Travel Information, Dining Recs, Tips, & Tricks Mega Thread

Fwiw, we had lunch at the fish market, a dinner in Manly and another at a Chinese place near the QVB.
 
Here you go, best Indian restaurant in Europe...


I have ate in this Indian restaurant a great many times, it's certainly decent enough after a night on the piss, but unless it's improved significantly in recent years, it's not in the top tier of Indian restaurants in the local area. There are several much better in terms of grub, decor and surroundings.
 
My youngest brother just moved to DC. I've actually never been. Any recommendations for what to do there? Any places off the touristy path? Also, anything he should do as a local?
 
My youngest brother just moved to DC. I've actually never been. Any recommendations for what to do there? Any places off the touristy path? Also, anything he should do as a local?
Great city to visit, you've got all the landmarks at the National Mall i.e. Lincoln Memorial, WWII and Vietnam Memorials, etc.

The Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art where you'll see some of these, from my last visit in November 2019:

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And loads more. I stay at the Hamilton when I go there, it's alright, a brisk walk to the mall. Good breakfast if you like steak and eggs:

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Heading to Savannah, GA for a conference in November. Any eating, seeing or doing recommendations for someone short on free time appreciated!
 
Heading to Savannah, GA for a conference in November. Any eating, seeing or doing recommendations for someone short on free time appreciated!
I have to remember the name of this really great seafood joint where you can still always get a reservation if you are white. I didn't get it at first when they said on the phone to just come down and check at the door.
 
Heading to Savannah, GA for a conference in November. Any eating, seeing or doing recommendations for someone short on free time appreciated!
didn't we do a georgia thing before? i could swear you went to something there last year or so.
 
didn't we do a georgia thing before? i could swear you went to something there last year or so.
I was in Atlanta a few months ago. I’m hoping that Coke-CNN City is not the same as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
 
I was in Atlanta a few months ago. I’m hoping that Coke-CNN City is not the same as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Actually bought that book in America when it came out and read it on the way back.

 
I didn’t have much time to sightsee, but Savannah was pretty. Lots of great food and street drinking is a thing there, like New Orleans. I found Forrest Gump’s bench and a few locations from the Midnight book.
 

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I’m going back to Atlanta in a few months. Restaurant recommendations welcome.

Heading to Chicago in the summer for a conference. First time there in nearly 30 years. If there are any hidden gems I can’t miss them let me know!
 
Only traveled to Chicago a few times for work around River North. Three Dots and a Dash was a fun tiki bar. But I don't recall anything else noteworthy from my time there.
 
Fwiffo Fwiffo can you please give me your top Chinese restaurant recommendations for Toronto? (and why) I don’t really mind the style, it should just be authentic food. I have two recommendations already and hope to get those confirmed.
 
Fwiffo Fwiffo can you please give me your top Chinese restaurant recommendations for Toronto? (and why) I don’t really mind the style, it should just be authentic food. I have two recommendations already and hope to get those confirmed.

You are up for anything? At the risk of bellinmad calling me a condescending prick it is like asking for good Italian food in Italy.

Off the top of my head, Yu's Seafood probably has a bit of everything and is actually within city limits. It's posh though.

My mother's extended family is always going to Casa Imperial for anything from a funeral wake to a birthday party. Fishman Lobster Clubhouse if you want to develop a cholesterol problem.

One of my first bosses just ditched Hong Kong last year to come here and he suggested Starchiva Cuisine and The ONE Fusion Cuisine in Richmond Hill.

What are you looking for though? Lunch? Dinner? North or southern food? Even in the south there is banquet style, bbq, dim sum, seafood, canteen/cafe.

Except for Yu and I think Casa double check if they accept credit cards. Cash is always accepted as the Chinese never only have one set of accounting books.
 
You are up for anything? At the risk of bellinmad calling me a condescending prick it is like asking for good Italian food in Italy.

Off the top of my head, Yu's Seafood probably has a bit of everything and is actually within city limits. It's posh though.

