Shanghai

Tang Palace: The Bird House

If you find yourself in the waiting area at Tang Gong (an hour-long inevitability if you go for dim sum on the weekends), there’s plenty to see to make the minutes go by faster. Slip-covered chairs lined up like movie theater seats in the lobby are an ideal perch for people-watching, although you’ll have to turn away from the display of Moutai baijiu and the flat-screen they face for a better view of the hungry hordes.

Mexico City

First Stop: Rick Poon and Bora Kim's Mexico City

Kim is an avid traveler who divides her time among sniffing out new ingredients in markets, poking through bookstores around the globe and teaching at Grand Arts High School in downtown Los Angeles. Poon is a food, travel and lifestyle photographer based in Los Angeles.

Istanbul

Mandabatmaz: Grounds for Celebration

It’s a dirty secret nobody wants to talk about, but let’s put it out there: finding a good cup of Turkish coffee in Turkey can sometimes be very difficult. Thin and watery, rather than thick and viscous, is frequently the order of the day. This is no small matter, akin to complaining about the quality of the French toast in France or about finding stale danishes in Denmark. Turkey, after all, is the land that, during Ottoman times, helped introduce coffee to the rest of Europe. When it comes to making Turkish coffee, Turkey needs to represent.

Athens

Gastronomy Museum: Edible Exhibits

In June of this year, a new museum joined the roster of cultural institutions in Athens and is the first dedicated to Greek gastronomy. There may be others where you’ll see ancient cooking pots and serving vessels or rustic farming implements and kitchen equipment from bygone eras, but they’ll only be a small part of a general archaeological or folkloric collection. And how often will eating and drinking be a key part of your experience?

Rio

Galeto Sat's: Spring Chickens and Sugarcane Spirits

Although there are plenty of bars on Copacabana’s famous Avenida Atlântica – or even at the beach, at the so called quiosques – very few are worth a visit. Many are just tourist traps. Others are much too expensive. No, the really good bars in Copacabana are inland, along Barata Ribeiro street. That road, along with some of the side streets that let onto it, reveals the true face of Copacabana's popular gastronomy. One of the first bars you encounter on Barata Ribeiro is Galeto Sat's. Open seven days a week, always until 5 a.m., the bar is a bohemian temple – but it’s far from being only that. For many cariocas, Sat's serves the best galeto in town. A galeto is a very young chicken (no more than three months old) cooked over a big coal-fired grill.

Barcelona

La Estrella: Grand Dame

An old star from the previous century still shines brightly in Port Vell. Renovated in 1992, La Estrella is a small, comfortable restaurant that serves simple but refined Catalan dishes, thoughtfully prepared from quality local products. The atmosphere is formal but relaxed, quiet and friendly, with the time kept by the discreet sounding of three wall clocks. It feels like eating in someone’s home.

Shanghai

Spicy Moment: The Hunan Touch

It’s a rare feat, even in Shanghai, when a Chinese restaurant serves authentic dishes in an atmosphere that is style-conscious, laid-back and affordable. Spicy Moment manages all three, so it’s no surprise to learn that the owner, Lao Deng, owns a quirky interior design shop just across the street and constantly moves between the two spaces. His jaunty hats reveal an eye for style, and perhaps this Hunan native can take some credit for turning Wuyuan Lu into one of the former French Concession’s hottest browsing – and now eating – destinations.

Istanbul

Save Pando: Eviction Threat for Istanbul's Iconic Kaymak Shop

This spot is sadly no longer open. It was at a dinner at Mikla, one of Istanbul’s fanciest restaurants, that we identified a turning point in this city’s restaurant culture, one which might finally favor the informal, traditional and often overlooked local eateries that are the heart, soul and lovely underbelly of this city. In one brief description of an appetizer it was noted that the butter used was sourced from Beşiktaş Kaymakçı. Pando’s butter at Mikla? Worlds collided.

Istanbul

CB on the Road: Island Hopping Fit for a Prince

Editor's note: We are sad to report that SofrAda has closed. One of our favorite spots to make a quick summer getaway from Istanbul is the idyllic car-free and forested paradise of the Princes’ Islands, located just a short ferry ride away from the city. Here’s where you should eat when you get there.

