Jardim dos Namorados is a small, colourful park perched on a hilltop overlooking the Bay of Maputo.
Its attractions include a children's play area, a wonderful view of the sea and a cluster of ice cream parlours and cafes.
One of the most popular cafes is "Surf" which sells an imaginative range of pastries and light meals - although the service is a bit hit and miss at weekends, when it gets very busy.
Jardim dos Namorados is THE place in Maputo for wedding photos so at weekends you will no doubt come across several wedding parties: processions of jubilant Mozambicans dressed in suits, silks and satins, all swaying, singing and posing for the camera.
Avenida Julius Nyere, Maputo
Google map: tinyurl.com/yc6wgg9
This suburb, situated east of the Pretoria city centre, includes one of the largest student populations in South Africa, due to the presence of the University of Pretoria. The main strip Burnett Street, is a combination of bars, dance clubs and eateries of all sorts. I found the reggae themed Cool Runnings bar to be a highlight. Hatfield Plaza is the local shopping mall and a good place to stock up if you are touring/backpacking. The area feels safe to walk around in since it's always busy (especially on a weekend). The large student population means it can become a little rowdy, but it was one of the best samples I had of the South African nightlife. Looking ahead to World Cup 2010 Hatfield is only a mile from Loftus Stadium where some matches are to be played and should be great for post-match merry-making.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ydx6m2g
Igbo dishes from the east: catfish, coconut rice, moi-moi, snails, drinks. Jeveniks is a favourite of mine when I have visitors - its good for having a taster, an introduction to Nigerian food. Nigerian menus are a maze - you select a starch, soup and meat. Pepper soup highly recommended.
494 Bangui Road (off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent), Wuse II - walking distance from Amigos Supermarket.
I have visited the Kruger park over 15 times with my family over recent years. Tom Kelly's overview of the Kruger gives the impression that it's hard to eat cheaply there - but the Kruger is a great pace for a budget family holiday. You can stay in cheap accommodation at most rest camps (usually fixed safari tents for two or four or budget huts for two-six which are spotlessly clean and have comfortable beds and a wash basin). In addition to more expensive restaurants, all the rest camps have cheap cafes and shops selling food so you can eat well indoors or have a BBQ (braai) under the stars for next to nothing. In general, most of the wildlife tends to congregate in the Southern area of the park (from Skukuza down to Crocodile Bridge and across to Malelane)so this is the area I would most recommend - but the Northern areas of the park have fewer tourists and thus are more peaceful.
www.krugerpark.co.za/
Google map: tinyurl.com/ybgk2ax
Try Duende Restaurant in Newcastle Street - Fresh ingredients, great atmosphere, and very talented chef make this the best kept secret in the area.
The staff are great, the menu changes with the season, the coffee sets a high standard, and the food is fresh and consistently well prepared.
Try their cakes - they make them on-site (rare for Perth).
Newcastle Street, Perth 6007, Australia
www.duende.com.au/index.php
Google map: tinyurl.com/yhvxole
It’s not easy finding a nice breakfast cafe in Playa de las Americas, but after some searching I found two: Cozy Café by Playa del Bobo and Café Henandez by Torviscas beach.
Cozy Café is located up some stairs on the pedestrian walkway leading down to Bobo and got panoramic views over the ocean. They serve all sorts of fresh bread, cakes etc.
Hernandez is just by Villa Adeje Beach hotel. It doesn’t have a nice view but a terrace with morning sun so still worth a visit for breakfast. Full of colourful expats and fiendly staff.
Cozy Cafe by the casino, Playa del Bobo - Google map: tinyurl.com/ygqo3gm
Hernandez by Villa Adeje Beach Hotel
Avda. De Los Pueblos - Google map: tinyurl.com/y8pu8y3
When you have been turned away from all the clubs along George Street ("No track shoes tonight, mate"), or it's 3am and you're not quite ready to take off your dancing shoes, the only place that's going to make you feel better on the walk home is the disco chippy, officially known as Cafe Piccante. Not only can you get a Bacardi Breezer with your fried pizza and chips, but a DJ is in situe to help you carry on the party. Order the 'Man's Special': burger, chips and a pint.
