Trattoria S’Aposentu, Düsseldorf, Germany

Kaiserswerther Strasse 77
Tel. +49-(0)211-5136579

Here comes another addition to my list of Italian restaurants in Düsseldorf: S’Aposentu, located just 1.5 km north of the Old Town and 500m from the river Rhine. The name reads “Living Room” in Sardinian, and the choice of language already points you into the culinary direction of the menu. In addition to well-known basics such as an excellent pasta e fagioli with salsiccie (a stew-like soup with white beans, pasta and bits of sausage), the chef offers Sardinian experiences such as pasta with Sardinian bottarga (dried fish roe). The regular menu already features an interesting variety of starters (the obligatory antipasti misti, carpaccio with truffle oil, swordfish carpaccio amongst others), a nice selection of pasta (eg. gnocchi with salsiccia sausage, or _wonderful_ ravioli in butter and sage, stuffed with figs and parma ham), and a number of meat, poultry and fish main courses, rounded by a more standard set of desserts (tiramisu, tartuffo icecream…). But in addition to this, S’Aposentu features a quite impressive changing daily menu on the chalk board, offering a choice of about 15 additional starters and mains.

The wine list continues the Sardinian focus, and of course the Cannonau di Sardegna is represented here by a couple of producers. In addition to a vast array of Sardinian wines, it offers drops from elsewhere in Italy.

While I am yet to sample one of their “real” main courses, the pasta and starters have already won my heart: The tastes are clear and simple, the ingredients always fresh, and the prices reasonable. The place has a relaxed, sometimes almost loungy ambiance, amplified by a ceiling about 4 metres high, and a simple, slightly rustic interior. The service is very warm and welcoming, and always there for a chat (in German or Italian).

As the year comes to an end, one thing to especially mention is their new year’s eve dinner - if the quality of the six courses is only close to that of their regular kitchen, the 48,50€ is a fantastic deal:

Goose breast carpaccio on lamb’s lettuce,

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Pasta duetto of ravioli filled with porcini mushrooms and garganelli with lotte (a fish - sorry, my culinary English seems to reach its borders),

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Lemon sorbet with prosecco,

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Lamb with a herb crust on thyme sauce or alternatively Dorade (another fish) gratinated with squash slices on pernod sauce,

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Fruit mousse tartelette,

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Sardinian midnight (lentil) soup.

As S’Aposentu has quite many seats, you should be able to get a table even without reservation. It might become a bit crowded during trade fairs, though.

Visited: August, September, October, November & NYE 2008.

Toscana, Tallinn, Estonia

Vene 6, Tallinn
Phone: +372 6 450 045
www.toscana.ee

Last time we were visiting Tallinn, we tried out another Italian in the old town, Toscana. The logo and design of the menu is somewhat similar to Da Vinci’s (see below), but their webpages are different and do not link to each other. So, it’s hard to say whether the same guys are behind both restaurants, but the type of food and the truffophile menu might be a sign that they are. Compared to Da Vinci, the interior in Toscana is a bit more fine-diningish, and the menu is also a bit more exciting. As a starter I went for the veal carpaccio (150 EEK / 10€), which was good upper standard, with fresh rocket salad and a nice olive oil. My main course was tagliatelle with artichokes, smoked raw ham and Grana Padano (140EEK / 9.30€) - fresh ingredients and yummy. My companion started with a bruschetta which was OK, and then went for a nice Tagliolini with porcini mushrooms and spinach (140EEK / 9.30€). There was still a little hole for dessert, which I filled with an average+ mousse di cioccolato. While this time we went for rather classic choices, the menu does offer some innovative dishes such as Tagliolini with king prawns and orange, Gnocchi with capsicum and wild boar ham, and Salmon with pistachio and rucola sauce.
Altogether, a nice dining experience, and we felt the food was slightly better and the menu a bit more exciting than that of Da Vinci. Special thanks to our waiter Martin, who was patient enough to stick to Estonian despite our fairly limited language skills.

