Savoir Eats

Why Take A With Locals Prague Food Tour? In this post I review a food tour in Prague, which I took while visiting the city for three days. But maybe you’re thinking you can discover plenty of places to eat and drink in a major European capital like Prague on your own, without any tours? […]

I’ve been warned that everyone talks (and fantasizes) about food the whole way through a juice retreat. Well I’ve got a head start on all the food talk because I live with a chef  – and we think and talk about food non-stop. My partner is even opening his own food truck specialising in tacos […]

The university city of Bologna makes the perfect weekend setting for an the alfresco lesson in romantic architecture, multiple courses in amazing eats and an in-depth study of aperitivo culture. As well as being home to the oldest university in the world, Bologna is the birthplace of tortellini and ragu, and boasts the tallest medieval […]

As you leave the altitude and cloud cover behind and descend into Dubrovnik, you’ll see stunning scenery below that’s reminiscent of a mountainous Tuscany or a balmy Balkan answer to the Norwegian Fjords. This section of Adriatic coast is defined by dramatic cliffs and slices of blue sea glistening in the sun, punctuated by the […]

One of the things I banged on about endlessly while based on the West Coast of Canada was the sheer variety of travel experiences on offer back in the UK – especially the variety of cities we can visit, often within a couple of hours drive of our homes. Canada is epic, obviously, but those […]

I recently wrote a post about the best places to find British food in Vancouver, because during my four years living in Canada’s cool West Coast city, I was continually determined to find a taste of Europe – and by that I basically mean I was always on the hunt for good cheese. This post […]

After four amazing – and sometimes challenging – years living in Vancouver, British Columbia, I moved back to the UK. When people ask me why I left Canada – a dream destination for many – the answer I give is simple but may seem trite: I couldn’t live without good cheddar cheese. Of course there […]

I review the pho at central London’s Moc Kitchen in my pursuit for Vancouver-grade Vietnamese food here in the UK.

During my recent weekend in Cardiff  – my first ever visit to the Welsh capital – I noticed one thing right off the bat; this city is crazy about quality coffee. This list of 6 seriously good Cardiff coffee shops will help you stay sharp while you shop in the city centre, and the signage […]

Munch on mince pies made with flour dating back to the Domesday Book I travelled to Devon this December to discover the festive history behind the first Christmas card ever designed. But while in the southerly English county, famous for its beautiful beaches and picture postcard villages, I discovered the area has another incredible – […]

When British Airways’ (then called British European Airways) opened it’s first ever route from the UK to Spain back in 1957, the original destination for those pioneering English holidaymakers was none other than the city of Valencia. Fast forward almost 60 years and many Brits have been to Barcelona, mooched around Madrid and conquered the Costas […]

I really fell in love with Menorca on my recent trip to the island – so much so that I am seriously considering a repeat trip very soon, and am dreaming about house hunting there because it’s just that gorgeous. So here are 30 reasons to love Menorca – little insights into why you can and should […]

It shouldn’t be bright yellow, or fluffy, it isn’t intended for dinner and it’s not supposed to be synonymous with seafood. In fact, technically it’s not even a Spanish dish.  Even though the first food that springs to mind when you think of Spanish cuisine is probably paella, the dish has been bastardised beyond all recognition to a point where […]

Mexico’s Riviera Maya isn’t short on publicity for its vacation charms, and the entire Yucatan Peninsula isn’t exactly bereft of 5 Star hotel options.  So chances are if you’re headed to this area of Mexico you already know exactly what you want, and that’s likely to be a luxurious haven of relaxation encompassing the holy holiday trinity of sun, […]

I’ve been asked the same two questions consistently since I began travel writing. Firstly: How do you make money? Secondly: What’s your favourite country? The answer to question 2 is Italy! (question 1 would take more than a single word to answer!). It may be an utter cliche to say that the best things about Italy […]

At the start of winter I usually struggle with the idea of weekends away to colder European countries – ever clinging onto that last bit of winter sun. But that all changes come Christmas when I’m a sucker for short breaks to snowy cities and can’t wait to hit the European Christmas markets to stock […]

I begin my weekend in Houston like any average tourist, knowing this city has been singled-out by its history of space exploration, is the very definition of a sprawling US metropolis, and that it’s famous for oil and gas. Fast forward 48 hours and I’m wearing my H-Town T-shirt with pride, clutching a NASA fridge magnet and nursing a hangover which underlines […]

Of all the clothes I own (in case you’re wondering, it’s a lot) those I buy on impulse, in a supermarket-sweep stylee, are the things I end up loving. Maybe it’s the fact that when you’re in a hurry pure instinct takes over, but I’ve shopped for an outfit in 30 minutes in Manila and made better boutique […]

Utah’s capital may be best known for the Church of The Latter Day Saints, but this one million-strong metropolis makes an equally suitable city break setting for would-be sinners in search of urban indulgence. From quirky shopping to secret street food, luxury hotels to lattes, it’s time to check-in your preconceptions at the door and […]

