WASHINGTON D.C, "Cafe Milano" - 3251 Prospect Street, NW

Cafe Milano is a buzzy D.C establishment with all the glamour and pizazz of the Italian city after which it's named.

The food is absolutely gorgeous! It's all about robust flavours, generous portions and lots of choice. They're usually hallmarks of food that lacks quality - but not here. The food is highly sophisticated, beautifully presented and overall just completely satisfying.

With a long list of high-profile patrons, the restauranters have no qualms branding their restaurant the "hub of diplomats, lawmakers, journalists, broadcasters, lobbyists and entertainers."

The room is enormous, stretching from a bar section (with the occasional plasma screen, unfortunately) at one end, to a formal, upscale dining section where glass panels front the streets of Georgetown. Walls and ceilings are scattered with posters and murals of fashion and its icons - a droll nod to the flamboyance and glitzy vulgarity of Milan. While it's all amusing, aim to get a table at the front of house in the Washington Room where the lighting is low and the ambience more mellow.

Pumpkin and amaretto agnolotti in a burnt butter chesnut sauce, chilli spaghetti vongole with masses of clams, and parpadelle with beef ragu and ricotta are absolutely beautiful. Succulent roast chicken legs come perched on a bed of truffled porcini mushroms sauteed with leeks and cabbage. Incredibly tender veal medallions are served with perfect saffron risotto, and roast monkfish is wrapped in crispy pancetta and served on a traditional bed of Borlotti beans with mussels.

Dessert was hit and miss. The individual apple crumble tart with white truffle gelato was a strangely wonderful combination, but the pumpkin and amaretti torte with dark chocolate sauce was dry, heavy and bland. It definitely needed something refreshing, like a citrus or icecream addition, to lift it.

Starters and pastas are $15-$30, while mains range from about $30 to $45. This price range is very reasonable for the calibre of the food and the size of the servings.

It's a bustling, authentic institution that you absolutely cannot miss!

VIRGINIA, "Fleurie" - 108 3rd Street, Charlottesville.

Off the main pedestrian boulevard in Charlottesville sits Fleurie - a charming culinary gem with all the quaintness and elegance of a provincial French restaurant.

Rustic brick walls, white tablecloths and candlelight make for a warm, graceful atmosphere which is a delightful change of scenery from its downtown surrounds.

The food is totally exquisite. Softly spoken, enchanting Parisian chef, Rhys, fuses the best of American produce with refined French cookery technique so that every dish on the menu sounds better than the last.

Things like homemade gnocchi with rich truffle marscarpone sauce, warm duck confit salad with cherries and pistachios, wine braised beef short ribs with truffled parsnip purée, and seared sea scallops with Celery Root, Red Onion Marmalade and shellfish cream are perfectly cooked and served in elegant portions. Appetizers are $9-$18 while mains are $27-$36.




The desserts were just as glorious. For me, the quality of a restaurant's dessert is often a good indication of the calibre of the entire menu. It's the part of the meal that too often is treated as an afterthought - just something sweet to finish things off. A good dessert shows a real dedication to quality, and the desserts at Fleurie are almost highlights.

The lightest passionfruit souffle comes freestanding, like an airy pillow, with tangy passionfruit curd. Warm chocolate pudding is served with homemade blueberry sorbet, and wafer thin, crisp apple flan is complemented by rich, intense vanilla bean ice-cream.

A beautiful, joyous foodie heaven!

AUSTRALIA, "Acquolina" -26 Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento, Victoria.

In the charming seaside town of Sorrento on the southern-most tip of mainland Australia, sits the authentic Italian cucina of Acquolina.

Milanese immigrant, Maria Grazie, and her Australian spouse, head-chef and somelier, Brett Johnson, run a firing trade here during the summer months. The pair then closes up shop and swaps the wild coastal beauty of Sorrento for the old-time glamour of Lake Como where they finesse and revitalise their cookery working at the Bellagio hotel.

As a result the pair never loses their enthusiasm, and their food, inspired by the culinary traditions of northern Italy, never tires.

Fresh, house-made pasta is definitely the highlight - whether it's the homemade beef casoncelli, the open prawn and porcini lasagna with light cream sauce, or the spaghetti bolognaise with preserved lemon and thyme. Simple, buttery veal scallopine is a bit too 50's comfort food for my tastes, but an old fashioned favourite nonetheless.

Mains are quite reasonable at $20.00-$28.00, so it's a perfect place for casual family dinners.

Stepping into Acquolina, however, means stepping into an Italian mindset. Expect all the drama, passion and temperament of real Italians. Here, you need to go with the flow and let charm work its magic. With Italian sous-chefs and waitstaff, and the eccentric, vibrant restauranter, Marie Grazie, it's a truly authentic way to eat Italian out of Italy.

HONG KONG - "Hutong" : 28/F One Peking, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A penthouse with floor to ceiling glass windows, low lighting and magnificent views of the dynamic and glorious Hong Kong skyline, Hutong is spectacular, sultry and Szechuan.

It's a romantic, dreamy fusion of exotic old-world glamour and futuristic fantasia. With oriental showpieces, worn brick and sensuous purple silk the whole experience is magical.

The food is just as dramatic. Crisp soft shell crab is served in huge, polished wooden baskets buried under popping, fiery chilli peppers. Succulent chunks of lobster are stir-fried with chillis and spring onions, and juicy white fish fillet is steamed with generous helpings of garlic, ginger and shallots. As a lover of traditional Peking Duck, however, I would have preferred the usual plum sauce rather than the home-concocted syrup with which it was served.

Everything is perfectly cooked and devoid of gluggy glutenous sauces that sometimes mar Chinese food.

Altogether a stylish and beguiling experience in Asian cuisine.

P.S. Make sure not to miss the art-directed, shabby-chic oriental WC!

SEATTLE, "Union" -1400 First Ave. (Union St.) Seattle

Union Restaurant offers the simplest sort of fine dining. It may be an oxymoron but it's an apt description of this Seattle bistro.

With a concise, thoughtfully considered daily menu, the culinary focus is on fresh, seasonal, ingredients. Northwest-Pacific flavours, like Dungeness crab salad with avocado and seared sea scallops with ham hocks and lentils, sit alongside Italian strozzapretti with wonderfully rich lamb ragu, and tender, caramelised pork cheeks on potato mash.

The grilled mackeral on smokey, citrus lentils was more disappointing. The flavour of the fish bordered on bitter - perhaps stemming in some respects from its Atlantic origins, but also from charring from the grill. Salty, bitter and sour flavours desperately needed some sweetness to mellow them.

The atmosphere is modern and simple, with clean lines, mirrors and burgundy walls. It's not exactly cosey or casual, but has absolutely no pretense for a restaurant of its calibre. Prices are surprisingly reasonable too, with Appetizers around $15-$20 and mains $25-$30. Waitstaff are very attentive, well informed and relaxed.

Overall, Union food is modest excellence and reserved elegance. A must do in the rainy seaside city of Seattle!