Hector’s Deli is fast becoming a legendary fixture of Melbourne’s inner-east. While its owners have worked at fine dining royalty like Attica, Stokehouse and more, here they have managed to maintain a focus on keeping things simple; an uncomplicated menu features no more than five or six sandwiches at any time, comprising of fairly standard combinations (HCT, schnitzel, fried mushroom).
Yet these sangas consist of fresh ingredients and are meticulously sculpted, so much that this café’s unusually residential setting often has queues snaking through the streets.
Get in early.
*Hector’s were bringing their delicious sangas to a new location in Coventry Street, South Melbourne, mid-year, only to be thwarted by the pandemic.
After some sleuthing on their Instagram it appears this is now scheduled for (COVID dependent) early October.
Svalbard, the archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, is the world’s northernmost a-lot-of-things. The world’s northernmost food and drink festival, Taste Svalbard, is one of these.
That description goes only some way to describing the uniqueness of this festival, held in Longyearbyen every year. With its location, Svalbard was always going to do their own thing when it came to cuisine.
Fresh and sustainably sourced fish, arctic cheese and beers from local breweries are all on the menu, and there’s also traditional local meals like reindeer soup and moose burger, both of which this writer will be reserving judgement on for now. There’s workshops, stalls, lectures and tastings as well.
While the food from this part of the world has a reputation for being delicious, there surely isn’t a food or drink festival set in more extraordinary surrounds. And as it’s held in October each year, on the cusp of winter, you can expect the Northern Lights to be doing their thing.
The views all around you at 9 Pyramids Lounge have been almost the same for 4,500 years, when the Pyramids of Giza were built to house royalty as they journeyed from earth to their place of eternal rest. Of course, the nine monumental tombs are now one of the most famous sights in the world and attract travellers from right across the globe.
When you think about it, it’s surprising it has taken this long for an entrepreneurial soul to figure out hungry, tired tourists might like a place to rest. Now this open-air restaurant, with its shaded areas and places to sit, all with epic views of one of the seven wonders of the world, offers a spot to take a load off.
It opens early, so stop for a spectacular sunrise breakfast, settle in for some lunch or simply relax after a day exploring. There are yoga and wellness sessions, too, because how could you not feel zen looking at all that?
Emirates’ love for eating out for breakfast is only exceeded by their love for brunch and two Aussie expats have satisfied both those needs in Dubai with their exquisite Melbourne-style cafe, Tom & Serg.
The first thing you notice when you walk in is the absence of the quintessential bearded and tattooed Fitzroy barista. From its hip decor to the pastries on display as you enter, you really have to pinch yourself to remember you’re not on Brunswick Street.
While you’d expect expats to be the cafe’s biggest customers, they’re not. The east-meets-west menu is a favourite with locals. Coffee beans are locally sourced and roasted and, the moment your espresso is placed in front of you, the thick crema means you know it’ll be good – Melbourne coffee good!
Try the masala fried eggs served on a bed of tandoori roasted cauliflower, chilli cashew nuts and green garlic oats. Aussie Benedict is also offered, as is smashed avo and Vegemite on hand-cut sourdough.
For lunch there is a more substantial menu that includes burgers, Moroccan chicken, risotto, tacos and plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Be sure to leave room for the salted caramel French toast. Served with blueberry poached pear, crunchy pecan and lashings of cream, might just be the best French toast you’ve ever eaten. After you’ve satisfied your gluttonous urge wander over to the nearby arts precinct at Alserkal Avenue.
When you’ve been making one dish for 75 years, you’re sure to have it perfected. Tonkatsu Tonki in Tokyo is the epitome of understated eateries, with its white-clad chefs who prepare, while all the customers are watching, the three dishes they are famous for: pork cutlet in three different styles.
Breaded, deep-fried pork cutlets, known as tonkatsu, are a Japanese favourite, and Tonkatsu Tonki is the type of eatery people from all over Tokyo travel to. It’s not just the three types of pork – toasted tonkatsu, tonkatsu fillet and skewer tonkatsu – that sets this place apart. It’s the authenticity, the ambience, the customers crammed around the u-shaped bar, and the owner who remembers every order without jotting it down. Think Midnight Diner in Tokyo Stories.
What differentiates this tonkatsu from the rest of the pack is that the pork is not overcooked and chewy, but has a delicate, crispy outer layer with thick flavoursome juicy meat. The sauce is excellent, and the accompanying miso soup is to die for.
It’s often quite crowded, so you’ll be directed to a chair to wait before being shown to a spot at the bench surrounding the kitchen. It’s here you can really soak up the convivial atmosphere and process – the chef who covers the tonkatsu with flour, the cook who does the deep frying, another who cuts them up. Then there’s the chef who delicately places your tonkatsu on the plate. Watching this systematic flow is like watching the creation of art.
For between US$13 and US$19 you can have tonkatsu served with a piece of tomato, spicy wasabi and unlimited servings of sliced napa (cabbage) and rice. Wash it down with a bottle of Asahi and you’re night will be fulfilled.
