Table of contents for May/June 2016 in AFAR

AT AFAR, WE BELIEVE IN getting off the beaten path and beneath the surface of a place. Does that mean avoiding the biggest tourist sites? I don’t think so. I just returned from Petra, Jordan, which has been named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and I’m so glad I visited. The country’s tourism numbers are down, for no reason other than general misconceptions about travel to the Middle East, so it wasn’t as crowded as you might expect. It was safe. And it was remarkable. From trips to other classic sites (the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Great Wall of China), I’ve learned that crowds aren’t that hard to escape. Sure, you have to fight your way past vendors selling trinkets and people…

1 Crispy-Skinned Bass Ask anyone in Healdsburg where to eat, and they’ll point you to Valette. For something light, order the crispy-skinned striped bass. It’s served with a tom kha kai custard that delivers a spicy-sour kick. + Ask for the equally lighthanded 2015 rosé from Banshee Wines: dry, floral, and full of strawberry. 2 Spicy Bao Buns Hit Napa’s Heritage Eats for a wholly satisfying lunch: grilled lemongrass pork on two house-made steamed bao buns with crunchy cabbage slaw, Asian pickled veggies, and dashes of pleasantly hot chili sauce. + Go for the Honig Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. Its bright flavors really sing with the pork’s lemongrass. 3 Tangy Ribs Arrive early at Farmstead in St. Helena for a foot-long rack of ribs, which chef Stephen Barber smokes daily and…

Post-cartel Medellín is a beautiful place. Over the past two decades, the metropolis once known as the center of the world’s cocaine trade has blossomed into a clean, progressive city. Surprisingly, the biggest point of pride for paisas (locals) isn’t their coffee or flowers— both exported by the ton—but their Metro, one of the best in the world. It’s as easy to coast to the top of one of the many mountains and hike through leafy Parque Arví as it is to zip downtown to wander Fernando Botero’s voluptuous sculptures. The Charlee, located in the pulsing El Poblado district, stands out in Medellín’s young hotel scene. On weekend nights, the whole city seems to congregate in the blocks surrounding it. Buy an Aguila cerveza and stroll past twinkling lights and…

far.com/hotels/collection Aqua Wellness Resort Tola, Nicaragua Awasi Atacama and Patagonia, Chile Belle Mont Farm on Kittitian Hill St. Kitts Belmond Peru Cusco, Lima, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley Carillon Miami Beach Miami Beach, Florida Casa de las Olas Tulum, Mexico Cavallo Point Lodge Sausalito, California Dorado Beach, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado, Puerto Rico Flemings Mayfair Hotel London, United Kingdom Freehand Chicago Chicago, Illinois Galley Bay Resort & Spa St. JohnÕs, Antigua Grace Bay Club Turks and Caicos Halekulani Honolulu, Hawaii Hotel 1000 Seattle, Washington Langham Place, New York, Fifth Avenue New York, New York Las Alcobas Mexico City, Mexico Le Guanahani St. BarthŽlemy, French West Indies Loews Regency Hotel New York, New York Loews Regency San Francisco San Francisco, California Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental, Miami…

Check everything you know about bed-and-breakfasts at the door of Urban Cowboy Nashville, the latest project from New York City hotelier Lyon Porter. “I’m creating a B&B for a new generation of travelers,” says Porter, whose Brooklyn property of the same name is one of the borough’s most stylish stays. Set in a 19th-century Queen Anne Victorian manse in historic East Nashville, Urban Cowboy is just five blocks from the boutiques and lively bars of the Five Points district. The design in the eight guest rooms and stand-alone cabin is a mash-up of Southwestern and art deco, with custom wallpaper, handmade copper bed frames, and intricate inlaid-wood walls. The common areas are an invitation for travelers to connect: A wraparound porch affords a sunset view, and a music parlor holds…

Oenophiles exploring South Africa’s Cape Winelands have a fashionable new place to stay. In the village of Franschhoek, Leeu House is a Cape Dutch–style building with a countryside aesthetic. The 12 rooms are done in neutral hues, with sisal and oak accents and marble bathrooms, and two suites have private gardens. After a stroll through the galleries and shops in town or a trip to the wineries, guests can cool off in the hotel’s mosaic pool before dinner in the glass-ceilinged Conservatory. From $170; leeucollection.com.…

