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Restaurant, cafe, bar with great Mexican food, good beer and pleasant atmosphere. Courtyard seating. Fantastic breakfasts accompanied by classical music. Good strong coffee.
Thamel - If you were coming out of the Kathmandu Guesthouse you'd turn left and the Northfield is just a couple of doors along on the left.
If you want swank and sophistication, this is not the place. It actually does have sawdust on the floor. It does, however, do truly great home made pizzas and huge salads.
2807 Main Street Santa Monica, Ca 90405
Gourmet organic cafe that's a great place to go if you're sick of burgers and fries. You won't have to subsist on wheatgrass and beansprouts though, they do great chicken salad, hefty sandwiches, soups, good desserts and cakes too.
Urth Caffé - West Hollywood
8565 Melrose Avenue, (310) 659-0628, between Robertson and La Cienegahttp
www.urthcaffe.com
Chinese restaurant, large and looks upmarket, but is very reasonable and the food is good! Try their 'eat as much as you want' buffet at lunchtime.
It's also on Church Street (off M G Road) and it's a good place to know becuase this street is full of restaurants, all sorts of food and nearly all very good).
Price: Buffet lunch, around 215/Rs per person (about 3 and a bit euros).
Mainland China, Church Street.
Phone: 2559 7722 / 7755
www.mainlandchinaindia.com
This is one of my compulsory stops in LA especially late nights. I understand that the breakfast is legendary - perhaps next trip - but this is one place where the t-bone is large and the coleslaw legendary. It claims that it has never shut since it opened its doors in 1924. Open 24 hours a day all year round.
Old fashioned cafe with minimal decor that looks like a cinema set for a b-grade movie. Even the cashier is behind a wired cage! Be warned - no credit cards.
Corner of 9th and Figueroa, in downtown L.A. (next to LA Convention Centre)
www.pantrycafe.com
As a denizen and big fan of this crazy, mixed-up city, may I recommend:
Yuca Taco Stand www.ericgarcetti.org/blog/000039.php
and there's a lady from Oaxaca who has a cart (the one under the blue umbrella, usually) on Echo Park Boulevard just south of Sunset Blvd., between Sunset and Echo Park Lake, Wednesdays thru Saturdays from noon until 5:30--she's illegal (so no links here) and delicious!
Traditional blue corn quesadillas with huitlacoche (an earthy black fungus paste that grows on ears of corn), squash blossoms, and other wonderful things to put in, pickled cactus to put on top--$3! Sometimes she doesn't show because she's afraid of the policia, but she's worth taking your chances. Yum.
Both of these places are on the eastern side of town, the far more interesting half. While here, work up your appetite and get a taste of local life by taking a hike in either Griffith Park (www.ci.la.ca.us/RAP/dos/parks/griffithPK/griffith.htm) or Elysian Park (www.laparks.org/dos/parks/facility/elysianPk.htm). Views from both.
Do not be deceived by it's diner-esque front, the cuisine here is of the very highest calibre. I lived in Hermosa Beach for over a year and ate all over Los Angeles only to find this: by far the best restaurant I went to in LA; in my last week. Mains are $12-$17, but this is a snip for the quality of food and service and for the extremely pleasant atmosphere.
1501 Hermosa Ave, Hermosa Beach
Tel: 310 376 2084
This is the kind of hotel that backpackers stumble upon in their dreams and I myself discovered almost entirely by accident.
For a very affordable price, you get the kind of accommodation many hardened Asia travellers have almost forgotten existed.
The all-but brand-new rooms are beautifully set out with carved ebony furniture and the bathroom alone is worth the charge.
That’s before you taste the food. Hoi An is not only Vietnam’s best-preserved old town but one of its culinary capitals too.
If you tire of the hotel restaurant, check out Tien’s just across the road for an even better choice of cheap but sumptuous Vietnamese fare.
144 Cua Dai
Tel: +66 3 836 4700
Fax: +66 383 64 802
For THE African experience, deffo do not miss out on this:
a) Make sure you book
b) Get a table for 8 o'clock - this is when the atmosphere hots up - arrive early for some lovely outdoor ambience - think Fri/Sat/Sun would be the be the best time to go.
Enjoy
A fish'n'chip joint par excellence! Situated on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), you sit at tables overlooking the ocean eating superb freshly-cooked fish and seafood from an extensive menu. Line up at the cooking shack, choose your food, and it is cooked to order. Those in the know bring their own plates and cutlery, wine etc. Watch the sun set over the Pacific, it's magical - or go anytime for a cheap delicious meal.
PCH (Highway 1), Malibu.
Another nice place to hang out: this one is at Praça Santos Dumont, the intersection of Bartolmeu Mitre (which comes from Leblon), R. Jardim Botanico, and Marques de S. Vicente, which goes uphill into Gavea.
