Unfortunately, due to constraints of time, motivation and the occasional excess of alcohol (hangovers are great for putting a lead blanket on last night’s brilliant motivation) I don’t get around to filling in some of the great restaurants I would love to put here.
To that end, this is a page I’ll be updating periodically whenever I remember a superb restaurant/bar/hotel I’d recommend (remember, I’m only putting my favorites on here, unless it’s so spectacularly bad as to merit a thorough panning.) No context, I won’t even bother looking up the address, that’s what Google is for. Many of the below I also visited far too long ago to remember specifics, beyond the fact that they were tremendously neat. I may also list them in bursts, as I recall specific trips, or for any of you bored types who read this, remove them as I get around to posting specifics.
Hotels:
Il Sole di Ranco — Ranco, IT
Club Tapiz — Provincia Mendoza, AR
Astoria — St. Petersburg, RU
Metropol — Moscow, RU
The Danieli — Venice, IT
New York — Rotterdam, NL
Relais d’Orsa — Barcelona/Vallvidrera, ES
Restaurants:
Can Fabes — San Joan, ES
http://www.canfabes.com/
Bon — Paris, FR
Philippe Starck masterpiece — excellent food, service & atmosphere
Felix — Hong Kong, HK
Another Starck place — Karin swears by this one.
Bistro des Saveurs — Obernai, FR
35, Rue de Selestat
67210 Obernai
+33 88 49 90 41
Make sure you ask for the long-cooked cabbage
Gran Bar Danzon — Buenos Aires, AR
Nikolai — St. Petersburg, RU
Get the blini with caviar
Harry’s Bar — Venice, IT
The desserts are sinful
Winzerhaus — Weiningen, CH
Strongly recommend the chateaubriand and crêpe suzette. The Hungarian waiter is mad.
Zentraleck — Zurich, CH
Reserve well, well in advance
De Engel — Rotterdam, NL
La Couronne d’Or — Leymen, FR
Chez Donati — Basel, CH
Schloss Schauenstein — Domleschg, CH
Reserve well well in advance
Eo Ipso — Basel, CH
Cantinetta Antinori — Zurich, CH
Try the Conte Vipera Sauvignon, and anything they have with truffels. The capelletti with majoran are fantastic. Good for late lunch.
L’Avant-Goût — Besançon, FR
Great lamb, shame about the not-so-fresh tuna, had a nice carignan (good recommendation when the madiran was out. Really excellent scallops for starter, foie gras a bit cold.
Birseckerhof — Basel, CH
Always been a favorite, alternative, brilliant Italian food, superb octopus carpaccio, pork saltimbocca. Wine was 2004 Donnafugata Angheli, excellent value.
Cantinetta Antinori — Zurich, CH
Great for late lunches on Saturday. Wine Contessa Vipera Sauvignon, truffle carpaccio, spaghettini con tartufi, capeletti with lemon and thyme sauce
Le Petit Marche — Paris, FR
Neighborhood place in Le Marais; house wine is decent. Service can be spotty on weekends (especially when she hasn’t gotten enough sleep), but tuna tartare (and filou), breaded shrimp starters, lamb and pretty much everything else (including apple crumble dessert) are excellent.
Almacén del Sur — Mendoza, AR
Their website is an unnavigable flash horror, but the food is brilliant. Has fixed menus, best for Saturday lunches. Reservation required.
http://www.almacendelsur.com/
Kreis 6 — Zurich, CH
Great neighborhood food, nice atmosphere both inside & outside. Try the venison.
Trips:
Antique lake steamer — Lucerne, CH
Marinskii Theater — St. Petersburg, RU
Tretyakov Gallery — Moscow, RU
Salar de Uyuni Tour — Uyuni, BO
La Diablada — Uyuni, BO
Carnaval — Rio de Janeiro, BR
Torres del Paine — Patagonia, CL
