Raleigh North Carolina – City of Oaks

Didnt really know what to expect in Raleigh North Carolina except that It’ll be cold. Having spent 2 weeks in nice warm Fort Lauderdale, the thought of extreme cold is definitely not very inviting.

When we got into downtown Raleigh, its seems like there wont be much going on but after a little recce session, we found restaurants and pubs that are open till midnight or 2am on a weekday. That’s interesting… hmmm…

To our pleasant surprise, Raleigh downtown did have some interesting restaurants, bars and little eateries:

 

The Remedy Diner

This simple laid back little eatery has a reasonable selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes.  We enjoyed the smoked gouda grits, mock beef and spinach soup and mock buffalo chicken wings (YUMMY!) with Journey playing in the background!!  We like it so much that we went back there again and had the mock buffalo wings again J!  Definitely made me feel a few pounds lighter even after the meal!

Delicious Mock Lunch!

The menu includes some simple meat dishes for the carnivorous who are there with their herbivorous friends.. 😛  I also noticed that the diner did have an interesting selection of special alcoholic cocktail concoctions with interesting names.  I didn’t have any because drinking just before work somehow doesn’t seem like a good idea.

The Big Easy

This is where I had my GUMBO fix. Its not too bad for the price but I still crave the first one I’ve ever had in my life in Gumbo Cafe in Galveston Texas… That was intense and satisfying… Mmmmmm… Ok, back to Raleigh.

We ordered a Caesar salad, Seafood Gumbo and a Cheese and Spinach Ravioli.  Other items on the menu that were calling out to us includes the She-crab soup, Salmon salad, Jimbalaya and many more Cajun choices… YUMMMMmmmmmiiiiii!

The interior décor is a little skewed towards the “beaten up” look meaning rough wall surfaces often you can see the red brick part of the walls, beams and metal structures.  I noticed similar look in a few other establishments as well.  It looks great and maybe the establishments managed to save on interior renovation and probably not much cleaning is required?

The Raleigh Times Bar

The beaten up look in this resturant-bar establishment goes in tune with the black and white and sepia photos and prints on the walls and glass windows. Soft orange lighting combined with wooden furniture makes the place really cosy.

Food’s definitely great and at very affordable prices. I had a Heavy Seas Hanger Steak which is a mushroom risotto with hanger steak marinated in chocolate stout ( OooOoOoooo) and bok choy (ahhh… how i missed bokchoy)! Had to go back for the Pork Enchilada and had a taste of the Buffalo wings, artichoke dip (heavenly creamy and cheesy – SINFUL!) and nachos with pork bits!

Slims

This dive bar is a great place to hang out for a chat with the bartender or just to be on your own drinking, playing pool or computer games.  My colleagues and I went there almost every other night!  The entertainment is all tucked away on the second level.

I find it entertaining to watch the casual laid back bartender multitasked between clearing empty bottles and replenishing drinks, chatting with each customer for a few minutes at each time and leaving them to show some attention to the rest. She accomplishes that with such a casual flair that it’s actually quite impressive！

After speaking to some locals, they said that Raleigh has changed quite a bit over the last few years.  They even demolished the old convention center and rebuild it in another spot so that the road is cleared and now we can see the North Carolina State Capital building all the way from Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.  Overall, I did had a nice time in Raleigh NC!