It's that time again: time for my annual round-up of my coffee, food and cocktail favourites of the year. I've used the same categories as last year — coffee, brunch, street food, restaurant and cocktail. And as usual, I've included new-to-me picks from both London and my travels around the world. This year, I visited seven different countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Peru, Poland and the United States) and enjoyed some fantastic meals and cups of coffee.

After experiencing cold, snowy climes on my previous two visits to Washington, DC, I was relieved to find it much warmer when I touched down at Dulles Airport. The metro extension to Dulles still isn't complete, and by the time I'd caught the bus to the end of the silver metro line and then journeyed into the downtown area, the heavens had opened. I checked into my hotel, the Washington Marriott Georgetown (something of a misnomer as it's really closer to Dupont Circle or the West End), and then braved the rain to head into Georgetown for an early supper. By morning, the temperature has dropped but the sun had come out. Perfect fall weather.

This is the third in my series of guides to specialty coffee shops in Washington, DC. Part 1 (2015) is available here and part 2 (2016) here, but the map below includes coffee shops featured in all three posts.



After two wintry visits to Washington, DC, in February 2015 and 2016, I was pleased when the opportunity arose for me to attend a conference in the city in the more clement climes of October. Although I had very little free time, I managed to visit seven specialty coffee shops — six that were new to me, and one that had undergone a major refurbishment since my last trip — mainly by getting up extra early and going for a coffee run. 

I visited Washington DC this time last year for work but managed to take a couple of days' holiday in order to explore the city and its caffeine scene. Earlier this month, I went back to DC for a conference but I had a day off in the city at the start of my trip, which I spent coffee-shop-hopping, and I was able to find a couple of good cafes near the conference venue in Woodley Park.

I'm back home in London now but after my holiday in Portland, I spent most of last week in Washington DC. As I was working most of the time, I didn't have much time to explore the city, so quite a few of my highlights are food- and drink-related but I managed to fit in a few non-conference-related activities too.

UPDATE: I visited Washington again in February 2016, updated my DC coffee map and wrote reviews of some new coffee spots, including The Coffee Bar, M.E. Swing's, Maketto and Tryst. Please check out my blog post.

I spent under four days in DC but I managed to pack in a fair amount of caffeine chronicling. I did some coffee-shop research before I left and was pleased to find that a lot of the coffee bars on my list were fairly close to my two hotels near Logan Circle and near the White House. At Dulles Airport, on my way to California, I picked up the Jan/Feb issue of Washington Flyer magazine, which had a feature on DC's burgeoning craft coffee scene. We had obviously done some similar delving because most of the coffee bars I visited were also on their list.

Yesterday, I had to work and it was a pretty long day, starting with a briefer than usual jog along the Mall just before sunrise. As such, today's post is mainly about food and drink. Plus ça change, you say? On the way back to my hotel, I stopped for breakfast at Filter, a cheery orange-accented coffee shop on I Street in Foggy Bottom, for a rich, nutty Colombian pourover and a raspberry and peach muffin.



It's hard to complain too much about going to work, when you get to walk past a much more famous, ovoid-shaped office. Hello, Barack! Apparently Angela Merkel is in town this week as well; not to see me! I also got to visit NPR and the National Geographic Society, with its giant Spinosaurus sculpture, so it wasn't all bad.




For lunch, my colleagues took me to an excellent sandwich bar a few blocks from our office in the National Press Building called WTF (Woodward Takeout Food). Overwhelmed by the choice on their epic menu, I managed to miss their specialty sandwich, the Chick Chick (three layers of fried chicken with bacon, cranberry and lettuce), but it was hard to be too disappointed when the chicken bánh mi I ordered was roughly the size of my head and utterly delicious. I only managed about half, but took a triple-attack chocolate cookie back to my desk to aid me through some later website woes.


Although it was another cold day, by the time I arrived back at my hotel in the early evening, it looked like it was going to be a good sunset. Sadly, I had too much work to do, so I headed up to my windowless hotel room instead. As a reward, though, I went to Oyamel for dinner, a Mexican restaurant recommended to me by my friend who had been before. They prepare a huge bowl of fresh guacamole for you at your table, which is meant for 2-3 people to share, but I couldn't resist (and I did seriously demolish it).



I also had a couple of yummy tacos (one spicy pork and one brisket), and the benefit of sitting at the ceviche bar was that I got a free sample of some sea bass ceviche, which was so fresh and tasty. I ordered the margarita of the day, which involved grapefruit and ginger, and which slipped down nicely. Oyamel is a colourful, airy restaurant decorated with butterfly motifs. The staff are very friendly and the food is great and good value.




As this post goes live, I will already be on my way to California, where the weather will be 20 degrees warmer. I've really enjoyed my time in DC, though, and found that three-and-a-bit days was about the right amount of time to spend there in winter. With an extra day, I could have seen more, but I feel like I had a good taster and I hope I will be back again before another 20 years elapses. In the meantime, here is one last White House selfie!

