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I saved the best for last. This is all about our hotel in Santorini...one of the best and most luxurious hotels I've ever been in. They only have like 6 suites and they're all different. They are all designed in the traditional Cycladic style, which is like cave dwellings. And each one with a private terrace with pools and/or jacuzzis. It is beyond gorgeous and they keep the place spotless! Housekeeping came twice a day, so the room and terrace is always clean. Our suite, Iokasti, had both a pool and jacuzzi. I think the pool is a necessity since it's so hot during the day. I'd make sure I spent some time every day in the pool and laying out on the lounge chairs. :)
Dreams Luxury Suites
Imerovigli, Santorini
www.dreamsluxurysuites.com
The service Was on point!!! The hotel managers, Vivian and Ioanna, were fabulous. Always eager to help and super nice. They gave us a ton of great recommendations and took care of everything for us. All we had to do was ask, and they would do the rest. And Giannis, not sure what his title is, but he did everything! From taking our bags to the rooms, room service, and fixing anything around the hotel. They truly made it a real vacation for us. By the end of our stay, we had become friends. I hope we can visit them again in the future.
Now... the food!! OMG. Some of the best meals we had on the trip was at the hotel. They had a brilliant in house chef that made everything fresh including all the breads baked from scratch. We had free breakfast every morning. As much as we wanted. :)
By day 3, we had pretty much figured out all the things we liked best and just ordered multiple quantities of each. haha.
First night dinner. We sat on a deck that had a better view of the sunset. Apparently Imerovigli doesn't have a great sunset view because of it's location. But still, we can see most of it and it's really nice.
Breads (with red pepper sauce). The breads were warm and perfectly fluffy on the inside. That sauce... oh man. We asked for extras.
Caprese (tomatoes, balsamic, mozzarella, pesto) Everything was so fresh and amazing. Greek tomatoes are awesome.
Salmon Tagliatelle. One of the most memorable pasta dishes I've ever had. The pasta was perfectly cooked. The salmon was tender and perfect with the cream sauce. It was soooooo good!
Risotto Primavera (saffron, zucchini, carrots). This was just ok... needed meat for sure.
And seriously... everything looks and tastes better with this view!
We took our dessert back at our private patio. Ravani. Not exactly what kind of cake this is. But the cake is soaked with some sort of syrup. And the ice cream is topped with caramel sauce that doesn't taste like any caramel I've had before.
The breakfast... Oh the breakfast. One of the highlights of everyday. I'm just going to list everything I remember that we had throughout our stay.
Croissants - our favorite thing. We doubled our order after we discovered how good they were. Baked in house. Super buttery and fluffy. Perfect with their marmalade and honey. These were a staple every morning.
French Toast
Greek Omelette. They're baked in a dish instead of a omelette you'd find in the states.
Spinach Pie
Smoked Salmon
Fresh fruit
Homemade Marmalade
Honey (it tastes different in Greece. It's lighter!)
Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice. They gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne when we arrived so we got juice in the morning to make our own mimosas! Cheers!
Iced Coffee
Bacon and Eggs. This turned out to be our favorite main dish. We ordered it a lot.
Homemade Mosaiko (with chocolate sauce)
Hot Tea
Corn Flakes
Museli
Cheese Sandwich
Cucumber, Tomatoes, and Olives
Chocolate Cereal
Toast with Tapenade
Hot Chocolate
Ham and Egg Scramble
We had lunch in the hotel one day. Just shared an order of the Club Sandwich since we had a big breakfast. The sandwich was good, but the fries stole the show! Those wedges were fried to perfection!! I couldn't stop eating them!
Last night in Santorini. We decided to have a quiet dinner on our terrace. They come and make it look all romantic too. With lanterns and table cloth and stuff. :)
The hotel sent us a gift (Greek olive oil), and complimentary smoothies for our last day.
Everyone at the hotel are super sweet. I miss them so much.
Breads (with red pepper sauce). We ordered double this time, plus extra sauce. hehe.
Caprese (tomatoes, balsamic, mozzarella, pesto)
Salmon Tagliatelle. We had to get this one more time before we left. Still amazing!
Chicken Fettucine. This was also delicious. They used dark meat chicken so it was super tender. The pasta was perfectly al dente. Yum!!
One of the most fabulous and relaxing stays of my life. I'm so glad I found Dreams Luxury Suites. I highly highly recommend it. Even if you just go for 1-2 nights...it's well worth the money! And I'm glad I chose Imerovigli to stay in. It's much quieter, and the view is just absolutely breathtaking!
