The brief history of boutique hotels is fascinating if you’re a boutique hotel junkie, beginning in London in 1978 with Anouska Hempel’s Blakes Hotel and taken to giddy heights in New York City by Studio 54’s Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell with the Paramount Hotel. I have to confess to having been a budding boutique …
Some of the best things to do in Chinatown New York include checking into chic Chinatown digs, exploring the compelling Museum of Chinese in America, eating dumplings and drinking tea to your heart’s content, and kicking back in Columbus Park (with dumplings). Chinatown in New York is one of my favourite Manhattan neighbourhoods – a …
The Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos has just ended in Mexico, and that’s as good an excuse as any to celebrate all things Mexican – from Frida and Diego to the Lucha Libre, from tacos and guacamole to Margaritas and mariachis. During the recent Cambodia Water Festival of Bon Om Tuk, …
This authentic Mexican guacamole recipe makes a genuine Mexican guacamole of the kind an abuela (Mexican grandma) might make – the kind that's made table-side at good restaurants in Mexico. It's all about the creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados. I’ve been making this authentic Mexican guacamole recipe since our first trip to …
A classic Margarita recipe should be one of the first classic cocktail recipes a cocktail lover learns to make, especially if they're a fan of all things Mexican, as we have long been. Popular around the globe, we learnt this classic Margarita recipe on our first trip to Mexico and still make it, wherever we …
These are the world’s best food destinations according to the world’s best chefs, the places they said provided their fondest food memories and favourite eating experiences, from markets they loved to memorable meals. These are the countries where the best chefs most love to eat. As the 2017 World's 50 Best Restaurants awards are rapidly approaching – they're being announced …
Learning to cook a dish from one of Asia’s best restaurants, mastering the art of making macarons in Paris, and cooking with a Countess in Venice are just a few of our picks of the best cooking classes in the world. I've long said that discovering the cuisine of a destination is a way into the heart …
Our local guide to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s sexy seaside city, covers the things that locals love to do, from sipping sucos to samba dancing. As the 2016 Olympic Games is kicking off on 6 August, we thought we’d share some of our favourite things to do in Rio. Our Local Guide to Rio de Janeiro Start with a suco …
I don’t remember the name of a single hotel concierge from any of the hotels we’ve ever stayed at over our many years of travel writing and we’ve checked into thousands. Yet I can name a couple of dozen or so concierges of holiday rentals we’ve settled into. I could also share some of their …
This little guide to the best parks and gardens in the world has been coming for some time. These days I find myself spending a significant amount of time dreaming of spreading a picnic blanket out on manicured grass between a shady tree and sprawling out with little more than a good book, bowl of …
The worlds best food tours and culinary walks have provided us with some of our most unforgettable food memories, from inhaling fresh herbs and fragrant spices at local markets to savouring street food treats at smoky roadside stalls and traditional eateries. We may have set some kind of record for the number of culinary experiences — …
We love street food. Whether it’s yakitori in Tokyo or tacos al pastor in San Miguel de Allende, snacking on street food is an essential part of the travel experience, as is writing about it. But we also enjoy reading about, which is why we've started this series of street food stories. We love eating street …