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Melbourne is one of the few cities left in the world with its original tram network and we are lucky to have some of the original tram cars (modernized for safety and comfort) turned into high-class travelling restaurants. These dark burgundy coloured trams can be seen negotiating the roads of Melbourne at lunch times and dinner times daily.
They present a very high level of dining with the only restriction being the number of choices for each course (the kitchen and the cooking facilities on board are restricted in size obviously).
You travel behind tinted glass sightseeing Melbourne whilst enjoying your meal with a glass of wine. A booking is essential.
The trams leave and return to the terminus in South Melbourne opp. the western end of the Crown Casino, cnr Clarendon and Normandy Sts Southbank
On the east side of Shinjuku station, to the north of the Odakyu department store, look for the alleyways of Shoniben Yokocho - "Piss Alley"!
Don't let the name put you off - this area has loads of small bars selling yakitori. Choose your own kebabs - chicken, tomatoes, fish, pork, etc and have them barbecued as you listen to the banter from the chefs and barmaids to the passing customers. Beer and lemon bitters to drink with the locals, bags of noise and atmosphere and very cheap!
Nishi-Shinjuku, east of Shinjuku station
Cabramatta is the centre of the Asian community in Western Sydney, most notably the Vietnamese. Here you can find the most eclectic array of asian food, from Vietnamese through to Laosian. The cost of eating here is amazingly cheap for the quality of food, too.
Up until recently the area was given a lot of bad press, but people have become to realise that the food and shopping (fabrics, ethnic supermarkets, electrical goods) make Cabramatta a different Sydney experience.
Cityrail to Cabramatta – about 30 minutes.
Absolutely stunning twin towers. Go during the day and there is a free guided tour and then again at night to see the towers lit up! There is also a shopping centre, cinema and restaurants at your disposal.
Junction of Jalan Ampand and Jalan P. Ramlee
Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
Just look for the towers you can't miss them!
The best bouillabaisse in the town that invented it. A bit dearer than its competitors, but just ask the locals why they eat here. Share one between two for €32 - unless you're really hungry - and wash it down with chilled Côtes-du-Rhône rosé.
3 Rue Fortia, in the restaurant district around Place Thiars just south of the Vieux Port.
Tel.04.91.33.09.73; fax.04.91.33.73.21; loury@loury.com; www.loury.com.
If you want to know what the Japanese do on a Sunday afternoon, then head off to Yoyogi Park. The whole of Tokyo seems to descend on this wonderful park. Families come for a picnic, unsigned pop bands play inpromptu gigs, theatre groups practise their latest plays and people just hang out letting the world go by! Everything seems to happen in this one place! When I went there a year ago, I felt like I saw the real Tokyo - seeing the Japanese at play.
Don't miss it!
Adjacent to Yoyogi-koen and Meiji-jingumae Stations on the subway Chiyoda Line, and Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote Line
One cannot travel to Bath without paying a visit to Sally Lunn's, the city's oldest house since 1482. It has a very cozy and intimate atmosphere. Throughout the day they serve their famous buns with cinnamon or ginger butter, orange marmalade, clotted cream, or other toppings. The building also houses a museum where you can see the original kitchen used by Sally Lunn with its original faggot oven.
4 North Parade Passage,
BA1 1NX, BATH, UK
www.sallylunns.co.uk/
Tel 01225 461 634
Melbourne sits on a great bay and having a meal as the sun descends in the west across the water is a great dining experience. There are many places especially on the eastern side, from the bistros, pubs and restaurants of the peninsula towns of Portsea and Sorrento or Mornington to the elegant dining of Donovans at St Kilda, Sails on the Bay at Elwood, the restored Brighton Baths or Windows by the Bay at Mordialloc.
Closer to town at Port Melbourne, the London or Graham are not to be missed. Eat out at the St Kilda Pier or sit in the Espy and have a beer. The view from Number 1 Fitzroy St is worth cost of the dining experience.
