Gourmet Traveller

Any foodie will enjoy the perks of being part of gourmet clubs. But what exactly are gourmet clubs and can everyone qualify to be a member?

What are gourmet clubs?

Gourmet clubs are actually just a group of people who love eating and making good food. Gourmet clubs are formed by their membership. The members decide on what their club would do in the quest to enjoy good food. Typically, gourmet clubs agree to meet at select times and cook gourmet food for each other.

What are the benefits of joining gourmet clubs?

The immediate benefit of joining gourmet clubs is the great food you get to sample. Plus, you can potentially increase your cooking specialties based on what you learn from your co-members. The potential to sharing recipes within gourmet clubs is unlimited.

Popular gourmet clubs in the US

In the United States, the popular gourmet clubs are usually the citywide or statewide gourmet clubs. Membership to these clubs is enormous. Meetings are limited to people living in proximity to each other.

Whenever I travel, I always make it a point to dine in the finest restaurants I can find. They make my travel escapades an experience to look forward to if ever I decided to go back to that particular place. You see, that's the point of traveling. You should experience every finest cuisine that is to be served in your plate every time you dine at gourmet restaurants. Hence, traveling and dining complements each other.

What could be a finer gourmet dining experience than what European countries can offer to its thousands of tourists. For instance, Italy and France offer a superb and excellent gourmet dining experience. The dining specialties of the known European restaurants offer a wide selections of superb and state-of-the-art dishes. As you go for a drive through Mont Blanc tunnel, you will surely go straight to Italy. There you can treat yourself with a long cozy lunch or an exquisite evening dinner.

Aside from a dining treat in Paris, you can also have a fine gourmet experience around the Chamonix Valley. At Chamonix, you can choose from a number of fine dining restaurants including Muncchies if you prefer an oriental dining style, L'Impossible for one classic French dining, and Michelin Star Albert for its delicious gourmet meals. Ergo, everything you prefer for one finest travel-dining experience, you would surely find it in your tour around Europe.

A chef, a guru, and a winner all in one. The man on the picture is the star chef of the best restaurant on the face of the globe. He is Chef Adria. Yeah, he does not wear his toque most of the time. But, never mind that because he sure is going to serve you with the most delectable Spanish dishes and much more.

El Bulli, a gourmet restaurant in Spain is located within the heart of Barcelona. I have heard of this place several times before, and although I have already gone to Spain, I have not been to the Bulli. Why? It was always packed! No wonder the schedule of the guests on the seemingly endless list kept Chef Adria busy for almost a decade now. That is already a very long period of time in the service, but he keeps on going.

El Bulli is the pioneer of molecular gourmet. The term actually means the manner of cooking the dishes. Hey, do't get confused. We are talking of the 'how' in cooking here. I just cannot wait to see chef Adria cook. He already has done several cooking presentations, and if you happen to like the Iron Chef, you will probably enjoy El Bulli more. This world-class restaurant prepares the most sumptuous seafood dishes, cheese ice-cream, and all sorts of tea. All in all, the regular menu at Bulli totals 25 courses.

Traveling and eating are good ideas. But, traveling, eating, AND meeting celebrities are much better. It may sound impossible, but we, and I mean ordinary people like us could at least make time and slip into the famous restaurants where our favorite stars dine in. Well, most of them prefer hotel restaurants because they are after 'privacy', but do not lose hope, because I recently found a place where we could, at least, rub elbows with celebrities.

The resto-bars located within the vicinity of Hollywood make big money out of their businesses. No wonder why the customers must have been lenient in tipping. I still fancy my favorite director Steven Spielberg having dinner in here. Oh well, I found a way to invade Citizen Smith. It looked just like your ordinary restaurant on the outside, but inside is definitely Hollywood. Good thing, I got there at 7:30 when there are still available seats.

Citizen is not a well lighted place. The menu is displayed on a teleprompter. Weird? The waiters are very articulate, and according to them, Citizen is always full by 10 p.m. So, I savored the remaining two hours of my stay there and, well, tried the dishes. As what I expected, the dishes are priced for the stars, but they are worth it. Citizen has wide choices of seafood dishes to be paired with the best wines. Surprisingly, it also serves burgers. On the other hand, the desserts are commonly made from apples.

Are you in for a feast in the spa? Yes, you got that right. Tell me just where in the world can you find a restaurant-spa. Actually, the place is called LakeHouse Spa in Texas. When asked why the place is named as such, the owner explained that he wanted to build a place, a business, where people can enjoy their favorite gourmet dishes while keeping their bodies healthy and fit. His goal is to combine good eating and healthy living.

