Caramelized “insalata russa” at Cracco ( 2*, Via Victor Hugo, 4, 20123 Milano, Italy; tel. +39 02 876774 ), most famous thanks to a feature in the Oscar nominated movie “I am love”. This snack, I’ve already had before, was still pretty ingenious, but I couldn’t say the same about the rest. It…

There is gelato and then there is Il Massimo del Gelato (Via Lodovico Castelvetro, 18, 20154 Milano, Italy), a small, independent gelateria, 1o minutes drive from the city center. Fresh fruit sorbets like orange, mango, passion fruit and various ice cream are excellent and turn out to be identical to…

One of my favourite Milanese dishes is risotto al salto, made by pan-frying leftover saffron risotto with a little of butter and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. And where can you find it better than at a simple, traditional, family-owned trattoria like La Bettola di Piero (Via Orti, 17, 20122 Milano,…

I think half of this croissant with peach jam filling at Sant Ambroeus café in Milan is pure butter, the other half – pure pleasure. As for the cappuccino… Oh well, coffee is just one of the bunch of things Italians know how to do better… ( like shoes for example!)…

At Koya and Koya bar (49 and 50 Frith St, London W1D 4SG, London; tel. +44 20 7434 4463) the main focus is cold or hot udon noodles and all kinds of traditional or innovative broths that can go with them (think smoked mackerel, beef shabu-shabu or mushrooms with walnuts…

L’Assiette Champenoise (40 Avenue Paul Vaillant Couturier, 51430 Tinqueux; tel. +33 3 26 84 64 64), the latest restaurant in France to receive 3 Michelin stars, is 45 min by TGV from Paris and 5 min by taxi from the central Reims train station. It’s chef Arnaud Lallement has inherited…

Each time I go to Hedone (1*) each time I feel that it’s getting better and better. I don’t know how far a chef can go in search for perfection, but Hedone’s chef Mikael Jonsson is not far from it.

This kind of bento box is available for lunch at Joël Robuchon’s Japanese restaurant Yoshi (at hotel Metropole in Monaco). The executive chef Takeo Yamazaki used to work at Robuchon in Tokyo. Oishii Yoshi!

Shake Shack in London’s Covent Garden works on the same principle as the flagship stand in Manhattan. You queue the line, get the buzzer and then wait until it rings as soon as your food is ready. Unfortunately, my experience at Shake Shack London was not much better than in…

Not your everyday dim sum at A. Wong in London, whose chef Andrew revisits and modernizes traditional regional Chinese recipes. Pork buns with a sugar coating deserve a special mentioning. (and some desserts, such as “coconut ice cream with glutinous dumpling, apple, pandan jelly and peanut cream” …) Besides the…