Visited: May 2008

Café Tin Tin Tango, Helsinki, Finland

Töölöntorinkatu 7
00260 Helsinki
www.tintintango.info

Just wanted to drop a quick note on Tin Tin Tango in the Töölö area in Helsinki. For me, this is the nicest Café the city has to offer. "Tintti", as it's called by some locals, offers breakfast throughout the day, soup during lunch, as well as a number of sweet and savoury pastries. In addition to being a cafe, Tin Tin Tango is also a laundrette. And they offer a rental sauna that fits up to 10 people. And really good breakfast, especially the breakfast rolls. And of course the background music is Tangos. And they're open until 2 am on fridays and saturdays. And don't forget to try the breakfasts.

Last visited: May 2008 (my birthday-breakfast)

Saittavini, Duesseldorf, Germany

Luegallee 79, D-40545 Düsseldorf
Tel. 0211/57797918
http://www.saittavini.de

Thought I'd add this Italian gem to the blog right away. Saittavini is one of a couple of Italian restaurants run by the Saitta family, one of Duesseldorf's oldest Italian families. Termed an "Enoteca", the place is much more than you would normally associate with the term: White tablecloth, real candle chandeliers, a quite extensive menu, and a wonderfully cheerful atmosphere.

The service is friendly, and the food tasty. Last time visited, I started with the beef carpaccio (11€), which was superb - fresh, tasty, and served with a wonderful crisp rocket salad on top. Next came my all-time-favourite, the truffle pasta (19.50€) - simple but aah so good. After that there sadly was no space for a dessert anymore, but as the dessert list here is not very exciting anyhow, it wasn't a big loss.

The wine list is extensive, an in addition you can choose any one of the 1000 wines on sales in the Enoteca and pay a 15€ surcharge for consuming it with your dinner.

Altogether, one of my favourite Italian restaurants in Duesseldorf, and maybe the one with the liveliest atmosphere. The place is located on "the other" side of the river, in the posh area of Oberkassel. It's easy to reach from the old town with the metro (get out at "Barbarossaplatz" and you are there), and they're open MON-SAT from 10am till midnight, with the Kitchen serving until 10 pm. It's usually full, so best to reserve a few days in advance.

Cool River Café, Irving, USA

1045 Hidden Ridge
Irving, Texas 75038
Tel. 972-871-8881
http://www.coolrivercafe.com

While I’ve been to Dallas and Irving, TX quite a few times on business, I hardly ever had the time to scout for good restaurants. For those of you who visit vibrant Irving on similar business trips, I thought I’d add this restaurant, as it has been my best experience in terms of food quality in the area so far – and it is definitely better than the average steakhouse or Chinese restaurant you are lured into because it is soooo conveniently located just next to your hotel.

As most restaurants in the Dallas area, the Cool River Café is situated in a standalone building next to a highway. The restaurant itself is huge, with room for probably about 300 people in various rooms. The cuisine is “American”, which in this case means a blend of Italian (Beef tenderloin bruschetta, tomato and mozzarella salad, shrimp pasta with sweet peppers and spinach, Calamari, Veal Scalloppine), “Asian” (Ahi Tuna, Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna) and Steakhouse (Delta Blues Barbeque ribs, NY Strip, Rib eye etc.). On my first visit I went for the shrimp pasta (USD 21), and was positively surprised: The pasta was nicely al dente, the sauce was well balanced and the combination of sweet pepper, red onion and spinach in a shrimp pasta was at least new to me. The service was almost prompt, the ambiance not too much that of a train station main hall, and the location is definitely convenient to reach. When I visited the place it was crowded, so it might be advisable to reserve in advance.

Visited: November 2007

Blanko, Turku, Finland

Aurakatu 1
Tel. +358-(0)2-2333966, http://www.blanko.net/english.php

Blanco is a mixture of a loungy restaurant and a club. The interiour follows the industrially influenced style that quite many new restaurants in Finland adhere to. Despite of this reduced ambiance, the atmosphere downstairs is cosy and warm, thanks to the old brick arching that spans the room.