Shanghai

Shanghai's Top 5 Vegetarian Eateries: Beyond Buddha's Delight

Strict vegetarians in Shanghai face a double-edged sword when it comes to staying meat-free. On the one hand, the country’s large Buddhist population means they are in good company. It is estimated that the total number of vegetarians in China reached about 50 million last year. However, while tofu dishes can be found on just about every Chinese menu, that doesn’t mean that the dishes are strictly meat-free. To vegetarians’ dismay, pork and meat-based broths are often used to give the soy-based dishes more flavor, and special requests (even simple ones like “no meat”) are not usually complied with (or understood). Traditionally, meat is often sliced in very thin strips (肉丝, ròu sī) and used to flavor vegetable and tofu dishes, as opposed to being the star

Barcelona

CB on the Road: Madrid's New Wave Markets

On recent visits to Madrid, we’ve noticed that a new breed of food market has taken hold of the city’s attention. While the traditional kind with food stalls slowly disappears, vibrant, culture-focused gastromarkets are booming. In addition to great food, they offer a mix of businesses, along with cooking demos, live music, exhibitions – the list goes on. In 2009, the private society El Gastródomo de San Miguel refurbished a beautiful building that was built in 1916 and located very close to Plaza Mayor. It was opened as the “culinary space” Mercado de San Miguel. Though the initial inspiration was Barcelona’s La Boquería, San Miguel is utterly different, with its own colorful, unique personality. The market is dedicated not just to selling quality seasonal foods, but also to allowing visitors to enjoy them in situ, at tables and chairs distributed throughout common areas. They can choose from cod, fresh shellfish and other seafood, various vermuts, pickles and olives, paella, churros, Spanish wines, international beers, delicious Iberian ham and cured sausages and cheeses, ice cream and non-Spanish items, such as pasta or sushi. Unsurprisingly, the concept has been a hit, and other similarly styled markets have since popped up around the city.

Barcelona

First Stop: Massimiliano Alajmo's Barcelona

In the latest installment of our recurring feature First Stop, we asked chef Massimiliano Alajmo where he heads first for food when he arrives in Barcelona. Alajmo is the chef of Le Calandre, in Padua, Italy, which received its third Michelin star in 2002, making Alajmo, at 28, the youngest chef to ever achieve that distinction.

Rio

Cachambeer: The Rib Shack

With its festive atmosphere, excellent grilled ribs and ice-cold beers, Cachambeer attracts hundreds of hungry cariocas and tourists to the suburb of Cachambi nearly every day. It’s one of Rio’s most popular botequins, but it all started merely by chance.

Shanghai

Ask CB: Food Safety in China?

Dear Culinary Backstreets, I’ve heard some horror stories about food safety scandals in China. How does an adventurous eater explore Shanghai without having any culinary misadventures? There’s no hiding the fact that recent years have seen the highly publicized exposure of some unsavory information on China’s food safety record. While the headlines may not be any worse than those seen recently in other countries (whether unlabeled horse meat or fecal matter in ground turkey), the Chinese lately have reached appalling levels of creativity in their food scandals, from thousands of diseased pigs washing up in the Huangpu River, to rat, fox and mink meat being pawned off as lamb at hotpot restaurants.

Istanbul

Azerbaycan Sofrası: The Baku-Moscow-Istanbul Culinary Pipeline

Looking at a map of the southern Caucasus, you’d expect Azerbaijan to be the next big thing in the world of food, sandwiched as it is between culinary heavyweights Georgia and Iran, connected as it is in so many ways to Anatolian Turkey. Previous trips to that country have not delivered, though. The last time we were in Baku, we landed hungry and curious and left disappointed by a trip whose gustatory high point was pints and bar snacks at a pub called Camel’s Toe.

Mexico City

Tacos de Canasta La Abuela: Basket Case

Just a block away from Mexico City’s financial district, one unlikely food star sets up shop every morning. From Monday to Saturday, at La Abuela, 72-year-old Arnulfo Serafin Hernandéz feeds hungry office workers, commuters, neighbors, school kids, government officials and tourists from all over the world with one of the simplest Mexican dishes: tacos de canasta.

Shanghai

Apo's Seafood: A Winning Shell Game

Cantonese seafood restaurants are almost always stuffy dining institutions, with gilded menus listing astronomically priced shark’s fin soup and braised abalone in private dining rooms with gaudy chandeliers. Like a rebellious younger sibling, Apo’s Seafood has taken the marine Canto theme down a road more graffitied, democratizing the experience by scrapping the stuffiness and serving up affordable, delicious fare from the ocean.

