Updated July 30, 2010

OVERVIEW
On first acquaintance Hong Kong can overwhelm. Navigate its teeming, tightly packed sidewalks and you’re met at every turn with neon signage, steam-filled canteens, and a fast pace comparable only to New York City.
Once this first sensory wave has rolled over you, though, take a deep breath and start swimming with the current, because you’ll find Hong Kong is a place to delight in. Utterly safe and fantastically well organized, it offers little moments of perfection. You may find them on a plastic stool enjoying a bargain bowl of beef brisket soup or simply gazing at the thrilling harbour vistas. You’ll find them taking afternoon tea in the cool of a five-star hotel lobby or enjoying balmy open-air beers in the party zones.

Hong Kong can nudge you out of your comfort zone but usually rewards you for it, so try the stinky bean curd, sample the shredded jellyfish, brave the hordes at the city centre horseracing and join in the dawn tai chi. Escape the city limits and other experiences await – watching the sun rise from a remote mountain peak, hiking surf-beaten beaches or exploring deserted islands.

The Skyline
Widely hailed as the world’s best skyline, the giddying high-rises along Victoria Harbour glitter at night time and stand proudly in front of a dramatic range of mountain peaks. Our skyline boasts 43 buildings that are more than 200 metres tall, with 30 of those built in the last decade. According to an algorithm used in the Almanac of Architecture and Design to measure the “impressiveness” of the world’s skylines, Hong Kong tops the list easily, defeating New York by 84,922 points to 35,811. Blade Runner clichés aside, it still takes our breath away.

TOP 7 things to do in HKG

• 1 The Peak
Ride the hair-raising tram for unbeatable harbour and city views

• 2 Victoria Harbour
Float on one of the world’s busiest and most exotic harbours. Crowded beside your fellow city-dwellers on an old wooden bench, with the twin skylines of HK Island and Kowloon twinkling down at you, there’s nowhere more emphatically Hong Kong than a cruise across the harbour on the upper deck of the Star Ferry. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re heading to or from home in Central or Kowloon, in its simple, age-old way, this 122-year-old Hong Kong institution unites passers-through and lifetime residents alike, in the democratic promise of a cheap ride to the other side.

• 3 Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple
Divine the future alongside worshippers at the city’s most interesting temple
at on one of the world’s busiest and most exotic harbours

• 4 Temple Street Night Market
Stock up on memorabilia beneath the glare of bare bulbs

• 5 Kowloon’s Markets
Fashion, bargain-basement computer goods and even flower and goldfish markets
• 6 Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
Spectacular harbour and skyline vistas day and night
• 7 High Tea at the Peninsula
Dainty nibbles and fine tea while soothed by a string quartet at one of the world’s top signature hotels.

RESTAURANTS
Don’t make the mistake to miss dim sum . Above all, Hong Kong is known for its dim sum (點心), delicately prepared morsels (rice flour stuffed balls) of Cantonese cuisine served from a never ending procession of carts and eaten with tea.
Dim sum is usually eaten for breakfast or lunch and is often the focus of family get-togethers on Sundays. An excellent place to go for dim sum is City Hall in Central – just be sure to ask for the dim sum restaurant. If you go to some restaurants in the more local areas (such as Kennedy Town) ask if they have an English menu. In such restaurants customers are often required to write their requirements on a tick-box sheet and hand them to the waiter.

Cafe Deco
With its spectacular harbour views, Art Deco furnishings and live jazz from 19:00 to 23:00 Monday to Saturday nights, this place need not have made too much effort with the menu. But the food, while an East-meets-West eclectic thing, is above average, with the bistro dishes, sushi and sashimi plates and oyster bar scoring extra points. Breakfast and brunch are served from 09:30 to 14:30 Saturday and Sunday.

Café Gray Deluxe
Fully booked weeks before you have to get lucky for a table.
Man Wah
City’s best dim sum
Lung King Heen
Is world’s only restaurant with Chinese cuisine and 3 star Michelin !!!
Sevva
Serves comfortable food and reasonable prices.
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Serves innovative French cuisine
Isola
Amazing Italian food
Hutong
If the crispy lamb doesn’t impress you then the view will
Spring Moon
Amazing dishes and service
Cafe Deco
With its spectacular harbour views, Art Deco furnishings and live jazz from 19:00 to 23:00 Monday to Saturday nights, this place need not have made too much effort with the menu. But the food, while an East-meets-West eclectic thing, is above average, with the bistro dishes, sushi and sashimi plates and oyster bar scoring extra points. Breakfast and brunch are served from 09:30 to 14:30 Saturday and Sunday.

