This wonderful Chinese style bar is certainly one of the best in this lovely city. With great music, the best wine list in town and some incredible food at very reasonable prices it is quickly becoming the insider's choice in KL. Located just around the corner from the ShangriLa, it has 20 wines and champagnes by the glass and a menu you will not find anywhere else. This includes a great burger, steamed Wagyu beef (absolutely delicious), a scrumptious cod in miso and some great solid staples as desserts.
Level 2,Menara Hap Seng, 1-3 Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03 2078 9908
www.hakkarepublic.com
Monorail staion:Sultan Ismail
Melbourne is Australia's secret city. Visitors from abroad are awestruck by Sydney's habour and opera house, but often fail to see Melbourne's charm. Melburnians however, all know that if you know where to look, the city is full of secret hidden spots.
Murmur bar is a fine example of a truly hidden secret Melbourne bar. Tucked away at the back of an alley way, off a small side street, up a flight of stairs and you find an atmospheric cocktail bar where you can while away a pleasant evening sipping new and innovative cocktail creations.
Think dim lighting, jazz music and attractive thirty-somethings drinking quirky cocktails.
Bit on the expensive side, but worth it!
Murmur bar is on wharburton lane in the Melbourne CBD. From the junction of Little Bourke st and Elizabeth Street walk west on Little Bourke (towards the Telstra Dome), Whatburton lane if off Little Bourke on the left side. (03) 9640 0395.
www.murmur.com.au/
Google map: tinyurl.com/pdnkff
A cozy wooden haven for the true beer enthusiasts! A Brazilian friend told me that the beer at Devassa was simply the best. Apparently they have their own home-made brand of beer (Blonde, Ale, Indian) I tasted them all, and could not put them aside. Devassa is located at the heart of Ipanema, close to other great spots for shopping or chilling. The place was packed with people living out the true carioca lifestyle. A place to have fun after going to the beach. Don't count with parking spots, you won't find it, but other than that, it's a great experience!
Rua Prudente de Moraes, 416 - Ipanema
(21) 2522-0627
Upstairs at the Bull - a lovely boutique hotel in the heart of Bridport - there's the Venner Bar, an establishment that feels more like a swanky private club in London than a watering hole in rural west Dorset. It has chocolate brown walls, leather sofas, dimmed lighting and a long bar presided over - when we went - by a depressingly good-looking Spaniard. I love pubs down here but occasionally a metropolitan injection is needed.
34 East Street
Bridport
www.thebullhotel.co.uk
Bar Saloon is a broom cupboard of a drinking den in the Old City, with just a handful of tables and chairs. The look is - quite by accident I suspect - straight out of the pages of Wallpaper, with exposed fake timbers, dark walls, fairy lights and a couple of topless pin-ups. It’s presided over by a genial, rotund man who sits at a tiny bar under shelves loaded with bottles and boxes of yet more bottles. He fixed my dad a vodka and tonic and brought me an Al-Maza, a crisp Lebanese beer. Staring out into the darkening street, a bowl of nuts on the table, we couldn’t have been happier. And if you think the bar's size is Lilliputian, be sure to check out the loo.
Straight Street
Stylish minimal like bar with top quality spirits and liqueurs. Try the Boutiq'specials from their list, and you won't drink cocktails anywhere else while in town.
Paulay Ede.u.5, Downtown,VI.distr. Two minutes walk from Deak square.
If you are going to be in Sydney for a while, and you like good food, I recommend you stop by a bookshop and buy the SMH good food guide. It's updated yearly, and gives you the place the locals go to. It covers restaurants, bars, and places to shop for good food. Well worth shelling out for.
Any good book shop, Dymocks etc, even some news stands.
Everyone young and sloaney young person goes to Krazy Kangarau but Moosewirt is far more fun! Its bigger, has a slightly more mad pan Europe crowd and a lot more friendly. The DJ hangs out of the window over the terrace and the ski down to the base station is easier - oh yeah, its actually in the middle of the piste.
St Anton, route 1, just above the Gampen lift.
This is a brilliant bar decked out Aborigne style - think great log benches, animal furs on the walls (fake, I hope) and a really charismatic hosts. He plays digeridoo music and it's low lighting and cave-like atmosphere make it really cool place to hang out.
Really don't expect a bar like it in a modern resort like Tignes.
Val Claret
Definitely a dive bar but a brilliant one! Staff are friendly, there's pool and the evenings go off thanks to great bar deals.
On Main Street on the top floor of a small plaza
Another 'Old Town' favourite; Dan and Louis' is where to go when you want to try some local seafood in Portland.
Do not be fooled by the name - D&L's is a family-friendly restaurant with a diverse menu that features some of the freshest local ingredients. The clam chowder is classic and the Cioppino is a particular favourite, but if you are an oyster afficianado, you cannot miss out on the dozen varieties of oysters offered here.
The decor is classic Pacific Northwest fish house: every inch of wall space is covered with marine-related memorabilia, much of it collected over the restaurant's 100 year history.