Like most girls I’m rather partial to a glass of bubbly  – and writing about the differences between champagne and sparkling wine recently (as you do) reminded me that along with making me forget a few things, my nights (and days) out with champagne by my side have taught me a few things worth remembering […]

The fierce sun is shining down on my map, amplified through the windscreen, as we drive our little red car past endless fields of green lettuce under bright blue skies; the scene is like a child’s storybook illustration come to glorious life. Even more glorious is the fact that it’s December and my boyfriend and […]

Mention Portugal and its Lisbon that’s on everybody’s lips, occasionally the Algarve and possibly Porto. The hilltop towns, cork farms and deserted beaches of the Alentejo are a mystery to most – they’re the most magical part of Portugal that you’ve never heard of. These are my most treasured memories of the Alentejo… I’m driving […]

There are some cities in the world where you fully expect to find a hipster crowd sucking down soya lattes while reading the papers on a Sunday afternoon. San Jose, frankly, is not one of those cities. So I was delighted to sack off the sightseeing for an hour when I literally stumbled upon the […]

Regular readers might have noticed that I tend to take a cooking class in almost every destination I visit; for me there’s now better way get under the skin of a country than to find out about the food. Nowhere does this thrill me more than in South-East Asia, where a morning spent at the […]

Do you love souvenir shopping on your trips too? There’s something special about collecting treasures from our travels which keep the memory of the place we visited alive long after we return home. Going to an unusual locale invariably means extra items come home with me – typically I’ll go for something I can wear […]

Food can make or break a destination. I remember my first trip to Portugal, when I was distinctly underwhelmed by the food – and as a result didn’t venture back for years (though when I did I found its foodie side.) When planning my trip to Ljubljana I wasn’t sure what to expect from Slovenia’s […]

Slovenians will tell you their country is shaped like a chicken, and their food obsession doesn’t end there as I discovered when I attended a Slovenian cooking class in the capital. Being let loose in a Ljubljana kitchen with five different dishes taught me a lot about a national cuisine to which I was totally new […]

I’m settling into my seat on a flight from London to Ljubljana along with a plane load of other city-breakers taking the short hop to the Slovenian capital. The young professional couple next to me are obviously snatching a romantic weekend break and they both get calls on their smartphones after boarding – he from […]

I walk along Vancouver Island’s vast Cox Beach in the winter sunshine, spotting surfers and sand dollars, meeting four-legged beach goers and admiring washed up chunks of tree that are as beautiful as any piece of modern sculpture in the best gallery in town… I’ve spent the night at Long Beach Lodge  – a refined resort-style property […]

Vancouver Island is the largest Pacific Island west of New Zealand, larger than Sicily and a shade smaller than Taiwan – but while British Naval officer George Vancouver may have given his name to both his city and island discoveries, the name is where the similarity between Vancouver city and Vancouver island, ends. ‘The Island’ as […]

Touted as the most British place in all of Canada and named after the Queen who made the country a colony, the city of Victoria reflects the values of the lady herself; rather modest, genteel and pleasantly old fashioned but with a power that belies its appearance – this is the capital of British Columbia, […]

I discover two of the top places to eat in Brandon Manitoba  – from Canadian-themed grill Joe Beeverz to sophisticated dining at lounge-bar Blu Kitchen…

As the year drew to a close I found myself writing a post recapping my favourite travel memories of 2013 and I learned a couple of things about myself in the process – firstly that many of my favourite moments of the year involve nature and animals, and secondly that when I’m not looking for […]

I have a confession to make: I can’t ski. So when I was invited to the famed ski resort of Whistler I was a bit apprehensive about what a London girl like me would do while everyone else made plans to zoom down a mountain. It turned out that I was still able to zoom […]

As a location independent girl who likes her soya lattes I’m constantly looking for the perfect cosy cafe to hole up in and squeeze in an hours’ work on my laptop (ok, and hang out on Facebook and Twitter). In some destinations this is easy and you can’t swing a cat without hitting five cool […]

Tiramisu is the legend of Italian deserts – everyone’s heard of it and almost everyone knows it means ‘pick me up’. So it’s surprising to learn that the dish didn’t even exist until at least the late 1960’s. As one of my favourite puddings I seek it out all over the world and I’ve had […]

This is a true slice of rural back-to-basics Italian cookery; walking through the plentiful land surrounding a quintessential Tuscan villa, down steep verdant hills and into the flourishing vegetable garden I crouch down to hand-pick huge succulent tomatoes. Together with my friends we collect the fruit in baskets and the folds of our aprons, then, glass of wine […]

Everyone who know me knows what a sweet tooth I have. So when I signed up for a residential cookery course at a secluded villa in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, plum jam making was one session I was never going to miss. It turns out that making your own jam – with a […]

I like my food, but I’m no scientist. So when I’m invited to learn how the UK’s most famous sea salt is hand-made on the Straits of Menai I’m intrigued, but wonder if I’ll actually understand the process behind it all. It turns out I’ve got nothing to worry about, as Halen Môn co-founder Alison Lea-Wilson […]

