From the Editor

THERE ARE two things I do when I book a holiday. 1. Sort out where I am going to lay my head. 2. Start planning all the meals I am going to enjoy.

Some people like temples. I happen to like temples of gastronomy. They don’t have to be wildly expensive. That pizza place in Bellagio, on Lake Como, where I devoured a funghi with the thinnest base I have ever seen? A very cheap eat. The Mexican diner that I had to access through a secret door in Manhattan? Pretty good value (if you don’t count the five margaritas).

It’s been estimated that we spend a third of our travel dollars on food. Sure, some of that is sustenance but more often than not, it’s the soul of the holiday experience. And with that experience comes memories.

In the Maldives in August, I think I may have squealed as I watched one of the staff members at Anantara Kihavah dive into the night water and pluck a live lobster out of the murky depths for me.

Years earlier, some friends and I managed to snag a table at Gramercy Tavern in New York. Not only did we befriend some fellow diners, we ended up at a $15 million West Village apartment on the Hudson River for an impromptu party. That was a slice of New York I am unlikely to encounter again.

This month, we’re eating a little closer to home. In our inaugural Hungry 100 issue (page 67), we detail 100 of the best food and drink experiences around Australia, from the perfect pub schnitzel to the most decadent fine-dining experience (and yes, it involves buckets of Dom Pérignon).

We asked our team of food experts and restaurant critics to scour the country for some of-the-moment trends – are you ready for breakfast macaroni? Or ants in your gin? – and simply delicious bites.

So whether you’re travelling interstate or you’d like to discover your city anew, I hope you’ll find some options in here to make your mouth water.

Because, as Virginia Woolf once said, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

Cheers to that.