Galangal Thai Cuisine
Galangal is the kind of restaurant that makes you breathe a little happy sigh and simply exclaim, "It's just beautiful." The modern Thai food is fresh, vibrant and has flavorful ingredients that are respected and utilized to shine as much as possible. From the beef carpaccio larb salad to the crispy duck red curry, there is so much to love here. But best of all is the twice roasted pork belly with caramelized fish sauce and palm sugar, green mango and herb salad that looks, smells and tastes incredible. After all, who doesn't love pork belly - especially one with teeth-shatteringly good crackling!

JB Ah Meng Kitchen
It doesn't get more gritty than this in Singapore - dining in a harsh-lit back alley of a red light district. JB Ah Meng is a ramshackle kitchen but the food will make you forget about the seedy crowd and blare of traffic. Chefs make it a point to come here - from Tetsuya Wakuda to Ferran Adria. The latter was so enamored with the signature dish of Salted Egg Yolk Prawn Tempura that he asked the cook for the recipe, and was denied. Seafood is a hit here - locals love the white pepper crabs and garlic chili flower clams. Another unusual dish is the San Lou Beehoon (literally "Third Storey Vermicelli"), thin rice noodles steeped in seafood stock and compressed into a crispy pancake. The snake beans topped with lotus root chips are also popular. It's the perfect place for late night supper.

Zero Cafe + Bar
I've never been more impressed with a restaurant than I was with Zero Cafe. Chef Vinson Petrillo does things with food that I never thought possible. When the plates come out, you almost don't want to eat them because they're so beautiful. But they aren’t just pretty, they’re delicious as well. Each bite is bright and refreshing and unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before. I recommend doing the 5-course Chef’s Choice tasting menu and letting Chef Petrillo work his magic. If you only get one thing on the menu, you should pick the deviled eggs 4 ways. Each of the four eggs is topped with poached black truffle, pickled mustard, bacon or caviar. For such a delicate food, these pack a huge punch of flavor. These aren’t yo’ mama’s deviled eggs.

Fook Lam Moon
Fook Lam Moon, which translates as "fortune arrives at your home," is considered an eating place for the elite. In fact, it’s often referred to as "The cafeteria for the wealthy!” Not only do they offer top quality dim sum lunch, their char siu is definitely not to be missed. The cut has a nice blend of fat and meat resulting in a nice blend of meaty succulence and fatty flavor. The menu also offers a wide variety of poultry and meat dishes along with live seafood selling at market price. Since this restaurant is known for its up-market delicacies, if you want to experience shark’s fin soup or bird’s nest dessert, this would be the best spot. Some items require pre-orders, so make sure you check out their menu online before making a reservation. If you prefer a less busy restaurant, try their TST branch, the food is equally as good as their flagship.

Nanataco
This bright and cheery counter-serve spot is known for its sophisticated takes on Mexican comfort classics. Check out such creative additions such as lamb cheeks, tongue and pork belly. You can get three tacos with rice, beans and tortilla chips for less than $10. They have a large student following and it's a perfect spot for families with young kids. Fruity margaritas and a number of choices for beer round out the meal.

Whit's End
Of the dozen wood-fired pies on offer at Chef Whitney Aycock’s Rockaway Beach pizza parlor, the one that best reflects the terroir is the Salciccia e Vongole (sausage and clams). “These are sand to sand, not sand to mud,” Aycock shouts over the pulsing world music and barroom bravado as he waxes rhapsodic about the Littleneck clams, which are seeded in Rockaway and finished out East. “There’s a big difference genetically. These clams are amazing, dude,” he says before whipping around to split wood in front of the pizza oven that is the heart and soul of his raucous restaurant. Joining the clams are house-made sausage seasoned with spezzaforte, pepperoncini and shaved garlic. Aycock refers to spezzaforte, the aromatic blend of clove, star, anise, juniper, and allspice, as “Tuscan grandmother spices.” The combination of fiordilatte mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano with the other toppings makes for the best clam pie outside of Zuppardi’s.

Lung Wah Hotel
Lung Wah has served great food in Shatin for more than 50 years. Back then, the dining room was on the ground floor while hotel rooms above attracted such celebrity guests as Bruce Lee. The owner’s idea of promoting pigeon was a huge success and today, Shatin pigeon remains a household name. While the rest of the country has undergone a major transformation, Lung Wah seems to remain frozen in time, from its garden to the dining tables. Thankfully, the quality of their pigeon dishes hasn’t changed. They are still considered by Hong Kong gourmands to be the best. Lung Wah’s pigeon are soaked in five spice, then served deep fried, with a thin and crispy skin, or poached one of three ways: in Chinese rice wine, soy sauce or salt brine. The young pigeon meat is tender and moist without being overly fatty or gamey. With Lung Wah’s chicken congee and homemade tofu dessert, pigeon makes up what locals call “Shatin’s Three Treasure.”

Hasir
Doner Kebab at Hasir Hasir is one of the oldest Turkish grills in Berlin. A large contingent of Turks migrated to Berlin when after WWII, becoming the largest immigrant population in the city. In an epic, historic dispute, Hasir’s founder, Mehmet Aygün, claims it was he who invented the German version of the döner kebab in 1971 and not, as common perception goes, Kadir Numan in 1972. True or not, Hasir remains one of the oldest döner kebab eateries still in existence in Berlin.

Zur Haxe
Zur Haxe is a fantastic German eatery hidden in Northern Prenzlauer Berg where you can eat Berlin's best Bavarian style pork knuckle and satisfy your deepest pork crackling cravings. This enormous pork knuckle, covered entirely in the most crispy pork crackling, is served with fat slices of potato knödel, a mountain of sauerkraut and the most amazing gravy. If you manage to finish all of it, you have all of my respect. Otherwise, the extremely lovely wait staff, dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes, will be more than happy to pack it in a doggy bag for you.

Engelberg
Engelberg is a classic German breakfast and lunch spot on Oderberger Strasse in Prenzlauer Berg, which is one of the most beautiful streets in Berlin. Sourcing some of the finest charcuterie and cheese from across Germany, Engelberg is one of the prime restaurants in the neighborhood and, quite frankly, one of the best spots in Berlin for a proper, German breakfast with copious amounts of bread, cheese, cured meats and sausages. A great, German dish you should try here is the Strammer Max, essentially a thick slice of German sourdough bread with beautiful German ham and two fried eggs.