Barcelona

EatStreet: The Great Outdoors

Providing something simple, cheap and good to eat in Spain is easy – as long as there’s a proper fire exit and plumbing. Life is harder for street vendors and food trucks: Spanish law permits cooking and selling fresh (unpackaged) food in street stalls only during festivals or events or in markets run by an organization.

Rio

The Botequim: Rio Gastrobar Classics, Northeast Edition

Editor's Note: Sadly, Nordestino Carioca is now closed. In Brazil, the nordeste, or northeast, is the poorest region of the country. In the last 50 years, the harsh climate and lack of job opportunities in the cities have caused a massive migration of nordestinos to more developed centers, like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Athens

Base Grill: All Your Meats Belong to Us

In Athens’ western suburbs, near bustling Bournazi Square, sits Base Grill, a steakhouse where regulars converge from every part of Athens. At their restaurant, twin brothers Spiros and Vangelis Liakos have taken the art of grilling to new heights. Base Grill has the atmosphere of a modern tavern: old posters on the walls, soft colors, nothing extravagant. The space is often packed, so we recommend reserving – especially on weekends.

Mexico City

First Stop: JJ Goode's Mexico City

Editor’s note: We asked writer JJ Goode where he heads first for food when he lands in Mexico City. He has written about food and travel for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appétit and many other publications. He is also the co-author of Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand, with Andy Ricker; A Girl and Her Pig, with April Bloomfield; Truly Mexican andTacos, Tortas, and Tamales, with Roberto Santibañez; and Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking, with Masaharu Morimoto.

Shanghai

Fangbang Lu: Street Food Heaven's Gate

Editor's note: We're sorry to report that the vendors and restaurants at Sipalou Lu and Fangbang Lu have suffered the same fate as those on Wujiang Lu and have been shut down. For street food, head to the area around Er Guang. In the lead-up to the 2010 World Expo, the government tore down one of Shanghai’s most famous food streets, Wujiang Lu, so the city would appear more “civilized” in the eyes of businesspeople and tourists visiting from around the world. Sparkling cookie-cutter international brands replaced family-run hawker stalls, and Wujiang Lu’s fried bun purveyors and stinky tofu vendors were scattered across the city. But its sad fate, which left a gaping hole in the city’s culinary landscape, also created new opportunities, allowing Fangbang Lu to become one of the city’s top food streets.

Athens

Kelly's Cookbookstore: Cooking the Books

Editor's note: We're sorry to report that Kelly's Cookbookstore has closed. Thinking we’d find something like New York City’s Kitchen Arts and Letters or London’s Books for Cooks, we paid a visit to Kelly’s Cookbookstore near Omonia Square. Like them, the shop is warm and inviting, its owners encyclopedic sources on all matters culinary. Unlike them, it also doubles as an emporium for select kitchen accessories, chefs’ outfits and especially knives. In fact, displayed on the wall opposite the bookshelves, the knives seemed to outnumber the books, most of which are in Greek.

Barcelona

El Tiet Taver Teca: Our Favorite Uncle

Ivan Rodríguez Vivancos is el tiet, Catalan for “the uncle,” a nickname given to him by the cooks who worked under him at renowned fine-dining restaurant La Terraza del Claris. Today, “El Tiet” is at the helm of his own restaurant, away from the stressful environment of alta cocina, in a place where he can also transport his customers away from the stress of daily urban living.

Rio

Botto Bar: Bromancing the Taps

Editor's Note: Sadly, this spot is now closed. It sounds like material ripe for a bromance film: four college students – all childhood buddies – take an epic road trip together in the 1990s during Carnival to a Rio beach town and rent a separate truck just to transport their 800 bottles of beer. Fast-forward a few years: each eventually settles down and goes his separate way – a phone company executive, a tax lawyer, a law grad, a gourmet chef. But each lives a life outside of his ho-hum routine one – a second life that involves copious amounts of beer.

Mexico City

Tamales Los Vaporcitos: Full Steam Ahead

On our list of favorite Mexican comfort foods, the tamal would likely come in near the top. Simple, yet extremely versatile, tamales share pre-Hispanic roots with the tortilla. A corn masa very similar to the kind created during the nixtamalization process to make tortillas is used as the base for delicious tamales. Recently, we found a first-rate version of this ancient food from a new street vendor located just blocks from the Monumento a la Revolución.

Shanghai

Ask CB: Cooking Classes in Shanghai?

