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lsandersonOctober 5, 2006
The Global Gourmet
By R. W. APPLE
The Global Gourmet
By R. W. APPLE
Editor’s Note: Before going into the hospital several weeks ago, R. W. Apple, Jr. filed this article for The New York Times. It was scheduled to appear in the Times' Travel section later in the fall, but with Mr. Apple's death on October 4, it was published today.
AFTER half a century of assiduous eating in restaurants around the world, first avocationally and more recently professionally, I have become accustomed to certain questions: “What’s your favorite restaurant?” “What will you order for your last meal on earth?” “Which is best — French cuisine? Italian? Chinese?” All unanswerable, of course. Now comes a more modest proposition: Name 10 restaurants abroad that would be worth boarding a plane to visit, even in these fraught days.
O.K. Here’s my list. Please note, this is neither an enumeration of my favorites (though some of those are included) nor a ranking of the world’s best (like those fatuous lists put out each year by Restaurant magazine in London). Rather than reciting a long list of two- and three-star gastronomic temples, I have chosen purlieus both grand and small, better to reflect my own eating habits. And rather than loading up my list with French and Italian addresses, I have arbitrarily restricted my choices to one per country, for much the same reason. I would expect no one else to chose the same 10, but on the other hand, I would be astonished if many of my nominations disappointed.
FLEURIE, FRANCE Auberge du Cep, Place de l’Église; (33-4) 7404-1077; perso.orange.fr/mercurebeaujolais/cep.htm.
SANT’AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI, ITALY Don Alfonso 1890, corso Sant’Agata 11; (39-081) 878-0026; www.donalfonso.com.
SAN SEBASTIÁN, SPAIN Arzak, Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui, 273; (34-943) 27-8465; www.arzak.es.
BRUSSELS Comme Chez Soi, Place Rouppe 23; (32-2) 512-2921; www.commechezsoi.be.
LONDON Wilton’s, 55 Jermyn Street, SW1; (44-207) 629-9955; www.wiltons.co.uk.
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN Sjomagasinet, Klippans Kulturreservat 5; (46-31) 775-5920; www.sjomagasinet.se.
BUENOS AIRES Avenida Cabaña las Lilas, Alicia Moreau de Justo 516; (54-11) 4313-1336; www.laslilas.com.
SHANGHAI Jean-Georges, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 1; (86-21) 6321-7733; www.jean-georges.com.
MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg, Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Billy Kwong, 3/355 Crown Street, Surry Hills; (61-2) 9322-3300.
I have short-changed Turkey, Thailand and Japan. I know, and I apologize. Put it down to limited space and inadequate depth of knowledge. There should be enough here to hold you — hopefully to set you soaring — for a few weeks or months, or even years. More
