Tua (Guatemala City)

Tua is not a staekhouse, yet it serves superb steak. It's not a seafood restaurant, but its sushi-grade tuna is a true specialty. Tua is simply an outstanding restaurant located outside the traditional restaurant areas of Guatemala City, at Escala shopping center on Carretera a El Salvador.

Just looking at Tua's menu hints that one is in for a treat. The extensive menu features an eclectic mix of appetizers (e.g. Shrimp in Coconut Chutney), a variety of steak, poultry (e.g. Chipotle Chicken, Forest Fruit Duck Breast) and fish (e.g. Tamarind Bass) dishes, a very interesting take on lamb and pasta for which I hear I ought to go back for.

For an appetizer, the Tuna Tataki features fish of freshness and quality that is hard to find even at Japanese restaurants, and is presented with wontons and avocado . The balsamic infused steak was terrific, evenly cooked and rich in flavor. The steamed vegetables were nicely seasoned and crisply textured. The Parisian Café Steak is not necessarily an innovative dish, but it was very well executed. Of the desserts, I tried the fried banana à la mode and the hazelnut mousse, which was surprisingly solid but rich in texture and taste. The majority of the menu was left unexplored, but I invite you to be adventurous! I surely will next time.

Outstanding food, pleasant environment, and attentive service ages ahead of Guatemalan standards. Tua is the best restaurant I have been to in Guatemala; and certainly on par with the best restaurants I've been to in other countries.

La Mar (Lima, Peru)

Located in the Miraflores district of Lima, La Mar is an epicure's dream restaurant. La Mar is the brainchild of Gastón Acurio, one of the most prominent ambassadors of peruvian cuisine and a leader of the peruvian gastronomic rennaissance.

The extensive menu features all kinds of delicacies from under the sea. Cebiches, the specialty, are small pieces of raw fish or other seafood in a rich sauce, served cold. I found the Nikei and Mistura cebiches to be especially tasty. Tiraditos are Cebiches siblings where the emphasis is stronger on the seafood and less on the sauce. The menu features many other seafood-based specialties such as the delicious Arroz La Mar, which is most easily described as a peruvian interpretation of Paella. What is most important is that every ingredient is incredibly fresh, rendering the flavors more authentic and rich.

And for those of us who don't happen to be in Lima often, La Mar has branches in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Mexico, Panama, Santiago and soon in Bogotá.

Carcamusas (Toledo, Spain)

Wandering the streets of the medieval town of Toledo, I walked into a small family restaurant (Café Bar El Almacen) on Plaza Salvador. There were no customers except for the three men who avidly discussed the logistics of using their trucks for the harvest and an older lady who incessantly played an electronic game of chance in the back of the bull-fighter-decorated restaurant.

As is traditionally done in Spain, the restaurant offered a prix-fix lunch menu; an appetizer, a main dish, drink and dessert. I was craving paella, so that was my appetizer. The list of mains featured standard Spanish fare, plus a couple of lesser-known options, Carcamusas and Deer Steak. It turns out that Carcamusas is a traditional dish from Toledo. It's a melange of pork meats (chorizo, loin, etc.) with a few vegetables and served with potato fries and bread (a beef version also exists). The restaurant keeper brought out a bottle of wine and told me to feel free to drink however much I wanted (I had 2 glasses). I finished off the meal with homemade flan.

This was quite a filling and enjoyable meal; nothing fancy, just a good-ol' home-cooked epicurean delight!

Kushari (Egypt)

Perhaps the most popular street food in Egypt, Kushari is a melange of different small noodles, rice, fried onions, tomato paste, garbanzo beans, lentils and spices served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. It can be very flavorful although not necessarily very inventive. It is highly energetic, likely the reason for why many workers will eat this for lunch. As the picture shows, it is a simple yet interesting food!

The best chocolate in the world! (Egypt)

I decided to climb Mt Sinai, the famous mountain where Moses and God had a conversation and Moses received the 10 commandments. Outside of the religious significance, it's mesmerizing to think that those 10 commandments permeate our modern society after so long. The 5km desert hike takes you up about 800 m. in 2 - 3 hours. I was climbing with my new friend Lucy and our Bedouin guide Ahmed. Lucy and I were having a hard time; we collectively went through 3 liters of water and on multiple occasions doubted our ability to make it up the top. With about half an hour left of climbing, our spirits down and our energy nearly depleted, we came upon a small Bedouin-run shop, stocked with sugary drinks, water and snacks. I didn't think too much before grabbing a Cardbury milk chocolate and hazelnut bar. At that moment, I thought it was the best chocolate bar in the world. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because that chocolate bar at the top of Mt Sinai reminded me that good taste and enjoyment is relative to each person's experience and I wanted to explicitly invite readers to share their experiences!

What's the best chocolate you've ever had?