Dear Culinary Backstreets,I love to cook as much as I love to eat, and on my upcoming trip to Shanghai, I’d love to take a cooking class to learn more about Chinese cooking and ingredients. Where can I take English-language cooking classes in the city? With the typical Chinese menu offering 100-plus items, there is a world of Chinese cooking to be discovered, whether you’re in Shanghai for a brief trip or an extended expat adventure. Learning the cooking methods behind some of your favorite dishes will give you the tools to recreate (and adapt to your tastes) your favorite dishes at home using ingredients commonly found in neighborhood markets. One of the biggest expenses expats face in the city is relying on imported food to make Western dishes, which can provide even more incentive to learn to cook local delicacies.

Istanbul

Ramadan’s Iftar: The Break Fast of Champions

Update: Sultanzade Sofrası is sadly no longer open. Think of Ramadan, which began in late June in many parts of the world, as a kind of monthlong biathlon that consists of an all-day race to beat back the hunger and thirst of fasting, followed by an all-night marathon of eating and drinking in order to fortify the body for the next day’s fast. In recent years in Turkey, iftar, the traditional break fast meal that used to mostly consist of some dates and a freshly baked round of Ramadan pide, has started to become an increasingly trendy affair, with ministers, businessmen and regular people trying to make an impression by hosting ever more lavish meals.

Rio

Rio's German Bars: Real Chopps

In just a few hours, Germany will play Brazil in a World Cup semi-final match, but the outcome doesn’t matter. Win or lose, Germany has already conquered this nation – gastronomically speaking, at least. This isn’t fancy gastronomy, of course (leave that to the French!), but the simple, hearty, delicious food that the best Brazilian German bars serve all over the country, especially in Rio. German bars have been beloved institutions in Rio for a very long time. The most famous ones have been around since before World War II, when Rio was the capital of the country and the federal government was flirting with German's National Socialist Party. By 1939, Rio had a dozen German bars.

Athens

Aigaion: Holey Tradition

Editor’s note: We’re sad to report that Aigaion has closed. Loukoumades! In the long, slow afternoons that would follow the enormous Sunday lunches with the full complement of our parents’ friends, all one had to say was that word, and the calm would be broken. Women (and sometimes men) would instantly bustle into the kitchen, haul out large plastic basins and begin the preparation. After what always seemed an interminable wait, plates loaded with golden, deep-fried balls of dough, crispy and drenched in honey, would appear from the kitchen, followed by a yelping array of children.

Istanbul

First Stop: Anissa Helou's Istanbul

Editor’s note: In the latest installment of our recurring feature First Stop, we asked chef and food writer Anissa Helou where she heads first for food when she arrives in Istanbul. Helou is the author of many cookbooks, includingLebanese Cuisine, Mediterranean Street Food, Savory Baking from the MediterraneanandThe Fifth Quarterand has also written for publications such as the Observer Food Monthly, FT Weekend, the Times Magazine and Food & Wine. She has been featured on numerous radio and TV programs in the U.S. and U.K.

Istanbul

CB on the Road: Büyükada Hi-Lo

If it’s because of showing visitors around or simply a desire to get away from the city for the day, we can usually count on at least one visit a summer to Büyükada, the largest of the Princes’ Islands. But as much as we like looking at the car-free island’s Victorian mansions and visiting its quiet, forested backside, when it comes time to eat on Büyükada, we feel like we’re stuck inside an airport, forced to eat mediocre food at outrageous prices. (Although we very much like the food at Kıyı, a seaside restaurant on the island that we’ve previously recommended, even a casual dinner there ends up costing more than what one would like.)

Barcelona

El Xiringo: Trading Places

As a side benefit of his former life as a financial advisor, Xavier Maymo got to spend 20 years dining at some of Europe’s finest restaurants. When he would return home after his business trips, he would relax by recreating the dishes he had enjoyed at these restaurants in his own kitchen. His mother had taught him the basics of cooking when he was a kid, and his natural gifts and intuition allowed him to recall flavors and then to riff on them and invent new ideas. Over the years, Maymo also sought out many chefs in order to learn from them, and in the process he became friends with them.

Mexico City

CB on the Road: Taxco, Pueblo Mágico

In Mexico, magic is all around us. It’s in the architecture, history, way of life – and, of course, the food. The country’s Ministry of Tourism is no stranger to this magic, and in fact, fully grasping its economic possibilities, it created the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2001 to recognize villages that are unique and historically significant. There are now 80 such pueblos mágicos across the country, and one of our favorites is just a short drive away from Mexico City.

