10 Iconic Dishes That Are Worth Traveling For
10 Iconic Dishes That Are Worth Traveling For
Chatham172/Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/10-iconic-dishes-that-are-worth-traveling-for
From roadside grills to grand dining rooms, these are the foods that justify the flight.
These are meals you remember because of where you were when you ate them. The pierogi you had in a Krakow park on a sunny afternoon. The Schweinhaxe that is devoured during Oktoberfest in Munich. The pasta is relished with new friends on a waterfront terrace in Italy. The sancocho chicken broth (and hangover cure) is enjoyed in Panama.
A single dish, eaten in the place where it first came into being, can reveal more about a culture than hours of observation. Food is rarely neutral; it reflects habits, hierarchies, and history. To encounter such dishes in their rightful place is to see what a society prioritizes and how it actually feeds itself. And some dishes just don’t taste the same unless you’re right there, breathing the air, hearing the noise, and soaking up the vibe. So, hop on a plane and nourish your curiosity in these 10 places around the world.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rosie Bell
1 OF 10
Pamplona
WHERE: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Though its name nods to Spain, Pamplona was born in Uruguay. It is a deeply delicious, deboned piece of meat, most often chicken, butterflied and gently pounded until thin, then rolled around a filling of cheese, ham, sweet peppers, sometimes olives, and occasionally bacon. It is tied with care, like a parcel you very much want to open, and cooked slowly on a parrilla (grill), where heat and smoke do their work. Pamplona crossed the river and the border, becoming beloved in Argentina too, and the place to get your hands on it in Buenos Aires is at El Pobre Luis, a steakhouse in the Belgrano neighborhood (you can’t miss the bright red façade). Here, the Pamplona arrives fragrant with herbs and the oozy cheese threatening to escape its confines at the slightest provocation.
2 OF 10
Moqueca de Camarão
WHERE: Bahia, Brazil
Moqueca de camarão is a mouthwatering shrimp stew. It is glossy, fragrant, and the orange-yellow color of a late afternoon sun. Plump shrimp sit in a sauce of tomatoes softened by coconut milk, onion, lime juice, and bell peppers, and the star ingredient is dendê (palm oil), which has an aroma that announces itself long before the spoon reaches your lips. It is served with plain rice, which soaks up the sauce. Pronounced as moh-que-kah, this dish originates from Brazil’s coast. In Salvador de Bahia, the capital of the state of Bahia, it graces the menus of restaurants likeÓ Paí Ó Restaurante,Casa de Teresa, and the culinary school-cum-restaurantSENAC located opposite the famed balcony seen in Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” music video.
PHOTO: RESTAURANT SCHØNNEMANN
3 OF 10
Smørrebrød
WHERE: Copenhagen, Denmark
No visit to Copenhagen feels complete without sitting down to smørrebrød, an open-faced sandwich built on dense, sour rugbrød, the dark rye bread Danes have eaten for more than a thousand years. Historians trace the word smørrebrød back to the early 18th century, when farmers packed buttered rye and leftovers from the night before for sustenance in the fields. By the late 19th century, smørrebrød had migrated from lunch pails to Copenhagen dining rooms, evolving along the way. As Denmark prospered, the toppings multiplied. Fish, meats, eggs, herbs, sauces, crunch, softness, acidity, richness. This dish is taken so seriously that for a time, a Copenhagen hospitality school offered a three-year professional training to become a smørrebrødsjomfru, a smørrebrød specialist. Get your bread, fat, flavoring, and topping-filled smørrebrød at Told & Snaps, Restaurant Palægade, orSchønnemann, which has been open since 1877.
4 OF 10
Pizza Napolitana
WHERE: Naples, Italy
You know it’s serious business when UNESCO is involved.In 2017, Neapolitan ‘Pizzaiuolo,’ the traditional craft of preparing and baking pizza in Naples, combining precise technique, wood-fired ovens, and generational knowledge, was inscribed onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The European Union also granted Pizza Napolitana the designation of Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG)in 2010. You may, of course, tuck into a Neopolitan-style pizza anywhere in the world, but only in Naples can you eat it at the source.Starita,Sorbillo,Pizzeria di Matteo, andAntica Pizzeria da Michele all serve up history and hot, scrumptious slices.