The cuisine is a combination of Italian and Asian, with starters such as sweet potato and smoked-cheese soup (5/9€), crostinis (8€) and deep fried tiger prawns. The pasta list features dishes like lemony tagliatelle with crayfish, artichoke pesto, pine nuts and chili (15€), or tagliatelle with chicken, cold smoked bacon and rocket. The asian part includes Korma chicken Thali (15€), red cury chicken, and lemon grass-chili prawns. For main course, Blanko offers dishes like grilled veal liver (18€), lambchops provencale (23€) or blackened salmon.

We visited the place only for lunch, and went for the smoked-cheese soup, the lemony tagliatelle with crayfish, and the “lamb pasta blanko”. While the soup was OK, the lamb pasta was outright excellent, with very tender meat and a nice mix of Mediterranean spices. The tagliatelle were quite spicy and fresh, almost summery. Both pasta dishes were huge, so there was unfortunately no room to try the desserts. Which, leaving the lemon-liquorice brulée aside, did sound quite off-the-shelf, anyway.

From time to time on Fridays and Saturdays, Blanko turns into a club with visiting DJs.

Altogether, Blanko is very much worth a visit, either for a quick bite during lunch or an informal dinner. While you shouldn’t expect too much from the wine list, you won’t have to leave thirsty, either.

Visited: December 2007

Meze Point, Helsinki, Finland

Mikonkatu 8, Tel. +358-(0)9 6222 625
www.meze.fi

This middle-eastern restaurant in the pedestrian zone of Mikonkatu is one of our favourites for a healthy and tasteful during-the-week dinner. The interiour is very loungy, the service is friendly and the food is great. The only downside is that the kitchen is sometimes quite slow.

We usually go for the ”full meze” (19.50€ pP, min. 2 Persons), which is a set of nine small meze (such as hummous, tabbouleh, böreks, tsatsiki-type yoghurt sauce, deep fried cheese etc.), and three types of grilled meat: a beef skewer, a chicken skewer, and a lamb köfte. Of course you can also choose from the a la carte list, which, in addition to the single meze, features a couple of salads, dishes from the grill, and a couple of traditional main dishes. If you are very hugry (or greedy), you might want to go for a baklava or the yoghurt with honey and pistachios as dessert.

The wine list is fairly limited, but has a couple of wines that go well with the middle east seasoning.

During lunchtime Meze Point offers a lunch buffet, and a small meze plate, for 8.40€ each.

Last visit: October 2007

Roberts Bistro, Düsseldorf, Germany

Wupperstr. 2, Tel. +49 (0)211-304821
http://www.robertsbistro.de/

The story tells that when his wife caught the chef in flagranti with the maid in the kitchen of their previous restaurant, it was time for him to set up his own restaurant – Robert’s Bistro. Located in the all so trendy harbour area of Düsseldorf, the place has quickly become THE place for two sorts of people: Those who absolutely adore good bistro cuisine, and Those who absolutely want to be seen in one of THE places in the harbour area (well, there might be some crossover between these groups, as well).

If you are looking for a spot of tranquility to quietly enjoy your dinner or have a confidential discussion, look further – Robert’s bistro is as noisy and crammed as you would expect from a real bistro. Never mind the somewhat unpretentious and even rough service, it only adds to the atmosphere of the eatery.

The extensive list features excellent starters like terrine of foie gras with port wine jelly (15€), pot au feu (soup) with lyon sausage and “Tafelspitz” (boiled rump) for 7.5€, and bigorneaux (mini-snails) with aioli, mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and wasabi-mayo (6.50€). The latter starter is worth the money already for the sauces, which are excellent on bread - once you ran out of snails. For all you out there who are told they don’t eat enough salad, the “Salad Landaise” (15€) is worth special mentioning: Salad with breast of duck, leg of duck and stomach of duck as well as terrine de foie gras :)

As for the main courses, the deer filet with chili-nougat sauce simply blows your mind. It’s accompanied by vegetables, dried fruits and what seems to be a coconut-potato mash, which all go very nicely with the chocolaty sauce. Another all-time favourite is the bouillabaisse type fish soup (11.50€), which seems to contain at least five different sorts of seafood. It’s served with grated parmesan and heavenly aioli.

