Food & Wine

Here are some recommendations on places in Vietnam, from a trip my wife and I took April 28-May 12, ’05.

We found three good eating places in HANOI.

by Jay Brunhouse, Contributing Editor

On our trip to Australia in October several years ago, we spent two days in Melbourne, staying at the Hilton. We enjoyed this conservative, most British of Down Under cities with its many parks (we especially liked the Royal Botanic Gardens), museums, cultural events and attractive buildings.

One of the delights of the area in which I live, the Laree region of southwest France, is Michel Guérard’s famous restaurant, Eugenie le Bain. My wife and I last ate there at the end of May ’05.

The food was so well prepared and so well presented. After the amuse-bouche (a little starter), my wife had smoked salmon and herring on a coulis (purée) of rocket, then beef and, for dessert, an apricot tart that dissolved in the mouth.

We’ve traveled through various wine regions before, but never have we been so impressed as during our cruise along Portugal’s Douro River in the heart of port wine country. It was late summer 2004, just before the harvest, and the hills ascending from the river were covered with vines in martial array as if they had been laid out by master surveyors.

These views, along with shore excursions to wineries, side trips into towns and villages and a day-long visit to fascinating Salamanca, Spain, combined to make our 6-day cruise truly memorable.

During our month-long travel in several South American countries in March ’05, we enjoyed a lot of good food, but two meals we had in Chile and Uruguay were a pleasant change from meat-loaded meals such as parrillada in Argentina and churrascaria in Brazil.

• In Santiago, Chile, half the fun was getting to the restaurant El Camino Real in Parque Metropolitano. We first had a funicular ride and then a ride in a 2-person cable car.

During the middle of July ’04, my wife, Ione, and I spent two weeks in Belize City and San Pedro (on Ambergris Caye), Belize. Our American Airlines flights from Miami were comfortable and on time.

by Jack Ogg, Photos by Connie Ogg, Houston, TX

On LATIN AMERICA, May-June ’05. . .

Here are some restaurants that we enjoyed in Aswan, Egypt, Feb. 6-9, ’05.