Bongiorno (Michalovce)

Mid-October is that part of the year with the attribute "nothing special". It's not "summer", neither "winter", it's not "hot", neither "cold". It gets darker, rainier, but not usually not too much. Even the "Birthday season" is at its end, with just a few more people celebrating in that deaf period just after the "9 months since Christmas" (like Juro S. Congratz again Juro!). So in total, a dead, boring month with not much going on, which makes October the...

...SPECIAL MONTH! Paradox, isn't it, but than - when else is a better time to go home to meet your friends and family?! Yes, October is your guy! People for once settle into their conventional routine (which is very unconventional), flight tickets are cheap and let's face it: you're also bored to hell.

That was the case for me and my trip to Slovakia, 14-18th of October 2016. Well, I was not literally bored, but it started to be dark, cold and wet outside, I could no longer play on the streets, Toastmasters competition and treasurer obligations were mostly over, and it just felt like a good time to see some old friends :-)

I kind of got used to getting maximum out of every vacation or trip. This was not an exception but I still have to write "kind of used to", as the journeys have started to get quite hard-core (or I start to get old). I arrived to Košice airport on Saturday, 1am, on that flight from Bristol which I had taken couple times before. As usual, I fell asleep on the benches and later moved to the comfy couches. Having normally a light sleep, I nonchalantly threw my arm over the backpack thinking "that's good enough, if someone comes around, I'd surely wake up straight away".

I woke up at 4:55 from a weird dream where I could not stop a faulty battery from making a squeaking noise. It was my alarm, which was ringing for 10 minutes already (!!!). The airport was bustling with early flight rush and there were people all around me, but luckily, my bag was there untouched. I called a taxi (there was no public transport till 6ish) and got to the central station, where I had a bit of a breakfast and coffee, before hopping on a train.

Michalovce train station

My first stop was in Michalovce (nicknamed Michigan), where I visited Ondro. He's moved here for an adventurous journey in Teach for Slovakia, a program seeking to make a real difference in the parts of society needing it the most. The organization is very strict in the candidate selection, but it then provides high quality training and mentoring to the successful ones. Ondro's made it, and although it's now super challenging, from what I've seen, he's doing it GREAT, making difference already. Respect and really good inspiration, Ondro :-).

Weird urge to take selfie with Ondro and the oven

Jano, Ondro's brother was also visiting in that time and thus it should be no surprise we ended up making it a bit a of gastrotrip. We all slept till 10am-ish first though, a really vital nap for all 3 of us. We started off with some breakfast, continued almost immediately with a pizza from Bongiorno in local shopping mall, then shopped some amazing home made sausages and "škvarkys" (for more škvarky-related gastro-adventures, please refer to this blog post. Perhaps I should start a "škvarky-hunting" blog) and finished off the details in local grocery store. Only then we were ready for the actual trip to Poloniny, which was the original objective, although we still contemplated a visit to a restaurant with the best name ever: "džazero".


Btw, I have never really mentioned what's škvarky. The English translation seems to be "fried pork rind" and it's kind of a fried fat. But more importantly, as you may have noticed, I mentioned pizza. This was quite unplanned, but once Ondro showed me the Bongiorno pizzeria, there was no escape. We had to order one and thus we gave birth to this pizza hunt. Now, we'll do a simple maths here (perhaps Ondro, you can re-use in school?), and you will see why there was no other option than to get a pizza:

* Pizza in Cardiff: £10.99 ~ 12.5€
* Pizza in Michalovce: 2.99€

YES! You can have more than 4 pizzas in Michalovce for the same price, and that's considering the weak pound exchange rate after Brexit. Not only that though, these were baked in a wood-fired oven, right in front of our eyes. And though it's not always guarantee of a great pizza, you know ;-) it was this time.




We got just one (mind you, we'd just had breakfast! We know, of course, that it's healthy to eat just one pizza after breakfast!), a vegetarian option with broccoli, mushrooms and corn plus Ondro added our favourite garlic oil. I meanwhile went to get some coffee, leaving Ondro and Jano to do some documentation, but I barely got served and they already came with the fresh pizza in their hands. The waitress from the coffee shop came made us a picture - a pizza and a coffee for the second breakfast.

Already looking at the pie one could see a nice texture and a proper baking process. The crust got my interest first, its nice round shape and that desired soft & crispy feeling was the first major point of the pizza. Even better, it kept these properties for much longer and when we later "destroyed" the remaining slices at the start of the Ďurkovec hike few hours later, it still crunched under our teeth as before. The taste of the crust scored a point too, though it did not completely match the best I've ever had (perhaps a little more salt, or better fermentation process?).

Another positive surprise came with the taste of the sauce, which was just great, just as the mozzarella. I think not much more was necessary for a gourmet experience, and I'm sure to have that plain Margherita when I come back one day. This time, we had also the veggies on top and they did not disappoint too, although perhaps pre-cooking and extra seasoning of the mushrooms or broccoli would make it all 10% better. But even like this, I can positively say this was a pizza hunt in my so-far top 10, all for 3.29€ (including take away box): a DAMN good deal!