My mother's extended family is always going to Casa Imperial for anything from a funeral wake to a birthday party. Fishman Lobster Clubhouse if you want to develop a cholesterol problem.

One of my first bosses just ditched Hong Kong last year to come here and he suggested Starchiva Cuisine and The ONE Fusion Cuisine in Richmond Hill.

What are you looking for though? Lunch? Dinner? North or southern food? Even in the south there is banquet style, bbq, dim sum, seafood, canteen/cafe.

Except for Yu and I think Casa double check if they accept credit cards. Cash is always accepted as the Chinese never only have one set of accounting books.
Thanks a lot! I thought it’s more similar to asking for good Italian food in Toronto, but anyway. My only requirement is that it must be Chinese food, not some Western bastardization of it. My favorite Chinese cuisine is Sichuan from Chongqing but I don’t know any other (real) Chinese cuisine so I don’t care really. Will probably be for dinner but that depends on a lot of factors. Current favorite was Crown Princess (Bay/Irvin), so thanks a lot for the additional recommendations!
 
Thanks a lot! I thought it’s more similar to asking for good Italian food in Toronto, but anyway. My only requirement is that it must be Chinese food, not some Western bastardization of it. My favorite Chinese cuisine is Sichuan from Chongqing but I don’t know any other (real) Chinese cuisine so I don’t care really. Will probably be for dinner but that depends on a lot of factors. Current favorite was Crown Princess (Bay/Irvin), so thanks a lot for the additional recommendations!

Sorry mate, I don't know Szechuan other than randomly going after my bar hopping/club nights to Swatow at 3am.

Crown Princess closed in (I believe) 2021. They survived the first lockdowns but couldn't survive the second wave. They were owned by the same people at Casa Victoria and Casa Imperial. My mother went to Casa Victoria last year and some of the same staff showed up there.

The foodie scene is hyping Mimi's and Sunny's this year but again risking jibes from belinmad, they're both helmed by a Polish Jewish guy.

Where chef David Schwartz eats Chinese food in Scarborough and North York

He just did an eat around the boroughs tour for a local lifestyle magazine.
 
Excellent, thank you. Plenty of interesting places, a lot of them too far away though. I guess rather randomly picking something around Kensington market, if all else goes wrong, will still be better than what I‘ve available here.
 
Excellent, thank you. Plenty of interesting places, a lot of them too far away though. I guess rather randomly picking something around Kensington market, if all else goes wrong, will still be better than what I‘ve available here.

If you can make it to Kensington then it's a 25-30 minute ride to Yorkdale on the subway. Yu's seafood is inside the mall and the mall is connected to the subway station.

Everything else is more easy to get to by Uber.

Good Luck HK Cafe is between North York Centre and Finch on the subway line for canteen/cafe style food. 40 minutes or 45 minutes away by subway.

Sunny's is in Kensington by the way - down the hall of the Kensington "mall" door. Looks a bit dodgy with the graffiti but it used to be an after hours bar.

Superfresh is a kitschy indoor Asian night market near Kensington. Worth it for the gram.
 
I need to get back to Portland, after learning that there is a vegan, vampire-themed strip club there (Casa Diablo).
 
I need to get back to Portland, after learning that there is a vegan, vampire-themed strip club there (Casa Diablo).

How does the vegan thing figure into it? The strippers are vegan too? Less inflammation?
 
Milano? Napoli? Roma?

If you only had funds and time to visit one... Which one?
 
Long Beach, CA in November: anything off the beaten path and not all over Trip Advisor that I should look out for?
 
Milano? Napoli? Roma?

If you only had funds and time to visit one... Which one?
All very different aesthetics. All I know is Roma would be a distant last of those 3.

I prefer Milan out of those 3 but for you Fwiffo Fwiffo , Naples would appeal more, it has more character, very good street food (Bologna's food is the best in Italy but that is a different place). In addition, Naples has incredible night life, people are friendlier though you have the seedy element which is not overblown but adds to the charm.

