Lalbenque is no ordinary little French village. Squirreled away in the hillsides of an empty part of the Lot department, it’s also the world capital of the black truffle, and its winter truffle market has to be seen to be believed. Everything about the market is odd: the produce, the prices, the people, but most of all […]

After a steady 10 year relationship with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, I cheated and had a torrid affair with the Maconnais. I have no regrets at all. Normally you’d consider it bad wine-making luck to grow up in the awesome shadow cast by Burgundy’s Côte d’Or; but this is the only reason I can think of […]

Sometimes when I’m hungry and wondering what restaurant will suit for the evening, I don’t go to a restaurant. I go to a Cave. A favourite blog tells me that everything cool in Paris was made popular by Americans and is mostly manufactured by the Chinese. That really made me laugh. But while it may hold true […]

What qualities are hardest to find in Parisian restaurants? Reasonable prices. Service with a smile. Flexible opening hours. Chez Casimir has them all—and they serve brunch! You’ll think you’re in America. Until you taste the food, that is. Vive la France! In fact I’m talking about two places: the side-by-side Chez Michel and Chez Casimir, […]

Christian Constant is to bistro cooking what James Brown is to soul. Trace the lineage of his sous-chefs and their sous-chefs from his time as chef at the Hotel Crillon, and you’ll find all the best 40 EUR meals in Paris, scattered around in some of the most unlikely places. If things go well, I’m […]

I’ve spent a lot of time in a lot of places where locals don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. And I’ve spent even more time in hotels where  bottled water is imported at great environmental cost and sold to guests for a king’s ransom. So when I learned about an organization called Whole World […]

I don’t usually like to pick favourites. Usually. Today, however, I’m going to side-step diplomacy and cut right to the quick. My all-time favourite place to have lunch in NYC is Cafe Gitane on Mott Street in Nolita. Boom, there it is. The cold, hard, delicious truth. Perhaps some explanation is in order. Cafe Gitane […]

Indochina is a gastronome’s delight. From lovingly prepared pho (the cure for all ills, in my opinion) in Vietnam to creamy amok fish curry and stir fried morning glory flowers (a personal favourite) in Cambodia, you’re bound to have many delicious dishes calling you back for more. There is, however, a flip side to this culinary coin—a number of […]

While tacos might be my true love, donuts might just be my first love. As a kid, it was a weekly Sunday ritual to head to the local donut shop and choose half a dozen cream-filled and chocolate-glazed treats to bring home and share with the rest of the family. As my taste buds have […]

I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a taco snob. Hailing from the land of carnitas and guacamole in sunny southern California, where my high school had surf P.E. and the lunch menu regularly included burritos, tacquitos and tamales, it was a rude awakening to arrive in New York city and find a dearth of […]

In my book, any place that owes its existence almost entirely to cheese can’t be all bad. L’Etivaz in Switzerland’s Pays Duhaut, source of the best ‘alpage’ cheese in the known universe, is just such a paradise. Picture the scene: soaring mountains, spiked forests of pine, patchwork pastures of glowing lush grass, the jingle of […]

I like to eat (and drink) like a local whenever I go anywhere new, and Tel Aviv has some wonderful restaurants and cafes. The Neve Tzedek neighbourhood is a great spot for sitting at a street-side café and enjoying some coffee, shakshuka, and people-watching. In between eating, drinking, and generally exploring the city, I had the […]

Food in Switzerland isn’t just cheese and chocolate (or so we hear). Okay, fine, the majority of the Swiss fare is cheese and chocolate, but if you dig a little deeper into the menu you’ll find a plethora of tasty options. Each region has its own magnum opus, as well as seasonal specialties–which we were lucky enough […]

“The best carbonara in Roma is at Roscioli. It’s really special.” Such sweeping statements about the best of anything typically come with the kind of fervour meant to convince and/or bully someone into agreement (no matter what!), but when these words come from Katie Parla, it’s simply a matter of fact. One part historian, two parts […]

Iberian ham, or jamón iberico, might well be our favourite thing about Spain (beyond the Macarena and Rafael Nadal, obviously). If you count yourself a lover of prosciutto or jambon de Beaujolais, jamón iberico will be right up your alley. Read on to hear about jamón’s inglorious history, current prestige and our favourite tasting tips. Ham wasn’t always such a celebrated item on the […]

Seems these days that everyone is an amateur food photographer. It’s not unusual to see diners standing over their dishes, lording an SLR or just their iPhone to snap some photos of a stack of pancakes or the perfectly runny eggs Benedict. Food though, can be a tricky beast (I mean who can make a […]