Neil Walker

Dinner last month at Haoma in Bangkok. Here chef Deepanker Khosla, or DK, has created an oasis in the heart of this vast metropolis and Bangkok’s first urban farm restaurant. The food is ‘Neo Indian’, so new or revived dishes that are close to DK’s heart. This might include a course that is 100% sustainable with zero carbon footprint and entirely made up from ingredients grown within a few feet of your table or a dish that is a very personal tribute to a special person in DK’s life or a modern interpretation of some street food that he ate as a child. So it is definitely cooking from the heart and you can feel DK’s passion and soul in every mouthful.
To achieve what he has in a city like Bangkok is remarkable really and I have nothing but admiration for him. He basically built the place with his bare hands and as we were shown around the property towards the end of the meal we were amazed at the extent of his efforts to push for sustainability and grow as much as he can on site including the fish that you eat during the meal.
This includes 140 metres of vertical farm made from reclaimed gutters which is hydrated using a rain water harvesting system, a tomato farm using old paint buckets that were used to build the house, young plants are nurtured in composted material in old styrofoam boxes so as to strive for zero waste. He built his own tilapia fish farm from a YouTube video and uses the fish excreted waste to then feed the plants that are then served as part of the fish dishes. The fish are fed pellets made from waste from the kitchen and the water that feeds the plants is harvested rain water so he has created a 100% sustainable eco system in his back garden, mind blowing stuff really. He has 30,000 litres of water in his well/tank (that he built himself of course) where around 1000 tilapia swim. In the above ground tanks he stores around 70 fish per tank so as to adhere to the Nordic fishing standards that say that every fish requires 5 litres of water in order to live freely and healthily. Oh, and the food is really tasty to!
I urge you to jump on the BTS and get off at Asok or Phrom Phong and take a wander up Soi 31 where you will find another world waiting for you, a world that will hopefully be the future for a lot more restaurants, homes and businesses.
Thank you Deepanker Khosla for an incredible evening that really opened my eyes ?? Less

Pre dinner? a few weeks ago at Tori Tama. Legit yakitori in the heart of Bangkok. Walk through the sake bar/shop on Park Lane, 18 Sukhumvit Soi 63 (Ekkamai BTS) and in the back is a U-shaped counter where you can sit and close your eyes and you are back in Japan. Then open them and get stuck in to every part of the chicken as this is the speciality here. Chicken neck, oysters, misaki (butt), wing, thigh, breast, liver, gizzard, heart, embryonic egg, skin....nothing is wasted here and everything is delicious. Chef Tanaka San is really coming up with the goods here. Highly recommended when you are in Bangkok. Less

Dinner last month with Hayley Evans (and unexpectedly Matt Abé of Restaurant Gordon Ramsey) at Mãos in London. Gareth Ward and the team from Ynyshir in Wales came for two nights to cook their menu in the Mãos kitchen with the assistance of Nuno Mendez, Eduardo Pellicano and their team. The food was, as expected from Gareth, flawless, delicious and focused on flavour rather than elaborate and unnecessary presentation. Ynyshir if you remember is the restaurant that me and Gerhard Huber went for lunch but pleaded with them to let us stay for dinner to enjoy the menu all over again, so it’s safe to say that I am a fan of the cooking there.
Mãos is kind of a supper club, with just one communal table seating 16 people. The kitchen is open for you to wander around and chat to the chefs as they cook and also the wine room so it’s kind of like a dinner party at someone’s house (what, don’t your friends have a wine room???‍♂️). I have been once before and enjoyed it thoroughly. You don’t have to ask me twice to hang out in the kitchen drinking wine. As with any communal table it’s a bit hit and miss with who you end up dining with so I was glad to click straight away with the people next to me and opposite me on that visit.
The company during this visit was also great (Hayley ?) and it was a pleasant surprise to be sharing the table with Matt Abé, the head chef at Royal Hospital Road for the evening. Although slightly annoying to have your conversation with him interrupted every few minutes by a lady saying things like “Oh you’re a cook are you? I love to cook. Do you cook pies? I have a great recipe for steak & kidney pie. What’s your email? Ill send it to you.” (Matt had the patience of a saint).
I think putting Gareth’s team in to Mãos was great and gives them some more exposure in the capital, (not that he needs it really as Ynyshir is a tough reservation now) of course, as I’ve said the food was great but the vibe did feel a little weird at times. Just purely because Ynyshir has a lively vibrant atmosphere (they have a DJ now during some services) with an emphasis on “Fun dine not Fine dine” and that’s difficult to put across in someone else’s restaurant while also trying to collaborate with them during the service. And with a communal table, everyone is a bit more focused on having a dinner party rather than a restaurant experience I guess.
That’s no disservice to the Mãos team who were fantastic. I would and will go back to both restaurants again as soon as I can. Less