After Sunday's gorgeous weather, it was a bit of a shock to the system to wake up to cold, grey mist yesterday morning. My run along the Mall was somewhat less pretty, but I rewarded myself with a Balinese pourover from Compass, a fab coffee shop and roastery on 7th Street, just east of Logan Circle. I also treated myself to a sticky, sugary brioche-like pastry—most of the food they sell is from local producers or suppliers and the pastries are made by a woman who is a lawyer by day and a pastry chef by night. Impressive, or what?



For the past 18 months, every time I'm having a bad day at work, I've clicked over briefly to the Smithsonian National Zoo's panda cam and then all is right with the world again. I couldn't go to DC, then, without saying hello to baby Bao Bao and her mother Mei Xiang. When I arrived, Bao Bao was napping in her favourite tree, but after about 15 or 20 minutes, her mother wandered outside to see what was going on and Bao Bao decided to come down.



I then spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to leave the pandas, but it's really difficult when they are so darn cute! I got to see them cuddling, going for a wander and feeding, and I also got to see mission control for panda-cam (how much do I want that job?). The Smithsonian zoo is free and there are plenty of other animals to see but by that point, I was frozen and just had a quick stroll through the Asian and African sections before heading out.





I even made a brief panda-cam video of my own (one of many currently filling up the memory on my iPhone!).


I walked back down the hill through Adams Morgan—a funky neighbourhood, with plenty of interesting restaurants and bars—and then along U Street, where I stopped for lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl. I ordered one of their famous chili dogs and a lemonade and relaxed in one of the leather booths. Ben's has been around for over 50 years and has a number of famous fans, including President Obama. The chili is delicious so it's easy to see why.



The chili warmed me up a little but not enough to fend off the chilly weather, so I got the metro back downtown and paid a visit to the National Museum of American History. There is probably more culture than history inside, although there is a good section on war and I also enjoyed the exhibit on the country's presidents. I had hoped to visit the National Archives too but I ran out of time, so walked up to Chinatown instead and had a coffee at Chinatown Coffee Co. on H Street. I had an excellent Colombian Chemex, which was chocolatey and rich, but if you're in the mood for something more fun, they also serve beer and absinthe! It's a cool little place to hang out and I enjoyed the '90s and '00s indie rock on the sound system.


For dinner, I went to Plan B, although let's be clear: it was always my plan A! Plan B specialises in burgers, beer and bourbon—two out of three isn't bad, right? I sat down in a sleek red-leather booth and perused the huge, mainly burger-centric menu. Eventually, I decided on the bacon cheeseburger on a pretzel bun, which was a good choice. The burgers, like the bathrooms, are designated pink and no-pink, and mine was delicious: juicy and flavoursome. The soft pretzel bun, doused in wholegrain mustard, was a nice addition. I also had a Benjamin Button cocktail (Buffalo Trace, honey and lemon), a sort of cough-medicine, I suppose, although much tasty and not entirely inapt on such a cold day.


I walked back to my new hotel (today, sadly, I am working) and got my first full-frontal glimpse of the White House. It does look very impressive by night, even in the rain.

I woke up early yesterday morning and headed straight out for a run down 17th Street to the Mall. The city was very quiet but I kept stopping anyway to take photographs: the Eisenhower Executive Office Building was particularly cool, with its slightly creepy, gothic aesthetic, and of course, there were plenty of pictures of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.




As I circled the Monument about 10 minutes before the ticket kiosk opened, I decided to queue to pick up a ticket for later. I then had to race back to the hotel—via a delicious Ethiopian pourover from Peregrine Espresso—to shower, change and head back down to the Monument for 10.15. It's worth going up the Monument if it's a nice day: you get great views of the city from 550 feet up (it was the world's tallest building for five years until the Eiffel Tower made its debut) and the guides are friendly and informative. Also, it's free! You can book tickets online if you don't want to queue.



Afterwards, I walked east along the Mall to Newseum, which, as you might guess, is a museum dedicated to news and journalism. I am a press officer so of course I was interested and I felt that the $23 admission charge was justified. As well as more serious exhibits, including a wall of front pages from the world's newspapers after 9/11, there are some interactive voting features (about new media, for example) and you even get the chance to role-play being an anchor. Naturally, I couldn't resist. Even if you don't want to pay the admission charge, they put dozens of newspaper front pages out front each day, which is worth a look.


My plan was to go to Good Stuff Eatery, a Capitol Hill purveyor of premium burgers, for lunch and then to check out Eastern Market, but alas: the former isn't open on Sundays. I frog-marched myself through the market—an arts, crafts and food market that is particularly bustling at the weekends—buying a rose gold necklace, before hopping onto the Metro to Foggy Bottom (tee hee), where I could walk to Georgetown for lunch and retail therapy.


