SDyson

Try Le Comptior, Yves Candeborde’s bistro, for lunch. (You don't need a reservation at lunch time.) Based on our experience last month, when we had a delicious meal - the first one in Paris for a couple of years and a perfect reintroduction - be there early (about 12 noon) or try later (after 1:30) to have the best chance of securing a table. The address is carrefour de l’Odéon, next door to his hotel (Hotel Relais Saint-Germain).

Here’s a list that’s from the perspective of a visitor, so not too many surprises I expect. It would probably be different if I lived in France and developed relationships with local suppliers and restaurants – my list is all over the place. Bistro: A toss-up between Aux Lyonnaise in Paris and La Fourchette in Avignon Brasserie: (can’t help – I think I’m always too full to contemplate choucroute and too frightened of not being able to manage the next meal) Patisserie: Pierre Hermé Cheese Shop: Marie-Ann Cantin Market: Velleron evening market (in Vaucluse) Boulangerie: Eric Kayser (Paris) or Franck Bouvier (Velleron) Wine Bar: Juveniles ONE star Michelin restaurant: Chiberta or L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Favourite book on food: Richard Olney's Lulu's Provencal Table

I'd second Guyi in Shanghai. Another option, though, is Jereme Lung's Whampoa Club, which is on the Bund. If you only have one day in Shanghai you probably should see the Bund and it looks its fairytale best at night. Whampoa Club would fit your upscale requirements, and it is rooted in Shanghai cuisine. Some dishes, like the drunken chicken, are modern interpretations but many, like the kou shan si (see below) and the braised pork knuckle, are close to their orgins. It's beautiful cooking. Read this review of both of them by the IHT's Patricia Wells - it might also help you decide. You could also go to a bookshop before you leave New York and browse through a copy of Leung's book New Shanghai Cuisine to see if his food appeals to you. I'd also put Crystal Jade into the mix, especially if you're after noodles and dumplings. It's in Xintiandi, which is a very fashionable part of town. You could have a drink before or after at TMSK. Maybe it's an option for lunch?

Some Shanghai suggestions: For excellent xiao long bao and lots of other good dumplings, including what I think was called shen jian bao (see picture below), try Crystal Jade. We also had great xiao long bao at a tiny place that we read about on chaxiubao's blog. Have a look in his June 2005 archive for all sorts of good reading about eating in Shanghai. It's called Kaika Tongbau. It was hard to find and I don't know how we would have gone without local Chinese speaking friends - either finding it or ordering - but it's worth the adventure. Here's a photo of the building so you'd know what you're looking for. I think it's 777 Zhousan Nan Lu, not 727 as on the blog. I took a photo while we were eating but unfortunately was too immersed in the dumplings to think to do it while this steamer was full or when we got to the second or third steamers underneath (it was an exercise in greed I'm afraid). For lions head meatballs, Xia is great. Here's a photo to whet your appetite. If you want a high end restaurant, I'd recommend the Whampoa Club, Jereme Leung's restaurant on the Bund.

Rick, we're occasional visitors to Hong Kong and we've had some wonderful meals. We tend to each in Chinese restaurants - it doesn't seem to make sense on short trips to eat European or fusion food and usually when we break our rule we're disappointed. Here's our list of favourites, with a link to a review where we've done one, which has more information. But we're visitors too, so can't give you the same comprehensive view as a local would. So-called "secret restaurants: Secret Pantry - our favourite, although I don't know if it's still there. Its website doesn't seem to load properly now. Maybe someone else can advise. Da Ping Huo Mum Chau's Sichuan Kitchen, 5th Floor, Winner Building, 37 D'Aguilar Street, Central Restaurants: Spring Moon at the Peninsula Hotel. It's also great for its dim sum afternoon tea, much more interesting than the famous high tea downstairs. Victoria City Seafood Restaurant - great seafood. Yung Kee - one of Hong Kong's most famous restaurants, especially for roasted poultry. It has a website. Snacks and noodles: Tsim Chai Kee Noodle Shop Maks noodles Moon Garden Tea House in Causeway Bay (5 Hoi Ping Rd) - good if you want to buy tea as well. And we enjoy this blog but haven't been to Hong Kong since we discovered it.