South-east of the CBD... along the shoreline of Port Philip Bay
A visit to Melbourne isn't complete without a quick (or extended) tour of the Viccy. All types of beautiful fresh food, and the sellers are legends. Have a jam donut and sit and listen to them.
A great restaraunt in a lane off Burke street. Not flashy, up a tiny flight of stairs and great for a simple pasta, inexpensively and quickly. Has buckets of character - a wall completely covered with photos, newspaper clippings from decades of being one of Melbourne's most loved places to eat, and the waiters are just fantabulous.
20 Meyers Place
Tel: 03 9650 1508
This is a real find - a spectacularly good restaurant off the beaten track. We were lucky enough to be taken here by friends from Barcelona or we would never have ventured far enough into the Barri Gotic.
Tucked down one of the many winding, cobbled roads that makes up the old part of Barcelona, this is not the cheapest restaurant in Barcelona (not expensive by London standards though) but it's the best one we found. It's got a real character with a lovely mezzanine level, friendly staff and romantic decor. The food is so good my step dad was moved to ask to shake the chef's hand - whereupon he and my mum were treated to an impromptu cookery class! Now that's a good night out...
Carrer del Cometa
Great place to visit on a sunny day as you can look over the harbour and there is a great selection of bars & restaurants (tends to be the chains).
Brighton
The myth that Tokyo is expensive is shattered here. This extensive chain of fast food resturants is cheap and filling but authentically Japanese. The dishes are rice based with different toppings (beef, chicken etc) served with oinions and pickel. Price of the meal usally includes a serving of green tea, the total cost being around 350-450Yen (2003 prices). Pictures of the food on the placemats also help in the ease of ordering for non-Japanese speakers.
100s of locations in the Tokyo area.
This is a patisserie cum ice cream shop in Istiklal Caddesi. The ice cream is wonderful and comes in many flavours. The traditional sticky pastries are very nice too. The staff are very helpful.
It is difficult to spend too much money on food in Colombia but try this iconic Bogotá venue. Andres Carne de Res is actually a little out of town in the Chia district, but the trip is well worth the effort. Movers, shakers and the beautiful people descend on the sprawling bar, grill and restaurant nightly. The decor is unique, the vibe amazing, and once you are done eating the dancing goes on until the wee hours. Make sure you have someone to take you home again. The website will give you a better idea of the style of the place than anything I can tell you.
The Mirador restaurant upstairs at Hotel de la Opera is right in the middle of the Candelaria, the romantic colonial section of the city. Sit on the fourth floor and enjoy a candlelit dinner watching the sensational high altitude sunsets and distant mountain lightning that flickers beyond the terracotta rooftops and view of the main plaza.
Calle 10 5-72; www.hotelopera.com.co
An indoor amusement park based on eating - get gyoze/potstickers in mock Chinese alleys, ice cream in a huge shop/fair and buy cream cakes and eat them in the Tokyo creampuff field beneath trees with cream puffs on them. A baffling and bewildering experience inside Sunshine City.
Underground to Ikebukoro, then follow signs to Sunshine City
There are traditional coffee houses all over Tokyo. Small - usually air-conditioned - places of calm from the hustle, bustle and summer heat. Your glass of ice cool water is constantly topped up, a cloth to refresh you, coffee, cakes and in many perfect toasted cheese. Excellent people-watching places too. Don't even think about using Starbucks or any of the chains.
Literally the best restaraunt/bar you will find in Tokyo (nay the world), and it's on the 42nd floor atop of the Mori Atago building.
Great atmosphere and the best view of Tokyo you'll get over Lobster (recommend at night).
Atago Green Hills, Kamiyacho
www.ystable.co.jp/restaurant/xexatago
Tako-Yaki was my favorite street food. A savory octopus gobstopper, you bite through a crispy pancake shell, swallow down runny batter till you get to the chewy chunk of octopus in the center. Stalls selling this tend to have a cute cartoon octopus waiving its legs invitingly at you.
You can buy it from stalls at festivals or in parks (there‘s one in front of Yoiyogi park).
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