Take a step back in time at Berlin’s Paris Bar. Beneath its glowing neon sign, artworks by German artist Martin Kippenberger adorn almost every surface of the bar’s interior, which was once the haunt of many A-list artists, actors and rock stars, including Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Yoko Ono.
Paris Bar is also the place of the infamous 1979 Rolling Stone interview with an inebriated David Bowie and Iggy Pop, and where Iggy drunkenly rolled around in the snow outside. It serves classical French cuisine and while a visit here is accompanied by a somewhat hefty price tag, it’s still worth sitting with the locals among the bar’s rich old-world glamour, admiring the art that decorates the walls and, if you’re lucky, rubbing shoulders with a celebrity.
This Mayfair townhouse is actually an adult’s playground in disguise. Flawlessly designed, furnished and finished with an artist’s touch, Sketch offers a range of rooms for the adventurous soul, each with its own theme, bar and menu. Even the dress code is different.
One of its rooms, called The Glade, is reminiscent of a mystical forest, only it serves brunch and cocktails. The room has been decorated with a single twentieth-century French postcard printed onto hundreds of metres of paper and decoupaged to the walls. Order some Coteaux de l’Ardèche rosé and slip into this fairytale setting before moving on to one of the other rooms. We like the dreamy pink setting of the Gallery, decorated with 91 of artist David Shrigley’s works.
With 300 days of sunshine every year, Denver is a city where people like to get outside, and one of the big draw cards are its outdoor patios – they’re almost always ready to welcome visitors to enjoy their farm-to-table cuisine al fresco. Especially at historic Larimer Square, which has become the city’s premier dining and shopping destination. Victorian buildings connected by fairy lights have been converted into stylish boutiques, lounges and hyper-local, chef-driven restaurants. And most of them have a patio.
TAG Restaurant is just one of the Square’s amazing offerings. The menu, inspired by chef Troy Guard’s Hawaiian roots, is a dazzling homage to the flavours of Asia made with local ingredients. Seafood potstickers with Korean soy vinaigrette, flash-seared hamachi (yellowtail tuna) tricked out with pop rocks, and taco sushi with Hawaiian ahi, guacamole and mango salsa are just some of the dishes you can try.
The city’s other source of prime entertainment real estate comes from up high. Places like 54Thirty Rooftop, Denver’s highest open-air bar, are popular for late-afternoon sessions. Cocktails, bar snacks and stunning views of the city are all part of its charm.
Welcome to the granddaddy of Madrid eateries. With its gold-leaf interior, wine catacombs and fascinating heritage, you better believe dining at Sobrino de Botín is quite the experience. It opened in 1725 and is now the oldest continually operating restaurant in the world (at least according to the Guinness Book of Records). In the past Spanish writer María Dueñas, Graham Greene and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Ernest Hemingway – the restaurant gets a mention in both The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon – have all sat at its tables, spread across four dining rooms.
Don’t come for the spectacle or its pedigree though. Here, it’s all about the food. Whether you fancy the scrambled eggs with black sausage and potatoes or the inky baby squid served with rice, you’ll walk away satisfied. We do have one very strong recommendation for you, though: the roast suckling pig, Botín’s specialty, is the dish to order. Such is the demand, special Segovia suckling pigs are delivered to the restaurant three or four times a week. They’ve been cooking it the same way in the same wood-fired ovens for a couple of centuries now and, man, have they nailed the right way to do it. This is the sort of meal you’ll be talking about for years to come.
If you want to really know Macao, let your stomach lead the way. Just a stone’s throw from Hong Kong, Macao has a rich and varied history that reflects in its tasty food. Yes, you’ll get dim sum and stir-fried Chinese vegetables but you’ll also get a whole lot of Portuguese cuisine, thanks to a period of settlement by the Europeans from the mid-sixteenth century.
Head to Lord Stow’s Bakery, set up by Englishman Andrew Stow in 1989, to tuck into a few of the egg tarts for which the bakery is famous. Up the cobblestone streets of historic Taipa village you’ll find Antonio’s, headed by Antonio Coelho. Antonio serves up sautéed clams with garlic and white wine sauce, alongside stuffed crab and homemade Portuguese sausage. With its colourful tiles and paintings inside, you’ll have to remind yourself you’re in Asia.
There are loads of other places to eat in Taipa Village, originally a fishing hamlet that’s hung on to its heritage architecture. O Manel is in high demand, along with Litoral, much sought after for its Macanese dishes such as African chicken, cod cakes and minchi (steamed rice and fried mince meat with egg on top).
Step back into the 1960s at Old Macao’s Lung Wah Tea House, with its retro furniture and huge windows overlooking Red Market. If you want to eat like a local, small street-side eateries serve up claypot and hot-pot meals alongside barbecued skewers.
For something truly special, investigate one of the 19 Michelin-star restaurants in Macao. Dim sum (yum cha) at The 8 Restaurant(within the Grand Lisboa), Wing Lei Palace (Wynn Palace Cotai) and Wing lei (Wynn Macau) will leave you wanting more.
With Macao having been designated a UNESCO Creative City for gastronomy, this is the place to let your taste buds go wild.
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