AFAR Journeys combines the expertise and insider access of AFAR’s Travel Advisory Council with our commitment to experiential travel. The result is easy-to-book custom itineraries to the world’s most fascinating destinations. Next we turn to Canada—so close and so full of surprises. From innovative food scenes to world-class cultural experiences to outdoor adventures, AFAR Journeys will introduce you to all that Canada has to offer so that you can choose the itinerary that’s right for you. Plan your trip to Canada now go to afar.com/journeys…

The Expat DANIEL ROSE Spring and La Bourse Et La Vie “Cooks have always been drawn to Paris to train, but they used to return home afterward. And, 10 years ago, it was unheard of for chefs under 30 to open their own place. But when a few of us young chefs broke out of the big kitchens to open restaurants in tiny spaces, we stoked a transformation. Foreign cooks saw it was possible, and they stayed in Paris after they had mastered the techniques. Many have a more rock ’n’ roll approach; they’re not paralyzed by anxiety about what people think. That’s refreshing for Parisians, and it’s why they book ahead for Korean fried chicken at Hero and wake up early on Sundays for a Japanese chef ’s take on…

THIS SPRING, DURING MY first day in Dubai for AFAR Experiences, our travel event series, I sat down over a minty lemonade with opening speaker Parag Khanna, a 38-year-old geopolitical expert and bestselling author. Parag’s credentials are impressive: CNN Global Contributor and a former fellow at the New America Foundation and the Brookings Institution think tanks. Weeks after he addressed our group, he gave a keynote talk at the TED Conference in Vancouver. For me, Parag defines what a global citizen is today. Born in India, he was raised in Dubai, New York, and Germany, educated in Washington, D.C., and London, and currently calls Singapore home. Parag and I discussed his expat life, travels, and forthcoming book, Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization. The book ambitiously examines the ways…

You’ve probably sampled mizuna and daikon at fancy restaurants, but Kamo eggplant and purple komatsuna? Unless you’ve scoured Kyoto’s markets, as Kyle and Katina Connaughton of new farm and restaurant Single Thread have (above, bottom middle and right), you probably aren’t familiar with these esoteric ingredients. After living in Japan for three years, the couple leased five acres of abandoned land in Sonoma and cultivated it. Katina, the farmer, watches over that komatsuna, a mustardy green, as well as hundreds of other unusual crops. She doesn’t just grow by the season; she grows by the microseason. “There’s a term for this in Japan—shun,” says Kyle, a chef who once worked at the celebrated British restaurant the Fat Duck. “We wait and harvest when the product is at its absolute peak.”…

1 RENT AN AUDI With Audi’s new Bay Area− only, on-demand service, visitors to San Francisco can drive an A5 from their hotel to wine country without going to a rental desk. From $200/day. audiondemand.com 2 FLOAT OVER If Only books hot-air balloon rides above the rolling hills. After you’ve landed, spring for the company’s private tasting with a sommelier. From $225/person. ifonly.com 3 GET A CALF WORKOUT Trek Travel’s six-day bike tour pedals along hot springs, mountaintops, and towering canyons with plenty of stops for food and wine along the way. From $3,300. trektravel.com…

It’s the cold truth of making pizza on your own: A run-of-the-mill oven simply can’t get hot enough to deliver the bubbly, blistered crust you crave. That’s where California manufacturer Forno Bravo comes in. The company crafts Italian-style wood-burning ovens ($2,600–$7,000, fornobravo.com) for indoors or out, adorned with anything from handsome and simple brick to kaleidoscopic tile mosaic. The ovens are ridiculously simple to operate. Just load in a pile of wood (pecan or maple work great, but chef Brandon Gillis of San Francisco’s just-opened Fiorella restaurant swears by a combination of almond and oak), light it and let it roar for about half an hour. Then push the wood to the side and put in your pie. Capable of temperatures north of 800°F, the oven cooks a pizza to…

