The DC to Atlanta Halloween Coaster Road trip - Asheville
 

When researching places to visit Neil came across Asheville and we decided to have a couple of days here.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn downtown which was a nice hotel, our room was huge and it was walkable to Asheville shops/restaurants.


We arrived about 2:30 so had a very late lunch at Tupelo Honey as I had a voucher for free dessert. I had sangria and Neil has a smoked whisky cocktail to drink. It looked very impressive when it was brought to the table!



I had meatloaf which I had with mash and roasted cauliflower/carrots, and Neil had fish with mash and mac and cheese.


For dessert I chose chocolate and peanut butter pie, this was so good, it was like a massive reeses but was so rich, even sharing it was a struggle to finish!

We just had a bit of a chill that night, a nice bit of downtime after a few days of go go go!

We had free breakfast as Hilton Gold members, the first day we both had the buffet, which included a waffle toppings bar ( I think i added most of them!).

The second morning i ordered from the menu and had eggs benedict which were perfectly cooked. Neil chose the buffet again.


The next day we had a wander around Asheville’s shops buying some souvenirs for family. We went to this very hipster coffee house where Neil got a rose and cardamom coffee which he loved.

We went to the Grove arcade which was very pretty.

Then we visited a dog bakery to get some treats for the pooches, how good does this all look? I thought they were human treats at first, before realising they were all for dogs.

I’d booked a free tour at the New Beligium Brewery which was about 30 minute walk from downtown Asheville.

This was really for Neil as I’m not a beer drinker but it was really interesting and what a cool company this would be to work for. Everyone who’s worked there for a year gets a stake in the company, and gets to put something on this board. Then after 10 years they a trip to Belgium where it all started.

We were given lots of free samples and learnt lots about beer!

They have a food truck on site so grabbed bau buns from there after the tour, I forgot to get a picture but these things were amazing!

We had a reservation at Curate that night, booked months in advance as it’s a very popular restaurant. I had sangria to drink and Neil would have had some sort of whisky cocktail. I didn’t do well with the photos here but this is the tomato bread which was amazing.

I had chicken croquettes which were really good.

We had salt fish dip, and squid ink paella, which I forgot photos of, both were incredible.

I did remember dessert Neil had hazelnut panna cotta and I had melting middle almond tart with cherry sorbet.

It was all fantastic, and cheaper than I expected coming to $90 before tip. I can see why this is the highest rated restaurant in Asheville!

Overall we both really liked Asheville, it certainly has a unique vibe and was fun to spend a couple of relaxing days exploring. Next up Dollywood!

Just found this trip and I love it I would do it for the food alone 😁😁

:d:: Asheville was a very foodie place, we definitely had some good meals there!