Around the world, one dish at a time.
To say I’m a little obsessed with Beijing duck would be putting it mildly. Almost every city in China has its own way of doing roast duck (and, in some parts, roast goose), but it’s Beijing duck that we foreigners think of when we think …
When it comes to food, I like to think I’m a fairly Catholic eater. Innards of all sorts hold no fear for me, though I have yet to visit a penis restaurant. I’ve braved insects, including, yes, grubs (which appear in our local Chinese supermarket …
I adore Negronis. And, when it comes to travel, they’re one of the perfect cocktails. Why? Because they’re pretty much impossible to screw up. Of course, they can be made stunningly well. But they’re not like Martinis or Old-Fashioneds, the kind of cocktail you really …
As an obsessional fan of theme restaurants, the concept of visiting a robot restaurant was, well, frankly irresistible. Particularly when followed by an afternoon of ice sculptures, which are, of course, what Harbin, China, is most famous for. Though for these kids the robots were …
Chinese toffee apples, in all their myriad persuasions, are one of my favourite Chinese street sweeties, and add colour to any hutong as they sit threaded on their long, slender sticks. Whether sold from a bicycle, a cart or a street stall, they’re pretty much …
It isn’t hard to spot the dead hand of corporate PR on the menu of a certain type of restaurant. Ya know. The world’s most expensive cocktail, with a diamond in the bottom and some gold on top. Or the world’s most expensive pizza, with …
One great food find from Everest Base Camp? Sea buckthorn juice. I knew about this lovely stuff, of course. Sea buckthorn berries are famous for containing more Vitamin C than either cranberries or oranges — 400mg for every 100g of raw berries, although of course …
In Orhan Pamuk’s wonderful Istanbul: a Memoir, he records that stuffed mussel vendors, plying their wares along the streets, have been part of Istanbul since early Ottoman times. And Turkish stuffed mussels, known as midye dolma, are one of the world’s great street foods. Seriously, …
One of the great joys of any trip to Turkey is, of course, Turkish food. And, as the Ottoman Empire stretched across swathes of Europe, Asia and the Middle East at its peak, many of the flavours may well be familiar to you from elsewhere. …
My apologies for the abysmal lack of updates over the last few weeks. I’ve been trekking in the Himalayas, and, while there’s more internet than you’d think up there, there really isn’t a lot. And so, in lieu of more appetising material, I bring you …