BARS

Finds
Cool , sleek and unpretentious. 2nd floor LKF tower, 33 Wyndham rd., Central HKG
Aqua Luna
A restored wooden junk crossing the harbor serves cocktails while you admire the skyline.
Dragon-I
Packed with models and after hours fans.
Volar
Ugly people go elsewhere..
Kee Club
Good luck passing the bouncer

Finally don’t leave the city before visiting the iconic Mandarin Oriental even for a drink and Four Season for a cocktail…

Savas kazantzides
Travel Connoisseur
 

SAN FRANCISCO (updated July 28, 2010)

Asia SF

Those lovely ladies who serve you? They’re not. Not women, that is, nor drag queens. The sexy creatures who bring the food and dance seductively atop the long red bar are ‘gender illusionists’. The food is inventive Cal-Asian, with small plates and shareable portions. A restaurant, lounge and club all in one, Asia SF’s crowd is a compelling mix of local party-goers and wide-eyed businessmen. Signature cocktails. Very popular, so reservations are essential.

Café Claude

Owner Stephen Decker purchased Le Barbizon café in Paris and shipped it to San Francisco one piece at a time. The result, set in an alleyway and resplendent with French style and attitude, is as close to a true French café as can be found in America. Dishes include salad niçoise and steak tartare.

Café Flore
Fresh-faced boys and girls crowd Flore’s gorgeous patio day and night to check each other out and feast on local favourites (brunch is a must). Deep house and lounge tunes pump from the DJ booth when Brazilian and Hawaiian musicians aren’t taking the stage.

Caffe Trieste
This is one of the city’s great cafés, a former hangout for Kerouac and Ginsberg and is where Coppola is said to have written the screenplay for The Godfather. The dark walls are plastered with photos of opera singers and famous regulars. There are muffins, pastries and sandwiches to eat, and the lattes are legendary, as are the opera sessions held here on a Saturday afternoon.

Beach Chalet & Park Chalet
A perfect spot for sunset cocktails, the Beach Chalet, a historic Willis Polk-designed building on the coast, is home to a fine restaurant and brewpub. The ground-floor walls are awash in WPA (Works Progress Administration) frescoes by Lucien Labaudt depicting notable San Franciscans, among them sculptor Benny Bufano and John McLaren. The views of the ocean from upstairs are stupendous.
The newer Park Chalet, which faces Golden Gate Park, doesn’t have the views of the Beach Chalet. However, the more mellow atmosphere makes it ideal for whiling away a sunny afternoon in one of the Adirondack chairs arrayed around the beautifully landscaped lawns, or cooling off with a beer after a walk along Ocean Beach.

Waterbar
Pat Kuleto, a restaurant entrepreneur, designer and vintner, has designed and built more than 175 restaurants worldwide. He is co-owner and designer of the highly regarded Boulevard, Farallon, and Jardinière in San Francisco and Martini House in St. Helena. He is also the proprietor of his namesake Kuleto Estate Winery in the Napa Valley.
The main floor at Waterbar features dramatic, 19-foot tall, five-foot diameter, floor-to-ceiling circular aquariums filled with an eye-catching array of fish and marine life from the Pacific Ocean, while walls of vividly illuminated fish tanks display a gallery of fresh catches available on that day’s menu. The extravagant cascading raw bar, towering with shellfish and lit through glistening ice, sets the tone for the raw bar dining area. A hand-blown glass “caviar” chandelier serves as the focal point in the bar area, adding a festive sparkle to the proceedings, and the open kitchen fills the main dining room with a lively — and deliciously aromatic — brasserie ambiance.

LAS VEGAS (updated July 28, 2010)
In Vegas restaurnants inside the huge hotels are the obvious choice. However, here are some indie choices which are very interesting…

Aureole
Vegas is full of dramatic restaurants, but where else can you dine within sight of a four-storey, 4,500-bottle wine tower, up and down which float harnessed wine angels, fetching your choice on demand? The food, orchestrated by Charlie Palmer and overseen by Vincent Pouessel, is also a delight, with seasonal American dishes including caramelised Sonoma duck and fennel steamed Alaskan salmon. Megan Romano’s ethereal sweets make breaking your diet well worthwhile.

Firefly
This popular tapas bar is populated by a parade of pretty locals almost every night of the week. Music (downtempo to Latin house) competes with sangria-fuelled chatter, as small plates – scrumptious bacon-wrapped dates, mushroom tarts, shrimp ceviche – emerge from the busy kitchen. The loungey scene and reasonable prices conspire to let you spend as little or as much as you’d like.