Last time I visit Robert’s we chose a bottle of 2006 Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) from Annheuser, which was the cheapest on the list (14.5€) and went very nicely with both the fish soup as well as the pot au feu.

As you would expect from a good restaurant in the harbour area, it gets absolutely crammed after 18:30, and you will usually have to wait for a table for about 30 minutes, as they do not take reservations. Robert’s has now opened a bar next door, where waiting guests are directed to and picked up from when their table is ready. Be sure to take enough cash with you, as they don’t accept credit cards.

Visited: many times, last visit October 2007

Carelia, Helsinki, Finland

Mannerheimintie 56, 00260 HELSINKI
Tel. 09 270 90 976
www.carelia.info

Carelia is the place where I go to celebrate – and if there’s nothing specific to celebrate, you can always celebrate coming or recent birthdays, political agreements, bonuses that will some day be paid and many more things… Located just opposite the Opera in the premises of a former pharmacy, Carelia is Helsinki’s one restaurant that comes closest to a bistro. The service is friendly and personal, and the interior is cosy in a non-kitsch way.

Set Menus range from 30 to 41 €, a la carte main dishes from 16 to 24 €. The food is traditional bistro cuisine, with a Finnish touch. Thus, the menu features dishes like cream of chanterelle soup (8,50 €) or mixed steak tartar as starters, fried veal liver with blackcurrant sauce (18,50€) or sirloin of beef for main course, and apple crème brulée as dessert (8€). Fish people should try the fish of the day, which is always good.

Carelia also has an impressive wine list, and they organize wine tasting events in their wine cellar downstairs. I have visited Carelia probably 20 times over the last years, and never had to leave disappointed. If your schedule doesn’t allow to reserve in advance, you might be lucky to get a table during the opera performance (usually 19:00-22:00).

Visited: many, many times

To Loc, Berlin, Germany

Wiener Str. 61, Berlin Kreuzberg
U 12 Görlitzer Bahnhof/Wiener Strasse

Berlin offers a large variety of ethnical restaurants, and this medium-sized (~30 inside seats + summer tables outside) Vietnamese snackery is one of my favourites. Tho Loc prepares excellent authentic dishes such as raw spring rolls or beer battered chicken breast with wok vegetables and peanut or mango sauce (~6€) for a small amount of money. The downside is that you might have to queue for a seat during peak hours, and the kitchen tends to be somewhat slow from time to time. Like many places in Berlin Tho Loc is nothing fancy, you drink your soft drink from the bottle and before they enlarged the place in the beginning of this year, you had to sneak into the neighbouring café to use their restrooms. But it’s definitely worth a visit for a bite during lunch or before hitting the road in the evening.

Visited: November 2003, November 2006

Gorgonzola Club / Würgeengel, Berlin, Germany

Dresdener Str. 121, 10999 Berlin/Kreuzberg
Tel: +49.30.6156473
http://www.gorgonzolaclub.de/

A bit difficult to find, this down to earth Italian restaurant is one of my all-time favourites in Berlin. The interior features cast stone walls & a wooden floor, and the restaurant has a wonderful but simple back garden during the summertime. Gorgonzola club serves classic dishes of good quality and decent prices, such as Spaghetti Amatriciana (7€) and Pizza Salsiccia (8€ large / 5€ small). The food won’t trigger fireworks on your palate, but is nevertheless of a steady, good quality. The service is straight, friendly and sometimes a bit melancholic. Like Tho Loc, this is not the place for a fancy business dinner, but well worth a visit if you are up for straight and good Italian food with friends or colleagues. Gorgonzola Club is located in the dead-end part of Dresdner Strasse, just behind the incredibly ugly 70’s concrete high-rise at Kottbusser Tor.

