By Katie Sehl
In The Air
If you’re arriving hungry, few places rival with Singapore Changi Airport. Named the World’s Best Airport Dining Experience by Skytrax this year ( for the eighth time), the hub is home to nearly 200 dining options, including the newly renovated hawker street with 10-plus stalls. At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, chef and humanitarian José Andrés reimagines airside dining with Capital One Landing, a lounge-restaurant hybrid serving caviar cones and gambas al ajillo with leather banquettes with power outlets and luggage nooks.
Cruise News
Eat Your Way from Shore to Sea
Cruise travelers can now get a better taste of Vienna and Budapest before or after they set sail. The cities are the latest destinations to pilot Ensemble’s Hotel Cruise Amenity Program, now available ineight cruise hubs including Miami, Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral, Amsterdam and Vancouver. The program turns pre-cruise layovers into part of the journey with hotel upgrades, complimentary breakfast and private port transfers – leaving guests free to linger in Vienna’s cafés or barhop through BUdapest’s famed ruin pubs.
Now Open
Earn Your Chops with Jamie Oliver
Sizzling Souvlaki, Brilliant Bao and Next-level Gnocchi are just some of the classes on offer at the new Jamie Oliver Cookery School at John Lewis Oxford Street, the flagship location of the British department store. Oliver and his team of chefs – joined by guests like “The Pie King” Calum Franklin and Ottolenghi Test Kitchen alum Noor Murad – run workshops ranging from one-hour tasters to full-day master classes, all in kitchens kitted out for up to 48 attendees.
On Trend
Out with the Buffet
Dining at sea is becoming a finer affair. A recent study in the Journal of Foodservice Business Research, based on cruise reviews, reveals a growing preference for gourmet over standard fare. Market research from PW Consulting points to rising demand for sustainable ingredients, health-conscious menus and experiential formats – like Explora Journeys’ Chef Invité series of Hurtigruten’s farm-to-galley Coastal Kitchen – as drivers of this trend. But upscale doesn’t always mean formal. Oceania Cruises’ Allura debuted in July with the semi-casual Crêperie, while Carnival is testing Express Dining aboard Carnival Vista: gourmet in under 45 minutes.
Travel Size
Keep Your Electrolytes Lit
From the makers of the relaxing Magnesi-Om powder, a key ingredient in the TikTok-famous sleepy girl mocktail (along with tart cherry juice and seltzer), Moon Juice’s Mini Dew is like a wake-up call for your brain. Available in a jar or single-serve sticks, the dissolvable drink mix packs potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium into a watermelon- or pomelo-flavored punch (or unflavored), delivering the cognetive and hydrating boost you need to reboot after a red-eye or a day of sightseeing in the sun.
Mini Dew, US$44 93.9-oz jar) – moonjuice.com
New and Noteworthy
Firsts for the Michelin Guide
Sushi Shunei, Paris, France
In March, Chizuko Kimura became the world’S first female sushi chef to earn a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise made to her late husband to carry on his legacy at their nine-seat, Edomae-style restaurant at the base of Montmartre.
Minimal, Taichung, Taiwan
Reservations are recommended fot the seven-course tasting menu at the world’s only starred ice creamery, but anyone can get the scoop at the main-level parlor, where flavors may include pine-needle gelato or sake sorbet.
FZN, Dubai, UAE
When FZN at Dubai’s Atlantis, The Palm, earned three Michelin stars in May, it clinched an exclusive trifecta for Sweden’s – three threee-star restaurants. The others? Frantzén and Zén in dowtown Singapore.
What’s New
Old Flames, New Claims
The wood-fired oven at Casa Botín has never gone cold since it was first lit 300 years ago – a practice to prevent cracks, and one that’s helped the Madrid tavern secure the Guinness title as the world’s oldest restaurant. To qualify, a restaurant must prove continuous operation under the same name, location and purpose – criteria older eateries like Autria’s Franzisker (1421) can’t meet. But another Madrid tavern, Casa Pedro (1702), and Roman trattoria La Campana (1518), claim they have what it takes to usurp Botín. Even old ovens , it seems, can face new heat.
Worlds of Flavor
A Kitchen In Italy, Mimi Thorisson
A collection of 100 recipes rooted in simple Italian home coooking, all beloved by the author’S toughest critics: her children. Refined over years of living in Torino, dishes like summery zucchini spaghetti and hearty stuffed chicken make this a book for every season.
Mon Cambodge, Nite Yun
Explore the bold, bright flavors of Khmer and Cambodian American cuisine through chef Nite Yun’s specialities like cha mee sou, a peppery stir-fry of glass noodles and yuba (tofu skin), or ngyom trayong jenk, her signature banana-blossom salad that’s rarely left off her menus.
Fusão, Ixta Belfrage
From the mind behind Mexcla and co-author of Flavor, Fusão honors Ixta Belfrage’s Brazilian roots. Like its title Portuguese for “fusion,” it blands Indigenous, Portuguese and West African beats in recipes like saucy moqueca fish burgers and chilled avocado soup.
Local Lingo
Sgrìob dibhe
If you’ve ever felt an anticipatory itch on your lip before a sip, you’ve experienced sgrìob dibhe – literally “drink itch” – a sensation only Gaelic speakers in Scotland have put into words. Since it’s from Scotland, home to the highest concentration of malt and grain distilleries in the world, the phrase has come to be associated with whisky. The twinge felt before a kiss? That’s sgrìob poige. Dram or snog, the Scots know: The best things start with a tingle.