Cafe Piccante, 19 Broughton Street, 0131 478 7884, www.cafepiccante.com
Google map: tinyurl.com/ylkab94
This gem of a restaurant is located in a 16th century fortification overlooking the charming lakeside town of Riva Del Garda, and it can be reached via a well lit footpath which gently climbs the Rocchetta mountain.
The Table d'hôte menu is well worth the walk.
I dined there in October 2009 and had an autumn-themed selection which started with a turnip soup with a drizzle of local olive oil, followed by a melt in your mouth morsel of polenta wrapped in a creamy sauce with cheeses and mushrooms.
The starters were followed by homemade egg and rosemary tagliatelle with a rabbit sauce, and by a mushroom risotto.
Then followed an array of main courses accompanied by polenta.
Among the various dishes, I particularly enjoyed the rabbit stew, a local sausage casserole and some tasty snails.
A local red Teroldego wine was served with the meal.
Dessert was a panna cotta with a red gooseberry coulis.
An excellent coffee and a selection of local grappas rounded off an unforgettable meal.
Next time you find yourself in the Lake Garda region, do not miss this!
Via Bastione, Riva Del Garda (TN).
Phone 0039-0464-030017
Google map: tinyurl.com/yj9vs5f
An Australian icon serving typically Aussie fast food, like its classic pie ‘n’ pea floaters, Harry’s Café de Wheels is a unique part of the city’s nightlife.
Musicians, streetwalkers, dancers, policemen and taxi drivers can be seen late at night devouring meat pies and hot dogs alongside judges, politicians and society's well-to-do.
Just a few wobbly steps downhill from the watering holes of Kings Cross, Harry’s is the place to get your post pub grub and to sample the personality of Sydney .
More than a pie cart, Harry’s is a unique piece of Sydney ’s history and the stuff of legend and myth.
Corner Cowper Wharf Roadway
& Brougham Road
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011
www.harryscafedewheels.com.au/
Google map: tinyurl.com/y9o6es2
An after-hours kebab/jazz bar, where you drink beer from a can and have a giggle with your mates. Lots of lovely evenings spent listening to jazz amidst the smell of meat fat. Buena onda.
87 Chalk Farm Rd, London, NW1 8AR
+44(0)20 7485 3814
Google map: bit.ly/k0TR5W
Google map: tinyurl.com/yh7yp5s
A block away from the hurley burley of Beale St. When you're sick of burgers and steaks or fried salad, this is the place. Start with the gumbo or chowder. As a main the boiled shrimp or snow crab legs, served with boiled new potatoes and corn on the cob. No grease in sight, all washed down with an American beer or endless soda. Not to be missed!
105 S 2nd St
Memphis, TN 38103-3009
Tel: 901-522-8228
Downtown, near Peabody Hotel
Google map: tinyurl.com/ybewrr4
For a truly fantastic French Bistro experience in Melbourne you could not do better than "France-Soir" on Toorak Road. It has great atmosphere, divine food and a very comprehensive wine list. I ate there two of the three nights I were in Melbourne. The third one was a Saturday so I couldn't get a booking and had to have dinner elsewhere. Highly recommended!
11 Toorak Road | South Yarra, Melbourne 3141, Australia, (03) 9866 8569
www.france-soir.com.au/
Google map: tinyurl.com/y9wsu3d
The food was creatively and skillfully prepared without being unnecessarily fussy; the ingredients were intensely flavorful; the kitchen in Mr. Bauer's hands was clearly superbly trained in the classics while not being afraid to exercise its creative flair! The service for our table of six was warm and very polite without being intrusive. The small restaurant (~ 30 seats) with its simple but warm decor provided for a very cozy ambience. I also ate very well at RieGi and Osterreicher im MAK, but Restaurant Bauer stands out and easily joins its rank among other one Michelin-starred restaurants I have dined at elsewhere in Europe. A truly memorable experience!
