Best steakhouse I've eaten at (and there's been a few). Good service and amazing Porterhouse steaks. Try and leave some room for the cheesecake desert.
www.peterluger.com
Take the L train to Bedford Ave, you'll see the restaurant from the platform off to your right.
Gesthers is simply the best restaurant in Gozo. Serves traditional Gozitan dishes, the recipes having been handed down from generation to generation. Opens only at lunchtime, Monday through Saturday. It is very reasonably priced. The decor IS very basic...don't let it put you off. Bragioli and spaghetti with rabbit sauce come highly recommended. I've been going there for the last 12 years and have never once been disappointed.
21st September Street in Xaghra. Street at right angle to main church....or ask any local!!!
Sitting atop six huge hot water tanks on a hill in Reykjavik, Perlan (the Pearl) restaurant is one of the top eateries in Iceland, with prices that go with its reputation. One floor down, however, is the inexpensive cafe, where extended local families gather on the weekend to sip a beer and eat Italian ice cream. Surrounded by windows on all sides and with access to the viewing platform outside, this is a great place to take in all of Reykjavik and the mountains beyond. As the sun moves towards the horizon, the surrounding landscape becomes bathed in a wonderful golden light (weather permitting of course!)
Perlan - Öskjuhlid - 105 Reykjavik
www.perlan.is/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=102
Tel: (+354) 562 0200
Best mojito cocktails on the planet. The restaurant was lively, great and unique atmosphere at a relatively affordable price and nice looking people too... Oh la la what a treat.
15 Banys vells Barcelona. The Borne barcelona.
www.lafianna.com
A former Vermouth factory, Eataly is a huge and beautifully renovated food produce centre. It is dedicated to the Slow Food Movement which is a Turin-based NPO that deals with promoting food of high quality and fair production.
The food hall comprises 10 themed bar-type eateries where you can sample or actually sit down for lunch (meat/cheese/pizza/pasta and ice cream, to name a few). There is also a vast more supermarket-like food hall where you can shop until your heart's content.
Best things are it's reasonably priced, outside and high stool-seating make for great lunch, all the cooking and food prep is done in view of the customers so it's fun to watch and there are loads of people on hand to give you expert advice (all
very knowledgable).
Best place in Italy for buying, seeing, eating and learning about Italian food.
Eataly, Via Nizza, 230 / 14, Turin Lingotto, Italy
+39 011 19 50 68 01
Nearest station is Turin Lingotto train station. Follow the signs for Lingotto Fiere/8 Gallery.
www.eatalytorino.it/eatalytorino/welcome_eng.lasso
A cosy little cafe in the heart of the city. A great place to go for lunch if you enjoy veggie and vegan cuisine. Very friendly staff, freshly cooked everything and all very cheap! If you are lucky you may even meet their resident harpist.
Just off Renshaw Street, behind Stanley Casino.
A small friendly restaurant near the cathedrals which serves high quality food. The menu is mostly European, with occasional Asian influences.
The Side Door
Hope Street
Liverpool
L1
If you are a carnivore, and like eating lamb, then go to Asador de Aranda. If you aren't a carnivore, and don't like eating lamb, then don't. It's as simple as that. Asador de Aranda serves only lamb. but wow - it's the best lamb you could ever imagine. They stick great big wodges of the meat in a wood stove, and it comes out crisp on the outside and melting in the middle. You don't need anything with it, because anything else would simply fill a hole in your tummy which could otherwise be filled with lamb, so don't waste that space. It's a local favourite, so you won't find tourists here, just local families celebrating birthdays, or just enjoying lamb! The staff are wonderful, and delighted in watching us tuck into the juicy meat. In fact two waiters were so thrilled by our reaction that they brought us complimentary dessert and liqueurs - we really made some friends that night! Ignore the Ramblas, go to Asador de Aranda!
Avinguda Tibidabo, 31, Barcelona 08080 Spain www.asadoraranda.com/
Mamas is a New York institution. There is more than one branch - my personal favourite is the East Village shop - but go to any for the Mamas experience. The food is wholesome home-cooked soul food - meatloaf, chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potato. Nothing fancy. Help yourself at the counter, pay for it, and either take away or sit down to savour the real American food. No pretentions here, and you really can't spend more than about $10-$15!
