DhariLo Loves Austin Texas

11 Jul DhariLo Loves Austin Texas

We ended up choosing Austin for my best friend’s bachelorette trip – and it was such a blast! Here’s a short recap of my trip with the girls.

STAYING:

We stayed at the beautiful South Congress Hotel. I tend to like smaller hotels – because I’m lazy and  like everything close lol. SCH is beautifully decorated, and is connected to great restaurants. You can get caffeinated and grab a bite to go at Mañana, or sit for a little longer at Café No Sé. The hotel bar and library are also a feast for the eyes and the drinks are delicious.

EATING:

The food in Austin was SO good! Sadly, we didn’t get to try BBQ, even though La Barbecue and Franklin’s were on our list. But regardless we got to try some solid food destinations.

Mañana

I landed early and had some time to kill before check in, so I wandered over to Mañana – a quick coffee and pastry cafe right on the hotel grounds. I grabbed an iced oat milk latte and spent some time getting some work done while I waited for the front desk call. The cafe was quiet and the latte was strong and delicious. I also had an “Everything Kolache” which was ah-mazing. I scarfed it down before I snapped a photo – but it’s a baked pastry with cream cheese in the middle – I need to find a place here in NYC that has them.

Oat milk Iced Latte at Mañana

Café No Sé

Café No Sé is another wonderful restaurant in the South Congress Hotel. We ate breakfast there twice because we didn’t want to wander too far in the morning. There were a good amount of breakfast options, but I opted for a bunch of sides potatoes, bacon and avocado. The lattes here were very good. At this cafe there was no oat milk, but the almond milk lattes were pretty good. I even got some teddy bear latte art!

Breakfast at Cafe No Sé

Almond milk latte at Cafe No Sé

Breakfast at Cafe No Sé

Latte art at Cafe No Sé

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Clark’s was a highlight of our trip. The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating and has a nautical feel. We opted for sitting inside since they have what I’m calling a spritzing system outside and we were dressed up and makeup done. We tried two types of oysters, shared a mound of fries and I had the branzino. Everything was delicious! The fries reminded me of those Potato Stix chips (who remembers those?). My branzino was stuffed with thyme and lemon and came with this really great chili oil.

I’d love to come back, sit outside and try the burger here since we kept hearing it’s a go-to on the menu.

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Oysters at Clark’s Oyster Bar

Fries at Clark’s Oyster Bar

Perla’s

We hit Perla’s for lunch on our third day in Austin. Perla’s is Clark’s Oyster Bar’s sister restaurant and the nautical theme carries through the decor here as well. The menus are completely different but equally as yummy. I wasn’t super hungry so I had the patatas bravas and octopus appetizer. I was obsessed with the cylinder shape of the potatoes lol. The octopus was cooked perfectly and the dish had just the right amount of heat. We got lobster mac and cheese for the table which was great.

Perla’s Austin

Perla’s Austin

Patatas bravas and octopus at Perla’s Austin

Wu Chow

I was too busy eating soup dumplings (you HAVE to order these) and crispy noodles (suer interesting texture – another must try) at Wu Chow to take photos. This farm to table Chinese restaurant was delicious! Their unique drinks come in vibrant glasses.

Wu Chow

PLAYING:

Austin has a fun, laidback vibe and as a New Yorker it was a welcome change. We hung out at the hotel pool for our second day and it was a lot of fun. Not crowded, really great drinks (and boozy popsicles) and good food. At night we hit the White Horse for two step night, The Continental Club for live music and of course Rainey Street for a fun bar scene. Rainey Street is a cut off street lined with old houses turned into restaurant and bars – it seemed most of them had BIG backyard outdoor areas. We had the Lyft drop us off and we just walked until we found the bars we wanted to check out. We spent most of our night at Parlor Room – the music was great and bartenders were nice.

Our last full day in Austin we took a walk down South Congress and had a fun souvenir shopping day. There are so many great little shops to check out. That night we also dropped by CBoys for live music. It was super laid back and a really nice way to wrap up our trip.

South Congress Hotel Pool Bar

South Congress Hotel Pool Bar

South Congress Hotel Pool Bar

Parlor Room On Rainey Street

Parlor Room On Rainey Street

Parlor Room On Rainey Street

Since we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to on our short trip I’ll absolutely want to visit Austin again. Next time I’ll HAVE to get BBQ, and visit Barton Springs.  Heads up: They don’t have plastic bags so bring a reusable bag or two if you’re planning on getting groceries- they do have paper bags thought. Everyone was super nice, the laid back vibe was relaxing and the food was great! Can’t wait to come back.

Have you been to Austin? What is your favorite thing to do there?

<3 DhariLo