Today we’re going to talk about food. This pregnant lady loves food. In fact, before I was pregnant I loved food and I will continue to love food when I am no longer pregnant. I do believe I have an extra special place in my heart currently for all things delicious. I’m hungry all the time! Since I recently ate my way through Europe, I thought I’d share some of my bites with y’all!
London
First stop, London! My first meal in London had to be a classic. I decided to go with fish and chips!
Since it’s a London staple and I love fish, this was right up my alley. It was HUGE. We’re talking Texas-size portions y’all. I’m not sure I even ate half, but it left plenty for JP to try. He’s very good at making me look like I ate most of my meal.
Time to talk about my most favorite meal of the day, breakfast! Across the street from our hotel was a cafe called Petit Dejeuner. It’s probably my favorite place ever. One word. Carbs. The basic breakfast came with a hot coffee drink, orange juice, a regular or chocolate croissant, and assorted bread. To make it even better, they also have their own homemade spreads and jams.
We ended up going back again for our last breakfast because I liked it so much. The second time I had to get another London staple, porridge! I opted to add bananas and honey. Yum!
Moving right on to my second favorite meal of the day, dessert! We made it to Hummingbird Cafe for cupcakes and I knew right away I needed a Nutella cupcake. It was an excellent decision. JP and I also decided to share this amazing brownie sundae on our last evening in London. I will never say no to brownies smothered in chocolate, ice cream and whipped cream.
Overall, the food in London wasn’t anything out of the extraordinary. I didn’t necessarily expect it to be the best, but Paris…I had high expectations!
Paris
And Paris lived up to them! Breakfast every day, carbs galore. Croissants, toast, jam, coffee. It never gets old. My butt may beg to differ 😉
We ate most of our meals at lovely little cafes, sitting outside, enjoying the sunshine. Salads, sandwiches, more bread!
Onto my favorite two restaurants. The first is called Le Campanella found near the Eiffel Tower. We wandered around a bit near the tower before stumbling on a place that was crowded, but not too crowded. I wanted to make sure it was good based on the number of people there since we apparently were still early by European standards (7:30pm). It ended up being delicious. I ordered the salmon and for dessert, we had the most amazing chocolate eclair. It sounds simple, but it was so good I never even got a picture of it. That’s saying something!
The other delicious dinner was recommended to us by my Norwegian sister Charlotte! It’s called Les Fous de L’ile. Their menu is unique as everything is the same price. You can choose to order an entree only, a starter and an entree, an entree, and a dessert, or go big and get all three. JP decided to get the starter and I got the dessert! My iPhone pictures aren’t the best, but you get the gist. I had salmon and scallops with polenta. For dessert, we decided to do their tasting platter to try a little bit of each!
Since dessert was so small, I decided that ice cream was necessary. And we stumbled upon a gelato place that made their cones like flowers. It was awesome. And so yummy!
Some other things we truly enjoyed in Paris were crepes and of course wine! Well, one of us enjoyed the wine. The other one sulked and wished she could drink wine. But luckily, this little girl is so worth it to me! Plus, I get to enjoy more crepes and gelato this way!
Austria
Moving right along to Austria. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about Austrian food. I’m not a sausage or fried food kind of girl, but oh my goodness it was amazing!
The first night I had asparagus and leek dumplings in cream of asparagus soup. The perfect way to begin Austria.
Pretzels and apple strudel were two must-haves on my list of things to eat. We succeeded within our first few days there! They didn’t disappoint.
At this point in the trip I had been drinking nothing but water (and some coffee) and lots of it. Now don’t get me wrong, water is very important, especially for a pregnant woman, but I really needed a little variety. Austria has a special lemonade that was created in Salzburg called Almdudler. It has a little fizz and is flavored with herbs. I was a fan and had two while we were in Salzburg! JP enjoyed all the different beers Austria had to offer. Since he’s a beer kind of guy, he loved being able to sit outside, relax, enjoy the weather and drink a beer.
Another evening in Salzburg, I had to try some schnitzel. The restaurant we went to actually had chicken schnitzel which was great for me! Those who aren’t familiar with schnitzel, it is usually served as a thin cut of veal or pork lightly battered and fried with cranberry sauce and potatoes on the side!
We also had to try the official dessert of Salzburg (since y’all know how I feel about dessert), the Salzberger Nockerl. It was huge! Our waiter served it to us before I could get a good picture of it, but it’s a soufflé type dessert that is supposed to resemble the hills/mountains of Salzburg. It was light, fluffy and delicious.
Our first dinner in Vienna may be my favorite meal of the whole trip. I had two spinach and other veggies dumplings and two minced meat dumplings on top of sweet white sautéed cabbage. The restaurant was recommended to us by our hotel concierge and I would go back in a heart beat. Am Nordpol 3, look it up. It’s ranked #67 of 3,027 restaurants in Vienna. That’s a good sign if you ask me!
Like I said, I ate my way through Europe. Good thing we were constantly on the move! Here are some tips I have for eating and finding restaurants while traveling:
- Pack some breakfasts to go. You don’t have to spend money on breakfast every day. We actually didn’t though it may seem like we did! Pack some protein bars, breakfast bars and take advantage of fresh fruit that your hotel may offer complimentary like apples, etc.
- Bring snacks. You don’t want to pay for food every time you get a little hungry. This is especially important when traveling while pregnant. Our best snack decision was trail mix. I got a traditional trail mix bag from Walmart and added a few extras to make it better. Extra almonds, banana chips, and chocolate chips are the way to go!
- Use Trip Advisor and your hotel’s concierge for dinner recommendations. We did this in both Paris and Vienna and neither disappointed!
- If it’s crowded and popular, it’s probably good. When walking around for lunch, we would often choose locations based on how many people were there. If there were quite a few then it was probably a good choice.
- Sometimes eating a sandwich on the go or grabbing a bite from food carts is a great idea! We could have done this more if I didn’t genuinely need a place to sit down and rest for lunch most days.
- Always enjoy dessert. You’re on vacation. Don’t skip it. Just walk a little further 🙂