After this gastro-morning, we finally set off from Michalovce, basically in the direction of the north-east corner of Slovakia. We took a hitchhiker, a young chap who's joined the army. He described to us the life in the barracks and the drills they undergo, e.g. their trainers doing random wake up calls with screaming at 6am. It sounded quite tough, but then, it must be fun as well and a good experience.

We dropped him off in Sobrance and continued north, towards Podhoroď. Jano had an itinerary planned for us, which seemed to go as much off-piste as possible. We stopped at couple lovely wooden churches (think they were in Beňatina and in Inovce), one of them just being decorated by a local. After that Jano led us through a "shortcut" which tested the full potential of Ondro's car's chassis. Jano explained Ukraine is just a couple hundred meters away and that we might later go have a look at the border.

We stopped on the road overlooking a dam (think it was Starina). There was a car parked already and 4 guys were leaning against it, smoking a cigarette. The thing is, there's not really much traffic this far east and even if there is, it's mostly locals. Thus even licence plate starting with LC (for Lučenec, where Ondro is from) raised quite some interest and we heard the oldest saying "Look. Lučenec came." . We than had a brief conversation and I could feel the thoughts in the air after I said "I am from Bratislava". We continued by explaining where we aim to go to which the eldest said "Ohh, but you have to go to Runina! And than up the hill.. You won't make it..." . But I think it was more of a game, perhaps a test, whether "these boys from the west will get discouraged" . We didn't and not much longer later, we stood at the start of Ďurkovec hike in Runina.

Yeah I know, we should have rather called bomb defusers

Poloniny are not a very high mountain range so the hike itself takes just about an hour and half. It leads however through beautiful and quite untouched nature. On an information board we found out that this north-east corner of Slovakia is the only remaining in the country the light pollution still on level zero and where one can see the night sky properly, as it is. Another reason to come back, and make a longer trip along the ridge.

In the saddle

The ridge of Poloniny. Poland on the right, Slovakia on the left

Just amazing...

 


We had a quick snack at the top and then headed down. Jano still planned to take us to the Ukraine border, but we somehow missed the right turn in Ubľa and were driving seemingly nowhere (which, come to think of it, sounds like driving to Ukraine!). We turned around though, and head home, where we re-took the gastro-trip from the morning, with amazing pancakes from nearby restaurant, beer from local "culture bar" and few more snacks back home, before falling asleep, dead.

The next morning, I said the farewells and hopped on a 6am-ish bus to Košice, and later train to Poprad, where I was meeting Dominika, a friend from university. Knowing Dominika, she does not like waking up too early, and thus I appreciated even more that she found the time to meet : -) . I'm not exactly an early bird myself, and thus I fell asleep on the train, almost sleeping through the stop in Poprad! Think I'm no longer that light sleeper I used to be :/

Dominika is doing software analyst in Poprad, which consists of many things we were taught by mr. Plachetka in university - JOIN, LEFT JOIN and sometimes even LEFT OUTER JOIN. More importantly, though, she has a view over Tatra mountains, a perk no company in Bratislava or even London can match. However, we complained together over the fact there's virtually no jobs in the industry where we could do the same things as in uni.

Hm, it might have come through wrong, I guess most readers imagined alcohol and wild parties, thinking "why do you expect someone to pay for that?!". What I meant, though, is devising those nice algorithms full of knights and castles and their proofs which almost magically always tie everything together at the end. Those times were timeless but at least talking about it made me think about making the next "career" step again. Just a shame we forgot to take a picture!

After Poprad, I went to Važec, to meet my parents and see grandma. Although it was a short stop again, it was well worth it. You see, grandma is a special person, she has a gift to tell a story, and not only that. She can tell the same story hundred times and it never bores. I asked again for those from the war-time and made a mental note to record and write everything down the next time.

In Bratislava, I finally slept a full night, which was quite vital, as few hours into the morning I was laying down with my mouth open, teeth under the drill of the dentist. Its a funny thing, this "going to dentist". Nowhere else do you pay so much money for so much suffering. Also every time it's the same story - dentist finds a caries, she drills, you suffer and promise to yourself "I'll never allow that to happen again! From now on, I'll be properly brushing my teeth!" . Then, a week goes, and you eat a box of chocolate and say "what the heck, it does not hurt to skip the brushing once". And before you know it, the dentist is leaning down on you, with the giant drill she's probably bought in Hornbach to fix a kitchen table.

But, OK, now, I will REALLY brush my teeth properly!

  

Bachova crew

In the new Machnáč

With Milka and Andrej junior

In the tight schedule, I managed to fit in a few more encounters in Bratislava. To start with, an old school football at Bachova. Though we were only 4, it was a proper football, which was proven by spilled blood and I still have the souvenir on my elbow. Following was a typical reunion with friends in Machnáč, which was not so typical since the whole place was completely renovated! The next morning I went to see Milka and her new beautiful joy and there was still time for that nice autumn walk with my parents (by the way best parents in the world) by lake Draždiak...