Two nice restaurants, at the corner of Rua dos Oitis: Braseiro, and Hippodromo.
PUC (the Pontifical University) is just up the street, so there will often be lots of students, and sometimes stars from Globo TV, just up the street in Horto.
Our favorite: the onion soup at Hippodromo.
Peranakan food is one of the most unusual cuisines to sample in Singapore, and it doesn't come better than at Blue Ginger. The rich, spicy fish head curry is unmissable.
97 Tanjong Pagar Road
www.theblueginger.com
Street food is one of the highlights of a trip to Singapore and Smith Street one of the best places to enjoy it. Choose popiah (a cross between filled pancakes and spring rolls) or a heaped plate of delicious black-pepper crab from one of the stands (all voted for by local people), sit down at a communal bench, and enjoy free, live entertainment most nights.
Smith Street, Chinatown
If this is your first taste of Asia, a visit to one of the South Indian restaurants in Little India is a fantastic and authentic experience. Remember to wash your hands before you start and sit on your left hand to stop you from using it. Tuck into one of the all-you-can-eat rice meals and enjoy! Try Komala Vilas, Sri Krishna Vilas or Ananda Bhavan.
Komala Vilas 12-14 Buffalo Road. Sri Krishna Vilas 229 Selegie Road. Ananda Bhavan 219-221 Selegie Road.
In August 2006 I was traveling from Rakwana to Aluthgama when I realised that I wouldn’t make the coast by night fall. My friend Lahiru lives in the Bulatsinhala area and he introduced me to the Field View Inn.
The rooms at the Field View Inn are clean and comfortable, they have attached shower room, fan and mosquito net (which I didn’t need).
Good food and drink is available in the large bar-restaurant up to 11pm. We had an excellent dinner of fried rice, with several cool lagers served by the friendly but incessantly polite staff. Next morning coffee was brought to our room and we took a walk through the friendly little town of Bulatsinhala before breakfast. The final bill came as a pleasant surprise, I couldn’t really ask for more.
This is not a tourist area, I was the only foreigner staying at the hotel, the other customers in the bar were all Sinhalese. However the decor suggests it might occasionally be busy with local wedding parties so it might be as well to telephone ahead and reserve your room. Tel: 034-2283021
From Colombo, it's about an hour drive to Horana where you can pick up direct and frequent buses to Bulatsinhala. Alternatively you can take a bus from Aluthgama to Matugama and pick up the Bulatsinhala bus there.
A beautiful courtyard in the Old Town housing several artisans' shops and a small cafe/chocolaterie. Go there if you feel tired of hustle and bustle of the usual tourist routes and would like to view and buy truly unique stuff made from wood, glass, etc.
Vene street, 6
This modern Indian restaurant is tucked away on Rose Street North between Princes and George Street. Not a salubrious location but well worth seeking out. The food is sublime, tasty, imaginative, well presented and unlike any Indian food I have ever been offered. Both food and wine prices very reasonable.
70 Rose Street North Lane, Edinburgh. Tel 0131 225 1233
Haldirams is a household name in India. They have a huge restaurant in Delhi near Chandni Chowk. They serve up good, clean, street snacks. Don't expect your average vindaloos and kormas, the food here is proper Indian fare. If you're unfamiliar with the food, a good dish to try is the "pav bhaji" which is a flavoursome snack of mixed vegetables served up on piping hot fried bread.
I don't know the street name, but I'm sure all the taxi drivers will know it. It's near Chandni Chowk, all the locals know it and it's hard to miss.
This great vegetarian restaurant has been running in Totnes for at least 20 years. It has a warm relaxed atmosphere with some communal tables. In the back, there is a pretty garden and a children's area. There is a great selection of organic, seasonal food, including a large variety of casseroles, quiches, soups and salads at lunch time. There's also wonderful choice of gâteaux, wheat-free munchies and yummy puddings, plus fair trade coffees, teas and a good variety of organic beers and wines. The Willow is open from 10am until 5pm and again in the evening. Wednesday night is curry night (very authentic) and Fridays is live music.
87 High Street
Tel: 01803 862605
With 2 branches in L.A. (the original in west L.A. on the old Route 66 and a more recent addition in Santa Monica) this is a fine place for a few beers from an enjoyably broad beer menu featuring brews from all over the world. There's no need to go for the usual U.K. available labels so try a nice Fat Tire or Anchor Steam instead, and add a fabulous calzone or chilli bowl from their equally long food menu. Shoot some pool, play the jukebox or look at the tabletops which are full of showbiz memorabilia and great old celebrity pictures.
3rd St Promenade,Santa Monica,CA
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