PHOTO: Rushe.rnv/Shutterstock
5 OF 10
Biltong
WHERE: South Africa
Biltong may look like beef jerky at a glance, but that comparison does it a small injustice. Biltong is thicker, softer at the center, and far more nuanced. Long before refrigeration or even permanent settlement, southern Africa’s early hunter-gatherers learned to preserve meat by slicing it into strips and hanging it in the dry heat. The climate did the work for them, creating food that could endure. When European settlers arrived, they adopted these techniques, adding what they had brought with them, such as salt, vinegar, coriander, and pepper. From the Dutch word bil, meaning hindquarter, and tong, meaning strip, beef is the most common base for biltong, though it is also made from kudu, ostrich, or wildebeest. Biltong is a beloved snack and delicacy throughout South Africa and also neighboring Namibia.
6 OF 10
Afternoon Tea
WHERE: London, England
Anna Maria Russell, the seventh Duchess of Bedford and a close confidante of Queen Victoria, found the long, languorous stretch between luncheon and a fashionably late dinner quite unbearable. So, she ordered tea, bread, butter, and a little cake to be brought to her room. What started as a private solution to a rumbling stomach quickly became a social performance. Friends were invited, gowns were changed into, gloves buttoned, and by the 1880s, afternoon tea had cemented itself as a ceremony of elegance among high society, served between four and five in the drawing room, all silver pots and delicate bone China.
Today it’s a classy affair with slim cut-crust sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and preserves, alongside pastries, cakes, and, naturally, tea. Submit to its theater at Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, or one of London’s grand hotels such as The Ritz, Claridge’s, the Savoy, The Dorchester, Raffles London at the OWO, or Rosewood London. Raising your pinky finger is not required.
PHOTO: Chatham172/Shutterstock
7 OF 10
Moules-Frites
WHERE: Brussels, Belgium
Mussels in Brussels may rhyme like a joke, but in Belgium’s capital, it is a seriously tasty meal. When you order moules-frites, it arrives not as a dainty portion but as a generous, almost theatrical mound: a steaming pot of mussels with the shells slightly yawning open to reveal glistening flesh, alongside a bowl of golden fries that are dipped in the mussel sauce or the accompanying mayonnaise. Of the endless variations, moules au vin blanc (mussels cooked in white wine) is the most elegant. The proper way to eat the mussels is to remove the first one from its shell with a fork and then repurpose the empty shells as tweezers to pluck the rest. Get your serving at La Belle Maraîchère, Le Zinneke, L’Ancien Bruxelles, La Roue d’Or near the Grand Place, or Aux Armes de Bruxelles, a classic since 1921.
PHOTO: DronG/Shutterstock
8 OF 10
Pad See Ew
WHERE: Bangkok, Thailand
Pad Thai may be Thailand’s most famous export, but to stop there would be like eating only croissants in Paris. In Bangkok, when you want another zingy noodle creation, order Pad See Ew. This is a dish of wide, flat rice noodles (sen yai), glossy and languorous, wok-tossed over ferocious heat with soy sauces until they blister and char at the edges. That slight scorch gives Pad See Ew its caramelized depth. Egg is added, Chinese broccoli provides light bitterness, and there’s usually chicken, pork, beef, or tofu tucked in for substance. The dish has Chinese roots; it is a cousin of Cantonese chow fun and Malaysia’s char kway teow. When wandering around Bangkok’s Khao San Road or Soi Rambuttri, you’ll find many a street stall serving it in versions that range from politely peppered to unapologetically fiery.
