Good Food and Views are Worth the Journey
For a Michelin one-star establishment, La Ciau del Tornavento packs a punch. The restaurant sits on a hilltop in the town of Treiso in Piedmont with the dining room opening up onto a fantastic view of the vine laden slopes and valley below. The cuisine takes Piedmont’s traditional dishes up a notch - largely recognisable, nothing foamy here. But best of all it has the most impressive wine collection I’ve ever seen with its cellar holding more than 38,000 bottles.
We came here on...
Yosemite National Park is one of those places where I wish I had accomplished more on my visit. There is so much I want to do and I leave thinking I could have organized myself a bit better. If you’re like me and can only allocate a short visit for your first trip, here are some tips that I think may help you make more of a limited time there.
Do’s:
Now that the bullet train between Tokyo and Kanazawa is running (started March 2015), reaching this seafood haven on Japan’s west coast is much easier. Easily slotted into a trip between Kyoto and Tokyo, I think there’s enough to fill at least a one full day or two day stopover - two nights best, so you can squeeze in a couple of dinners. Kanazawa has been referred to as “Little Kyoto” due to areas which retain their Edo era look but I think the best reason to visit (besides for the...
As I prepared to write this note on Benu, I recall thinking after our meal that the restaurant was certainly worthy of its Michelin stars (two) at the time. Since I was there in October 2014, the restaurant has been awarded its third star. I think this is obviously great recognition for Chef Corey Lee’s efforts to lift and modernize fine Asian food without losing aspects of the dish that people love. While Benu may be classified as fusion (it’s described as ‘new American fare’ on...
I won’t normally write about hotels but in this case, Palas Cerequio is a destination unto itself. Firstly, this luxury bed & breakfast is set amidst some of the world’s most famous Barolo vines - great landscape. Secondly, its airy and modern suites come with their own sauna or Turkish bath. And last but not least, this b&b possesses an amazing wine cellar full of the regional favourites to accompany the fine cooking provided on site. So, one could stay at the property an entire...