Rio

Café e Bar Macaense: No Ticket? No Problem

Editor's Note: Sadly, this spot is now closed. Rio’s legendary soccer stadium, Maracanã, has been called “the temple of futebol” for more than 60 years, and these days, it’s a magnet for ever more worshippers of the Beautiful Game. Even those without a ticket are drawn to the stadium, just to be close to the party and, at the very least, to feel the undeniably intense and infectious excitement that’s in the air here.

Athens

Hello, Neighbors: Middle Eastern Comes to Downtown Athens

Like many cultures with a strong national food culture, Athens has been slow to welcome foreign cuisines. First, there were the heady 1990s, when the first luxurious restaurants serving such food opened. That was followed by a decade of discovery, with the first mid-priced sushi and Indian restaurants appearing left, right and center. An enormous influx of immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and North Africa from the mid-2000s onwards brought pockets of Middle Eastern grocery stores and eateries to downtown Athens, Kypseli and Patisia. Just a few years ago, Athens’ Middle Eastern food scene was divided in two, with various mid-priced to expensive restaurants catering to Greeks and the Kurdish, Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan immigrants making delicious street food for their own communities (and a few adventurous Athenians).

Shanghai

Fengyu: Fast, Cheap and Out of This World

At noon, the line stretches out the door and there’s a noisy rumble of loud voices inside the Ruijin Erlu and Nanchang Lu branch of Fengyu (丰裕), a neighborhood staple that has fed locals for decades deep in the heart of the former French Concession. According to Dianping, China’s most-visited food website, there are 35 branches of this eatery, whose name aptly means “plentiful abundance,” and some are franchised with slightly varied menus. This branch is state-owned, and it opens early, like most of Shanghai. (Latecomers will find most of the dishes sold out.)

Istanbul

CB on the Road: Karadeniz Dreams

Trabzon doesn’t face the sea so much as fall into it like it’s hugging an old friend. The weight of dozens of mountains and just as many rivers pushes the city into the Black Sea, and the blue-collar port and ribbons of highways get the region’s bounties out of the city seemingly while the bread is still warm. Due to the massive out-migration that the region has undergone since the 1980s, countless pide shops and lokantas promising Karadeniz (“Black Sea”) recipes can be found in Istanbul, and some of them are quite good. But with food as simple and unique as what’s found in the Turkish Black Sea coast, it’s not the recipes that pack a punch so much as the ingredients. The freshest and weirdest are found in Trabzon and its environs and are as good an excuse to up and live in Trabzon as the mountains and the music.

Rio

Rio's Hostel Bars: Not (Just) for Tourists

Editor's Note: Sadly, Guilhermina Bar and Oztel Hostel are now closed. Rio is full of tourists right now. The reason, of course, is the World Cup. They’ve been coming in waves – our Latin American brothers, especially. One week, it was the Argentineans. They invaded the city in their motor homes and with their raucous, passionate songs. The next week, it was time for the Chileans to do the same. It’s a rollicking good time for everyone! And for us cariocas, we finally feel like we’re at the center of the world.

Athens

CB on the Road: Spata's Breakfast of the Saints

Spata (pop. 10,000) lies just 20 km east of Athens and is probably best known as the location of Athens International Airport. But the town is more than just a gateway into and out of the region – especially at the end of June. That’s when Spata hosts a festival to honor St. Peter and St. Paul, the official protectors of the city. The highlight of the festival comes at the end of the last day, June 30, with a glorious communal meal: Enormous quantities of braised beef that have been cooked for 12 hours over a wood fire are served to all the citizens of Spata and visitors to the town.

Mexico City

Taquería La Única: Snout to Tail

Carnitas, a pork dish that originated in the state of Michoacán, can be found in restaurants, markets and street stalls all over Mexico City – it’s a fixture of the chilango diet. The other day, we received an invitation to visit a carnitas place that our host said would blow our minds – and that’s definitely the kind of offer we never refuse.

Barcelona

Ratafía: A Midsummer's Night Drink

In Catalonia around the summer solstice, we make one of our most traditional liqueurs, ratafía, for which the herbs, fruit and flowers that are macerated in alcohol must be collected on Saint John’s Eve, or June 23. This highly aromatic digestif has long been believed to have medicinal properties. There’s even an old Catalan rhyme along those lines: Ratafía, tres o cuatro al día (“Ratafía, three or four per day”). Different versions of the liqueur have been made for centuries in eastern Spain and some regions of France and Italy but, like the other herb liqueurs throughout Europe, they originated from the Ancient Roman and Greek custom of macerating fruit and herbs in wine, from Arabian perfume distillation and from the sophisticated medieval distillations in monasteries and convents that created the first aguardientes, or grape-based, medicinal liqueurs.

