I came across this little cafe/restaurant during my visit to Istanbul and felt moved to write to you about two ladies I met there - Ayse Cetin and Emine Tuncel. They are the sisters who run this establishment located just 350 metres from Taksim Square. We stopped in for a drink to escape the city bustle and discovered a wonderful garden hidden at the back. Both the ladies were born and raised in the 100-year-old apartment, the ground floor of which is now the business. We even saw their 90+ year-old mother sitting in the garden reading her paper.

Emine spoke good English as she had lived in the UK for over 30 years and both sisters were so helpful when we badgered them with questions and requests for tips on things to do. In an area that was crowded with bars/cafes and restaurants, we found this place to be excellent value and quality and we ended up eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there on separate occasions. I would recommend a visit here to anyone. You couldn't hope to meet a nicer pair of Istanbulites in an authentic atmosphere.

96 Siraselviler Cadesi (opposite the German Hospital)
Taksim
Istanbul

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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.

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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

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Lovely small restaurant, family run, excellent local atmosphere. Delicious lomo de buey (beef fillet), brought to the table salted and uncooked, along with a scorching hot earthen dish on which to cook the meat in front of you as you talk and eat.

Lovely manchego chipped from a wheel as you enter and brought to the table, good wines, and delicious desserts. Excellent for a solid Spanish meal without all of the touristy tat. Food usually 15€-20€.

Plaza de la Marina Española, Metro Santo Domingo

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Vietnamese restaurant. Great food at very reasonable prices.

65 Ngo Hue

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One of the best Churrascuria restaurants in Rio where a never ending supply of meat is paraded out of the kitchen on swords and carved directly onto your plate. Great all you can eat buffet too. Pricey but worth it.

Leme Beach, Avenida Atlantica

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For food, Robert's Oyster Bar on the seafront cannot be beaten. Buy a pint next door and drink it with a dozen Colchester Natives.

travel.guardian.co.uk/activities/food/story/0,7447,414379,00.html

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Award-winning Indian food, friendly waiters and a lively atmosphere. £25 per head.

152-156 Shaftsbury Avenue, WC2; Tel: 0871 332 0581; Tube: Tottenham Court Rd; www.melarestaurant.co.uk/

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Soft lighting, Moroccan cuisine and cushions on the floor make Bereber an ideal choice for an intimate dinner.

Armenia, 1880; Tel: 4833 5662

Google map: tinyurl.com/npebzs

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A fabulous Mexican restaurant just off Santa Monica Boulevard. Mariachi waiters and fantastic (and reasonably priced) food. Recommended to us by a Swedish woman who ran a clog shop on La Cienega....

1113 N.Harper Ave
Tel: 213 654 1746

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Pizzerria/ristorante. Good food, friendly staff, great value. Meal for two with 20 euro bottle of wine came to 56 euros. Don't mistake it with the place across the road (Il Ghibellina), which was horrible.

Via M. Palmieri 30-34r, near Piazza Santa Croce;
tel 055 293 372

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Its a restaurant (like tapas, but Dalmation-style) and I recommend it because the staff are lovely, the food is outstanding (try the drunken figs!), and best of all, you sit at upturned half-barrels and drink local wine out of tumblers in the candlelight - there are no electric lights in there. Perfect.

Hvar Town, wander and you'll find it. I think its near sweet and pretty zimmer frei bar (the one with the white laundry hanging outside - love the bloomers).

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Konoba Krkjaši in Uvala Krknjas bay, serves up fresh fish and excellent meat dishes at reasonable island prices and is set in a lovely garden. It’s tucked away by a wooden pier where you can moor shallow draft boats.

Uvala Krknjas Bay, Drvenik Island. You can get a ferry from Trogir Riva.
Tel 021 893 073 or mobile 091 575 0925

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Tralee restaurants boast a plethora of chefs producing great food. From traditional Irish to the subtleties of vegetarian seasoning, from finest Oriental to superb seafood. Cheeses from small specialised local dairies. Oysters and mussels from clear, clean Atlantic waters. Local beef from lush pastures flamed in Irish whiskey. Succulent lamb from heather laden hillsides with the freshest of vegetables.

Try Val’s Bistro, Restaurant David Norris, An Pota-Stoir, The Oyster Tavern, The Tankard, The Cookery, Bella Bia… Or a bare little vegetarian cafe called Brat’s Place where the menu of two items is chalked on a board. It has to be said that the particular dishes on offer were a joy to the palate.

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This family-run Italian restaurant has fantastic food is fantastic for reasonable prices. A two-course meal for two with a bottle of wine cost under £30. Suitable for children as the menu contains pizza and pasta dishes, and there’s a great selection for vegetarians.

It’s easy to get to by tube or bus, and a five minute walk from the Thames, which is ideal for an after-dinner stroll.

The venue is quite small and always busy so it can get quite loud, but there is seating outside which is perfect in the summer. The service is outstanding and staff are very friendly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

192-196 Jamaica Rd, London SE16 4RT;
tel: 020 7064 4631;
Two minute walk from Bermondsey tube station;
Local bus routes C10, 188, 47, 381 and P13

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Orfeos Erben is not only an art house cinema, but also features a nice restaurant...ironically at the moment they are showing the shocking food documentary "We feed the world", a film about the immoral practises of big food companies, which did rather spoil my appetite when I saw it....

Hamburger Allee 45
60486
Tel: +49 697 691 00

www.meinestadt.de/frankfurt-am-main/kino/cinema?cinemaId=39663

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This restaurant serves a generous three-course lunchtime menu for €18 including wine, water and bread. Plenty of choice including, on our visit, clams with artichoke hearts in herb sauce, oxtail in piquant sauce, grilled dorado, and lasagne. Very smart place where locals eat. Downstairs bar food is the same but 10% cheaper.

c/ Pau Clarís, 169, just around the corner from La Pedrera and Passeig de Gracia metro;
tel: 93 215 30 47

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Cheap, freshly cooked vegan/vegetarian food in the backpacker area of Bangkok. Particularly recommended are the Thai Green and Massaman curries with tofu.

May also runs half-day cooking courses that are well worth trying out, though a touch pricey - in Thai terms - at 1000baht (£12). Each course includes a hair-raising tuk-tuk trip to the markets to get the essential Thai ingredients followed by hands-on tuition for 10 or so dishes. You'll be eating each one after you make it so skip breakfast that morning.

Cross the road perpendicular to the Burger King end of the Khao San Road and find the restaurant in the alleyway behind. It's very easy to find if you have a map.
www.maykaidee.com

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A really good honest and simple restaurant in one of Venice's most interesting out-of-the-way areas down near Giardini. We were given a warm welcome and enjoyed everything about our lunch. A set meal of this quality for 14 Euros is really a rare event in Venice. On the set menu there's either 'fish' (spaghetti al vongole followed by fritura) or 'meat' (spaghetti al pomodoro with veal as the main course). It's a genuine, very large plateful and extremely well-cooked and tasty. Half a litre of wine costs only 5 Euros. At the end they added on 12% for service - exceptionally, I wasn't bothered to check back whether it was mentioned on the menu because it had been such an enjoyable meal. A warm recommendation for both the restaurant and the area if you're in Venice for more than a couple of days.

Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Castello 1533. Phone 041 5228727

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Everyday Japanese fare, far from the trendy sushi concept. Eat like the Japanese do at home. A small, cosy restaurant that comes highly recommended.

Skydebanegade 16, just off Istedgade in the Vesterbro neighbourhood.
Tel: (+45) 36963331
Danish website:
www.banzai.dk

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