Dinner a few weeks ago at ⭐️ restaurant Amelia in San Sebastián. Finally I am catching up to the trip to San Sebastián last month for the annual OAD (Opinionated About Dining) awards. More on that later but I was happy for my first meal back in San Sebastián, literally straight off the plane, to be at Paulo Airaudo’s restaurant Amelia. I had recently visited his London outpost Da Terra at the old Typing Room and Viajante site in Bethnal Green and so was keen to visit the Mother ship as it were. Also I was excited for him to be cooking later that week at the OAD ‘New to the List’ dinner where chefs that break in to the OAD top 100 European restaurant list are invited to cook one of their signature dishes at the awards ceremony (or massive piss up as I prefer to call it)
Paulo was there cooking for his 22 diners a tasting menu that draws influence from his Argentinian and Italian heritage, focusing on seasonal and sustainable produce provided by small producers that share his values and philosophy.
Having traveled and cooked in restaurants such as Arzak (⭐️⭐️⭐️), The Fat Duck (⭐️⭐️⭐️) and Magnolia (⭐️) it seems that he is now happy to settle in a town like San Sebastián where the eyes of the world’s chefs and food lovers are seemingly constantly focused. Indeed the restaurant is named from his daughter so it seems as though he has found his home here and I look forward to visiting again very soon.
Plus he’s a massive Star Wars fan as you will see from the pictures so because of this he is already a good egg in my book?
Highly recommended. Less

My next stop in Madrid was to this lovely local restaurant La Tasquita de Enfrente. Using 100% local Spanish produce, the chefs produce traditional dishes with modern flourishes and have been doing so for nearly 50 years. Highly recommended for a cosy casual dinner
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Michelin Guide - 🍽
OAD list -
W50Best- .
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #madridfoodies #spanishfoodie #oadtop100 #latasquitadeenfrente Less

Dinner last month at Casa Urola in San Sebastián with expert meat model (see video)and future wife Michael Price ?. Thanks to Steve Plotnicki for organising this little get together to precede the general drunkenness and debauchery that is the Opinionated About Dining (OAD) awards jolly.
At Casa Urola, chef Pablo Loureiro Rodil cooks dishes using the best seasonal vegetables, the freshest fish and seafood and the most select meats upstairs above the also excellent pintxos bar. This restaurant has been in existence since 1956 and is a must visit when in San Sebastián. Less

Lunch a few weeks ago preceding the OAD new to the list dinner at ⭐️ Zuberoa in the ancient village of Oiartzun near San Sebastián with the magnificent Margaret Lam, the beautiful Gareth Ward & Amelia Eiríksson, the ruggedly handsome and bearded Michael Price, the excellent Alejandro Alki & the stunning Stella Alikov and thanks to Marc Garcia for speaking the Spanish and sorting it all out.
This family run restaurant occupies a stunning Basque country house that is over 600 years old. The cuisine is a perfect marriage of the traditional and also the highly creative where chef Hilario Arbelaitz uses high quality seasonal ingredients to produce dishes that remember the roots of Basque cuisine. Check it out if you are in the area. Less

Lunch a few weeks ago at Kaia Kaipe in Getaria which is the next best thing (or the same best thing depending on your personal preference) to Elkano which was closed that day as they were preparing to cook dinner for us at the OAD awards.
You know it has to be good when our table and the room are just packed full of chefs and industry pros including ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Dabiz Muñoz from DiverXO in Madrid, Gareth Ward & Amelia Eiríksson of ⭐️ Ynyshir in Wales, the head honcho of ⭐️ Tickets in Barcelona, some guy called Michael Price (??‍♂️) as well as dedicated foodies like the lovely Alejandro Alki, Stella Alikov and Marc Garcia. A very nice lunch indeed ? Less

“Slurping your childhood”....cotton candy flan, beetroot, Vanilla & a touch of sriracha sauce
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The afternoon tea...croissant and white cookies mochi .
Our next meal was an incredible 28 course feast at ⭐️⭐️⭐️ DiverXO in Madrid where @dabizdiverxo ‘s remarkable creativity really blew us away. This really was a trip down the rabbit hole
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
OAD list - 46
W50Best- 75
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#achefabroad #itravelforfood #foodie #foodies #foodporn #foodpic #foodpics #finedining #michelindining #eats #instafoodie #michelinstar #oad #worlds50bestrestaurants #worlds50best #eater #iphonexsmax #michelinguide #foodlepro #influencer #sansebastian #spanishfoodie #oadtop100 #diverxomadrid #diverxo #dabizmuñoz Less

Next stop (in May) after Etxebarri was in Madrid the following day to visit ⭐️⭐️⭐️ DiverXO for lunch.....a looooong lunch (in a very good way).
The chef, Dabiz Munoz, was just 34 when he was awarded his 3rd Michelin Star in 2014 which is even more impressive when you consider that he was only awarded his first star in 2010.
The thrilling rollercoaster ride of 28 incredible dishes is impossible to contain in one post so here is the first part of the meal.
I have since visited StreetXO London (post to follow) which I had heard mixed opinions about but found it excellent and have already booked to revisit Madrid for his new menu and also StreetXO Madrid. It’s safe to say that I am a fan ?
Spoiler alert Hayley Evans , Cem Orkut although I am told we are getting a completely different menu ?
Instagram: @achefabroad Less