Mexico City

First Stop: Dave Hagerman's Mexico City

Editor’s note: In the latest installment of our recurring feature, First Stop, we asked Asia-based photographer David Hagerman where he stops first for food when he arrives in Mexico City. Hagerman’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Saveur, Food & Wine, AFAR, SBS Feast and the Wall Street Journal, among many other publications.

Istanbul

Last of the Milkmen: Fehmi Özsüt’s Kaymak, from Buffalo to Table

Charming and surprising, Fehmi Özsüt has an easy, no-worries smile that belies a life full of unbelievable stories and intense work. Every day, even on weekends, he wakes up at 3 a.m. in order to run his kaymak business. A quivery clotted cream made from water buffalo milk, kaymak is served with honey and bread for a rich and filling breakfast. Since 1915, Özsüt’s family of Albanian immigrants has run the Karaköy Özsüt muhallebici, or milk pudding shop. Now he is carrying the torch and managing a small water buffalo farm to supply the main ingredient for the shop’s traditional desserts.

Barcelona

Jamón Ibérico: Spain's Leg-endary Ham

In Spain, pork is serious business; it’s been a fundamental part of the diet here for millennia. Pigs were an important animal on the first Celtic farms and also for the Iberians (around the 6th century BCE), who would sell to other Mediterranean peoples salted and cured pork, as well as olive oil and wine. In that time, the Romans – who already loved and produced ham, even creating ham-shaped coins as a symbol of value – appreciated the ham from Iberian lands such as Tarraco, where, recently, a fossilized ham was found that was more than 2,000 years old (now that’s what we call aged!).

Athens

CB on the Road: Nutty Aegina

The cosmopolitan island of Aegina sits in the center of the Saronic Gulf, a few miles away from Piraeus – close enough for a quick day trip from Athens. Aegina may not have the gastronomic reputation of the Cyclades or Crete, but it does have its famous pistachios, the first Greek agricultural product that earned the European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin status, in 1996. Pistachio trees arrived in Greece around 1850 and were first cultivated in Zante. A few years later, a local named Dr. N. Peroglou decided to cultivate pistachio trees in Aegina using rootstock from Syria. Over the years, local farmers grafted the Syrian trees with those from Chios, yielding a new variety that produces superb nuts.

Rio

Samba and Sombreros: Pregaming Brazil vs. Mexico

Editor's Note: Sadly, Azteka is now closed. Being a host for the World Cup really changes the routine of any city. Just imagine, then, what it’s like when you’re the main point of entry for the country – the place everybody wants to visit, even if their national teams are scheduled to play in other cities. Tourists have been pouring into Rio over the last couple of weeks, many Mexicans are among them – and, of course, the big match between Mexico and Brazil is tomorrow. (We’ve already written about where to watch matches if you don’t have a ticket.) And if you’re a fan of Mexico’s national team, where in Rio can you go to get in the spirit for this game? Where might one go afterward to celebrate or drown one’s sorrows? Where do Mexicans in Rio go when they’re feeling homesick? Here’s our list of the best Mexican spots in town.

Istanbul

Turkistan Uygur Lokantası: Food from the Noodlelands

Anyone who has spent time in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia (or, “the ’Stans”) will have developed a deep and lasting appreciation for the cuisine of the Uighur, a Turkic people spread across the region whose homeland, Uygurstan, lies across the border in western China.

Mexico City

Los Machetes Amparito: A Cut Above the Rest

If you think you know quesadillas, think again. Since 1964, the Montoya family has been preparing a version that defies the concept, even by Mexican standards. We were told that in the Guerrero neighborhood – undeservedly considered a rough area – we would find a quesadilla so large that just one would be enough to feed two people. We consider ourselves good eaters, so we took this as a challenge.

Athens

To Navagio ton Angelon: Treasures from the Deep

What are the odds that after you’ve been to an exhibition of finds from a long-ago shipwreck you’ll end up having lunch at a place named Shipwreck of Angels? We’d been to the National Archaeological Museum in downtown Athens to see a roomful of haunting statues wrenched up from the deep off the tiny island of Antikythera. Though half the marble exposed to the saltwater was corroded and raw-looking, the torsos, limbs and faces that had lain under the sand for 2,000 years remained flawless and smooth. The sight of them was both moving and troubling, as if they were souls that should not have been disturbed.