2011 Dining highlights and lowlights
 

As the end of the year is approaching I was looking over my notes from various trips and thought it would be fun to start a thread to share personal dining highlights and lowlights for the year. Out of 20 or so trips during the year this is what stood out for me:

Highlights (all first time visits)
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Restaurant Gordon Ramsay - lobster and salmon ravioli practically knocked me off my chair
Club Gascon, - first time trying grouse - I think I can still taste it
Blue Stem, KC
The Citadel restaurant, Cairo - grilled prawns to die for
Mumtaz Mahal, Muscat

Disappointments
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Petrus and Nobu - only because I had to cancel my reservations as I was stuck in my room with pneumonia!
Murano because my plans changed at the last minute and I had to cancel
Medici, Baden-Baden
Ray's the Steaks - just thought it was a bit overhyped

Surprises
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Rustic Stone, Dublin. This restaurant has been absolutely panned on TripAdvisor but I thought my meal was pretty good.
Red Robin, St. Louis. - don't laugh, our kids had a great time and it was a memorable experience, plus I seem to recall they had pretty good margaritas!

Meal of the Year:

La Closerie de Kerdrain in Auray, Morbihan (Brittany). Astounding cuisine and service. Deserves at least one if not two Michelin stars but currently only has three knives and forks. Go there!

Disaster of the Year:

L'Essentiel in Périgueux, France. Good cuisine ruined by trying to be more upmarket than necessary. Rotten service. All kinds of other problems, which will be detailed on TripAdvisor shortly, now that I have some days off at the end of the year to write it up. Has a Michelin star in the 2011 guide, but definitely doesn't deserve it.

It is nice to reflect while also having the opportunity to pick up tips from other travelers. 2011 has been a really good year for me from the cuisine standpoint and I hope every year gets better!

Highlights:

Caprice, HK - probably the best overall dining experience I've ever had. An exemplary combination of superb execution, top-notch service, and an extensive wine list, all in a comfortable and unpretentious dining environment. I would travel to HK just to eat there.
Sawada, Ginza, Tokyo - best sushi experience I've ever had. Pure artistry and the closest to perfection I've witnessed, all at an intimate 6-person bar. A must-visit for sushi fans.
Esaki, Aoyama, Tokyo - traditional Japanese cuisine, superbly executed. Excellent service.

Lowlights:
Masa in NYC. Food was excellent as expected, but the service was so pretentious and awful as to ruin the entire experience.

Highlights:
- Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City and my first time trying burnt ends. Everything BBQ and a BBQ restaurant should be.
- Traditional Czech food and beer and traditional Austrian food and beer in Prague and Vienna this year at a local Prague Brewery and local Vienna gasthouse

Lowlights:
- Fried bologna. Apparently it's a big Southern thing but I thought it was absolutely gross. Must be the Yankee in me.

My wife absolutely loves it, and she's from Calgary.:D

I'm in KC at least once a year and next time I will have to try this place. I've heard it's very good. Last BBQ place I went was Famous Dave's in Manchester, NH, which I don't recall being too bad for a chain.

Highlights:

- A Korean blowfish specialist restaurant in Gwangju. The experienced and proud master cook with "the license to cut" took excellent care of myself and two local friends and dished out fantastic courses from blowfish sashimi to a tasty fish stew.

- Dinner with an artist friend and his lovely Pakistani wife at Balli, a Turkish quality grill house in Berlin. Interesting Meze and a shared mixed grill for us male carnivores and Falafel for the vegetarian lady. Great early December evening

- Family brunch at Peach Valley Cafe in Ormond Beach, FL. Everything we ordered was really tasty, Reuben with onion rings, fried chicken, burgers and some brekkie dishes...Catches the idea of an upscale American diner perfectly, as far as I can tell. ;)

Disappointments:

- No really bad experiences this year, probably learned to be more cautious...Airport dining regardless of country remains rather uninspiring. Be it Asian noodles at PVG, abalone congee at GMP or a Philly steak sandwich at DTW, the outcome is more or less mediocre on a steady basis.

Just yesterday a friend & I were discussing dining highlights of 2011 & he mentioned Rustic Stone. We expected a so-so meal, but were pleasantly surprised!

Midwestern boy here and I LOVE fried bologna and cheese (American of course) on white bread! MMMMmmmm MMMMMmmmmm brings out the white trash in me! :D

Highlight:

Helene Darroze in Paris. Absolutely the best meal and experience I've ever had. Meal was 3+ hours and I wish it was longer! Well worth the spend!

Lowlight:
Gibsons in Chicago. I absolutely loathe this place and every year a friend comes in town and MUST go to Gibsons. I rarely have a good meal there and it's a bunch of people trying too hard.

Highlights:
Not much in the way of fine dining for me this year, and London overally really disappointed
6 months in South Africa did see me visit La Colombe about 5 times in 2011, each time having a lovely meal (try the rabbit, langoustine and chestnut starter) and receiving great service from the team who I gradually each got to know
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in London. I've been to a number of Robuchon's restaurants before and generally love his fine cuisine but am a bit ambiguous about his Atelier concept. London has upped their game and delivered a really top rate experience

Disappointments:
Having been to the London Atelier de Joel Robuchon just a week beforehand, I met up with some of my best foodie friends in Hong Kong to try the Michelin 3*'d Hong Kong Atelier. Whilst it was perfectly nice 1* quality food and service, it's more like the Tokyo Atelier than any of his fine dining restaurants. The wine list meanwhile was the single most ridiculous I've ever come across - the cheapest drinkable wine I could find was $140USD, with the median for the list being somewhere around $400.

Surprises:
I reluctantly took a date out to Viajante as she insisted on going somewhere in East London. The chef used to work in El Bulli and does the whole Experimental Cuisine thing. This can be fantastic, but Viajante has been panned by all the restaurant critics (shortly before receving a Michelin star). Not all of the courses were stars, but there was some genuinely innovative and lovely food served for £60 for a ~10-13 course meal, depending on how you count courses. One to visit before the chef gets his first Zone 1 restaurant.

Sounds like a great recommendation. I'll be back in London in a few weeks and might check it out.

One of the great meals I had this year was at The Edge (restaurant in the Denver Four Seasons). I went with some friends during Denver Restaurant Week. It was a spectacular meal with some of the best scallops ever (appetizer), sirloin steak, and finished it off with chocolate croissant bread pudding. All for the great price of $26.40 a person (though I didn't have to pay because my friends treated me for my birthday). I can't wait to go back this year. Also, I want to add Shanahan's to the list of places to try out this year.

Highlight for 2011 was at Manuel's Creative Cuisine in Los Cabos.

Wonderful meal

http://www.manuelsrestaurant.com.mx/home_en.php

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...alifornia.html

Highlight for me was Next: Paris 1906 in Chicago. One of the most amazing meals I've had. Beautifully executed food, perfect service and really interesting wines.

Ironically, my biggest disappointment was Next:Tour of Thailand. The Thai menu just wasn't anything special. Maybe I had sky-high (and unrealistic) expectations because Paris was so great, but that experience didn't wow me.