Hotel Milano Scala

Morning has arrived and as expected, we were still hungry from last night.

One of the reasons we were staying at the Hotel Milano Scala was that they are a green hotel. Another one? Their breakfast spread!

We sat down by the library and while we were serenaded by Sunday morning music, we feasted on meats and cheeses, fruits and pastries, the yellow-est eggs we have ever seen and cappuccino.

What a way to start our day in Milan!

First Meal in Milan

We landed in Milan pretty late so by the time we cleared passport control, struggled to get train tickets on the Malpensa Express, and walked over to the hotel on the cobblestones, we were ready for some dinner.

Room service was already closed and the google results were incorrect about what was still open due to summer vacation hours, so we asked the front desk where we can find some late night eats.

They sent us down a cute street and our first official meal here was GELATO!

Amorino had the typical selections we have in LA. It was definitely pretty as they scooped it like a flower and the quality was pretty great too. Not sure if it was also because we were starving.

Anthony got the blueberry cheesecake with black cherry and I got the pistachio with a chocolate macaron.

We were still hungry when we left but it will tide us over until breakfast.

Last meal in Dublin for the Parents

OMG.. there are no words… one Michelin star restaurant.. with wine pairings… 

feast your eyes on the following menu…

Yum is all we can say for Chapter One…Homer! Don’t fill up on bread!!! But the onion brioche was soooo good! Oh and that Irish butter…

Pig tail – braised 18 hours, deboned, meat mixed with other meats i.e. bacon, rolled back into a sausage and topped with cooking sauce reduced from 30 liters to one…Lamb three ways. Loin, sweetbread and pressed shoulder. I was not a fan of the pressed shoulder encrusted with mint but the loin was perfectly cooked.

Dessert #1. Not on the menu. Banana ice cream with chocolate sponge cake and Earl Grey ice.

Dessert #2. 

Petite Four and coffee.

The look of pure joy…

Wagamama with Mama


Seven years later, we ate at Wagamama again.  It is just as tasty as I remembered. 


Mom, dad and I split three items: the cha hun, chicken ramen and yasai ramen.

Mom and I agreed that the best was the fried rice.  It is especially fragrant with the fresh spring onions.  Chicken ramen and veggie ramen were ok, both with the typical over cooked top ramen style noodles, just with different proteins.


Anthony ordered the pork ramen, also with over cooked noodles but with a miso broth and Korean style pork belly.

Although not like Los Angeles ramen great, it does a decent job in satisfying the salty craving that only ramen can quench.

Dinner and a Show

Landed in Dublin after 14 hours of traveling. We were so exhausted but can’t sleep yet or else we will take a few days to adjust to GMT.

So we wandered a bit while waiting for my parents to arrive as well – their flight from London was a few hours after ours.


About a mile from our hotel is an open air shopping street like Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. We walked by an old church converted to a restaurant -and recommended by Rick Steve’s Ireland book, and decided that is where we will have dinner.

We managed to snag four seats at the bar since we didn’t make a reservation. Mom got a pineapple juice and dad ordered a glass of Guinness.

I’ve never been a fan of Guinness so I stuck with one of my favs.. Erdinger Dunkel.

Anthony got the beer flight. You can read his reviews on Beer Untappd.


For food, parents got the seafood sampler and the special which was Thai green coconut curry… in a pub… calamari was super bland. Absolutely no flavor in the breading or the squid itself. It felt like eating a rubber band.

Anthony got the fillet sandwich and fries. Fries were great. I didn’t like the sandwich all that much, esp not the dipping sauce.


I went for the beef and Guinness stew. It could go either way as the other foods we ordered didn’t meet expectations but I was gladly surprised. Great beefy flavor.. tough meat. Needed to be braised longer. Puff pastry was nice and flakey. But overall good.


But what we absolutely did not expect were the couple of dancers touring with River Dance! They were aaaaamazing!!!!

WordPress wouldn’t let me upload the video and I don’t have time to figure it out so you can see it here.

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