Craftsteak
The selection of meats (grass-fed veal, lamb shank, filet mignon, braised short ribs) is impressive, but the sides and the quiet invention shown in the kitchen both elevate Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak from more run-of-the-mill casino steakhouses. Ingredients come from small family farms and other below-the-radar sources, and you can tell. It’s all served in a cultured atmosphere, if a slightly noisy one.

Flex Lounge (CLUB)
This enduring venue attracts a very diverse crowd within the gay community. The drag/stripper revue on Fridays and the hip hop party on Saturdays are the most popular events, but there’s something going on here most nights.
the detour: the short, Italianate menu, available for eat-in or takeout, is cultured, and the wine and beer lists are both excellent.

Very often friends or people I come across who realize my extensive travel experience, they ask me: Which city in the world is your favorite one?
Well, I have been blessed and lucky to have seen so many cities around the globe and yet the answer comes almost spontaneously in my mouth: Buenos Aires.

The cosmopolitan metropolis has it all: Parisian allure, New York’s night life, Amsterdam’s boheme, London’s frenzy shopping and the mentality of Barcelona.

Don’t think of it too much. You’ve been planning it long enough. Come to Buenos Aires and you’ll understand why so many people have fallen in love with this incredible city, and even decided to stay. There’s a good chance you’ll be one of them.

After having spend quite a few time over there the last 5 years, I’ll try to give you an insider’s view of the city’s best spots, the view of a ¨porteño¨ aka the attractive resident of Buenos Aires.

FOOD

There are 3 distinct types of restaurants in the city: Parillas (Steakhouses) , Bodegones ( Tavernas) and Modern restaurants.
PARILLAS
In a land where beef is sacred and the grilling of the meat is almost a religious ceremony, it is exceptionally hard to pinpoint the best spots. In my short list, however, are:
• Desnivel: the most casual of all yet with awesome meat. (Defensa 855, San Telmo, tel. 4300 9081)
• El Primo: Cosy and the highlight being the fact that they bring you a mini-grill to do your own cooking. (Humboldt y Gorriti, Palermo Hollywood, tel. 4899 1791)
• Gran Parrilla del Plata: Classical but elegant and with a local charm. (Chile 594 y Perú, San Telmo, tel. 4300 8858)
• La Cabrera: The most famous steakhouse of Buenos Aires, lives up to its fame and even more. Reserve well ahead. (Cabrera 5127/5099, Palermo Soho, tel. 4832 5754)

BODEGONES
Most of those places have been in the hands of today’s owners for generations. Usually immigrants from Italy or Spain, the hosts keep their recipes intact from influences and tradition is sacred. The atmosphere in those places is truly unique and the majority of them have been declared by the municipality of Buenos Aires as Cultural Monuments.
• El Preferido de Palermo: Grab your camera because the clock will go at least 100 years back. An old grocery now serves some food. (Borges 2108, Palermo Soho, tel. 4774 6585)
• La Coruña: Unique atmosphere and original recipes. I love the soda siphons… (Bolívar 994, San Telmo, tel. 4362 7637)
• Lo de Jesús: Every day at 11 am the 92 year owner visits his place at grabs his favourite spot ordering a vermut with a ham platter. Do the same. (Gurruchaga 1406, Palermo Soho, tel. 4831 1961)
• Margo: It was so famous that even Peron himself was a frequent patron of this picturesque taverna. (Avenida Boedo 857, Boedo, tel. 4957 0001)
• Paulín: Not only UFO’s fly but the plates are too in this amazing joint. Try the 3-storey sandwich. Ideal for lunch when you are at the center. Sarmiento 635, Microcentro, tel. 4325 2280)

MODERN RESTAURANTS
The scene of restaurants is endlessly diverse with extremely good design tastes and looks. Young chefs are lifting the bar very high and the result is a drop-dead-gorgeous restaurant scene.
Our HOT PICKS:
In Palermo, the neighbourhood everybody falls madly in love with, you’ll encounter the best restaurants and the sexiest bars :

Bar 6 for every time of the day, Cluny elegant and stylish, Mott to see and to be seen, Tegui the new kid in town, Olsen hip and cool, don’t miss the Sunday brunch, Lele de Troya, fairytale atmosphere and eclectic furnishings, Sifones y Dragones, eccentric and intimate, El Ultimo Beso, unique concept and classy ambience, Acabar neon lighting and stylish kitsch, Andy Warhol would crash here.

In other parts of the town:

Million, eat and party in a mansion, Sucre, glam crowds and celebrities, the place not to miss, Novecento, vibrant, cool faces and fancy cocktails.

BARS/CLUBS
Le Bar, a reason to party downtown, 878, too good to be kept a secret for such long time,
Asia de Cuba, wannabe actors and models, Niceto Club, always trendy, always with happenings. Casa Cruz, stylish and sexy, Gran Bar Danzón is undoubtedly one of the kings of the BA bar scene.

