Day 24 Part 2 – #Connections
20 April 2015
Lake Como
After the boat ride we headed to Agriturismo Barcola, an Italian restaurant off the beaten track. It looked more of a farm house than a restaurant from the outside, quite cosy and inviting. Alfred said that he usually ate here with his boss. We were after some authentic Italian cuisine and that is what we got. First course was two pasta dishes, one spaghetti carbonara and the other, penne arrabiata. Both dishes were very simple, just the pasta and the sauce, it didn’t have too many ingredients that would have spoiled the dishes completely. The main course was even more authentic, maybe a little too much. We were served some grilled chicken with potatoes which was delicious… the other, steak tartare with potatoes. I’ve never had steak tartare before. It looked like uncooked mince beef when it hit the table. I was up for trying it though. I squeezed some lemon on it, spread some of the meat on the bread and ate it. It wasn’t so bad. The meat wasn’t greasy, only a subtle taste of raw beef. Wifey only tasted a little. Would I eat it again? Perhaps not. Apparently it was customary to drink a shot of very strong espresso after a meal but I was not into drinking coffee and so the waitress looked at me funny when I passed on the order of coffee. I should have said “Mi dispiace” or “I’m sorry” in Italian.
Feeling super full from the meal we went back to their place to freshen up and then headed to Switzerland for some shopping. They lived so close to the border, didn’t take that long until we crossed it. They took us to FoxTown, an outlet centre where signature brands sold their items cheaper than retail. Wifey was still after a bag, she wasn’t sure which one and so we browsed through many stores without luck. She didn’t find out that she liked. I however found a cheap orange Polo t-shirt :). I wasn’t really into this brand but this was 1) cheap and 2) fit perfectly :).
Back to Como once more at their place to rest as it had been a pretty full-on morning. After a couple of hours of napping, we got our luggage ready as we weren’t going to be sleeping at their place that night. To our surprise they took us to a cute studio apartment (click the link for photos) within the city centre. It was a room complete with its own kitchen and bathroom. The bedroom was above the ceiling. They bought it as an investment property and rented it to tourists via Airbnb. We were very impressed 🙂 definitely would recommend it to our friends.
As I mentioned, the apartment was only a stone’s throw away from the city centre. We walked to a Japanese restaurant, Yama-Sushi. It was all-you-can-eat for €19.90 per person. Apparently we had to order in one go what we wanted although we weren’t clear with the rules as we ordered probably three times during the night. Luckily our waitress was Filipino and that Katrina knew her #connections. The sushi was delicious, it was prepared well. For dessert, we walked back to the city centre and ordered some gelato. Once again, the server was Filipino and our friends knew them again (Como was a small town and apparently full of Filipinos!) and so we got an extra scoop for free #winning. It was dark already and the lights of the houses by the lake created a pretty view during our stroll on our last night in Como.
Cheerio,
Jeeps
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