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Sightseeing, shopping and eating
After long absorbing hours of spending or viewing you really do not want to have to travel for an age to enjoy the equivalent in eating. So it is nice to know beforehand just where the food trough will be when your tummy starts to rumble like Thor getting cross. The website for Food and wine Magazine has come up with a list of the top 10 restaurants where the food is as good as the nearby sights. The list starts with the recommendations by foodandwine.com(foodandwine.com/golist) but we have added a few more taken from our own databank.
1: Alto, New York City (Museum of Modern Art).
Chef Michael White has taken over the Alto and sister restaurant L’Impero. His elegant presentation of satisfying north Italian cooking can be enjoyed just a short walk from the MoMA.
2: Fafiuche, Rome (the Forum).
So new that it is not yet listed in The-best-Chefs.com this is a trendy combination of restaurant and food shop in the Monti neighbourhood next to the Forum.
3: The Goring, London (Buck ‘as, aka Buckingham Palace).
Having enjoyed a Royal make over (designer David Linley, Queen Elizabeth’s nephew) The Goring is now glitzy and Swarovski, but the food is still memorable with an excellent wine cellar.
4: Karim’s, Delhi (Jama Masjid mosque).
The most iconic kebab joint in Delhi sits in the shadow of the Jama Masjid mosque and has been owned for nearly a century by a family that claims to have cooked for India’s Mughal emperors 200 years ago.
5: Les Cocottes, Paris (Eiffel Tower).
At this dressed-down spot chef Christian Constant of Le Violon d’Ingres and Café Constant bakes a half-dozen Southwestern-accented French dishes in mini Staub cast-iron pots which customers can purchase.
6: Martha Kitchen and Bar, Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv Museum and Opera House).
Within walking distance of the Tel Aviv Museum and Opera House Martha serves excellent Middle Eastern dishes such as lentil salad with eggplant puree, Western dishes and some that fuse the two.
7: Ocean Room, Sydney (Opera House).
Excellent sashimi is the lovely surprise provided by young Tokyo-born chef, Raita Noda who has access to a thrilling variety of seafood, though the living contents of the huge indoor aquarium are not listed on the menus.
8: Omotenashi BAR at Isetan, Tokyo (in must-visit Isetan food hall, also near Shinjuku shopping area).
The glamorous Isetan department store’s basement food-floor recently underwent a massive renovation, resulting in a new array of food stands, chef counters and covetable ingredients. The floor now houses Omotenashi BAR which serves nihonshu (the Japanese word for sake) paired with small plates.
9: Palatium, Rome (Spanish Steps).
This sleekly designed restaurant just off the Spanish Steps concentrates on the food of Rome and the Lazio region.
10: Pasaji, Athens (city centre).
Chef Nena Ismirnoglou, who spent several years at NYC’s Estiatorio Milos, cooks smart, modernized Greek cuisine. In the meantime the restaurant has become one of the latest people-watching hangouts in the city centre. It is named for its location in a gorgeously renovated, covered passage behind the famous Grand Bretagne hotel.
11:Aigner Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin (Museumsinsel).
It is almost appropriate that this restaurant is in itself virtually a museum piece having been transferred from Vienna with the original furnishings after 85 years on the Danube. Food for thought and the body in the form of local and regional specialties offered by chef Andreas Klitsch.
12: Dallmayr, Munich (shopping along Maximillian Strasse).
Not the cheapest place in town, but then you have been spending your money discerningly throughout the morning. Dallmayr offers a panopticum of foods and delicacies downstairs in the café and bistro whilst Michelin starred Diethard Urbansky makes you wish you’d come earlier to this traditional upstairs and up-market eatery.
13: Meinl am Graben, Vienna (Stephansdom).
Shopping all morning, lunch at Meinl’s and a visit to the magnificent cathedral of St Stephan’s as a dessert. The relaxing view over the streets of Vienna helps one to relax and open ones senses to the Mediterranean influenced cuisine of Joachim Gradwohl.
14: Number One, Edinburgh (Princes Street).
This must be one of the most dramatic shopping streets in the world with the Castle towering above like a Harry Potter remake and the Princes Street Gardens set in what used to be a small lake. Gone are the days when one met at the Balmoral for ‘afternoon tea’ with your wealthy aunt. Now Jeff Bland rules and his take on Scottish dishes using the freshest of local ingredients has earned him a coveted Michelin star. Though the teas are still available. This is Scotland!
Original text: www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/travel/story (May 03, 2008) Additional text by Jane K. Clouston, DBK.
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