Good Food and Views are Worth the Journey
There is good reason that central Tuscany is on most travel bucket lists - it's almost a perfect combination of history, culture, food and scenery. Pienza, noted to be the "ideal" renaissance city, is not as well visited as Florence or Siena but I think is worth a trip especially to spend time roaming and driving through the surrounding Val d'Orcia which contain so many iconic Tuscan scenes.
I was here last year in May and unfortunately my trip coincided with a long weekend in...
Jade Palace is a well established Hong Kong style cantonese cuisine restaurant in Singapore. After more than 20 years, I think it is still the "go to" eatery for cantonese dining which is testament to the restaurant's consistency and focus on serving quality dishes. We wanted to introduce our Italian wine maker friends to some Australian wines recently and thus, had a menu of some better known standards along with some new creations.
One of the outstanding staples on Jade Palace's...
Florence had been one of my favourite cities in Europe for its great art, history and of course, shopping, but it is getting impossible to roam around these days without encountering crowds of tourists. This does make having a pleasant trip more challenging so I highly recommend that visitors who want to visit the museums and other historical sites to do so with a guide. I arranged a private tour to visit the Vasari Corridor, a secret Medici passageway while in Florence last year and it...
I've long been obsessed with getting photos of the idyllic Tuscan countryside - you know, the ones with the rolling hills and cypress tress. So last year in May, 14 of us friends and family stayed in La Bandita, a converted farmhouse on a hill between Pienza and Chianchiano Terme. Although the drive up and down the hill to La Bandita took a bit of getting used to, the place was really well located to explore central Tuscany. And best of all, the food at La Bandita, cooked on the spot by a...
Ashino is the latest in high-end specialty sushi restaurants in Singapore but is unique as some of its fish is cured leaving it tender but tasty. Much like counterparts in Japan, this restaurant only seats ten diners around a sushi master. While I also like the other sushi places in town, I think that Ashino ranks highest for me in terms of the quality of its sushi.
Sushi chef Taku Ashino, who was formerly at Marina Bay Sands' Hide Yamamoto, now has full rein to unleash his sushi in a...