HOTELS

It’s no longer enough to throw an expensive rug on the floor, buy some kitsch furniture, decorate each room differently and put the word ’boutique’ somewhere in the name. Thanks to Buenos Aires, the term “boutique” is renovated and the result is absolutely amazing. Often refurbished old houses, the best of them retaining some of their previous grandeur. Other are true design gems. But everybody agrees that the intimate service and natural politeness of the staff make a win-win combination.
The devalued peso gives you the chance to live a 5 star luxury at 3 star rate, so don’t miss the chance.

Our FAVORITES:

• BOBO: Bo Bo stands for ‘bohemian-bourgeois’: it offers individuality alongside style and comfort. Each of the 15 rooms in this popular, high-concept boutique hotel represents a 20th-century art or design movement. Themes rooms and, a sense of affordable luxury runs throughout. Lucky you, there’s a superb restaurant downstairs.

bobo

• JARDIN ESCONDIDO: the jardín escondido (hidden garden) is conveniently low profile and discrete. The owner Francis Ford Coppola wants privacy, same do most of its guests. The house can be rented as a whole or by sector (upper, lower), and very occasionally, by room. There’s a compact studio and six double bedrooms, with colonial decoration and named after members of the Coppola family. Excellent location in the heart of trendy Palermo, although you can easily remain hidden during your stay: The concierge can arrange for a barbecue you’ll never forget, or order some ultra hip takeaway and watch one of the 150 DVDs in Coppola’s collection.

• LEGADO MITICO: a gem in Buenos Aires. Concept rooms taken from Argentina’s most influential people (mythical legacy is the actual translation of the name of the hotel) like Che Guevara, Evita Peron, Borges and others. Breakfasts are delightful and the common areas have a huge supply of books on everything to do with Argentina so you may spend time out reading history and discovering the cultural side of the country. As there are only a dozen rooms, sometimes you feel as if you are the only quests living in a beautifully renovated home.

• MINE: The latest addition to the boutique hotel scene of Buenos Aires, is unpretentious and charming. Sleek lines, fresh design, fantastic location in the best part of town, professional and friendly staff , excellent price-value relationship.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST Hotel Faena and Universe is perhaps one of the most unique hotels in the world. An unparallel universe of design and fantasy, will be a crime leaving Buenos Aires and at least not having paid a visit to this incredible hotel.

RENTAL APARTMENTS
If you’re looking for a place to call home – at least temporarily – then Buenos Aires can offer you a great choice of rental apartments in BA’s nicest neighbourhoods. Ranging in style from classic to contemporary, wit a complimentary concierge service and often with huge swimming pools and barbeques. Especially if you plan to stay more than a week this is your best option.

Our TOP CHOICES:
Baires Apartments and Welcome 2BA.

Be sure to visit the sites, take amusing perspective shots of the Obelísco, and watch a tango show, but also spend hours in coffee shops, visit cafe Tortoni, chat for hours after your steak dinner and stay up until dawn, partying with BA’s carefree and beautiful young crowd. Through its chaotic and frenetic exterior, you will see that much of the city is beautiful, with grandiose buildings, world-class art galleries, fine restaurants and a thriving fashion industry.
Buenos Aires, you see, is not a city to visit, but a city to live in. We say so. Prove us wrong…

savas kazantzides
travel connoisseur

BARCELONA (updated Feb. 11, 2010)

Bar Mut
Bar Mut has an ineffably Gallic feel, with its etched glass, bronze fittings, chanteuses on the sound system, and Paris prices. The tapas are undeniably superior, however: try everything from a carpaccio of scallops and sea urchin to fried eggs with foie. Come early in the morning for breakfast dishes such as haricot beans with wild mushrooms and morcilla or poached egg with chips and chorizo sauce. In a word? Formidable.
C/Pau Claris 192 Telephone 93 217 43 38

Can Sole
Portly, jovial waiters have been charming moneyed regulars for over a hundred years at Can Solé. Over time, many of these diners have added to the framed photos, sketches and paintings that line the sky-blue walls. What continues to lure them is the freshest shellfish (share a plate of chipirones in onion and garlic, Cantabrian anchovies or red shrimp to start) and fillets of wild turbot, lobster stews and sticky paellas and a bouillabaisse to die for! Beware the steeply priced extras (coffee, cover).
C/Sant Carles 4, 93 221 50 12