Walter Bauer Restaurant: Sonnenfelsgasse 17, +43 (1) 5129871
Google map: tinyurl.com/y97zmm5
Sells pies, cakes, homemade soups, sandwiches etc. Always busy, always smells appetising.
82 Rochdale Rd, Royton, Oldham, Lancashire, OL2 6QF
0161 624 9884
Google map: tinyurl.com/y9jyv8f
Jackies is a local restaurant that serves some traditional take out Newfoundland food. You are piled high with the best stick to your ribs food on the island. In fact it was so good that we have coined a phrase. It started when we didn't have such great food experiences and would just look at each other and go "shoulda gone to Jackies" we now say it to each other when ever we have a bad experience with anything ... sorta fits and usually it's done in unison ... "shoulda gone to Jackies"!
PO Box 182, Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador A0K 4N0, Canada
Google map: tinyurl.com/yh2m9xy
A great place if you would like to taste well prepared kebab. The restaurant is owned by people from Diyarbakir who can really make eastern dishes. Try also their sweet with ice cream. It seems their own invention.
It is in Unkapani. Itfaiye Caddedesi, a street full of eastern shops.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ylnb39w
Toledo (70 Km from Madrid) has narrow streets, esoterically named alleys (e.g. devil street) and dark sheds making dreaming and imagining easy for travellers. The city of the Three Cultures can surprise us with its hidden heritage and the food!
Toledans are lucky to get free tapas in the bars of the old quarter. Also, for brunch you can have spanish omelette, jamon iberico on toast or any sandwich for only two euros (la Abadia, el Circulo del Arte, Palacios Bar). I stayed in Castillo de San Servando for a week (10 euros/night), an ancient castle crossing Alcantara Bridge. I went to study spanish in Aula Toledo, a friendly and very professional school and I discovered an ideal place to chill out, eat well and learn a lot about the Spanish culture.
Restaurante La Abadia, in Plaza de San Nicolas, two minutes walking from Plaza de Zocodover (main square and bus stops). Buses from Madrid every 30 minutes.
Google map: tinyurl.com/yzvltxx
Down the coast from Patong in Phuket is a much quieter and far more laid back resort called Kata. If you plan on heading there I would recommend a restaurant called Kata Mama at the southern end of Kata beach. The food is simply fantastic and amongst some more pricier restaurants certainly gives you more value for money. Fresh fish and the best curries.
Kata beach, Phuket
Google map: tinyurl.com/yzphl4e
I never would have thought a Thai restaurant behind a pub in Nunhead, south London could be this good. Walk behind Skehan's Irish pub and enter a side gate and it's like a beautiful little oasis. Hanging baskets everywhere, pagoda style outdoor dining area and big glass windows in the restaurant. Lighting is low and mellow - great when you're the wrong side of 29.
I had the Weeping Tiger - grilled sirloin with special Thai spices, delicious. Started with dim sum, again really good. A meal for four with starters, main courses and wine cost £80.
Well worth a visit.
1 Kitto Road, London, SE14 5TW
+44(0)20 7207 7134
Google map: bit.ly/k5dpuS
Google map: tinyurl.com/ygy34he
The Stein Inn states that it is the oldest inn on the Isle of Skye, and its venerable bars, sturdy walls and highly impressive archive of malts certainly lend veracity to the claim. There is a wide range of beers and other drinks, the food menu is ample, and the service is attentive and prompt.
In good weather (or foul weather if you're after the complete Highland experience) you can sit outside and take in the view of Loch Bay towards Loch Dunvegan and, if the day was really clear, as far as the wonderfully named Gob na Hoe (could anyone, even a Scot, spit that far?).
The Stein Inn, Waternish, by Dunvegan, Isle of Skye IV55 8GA.
www.steininn.co.uk
Google map: tinyurl.com/ykk987n