Restaurant Books

...and that's a book about..well, about menu's. Not that exciting unless you're in (or about to be in) the biz.

I am, and found this book very helpful in reminding me what an important piece of attention real estate a menu is. From formatting to enhance sales of a particular food or beverage, to the design, paper weight, etc.

The book is compact, well written, and inexpensive (especially in relation to its value). I highly recommend.

Christian Hunter
Owner - Sevilla Restaurant, Santa Barbara California

There are two things which make this book different. First, the food is a brilliant example of the new style of 'fusion' food of which John Torode, as I understand it, was one of the pioneers. And second, it is beautifully written by Sarah Francis: witty, informative, enticing and clear. I buy a lot of cookbooks and I would rate this one easily in my top 5. The other great thing is that these recipes actually work, which is a major plus for a cookbook, and far from the norm. Torode combines classic ingredients from east and west to create fantastic dishes which seem completely unforced, and yet wonderfully original. One last note, the photos are beautiful, and give a vivd sense of Torode's food. A couple of months ago, the book won the James Beard award.

When I travel to Europe, I never fail to get the green guide of the country I plan to go to, and the corresponding red guide. One tells me what is worth to be visited, the other advises me on restaurants and hotels. I appreciate the accuracy and I trust their star system. I feel I can trust the guides and I believe Michelin when they claim not to get any money to give stars to restaurants, hotels or cities (which is not always the feeling I get from some other guides)

This Michelin special book of the larger cities of Europe has all the restaurant and hotel ratings from the individual country red books.

It's a tremendous guide if you are visiting two or more countries and/or larger cities, such as London and Paris.

We have used Michelin for many years and absolutely no one else is as reliable. Some think Michelin a bit slow to review and rave over new restaurants and slow to downgrade older restaurants. But in our experience they do an extremely good job, especially for France but also for other countries (U.K, Germany and Italy, in our experience).

Terry Rooney, California

I've spent a year in England and have made >30 visits all together.

Here are my reviews of the best guides....to meet your exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!

Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide

MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for pubs, hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the underground and the double decker buses. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the city centre. When you get to be an old London hand, remember that the classic Londoners guide will always be an A to Z (zed) map and guide. If you want to go a bit beyond the central core of the city (perhaps to Windsor, Hampton, or further away) you really need the proper AtoZ to be able to find exact routes and streets.

Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!

Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.

Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.

Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.

Compact and accurate, well organized and easy to access with clear local maps suited to arriving motorists in various towns.
Regional maps help find lodging and food outside the central locality.

We just returned from Norway and Sweden...traveling on our own with rail passes and a rental car. Oslo,Stockholm and Copenhagen were the major cities on our tour.

We used the guide as a reference for places to stay, restaurants and tour suggestions. The Red Guide has a very high standard and every recommendation we followed worked well. The book is very reliable!

Our only wish is Michelin would publish a Red Guide for all of Scandinavia.

Before I moved to Belgium from the US, I had heard that "you can consistently eat better in Brussels than you can in Paris." They were right. Belgium, and especially Brussels, has incredible food and this guidebook only adds pleasure to the search for the perfect waterzoi!

This is the book every traveler needs before visiting Europe. The easy to follow pictograms provide essential information on hotels and restaurants across the continent. This is the 5th Red Guide I've bought. (1 every 3 years or so). I highly recommend it!

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