GO DINE:Everybody eats when they travel, but some people travel to eat. With prices falling and tables easier to book, this might be the time to splash out on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Our food writer picks some favourites around the world.
1 Taillevent15 Rue Lamennais, Paris, France, 00-33-1-44951501, www.taillevent.com.
When you're madly in love and want to go somewhere that spoils you from the second you walk in the door until the time you stumble out, I cannot recommend lunch in Taillevent highly enough. The staff epitomise excellent service, and the food is divine. Dropping from three Michelin stars to two might have made the restaurant reinvent itself for the better. Perhaps it facilitated the removal of a layer of the unnecessary pomp that is required of three-star establishments. Whatever the result, it works a dream. The table settings are beautiful, the staff uniforms are immaculate and the whole experience is heavenly and full of old-world charm. A divine restaurant experience.
** Lunch menu €80, evening discovery menu €190
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Paris Charles de Gaulle from Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Air France (www.air france.ie) flies from Dublin and Shannon. Ryanair (www. ryanair.com) flies to Beauvais, 80km from Paris, from Dublin and Shannon. See www.parisinfo.com for ideas about where to stay
2 The Wolseley160 Piccadilly, London, 00-44-20-74996996,
www.thewolseley.com.
Fun, fun, fun. Look over there: it's Joan Collins. Look next door: it's Princess Di's brother. Turn into a creepy celeb-spotting tourist whist eating classics such as eggs Benedict or grilled Dover sole with creamed spinach and perfectly crisp chips. Go and stare at local A-listers and suited billionaires, all enjoying brunch served by slick staff in this well-oiled machine. The dinky tables are adorned with beautiful silver cutlery and dishes for any condiment you could ever want. Linen tablecloths are so elegant you want to make them into a swish pair of linen trousers. There is a keen sense of grandiosity in this fancy but all-day establishment that makes it great for brunch, lunch and afternoon tea but a bit soulless when it gets dark. I would skip dinner here; instead, come for lunch and refuse to budge until afternoon tea.
** Plats du jour £16.50 (€17.75); starters from £6.25 (€6.75); desserts from £5.50 (€5.90), fillet steak and chips £28.75 (€30.75)
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com), Ryanair (www.ryanair. com), Aer Arann (www.aer arann.com), BMI (www.flybmi. com) and easyJet (www.easy jet.com) fly to London from Irish airports. See www.visitlondon. com for ideas about where to stay
3 Lombardi's Pizzeria32 Spring Street, New York, 00-1-212-9417994,
www.firstpizza.com.
The oldest pizzeria in the US – it was established in 1905 – is still regarded as serving some of the best pizzas in New York. Maybe it's the sweet, thin crust, the San Marzano tomatoes or the milky buffalo mozzarella. But for my money it's the charcoal oven that gives them a uniquely smoky taste, a fantastically crisp base and an oozy filling, that is never too sloppy to eat. Toppings are kept simple: think basil, pancetta, pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, anchovies, Kalamata olives, pecorino and wild mushrooms. And that's about it. No pineapple or tandoori chicken in sight. It's rustic, charmingly rough and ready and has been consistently voted by Zagat Survey reviewers as Best on the Planet.
** Large eight-slice pizza $19.50; extra toppings $3 for one, $5 for two
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Kennedy Airport, in New York, from Dublin and Shannon. Continental Airlines (www.continental.com) flies to Newark Airport, in New Jersey, from Dublin, Shannon and Belfast. Delta Air Lines (www.delta.com/ie) flies from Dublin to Kennedy Airport. See www.nycgo.com for ideas about where to stay
4 Tuck Shop68 East 1st Street, New York, 00-1-212-9795200,
www.tuckshopnyc.com.
Regularly featured in New York magazine as a fantastic spot for cheap eats, but there is nothing cheap about the taste of this place's fabulous Aussie pies, made with buttery puff pastry and moreish fillings. Favourites include rich ground beef, with black-pepper gravy, and spicy Thai chicken. Eat in with East Village kids or take out on to the street. Wash down with fine ales and Tasmanian lager – and bear in mind that everyone from David Bowie to the city's top chefs hit Tuck Shop anytime from lunch until 5am. April Bloomfield, the celebrated head chef in charge of the nearby Spotted Pig, reckons they are the dog's thingummies, which is high praise indeed. Please note: one of the owners is my brother-in-law, so although I am slightly biased, I'm also reluctant to be accused of favouritism. Well worth a visit.
** Tuck box of a pie and two sides $10-$11
** See previous entry for travel details
5 Le Café du Lezard12 Boulevard Gambetta, St Rémy-de-Provence, France, 00-33-4-90925966.
Most of us moan that food always tastes better on holiday. That simple Caprese salad, made with tomatoes unlike anything you've ever tasted at home, or those strawberries that burst with sweet, juicy flavours, blah blah blah. There's a good reason for this: you were on holiday, stupid. Of course it all tasted good. It was probably noon and you were drinking wine as the sun split the terrace rather than sitting in a dingy office thinking about a tuna sambo and a bag of crisps. My lunch in this place happened to be one of those perfectly casual lunchtime experiences that ticked all the right boxes. Gourmet-style tapas, enshrining the essence of French countryside cooking, kept arriving on small plates; we wolfed them down with a bottle of rosé. It was perfection. Pain d'épices with foie gras, warm goat's cheese croquettes, cured hams, fabulous bread. Epicurean thrills as only the French know how.
