Our Day by Design

Once we got back from Vienna on Tuesday lunchtime, we enjoyed our afternoon then got ready to go and eat at The Kitchin . Since we were both off the day after we took the opportunity to book a table and use the voucher we got from my parents at Christmas. I was really excited about going, having never eaten in a Michelin star restaurant before, and I really hoped we would get a glimpse of Tom Kitchin. Imagine our surprise when we arrived early for a change to see him going over the list of diners for the evening. While we enjoyed a drink and waited for them to finish setting up the restaurant, Tom came over to speak to us which was a little like meeting a celebrity and not really knowing what to say! Graham mentioned that we had just been celebrating our first anniversary in Vienna so we were delighted to find a hand written card on our table, wishing us a good night and a happy anniversary. The restaurant is lovely inside and has a viewing window into the working kitchen where we co...

On our actual anniversary we spent the day seeing some more of Vienna's sights . We headed back to the hotel around half six so we would have time to relax then get ready for our dinner reservation at 8.30pm. We went to the restaurant at the DO & CO Hotel, located in the main square, Stephanplatz. After being shown to our table we started with a glass of Rose Champagne to celebrate while looking at the menu. All of the food sounded delicious and there was a lot to choose from including international, Asian or Viennese cuisine. The kitchens were completely open so you could watch the chefs at work at the different stations and could see all of the fresh fish ready to be cooked. I settled on nigiri sushi {including tuna, salmon, prawn & a few other things} to start while Graham tried a dish which had goose liver served two ways with Thai mango. The sushi was as good as the kind I had while on our honeymoon even if I wasn't sure what a couple of the items were! ...

A couple of Saturdays ago {12th March} we were able to use one of our Christmas presents by having lunch at La Potiniere in Gullane. We were given a voucher from my aunt & uncle and my parents received the same and bought one for my aunt & uncle too so we could all go for lunch together, masterminded by my aunt. Since my dad and aunt had been ill at New Year it was really our new year celebrations. I'm fairly sure we confused the other diners by our 'Happy New Year' toast in March! The restaurant is quite small and just has 20 seats, which allows one of the owners, Keith, to serve as well as be in the kitchen; this makes it a lot more like being in someones house, rather than in a restaurant which is lovely. They bake two different types of bread so I tried the sunflower kind while we looked at the menu, along with a glass of prosecco for our toast. With such a small restaurant, they choose to only offer two choices for each course on the menu, with one meat &...