Index: Introduction, Positioning Flight to New York, and the Hilton JFK British Airways First Class Lounge, New York JFK Cathay Pacific First Class, New York JFK – Hong Kong The Pier First Class Lounge and Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City Park Hyatt Saigon Lunch at Pho Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Airlines Business Class, Ho Chi Minh City – Danang Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Vietnam Airlines Economy, Danang – Siem Reap Park Hyatt Siem Reap Angkor Wat and Other Temples Dragonair Business Class, Siem Reap – Hong Kong Turbojet, Hong Kong Airport – Macau and the Sheraton Macao Hotel The Venetian, Fernando’s, and the Ferry to Hong Kong Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Harbor View Suite Bo Innovation, Hong Kong Amber Restaurant, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific The…
Food Report
Tag Archives for Food Report.
Barbecue Throwdown: Black’s is the Absolute Best
On the subject of Austin barbecue, having written about the world-famous Franklin (“Is Austin’s Franklin Barbecue the Best in the World?“) and Lamberts (“The Best Barbecue Restaurant With Sit-down Service and Online Reservations“), it seems worth giving coverage to what I consider to be my favorite, most flavorful brisket… Black’s in Lockhart. Black’s is probably the restaurant I’ve written about the most, more even than Elephant Jumps Thai in Merrifield, Virginia (if you find yourself anywhere near Northern Virginia… go!) or Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle in Manhattan’s Chinatown. (See here, here, and here.) Now I should start by saying that Franklin is considered almost universally to be the best brisket around. And the best barbecue should be judged by the best brisket. I would hazard a guess that if you asked the folks from Black’s,…
The Best Barbecue Restaurant With Sit Down Service and Online Reservations
The best barbecue is bus your own tray. That’s almost a universal across barbecue styles, and true for my favorite (Central Texas). There’s one exception that I’ve found, though, and so it’s one for the repertoire. Lamberts in downtown Austin. You can reserve it on Opentable. It’ s an actual sit-down restaurant with table service. It’s a full bar, they’ve got live music. In other words, it’s a real restaurant with local character where the food served just happens to be really top notch barbecue. The meat isn’t up to par with Franklin or Black’s, but it’s a Texas Monthly top 100 spot, so this is regarded as real good barbecue. It’s also derided as ‘fancy’ barbecue because of the service that some would consider extraneous, and because of the prices (you’re paying sit down…
Is Austin’s Franklin Barbecue the Best in the World?
I’m a big fan of Texas barbecue, but had never been to its Mecca. A year and a half ago I made Franklin Barbecue the first stop on my barbecue pilgrimage. I showed up long before opening, but the lines on a Saturday morning were already so long that I’d have to wait a couple of hours and the staff wouldn’t guarantee that there’d even be brisket left by the time I reached the front of the line. I was skeptical, given the party atmosphere in line, that the barbecue could be worth the wait — attractive young people tailgating couldn’t possible be there for the food as much as the experience, right? But I’ve heard nothing since except that Franklin is the best in the world (technically, the best in Texas, but those two…
A Quick Jaunt to Southern India: A Taste of South Indian Food and My Hero, Park Hyatt Assistant Duty Manager Arun
Previous Installments: Introduction and Trip Planning Etihad Lounge, Washington Dulles Etihad First Class, Washington Dulles – Abu Dhabi Etihad Business Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi Terminal 1, and Abu Dhabi – Chennai Business Class Park Hyatt Chennai Chennai isn’t a tourist city the way that Delhi or Mumbai are (not that those are primarily tourist cities). Nonetheless there are certainly things to see and do there, a former colleague from there flagged especially Mahabalipuram a UNESCO World Heritage Site an hour and a half outside the city center, 11th century temple Varadaraja Perumal temple, 7th century temple Kapaleeshwarar,m and 8th century temple Triplicane where you’ll see elephants as well. Marina Beach in Chennai is the world’s second longest, and there’s Ashtalakshmi Temple which is on Besant Nagar beach. There’s plenty of shopping for silks, handicrafts, and…
My Favorite Noodle Shop Now Has an A Rating from the Health Department — But is Still Good
I’ve written before about Lam Zhou Homemade Noodle on the edge of Chinatown in New York (here, and here). On a recent visit I was very nervous. The front window now displays an “A” rating from the health department. Ruh-roh. Was it going to be any good? What’s more, the refrigerator with drinks was no longer sitting outside. It was now actually in the restaurant. Not to worry, the interior of the restaurant looked as it ever has before. There’s still the same guy pounding noodles on a table between the dining room and kitchen with his bare hands. The menu is up on the wall. Very little English is spoken, but everyone knows what you mean when you ask for “Number 2, and a Number 11.” The nooodles – both as soup, and on…
Get Out of the Resort on Maui: Two Restaurants in Lahaina Worth Trying, Star Noodle and Aloha Mixed Plate
My mental model of Maui is that the better restaurants are mostly clustered in the towns closer to the airport like Kihei or Wailea. There are plenty of big resorts in Lahaina, like the Marriott and the Westin and the Hyatt Regency, but that the food offerings were middling at best. And even the better Maui restaurants offered fantastic views but food that wouldn’t be as impressive if you weren’t in a beautiful location on holiday and certainly wouldn’t impress at the price point in other cities. I discovered Aloha Mixed Plate on a visit to Maui in 2009. Mind you, it isn’t the world greatest food or service though the food is good. What it does offer is reasonably authentic local food, in an open air setting on the water (though somewhat obscured by…
An Introduction to Singapore Hawker Centers – How They Work, and Which One is Best for You?
Singapore is one of the world’s best food cities, both at the high and low end of the spectrum Hawker centers are one of the primary reasons that Singapore — far from just being ‘a stopover’ — is one of my favorite cities in the world. What are Hawker Centers? Hawker centers are basically food courts which host a variety of providers, each of which usually specializes in one or just a few dishes. Because there are many providers, many of whom make the same or similar things, competition is intense. The best, then, become very good. The dishes are usually cheap. Singapore is known for the hawker center, and the government owns the facilities — originally they were a move towards centralizing the food stalls and ensuring hygiene. More recently they’re supported to preserve…
San Diego is a Great Town for Sushi.. and Dessert
The Gaslamp district of San Diego is great, lots of things to do, it can be fun. But though there are tons of restaurants, the point of those restaurants is something to do (and of course, like the Checkers commercials say, ‘Ya Gotta Eat!’). On the one hand it means there’s competition – but it’s mostly competition for fun and a scene. So if you want to eat well, you need to choose carefully. I much enjoyed Taka for sushi. Online reviews were good, and it turned out to be better than expected though not at all inexpensive (you’ll pay extra for something to be good in the Gaslamp area, I think, the rents are relatively high). There’s a menu of specials and their list of sushi and sashimi I decided to add their live…
Does the St. Regis Bali Have the Best Breakfast Buffet in the World?
I probably like the cooked to order menu service at the Park Hyatt Maldives and room service at the Andaz 5th Avenue more. The highest quality ingredients I’ve had for breakfast were probably at the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris. And the buffet (which I understand is no longer as good) that I had at the Le Meridien Chiang Rai several years ago was probably better as well — it wasn’t more extensive, but there were more and more interesting things that would be brought around by servers for you to try over the course of a meal that weren’t on the menu. (The most extensive buffet title probably belongs to one of the many top end hotels in Kuala Lumpur.) But I imagine that the breakfast buffet at the St. Regis Bali is the…
