Calling all foodies: If you’re looking to eat your way through a new city on your next getaway, we have you covered. Here are six of the world’s best cities to sink your teeth into.
New Orleans
There’s a whole lot more to the Big Easy than Mardi Gras and jazz. This southern city is filled with restaurants serving up their top takes on everything from Creole to Southern comfort food. Throughout New Orleans, you’ll find plenty of neighborhood cafes where you can try staples like dirty rice, shrimp jambalaya or Oysters Rockefeller. Also not to be missed are the city’s famous beignets, which always draw a crowd at Cafe du Monde.
Barcelona
Foodies can’t go wrong with a culinary quest through the birthplace of tapas. Admittedly, you don’t have to go all the way to Barcelona these days to sample this small-plate concept (even the smallest of cities seem to have a tapas place or two), but you will find the most authentic flavors and smoothest wine pairings in this Spanish city. Barcelona overflows with places where the small plates – and the sangria – flow into the wee hours of the night.
Singapore
Whether you want to feast on street food or at a five-star fine dining restaurant, you’ll find plenty of palette pleasers in Singapore. This foodie haven is revered for its hawker centers, where dozens of vendors serve up all sorts of local rice and noodle dishes. These no-frills joints are big on flavor and easy on the wallet, too. On the other end of the culinary spectrum, you can sit right on the waters of Marina Bay as you try the de facto national dish: chilli crab.
San Francisco
By the time a food trend hits your local restaurants, it’s already old news in San Francisco. The City by the Bay is constantly playing with its food, so to speak, and creating “trends” like using organic ingredients or offering seasonal, farm-to-table menus. There is literally something for everyone in San Francisco, from food trucks and ethnic restaurants to celebrity chef-owned kitchens.
Portland, Ore.
The quirky northwest town of Portland is a foodie’s dream. It seems the city’s entire arsenal of restaurants is focused on farm-to-table, local and seasonal ingredients, but you can also make the rounds to the hundreds of food trucks lining this Northwest city. From Asian fusion to Southern barbecue, Portland offers it all.
London
London is still shaking its culinary reputation of being known for ho-hum dishes like meat and potatoes or fish and chips, but savvy foodies know the English capital has a lot to offer for hungry travelers. The ethnically diverse population has in turn led to quite the ethnically diverse line-up of restaurants serving everything from Indian to Lebanese cuisine. Rounding out the city’s offerings are its high-end dining options by the likes of Gordon Ramsey.
(Main image: Fast Forward Event Productions)