Remember the bad old days when our idea of Parmesan was that powdery substance we’d sprinkle on spaghetti through tiny holes in the top of a cardboard shaker? Little did I know that decades later this condiment would make way for the real deal when something called a rocket and parmesan salad would become de […]

Welcome to the best thing I discovered during my time in The Philippines –  doing it ‘dampa style’. Do it once and you’ll just want to do it all over again the next night. And the next. Be warned the pictures are just blurry iphone images because when you’re doing it dampa style you don’t […]

What’s your worst culinary habit? Mine’s pouring copious amounts of balsamic vinegar over anything and everything, so I was interested to find out a bit more about the stuff I’ve been practically drinking out the bottle for most of my adult life. But despite all my conspicuous consumption of aceto balsamico I didn’t know any […]

‘It’s marvellous this tortellini with ricotta cheese’ exclaims Daniela, whose traditional family pasta shop has been here in Bologna’s Mercato della Erbe for 70 years. It’s where she and sister Monica hand make lasagna, tortellini and tortelloni for the people of  Emilia Romagna, helped by their mother Renata. ‘Is this one your favourite?’ I ask. ‘Everything here is […]

Looking for the perfect place to stay in Vancouver? Look no further than these 3 properties that work for luxury seekers, budget travellers and trendy young things in Canada’s West Coast capital.

When I made a mental checklist of all the things I was looking forward to about visiting Canada, stunning scenery was up there, epic train rides too – and exploring cool cities. I just didn’t realise that the food in Vancouver and the surrounding area was to be one of the ultimate highlights of my time […]

In which I use my favourite arty little Instagrams as a guide to the lesser-known unsung Dutch ‘Dam – I’m talking of course about the port city of Rotterdam. Here are 5 Things to do in Rotterdam…

I arrive at Romdeng restaurant ten minutes late as is my wont, but on this occasion I can’t blame the Northern Line. Rushing through the streets of Phnom Penh on foot has left me a lot more sweaty than my usual subterranean dashes to London restaurants and I’ve never found my dining companion to have taken the liberty of […]

If you want a cosy cafe-bar in a super-cool hotel whose complete hipsterness shouts ‘we stock soya’, this is your place. And if you want to take some nice photos over coffee like I did while I was there, it’s even more perfect.

The Philippines’ sprawling capital may not be the first place that springs to mind for a gastronomic city break – understandably most tourists who fly to The Philippines are headed for one or more of the 7107 islands and islets to kick back on an idyllic white sand beach. But it’s a big mistake to overlook […]

Think Asian street food and you’ll probably think of stalls selling delicious and mysterious local delicacies cooked up by a smiling old lady on a dirty street corner. Street food can make us feel excited about the thrill to our taste buds and apprehensive about the danger to our tummies in equal measure, but they’ve […]

How much food can one girl eat (and photograph) during a single day on a food tour of Seoul? Let’s find out…

Hawaii might be all about sunshine and fresh air in the warm waters of the Pacific, while London is more drizzle and dirty air alongside the polluted waters of the Thames – but you can say aloha to an entire day of island life in the capital, here’s how to do it…

When I booked my flight to Belfast I was looking forward to a pre-Christmas weekend of shopping at the Continental Market and drinking Gluhwein and Guinness in equal measure whilst discovering the Yuletide side of the Northern Irish Capital. I had no idea that my trip would fall on the most contentious weekend Belfast has […]

I must be really addicted to soya lattes, because at 9.30 pm on Friday night I was attending the grand opening of the Arabica coffee house Paphos to get what promised to be the best (and as far as I could determine, save Starbucks, the only) soya latte in Cyprus – and a little thing […]

I’ve been to Portugal twice before and both times the food was a major sticking point for me, so I knew my recent trip round the country would be make or break for my relationship with Portuguese cuisine. I’m happy to report that from green wine to roast chicken, Port to quince jam, via fresh […]

Olympic President Jacques Rogge hasn’t been the only Belgian in town over the last few weeks. I’ve been busy showing some Belgian friends round my home city of London recently, so today I’m going Team Belgian on you with a brief but impassioned 5 point guide to why I Love Belgium – and why Belgium, […]

London has more global cuisine than anyone could hope to eat in a lifetime including a bewildering array of around 450 Japanese restaurants, but how can you find the most authentic Japanese restaurants in the capital if you don’t know your sushi from your sashimi? In this guest post Japanophile and Japan Journeys expert James […]

‘There are over 100 Ferraris parked in the underground garages of the city’ reveals Stefania, my host at the Melia Hotel in the heart of the Northern Italian city of Genoa. ‘But,’ she leans in conspiratorially to explain ‘you never see them driving through the streets. That’s because the Genoese people aren’t ostentatious, they are […]

Antwerp is a very cool, very hip and very happening European city, so I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a soya latte on my recent weekend break to Belgium’s trend-setting capital – until I found Revista, and with it my spiritual home in Antwerpen.

What’s in a name? Well as it turns out rather a lot. The right name can really take you places  – and in the case of Eataly be the catalyst for a lot of income. This is a culinary example of how to turn a clever moniker into cold hard cash. It is a high-class, […]