Weekly round-up of great reads on food and wine #43

In the peak of summer the daily routine tends to get lost. There are times when it is too hot to think, let alone write. You dive into the pool and it is warm, the sea temperature is 28C and not even a cool shower is possible because the water coming out from the shower head is too warm for respite.

And that means that writing sometimes becomes harder. It is why this weekly round-up comes a day later. But, nevertheless, there’s lots to read.

Which is the most expensive city for food? And how do you go about deciding this? Hotels.com has come up with a study called the club sandwich index which looks at the price of hotel dining in major cities around the world. The study looks at the price of a club sandwich, a burger, a glass of house red wine and a cup of coffee in 28 different cities. The most expensive cities in order were Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong, Oslo and London.

Elizabeth Auerbach, who reviews restaurants independently and is someone worth following on social media, recently reviewed Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain. This is a grill restaurant which is in the top 2 of the most recommended restaurants in Spain in the Where Chefs Eat guide.

Nick Lander, the restaurant reviewer of the Financial Times and one who carries a lot of weight because he was a former restaurateur, has been disappointed with the service of the restaurant at the hotel owned by Bernie Ecclestone called Hotel Ecclestone. Read why here.

Photos of food on Instagram may be wonderful but they don’t necessarily tell the whole story, says Stephen Harris in the Telegraph.

Foodiva is your go to blog for the food scene in Dubai, but she is also Cypriot so this insider’s guide is a must for anyone heading to Cyprus anytime soon. She was also recently on a gastronomic tour of Italy. Here she gives a culinary guide to Italy, region by region.

After the success of  Noma’s pop-up restaurant in Tokyo, Rene Redzepi has announced that he will be relocating his restaurant to Sydney for ten weeks in January 2016. The temporary opening of top-end restaurants in different parts of the world seems to be one of the latest trends.

Brown sauce was certainly not a favourite of mine when I was growing up despite the fact that was easily available. Now it seems like sales are falling. The author of this article asks whether Britain has finally come to its senses.

It is clearly barbecue season and this article shows you how to reduce the health risk of barbecuing meat by just adding beer. We might give it a try next time we put on the fire.

KiwiandKoala of Winewalkabout.net have an interesting article on a wine tasting of Italian wines with James Suckling. They happen to mention one of our all time favourite red wines from Sicily.

Is Piedmont the new Burgundy asks this article?