Most of Georgetown's shops line M Street and its cross streets. It was really tough not to go into J. Crew and Lululemon, but it was 2.30 and I really needed to eat something. Luckily, there is a branch of Good Stuff on M Street. Good Stuff is a bit like a smaller scale version of Five Guys. The Capitol Hill branch is even said to be a favourite of Barack Obama's, which explains why there is a burger named after him. As I don't like roquefort, I ordered the Smokehouse instead (bacon, Vermont cheddar, fried onion rings and chipotle BBQ sauce) and some hand-cut fries. Good Stuff even has a 'dip' bar where you can select interesting and sometimes odd condiments for your fries: I opted for more chipotle over, say, mango.


On this trip, I was worried about the different weather patterns in DC and California, but DC alone was variable enough yesterday. On my morning run, it was so cold my lungs hurt, but by the afternoon, I was exercising my right to bare arms. It was very pleasant to wander the red-brick streets of Georgetown, making a few cheeky purchases and enjoying the sights: 1) JF and Jackie K's former residence on N Street, 2) those famous steps from The Exorcist and 3) sunset over the Potomac.




After the sun had set, I made my way back east. Just outside the White House, however, cars and pedestrians were halted for about 15 minutes. Eventually a procession of siren-blaring motorbikes and cars came through. I assume Barack was late for his supper. And so was I! I had a delicious lobster roll and a quirky Cupp'a Jo Jo cocktail (gin, curacao, coffee liqueur, celery and orange) at Hank's Oyster Bar, a small DC chain that is well worth visiting if you have a hankering for seafood.



By this point, my feet were aching, but there was one last stop on my tour: Red Light, a cocktail and dessert bar whose name reflects the, er, edgy history of the neighbourhood. There are a couple of these establishments in London, including Basement Sate, and they are definitely to be encouraged. Better still, it was still happy hour at Red Light, so my cocktail was only $7 and my pudding (caramel panna cotta with chocolate sauce and bacon-peanut butter crisp) was $9. The waitress arrived with my cocktail (the Peep Show: gin, Pimm's, lemon and ginger beer) and a blow torch, which I assumed was for the pudding, but then, out of nowhere, she set fire to an unassuming sprig of rosemary in my drink. Good theatre as well as good flavours, and they were playing some quality choons while Charlie Chaplin played on the big TV screens. A fun way to finish the day.

The last time I went to Washington, DC, was in 1995 on a family holiday. The only two things I remember are: 1) getting a military-style dog tag with my name on from a Smithsonian Museum and 2) arriving at the wrong Hilton hotel (the one with the swimming pool) only for my parents to have to break it to their two grumpy kids that we were, in fact, staying at the other Hilton (sans piscine).

Two decades later and the trip is already going much better. Yesterday, I arrived at my hotel, near Logan Circle, just before 4 pm and immediately headed out on a shopping mission: I needed some new lightweight running shoes for travel and decided to take the risk of buying them here. After a brief detour and some clichéd photos at the White House's South Lawn, I finally found a pair of turquoise and pink Nike Frees. Success!



I also paid a visit to one of my pre-selected coffee destinations, Slipstream, which is actually a coffee bar by day and cocktail emporium by night -- in other words, my perfect venue. I got a Colombian pourover to go and it was excellent, constituting the first part of my anti-jet-lag remedy; I look forward to returning to sample the cocktails.


If I had realised that it was going to be such a stunning sunset, I probably would have postponed my mission but alas, I was doomed to capture generic DC streets in the gorgeous pinky-purply light.


After a very long day, I was in serious need of dinner, so I made my way to Duke's Grocery, which, I had read, serves one of the best burgers in the United States. They also serve a pretty mean blackberry bourbon lemonade, which I sipped at the zinc bar while I waited for my Proper Burger: a double beef patty with melted gouda, charred onions, sweet chilli sauce, garlic and bacon. Initially, I thought it was good but not great, but by the end, I was convinced: the Proper Burger is one of the best burgers I've had in the US. Juicy, flavoursome and delicious. Duke's says it models itself on London's Brick Lane but it's actually much cooler, combining great food with that effortless American casual chic.




After dinner, I had a brisk walk over to indie bookstore Kramerbooks, which was, to my delight, bustling on a Saturday evening. Better still, they were playing The Cure, The Smiths and other favourites of mine. I browsed for a while and then headed to my final destination for the evening, McClellan's Retreat, a very cool Civil War-themed cocktail bar. I couldn't choose between the 39th Infantry and the Barren Hill, but in the end the pistachio and the bar tender's recommendation led me to opt for the latter. The pistachio and the vermouth (Carpano Antica) contrasted nicely with the rye and the single-malt whiskey. If anything will get me through the jet lag, this baby will!