Be warned, I have been to a few cities and nowhere, I repeat nowhere, can prepare you for the amount of trash strewn across Naples for a first world country. Yes, people would say it has been cleaned up and compared to the 90s and noughties, maybe. I went there last summer and it was frankly, a dump.

Finally, and do this - Roma and Vesuvius is half a day trip from Naples. So, go to Naples and make use of the world class trains in all of Italy and take a day trip to Roma(people even smoke on the platforms, so you can suck on your stick Fwiffo Fwiffo ) whilst you wait for your next train.

You can also get a change of pace and take the short ferry ride from Naples to one of the Islands ( I recommend Ischia) for a day.
 
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Milano? Napoli? Roma?

If you only had funds and time to visit one... Which one?
For a tourist easily Rome. Naples #2 with Milan being a very distant third .
milan and Naples are better for shopping, but museums, architecture, churches all best in Rome. Food is also close between Rome and Naples with Naples having better seafood offerings (And coffee), but you can take a high speed rail from Rome to Naples in about an hour. Same with Florence. 3 to Milan

however living is an entirely different matter….
 
Planning a week on Costa Rica with the fam. Anyone here familiar?
 
Yah. Where are you going and what do you want to do?
Thanks, man!

Going with a 10 and 13yo for a week in the northern Spring for a week. A little bit of hiking and volcano/ animal reserve stuff, but mostly beach activities. Looking for somewhere nice that isn’t a resort and isn’t full of people- probably an Airbnb or similar.
 
Thanks, man!

Going with a 10 and 13yo for a week in the northern Spring for a week. A little bit of hiking and volcano/ animal reserve stuff, but mostly beach activities. Looking for somewhere nice that isn’t a resort and isn’t full of people- probably an Airbnb or similar.

Check out Nosara and other similar beach town around Nicoya. You’ll need a car. There are a couple of surf schools there if your kids are into that. We did a 10 day one and it was a lot of fun for the kids.

Tortuguero animal reserve is amazing. I’d skip the Arenal volcano.
 
I prefer Milan out of those 3 but for you Fwiffo Fwiffo , Naples would appeal more, it has more character, very good street food (Bologna's food is the best in Italy but that is a different place). In addition, Naples has incredible night life, people are friendlier though you have the seedy element which is not overblown but adds to the charm.

Cheers. Interesting you would recommend that. Because of my cooking posts? My endless sojourns to find people or a society's true nature?

Be warned, I have been to a few cities and nowhere, I repeat nowhere, can prepare you for the amount of trash strewn across Naples for a first world country. Yes, people would say it has been cleaned up and compared to the 90s and noughties, maybe. I went there last summer and it was frankly, a dump.

I worked with an Englishman whose first company conference since the virus was in Milan and he kept complaining after returning it was "grotty". I told him if he thought northern Italy was filthy he should pass up on the next conference if it's hosted in the south.

You can also get a change of pace and take the short ferry ride from Naples to one of the Islands ( I recommend Ischia) for a day.

Ischia. I'll have to remember that. I was thinking Procida.

For a tourist easily Rome. Naples #2 with Milan being a very distant third .
milan and Naples are better for shopping, but museums, architecture, churches all best in Rome. Food is also close between Rome and Naples with Naples having better seafood offerings (And coffee), but you can take a high speed rail from Rome to Naples in about an hour. Same with Florence. 3 to Milan

however living is an entirely different matter….

I threw Rome in there because one of my co-workers here returned to Rome and I always say I'll drop by for a coffee.

I did study classics in uni so my visual impression of all the architecture and sites are photographs in my textbooks - most of which are in black & white.
 
Check out Nosara and other similar beach town around Nicoya. You’ll need a car. There are a couple of surf schools there if your kids are into that. We did a 10 day one and it was a lot of fun for the kids.

Tortuguero animal reserve is amazing. I’d skip the Arenal volcano.

^^ To add to that, if visiting staying near Nicoya, go to Tortuga Island (day trip).

Based on other family member’s advice, we were looking at Playa Hermosa or Cochal, flying in through Liberia airport and visiting Rincon de la Vieja for a day to see the animal reserve there.

Bad idea?
 

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