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Apparently the world's oldest restaurant - you've got to try it for the ambience and the suckling pig.
Calle de la Cuchilleros 17
Located on the very pretty canal of Prinsengracht this is a great place to chill out on the terrace in Summer or warm up in the eclectic interior (wooden tables, ethnic style soft-furnishings, plants and low-hanging lamps) in winter.
The menu includes Mexican, Middle Eastern, Italian and other European dishes. Starters include humous and pitta bread, vegetarian pate, guacamole and tortilla chips. Main courses include Burritos, pasta and - a particular favourite - the Vegan Platter. This gives you tasters of four or five different dishes on one plate -for instance brussel sprouts or courgettes in a soya milk sauce, barley and beans, shiitake mushrooms and soya - combinations are often unusual but always interesting and well cooked. For a dessert try the chocolate and pear tart or the devilishly tasty Banana Cream Pie.
Service is very friendly and efficient, the atmosphere is relaxed and, as some tables are shared, it can be a good place to meet people.
It does get busy so it may be worth booking a table and it does NOT accept Credit Cards do make sure you have enough cash.
A three course meal for two costs approx 50 euros
Opening Hours: noon-10.00pm
Prinsengracht 60-62
Phone: 626 18 03
When leaving Venice, if you don't have time to have lunch before rushing to catch your plane from Marco Polo, don't fret because you are in for a treat. Forget the usual airport food that we all know and hate - this airport food is a delight. Fresh pasta, with selection of different sauces, fabulous variety of salads and breads, dainty looking puds, with a glass or two of red. So civilised!! It was almost worth going home to experience something in such a different class to anything that I have ever had in an airport. The Italians certainly know how to live (and eat!!)
Marco Polo Airport
Try the cocido madrileno, only cooked at lunchtime and very busy at the weekends. You will have to take a long walk afterwards and maybe not eat anything more for 24hrs!
C/Bola 5 tel 915 476. Metro santo domingo
Great veggie cafe: relaxed atmosphere and child friendly, good value and tasty menu choices. The best of British Columbia's wholefood/veggie cooking is here. Particularly loved the yam dip...
2301 Main Street
Tel: 604-708-0881
Hamburger Mary's is the mother of all burger joints - they serve fantastic food and real fruit milkshakes in a 1950s-style diner. The atmosphere is fantastic and service is great.
1202 Davie Street;
tel: 604 687 1293
The perfect place for a mid-morning vermut (martini rosso) with obligatory free bowl of green olives. Sit at any of the historic bars and admire the views of this beautiful square and the Teatro Espanol. Don't miss the heladeria next door serving delicious dulce de leche ice cream.
Plaza Santa Ana
Malasaña is a street and an area well known by all true 16-30 Madrileños. In the day time you can shop for some retro treasures in the two 'Popland' boutiques (one for bags, badges and tee-shirts, the other for sixties home decorations and posters). Then, well after dark, you can return and be part of the Madrid sub-culture night life. Go into some bars off Plaza Dos de Mayo and you'll think you've stepped onto the set of Austin Powers (without the irony!) There are all types of bars and clubs round here, but they all have one thing in common: the cool factor. The music is cool, the people dress cool, but most importantly, the attitude is cool, that is to say, laid back.
Malasaña district. Nearest tube: Tribunal.
A slightly less touristy version of the Plaza Mayor, here you can find fantastic authentic Spanish restaurants and tapas bars. The food is delicious yet cheap. Start your evening in the plaza itself, with a glass of rioja and some tapas. Then, choose any side street leading off from the square and you'll be sure to find a good quality restaurant. Once you have dined on 'oreja' (pork's ear fried in garlic), chorizo, jamon serrano and other carnivorous delights, you can walk down calle Huertas and choose a late night bar in which to finish your evening.
Plaza Santa Ana. A short walk from the tube station 'Sol' or 'Tirso de Molina'
If you fancy a quick, satisfying meal on the cheap, check out a Korean restaurant. Generally speaking it is hard to go wrong. For no less than 5000 tugrugs, you can have an excellent kimchi soup, or maybe a pork, beef or chicken based spicy dish with rice. This comes along with unlimited tea, plus a random selection of side dishes for free, comprising of whatever the restaurant has in the fridge. Common surprises include seaweed, beansprouts, kimchi, cold potato salad and much more. Three of the best are situated on the east side of the state department store.
