middle there  are various food stations. There is a station for pizzas and antipasti where you can go and order your pizza (made to order) or other type of Italian starters and then wait until they are ready (you get a buzzer which starts buzzing when your dish is ready), and when you order each you give your Ocui card and the station puts in the price of the dish inside the card.

Many foreign concepts are entering Latvia and every time I go back home I am always impressed and surprised with what you can find these days in Latvia and the new cool thing that Riga has discovered is wok fried Asian type of food. I once, a long time ago, went to what I think was the first this type of restaurant serving wok food that the chain “Vairak Saules” opened up on Dzirnavu street and I really did not like it, but I was willing to give wok food in Riga another go in a place called “Wok to Walk” which is located close to the old town. My brother was telling me how much he likes this place and that he sometimes comes here for lunch and has noodles and chicken and a spicy sauce but you can be much more creative with the food if you want to.