Reflections at Porto

The rooftops of Porto stood out for me. I did not feel for once that I was in Europe. Instead I felt like I was transported much closer to home.

The green doors and windows, some dilapidated old ruins happily coexisting against multicoloured pretty buildings in the historic city with the river Duoro passing lazily through it just made me feel so nostalgic about my birth city Kolkata. Not that I have lived there for too long, but a certain snapshot of memory from my childhood (age 2 or 3 perhaps) comes to mind. Sitting on the edge of the terrace wall of my grandparent's (rather old) four storied apartment building, looking down at other rooftops, I think I felt very much like I was at the top of the world.

It is fascinating how the mind makes connections. How we draw parallels between something old and new in a single breath. How we see the world around us, the way we want to see it. The way it makes sense to us. And the fact that each of us are seeing a different world through the filtered lens of our individual experiences.

There is always a lot to sit and reflect about, and the many cafes of Porto make it quite easy to pause every now and then and take that very required life changing sip of coffee.

I was amazed at the variety of savoury and sweet snacks that was available at any local confeitaria as well. Casually walking into any local bakery was a delightful experience in itself. I will most certainly want to go back to Porto again some time, if just to eat great food, and experience a strange sense of familiarity in a city I am most definitely a stranger.

Sell Coffee, not your soul

Peter's own borough - 101

It has taken me a while to get to this post. I have been going through a sinusoidal wave of high and low and before I could put one thought down, it virtually evaporated into a feeling which was exactly opposite of the first one. Making it very hard indeed to put something coherent down.

Anyways, I had previously promised to bring you a few glimpses of Peter's own borough and today I am finally ready to share these local stories with you.

November last year, while searching for ingredients for our first house warming, we came across this Turkish place called Bodrum. This little cafe+take-away joint is situated on Lincoln Road, a road which has a lot of diverse food places. ( I have tried the Afghan place called Kabul, which I absolutely love, and have the Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian restaurant next on my list of places to try).

But coming back to Bodrum, we really liked this little place. We reached there all tired and exhausted, and were instantly rejuvenated by their warm smiles and service. The best part about this place is that they serve Lahmachun (thin crispy Turkish Pizza) which is one of my favourite. They also serve you Turkish tea for free with your food. And to top it all the prices are very reasonable.

Unfortunately although Lincoln Road has a lot of potential, I don't think it is marketed very well. Even the look and feel of the road is not really maintained. As such not many people seem to want to go there. In general the attitude of people in this city is to order take away and so there are loads of take-away options. But some of these take away joints are actually good or at least quite different places to visit as well. And I would recommend giving it a shot once in a while!

My hunt for cafes got interrupted since December owing to my whirlwind tour across India, and then coming back and rejoining work. The last few weeks have been frantic at work, and the weekends were pretty much spent recuperating.

But there is this place that I pass by every day while walking to and from work, and their inviting black board which reads 'Homemade soup and Cheese scones for £2.75' always made me want to go in and take a look. The problem is that I walk so fast, that I had never really looked in properly, because if I had, I would have gone back to it sooner than waiting until yesterday.

But yesterday morning, the first thing that I wanted to do when I woke up was to walk down to this place. It is called MD's Coffee and is situated on New Road very close to the Market way. The cafe has a Mediterranean feel to it, and has a variety of sandwiches and breakfast options to choose from. They also do Turkish coffee, bubble tea, Iced chai, Matcha tea, fresh orange or carrot juice and a good cappuccino as well.

I stuck to my initial reason to go in, and had the soup of the day with bread filled with Feta cheese (they had run out of scones). The food was good and filling. And the ambience inside the coffee shop is quite nice as well. There are plenty of scarves, lamps, embroidered cushion covers etc. on sale which to me looked like have been brought over from Turkey perhaps.
It is a nice place to catch up with a friend on a winter morning or perhaps to slow down for a few minutes on the way to work.

Speaking of my walk to work, that in itself is a separate story to tell one day. But for now I will leave you all with my 'current' nomination of one-stop Peterborough:

Sunday Roast                       - Fox and Hounds, Longthorpe
Catching up with girlfriend    - The Boathouse
First Pub of a night out          - Charters
Last Pub of a night out          - North Street Bar
Comfort food                         - Kabul (Afghan place)
Junk food cravings                - Pizza Santino


Have a wonderful Sunday!

Sell Coffee, not your soul