In a country where you can get overwhelmed with entreaties to do dangerous and high adrenaline activities at every turn, sometimes it’s nice to do something utterly quaint and old-fashioned.
Dining on good solid fare while the old Victorian tram makes its stately progress through the streets and parks of Christchurch is about as far from extreme as you can get, and all the better for it.
Telephone: (64-3) 3667511
Website: www.tram.co.nz
Email: enquiries@tram.co.nz
Good Indian food is not actually that hard to find in Christchurch, but this place (part of a chain) is the best, as evidenced by its constantly thronged premises on trendy New Regent Street.
Address: Corner New Regent and Gloucester Streets.
Telephone: (64-3) 3777997
Website: www.littleindia.co.nz
Goldbrick House is a relatively new establishment situated at the top of Park Street in Bristol. We went there for dinner during Feb 2007 and had one of the best nights in a long time.
Goldbrick it is split over 4, beautiful Georgian townhouses with lots of rooms and hideaways. There's a two level restaurant (with amazing roof terrace - ideal to wind away long summer afternoons and evenings - I imagine) a fantastic champagne and cocktail lounge split across 4 rooms, two private hire rooms that were being used for parties and functions when we were there and a great little informal cafe bar at the bottom.
It's completely unique in Bristol and has a really relaxed and chilled vibe to it, although I hear that weekends are very busy.
Customers are a mixed bunch, which I found fascinating, from young couples, families, students, suits, and lots of people like us - knocking on mid 40's.
Food and service were faultless.
I'd strongly recommend that if you haven't already tried it - to get yourself down there and if you're visiting Bristol you have to make this one of your 'must see and sample' stops.
Full marks to the team behind Goldbrick!!! We're going to be regulars.
www.goldbrickhouse.co.uk
Park St, Bristol
A taste of Japan in Marrakech.
Authentic Moroccan restaurant this is not. Some of the best Japanese food outside of Japan it most certainly is. As a great lover of all things gastronomic, with a soft-spot for fine Japanese cuisine, Tatchibana offered better Japanese food than I have eaten in London, Paris or New York, and what is more, the price tag is more attractive as well. Recently opened in an area of the Marrakech Medina that has not lost its charming madness to the tourist trade, this Japanese restaurant offers the tranquility of a Japanese garden, and savours of the highest quality Japanese cuisine. The chef, a Japanese native who now lives in Marrakech with his wife looks about 15 but prepares his dishes like a sage. This is a must see, not to be missed experience, even if your cultural senses are confused by a small haven of Asia in North Africa.
Tatchibana
38 derb Bab Ksiba,
Kasbah,
Marrakech.
Maroc
www.tatchibana.com
Tel # 024387171
info@tatchibana.com
The Walk Inn is a bar/restaurant in the heart of the Old Town, a 5 minute walk from Socrates Street. It's set in a very pretty square and you can spend hours watching the world wander by.
There is a fantastic atmosphere, the food is all freshly prepared (pizzas and meze a speciality) children are very welcome and the prices are ridiculously reasonable.
There's no web site, but if you want directions call them on 22410 74293, and someone will come to meet you! How's that for service!
Excellent modern Spanish restaurant near Santa Catalina. The menu is interesting (and there's a helpful English translation behind the bar if you ask). The food is very tasty and well prepared. The special house red is amazing and I'm gutted to have forgetten the name already. Child-friendly. Excellent and non-prententious service. Very reasonably priced. I would go back!
Dona Maria Coronel, 17
Seville: 954 215 804
This is a very ex-pat establishment where you'll instantly feel comfortable if you're from the U.S. I love the communal table stacked with magazines. Wi-fi access is a plus. The menu is varied and extensive: I enjoyed both my breakfast and lunch here. Has outdoor seating. Visit Bliss Spa (one hour reflexology: $35) right around the corner. Full description of each (with photos) at:
www.travelmusings.net
They don't have a website, but Time Out Dubai and Luxe Guide Dubai both have listings for it.
Shk Zayed Road
Tel: 971 4 343 3779
If you would like to visit the Anatolian side of Istanbul, you should definitely go and eat in this small, independent, local restaurant in Baglarbasi. Its name is "Baglarbasi Iskender" just on the main road in Baglarbasi.
Portions are huge and very reasonably priced, the owner is back in the kitchen, preparing the most delicious doner kebab and other wonders.
Take a "Dolmus" from Kadikoy Rihtim to "Baglarbasi" and get off in Baglarbasi
Tel: +90 216 310 62 80
DIY Dining. Good for two people, better for more. I've heard several times that Koreans consider this the best place in town. This is as far as you could get from the touristy places, and it's about dining experience, not decor. Most of the customers will be Korean families, and the staff speak passable English. The prices are quite reasonable, especially if you share dishes.
Definitely go for the barbeque dishes. One order is enough to feed two or more people. They will promptly bring out a smoldering charcoal pot and grill, then bring you at least 20 little bowls of spicy vegetable side dishes, and a big plate of marinated meat, which you now have to cook on the provided grill. Between sampling all the bowls, and keeping track of what's cooking, you'll have plenty to keep you busy. Dining should always be this fun.