Yes, October might be a boring month. But then, it's up to you: sit bored home, or go visit someone. And chances are that someone will visit you. Perhaps me ;-)

Dough - 9
Ingredients - 7
Sauce - 9
Atmosphere - 6 (this was a takeaway)
Service - 6 (this was a takeaway)

Pizza Express (Cardiff)

After the enormous last post from Whistler, this one will be a fairly short one and keeping straight to the point. So off we go.

We got some 50% off vouchers for Pizza Express and since I've never been there, I figured it would be a great way of combining a romantic evening with Tinka with some pizza hunting. Off course, it was mainly about the romantic evening! :-P .

Actually, (to drift off the main point right at the beginning) I had applied to Pizza Express once, before coming to the UK in September 2015. It was a funny period for me where I kept pondering life choices and contemplated ditching IT for something else, at least for a while. And since I had fun making pizzas the summer of 2012 in US, it seemed like an obvious choice. But since applying for a pizzaiolo position on the internet is like trying to hit on girls with programming jokes (it does not work out and you look like a weirdo), I did not get it. And luckily, I didn't get it, I must say, although I did become a full time pizza chef for a few months. That was, however, in Real Italian Pizza Company, which I found through a really funny coincidence, described in one of the previous posts.

Pizza express remained, though, an unchecked point on my list. On the internet it all seemed very good: "traditional" here, "Italian" there... Furthermore, quite a few colleagues from Real Italian used to work there and thus I felt like checking for myself.

We paid a visit to the branch on Saint Mary street. Though on a mid-week evening, the place was quite full, but then the location by the Castle is simply priceless. The atmosphere inside was quite cozy, although perhaps a little too much, as we sat at the table so close to the old ladies next to us, that we felt like on a family grandma outing (a bit of exaggeration there, but bit of truth too).

We studied the menu - there's quite a few options and even different types of pizza base. The "classic" one is a bit smaller and thicker (though we realized this only once it came) and also less expensive, while the other one (Romana) is, well, the opposite. We decided to try one from each: Classic Soho 65 and Romana Padana. The first one is kind of a typical-ingredient thing with buffalo mozzarella, rocket, parmesan and black olives, while the latter is more of a goat cheese, caramelized onion and garlic oil sorts.

The pizza chef was no longer busy and started our order pretty much straight away, so the "express" part of the restaurant's name definitely ticked the box. Wonder, though, if the same would happen on a busy day, as I heard the trend is to keep the staff on a "just enough" level. On the other hand, the process in Pizza express is much simpler than the one in Real Italian: pizzas are baked on trays, which makes life easier for the chef (e.g. there's no sticking to the stone in the oven), though at the expense of a  less properly baked bottom. Also the ovens are different, so called "deck ovens", stacked on each other, and likewise easier to manage than wood-fired ovens. Finally, many of the ingredients, including the dough, are brought in ready to use, rather then prepped fresh.

We observed the chef a bit and I cannot not comment - he looked a bit sad, like if he was fed up with the job. Of course, it's all speculation but we both felt the same way and, well, sometimes you can literally "taste the chef's mood" in the pizza. The service was better, at least up on the surface but again it felt a bit as if they had enough under the hood. Be it as it was, we smiled for this picture, with all the honesty, as usual.

I started off with Soho 65 while Tinka grabbed Padana. So let's taste that traditional Italian thing that made Pizza Express break through! But already the first bite already hinted I'll write no poems about Pizza Express. I guess the biggest disappointment came from the crust. I truly expected more. Especially the classic, Soho 65 pizza came on a thick, gummy and tasteless base. It could be just a bit undercooked but I think that was only one part of the problem. The crust was simply not enjoyably on its own, and I can imagine it comes down also to the freshness of the dough.

Soho 65

Soho 65 was, however, a disappointment in general. I recall the ingredients there, but the taste was just missing. So was olive oil on the rocket, which ended up quite dry, and just "thrown over". I tried to compensate it with chilli oil, but that one ended up tasteless too, far from what I call spicy. I guess garlic oil would have helped bring in some taste, but it was not around and thus overall this was one of the worst buffala-rocket-parmesan pizzas I've ever had.

Padana

 

On the positive side of things, Padana scored some good points, especially with Tinka, who really loved the caramelized onions, although they too come imported. I liked them as well, especially with the mentioned goat's cheese or garlic oil. Even more important for me, the pizza was bigger, thinner and (perhaps for that reason) more crispy, although there still wasn't any of that nice round tasty crust which I enjoy so much in Real Italian.

What to say in conclusion... I definitely expected more. Although Pizza Express presents itself in superlatives, I could not find any. The price was not among the cheapest (~ £10 - 12 for a pie), quality failing expectations, service trying their best, but yet unimpressive, and pizza chef far from including any enthusiasm as that extra, free, but very vital ingredient. There's quite a few pizzerias in Cardiff and I had just scratched the surface, but one recommendation can be already made. If you find yourself by the castle, head past Pizza Express and turn left at the first junction. You see that church in front of you? Around there you will find Real Italian Pizza Company. And some proper pizza for the same price.

At least we had that romantic evening : -)

Dough - 3
Ingredients - 7
Sauce - 6
Atmosphere - 6
Service - 6