Some great food experiences from around the world

A reader phoned me this morning to ask where I thought offered the best food experiences in the world. The caller explained further: "As editor of Escapism Travel Magazine, you must have wined and dined all over the world. I just want to know where have been your most enjoyable eating experiences, however informal. I don't mind whether it's a flashy restaurant or a one-man food vendor, a street market or your favourite place to buy a sandwich". 



Well, it's a good question and the following is only a rough list. It's certainly not exhaustive. There are hundreds of great food experiences we've had, but these are the ones that keep coming back to us. We'll share the others with you in the future, but for the time being here are our top 11 favourites. 



1. Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

KL throbs with energy - astride the high-tech glitzy buildings like the Petronas Towers, you'll find the backstreets full of food sellers. And the food is just as varied as the city: the combination of Malay, Chinese and Indian populations make for a literal culinary melting pot. A simple sit-down snack of curry served on a banana leaf (costing approx US$3) is the order of the day here.  



2. Tun Tun Beach Bar, Cabanas Copal, Tulum, Mexico

 

When I was last at Azulik, I visited the Tun Tun Beach bar which sits above the main beach and is an open-air affair, with a roof of twigs, hung with hollowed gourds inset with coloured glass that act as lamps, and tables carved out of trees. The staff, an ever-smiling mix of Mexicans and Argentinians, serve some of the most delicious and healthy food: plates steeped in bright-green avocado slices, crisp lettuce and fat prawns, or quesadillas filled with melted cheese and mushrooms. The views of the beach and the Caribbean (especially at sunset) are to die for. 



3. Intercontinental, Port Ghalib, Egypt 



When I last visited this brand new, 5-star deluxe citadel of indulgence, it was just being finished after years of work. Inspired by the merchant Ghalib’s fortress palace, and built for his beloved Budour, this hotel is as lavish as they come in Egypt, with wonderful service. There are several restaurants, but in all, they have the most wonderful Baba ghanoush, an hors d'ouevre made of roasted, peeled and mashed aubergine, blended with tahina, garlic, salt and lemon juice and topped with olive oil, and often coming with cumin and chili powder.  



4. Cap Leucate oysters, Cap Leucate, Languedoc, France

 

You can see the oysters beds as you drive along the main road. The oysters themselves are for sale from countless shabby-looking sheds and shacks on the beach. The Cap Leucate cliffs rise for 2 miles beyond. Do as we did - buy a dozen opened oysters, place them in a cool box, with a fresh baguette from the boulangerie and some French butter and a chilled white wine.  From the Cap Leucate lighthouse, a rough path winds down to an isolated beach of creamy yellow sand. After a swim in the ocean, I can think of nothing better to encapsulate a classic French beach day than devouring these fat, ozone-reeky oysters, mopping up the juice with the bread.

5. The Gulai House, Datai Bay, Langkawi, Malaysia 



Set deep in a candlelit rainforest, they serve all manner of Malay dishes. It was such a long time that I visited this place - 2002 - but the food left an enduring memory. On a list of all-time Top Ten places to eat, this place is very high on our list! They served wonderful 'tasters', consisting of different coloured salts which you were encouraged to dip meat and fish into. Also, they had great lemak dishes that are typically not hot to taste, but are aromatically spiced and coconut milk is added for a creamy richness. Their satay is heavenly.  



6. P&O Cruises, Oceana, Caribbean Cruise January 2006 



P&O's food on this cruise holiday was sublime - a gallantine of goose served with black pudding, to name but a few of the wholesome and varied dishes we had. I loved everything about P&O cruises, and this comes from someone who was a cruise virgin at the time!  



7. The Sportman, Mogador, Lower Kingswood, Surrey, England

   

This is a really quaint pub within easy driving distance of the South London suburbs. An historic inn built in 1532, it's beautifully located down a quiet lane, backing onto Walton Heath, itself a huge expanse of grassland and forest. They allow dogs into the pub and they serve devilled kidneys and some great beers and ales. It's busy on warm summer afternoons with people who drive from miles around to eat, drink and be seen here.  



8. Chalet Suzanne, Lake Wales, Florida, USA

   

It's a quirky, pastel-coloured melange of Romanticism - the motel has Gothic towers and Hobbit-style boudoirs, and the restaurant overlooks the lake and serves Moon Soup (a symphony of delicate, flowery flavours), followed by a plate of melt-in-the-mouth slices of buffalo.

 

9. Summerbird Chocolaterie, The Nimb Hotel, Copenhagen, Denmark

   

The Nimb itself is a stunning building, like a white, Moorish palace lit by thousands of bulbs at night-time. Inside, it's equally stunning, and aside from the hotel, it houses the Summerbird Chocolaterie, where you can buy Grand Cru snowballs, a giftbox of white chocolate and liquorice called Je t'aime, or Summerbird sushi containing dark chocolate with ginger, or Delicacies in a Jar containing italian hazlenuts cloaked in dark chocolate. It really is heavenly.