5247 N. Western Ave (773) 334-1589. Western or Foster busses, Brown line Western station is 15 min walk.
www.chicagoreader.com/cgi-bin/rrr/details.cgi?numb=2004
This charming little cafe is one of those places Chicagoans take guests to, because they love it so much themselves. Well-known for tasty breakfasts and lunches, but their delicious dinners are one of the best-kept secrets in the city. Expect long waits for breakfast or lunch on the weekends, but at night, you'll find it sparsely populated.
Definitely different is this japanese restaurant but lunch is great. All the usual favourites (tempura etc) are there along with some others more unusual like salmon rolls and shishamo.
Try the teriyaki beef rolls (delicious) and even their pizza!
Okonomiyaki is awesome (and Japanese for pizza). The decor is different too.
By the way, they also do dinner -
try it.
179 Russell St
Melbourne CBD
ph 9663 1938
This tower's history goes back to 340 BC. It is in the middle of Bosphorus, and it has recently been renovated. It has 5 floors, top floor being the bar, and you get a free soft drink here, which is included in your ticket from the shore.
You can get the best scenery for the Bosphorus from this floor. Don't forget you are in the middle of Asia and Europe here. Ground floor is a very good restaurant, although prices are above the Turkish average, you're guaranteed to have good food here.
www.kizkulesi.com.tr/en/collection/default.asp
There are frequent boats from Uskudar, Salacak, it takes aroung3 minutes, but you can also take the boat from Ortakoy (though as not frequent as from Uskudar)
Restaurant Chartier is possibly the best restaurant in Paris (although I haven't been to many!).
They change the menu every day so you can try a different meal anytime you go and the food is always gorgeous.
The waiters are really friendly and, with a mixture of English and French, you can always have a good chat with them. They have time for everyone even though it's a busy restaurant.
There's not many problems with it apart from it's quite hard to find - it's on Rue Du Faubourg, Montmartre and there are at least four Rue Du Faubourgs in Paris!
The other thing is the room vibrates a bit when the Metro train passes underground!
from Roisin (age 12)
7 Rue Du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris
www.restaurant-chartier.com
There's a Metro Station just outside the Restaurant.
San Marco's in Chorley has more cheese in the decor than it does on its pizzas and so it is quickly established that yes, this is an Italian restaurant - sorry 'ristorante'.
Somehow though, it's easy to forgive because here they serve food that gives pleasure. Sure, it's all a little messy and I wish the chef would make desserts on the premises and/or make use of the local ice cream superheroes - Fredericks (www.fredericksicecream.co.uk) but still, the simplicity of the dishes are pleasantly satisfying and the staff are always friendly.
The pizza bases alone are worth scoffing down. It may never win awards but mixed in with the charm and honesty is the feeling that there is certainly potential.
12 Cheapside, Chorley, PR7 2EX - 012572 61917.
Top quality NZ restaurant and tapas bar (no, me neither) on Marylebone High Street. The accents can be a bit grating, and the clientele includes some of the big sunglassed emigré types the area specialises in, but the food and wine is simply fabulous.
Marylebone Hight Street
Beautiful restaurant with very nice service and a reasonable price tag. We had oysters which were out of this world.
Oysters were not previously palatable for both my wife and I, but this experience was to die for.
We have not stopped eating them since! So now we are all zinced up and with a few of the shampoo bubbles we have been lifted to a new way of life.
A skip away from the best Victorian pub in Liverpool - The Philharmonic - the Side Door is a foodie's paradise.
Laid back surroundings, great food, great prices - well recommended!
Hope St, Liverpool
We had lunch at Plush last Thursday, our first visit. Friendly and welcoming staff, lovely food - fresh, well presented and full of flavour across all three courses - with a good bottle of Sauv Blanc.
All with prompt but unobtrusive service.
Seated by a tropical fish tank, which was entertaining. All for £50 - great value and well recommended.
10 York Place. Near Wellington Street and railway station.
LS1 2DS
0113 234 3344
Should you visit Bursa for its architectural marvels, spa hotels, and the Turkish Mt Olympus, do not omit to visit either of these restaurants. Bursa or Iskender kebab is served throughout Turkey, and while döner kebab served atop pide with yoghurt, tomato sauce and browned butter should not insuperably challenge a chef anywhere, the dish is only good, in fact excellent, at these two restaurants in Bursa. They serve almost nothing else, and one orders by size—bir, bir buçuk, dublé—and one-and-a-half is plenty.
Kukla Kebab, a diplomat's favorite outside the Foreign Ministry in Ankara, does a credible version, but really, one should only eat it here.
They're in all the guidebooks. The dish was originated at Iskenderoğlu; Hacı Baba provides competitive edge.
This restaurant, open only for lunch, is one of the loveliest in Istanbul.
It is situated inside the northern wall of the Spice Bazaar, and is entered via a stone stairway just inside the gate.
Remarkably quiet, decorated with lovely Iznik tiles, Pandeli is famous for its vegetables, and though it is always said that the food is not as good as it was in its fabulous heyday, one can still find subtle evocations of Ottoman cuisine.
Sample the meze, try the hünkar beğendi. A wonderfully civilised place in which to pass part of an afternoon.
Spice bazaar, inside the gate facing the water.