House Specials The world’s best hotel breakfasts, Argentine barbecue comes to Miami, and resorts embrace the seed-to-table movement. 1 The Durham DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA The Hotel Commune, the design team behind the Ace Hotels in L.A. and Palm Springs, gave the property a retro look in a nod to its home in a 1969 bank building. The Menu James Beard winner Andrea Reusing serves such regional classics as biscuits with ham, corn muffins with house preserved blueberries, and buckwheat sugar cakes. From $199. 2 Thompson CHICAGO The Hotel Dark velvet, exposed brick, and polished wood dominate the industrial look of this Gold Coast hotel. Quirky art hangs on the walls of the 247 rooms, which face Lake Michigan and the Magnificent Mile. The Menu The hotel’s Nico Osteria, known for…

10 a.m. We meet at La Fiorentina, a 1940s bakery filled with every brilliant idea Roman bakers have ever had, from biscotti to bomboloni (cream-filled donuts). I’m going full Parla, so I order her usual: a doppio macchiato and a danese, a croissantesque Danish, knocked back quickly at the bar. 10:45 a.m. “Much of the food sold in Rome comes from factories,” Katie whispers as we enter La Tradizione, a tiny deli that somehow packs in 400 cheeses, a tower of fresh pasta, and a case packed with purple-black olives, stuffed tomatoes, and burrata. “But not here. This is that mythical place people imagine.” 1 p.m. At Gabriele Bonci’s Pizzarium, the pizza al taglio (rectangular slices Romans inhale by the kilo) is made from heirloom wheat and topped with rotating…

Start snacking KENNEDY TOWN A five-minute stroll from exit A or C of the station, you face a uniquely Hong Kong question: falafel or katsu? The culinary minds behind sandwich spot Sunday’s Grocery, also famed for their yakitori joint, Yardbird, are probably the only people who could pull off both. Pause for tea HKU In a break from the usual mile-a-minute service mentality of the city’s restaurants, Nana Chan opened Teakha Kitchen as a place where people can linger over scones and tea, such as Taiwanese red jade with bergamot peel, Chan’s take on Earl Grey. Happy hour, part I SAI YING PUN Think of a gin and tonic as a nothing-special cocktail? Ping Pong 129 Gintonería, across from exit B2, might change your mind. In a subterranean ex–ping pong training center, you…

OLD-SCHOOL NAPA Go straight for the classic, sturdy cabernets at Mayacamas, whose winery sits on volcanic soils. LEARN TO LOVE CHARDS All California chardonnays are buttery, oaky, pineapple juice— right? So wrong. Stony Hill’s are crisp, nervy, and bright. THE BEACHFRONT ONE Hirsch’s bragging rights: running a top-notch vineyard on Sonoma’s steep—and stunning—coast. TUSCANY, CA The high-acid pinot noir, warm hospitality, and rustic kitchen of Robert Sinskey make you feel like you’re in Italy. FOR ARCHITECTURE BUFFS Famed architect Howard Backen gave Larkmead the simple charm of a small 19th-century farmhouse. GREAT GRAPES AND STYLE At Wind Gap, you can pour firstrate syrah from a growler while listening to Bob Marley on vinyl. INSTAGRAMMABLE PICNICS Most likely place to find chefs from It restaurants and models lounging on a lawn?…

1 Asprey “Octopus” tumbler, $215, asprey.com 2 Hermès “Iskender” glass, $410, hermes.com 3 Tom Dixon mortar and pestle, $204, tomdixon.net 4 Ralph Lauren horn dinner plate, $46, ralphlauren.com 5 Teakhaus butcher block, $145, teakhaus.com 6 Fortessa “Arezzo” forks, $156/12 pack, and knives, $180/12 pack, shop.fortessa.com 7 Anna Karlin glass decanter, $225, annakarlin.com…