For adults, there is a separate bar in back and make sure you ask about 'the hole' - a glass-covered look into almost bottomless pit - right below the bar.
www.danandlouis.com
208 SW Ankeny St, Portland, OR
The Laurelthirst Pub is just that - a favorite of the locals for food, drink and great music - though just enough off the beaten track to be missed by the tourist crowd - and that is a shame.
The food, while hardly high-end cuisine, is still quite good and reasonably priced; local brews and wines are featured as well as cocktails - but what sets the Laurelthirst apart and makes it so popular is the music.
Blues, jango, rockabilly, jazz - the Laurelthirst has been serving up diversity and eccentricity for the past 20 years with local favorites like the Kung Pao Chickens, Jackstraw and the Tree Frogs, among many others.
The Laurelthirst is small and generally quite cramped on a nightly basis - but do not let this deter you. If you want an 'authentic' Portland experience - from the locals point of view - this is where to begin.
The best part? No cover charges - the music is free.
mysite.verizon.net/res8u18i/laurelthirstpublichouse/index.html
2958 NE Glisan, Portland, OR (corner of 30th and Glisan)
Friendly new tapas bar - loads of great dishes, excellent veggie selection (and the omnivores liked it too), good beers/wines, menu changes frequently. Bar downstairs.
Leopold Square
platillos.co.uk/
The best bar/nightclub in town! Yes, it is a little far from the centre, but it isn't called the Grail for nothing; top tunes, champagne, light-up dancefloor, unusually high amounts of decent seating, free clockroom and the all-important stripper poles make it the perfect place to party hard apres-ski style!
I have never in my life had such a great view eating dinner like I had at this restaurant, located on the 65th floor of the State tower on Silom Rd. Just the view is worth the trip to this restaurant. The service was poor for such a high end place, not rude, but just not attentive given the fame that this restaurant has gathered in the world since it's opening. The food has everything you could think of, fresh seafood, great steaks, and a dessert table to die for.
A live band with a soul singer was a pleasant touch as we ate and afterwards she came down and introduced herself and spoke to us for a couple of minutes. Afterwards stick around and have drinks at the ultra cool bar, drinks run from 200 bahts (about $5 US dollars) to 20,000 bahts about $500 US dollars for Cristal Champagne. If it wasn't for the poor table serivce this place would get a 10 out of 10 but I'll give it nine out of 10.
Address: 1055/111 State Tower Bangkok, Silom Road
hone: (02) 6249555
Lapa 40 Graus is a traditional samba house located right on samba’s birthplace, the Lapa neighborhood. Needless to say, it’s a must-try for everyone who wants to have a piece of the real samba experience. They have several dancefloors, with different bands playing, so even if you’re not into samba, you’ll definitely find something for you. I recommend it!
Rua do Riachuelo 97, Lapa
Phone: 55 21 3970 1338
URL: www.lapa40graus.com.br
Contact: contato@lapa40graus.com.br
A great oasis in the busy and fascinating medina, roof terrace with views over Bou Inania, great selection of snacks, meals, teas and coffees, cakes, and excellent lamb patties etc. Cheerful young local staff and an enthusiastic English patron. Restored courtyard house up a tiny alley by the waterclock, close to Bab Bou Jeloud Gate. Given the lack of eating places to occupy the gap between very cheap traditional cafes, and upmarket gourmet restaurants, this is a very welcome place any time of day. But the best thing is that the owner is determined to run a rare local cultural programme of arts and music with something on several evenings a week. And then there are the camel burgers, fresh from the camel butcher over the street...
off Tala Kebira under the water clock opposite the Bou Inania Medersa(a must visit)
www.cafeclock.com/home.html
It's a stylish cafe/bar/cake shop in the centre of Bologna and at around 6pm they put out a mouth-wateringly delicious free buffet. It starts with tempting canapes, and after a bit they bring out warm things. The drinks are not cheap (it was 6 euro for a glass of wine) but as you can eat all you want for the price it is brilliant. It is also fascinating watching the bar staff prepare and serve cocktails with aplomb, and watching the other customers.
Piazza Galvani (web = caffezanarini.com)
Cantina Bentivoglio in Via Mascerella is a wine bar that serves brilliant food. The pork in balsamic vinegar sauce is meltingly tender, and the beef in red wine on polenta - so delicious. I finished off with lemon sorbet with "wodka" (the English translations in the back of the menu provide a few laughs). Plan to eat at 9 or 9.30 and you get to listen to live jazz - makes for a great evening!
Via Mascarella (round the back of the Palazzo Bentivoglio)- look up "Cantina Bentivoglio" on the net for more details
Forget hotels stay here! Spotlessly clean modern rooms, (we even had a balcony overlooking table mountain). Great staff, gave really good advice on where to go in Cape Town and the area. Really fun bar, over all a great choice, the rooms and food is as good as any hotel, but for some reason these guys don't charge as much! They also have a great fun bar full of people who have travelled all over the world and who actually talk to you. We made so many friends amongst the staff and guests we left wanting to stay longer, thats never happened to me in any faceless hotel
81 New Church Street, Gardens, Cape Town.
(all the taxi drivers seem to know where this place is)
0027 21 426 0200
www.capetownbackpackers.com