Cape Town remains one of our favourite cities in the world. It’s just our kind of place, dynamic, fun, constantly reinventing itself, achingly pretty, in short piggy as all get out. I’ve just returned from my yearly jaunt down to the mother city and wanted to share a quick some fresh digs I discovered when […]

Colombo used to be best avoided. It was a mess of an urban sprawl with terrifying traffic, a place to endure rather than enjoy, usually on your way to somewhere better. However, times are a-changing and Colombo is emerging as an interesting destination in its own right. The cruise ships have started visiting, which says it […]

The ingredients for this daunting dish are many, and complicated. By far the most important of them are bravery and time. You cannot rush a cassoulet, and you cannot let it get the better of you. Those of you who are adventurous and gourmand enough to try this marvellous dish will find it will try […]

They say that the appearance of a dish greatly influences how you perceive its flavour, and I would normally agree, but have recently heard of an extreme case on the streets of Yangon.  I have always heeded the sound advice I once read concerning street food in Asia, that if it is deep fried or baked it […]

It’s not everyday you come across a place so special, so serene that your first thought is to count down the days until you can come back again. A place that quickens the pulse with pleasure, but enables complete relaxation. Hacienda Bambusa is just such a magical little spot, surrounded by astonishing natural beauty. It’s one of my top […]

Because travelling on ferryboats is cool. Because creamy yoghurt with fruits & honey make a yummy breakfast. Because the national guards in front of Parliament (with those pompoms on their feet) look so funny. There are umpteen reasons why Greece is a great country for family holidays. Here are my top 12. 1) Greeks love […]

Palia (old) Peritheia is reputedly Corfu’s oldest village. The guides will tell you it’s a ‘ghost village’. The oldest it may well be, but a ghost village? Not really. Here’s the story. Go back to the 14th century. The island’s inhabitants, the corfiotes, were suffering regular pirate attacks, and many sought refuge away from the […]

Hops, barley and water. That’s it. These are the only ingredients allowed in beer brewing according to the German purity law established 500 years ago in the very place I found myself during a sunny week in September: Bavaria. Here are some of the highlights from said whirlwind week of Bavarian beer sampling from Munich […]

Mendoza, Argentina: yes, we know, there’s a lot of wine there. The Aconcagua and Uco valleys are some of the most well known areas in the world for wine production. Wherever you turn you’ll see wineries… red, white, rose… it’s a sommelier’s paradise. But it’s also an active traveller’s paradise, if you look a little closer. Let’s […]

“HEL yeah” sums what I thought when a recent opportunity presented itself to spend a few days in the Finnish capital Helsinki (whose airport code is HEL… genius!). Now, travelling to a Northern European outpost in February doesn’t appeal to everyone, I get that. It’s dark, it’s chilly and it’s wet. But if you think […]

48.8 million hectolitres of wine…now that’s what I call a buzz-inducing bumper crop. In case you haven’t heard: in 2015 Italy surpassed France as the world’s largest wine producer. Mon Dieu! What’s one to do upon hearing such historic news? Well, obviously, you embark immediately on a celebratory road-trip deep into the Chianti, to get […]

I’m a city girl – or at least I thought I was until I visited the Hacienda San Lucas in Honduras, hidden away in the hills with not a square centimetre of asphalt to be found, and offering a culinary experience that’s not quickly forgotten. The ‘Getting There’ tab of the Hacienda San Lucas website […]

Gastronomes rejoice!  The ultimate long weekend getaway is alive and well, and clinging to a rock in Newfoundland. My wife and I were fortunate to spend a recent long weekend out at Fogo Island Inn, on remote Fogo Island, out in the Atlantic just off Newfoundland, and (as their website puts it) ‘just over halfway […]

I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much from Burmese food, as I had never been exposed to it before. Suffice it to say, I was completely blown away by the selection, surprising combinations, and rich flavours that were repeatedly put in front of me. Geography has a lot to do with why Burmese food […]

Anyone can pull up to Mondavi or Chateau St. Jean in California and taste some wine. Anyone can book an appointment at Jordan or Far Niente and join a small group for a tour and tasting hosted by an experienced professional. California wine country, however, has numbers of amazing little gems that are not open […]

There are some destinations in which a hotel is something of an afterthought. That doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful, comfortable, or even memorable, but if you visit the Galapagos Islands, the Taj Mahal, or the archaeological city of Petra, the place where you rested your head that night will likely not be the focus […]