IWAS BORN AND RAISED in Kahala, a stone’s throw from Kaimuki, and I have lots of fond memories of visiting its five-and-dime stores when I was a kid. My brother used to collect coins, and we’d catch the Number 14 bus to Kaimuki to buy more, then we’d get take-out dim sum in a waxed paper bag. As a teenager, I remember going to the dilapidated Queen Theater to catch, say, The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Free Ride, a classic 1970s surf movie. I moved to Kaimuki in 1995. There are ridges and valleys all over the neighborhood that make for spectacular hikes, with waterfalls and panoramic views. I especially like to walk the seven-mile Lanipo trail during straw-berry guava season and pick fruit for the jams and jellies…

What is an asado? It’s a relaxing gathering of friends and a celebration of life outdoors. On weekends, an asado begins in the morning, when the host lights his fire, gets his meats ready, and starts drinking wine. When guests arrive, they eat chorizo first, then blood sausage and mollejas (sweetbreads), and the remaining achuras, or offal. Then come serious cuts of meat, such as tira de asado (short ribs). What’s your first asado memory? I was seven or eight. There was a spot on our property where the gardeners would have weekday asados. They had a grill on some rocks and a bottle of chimichurri, our national sauce, hidden under a tree. My family would spy on them, then try to replicate their feast on the weekends. How does all…

Having a garden isn’t enough anymore: Resorts that want to serve only the freshest ingredients have taken to running their own full-fledged farms. The Relais & Châteaux Winvian resort in Connecticut’s Litchfield hills recently changed its name to Winvian Farm to reflect its amped-up “seed to table” philosophy. The hotel now produces 70 percent of its food on three acres of organic gardens and also raises pigs, chickens, and bees. On the other side of the equator, Vira Vira in Chile’s Lake District sources 90 percent of the ingredients for its restaurants—vegetables, eggs, turkey, wild boar, yogurt, cheeses, even wheat and barley—from its surrounding 100-acre farm. And the team at Galapagos Safari Camp grows bananas and yuccas, raises cattle and chickens to supply both the resort and the local market,…

Re-create this drink at home: afar.com/maitai NOW ARRIVING Grand Central Terminal’s new five-stall Great Northern Food Hall traffics only in Scandinavian classics. Here, four to seek out. 1. Roast pork sandwich The signature dish of Noma cofounder Claus Meyer, the brains behind the hall, layers pork, crackling pork skin, and red cabbage. 2. Porridge Slow-cooked grød (Danish porridge) is mixed with your choice of decidedly Nordic toppings: raw licorice, pickled gooseberries, or rye bread crumble. 3. Danish This one’s a nobrainer. Especially considering that Meyer owns one of Denmark’s best bakeries. Fillings include apple jam, marzipan, and sweet custard. 4. Rye bread Naturally, Meyer’s team will bake Denmark’s signature loaves. Their secret ingredient? Svedjerug, an ancient Danish rye varietal, grown by New York farmers. MEET US AT . . .…

day my boyfriend, Barry, and I emerge from passport control at Tbilisi airport, each clutching a gift. No, it’s not a tourist brochure or a pen with a logo. Rather, it’s the small bottle of blood-red saperavi wine given to all foreign arrivals. “Welcome to our Republic of Georgia,” the passport stamper had exclaimed, apparently genuinely delighted to see us. We’ve arrived in the world’s most compulsively hospitable country. Here, a visitor is considered a gift from God. Flowery toasts with the gravitas of a sermon are fueled by wine fermented in amphorae buried in the earth. Here, epic feasts called supras cover tables so densely with platters that not a square inch remains bare. Being a guest in Georgia requires heroic overindulgence. This I recall from my two previous…

“I love that Singapore is such a melting pot—it is the most vibrant Asian city when it comes to food. So many countries are well represented: China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines. Indian food is a must. My staff at DB Bistro Moderne at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands resort always orders lunch from Muthu’s Curry in Little India. One of our go-to dishes is broccoli that’s been marinated in yogurt and spices and charred in the tandoori oven on a giant skewer. We also get biryani, a traditional rice dish you eat with your bare hands. It’s very soulful. Singapore is especially known for Chinese food made with a certain level of sophistication. Every time I visit, I try to have moo shu pancakes or Peking duck (the…