Zingano

Is it any good to live in for a foodie?

I'm in Cambridge right now, which is pretty good, with Midsummer House, 22 Chesterton Road and a bunch of things like Loch Fyne and Hotel du Vin. Someone mentioned Brighton - better than Cambridge? How about Winchester? I just found out it's only an hour from London, and exploring the south west a bit more would be nice. And what about Northampton?

Birmingham will be within 30 minutes of London by 2021! Or if you drive really fast now you can do it in an hour And we have 3 1* restaurants and the balti triangle plus on the doorstep of some great countryside counties - Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire etc. ← I think 2021 is a little long to wait! Thanks though, must admit being near the balti triangle is tempting...

Given that I can't afford London, which town should I choose to set up home in now I'm returning to the UK? Being within an hour of London would be good - then there would be easy access to the capital for its amazing quantity of fine dining. There are other factors than food (arts cinema, photogenic locations nearby, walking, being near the sea are all plus points) - but I'm interested in which town or city you'd choose purely for gastronomic reasons - plenty of fine dining, plenty of good middle range food, ideally some good Asian food, and of course plenty of excellent foodie shops selling free range meat, local cheeses and so on.

We're thinking of spending a couple of days in London with my parents over Christmas. Can anyone suggest a venue for our Christmas meal? We've been living abroad, so somewhere that does traditional with a twist would be nice - game, not turkey. Definitely British or French - it's not the day for a curry. Assume cost isn't an issue, although it probably will be. Extra marks if the venue is a hotel we can stay in at a not too ridiculous cost.

Thanks for these excellent replies. I do know the Haight, though only as a visitor, and I do wonder if the shops there are quite my cup of tea these days. The train commute does sound too long too, which would rule out this area, unless the drive was much shorter than 1.5 hours. I've just bought the Zagat map and the Michelin guide and searched for concentrations of restaurants. Two areas that sprang out were Cow Hollow / Marina (I've walked through Marina, which was pleasant but perhaps rather gentrified. I don't know CH) and Hayes Valley (which I don't know either, and think is just south of you, Carolyn?) And there's downtown of course, where I am staying now, but it doesn't seem very dog friendly at all. Thanks again everyone. I look forward to exploring your suggestions further.

Hi, My husband and I are moving to the Bay Area in the spring, and looking for somewhere to live where we can walk to a wide variety of good restaurants and food shops. We also need to live near a park to walk our dogs. My husband will be working in Menlo Park and quite likes the idea of a train commute giving him time for uninterrupted work at each end of the day. I'll be working for a London company - i.e. from home :-) At the moment we prefer the idea of living in the city and we've found a house we like on Broderick St in the Haight - but I'm concerned that the only eating nearby seems to be burger joints and pizza places. Where would be a foodie's dream home be?

We're travelling to Israel and Jordan in early November. In Israel we'll only have time to see Jerusalem, and have a night in Tel Aviv before we fly. In Jordan we should be covering a lot more ground. What restaurants can people recommend? In Israel we're travelling alone, and would like to try a couple of top-whack places. In Jordan we're meeting up with friends, who may not share our views on how much to spend on dinner! (And one of whom is vegetarian.)

I hope it isn't too off topic, but this little story may amuse you. After a long summer afternoon and early evening walking along the Thames, my husband-to-be and I decided to eat in the local Chinese restaurant. It was quite a nice Chinese restaurant, but in a small Thames-side village (Cookham), nothing big city and swanky. We were both wearing walking shorts, T shirts and trainers. The owner of the restaurant refused us admission because of our clothing. Somewhat peeved by this, we drove home at high speed, and changed. I put on my long black evening gown, high heels, pearls and all the rings etc. I could muster. My husband wore black tie. We zoomed back to the restaurant where we were admitted, to the stares of the other customers (and a wink from a waiter who I don't think approved of the original ban from the owner.) The final note to this story is when the man from the next table, able to overcome his reticence no longer, leaned towards us and said "You don't need to dress like that for this place, you know." "Oh, but we do," my husband replied.

fresh pineapple dipped into spicy-salt melted cheddar and mango chutney, on toast soft-boiled quails egg, dipped in hot caramelised sugar which is then allowed to set (this was a nibble in a restaurant in London - amazing.)

You'll feel better overdressed than underdressed, so long as you don't go too far. My suggestions would be a simple, loose cut, good quality grey suit for sir, ideally Nehru collar, worn with a plain white shirt, also Nehru collar, no tie. Cufflinks should be platignum and expensive. Madam should wear simple black, V-necked dress (yours looked good) with her best platignum & diamond necklace. Don't wear too much make-up, and avoid lipstick and perfume - you don't want to spoil that food. Both make sure you have room for a little expansion! And if I might risk upsetting some Americans, here is how I spot you - shirts tucked in - check or plaid shirts - slacks (Europeans wear jeans or trousers, never slacks. Don't ask me how I know the difference, I do.) - short shorts (my husband and I call them American shorts. Give them up, they only suit you if you're 6ft 2 and skinny as a green bean. And you're at the beach.) - socks with sandals - white socks with sandals - white trainers with socks with shorts - bouffant hairdos (women) - no hairdos at all (men) - old fashioned consumer durables (video cameras and the like) Apologies in advance. Now have a return pop at the English ;-)

Have you ever had any of those awkward couples to dinner, where finding anything they both can eat is an exercise in creativity and ingenuity? I'm sure you can all top this, but my worst experience was with a couple we met at work. She was a vegetarian who hated chilli. He was a religious meat eater and lover of the spiciest curries, who was allergic to mushrooms and beans. That was a difficult meal to plan! (And, by the way, they're now married with two children. God knows what they eat every night. "Own topping" pizza, I presume.)

