Jewish style artichokes from Piperno restaurant in the Roman Ghetto. You eat everything – the artichoke heart, crispy leaves… One of my favourite Roman specialities. The Romanesco artichokes season is from February to April and you can find them now pretty everywhere in the Ghetto area.

When I asked my Roman friends if they knew any “hidden gems ” unknown to the tourists they started laughing,- “Everywhere there are tourists!”. Until this moment I have been to only one restaurant (two if you count gelateria) which was touristy. Ristorante Matricianella And it was Ristorante Matricianella (…

It’s been a while I haven’t been at Guy Savoy and I’ve almost forgot how brilliant this chef’s cooking is. For me, the food at Guy Savoy represents the true 3 Michelin stars cuisine. You are impressed by the forms, the textures and the presentation, but finally what amazes you…

…at least when I was in Brussels. Kriek is Belgium beer fermented with cherries. Normally I don’t like beer, but this one tastes like a slightly alcoholic cherry drink(very distinctive and natural flavour). I wonder if you can buy it elsewhere… P.S. Apologies for being absent from the blogosphere recently…

“George, in your restaurant one eats like at home”,- a guest once told to Georges Cuvelier, a former coal miner and the founder of one of the most famous Brussels restaurants – Comme Chez Soi. Maybe the current chef, Lionel Rigolet is the fourth generation of the restaurant’s dynasty, you still…

There’ve been quite a few new openings over the last year in Paris. Call it a coincidence or a trend, three of the new restaurants were opened by Parisian chefs étoilés. Two of the chefs, Jean François Piège at Thomieux (former Crillon) and Jean Louis Nomicos at Les Tablettes (former…

A 342 kg bluefin tuna has been sold for a record $400 000 this morning. I guess it will be more and more expensive in the future because of the overfishing…

An excellent WSJ article by Amy Ma about the trend at contemporary restaurants to give their dishes nondescript names. El Bulli famously does that, Bo Innoovation so as many other modern restaurants. While I agree with the Hong Kong blogger Peter Chang that such menus are ” really annoying”, what…

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile at the Publicis Drugstore in Paris (133, av des Champs-Elysées, 75008,Paris , tel. 01 47 23 75 75 ) is the lastest addition to Robuchon restaurants empire. I’ve been at quite a few Robuchon restaurants around the world and I am always amazed how they…