Visited: May 2000, November 2003, July 2005, September 2005

Les Diables au Thym, Paris, France

5, Rue Bergère, 75009. Paris
Tel : 01 47 70 77 09

This small, family-owned bistro is my favourite bistro in Paris. Located in the Montmartre area, the place features traditional French cuisine and a nice wine list, and Madame runs the service with the sometimes forgotten Parisian charm. My favourite main dish here is the “Marmite de hommard et coquilles saint jaques” (hope I got this right, my school French is a bit rusty), a stew of lobster and scallops (30€). The place feels very real, is tiny and fits maybe 20 people. And while the interiour resembles that of restaurants on cruise boats, the cuisine is actually very nice. Recently there seems to be a rise in English-speaking guests, which made me think about whether some tour guide might be featuring this place. I really hope it stays authentic, though.

Visited: November 2005, May 2006, June 2007

Yauatcha, London, UK

15 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 0DL, UK

Telephone: +44 20 74948888

Just a quick note on this nice spot I had the chance to visit a couple of weeks ago: Obviously London is full of nice places to go out, and in most of them – Yauatcha included – there is hardly a chance to get a table for dinner without reservation. Yauatcha’s basement seems to be a very nice dim sum / cross kitchen restaurant, with a nicely designed interior. But the clue is the minimalistic upper floor (street level that is). This is a nice place for getting a nice dessert and tasting one of their about 25 different teas (which makes it a good place for the urban version of the traditional five-o’clock tea, as well). Amongst the selection there are 8 different ice teas, and a large number of Assam-, Darjeeling-, flower-, dark-, green-, black-, white-, and blue teas. The food clue at Yauatcha’s upper floor is their range of cakes, each one of them a piece of art

(see picture), featuring creations like “Kumquat Mont Blanc” or “Jade Ganache”, for £5 each. As a summary, this is a great place for desserts or an urban afternoon tea in a minimalistic surrounding.

Visited: August 2007

Pizzeria Pinocchio, Düsseldorf, Germany

Altestadt 14

Route berechnen

0211/131422

They say, Pinocchio serves the best Pizza in town, and they are right. Traditional rustic interior, including white, rough-cast walls and candles on Lambrusco bottles. Gets full in the evening, so try to be there before 19:30

Visited: Many times, last visit: October 2008

Panevino, San Diego, USA

722 Fifth Avenue
Phone 619-595-7959

Located in the somewhat crowded “Gaslamp Quarter” of San Diego ("this is where the singles and tourists go out"), Panevino offers a variety of Italian, Osteria-style dishes, mostly from Tuscany.

The menu features classics such as lasagna bolognese and even bistecca fiorentina, as well as dishes with a more modern twist, for example their Fettucine Michelangelo (fettucine with artichokes, prosciutto and Shitake mushrooms). In addition to a quite extensive menu, Panevino features an impressive wine list, including 13 different champagnes, 14 Chardonnays from the US, and a number of great Italian wines (Sassicaias, Solaias, Gajas). The fettucine - a giant 1/2 order for USD 10- were excellent, and the Shitake added a nice exotic touch to it. The second dish I tasted were Strozzapreti with fava beans, dried tomatoes, chopped fillet mignon and goat cheese, in a veal reduction (USD 21). Pasta with slices of beef has often the tendency to be less full-bodied in taste. This was also the case with the strozzapreti, even though the veal reduction was great. My colleague Ming was happy with his Seabass (USD 31, the biggest we had seen so far), and after the giant portions we were ready to head for the San Diego nightlife.

The service was authentic Italian, friendly and only once forgot to bring us additional water. Altogether, Panevino is a slightly pricy but nevertheless nice Italian experience.

