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This is a restaurant in a newly refurbished hotel, with stunning views of the Kvarner Bay, Rijeka and the mountain of Ucka. Only half an hour’s drive from Rijeka, it offers splendid al fresco dinning on its terrace overlooking the sea.
The food is imaginative and based on the traditional regional cuisine (such as risotto with scampi and asparagus followed by fish baked in salt), deliciously prepared and served with style. The wine list features good quality local wines. Eating here is a memorable experience, but does not come cheap.
Lovranska Draga 1, 51415 Lovran, Croatia
Tel: 385 51 294 166
Fax: 385 51 291 826
Gsm: 385 98 327 093
e-mail hotel@dragadilovrana.hr
www.dragadilovrana.hr
Vrh is a small non pretentious restaurant in the hill village of the same name, about 40 miles from Rijeka in the heart of Istria and the ‘truffle region’.
This is a family run restaurant, which uses local ingredients and offers home-made wine, sparkling wine and all sorts of ‘rakija’ (grappa). We enjoyed locally made cheese (with truffles), prosciutto and home made bread, as well as home-made pastas with truffles filled with cheese, and traditionally prepared roast meat. The meat was the best Sunday roast we ever had! The lunch was completed with a wine and rakija tasting in the owner’s cellar. Good value for money (£10-20 per person, including drinks).
Vrh 2, Buzet, Hrvatska
Tel: 385 (0) 52 667 123
Fax: 385 (0) 52 616 708
restaurant@vrh.hr
www.vrh.hr
Exemplary Nepalese-run curry house. Moved from their original Easton location into the city centre at a time when David Blunkett, during his tenure as Home Secretary, had seen fit to place Easton's Stapleton Road among his 'top 5' UK troublespots. The family import their own spices from their home village of Bhajungle in Nepal and actor Paul McGann is numbered amongst their many fans.
Colston Tower, Colston Street;
tel: (0117) 929 4455;
www.kathmandu-curry.com
A great breakfast/brunch place which does amazing pancakes and fruit smoothies in a fun environment. Get there early on the weekend though, or be prepared to queue - this place is popular!
Various locations. Check their website for details: www.chezcora.com
Brunch is a major part of life in Montreal. So are bagels.
Bagels Etc, a small cafe on rue St Laurent does the perfect bagel brunch in an amazing atmosphere. It's also one of Montreal native Leonard Cohen's favourite spots. You can't go to Montreal without coming here.
On rue St Laurent, near the interesection of Rachel.
The Sushi Depanneur has got to be unique among sushi restaurants, not only in Montreal. Only here will you get to eat delicious fresh sushi at affordable prices in the shop window of a corner store! It perfectly captures the beauty of unpretentious Montreal.
The restaurant is on Rue Mont Royal, and the street in itself is worth a visit: little shops jostle for space with a multitude of bars and restaurants, all in the middle of one of Montreal's oldest quartiers, the Plateau Mont Royal - which incidentally is the neighbourhood with the highest population density in all of North America. Look out for the colourfully painted houses with winding outdoors staircases.
You'll find the Sushi Depanneur as you head east along Rue Mont Royal, just before Rue Papineu (take the metro to Mont Royal).
Many Montreal restaurants don't have a license to serve wine, but this is a good thing, because you can bring your own and there's no corkage. Combined with the competitive Montreal restaurant market, it makes for a cheap way to eat and drink very well. Look for restaurants with the sign "Apportez Votre Vin".
Wine can be bought at one of Quebec's SAQ (Societe des Alcools du Quebec) stores or at a depanneur (corner store).
Away from the big streets on the Plateau is good AVV hunting territory. Les Infideles on Rachel (near St Hubert) is a great example, but there are lots of cheaper places too. The closest SAQ is on St Denis just up from Duluth.
Less chic than Marche Atwater, but bigger, cheaper and with much better street food. Shops include the fantastically named "Qui L'ait Cru?" for cheese.
7075 Avenue Casgrain; tel: (514) 277 1379;
Metro: Jean Talon, then walk 3 or 4 blocks west (along Jean Talon) and one south;
www.madeinmtl.com/main.php?langval=2&rdv=179
This stretch of cobble stone street between St Laurent and Square Saint Louis is forbidden to cars. There are lots of outdoor restaurants, bars, cafes, and it's packed with people at night, especially in the summer. Square Saint Louis is a gem too.
Just find the intersection of Boulevard St Laurent and Rue Prince Arthur;
Metro: St Laurent
Some years back I had the best meal I've ever eaten in North America in this restaurant in the Old Port section of Montreal. It’s impossible to forget French standards like Beef Wellington, but there were also specialities like a mussels-with-crepe dish that came with a perfectly composed cream sauce - le pannequet Ostendaise (pancakes as served in Ostend). Food and wine and pleasant service flowed generously and the cost of the meal was meagre by New York City standards. Best of all, there was no intrusive, overbearing service by out-of-work stockbrokers or wannabe actors or models as in Gotham. But caution: restaurants change hands - or they just change, period. Check with a local gourmand first.