** Menu €34
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) and Ryanair (www. ryanair.com) fly from Dublin to Marseilles most of the year. St-Rémy is an hour away. Aer Lingus also flies to Nice, about three hours from St-Rémy, all year from Dublin and seasonally from Cork and Belfast. See www.saintremy-de-provence.com for ideas about where to stay
6 Sip SipCourt Street, Dunmore Town, Harbour Island, Bahamas, 00-1-242-3333316.
Because I was born in the Bahamas I don't feel too guilty sticking in a restaurant from one of the islands. I lived in Nassau, the slightly grubby, touristy capital, for 10 years; a short flight or ferry ride away well-heeled IT families descend on Harbour Island, the Dalkey of the Bahamas. Film stars and supermodels have colonial cottages here, and in Pink Sands the island has one of the finest beaches in the world. Overlooking it is Restaurant Sip Sip, an adorable lunchtime spot run by Julie Lightbourne, a slightly grumpy local who doesn't have much time for the society dollies who take over the island during holiday season. But Lightbourne sure can cook: conch chilli, lobster quesadilla and curried chicken salad all served with fabulous cocktails loaded with Bahamian rum. It doesn't get more picture perfect than this.
** Main courses 15-30 Bahamian dollars (€11-€22)
** British Airways (www.ba. com) flies to the Bahamas via London Heathrow. See www.bahamas.com for ideas about where to stay
7 The Fat DuckHigh Street, Bray, Berkshire, England, 00-44-1628-580333,
www.fatduck.co.uk.
I was vaguely reluctant to visit the Fat Duck because of the hype surrounding the food, but I am also a big fan of Heston Blumenthal, so I was in a pickle. I was surprised and relieved to find it is the most laid-back three-star Michelin experience, sorely lacking in the cloying precision that dominates most fine-dining establishments. We veered away from the tasting menu, which gets all too David Copperfield for me (see Gráinne McBride's assessment, below), and instead enjoyed a jolly good lunch from the à la carte menu. It's worth going into Blumenthal's Hinds Head pub, also on Bray's high street, for some fabulous Scotch eggs, devils on horseback and a glass of champagne before lunch. The Fat Duck is near Heathrow airport, so depending on your airfare, and ignoring your carbon footprint, it could be an ideal spot for a very special lunch.
** Tasting menu with wine for a group sharing a table, £90-£195 (€95-€210) per person. Three-course à la carte menu £95 (€101) per person
** For how to get to Bray, and where to stay, see below
8 Cracco PeckVia Victor Hugo 4, Milan, Italy, 00-39-02-876774 , www.peck.it. This famous food store is a Mecca for foodies. My Italian in-laws give me a selection of its goodies for Christmas each year, including flavoured olive oils and cured meats. It is all divine. You can imagine the thrill of eating in Peck's two-star restaurant, especially during truffle season, when it shaves white truffle worth hundreds of euro on to delicious risottos and egg and pasta dishes. It is an elegant restaurant for grown-ups and refined pleasures rather than a place for a boozy shindig.
** €36-€135 per person
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Milan from Dublin and Belfast. Ryanair (www. ryanair.com) flies to Milan-Bergamo from Dublin and Shannon. See www.enit.it for ideas about where to stay
9 Tetsuya's529 Kent Street, Sydney, Australia, 00-61-2-92672900,
www.tetsuyas.com.
I was lucky enough to eat in Tetsuya Wakuda's first restaurant in Sydney, when it still operated a BYOB policy. He has since moved into much swisher premises, and his reputation has reached all corners of the globe. Tetsuya is a lovely man whose combination of Japanese flavours and French techniques gives a robust but light edge to everything he cooks. I would happily consider the lunch I ate in his restaurant as one of the best culinary experiences of my life. Signature dishes include tataki of venison with rosemary and honey or confit of ocean trout served with unpasteurised ocean-trout roe.
** 13-course degustation menu 195 Australian dollars (€100) per person; accompanying wine 90 Australian dollars (€45)
** Etihad Airways (www. etihadairways.com) flies from Dublin to Sydney via Abu Dhabi. See www.sydney.com for ideas about where to stay
10 Chez Panisse1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California, US, 00-1-510-5485525,
www.chezpanisse.com.
If I were to choose one place I'm very keen to go to, it would have to be Alice Waters's Chez Panisse. She was the original green goddess, supporting local farmers and encouraging us to go to markets and keep it simple and tasty. Her books are full of wise words of honest encouragement, US ingredients and French techniques. Her laid-back approach to cooking is what agrees with me most these days, and her sound philosophy is to be admired. All I need is a ticket to California and a week off.
** Menu per person $60 (€45) Mondays, $75 (€55) Tuesdays- Thursdays and $95 (€70) Fridays and Saturdays, plus 17 per cent service charge and 8.75 per cent sales tax. Wine extra
** Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to San Francisco from Dublin and Shannon. See www.berkeleycvb.com for ideas about where to stay