PHOTO: From my point of view/Shutterstock
9 OF 10
Jerk Chicken
WHERE: Jamaica
Jerk is not a sauce or a seasoning but a method of preparing meat, most often chicken or pork, after marinating. The meat is slow-cooked over fire until it is smoky, tender, and tantalizing. Its origins trace back to the Taíno people, Jamaica’s Indigenous inhabitants, whose techniques of preserving and cooking meat were later adopted and transformed by the Maroons, enslaved Africans who escaped British plantations and fled into the island’s mountains. There, they seasoned wild game with native spices and cooked it in underground, smokeless pits that wouldn’t give away their locations. In contemporary Jamaica, jerk is everywhere. You’ll fortuitously find it at roadside jerk centers, beach shacks, festivals, and family gatherings, with the inviting aroma curling around neighborhoods.
PHOTO: BearFotos/Shutterstock
10 OF 10
Raw Herring
WHERE: Netherlands
Travel to the Netherlands and get your hands (literally) on raw herring, which some call the “Dutch sushi.” There is so much affection, pride, and ceremony around it. Traditionally, the head is removed, but the tail remains, and the ritual is that you lift the full fish by the tail, tilt your head back, and lower it into your mouth in one smooth motion. Its most prized incarnation is Hollandse Nieuwe, the first catch of the season, available from early June. When the season opens, the first barrel is auctioned for charity in Scheveningen, making the seaside enclave in The Hague an ideal place to try it straight from the North Sea. Chopped onions are available as a garnish, and you can have your herring sliced into pieces instead, but never ask for mayonnaise and guard it closely. The seagulls, like the Dutch themselves, know exactly how lekker (delicious) it is.
Good vibrations: How hotels are preparing for the summer crush
https://hotelsmag.com/news/good-vibrations-how-hotels-are-preparing-for-the-summer-crush/
Story contributed by Stefani C. O’Connor.
Summer is coming, and that means it’s prime vacation time. And not soon enough for the multitude of those who had lived through what felt like interminable cold and snow. Good riddance! The good news: Right now, proactive hotel owners, operators, and property teams are hard at work preparing their assets for the summer crush.
“We never stop activating our spaces even in the slower months, so we are always working on activations and prepping for summer,” said Simon Little, area director of sales and marketing for The Asbury Collection, an eclectic pair of properties on the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park, N.J.
The Asbury Collection is owned by iStar, a real estate investment, finance, and development company, and managed by Denver-based Sage Hospitality Group.
Little, a 35-year industry veteran, confirmed the summer season—defined as Memorial Day to Labor Day—is, indeed, the strongest period in terms of performance for the 54-key Asbury Ocean Club and the 110-key The Asbury.
“Occupancies in the summer range between 85% to 100% and average daily rate ranges from $600 to $1,200 for a regular room. Suites at the Ocean Club can go up to $4,200 in peak season,” he said.
As summer locations go, the properties, which are contiguous, are sited about a block from the iconic 1929 Asbury Park Boardwalk fronting the beach and Atlantic Ocean. While only a two-minute walk from each other, the distance between them in terms of market positioning and guest-facing offerings is disparate.
The pool at Asbury Ocean Club. Photo credit: Nikolas Koenig
Although both hotels focus on lifestyle-driven experiences, The Asbury, which turns 10 this year, claims fame as the Garden State’s rock ’n’ roll hotel, reflected in its back-in-the-day guestroom design and signature The Boss Suite, an homage to music legend Bruce Springsteen, who in the 1970s played nearby at the now-fabled The Stone Pony.
In contrast, Asbury Ocean Club Hotel, which debuted in 2019, features modern décor by Anda Andrei, a gallery, the sophisticated The Drawing Room space and places a focus on wellness in a luxury setting, offering a fitness center, meditation deck, spa and yoga studio.
It is also New Jersey’s only Forbes-recommended hotel and Michelin Key-awarded hotel, said Little, and, because of this distinction, prepping for high season, he added, is a little different due to the strict guidelines and standards required by both organizations. “Forbes has [its] own specific training program, which we must adhere to,” he said.
From an overall training standpoint, “kick off” for the Collection is April 1; however, veteran hoteliers know “prepping” is a year-round activity to ensure a successful operation.