Visited: August 2007

Da Vinci, Tallinn, Estonia

Aia 7
Phone: +372 641 6177
www.davincifood.ee/aia/

e-mail: davinci [at] davincifood.ee

Tallinn is full of new and exciting restaurants, and today I’d like to present my own favourite amongst them. Davinci is – as you might guess – an Italian restaurant, and is located just 300m away from the main shopping street in Tallinn’s old town, right next to the Kalev Spa. The trendy, lounge-type ambience is neat, the service friendly & english-speaking, and the pasta list is outright impressive. Take very traditional Italian ingredients and dishes, add a modern, even experimental touch to them, and you have what makes the extensive menu so enjoyable to try out.

Next to the normal categories, the menu has two pasta parts: Fresh Pasta and Pasta & Risotti. During our last visit, I tried Gnocchi al pistacchio e bresaola (~8€), which sounds exotic and was excellent. Both pasta sections include two dishes with truffle, and even though the truffle shaves themselves are more for decoration than for taste, the sauces have a nice strong aroma. While we never actually got to the main courses and ended up filling our stomachs with different kinds of pasta, the menu continues with the fresh attitude: Goose filet in cherry and almond sauce (~13,50 €), Beef filet with grated Robiola cheese and red chicory (radicchio), salmon with beet carpaccio and asparagus. The desserts (there’s always space for one dessert) are slightly more traditional, but nevertheless very good and of a stunnig visual appearance (see picture, I just love the heartbeat idea). If you’d like to go for a nice drink before or after, the simpler sister-restaurant Leonardo is just on the other side of the entrance and is nice for cocktails and other drinks.

Although a bit high priced in relation to the general price level, Da Vinci seems to have taken its well-earned spot in the increasingly competitive Tallinn restaurant scene, celebrating their second birthday in spring 2007. We have visited Da Vinci for several times now, have never been disappointed, and every time were tempted to order more dishes than we could actually manage to eat.

PS. The full menu can be found at their webpage, which even has three different background music tracks to choose from :)

PPS. I just learned today (Aug 2008) that there's a shady pizzeria on the same street, a few houses further down the road - if you're looking for DaVinci, make sure you're not walking past.

Visited: July 2006, July 2007, May 2008

Zum Dürnbräu, Munich, Germany

Dürnbräugasse 2
80331 München
Tel. +49-89-222195

If paradise has a bavarian section, this is it. During our last stay in Munich, we found ourselves spending all lunches and dinners here - just 10 minutes from the Marienplatz and 5 minutes from the (in)famous Hofbräuhaus. No place for fine dining, this brewery restaurant from the 15^th century serves the gourmand with excellent, sometimes almost-forgotten traditional Bavarian dishes. The ambiance is traditionally Bavarian, but the place misses the hellishly touristic “Hofbräuhaus” – atmosphere. During lunchtime you’ll find a mixture of students and businessmen enjoying their “Spanferkel” (pork from the skewer - one of the best I have ever had) and beer, the evenings fill this place with a mixture of locals, businesspeople and a few tourists.

During the winter season, Dürnbräu has a special beef menu including a map to determine the location of your pick in the anatomy of the cow. My own favourites here are Leberknödelsuppe (a bouillon with a giant liver meatball), Spanferkel, and the heavenly Kasierschmarrn (a sort of pancake with almonds and raisins, torn into pieces and pan-fried again so that the pieces almost caramelise), which itself makes for a good main course or shared dessert. The pretzels on the table are charged by piece consumed, and the service is straightforward and down-to-earth.

Dürnbräu deserves a medal of honor for preserving almost-forgotten meals such as “saures Lüngerl” (lung in a vinegary marinade) or spleen sausage. But even if these are not your cup of tea, the place has a variety of excellent, more mainstream dishes and a couple of salads, as well. If you don’t feel like drinking (min.) half a litre of beer, try the “Russ’n”, a mixture of wheat beer and lemonade – ideal for hot days.

The restaurant also provides a terrace in the back garden, as well as a few tables in front of the house (mainly for drinking and light snacks). The evenings tend to be full, so either make a reservation the day before, or be prepared to take your place at the shared 7-meter-table in the middle.

