Inevitably, Bruce completely loved everything about Eleven Madison Park. He loved WD~50 too, but says it was the service that really set EMP apart... particularly the "captain", who was in charge of our group of six tables. Personally, I preferred the sommelier... we both agreed that he was very dishy!
Ridiculous things that occurred during dinner:
We were given an envelope on arrival and a letter opener - this contained two cards for us to punch out our preferred flavour (cherry, strawberry, celery or coffee). This selection determined what flavour soda accompanied the deli sandwich course and also the sauce that came with the baked alaska at the end of the meal. Turns out coffee soda is absolutely delicious.
Each course comes with a mini speech from the waiter about what this has to do with New York. The overwhelming majority of ingredients are from New York state, with the exception of the English peas.
They made a Waldorf salad tableside, including cutting and grating the apple (in a fancy antique grater) . This replaces the well-known (if you read all the food blogs) carrot tartare course.
They kept bringing things out to show us... pig's bladder in which the asparagus was cooked, whole duck with all the spices and lavender, baked alaska (for tableside flaming) etc. Either they are showing the same duck to a lot of tables and secretly munching on the leftover baked alaska in the kitchen, or there's a whole lot of food waste going on here.
They have their own beer brewed for the picnic cheese course.
The promised magic trick did not materialise.
The restaurant has a complicated system of hand gestures and a designated priority/route for staff - I quite enjoyed trying to decipher this.
If you get up to go to the restroom, they don't just shake out and refold your napkin. They bring a totally fresh one.
Apparently if you aren't developing a good rapport with your waiter, they will switch so you have someone else. I kind of wanted to be really difficult and grumpy with them to see if we would get a switch!
The bill was handwritten, in the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen.
Some annoying observations:
Why do all fancy restaurants have oyster on the tasting menu?! I tried it at WD~50 (being brave and trying things I don't eat because I think I hate them)... absolutely horrifically revolting! At EMP, I got them to switch it for me.
The seating at both WD~50 and EMP was nice, but my feet didn't touch the floor. It's like no one ever thinks about the short people out there... my solution would be to put a foot rest bar on the bench seating - problem solved! Someone needs to sort this out, especially when the meal takes such a long time.
The restroom at EMP was sub-standard for the star rating. Apparently the men's was super nice, but the ladies was distinctly average. Could do better, EMP!
Bruce already wants to go back. At least we have an Alinea reservation for July... which means we will have eaten at four of the top ten restaurants in the world (Dinner and The Ledbury in London being the other two).
"Most major airlines offer non-stop services to [Bermuda]" - well, that's stretching the truth a little (American, US Airways, Delta, Jet Blue, Continental, BA, Air Canada is all) and where would you stop en route?!
"As soon as it starts to rain, Bermudians talk at length about whether it's a passing shower or "tank rain.""... completely accurate, I get super excited when it rains now and immediately put the washing machine and dishwasher on!
"You won't get very far in Bermuda until you learn the unwritten rule of greeting complete strangers with a "Good Morning" or a "Good Afternoon," followed quickly with "How are you?""... completely accurate... I've seen a bus driver refuse to give tourists directions until they said Good Afternoon; it was super awkward.
"Locals love reading the marriage and death notices in the paper, as weddings and funerals are huge affairs with plenty of gate-crashers. It doesn't matter whether you know the person or not, it is simply assumed that any church service has an open door policy." ... Erica, is this true?!
We are off to New York on Saturday to celebrate Bruce's 30th - all very exciting as it's our first off island trip and I haven't been shopping for three whole months. Today we had our pre-dining email from Eleven Madison Park reminding us that we will be having an "extended tasting menu" and that dinner will last approximately 210 minutes...
Last time I sat through quite such a lengthy dinner with Bruce was on our honeymoon at Ossiano in Dubai and I found it incredibly frustrating that you basically had to wait 15 - 20 minutes for each mouthful of food. I was sorely tempted to ask if they would mind bringing three courses at once. Naturally, Bruce loved it.
So, anyway, I've learned my lesson regarding excessively long "dining experiences" so here are my top tips for getting through it:
Have a reasonable lunch... it might be a long meal, but it's unlikely to be filling for at least the first 120 minutes
Store up some conversation topics... 210 minutes is a really long time
Ideally, go with more than one person
Wear a comfortable dress (I made that mistake last time)
Ditto with shoes
Wear a watch so you can check how you're doing for time
Bruce assures me that Eleven Madison Park will actually be amazing, but, then again, me agreeing to sit through it without complaining is his 30th birthday present (plus he gets 45 minutes in a huge board game shop in NYC) and let's not forget that he loved Ossiano anyway!
Apparently Eleven Madison Park do magic tricks at your table and, at the end of the meal, they leave you with a bottle of cognac... how bad can it be?!
I hated learning to drive in the UK and I haven't driven a car since I passed my test (which I did only on an automatic anyway and that was 5 years ago!). Bermuda does not recognize overseas driving licences, so we have to take the tests again over here to drive a car/scooter. This involves the following:
Download an application form and a form for your doctor to fill out
Go to your Bermudian doctor and get them to fill out the form - this includes checking your eyes, listening to your chest etc... pretty thorough! That bit also costs $90.
Get a copy of the Traffic Code Handbook - which is only available from the Traffic Control Department... which isn't in the centre of town (i.e. hard to get to if you don't drive!).
Learn the contents of the book, which, firstly, does not cover every question you could get on the theory test, and, secondly, includes some pretty major left/right errors. I studied a lot for the test (well, I don't have much else to do) and I know I didn't get 100% on my test - apparently the correct response to someone cutting in in front of you is to get their license plate number, rather than do not retaliate. The TCD Handbook tells you not to retaliate, but apparently that's not the right answer in the exam.
