ATL: A VERY BRIEF AFFAIR

LAST VISITED MAY 2014

I went to visit some family out in Atlanta for the first time, spending most of my time hanging out with my cousin’s newborn, who is an absolute delight. The strangest thing I found about this place (which I guess is typical of big main cities in the States) is that NOBODY WALKS. The only people my sister and I encountered on the sidewalk were builders – my plans of capturing streetstyle in ATL were fruitless needless to say.

There were a couple of things on my list – the usual suspects like the World of Coca-Cola, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site and High Museum and other spots  like local boutique Ann Mashburn. However, I ended up just really spending time with the fam bam, doing what we do best…EATING.

Went to a couple of different spots including:

MANDARIN ORIENTAL: although we stayed at the Hyatt, we ended up having breakfast at the Mandarin almost every day. Didn’t tire of the chicken sausage, turkey bacon, scrambled eggs and biscuits I ordered every time. Excellent service too

Image from Mandarin Oriental

TOMO: pretty good Japanese spot in Peachtree and decently priced too; a Bento box for about $10 (soup, salad, 4 pc california roll, seaweed salad, yakisoba)

Image from Tomo Restaurant

KING + DUKE: located in upmarket Buckhead and voted one of the best restaurants in the States by GQ magazine. I wouldn’t go that far (I ate at better restaurants in  SF) but they do serve good fare here;  particularly liked the yorkshire pudding basket  in place of the run off the mill bread basket. It’s also got a cool vibe to it and has outdoor seating, which always endears me to a place. This is the latest venture from Ford Fry who also owns the well known JCT Kitchen, No. 246, The Optimist and St. Cecilia. Average cost for a main meal is c.$24

Image from King + Duke

I’ll need to go back to Atlanta and do a proper tourist visit and check out the food scene more, it seems like in the next couple of years, there may be a spurt of some really interesting restaurants.