Well, I'm living in France now, and feeling a little nostalgic, so forgive me for returning to the original thread. - bacon, crispy, served in white bread with a little HP in a greasy spoon. (Best I know is in Southwark, we used to nip out of the hotel and pay a couple of quid for breakfast, avoiding the £12 "full English" that had been cooling on trays since 5am) - crumpets, dripping with salty butter - a picnic of crab sandwiches on a hot summer's day on the beach - a decent ploughmans in a pub with a pint of local scrumpy - fish and chips - jellied eels - any of the sausages from our excellent local butcher (who was a grazier) - clotted cream, especially on scones & jam after a long walk round the coastal path in Cornwall - Scottish smoked salmon - Stoke oatcakes, with cheese - Stilton, Cheddar and many more - black pudding - Summer pudding, with rich, yellow cream - pink lamb with mint sauce - a homemade pork pie - my mother's drop scones, with Tate and Lyle Golden syrup - sticky gingerbread - parkin - simnel cake - steak and kidney pud (light on the kidney for me please) - steak and oyster pie (cooked this for some Japanese people once, they loved it.) - a huge Cornish pasty, again as a lunch after a decent long walk (you need exercise to cope with British food!) - beef, rare, with a decent gravy and Yorkshire pud - my mother's blackberry jam - trifle, with no jelly and with real custard - real custard, with anything, or alone - syllabub - Scottish oatcake biscuits with cheese - Welsh cakes (griddle scones - my mother used to make these too) - a hot curry (!) - bread and butter pudding (ideally made with brioches and real cream, I'm not a traditionalist here) - mince pies - haggis - mealy pudding - Queen of puddings - Lancashire hotpot - oxtail stew But what I really miss is a decent cup of tea!

What do people think of the Paleolithic diet? Has anyone tried it? http://www.panix.com/~paleodiet/ The premise seems fairly sensible to me, and the diet just "feels" healthy - plenty of meat, fish, veg and fruit, but no wheat-based processed foods like cakes and bread. One of the more logical of the high protein diets. I've not managed to stick to it for more than a few days though - I eat out at least twice a week, and I'm not going to be one of those whingy people who has long discussions with the waiter to change the chef's carefully designed dishes.

<work in progress> Vence Old town Les Béatilles Good and possibly getting better. A mid priced venue that (in winter at least) can deliver the goods. Menu seems a bit more pedestrian (aimed at the tourists?) in summer. Very small, but in summer has a nice terrasse in the square outside the Mairie. L'Armoise Concentrates on fish. Usually pretty good. Chef worked at la Gavroche in London. Friendly service. La Litotes Fairly modern, inventive take on locally sourced provençal cuisine. Has a honey menu. Not very busy in winter - one December night we were the only people there. La Farigoule Local food, of high standard. Again menu seems to have improved once summer was over, with a particularly good game menu in autumn.

I've being trying to read up on metabolism and digestion, via a medical textbook I bought. Now I gave up biology before I was 16, so it was tough going, but it seems to me that there is no route for protein in the diet to either be used for energy immediately or to be laid down as fat. Can someone more erudite conform or deny this? If true, it is course the reason for the success of the Atkins diet. However it seems to me that you don't need to go to such extremes. A better solution might be to just not count the calories from protein in your diet, and then eat plenty of high protein low fat zero carb food, such as fish, to fill yourself up.

Another odd thing I've tried is bear. This was in Finland - I was too keen on the musta makara (sp?) to order it myself, but my kindly neighbour passed me a few mouthfuls. Not recommended - chewy, slightly stringy and dry - of course it may have been cooked badly, I've eaten plenty of beef like that.

Get better at pastry. I found a sweet pastry recipe that worked for me just before Christmas, and made a white chocolate tart, so I want to carry on with that and do some nice classic lemon tarts and fruit tarts over the summer.

If you want to understand the science of cooking (which is better than it sounds - once you understand how it works you can play around and be creative), then try Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking

No cheese? Weren't people a bit peckish after that?

Mango and sticky rice is one of my favourites. Try searching the internet, it turns up plenty of recipes. (The recipe I quoted removed at moderator's request.)

I like Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking

Uh uh. Miso ramen for me.

Sorry if this has been done before (it must have been), but a favourite pub conversation among our well-travelled friends centres around the wackiest food we've ever eaten. I'll start the bidding with deep fried scorpions. (Served as a started before duck in a restaurant in Beijing.)

These are the ones I've written down afterwards... Tomato tarte tatin with gruyère ice cream, as a starter. Roast pork with peppered udon and confit of pears with mirin. Ravioli stuffed with black pudding mousseline, served with langoustines. Fluffy pannacotta. Middle Eastern Goat's Cheesecake, with Rose Jelly.