Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Morgans Hotel Group Global Card Review

Here's a breakdown of the perks that Morgans Hotel Group Global Card holders are supposed to enjoy:

 Dedicated concierge to assist you with all of your needs before and during your stay
· Complimentary night at all of our new hotel openings around the world
· $100 in US Hotels or £100 in UK hotels for a standard room if available after 10PM
· Upgrades to the best available hotel accommodations upon arrival which include specialty suites
· Invitations to exclusive Global Card events, openings and special events throughout the year
· Access to all of our pools and beaches
· 20% discount at our Agua Spas
· Complimentary In Room Internet
· Complimentary Local Phone/Fax
· Late Check out
· Early Check-in
· Priority Check-in
· Direct escort to room
· Express check out
· Pre arrival email for Special Requests
· Customized Room
· Arrival/Welcome Gift
· Morning Newspaper
· Complimentary Gym Access
· Online Profile Management
· Access to Redemption Partners
· Access to Exclusive Offers
· Reservation Guarantee
· Direct Access to CEO


Pierre Gagnaire's Sketch Restaurant In London


Sketch is Famous French chef Pierre Gagnaire's signature restaurant in London. It actually consists for three different restaurants: Gallery, The Lecture Room and Parlour. Parlour is the more relaxed option while The Lecture Room features a tasting menu. I had the chance to eat at Gallery which is their "middle ground" option last weekend. Although the food didn't live up to my high expectations, I absolutely loved the experience. Above this text is a picture of my starters: the "Pollock". Below is a picture of my main course which was scallops with truffles. Both were good but not that original in my opinion.

Hakkasan Hanway Place London


Last summer, I reviewed the Hakkasan restaurant located at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. I absolutely loved their food so it only seemed logical during my recent my week-end in London to have dinner at one of their London locations which, in my case, happened to be the Hanway Place one.

Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that the restaurant was almost identical to its sister location in Miami for the setting there is absolutely stunning. I had their Dim-Sum platter which were tender and perfect:

Monday, November 14, 2011

Three Burgers In London


As I was using a prepaid Three UK sim card during my trip to London, I thought I should review Three hamburger joints there!

How To Officially Unlock Your iPhone


If you're amongst the lucky ones that are able to have their carrier officially unlock their iPhones, here's a quick tip as to how to properly do it. As a matter of fact, some carriers will send you unclear instructions once your unlocking request has been approved.

There are two ways to use an unlocked iPhone: you can either re-activate it every time you insert a new sim card in it or unlock it for good so you won't have to go through the process of activation ever again.

Here's the breakdown:

Prepaid iPhone Plans In The UK


As I'm still crusading against French mobile carriers outrageous data roaming plans, here comes the latest addition to my list of prepaid iPhone plans to use abroad. Three UK has amazing prepaid plans amongst which the "All In One 15" is a great option. For £15 you get 300 voice minutes to the UK, 3000 texts within the UK and unlimited data valid for 30 days.

Data configuration and APN are automatic which means you won't need to download any custom profile file and/OR manually set the APN. It will just work right out of the box. So if you're traveling to the UK, you know what to do (make sure your iPhone is unlocked beforehand). I have nothing more to add! For more details regarding their other prepaid plans click here.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Speed Burger Strasbourg Review


Now that Speed Burger has a joint in Strasbourg, I had to try it out. I can't believe they opened shop two weeks ago and I didn't know! So, here comes my relatively late review.

First of all, you need to know that Speed Burger has many locations in France and specializes in home deliveries, an unexplained rarity in France and particularly in Strasbourg. Doesn't it feel great to know you can pick up the phone and just order a burger that will be delivered to your home in less than thirty minutes?

So, how was the service and food?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

BagelAvenue Review (Strasbourg, France)


I tried this new Bagel joint in Strasbourg last night and must say that I was impressed with the quality of their bagels, the friendly service and their wide selection of products.

Bagel Avenue promises a great Bagel experience and delivers it! In addition to classic Bagels, they offer great hot Bagels as well as wraps. Their smartest move, in my opinion, is to serve Coffee in paper cups à la Starbucks Coffee in a city where such Hollywood-created mimetic craving is hard if not impossible to satisfy. I can't wait to try out some of their Frappuccinos to see for myself how they compare to my all time favorite Grande Caramel Frappucino with whipped cream at Starbucks Coffee!

Let me end this review by saying that they also feature great American desserts and sweets such as cheese cake, Donuts, Brownies, Whoopies, Cookies etc. On the soft drink side of things, they also have root beer and Dr. Pepper. And last but not least: HOME DELIVERY IS AN OPTION!

Their menu (in French) is here!

Hack Of The Day: The Best & Cheapest Dictation Setup


So, you're still using microcassettes for dictation and you feel voice recognition isn't reliable enough to switch your entire dictation strategy to Dragon dictation? Problem is your microcassette player or recorder is dying and replacing or upgrading your whole dictation setup at work looks more expensive than buying Mac Pros for everyone. Digital dictation devices are, indeed, extremely expensive and impractical at best with the need to connect them via USB to a base station to send files.