The restaurant offers spa sessions, kayaking, and moderate yoga classes. Although I have not tried enrolling in this courses, I saw that the sessions are well done. The instructors are professional fitness guru. The place for the exercises are just a few feet away form the dining area. There, the chef could be seen preparing the recipes right in front of the customers, I mean, there are no partitions to divide the place for cooking and the place for dining.

The recipes at LakeHouse range from Caribbean, Italian, Mediterranean, American, and local flavors. Most dishes are affordable and low-fat, too. You can actually choose the ingredients for your salads and tacos. If I were to visit the place again, I will do aerobics first before feasting on the salads.

It never occurred to me that I will get the best vegetarian recipes in India. The last time I have been to the remarkable New Delhi, I was served with the most delicious vegetarian dishes. The chef almost bragged at the fact that his creations are one-of-a-kind. I have seen several vegetable salads, but I never tasted them. Who will deny that vegetable dishes are tasteless. Unless there is meat or special sauce, no one can make me eat vegetable salads.

But, India made me change my mind. With the combination of various grains, herbs, cheese, and leafy vegetables, the chef has created for me the most succulent dishes. Much to my surprise, I never tasted spicy sauces, though the herbs are apparently used for the dishes. I enjoyed most the cheese and pepper salad. You might get annoyed with the many salads, but these are actually the healthiest cuisines in India.

By the way, vegetarianism in India is influenced by Ahimsa. You know, belief that slaying animals is unlawful to nature. Of course, this does not mean that Indian peoples totally abstained from eating meat. It was just a belief that man should eat more vegetables since they, unlike animals and humans, do not have blood, and blood is the symbol of life. So much for the lecture, I asked of the chef to give me some recipes. I now keep them along side with my favorite salad recipes.

Thank God it is a sunny day. I get to have a leisure walk in the neighborhood. The bright sun shines over the park. This scenario reminds me of Japan. You know, the peaceful morning with cool breeze under the feathery cirrus clouds. I wish I am back there. I wish I can get to eat ramen, and udon, and somen. I miss noodles!

No fancy, I am not a noodle. But, seriously, when I tasted Japan noodle recipes, I craved for more. Noodles are not served in restaurants here, so I took the chance to feast with noodles when I had the privilege to visit Japan a few days before the midsummer festival. Actually, what I wanted to eat was sushi, but the menu featured lots of noodle recipes. Curiosity led me to order ramen. It was served in a bowl, of course, with vegetable and meat strips . At first, I felt uncomfortable eating eat. But, it was actually fun to battle with the noodles as they slip from the fork. I do not know how to use the chop sticks so I found myself struggling with the fork. If not for the hot soup, I would devour it like spaghetti.

There were many other noodle recipes. Some were even made as salad. Japanese eat noodles as much as they eat rice. My experience was a real remarkable one. The restaurant owner even showed me how he makes the noodles. The man uses bare hands. That was really unbelievable. I mean, in US, machines do the job, but in Japan, everything is done manually. Save for the large manufacturers, of course. But, really, noodles are pleasurable to eat especially while it is still hot. Try some!

It is an astounding reality that cultures can and unconsciously mingle with each other. In my native country alone, I could see the marks of the myriads of people who had their influences and traditions in the present society I am living with. But, cultures can be largely seen in its influence in food. I dare say I eat almost all kinds of food. Name it, and I will take it. My favorite among all is the Caribbean cuisine. Oh, so you have not yet heard of that? But, I am sure that you are familiar with Trinidad and Tobago. Let me tell you that this country has survived the test of time as it accumulates the divers' recipes and gourmet influences from Spanish and French settlers.

I once met a Trinidadian chef who humbly told me his story. Well, like any other young man in the country, he likes to play cricket and a good soccer player and an avid fan of Brazilian soccer team. But, his mother influenced him to cook. I happen to taste his version of mouth-watering lasagna. I never thought I could get to eat lasagna in a Caribbean country. Anyhow, the Trinidadian cuisine is a fusion of all the best recipes around the world. Dining in a Trinidadian restaurant, I never got lost of the familiar cuisines. The menu listed pasta, kebab salad, fish, barbecue, and so much more. What I miss a lot is the distinctive Trinidadian touch given to these cuisine. Yum, yum!

If you want to learn a new language, the best way of learning it is to live among the people and under the culture that uses that language. You will not only be familiarized with the formal grammar and usage but also with the real cultural situations certain idioms are used. This principle also applies in gaining expert gastronomic skills. Some big restaurants offer travel and training incentives to their best chefs. Chefs immerse themselves to the culture of a particular country to learn and polish their skills. Chefs may travel to Italy, for instance, in an exchange program just to gain expertise in cooking certain Italian food that only a true blooded Italian chef can teach under the ambience of his own country.