“It’s never too early to start is the key lesson learned,” said Little. “Also, when you are a ‘seasonal’ hotel, community engagement is key and we spend a lot of time ensuring we keep our local seasonal staff updated on new opening timelines and holding open talent recruitment sessions for new employees.
“Labor is always the biggest challenge,” Little continued. “It’s a never-ending revolving door, and we spend an inordinate amount of time training the staff to ensure they offer the highest levels of service and adhere to company standards.”
The Boss Suite at The Asbury pays homage to the music legend who, early in his career, played the fabled and nearby The Stone Pony.
Summer Story
Farther north, in Meredith, N.H., Barbara Beckwith keeps prep-work, particularly around labor, in focus. As general manager of the Mill Falls Resort Collection, four properties in close proximity on Lake Winnipesaukee, she stressed, “A large component to ensuring operational success is solidifying the staffing model for proper coverage in peak season. Staffing effectively also allows time for proper onboarding, training and team building.”
The properties—Church Landing, Bay Point, Chase House and Palmer Inn—offer 170 guestrooms in total, and are owned by Procaccianti Companies via its affiliate, Hampshire Hospitality Holdings, and are managed by TPG Hotels and Resorts.
All four of the boutique-style hotels have been renovated since 2019, with Chase House and Palmer Inn seeing completion this past January.
The most recent renovations touched almost every aspect of the buildings’ interiors, including guestrooms and common areas, said Beckwith, a 27-year industry veteran. Spaces feature new furnishings, fixtures, paint and décor that give off “a coastal modern style that’s fresh and relaxing,” she said.
With its lakeside location, summer is a prime time for the Collection (as is the fall foliage timeframe), which draws a mix of families, transient, business travelers and repeat clientele, with an average length of stay of 2.3 nights.
According to John Brosnan, VP of sales and marketing for TPG, these renovations were strategically timed to ensure the resort was prepared for the coming summer season with all new products. “At Mill Falls, we aim to create unique guest experiences across all aspects of their stay. This includes being able to enjoy new, fresh room products, in addition to all of the resort amenities,” he said.
Features of the Collection include a half-dozen restaurants, a marketplace, the Cascade Spa and Salon and what’s known as the EKAL Activity Center. The center is a hub for on-site water sports (e.g., kayak rental, canoes, stand-up paddle boards, etc.) boat rides and private charters, as well as guided hiking, yoga, bicycling and other activities.
Prep-wise, Beckwith said a full review of equipment is done at EKAL to ensure “everything is new or in great condition.” At the spa, “We review what exciting new products we will be featuring and if there are any popular new treatments our customers will be looking for us to offer,” she said.
A similar sentiment is shared at The Asbury Collection. “Occupancies and rates are high, so we want to provide the best possible service and amenities,” said Little. As soon as high season winds down, Little said, the engineering team embarks on a room-improvement plan to ensure rooms stay in the best possible condition. The Asbury recently upgraded its corridors and will also refresh rooms with new flooring this year.
The enhancements are expected to resonate with the properties’ guest mix, which is composed of 80% transient and 20% group. “Leisure travel accounts for up to 65% of the transient mix with the remainder business travel,” Little added. The average length of stay is 2.4 nights.
The lobby at Chase House.
Seasonal Serendipity
Summer opens up all sorts of potential for a property, not the least of which is a boost in occupancy and rate and added ancillary revenue opportunities that come with heightened foot traffic. Consider The Asbury Collection properties, which will bring in expert mixologists to create unique cocktail-making classes, as well as involve the local community to participate in many other activations, such as our pool parties. They also bring in local fashion designers for events that showcase their designs using live models. “These have been especially welcomed at the Asbury Ocean Club [by] guests and residents alike,” said Little.
Prior successes include food-and-wine pairing events and activations at Salvation, The Asbury’s rooftop bar. Other plans for summer are likely to include programming for Baronet, The Asbury’s rooftop outdoor cinema, and detailing the line-up at the adjacent Asbury Lanes (bowling alley and live music venue) and Diner.