I know a restaurant in Launceston in Tasmania, Australia, that occasionally does what I think you're talking about. The regular menu at Me Wah has the dishes you'd expect to see in a Chinese restaurant in a western country. It's definitely not fusion. But occasionally (and I'm sure at any time, if a decent sized group was to make a request), it does a degustation style tasting menu, often matched to wines by the glass. Here's an example of the menu from an excellent meal last year, which I hope is readable. These dishes were clearly Chinese in inspiration and flavour, but unique, and each was definitely designed to be eaten alone.

In Avignon, apart from Les Halles market, I'd definitely go to Le Fruitier de Saint Agricol, which is at 27 rue Saint Agricol. It has good fruit and vegetables, but also delicious terrines and other things you'd normally find at a traiteur, and practical things too like small bottles of excellent quality olive oil. They also sell local wines. Here's our review. In Antibes, make sure you treat yourself to freshly-made socca at the local market while you're shopping - it's the best we've had - and buy pissaladerie and tourte aux blettes from Jean-Paul Veziano's boulangerie, at 2 rue de la Pompe, which is in a side street just near the market. Look for the sign to Boulangerie Veziano.

Yes- he's the same Chris Jackman. He opened Choux Shop late in 2004 as a patisserie then last November he morphed it into a restaurant. It's been a great addition to Hobart's eating options. The address is 4 Victoria St. Here's a review on our website if you're interested in more information. Sorry to add another post that doesn't contribute to the guinea fowl egg issue. Sue.

Tasmanian chef Chris Jackman certainly thinks they are nice - he has a dish of asparagus with coddled truffled guinea fowl eggs (from his own guinea fowls), served with pink-eye potatoes and toasted crumbs on the menu at Choux Shop at present. I didn't try it but saw plenty of compliments from other customers who ate it the night I was there.

We'd second the recommendation for La Beaugravière . We ate there this January and it was excellent – great food and an extraordinary wine list. If there are still fresh truffles available, this is the best local place to try them – the potato and truffle salad (see photo) is still heading our list of best dish eaten so far this year and the truffle risotto is also excellent. Other places we've enjoyed that are an easy drive from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, all of which are reasonably priced, are: La Fourchette in Avignon, owned by the same people who own Hiély Lucullus, but less formal. It's full of provencal specialties – the sorts of dishes you'll see on tourist restaurant menus - but done beautifully, e.g. marinated sardines, pied et paquets, a memorable daube. Auberge la Fontaine in the pretty village of Venasque. A small hotel, a small dining room and a very committed owner-chef, Christian Soehlke. The menu changes to match Christian's daily shopping and is very limited (a good sign). Bistrot de France in Apt - a classic French experience, with a booking or a very early arrival essential. Chez Serge in Carpentras – casual, with great pizza cooked in a wood fired oven (although not quite as perfect as the pizzas at the idiosyncratic Napoli Mia in Avignon). L'Amuse Bouche in Saturnin les Apt – there's no written menu, just a single degustation of eight small dishes. The restaurant is so small that if you have a question about the food you can just about ask the chef while he is cooking. Le Jardin de Quai in Isle sur la Sorgue with Daniel Hebet, who was once chef at La Mirande. This is also a very limited menu. For food shopping, we go to the evening Velleron Market at least a couple of times a week. It's a true marché paysan – with producers selling from the back of their vans and the quality is exemplary. Shopping in the early evening seems much more satisfactory than going to a morning market when, if you're on holidays, it's a rush to arrive early when the stalls are still full. You also have a much better idea of what you feel like eating at night and you don't have to cart food around in the height of the sun. In fact Velleron is one of the main reasons we love this part of Provence (the other is probably the southern Rhone vineyards). In winter, Velleron market opens from 4.30 pm on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and from spring (mid april?) to autumn (end of September?) it is open from 6 pm every day except Sundays and public holidays. The market is on the edge of the village but it's also worth going into Velleron to visit Franck Bouvier boulangerie. The Sunday morning marché paysan in Coustellet is also excellent.

Perhaps it's too late to add to this for you but there are a couple of wine shops in the heart of Avignon that are well worth a visit. They are both small (and I suspect independent) and have staff who can give good advice. They're the sort of wine shops it's good to support. They may not have quite the number of labels that a large shop has but I'd rather browse a small, carefully put together selection, than wade through aisles of mass-produced wine. These small independent shops do so much for all of us because they're usually where the next small, unknown winemaker first gets an outlet and they are few and far between. Try La Cave du Bouffart (14, rue des Fourbisseurs) and Liquid (37, rue Bonneterie) - both within a couple of minutes walk from each other.