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
This past weekend we went to LA for a wedding. Before all the wedding festivities, we went to Redondo Beach with 2 of my friends Saturday morning to do some beach side bike riding and brunch. :) The weather was beautiful and great for riding.
We went to Baleen at The Portofino Hotel for brunch because we all bought a Travelzoo deal. It was $45 for 2 people to have a 3 course brunch with unlimited mimosas or champagne. Amazing deal!! Unlimited mimosas?!?
Baleen @ The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club
260 Portofino Way
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 372-1202
http://www.hotelportofino.com/
After riding we arrived at the hotel like 20 minutes earlier than our reservation but were seated immediately. The hostess was super nice. We were seated upstairs by the window and it overlooks the dock with all the sailboats. It was so nice and bright by the water...perfect for brunch!
Everyone got a mimosa except me. I opted for orange juice which were freshly squeezed and so refreshing! I don't like champagne so I don't care for mimosas. The orange juice was sooo fresh and yummy!
First Course --
I got the Strawberry & Yogurt Parfait (honey, lemon & granola).
It was a nice portion..full of toasted granola and fresh strawberries. The yogurt itself wasn't very sweet so the honey and granola added just enough sweetness to the dish. I really liked the pumpkin seeds in the granola as well. It was fresh and actually quite filling!
Crisp Calamari (lemon, smoky cocktail & tartar).
The presentation was really cute with the mini fryer basket. The calamari was fried well and had good flavor. It was pretty standard.
Smoked Salmon (crostini, Boursin, tomato, red onion & caper).
My friend thought this was amazing. The salmon was smokey and paired well with the cheese and crostini. It was definitely the best deal out of the starters. I'm not a fan of smoked salmon but my friend said it was really great. The Boursin cheese however, was phenomenal. I've never had this cheese before, and I'm not big on eating cheese on its own but I can eat spoonfuls of this on its own. It was creamy and milky and divine. I will definitely go get some of this cheese next time I go to a dinner party or something.
Main Course --
Fish Tacos (seared Snapper, cabbage slaw, avocado, Pico de Gallo, cilantro).
You get 3 tacos on corn tortilla. I only tried a bite of the fish which was cooked nicely. My friend liked it a lot.
Steak Frites (hanger steak, fries, arugula salad & housemade steak sauce).
This is what I got. It was a huge plate! I don't usually eat this much food for lunch! I ordered it medium rare but I think because it was so thin, it was a bit more cooked through than medium rare. But the flavor was great. It was definitely seasoned well. One of my friends ordered this as well. He ordered the steak medium but it was definitely overcooked...kinda dry. He still liked the flavors though. And neither of us cared too much for the steak sauce.
Huevos Redondos (black bean quesadilla, fried eggs, avocado, romesco, feta, cilantro).
My bf ordered this. I really liked it which was surprising because it was corn tortillas layered in there. I don't like corn tortillas at all and this was the first time I didn't mind it being in a dish! The combination of the beans, tortilla, avocado and sauce was great. YUM!! Without meat, it was still a very hearty dish.
Sweet (to share) --
One dessert is shared between 2 people and there were only 2 choices on the menu so we got one of each.
Chocolate Macadamia Torte (chiantilly cream & raspberries).
I really enjoyed the dark chocolate sauce on the plate, not too sweet and quite decadent. The chiantilly cream was also great on the torte. The torte itself was good but I wanted it to be a bit more fudgy. There was too much chopped nuts in there for me.
Lemon Meringue Pie (white chocolate anglaise).
I saw on online reviews that this was the dessert everyone raved about. I don't care for lemon desserts but this was awesome. I definitely preferred it over the chocolate torte which was surprising. First of all, the presentation was adorable and clean. I loved the torched little dome of meringue on top of the pie. And I really liked the fact that it was a mini pie, not a slice cut from a bigger pie. The meringue was fluffy and not too sweet. The lemon pie was velvety and fantastic. Just the perfect amount of sweet and tart. The white chocolate anglaise on the plate was a nice additional flavor to it all. I would sooo have this dessert again. I was already so full but I ate most of this myself! :p
I had read iffy reviews on Baleen about the quality of their food and service so I was a bit nervous since we already purchased the coupon. But I don't know what those people are talking about. We had a fantastic time! The hostess and waiters/waitresses were all super nice and accommodating. The food overall was very enjoyable with some hints of greatness (like the lemon meringue pie) hehe. The Travelzoo deal was amazing! And we definitely got our money's worth and MORE! Between my bf and 2 other friends, I think they had 20 glasses of mimosas or more... Hahaha! OMG!
It was a beautiful relaxing day to hangout with my friends and enjoy some good food. That's how vacation should be!! I would recommend Baleen for a relaxing brunch any time. :)
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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