Our favorite foods and favorite restaurants do not always go hand in hand. For this Top 10, Jake and I list our favorite meal experiences - not just places where the food was good (or maybe even not so good), but where we enjoyed the ambiance and people we met more than anywhere else. Somehow we were able to agree on these, so we have one list to share with you today!
Our New Years Eve dinner with Estancia Nibepo Aike cooking on the disco in the giant fireplace! Jackie's Pollo al Disco was delicious!
Picnic style dinner at Heuriger Sirbu in Vienna!
- Art & Food, Prague - With the Schaals, we got the VIP treatment at this incredible restaurant, complete with private dining and wine pairing suggestions from our server, a trained sommelier!
- Grotta Della Rana, San Sano, Tuscany - This was the classic Tuscan dining experience we were looking for! The incredibly delicious homemade pasta, handwritten menu, and adorable old man who served us wine made this last meal with Abby one of our favorites
- Heuriger Sirbu, Vienna - After hiking through grapevines and bushes, we were rewarded with a beautiful view, wonderfully bone dry wine, and picnic style eats under the stars with awesome people.
- Easter Dinner at Chic's, Stirling, Scotland - This was a special opportunity to meet Chic's sons and share an excellent holiday meal. What a treat to truly feel like family while we're on the road.
- Rooftop Picnic at our Apartment, Avignon - As we sat on folding chairs on the roof, enjoying olives, cheese, and meat from the Uzes market, while sipping on the amazing 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape we bought at Cave St Charles, the realization of just how incredibly lucky we are to be able to do this trip washed over us.
- Blauw, Amsterdam - It was so fun to be able to share one of the most interesting dining experience of the Rice Table (18 different dishes) with our good friends, the Swensens!
- Dinner at Arni and Inez'a Wedding, Budapest - The traditions that accompanied each delicious dish taught us so much about Hungarian culture, and we loved being a part of it all!
- Weisses Brauhaus, Munich - We originally planned to sit next to some people our age to get to know some young local in the packed beer hall, but found two spots next to an older man eating by himself instead. Little did we know that Peter would become one of the most fascinating and entertaining people we would meet on our trip!
- Street Food, Southeast Asia - Interacting with locals, trying new foods, and not really knowing what anything is all adds to the fun of eating street food!
- Estancia Nibepo Aike, El Calafate, Argentina - Our guide, Jackie, on our horseback riding program made the most delicious New Years Eve meal of Pollo al Disco (bascially chicken stew), using a huge cast iron pan called a disco that stood over the logs in the giant fireplace!