The Mill Falls Resort Collection has also found success at its Church Landing and Chase House locations, where outdoor wedding tents that offer views of the lake are found, helping cement its reputation as a wedding destination venue.
Brosnan said in addition to bringing on key staff support, TPG, via its Intera Collection (an upscale boutique and independent asset division), has an internal team that explores, evaluates, and executes activations across our resorts and marinas, further ensuring something different than our competitors may be doing. “The preparation by this team is a year-round endeavor, and the activities brought to life are designed for individual travelers, families, and corporate groups to both elevate and make more memorable their stays,” he said.
This Is Ominous: Lufthansa Plans to Ground Aircraft Due to Iran War
Alan Angelats/Unsplash
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/lufthansa-may-ground-40-aircraft-if-iran-war-drives-fuel-costs-higher
Lufthansa is considering grounding up to 40 aircraft if the war in Iran continues, as rising fuel prices threaten airline costs and global flight capacity.
The parent of German airline Lufthansa could remove 40 aircraft from its existing fleet if the war in Iran drags on. In remarks to employees on a call, and reported by the German news outlet Handelsblatt, CEO Carsten Spohr said that an internal planning group was working on contingencies for reducing the active fleet due to cost concerns.
The contingency includes a near-term reduction of 20 aircraft, while longer-term plans include reductions of up to 20 aircraft, resulting in a seat capacity reduction of 2.5%. The plan would be implemented across Lufthansa Group, which, in addition to Lufthansa, includes the airlines Eurowings, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, and ITA Airways.
Spohr cited rising fuel costs as the impetus for beginning to formulate a crisis plan, which is a contingency plan for reducing costs in the event the war in Iran drags out longer, keeping fuel prices elevated. On the call, he noted that Lufthansa has hedged, or pre-paid around 80% of its fuel purchases, which helps keep the price more stable, but that the increase in fuel costs runs into the billions of euros in the near-term.
It’s not uncommon for airlines and other businesses to maintain contingency plans as part of their normal planning processes. Spohr also told employees that the temporary grounding would primarily affect aircraft already nearing retirement age. He didn’t give any indication whether the aircraft in question would be narrowbody or widebody aircraft, or whether they would drive seat reductions in markets within the E.U. or throughout the group’s intercontinental route network.
Spohr also did not mention whether the reduction capacity included flights that had already been suspended because of the war. Lufthansa Group carriers operated a significant network in the Middle East, and have suspended flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv through May 31. Flights to Amman, Jordan; Beirut, Lebanon; Dammam and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Erbil, Iraq; Muscat, Oman; and Tehran, Iran, are suspended through October 24.
In the U.S., Lufthansa’s Star Alliance partner United said last week that it could also reduce seat capacity, but would also honor its commitments to take delivery of aircraft it has already purchased. United has not given firm plans on aircraft retirements related to any increase in fuel cost. United CEO Scott Kirby estimated that sustained increases in the price of jet fuel could cost United up to $11 billion in 2026.
When airlines reduce seat capacity, it can have a similar effect as increasing fares if demand for air travel remains steady, because the same number of passengers are purchasing fewer seats, which drives the price higher due to scarcity.
European carriers are also absorbing additional demand from the Middle East carriers, which have largely continued suspension of their operations, as airspace availability in the Gulf Region is limited. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, and Etihad Airways are currently operating only limited schedules when the airspace surrounding their airports is opened by local authorities. Many passengers who had planned to fly between Europe and Africa or Australasia via the Middle East have rebooked their flights via Asia or North America on European, American, or Asian carriers, providing a boost in traffic demand.
It’s not only fuel prices that are driving higher costs. Airlines offering flights between Europe and Asia are also burning more fuel to avoid airspace restrictions in the Gulf Region, in addition to the restrictions already in place over Russia and Ukraine, leaving only narrow corridors and longer routings for airlines continuing to fly the routes. That requires more of the now-costlier fuel for each flight. Longer flight times also incur higher crew costs.
Lufthansa Group operates the second-largest aircraft fleet in Europe.
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