The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘On the Black Sea, we ate canoe-shaped bread full of cheese swimming in butter’
From Georgia and Zambia to Maine, St Maarten and Massa Lubrense, the food you tasted was as surprising as it was delicious
ON A ROLL
In Hoi An, Vietnam, we took a cookery course and visited the local market first. It took courage to peer into some of the buckets and guess the nature of the contents – but, luckily, our chef bought only things we recognised. We learnt about the many varieties of greens that go into the spring rolls, and how to handle sticky, wet pancakes.
Later, we travelled by small boat to an ancient restaurant, where we were served an “elephant ear” – a large, crispy flatfish – in a wooden toast rack.
Not only did we manage to make the spring rolls there, we also declined all offers of help – to the amazement of the restaurant owners. We felt pleased with ourselves – and the spring rolls. Veronica Bliss, Hampshire
SEARCH OVER
We were staying at an Airbnb in Massa Lubrense, south of Sorrento, in Italy. After an exhausting day in Pompeii, we returned home and were desperate for something to eat. A local told us about a place nearby, up a hill and next to a monastery. We walked as directed, but all we could see was a couple of tables outside a dilapidated house.
The owner directed us to a table and nodded – she had no English, and no menu. We were eventually served dishes of delicious pasta in a rich marinara sauce, along with local wine. It was hugely memorable, and totally unexpected. Massa Lubrense has since been made famous by Stanley Tucci in his Searching for Italy food series. Judith Skilleter, East Yorkshire
GO WITH THE FLO
As cash-strapped newlyweds in the late 1970s, we decided to blow the budget and dine at Brasserie Flo, Paris. On arrival, despite us having no reservation, the waitress announced: “I have the perfect table for you.”
Minutes later, we were astonished by the arrival at the next table of a Hollywood superstar (in his 60s) and his glamorous companion (in her early 20s). She exuded style and Parisian chic from head to toe. Our memories of that wonderful place have been refreshed many times over by its appearance in films and on television. All this goes to show that it’s not always about the food (fabulous though it was). We no longer have a clue what we ate. Antony Champion, Leicestershire
CORN FREE
Completing a five-day camping safari in a remote part of Zambia, we and our fellow travellers gathered round the campfire for sundowners and entertainment provided by a team of cooks and porters and our guide, Manny. Each day we had marvelled at the quality of the food they produced in a makeshift oven – just glowing embers in a hole dug in the ground. Out of this had come the tastiest of stews and roasts, not to mention delicious pizzas, bread and desserts.
As we watched the singing and dancing, gin and tonics in hand, someone mentioned that popcorn would (to mix a metaphor) be the icing on the cake. One of the crew overheard this, and within minutes freshly popped corn had appeared – as if by magic. Janet Jordan, Hertfordshire
TROPICAL TASTE
We arrived on tiny Ilet Pinel, off St Maarten, in the Caribbean, aboard a primitive flat-bottomed ferry. The only restaurant was a wooden shack, with tables outside on the sandy beach, each sheltered by a thatch of palm leaves.
The menu was so tempting that we decided to spend what little cash we had brought with us on a generous pile of succulent langoustines, a crisp salad with a perfect dressing, bread rolls, fresh butter and a glass of dry white wine. We could only afford one dessert between us – slices of mango, pineapple and melon, and a bunch of tiny bananas, served on a large banana leaf. More than enough for two, it was followed by coffee and a complimentary glass of rum. As we ate our meal, the tide came in and lapped our feet under the table – it was lovely and cool, and certainly not your normal dining experience. Mary Hill, Hampshire
MAINE COURSE
For simplicity and succulence, nothing has ever beaten our lobster picnic on the beach in the little harbour town of Ogunquit, in Maine. Having driven from Bar Harbor, on a New England adventure with two small children in tow, we spotted cooked lobsters being sold at the side of the road. Having put them in our cool box, we walked directly onto the beach to eat them.
The delicious seafood was even more memorable than the glorious threemile stretch of gleaming white sand sloping down to the sea. We were too far north for it to be warm enough to swim, but the children made sandcastles and played in the tidal pools after lunch.
They were too young to remember it now, but we have photographs of them tucking into lobster, dressed in their swimming costumes. That culinary occasion has not been matched since. Malcolm Watson, Isle of Wight