Near the state department store and all over town.
The best place to eat in summer. Upstairs has a European-style menu with excellent dishes at prices not dissimilar to other less impressive restaurants in town. The balcony is the best place to enjoy a beer in summer whilst looking at the view of Choijin Lama Monastery Museum and feeling the peace away from the main roads. Downstairs is a newly-opened Asian restaurant with great Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine. Lovely décor, good service and a good location completes the picture.
Tel: +976 91914455
The best international-standard restaurant in town has an impressive old Europe setting and a strong Germanic influence. It’s not cheap by Bolivian standards, but a good excuse to dress up and mix with the local high society; the set lunch is a good value way to soak up the atmosphere.
Calle Frederico Zuazo #1905
Tel: 244 1660
www.restaurantvienna.com
A bit of an escape from Kowloon and Hong Kong island's north side, Sai Kung has great seafood restaurants where you can pick your fish, then see it killed and cooked before your eyes. Then try out the amazing dessert places nearby for real Chinese sweets.
East coast of Hong Kong on the mainland
A very posh, old-fashioned eating experience up in the old castle area, this is worth saving the forints for. The food is very rich and traditional and the wines are expensive but superb. But it's the operatic and ballet-based entertainment that sets the place apart. There is hardly room to swing a cat but two dancers and a string quartet somehow find space to perform.
There is the largest hammered dulcimer (called a cimbalom) I have ever seen and two short chubby opera singers belt out recognisable favourites with great panache. Go on. Spoil yourself!
Kiraly Etterem (Kings Restaurant)
1014 Budapest, Táncsics Mihály Utca 25.
Tel: +36 1 212 8565
www.kiralyrestaurant.hu
Each night there is live jazz, with a 20R cover charge for a stage view or 10R elsewhere. The bands tend to do 20-30 minute sessions, usually starting at 8pm and finishing in the early hours of the morning. The music is never so overbearing that you can't have a conversation.
The food is wonderful; the fresh seafood is always top notch and the steaks so tender they melt in the mouth. It's always difficult to decide between a starter or a dessert.
The house wine selection is very drinkable and goes with the main course, plus it's reasonably priced.
V&A Waterfront
Arcade Pier Head
021 421 7471
Excellent Indian food and a great atmosphere. Most tables have a view of the kitchen, and all the food is prepared fresh. Be prepared to wait when it's busy, which is most of the time.
Two irritations are the lack of parking nearby and the fact that they try to squeeze larger groups onto a smaller table; for example, a party of six would be squeezed onto a table for four. So when booking always add a couple of people to the party size.
35 Church Street, City Centre, Cape Town, 021 424 0000
Centro Cultural Conde Duque, on Calle Conde Duque, is a very little known permanent museum, temporary exhibition and concert venue. The 18th-century building is impressive in scale, and the area around is quiet and relaxed. Full of bars, restaurants and some beautiful shops, it is difficult to believe that you are in the centre of town, surrounded by Calle Princesa, San Bernardo etc.
Take a stroll to Plaza Comendadoras for a drink in one of the many "terrazas" while you look at children playing in the playground. On the same plaza there's a "Sauna" (a brothel); opposite you'll see the also impressive building of the Convento de las Comendadoras. The area has the air of a small village about it; it's a mix of bizarre, genuine and unique Madrid.
Zona Conde Duque, nearest tube is San Bernardo or Noviciado
Tucked away in the West End this great restaurant serves contemporary Scottish food in a great setting. The Bothy manages to have staff in kilts and irn-bru sorbet on the menu, but still has an upmarket, elegant feel.
Ruthven Lane, Off Byres Road. Opposite Hillhead Subway station
Excellent food with extremely helpful and friendly staff. Not particularly cheap, but worth it.
Piazza San Marco
Possibly the stodgiest food known to mankind, these are something of a local speciality: huge balls of polenta (known locally as mamaliga) with a cheesy centre.
Best served with a big dollop of butter and salty yoghurt poured on top - no really, it should come as part of the package. Well worth skipping breakfast and possibly lunch for. Dieters beware, though; they might well pack a bit of cholesterol.
Most traditional restaurants in the area, priced four Euros or so.
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