A trendy but not pretentious place. Zuka, in Leblon, is a magical restaurant to have an exotic and tasty dinner in. The chef's creativity amazes all senses. I was really surprised by the ambience - cosy but modern, full of hip and interesting people. Definitely a must-try.
Rua Dias Ferreira 233, leblon
www.zuka.com.br
My top tip for Paris, especially if you’re a food lover, is to experience it like a Parisian and chose to stay in a self-catering apartment.
Paris has so many markets and beautiful specialist shops which you can’t take full advantage of if you’re staying in a hotel. You can have freshly baked bread and croissants for breakfast and then browse les marchés, boucheries, charcuteries, fromageries and other stores for fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, paté and cheese and prepare your own meals, including a tasty picnic for your return trip which will have your fellow passengers green with envy!
I just moved to Munich - what a wonderful city! Fantastic mixture of historic tradition and anarchic alternatives, accessibly modern and suprisingly friendly. From the moment you arrive in the well-designed (of course!) airport -they check your passport and you pick your luggage up straight at the gate - right the way through to literaly hundreds of independent bars and restaurants it's one the nicest cities in the world!
Best bars are in the Glockenbachviertel. For good restaurants try Schwabing and Liehl. Great beer gardens everywhere.
An excellent place to refuel before tackling the steep climb up Box Hill, the King William IV pub in Mickleham, near Dorking, has excellent roast dinners on Sunday.
The standard menu is also worth travelling for though (see their website), and as Saturday lunch is less crowded than Sunday, there's no need to limit yourself to one day of the weekend.
Parking can be a problem (the pub is up a narrow lane, but there is parking on the main road), but once you get there, there is a lovely beer garden, with stunning views over the Mole Valley. Named best pub in Surrey three years in a row.
www.king-williamiv.com/
Byttom Hill, Mickleham, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6EL
01372 372590
Monday - Saturday 11am - 3pm & 6pm - 11pm.
Sunday 12noon - 3pm & 7pm - 10.30pm.
I came across this neat and clean fast food outlet. The nicest thing was the service and food quality, this was a surprise because I have visited many fast food outlets and they are very very different.
They have tasty grilled chicken, bbq sauce chicken and all the normal stuff, they even make homemade smoothies.
212 High Rd, Ilford
They do a great set meal each day, well worth the price, including a little Indian desert. Also have good south Indian dishes.
121-123 Drummond Street Camden London NW1 2HL. Right next to Euston Station.
This place is a real oddity. Very old fashioned and mainly inhabited by ageing Poles. Pictures of the (last) Pope abound.
Head downstairs for the great little Polish food store (good vodka and sausages) and the interesting restaurant. This place serves seriously authentic Polish food. Anyone who has eaten Polish food will know that it is an acquired taste, but for those who already know they like it, this place is excellent. Beware - the menu is in Polish and many of the staff do not speak English.
Polish Catholic Centre Social Centre Bordesley StBirmingham
B5 5PH
0121 358 7102
First stop on the Curry Mile from the City Centre, and no need to go further - excellent service, from the complimentary poppadoms and pickles -tasty, well-prepared and presented curries and high tolerance for families. They have two other branches in Didsbury and Heald Green, but Rusholme works for me.
Oxford Road, Rusholme
They have some great bikes with big comfortable seats. I was really impressed. When I returned the bikes they sent me and my wife to a great restaurant and they were right, the cheesecake was definitely made by the hands of God!
C/Murillo 22 bjo dcha just up from the central market
0034 963916324
Highly recommended is Rasa (Malaysian) on Cuba Street. Take your own bottle of wine (BYO) for a cheap, but delicious dinner. Also, the Matterhorn where you can listen to local bands while eating delicious food and drinking cocktails. It's a funky place (but popular!).
Matterhorn:
www.matterhorn.co.nz/splash_flash.html
Travelling through Central Otago in summer, especially around Cromwell, Queenstown, and Roxburgh, there are plenty of opportunities to stop and buy fruit.
Browse through the boxes and search out succulent apricots, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, gooseberries, apples or plums to refresh your journey. It's worthwhile buying a large chilly bin (cool box) for storage if you're driving.