When it comes to Chinese food, I judge restaurants by their fried rice. If a kitchen can’t turn out a good fried rice, the rest of the food will be pretty lousy too.

Different people have different ways of judging a restaurant. Some Europeans will tell you that the true test of a kitchen is the quality of the stock. If that’s no good, then nothing – the soups, the sauces, the flavours etc. – will taste right. Read more

Local councils in the Italian city of Milan in the Lombardy region are considering whether to impose a ban on restaurants serving non-Italian food. In one town in the region, four kebab shops have been denied licenses on the grounds that their cuisine is against the traditions of Italy. This bizarre move appears to have the support of Silvio Berlusconi, the equally bizarre media magnate who is the current Prime Minister of Italy. Read more

It’s the one Bangkok restaurant that even foreigners have heard of. When Indians – especially, well-heeled affluent ones who like to think of themselves as globe-trotters – come to Bangkok they all ask to see if tables can be found for them at Sirocco. It’s the same with Westerners. On any given night, there will be a queue of Europeans  and Americans trying hard to get in. Read more

Europeans make much of regional origins when it comes to their own food and drink. But notions of terroir collapse when the product in question is chocolate. I’m always hesitant to write about chocolate because the more I read about it, the less I seem to know. Read more

The simplest egg dishes that we eat at breakfast are the hardest to make. And most Indian restaurant kitchens don’t know how to cook them properly. So, I’m not the only one who loves eggs! When I lamented, a couple of weeks or so ago, that Indian cooks were unfairly neglecting one of nature’s great treasures, I portrayed the egg as a humble object, passed over by mighty chefs as they reached for the lobster, the lamb or even, the chicken. Read more