Restaurants
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Bedudal Café
For bread, beer and English menus, try Bedudal Café or Canyon Café. They also prepare the local speciality, dadiah campur, which is a tasty mixture of oats, coconut, fruit, molasses and buffalo-milk yogurt.
reviewed
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Brunetti
Bustling from dawn to midnight, Brunetti is a mini-Roman empire. It’s famous for its coffee, granitas and authentic pasticceria (pastries). Bain-marie meals can be on the stodgy side (and sometimes that’s just what the locals want) but the toasted tremezzini always please.
reviewed
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Indian Mango
Indian Mango specialises in Goan food, serving beef, duck, fish and some vegie mains. Its chef – poached from a five-star restaurant – makes up light, spicy, delicious dishes. Its bestselling (seasonal) creation is an Icelandic-Indian hybrid completely unique to this restaurant – svartfugl (guillemot) marinaded in Indian spices.
reviewed
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Los Toldos
A local favorite for abundant cheap eats, this rotisserie restaurant features a worthwhile salad bar (try the black olive sauce). Most people can’t go past the Peruvian classic cuarto de pollo (quarter of a chicken), done here to perfection.
reviewed
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D
Crepes & Waffles
One of 35 Bogotá locations of this ever-busy chain – which employs women in need – we like this one best: a two-story brick home with sidewalk seats between Zona G and Zona Rosa. Like the others, it serves up veggie, meat and seafood crepes, plus irresistible ice cream–topped waffles (COP$5000).
reviewed
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E
Enzo's on the Beach
A shabby-chic outdoor cafe with a superb beachfront location where you can dine on focaccias, wraps, healthy salads and light meals or just sip a coffee and wallow in the perfect ocean views. Active sorts can hire kayaks, surf skis and paddleboards or learn kitesurfing.
reviewed
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Babka Bakery Cafe
Russian flavours infuse the lovingly prepared breakfast and lunch dishes, and the heady aroma of cinnamon and freshly baked bread makes even just a coffee worth queuing for. Cakes are notable and can be taken away whole.
reviewed
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Cream Centre
An excellent ice-cream parlour in a bright, slick interior. Oh, and real food, too: a pure-veg hodgepodge of Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern.
reviewed
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Aşşk Kahve
The city's glamour set loves this garden cafe to bits, and its weekend brunches are an institution. Go early to snaffle a table by the water and don't forget to have a Botox shot before you go – that way you'll fit in nicely. It's accessed via the stairs behind the Macrocenter.
reviewed
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German Bakery
Leafy and filled with prayer flags and jolly lights, this is a perfect place for a huge lunch chosen from an equally huge menu. Tofu balls in mustard sauce with parsley potatoes and salad is a piled-high winner at Rs150. Wi-fi is available for a fairly steep Rs100 per hour.
reviewed
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Brothers’ Dhaba
Amritsar is famous for its dhabas (snack bars) such as Brothers’ Dhaba which has (mainly Indian) meals averaging Rs80, and open early to late. Brothers’ is the current sweetheart, but only by a whisker.
reviewed
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Friends
The delightful Friends restaurant is run by the Mith Samlanh Friends NGO. Staffed by street youths training for the hospitality industry, it offers healthy international dishes and delicious fruit cocktails.
reviewed
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Brown Bread Bakery
Not only does this place lead the way socially and environmentally – it supports a local school, runs a women’s empowerment group, uses organic produce wherever possible, and refills your water bottles for you (Rs5) – but the food is also terrific. The fabulous menu includes more than 20 varieties of cheese and more than 30 types of bread, cookies and cakes as well as main courses from around the world. The ambience is spot on too, with seating on cushions around low tables and live classical music performances in the evenings. Admittedly, it’s pricier than most, but part of the profits go to the charity Learn for Life.
reviewed
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V Cafe
A travellers’ favourite, this cute bistro hung with Chinese lanterns serves a mix of Asian and Western mains. Service is very good and you can choose dessert from the small spread on the counter.
reviewed
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Koki Beach
Reminiscent of Miami Beach, this sleek spot cranks reggae-lite and sports colorful Adirondack chairs that face the ocean from an elevated wooden platform on the east end of town. There’s a decent selection of Peruvian-inflected ceviches (seafood marinated in lemon or lime juice, garlic and seasonings), meat and seafood dishes, but slim pickings for vegetarians.
reviewed
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Menza
This stylish Hungarian restaurant on Budapest’s most lively square takes its name from the Hungarian for a drab school canteen – something it is anything but. Book a table if you can; it’s always packed with diners who come for its simply but perfectly cooked Hungarian classics with a modern twist and chilled atmosphere. Weekday two-course set lunches are a mere 890Ft.
reviewed
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White Lady
The lady in white stealthily materialises after dark, or is it that everyone's too drunk to notice her arrive? This mobile burger bus has been frying-up fast food to late-night boozers since the '50s. The burgers are exxy, but monstrous and greasy and best enjoyed while bathed in the neon glow of the late-night city.
reviewed
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Joe Jack’s Fish Shack
Seafood aficionados flock to this joint for fish and chips, garlic shrimp, whole red snapper and great slabs of mahi mahi. Large groups are graciously accommodated on the pleasant rooftop terrace. The service is jovial and quick, and the music classic rock.
reviewed
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Q
Zazá Bistro Tropical
Inside an art-filled and whimsically decorated converted house, Zazá serves satisfying dishes with Eastern accents, and uses organic ingredients when possible. Two favorites: curry chicken with coconut milk and basmati rice; and semi-raw tuna with vegetables, grilled shrimp and passion fruit sauce. Upstairs, diners lounge on throw pillows, while candles glow along the walls. You can also sit at one of the tables on the front.
reviewed
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Am/Pm Organic Café
This shack run by a Nepali trained as a barista in London has organic Himalayan coffee from Palpa and tasty pastries from its German Bakery. There’s a second branch in Lakeside.
reviewed
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328 Katong Laksa
As controversial food subjects go, the source of the original, authentic Katong laksa is one of the most emotive. Several laksa stalls along this stretch have been engaged in Singapore’s infamous ‘Laksa Wars’ for years, bickering over who was first. Decide for yourself. You won’t go wrong at any of them, but this is, commercially at least, the most successful.
reviewed
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Pastéis de Belém
Sublime, divine traditional pastéis de Belém custard tarts, with the eggiest, lightest, crispiest tarts, served warm with a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar. The recipe is secret, but these tarts taste like they've been made by angels. Founded in 1837, the traditional tiled tearoom is pretty.
reviewed
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JoMa Bakery Café
JoMa is the first-choice lunch stop for many expatriate workers in Vientiane, partly because the large and stylish café is a good place for meetings but mainly because it does a brisk trade in delicious pastries, sandwiches, quiche, muesli, fruit, shakes and coffee. Wi-fi is available for US$2.50 an hour.
reviewed
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Big Chill
Khan Market has two film-poster-lined branches of BC, packed with chattering, well-manicured folk. The menu is a telephone directory of continental, Indian and other dishes. Have you ever seen so much cheesecake on a menu? Who’s to quibble when it’s this good?
reviewed
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Three Monkeys Coffee House
A family business for 14 years, Three Monkeys serves it up supersized – piping hot coffee and spicy chai come in soup bowls. Hide away in the cosy den, or wolf down your chocolate cake on the bench outside.
reviewed