10. Lobster on the go, Nova Scotia, Canada

Driving up the west coast from Halifax to Cape Breton, you'll find that most petrol stations and country stores have a tank of live lobsters on their premises. When I stopped off to get petrol at one place, I chose a lobster from the tank which they cooked whilst I filled the car up and visited the men's room. Fifteen minutes later, I was handed a newspaper-wrapped hot lobster. I took this with two bottles of Canadian beer to the nearest beach where I sat in the sun (it was 30c that day) and broke the lobster using a rock. For me, this was the perfect Canadian al fresco snack. No packaging, no washing-up or wastage. And a perfect view of the Bay of Fundy! Total cost was Canadian $10.

11. Homemade Lemonade and Conch Fritters, Tortola, British Virgin Islands

The roads on Tortola, the British Virgin Island's main island, are so endearingly steep, it makes it feel like a small continent. The hills are steep and green and the ocean, often flecked with yachts, is a rare turquoise. There are many tiny restaurants clinging to the hillsides. We like Iris's Place, situated on the road between Turnbull Hill and Cane Garden Bay. A one-woman restaurant, painted lime-green and set down in tropical foilage, the proprietoress serves Green Banana Okra Fungi with Dumplings and Pigeon Peas Rice with Potato Stuffing. They serve heavenly homemade lemonade.

Further down the coast, towards Long Bay is the Islands Restaurant, opposite the Sugar Mill Hotel. They serve conch fritters that are to die for, with views across the ocean to Jost Van Dyke island.

Secret Island Escapes

A good friend asked me to recommend a secret island escape. A secret island? She was asking about yet-to-be-discovered islands. "I don't want to meet another American or British tourist whilst there" she added quickly, "I want to discover this place for myself. I want to be off the radar". This got me thinking about some of the gloriously unsung, off-the-beaten-track islands I've visited around the world that just aren't on most people's radar. 

Here is a list of Escapism's favourite cast-away islands :

1. Isla Providencia, Colombia 

Colombia is stunning, despite the negative image most people have of it, an image that is completely outdated. Get savvy and go there as soon as you can - personal safety is not something you should be overly concerned with (obviously, in major cities, take the usual precautions, as you would anywhere else in the world). I actually felt safer in Colombia than I did in Brighton.  

Providencia is a tiny island of swaying palms, turquoise shoals and impossibly laidback locals. I visited here in August 2007 and it's actually closer to Nicaragua than Colombia (Bogota is 1,000 miles away, connected by a daily flight via San Andres). Isla Providencia (or Old Providence) is the archetypal paradise island caught in a timewarp. Tourist heavyweights like Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia all must have been like this 70 years ago. I get there by a small twin-propeller plane from San Andres to Providencia. The island fits neatly into the plane window as it is only 17 square kilometres, surrounded by other islands and cays. 

The plane touches down at a tiny airstrip that more resembles a country village hall from the 1950s, known locally as El Embrujo (The Enchantment) and covered in murals of traditional island scenes painted in the most vivid colours. Only two planes land here once a day, bringing a maximum of 19 passengers. Unlike San Andres, Providencia is a volcanic island. The single track road to Hotel Posada del Mar has grass growing in the middle and I get glimpses of the interior: steep, green and wild, and signs to villages with a piquant sound to their names, like Lazy Hill. There are no nightclubs or shops here, no mobile phone signals or Internet, only a wild, South Seas, plumy atmosphere. Here's a shot of the airport:

 

This is fledgling tourism at its best. The population of 4,700 survive on farming and fishing. Such is the lack of crime, they don't even have a single police officer or station.

The island also has some breathtaking beaches - Manzanillo Beach here is completely deserted - a sliver of white sand, backed by dense jungle, shallow, safe seas and no-one in sight. There are hammocks strung amongst the trees.

 

I'd recommend a boat trip to see the island.  We beach at Morgan Head and walk to the highest point, Fort Warwick, later called Forte de la Libertad, where canons dating from the 16th century point out to sea beside a statue of the Virgin Mary. It was here that English puritans and Spanish pirates landed. 

This is the Macbean Lagoon and the Sea of Seven Colours:

 

At Santa Isabel, the main village, I bump into Wilberson Archibald. Born in 1937, he describes himself as a "maestro of the music", his folkloric music is sold all over Colombia. He sings in Spanish and Creole and plays the mandolin and the jawbone of a horse, to create a reggae-inspired, home-grown music.

2. The Pearl Islands, Panama

To get here, I take a 30 minute flight on a 20-seater plane to Contadora Island from Panama City, to the Pearl Islands, an archipelago of over 200 islands strung out in the shallow, bright green waters of the Pacific. Contadora has the atmosphere of a tiny village that time forgot. The runway is a tarmac strip with weeds growing in the middle and the circular road is more suited to golf buggies than cars. Its coastline is laced with swaying palms, remote white sand coves and the faded glamour of several low-key, 1960s-style 'motels' or the delightfully kitsch 1920s Casa Romantica (with bathrooms completely covered in oyster shells).  