Cinq Sentits
Talented chef Jordi Artal shows respect for the classics (flat coca bread with foie gras and crispy leeks, duck magret with apple), while adding a personal touch in dishes such as a Palamós prawn in ajoblanco (garlic soup) with cherries and an ice-cream made from their stones. To finish, save room for the artisanal Catalan cheeses or the ‘false egg’ with white chocolate around a passionfruit yolk. Thus far overlooked by the Michelin men, this is one of the more affordable of the city’s top-end dining destinations.
C/Aribau 58 Telephone 93 323 94 90

Hisop
Run by two young, enthusiastic and talented chefs, Hisop aims to bring serious dining to the non-expense-account masses by keeping its prices on the low side and its service approachable. The €52 tasting menu is a popular choice among diners with dishes that vary according to the season, but often includes their rich ‘monkfish royale’ (served with its liver, a cocoa-based sauce and tiny pearls of saffron) and a pistachio soufflé with Kaffir lime ice-cream and rocket ’soup’.
Passatge Marimon 9, Sant Gervasi, Telephone 93 241 32 33

La Vinateria del Call
An atmospheric little bar, with a high priority on the sourcing of its wine, hams and cheeses, and excellent home-made dishes, including a delicious fig ice-cream. Despite the antique fittings and dusty bottles, the staff – like the music they play – are young and lively, and some speak English.
C/Sant Domènec del Call 9, 93 302 60 92

Sureny
A well-kept gastronomic secret, Sureny boasts superb gourmet tapas and waiters who know what they’re about. In addition to the usual run-of-the-mill tortilla ‘n’ calamares fare, look out for dishes such as tuna marinated in ginger and soy sauce, partridge, venison and other game when in season, and a sublime duck foie with redcurrant sauce.
Plaça de la Revolució 17, 93 213 75 56

Tapaç24
Tapaç24 is an old-school bar, serving traditional tapas of excellent quality. Among the oxtail stews, fried prawns and cod croquettes, however, fans of Carles Abellan will also find playful snacks more in keeping with his previous style. The McFoie Burger is an exercise in fast-food heaven, as is the Bikini – a small version of his signature take on the ham and cheese toastie, only this one comes with truffle.
C/Diputació 269, 93 488 09 77

MADRID Updated Feb. 1, 2010

Modern:
Le Dragon, Gil de Santibanez 2, tel. 0034 914356669
La Broche, Calle de Miguel Angel 29, tel 0034 913993437 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              0034 913993437      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (Sergio Arola’s restaurant)
Balzac, Moreto 7, tel. 0034 914200613
Zaranda, San benardino 13, 0034 915412026, [creative]
BARS
Bar Cock, C/de Reina 16
Olsen, c/Prado 15, Famous Vodka bar
Ohm, Plaza Callao 4
CLUBS
Sala Stella, C/Arlabán 7. This is a must.

MILAN Updated Feb. 1, 2010

Pane e Acqua :
Via Bandello 14
Telephone 02 4819 8622
Antica Trattoria della Pesa :
Viale Pasubio 10
Telephone 02 655 5741
Tano passami l’Olio
Via Villoresi 16
Telephone 02 839 4139
Sadler (the best)
Ristorante Sadler
Via Conchetta , 14 (Via Troilo)
(39) 02 581 04 451
Dolce & Gabbana Gold
Via Carlo Poerio 2/A
02 7577771
Paper Moon
(via Bagutta 1)
00 39 02 7602 2297

ROME Updated Feb. 1, 2010

Atelier Canova Tadolini
Via del Babuino, 150 A/B
+39 0632110702
Ristorante Dal Bolognese
½ Piazza del Popolo, Rome, 187
+39 063611426
Freni e Frizioni (modern and fresh)
Via del Politeama 4-6
Telephone 06 5833 4210
La Gatta Mangiona (best pizza- hard to find…)
Via Ozanam 30,
Telephone 06 534 6702
La Pergola (only 3* Michelin!)
Via Cadlolo 101,
Telephone 06 3509 2154
Sora Margherita
Piazza delle Cinque Scole 30
Telephone 06 687 4216
Tuttifrutti
Via Luca della Robbia 3A
Telephone 06 575 7902
Agata e Romeo (book in advance!)
Via Carlo Alberto 45.
Telephone 06 446 6115

History and legend. Genius and insanity. Love and hate. Elegance and Charm. Glorious past and bright future. Sometimes together in the same house.
That is what is better describing the life in an Argentinean ranch or as the locals call it: estancia



Each estancia selected in this article has a rich history. Nobles from Europe, great chefs, art collectors, actors are some of the owners of these fine establishments.
Each one unique in style and identity with impeccable service and top cuisine and wine collection. Offer yourself a life time retreat…

For the summarized english version click here:

Savas Kazantzides
Travel Connoisseur