410 Place Jacques Cartier;
tel: (514) 866-3471;
www.st-amable.com/menu.htm
American hotel is an extremely good place to stay, though a bit pricy. Fantastic location close to museums & night life. Very friendly staff, a real treat, and the hotel's cafe is a fantastic place to have a meal or just a cup of coffee, very beautiful with a distinctly old-times flavour. Excellent value for money. Strongly recommend both places.
Leidsekade 97, Amsterdam (close to Ledsplein);
tel: (0)20 556 3000;
email: info@AmsterdamAmerican.com;
www.amsterdamamerican.com
Marche Atwater is a market selling a wide range of fresh fruit, veg, cheese, bread, cakes and other tempting foodstuffs. It is housed in a big old art deco building by the Lachine Canal, with many stalls outside in the summer, some of which also sell flowers and shrubs. Well worth stopping by if you're in the area for a cheap and tasty lunch or just to stock up if you're self-catering.
Avenue Atwater, St. Henri;
Metro: Lionel-Groulx.
A Jewish-style deli that does to perfection the traditional Montreal smoked-meat sandwiches. Huge piles of meat on simple white bread, topped with mustard. On weekend mornings, there can be a 15 or 20 minute line out the front door. Swift, no-frills service. Schwartz's is perhaps the archetypal Montreal experience, and the list of famous names who patronise the place is suitably complete.
3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard;
tel: (514) 842 4813
www.schwartzsdeli.com
This is one of many bars in the city centre with outside seating. The location is very pleasant and you can watch the world go by.
Best of all is the pizza ... you pay about £4 for a huge pizza, stone-baked and very nice. Good selection as well, and when you have finished that, the ice cream place next door is well worth a trip. If you are going to 17's at night, be aware that it is very popular with the stag parties, but it's OK for one or two of the cocktails, which are very well made.
Hviezdoslavovo nám. 17, 811 02 Bratislava;
clients.fatchilli.com/17/index1.php
Downstairs there is a bar and cafe with a decent menu to choose from and bean bags to recline in. Upstairs there is exhibition space for artists and a theatre. On the third Sunday of every month there is an ever popular market selling local and organic produce. Architect George Ferguson's salvage and renovation of this building has done a great deal to revive this part of south Bristol. A great place to visit for those with an interest in urban regeneration or who may just fancy a bevvy.
Raleigh Road, Southville BS3 1TF;
tel: 0117 963 0960
www.tobaccofactory.com
Legendary late night pub in boho Montpelier. The DJs spin reggae, there's a good selection of rum behind the bar and Jamaican patties for the peckish. If you're lucky you'll find landlord Dutty Ken in a cooking mood and be treated to some of his finest curried goat. Live music every Sunday that ranges from Gypsy Jazz to Latin, Funk and Dub.
33 Brook Road, Montpelier
www.starandgarterproductions.com
Almost all of my expat friends say that the tree will be the first choice if they want to have some tasty pizza. Also they have a impressive collection of Belgian beers.
43 Bei Sanlitun Nan,Chaoyang district (100 metres West of Sanlitun North Bar street, Yo Yi Youth Hostel, behind Poachers Inn)
Tel: 010 6415 1954
www.treebeijing.com
A lovely hotel in Deia, a small town nestled in the north western mountains of Mallorca (the Tremuntana range). The hotel is situated ideally, the breakfast terrace overlooks the pool and is surrounded by mountains which makes you feel like you're floating.
Deia is a beautiful place, although the presence of two five-star hotels means a lot of restaurants are pricey (although excellent). The tapas bar at the end of the road out of town is fabulous. A walk up the hill from town takes you to the cemetery where Robert Graves is buried. It's a beautiful place with spectacular views. If you need a pinch of reality, take a trip to Palma, for a day of shopping and city stuff, before taking the orange train (wooden narrow guage train, which used to transport oranges) across (and through, literally) the mountains over to Soller - a nearby port, which is quiet and friendly and a million miles from Magaluf, but just a 15 minute taxi drive back to Deia.
Prohibicja is ideally placed on Podwale not far from the Royal Castle and Old Town.
In keeping with its name the restaurant has a mock up of a still above the bar downstairs and the white washed walls are pock marked with fake bullet holes. A suitably theatrical design for somewhere that is owned by four Polish actors.
The menu has both Polish and American influences - including dishes such as Spare Ribs with French Fries and Pike/Perch with Mashed Potatoes, Spinach and Caper Sauce - the food is simple but well cooked and tasty, the service excellent, friendly and efficient.
Podwale 1
www.prohibicja.com.pl
Cafe Blikle on Nowy Swiat is a wonderfully, traditional cafe. The interior is smart with wood panelling, green walls, a big copper coffee pot and interesting curved lights.
The atmosphere is a mixture of conversation and contemplation, a good place to catch up with friends, debate and discuss but also somewhere to catch up with oneself, sit idly and read or simply watch people come and go.
The fare on offer includes a selection of teas, coffees (including liqueur coffees such as Honey Coffee with Krupnik and Cream and Cafe Bourbon with rum and cream) and other drinks, hot meals, snacks and a delicious tempting array of pastries and cakes (Chocolate Torte, Sweet Custard Slice with Flaky Pastry) which will set your mouth watering.
Nowy Swiat 33
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