A perfect island for rest and relaxation. Lured by the beauty of the island, Christian Dior owns a minimalist, design-led mansion here. In 1969, actor Richard Burton purchased the island as a birthday present to his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, for $37,000. During that time, the jet set were arriving in yachts and private jets. Locals recount tales of men in smoking jackets and ladies wearing ball gowns, demanding caviar and champagne. The island was returned to the public a few years later, and nowadays, wild deer and peacocks roam. 

One of the most enjoyable ways to see the archipelago is by boat. Many of the islands are cloaked in dense rainforest and ringed by low cliffs and pure white sand, or tiny lips of sand like Bajo Boyarena, only revealed at low tide, but from where you can see twelve other islands. On one of those islands, Sabuca, locals believe pirate Henry Morgan's treasure lies hidden beneath the church. Finally, we sail to Casayeta, home to pearl fishermen. I meet Aripe Santana, an 81 year old resident who for the past 60 years has been diving for pearls. The only difference is he dives without oxygen tanks for up to 5 minutes in waters as deep as 15 metres, to collect oyster shells from the ocean floor. For every 200 oysters he brings up, one will contain a pearl which he can sell for anything from 700 dollars upwards. 

 Take a look at this pic

:  

and this is the 81 year old pearl fisherman

:  

The Pearl Islands, really live up to their name. A friend of mine, Teresa, actually dived to hunt for a pearl.

I cannot talk about the mainland of Panama here, but it's beautiful par excellence: the Casco Viejo, or old town of Panama City has the same glorious shades of Old San Juan or Havana, with a wonderful gastronomic scene, and don't miss the Drua Embera Indians who live in an isolated jungle spot on the Rio Chagres.

3. Quirimbas Archipelago, Mozambique  



Mozambique is a rising star in Africa for beautiful island retreats. To get to the Quirimbas Islands, you leave Pemba (the mainland) in a vintage Cessna that quite literally transports you back to another time. Just look at an aerial pic of Medjumbe island (owned by Rani Resorts):

   

On Medjumbe, time slows to a few frames per second as this classic island experience gets the better of me: snoozing in the hammock, bathing in isolation, watching glorious sunsets that turn the whole island crimson and snorkeling on the reef among day-glow fish. There is no spa or TV, just a dodgy internet connection and a radio for calling the plane. It suits me down to the ground.

Next morning, we’re sailing to Ibo, past dhows, traditionally constructed with a triangular sail while the fishermen’s songs carry across the ocean. These dhows make me think of tales of Sinbad.

 

The yellow blur of Ibo appears, a strange and mysterious air lingering about it. We land at a tiny anchorage, overlooked by the ancient stone walls of one of three pentagon-shaped Portuguese forts.

   

Going ashore is like travelling back to the 1800s, emerging into a ghost town bearing the tatters of an extraordinary beauty. It's said to be one of the most ancient European settlements in Mozambique and certainly one of the most fascinating in all of Africa. There is a ramble of faded, yellow and grey palatial buildings, all derelict, but forming an incongruous museum piece – moss-covered, jungle-stained, and exuding grandeur. The former bank with a splash of pink ironwork and grand stairways is a few steps from the cathedral, the Church of Our Lady of Rosaria built in 1580. This is all that remains of once-elegant Portuguese merchant's houses. Tropical rot seeps through everything. I walk inside these deserted buildings, over colonnaded verandahs choked with ivy and through overgrown gardens, filled with an indescribable sense of discovery and exultation. The place is a carefully preserved ghost town.

   

There's more to come on Secret Islands.. there are so many other islands out there. If you'd like to read more about some of these destinations in more detail, please check out our latest issue of Escapism Travel Magazine. www.escapism-magazine.com/read.html

The Coolest, Sexiest Holiday on the Planet

Escapism believes this is the coolest, sexiest hotel in the world... Azulik, located 3 miles southeast of Tulum in Mexico. Described by a team of luxury experts as "the most blissed out, most intimate, most timeless and most paradaisical experience anywhere".  A panel of journalists and barefoot luxury experts visited over 500 resorts and lodges in over 100 countries during the past 6 years, road-testing every element of what is 'cool' and 'sexy' when it comes to contemporary travel experiences, before deciding Azulik was the clear winner.

Phew - that's a lot of mileage.

I first visited Azulik in 2004 and again in 2008, recently returning 27 March 2009. The old magic is still there. Just look at this gorgeous walkway through the jungle where the fifteen, wooden cabañas are situated.

and an interior shot - inside, they have bath-tubs carved from a zapote tree trunk.  The cabañas are round and windows face both east over the ocean and west over the jungle.

One of my favourite places is reached by a 15 minute bicycle ride - The Temples of Tulum.  If you get there early, you can have the beach to yourself.  It's a breathtaking spot - my feet sunk deep into sand that was as fine as flour :

  

you can read the whole story online, by going here: www.escapism-magazine.com/read.html