Editor’s note: We asked Viator’s founder, Rod Cuthbert, to pick some of his favorite travel experiences in 2007; in this edition he makes us all very hungry with a review of his top meals in 2007. Also check out Rod’s Top 5 Travel Destinations for 2008.

Pasta with Lobster Sauce, Venice

I arrived at Venice’s Marco Polo airport late on a low cost carrier flight that made it clear why they’re called low-cost carriers… but forgot all that with a water taxi ride into the very heart of Venice. It’s after 11pm and the town is quiet, but the hotel manager calls a little restaurant around the corner and yes, they will take us if we come now. OK, we’ll unpack later, let’s go. We arrive, there are still a few people eating, and it feels warm and inviting. Red wine appears before we ask for it, as well as bread, and there’s no need for menus because there’s just one dish on offer: pasta with lobster sauce and “it’s bellissimo, you will like it.”

OK, we’ll take it. And our waiter was right, but maybe only half right because really this might be the finest pasta meal either of us have ever had, without exception. Fifteen minute later the meal is over, but we don’t want to move. There’s no rush to unpack, and just looking at our empty bowls is somehow satisfying. I just wish I could remember the name of this place, it’s somewhere near the Palazzo Vitturi Hotel…

Dinner at The Lido Cabaret, Paris

Either my memory is failing me or I’m just giving the Lido a plug, right? How could a meal served to 800 others at the same time as mine possibly be any good? Cabaret food has to be rubber chicken, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what I thought, and I had to keep checking with my fellow diners to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating… but the fact remains that of all the meals I had in Paris that week, the Lido’s three-course banquet stood out. It helps that Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse has consulted on the new menu, and that the Champagne was outstanding, but it was still a pleasant shock to encounter quality food in a “volume” environment.

House of Nanking, San Francisco

There’s a reason why a line forms outside House of Nanking every night of the year, no matter how thick the fog. It’s not the service, which is workmanlike at best; or the ambiance, which is minimalist to say the least; or the fact that most of the guide books list Nanking so that visitors just follow the advice blindly. No, it’s the food.

Everything on the menu is good, and of course it tastes even better if you have been standing outside in the fog and cold for 40 minutes. I’ve been to Hong Kong and China enough times to say with at least some confidence that you’ll go a long way to find better Chinese food than this. Just don’t go on the nights I go, OK? The lines are long enough already…

Breakfast at Bills, Sydney

I’m a great believer in a good breakfast to get your day started right. In Sydney, Australia, breakfast at some restaurants has become as famous as dinner at others, and Bills (in Surry Hills or Darlinghurst) is at the top of the pile. Once you’ve had Bills’ scrambled eggs you will give up making them yourself, unless you buy his cookbook in which case you will probably make them so often you’ll tire of it altogether, which would be an awful pity. Once again, I’m moved to say that words are not the right tools with which to describe Bills’ most famous dish: you need to go there and try it for yourself.

Roast Lamb Sandwich, Jet Blue flight, SFO to NYC

Really, when everyone around you is eating airplane food and you’re tucking into a home made organic lamb sandwich with roast vegetables and chutney… well, you get the great taste plus the satisfaction of knowing that for once, your forward planning worked. Leftovers always taste great, but they taste five times better at 36,000 feet!

–Rod Cuthbert

What was your most memorable meal in 2007? Leave us a comment and let us know!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 at 12:10 am and is filed under Food, Drink & Travel, List Mania: Viator's Top Picks, Musings from Viator's Founder, Travel Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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