Visited: November 2003, December 2005, July 2007, April 2008

Vinus, Brixen/Bressanone, Italy

Altenmarktgasse 6
39042 Brixen
Tel. 0472-831583

This gem is normally a “Vinothek”, but twice a week in the evening (Wed & Fri) it turns into a wonderful garden restaurant. Vinus’ set menu (no à la carte) gives guests the choice between 3 starters, 2 main dishes and 2 desserts. In line with the church-influenced food culture of southern Europe, the Friday menu consists only of fish. Our table chose orechiette-pasta with prawns and zucchini, and a wonderful carpaccio of octopus as alternative starters, and excellent monkfish and good Branzino as main course. The fish was obviously superfresh, and we overheard a conversation according to which the fish in Vinus is never older than 24 hours.

As the place is a wine shop, the selection of wines to drink is both easy and difficult – just walk the store and make your pick. Alternatively, the friendly and natural shopkeeper will assist you and suggest some regional specialities. It was a very warm evening, and our choice fell on a bottle of 2004 Pinot Bianco Vorberg Riserva from the “Kellerei Terlan”, for 11€.

As a disclaimer, I would guess that the garden is only open during the warm period of the year, and I don’t know whether they serve food inside during winter. As the place tends to get full fast, it is recommended to book your table a couple of days in advance (we were lucky and got a table for 19:00 when we reserved the evening before).

Alltogether the set menu was 29.50€ for three courses, which makes Vinus a very good value-for-money. The back garden with a partial view on the mountains combined with a very natural service makes this place a perfect spot for spending a relaxed, almost Mediterranean evening.

Visited: July 2007

Sukhothai, Singapore

47 Boat Quay
Tel 6538 2422

Yes, Boat Quay if full of tourist traps with dozens of touts trying to make you visit their over-priced and low-quality restaurants. And no, Sukothai is not one of them. Sukothai (“Dawn of happiness”) offers good-quality, reasonably priced thai food, ranging from the traditional cold thai beef salad (caution, very hot!) to a number of red, green and panaeng curries (red curry duck being my personal favourite) as well as a couple of more Chinese dishes. Unfortunately the dessert list is quite unspectacular.

The restaurant has been chosen as one of the best Thai restaurants in Singapore for a couple of years (don’t remember by whom, but it didn’t look like self-promotion), and while I have only visited the outdoor terrace, it also provides indoor tables in two stories. With its terrace situated right at Singapore River, the restaurant offers a great view on Clarke Quay and the boats floating by on the water. Should you decide to get seriously drunk, I’d strongly recommend not choosing a table from the first row, which stands just 30cm from the water.

As a summary, if you don’t mind the touristy surrounding and people stopping by your table once in a while to sell the latest touristy trash of the hour, Sukhothai is an excellent place to enjoy good thai food and an ice-cold tiger beer right next to Singapore river.

Visited: January 2006, November 2006, June 2007

Welcome to "The check, please!"

As you might guess, I strongly believe that life is too short to eat bad food. Unfortunately, when you travel as much as I do, you keep finding yourself somewhere abroad without having had the time to do research to find a good place to eat. Having faced that situation (and a mediocre-at-best piece of food in front of me) a couple of times, I decided to start this blog to share some good experiences I had with restaurants around the world.

I started rating restaurants at the age of 10 - the criteria at that time being the amount of cheese on a pizza, the cleanliness of toilets, and how long the waiters were able to keep a smile while facing a besserwissering child trying to play the restaurant critic. While the criteria have changed since then, I'll still try to give you a picture of both the food and the overall "experience" of each restaurant I post.

As this blog is just a list of places I have eaten at and I would recommend, you won't find a Michelin- or Gault-Millau-style number rating for the restaurants. Generally, I hope that no-one will find bad food in any of the restaurants recommended here. If you happen to visit or know a restaurant mentioned, please do share your own views and experiences, especially as the quality might change over time.

Enjoy,
Jan