Seattle, oh, Seattle. Bits of Seattle reminded me of San Francisco. I wish I had planned for Seattle, because I feel like I should've taken a day or two to venture out. To be quite honest, Seattle was underwhelming. My husband isn't a city guy and this trip reaffirmed that he doesn't like the city haha. We ended sleeping early every night because the sunset around 4:15pm and we didn't have much planned after dinner, which was nice because we were able to rest on our vacation. I will say though that the highlight of our trip was the view from the observatory, The Pink Door, and Frankie & Jo's. Eric and I never had Italian food when we went out to eat because of my dairy allergy, but my best friend and others recommended Pink Door. I ordered the linguine alle vongole (yum!) and my husband ordered the bolognese. It's hard finding good vegan ice cream shops, but Frankie & Jo's was just amazing. All of the ice cream are plant based and there's a variety of flavors that actually taste good and has similar texture to regular ice cream.
What I really appreciated about Seattle were the cute coffee shops, plant shops, Japanese restaurants, and fresh seafood. I knew Seattle was going to be expensive, but the 10% tax (including food) and limited parking surprised me. When we stopped by Target to pick up a few things, there was a minimum spend of $20 to get our parking ticket validated for up to 1 hour.
Below are a list of places I recommend when visiting Seattle:
Eats & Coffee
The Pink Door - make a reservation in advance and ask for a seat next to the window! Lovely ambiance and if you love Italian food then this place will not disappoint.
Fremont Bowl - currently only offering take out, but grab a donburi here! I ordered the chirashi and it was fresh!
U:Don - one of the best cheap eats! build your udon bowl with katsu, fried tempura, etc. at this cafeteria style restaurant
U:Don - one of the best cheap eats! build your udon bowl with katsu, fried tempura, etc. at this cafeteria style restaurant
Mee Sum Pastry - located in Pike Place Market, grab some buns or pastries! The green tea sesame ball was SO good
Rubinstein Bagels - the only bagel place we could find that served vegan schmear, and it was delicious! I got the lox bagel with vegan schmear and came back again the next day. I preferred the South Lake Union location best.
Din Tai Fung - great dim sum spot! I went to the one in Philly before it closed down, and hands down one of the best dim sum places.
Menya Musashi Tsukemen - luckily we were able to get a seat without a wait, but this was our second choice because there was a wait time of 1 hour at Ramen Danbo. My husband loved it, personally I'm not a big fan of miso in my ramen. However, the karaage was delicious and noodles were on point!
ROOT - cute plant and coffee shop, super dreamy!
Caffe Vita - I went thinking that it was La Marzoco Cafe but saw that it changed to Caffe Vita, but decided to try the coffee since it was a local business. It was probably the best coffee I had in Seattle, so smooth! Definitely stop by when you're in Seattle!
London Plane - I went for the aesthetics, but sadly nothing really met my expectations. It is a beautiful space and I love how when you first walk in you're greeted with a floral shop to your left. It's in Occidental Square, which is a lovely place to walk around and you can stop by Arundel Books!
Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Capitol Hill - instead of going to the original Starbucks location in Pike Place, come here instead to see the roastery and experience coffee flights!
Other recommendations:
Tavolata for Italian, Sushi Kashiba, Umi Sake House, Piroshky Piroshky, Oddfellow Coffee & Bar, Top Pot Doughnuts, Sip House, Hiroki
To Do
Fremont Troll - fun spot to take a picture
Kerry Park for a nice view of Seattle
Sky View Observatory or Space Needle for a panoramic view of Seattle
Amazon Spheres - sadly we couldn't get tickets in advance, but a fun thing to do while in Seattle
Gum Wall - if you want to see walls covered in gum it's right next to Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market - we didn't grab any clam chowder or seafood here, but definitely look around and shop at the different artisan and food vendors.
Pioneer Square & Occidental Square - quaint neighborhood in Seattle known for its art galleries and coffee shops
Chihuly Garden and Glass - beautiful and vibrant glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly
Venture out of Seattle and visit National Parks, Mount Rainier, Lake Diablo
Love, Sharon
What a wonderful place!
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