Go to the TCD (not in the centre of town) to sit the theory test, then queue up to pay for your learner's licence and then queue up for a third time to get your photo taken for the licence. All in all, that took about 2 hours (the test took me about 10 minutes).
Now we can learn to drive... but it turns out that driving instructors will only pick you up from TCD for lessons... argh! So to get to a driving lesson from home, I would need to leave about an hour and a half to be sure to get to my lesson on time...
Another brilliantly frustrating rule is that you can only hire a small bike unless you have a licence and you can't buy one at all until you have a licence. But to be able to ride a bike over 50ccs, you have to take your test on one... which is at TCD on the outskirts of town. This means you 1) can't practice for your test unless you have a nice friend who will let you borrow their bike and practice at TCD on a weekend (but they would have to ride it there for you), and 2) have to borrow one for your test and get someone to ride it there for you. NIGHTMARE.
Although Bermuda is meant to be more English than England - due to the overt politeness... you can say thank you about five times just to buy a stamp - I reckon it's actually much more American than British. Sure, they drive on the left, the road signs are like British ones (although there is a cool one for warning golf carts, which I've never seen in the UK!) and the post boxes are red, but apart from that, it is very American:
We're spending dollars - and yes they are Bermudian dollars, but it's a 1:1 conversation with USD and you can spend US dollars here too.
We walk along the sidewalk, call people on their cellphones, order appetizers and entrees in restaurants... but I think a tap is still a tap... I've never really worked out if in a restaurant (even in the US) you can ask for "faucet water"? Does anyone know?! If not, I might have to try it.
Almost all the food in the supermarket is from the US, although there are some UK brands around too (we randomly have Asda horseradish sauce and harissa paste).
The regular English cheddar (which costs about $7) is absolutely revolting.
If you're flying to the US, you clear US customs here, so you're treated as a domestic arrival when you land.
The TV is American - ours thinks it's in Florida (Florida local news seems to be a whole lot more dramatic).
.... oh and the other day Bruce felt the need to explain to me that a flight from Bermuda to Washington DC was an international flight.... unlike London to Madrid.
Bermuda is, without doubt, the most religious country I have ever been to. There are more churches per capita than anywhere else in the world here and for a huge selection of Christian denominations - and they seem to be really well attended as well. We have had a few slightly awkward conversations with locals who clearly fully expect us to be churchgoers - even Bruce's boss was encouraging us to go to his church.
There's also a HUGE selection of bibles, bible covers and religious texts in the bookstore - and you can even get religious crossword puzzles and wordsearches. It's not rare to see someone reading the bible on the bus, or working their way through a biblical wordsearch.
The other day some Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on the door and I had a very awkward chat with them - I said I was an atheist and the response I got was "But you do believe in God, right?", whilst gesturing to the trees and the clear blue sky. Cue a rather awkward pause. In the end, I took a leaflet on stress and they went on their way.
I have a shark phobia and, at the same time, a strange fascination with them. I have a feeling it all began when I watched Deep Blue Sea - terrifying. In my second year of university, I watched a Channel 5 programme called Shark Attack - Live! which was on every night for a week. That programme showed not only a ton of shark attack footage, but also explained how they eat you (either they grab you and shake you to death, or they pick off your limbs one by one - either way, pretty scary). As a result, I am very cautious about swimming in the sea and won't go deeper that shoulder height - a rule I also impose on Bruce.
Clearly, this might be an issue in Bermuda, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that there hasn't been a shark attack off Bermuda in the past 50 years. Now that should set my mind at rest... except...
Speaking to Bruce's boss about my shark fears, he reassuringly informed me that he has been on the island for more than 10 years, and has only seen a shark ONCE. Bruce immediately told him that my reaction would have been much better if he had just said he had never seen a shark.
At the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, one of the exhibits allows you to experience a shark attack. Why on earth would anyone want to do that?
The supermarket's website includes a link to Lindos Shark Tracker... it turns out they sponsored a tiger shark being tracked, along with a load of other Bermudian companies... argh! According to Wikipedia, "the tiger shark is responsible for a large percentage of fatal attacks and is regarded as one of the most dangerous shark species". Plus, in Hawaii, these sharks have been seen in water as shallow as 10 feet.
So I think my fear of the sharks lurking in the sea waiting to eat me is totally justified. But for some reason, Bruce thinks it is completely ridiculous that I am a bit scared there's a shark in our swimming pool...
... that is not as stupid as it sounds. Our swimming pool is painted black rather than blue, so when you are in it, it is basically as though you are just swimming in inky black water (i.e. the sea at night) and who knows what is hiding in there! Also, it's quite deep so I can't actually put my feet on the bottom...
In general, the cars here are quite entertaining - we reckon about 20% of the cars on the road are Kia Sportage, which is almost as huge as a Jeep Patriot (and there are lots of those too). In any event, a huge contrast to what we'll be buying... something as small as possible so that we (Bruce) can actually park it.
That said, we have spotted a lot of "really cool" cars driving around - mix and match colour combos, amazing numberplates (we will have to get one that has a blue picture of the island in the background and "Another World" written across it) and so on. But the most entertaining part is that it seems to cool to have words across the part of the windscreen across the top (where the tinted bit would be) - I tried to Google what the name of that is, but with no luck. Anyway, some of our favourite sightings to date include:
Peace and Love... Right On!
STATUS (that guy thought he was super cool)
She's Royal (that one is also half purple and half black and also looks like it has writing across the side
In His Time (presumably that's God's time)
It's a Family Affair
Pumpkin Girl (inexplicable!)
Don't Worry, God is in Control (on a bumper sticker)
Do you think Bruce would let me put one on our car.... perhaps saying "Meeeeeoooow"?
