Great Gobbles For Future Travels

Memorable meals across the world to look forward to when we can travel again

- Prachi Joshi

Melbourne’s Tulum specialises in inventive takes, on Turkish cuisine like this lamb kebab studded with pistachio; For close to three decades, Gramercy Tavern (facing page) has been a New York icon, known for its top-class dining and warm service.

I love eating at restaurants, and it’s not just because of my job as a travel and food writer. It’s been nearly a year since COVID-19 upended our world— work-from-home, travel bans, lives, and livelihoods lost. The restaurant industry was hit hard worldwide; Momofuku’s David Chang had painted a grim picture of the industry’s future in an article for The New York Times Magazine last year and was sadly proven correct.

In the absence of (enough) government assistance, many restaurants simply shut shop globally, especially the smaller establishments and stand-alone ones. Even as lockdowns lifted and restaurants started reopening, it’s hardly been business as usual. Fewer tables, packaged cutlery, and more hygiene products have become a norm.

Some countries like New Zealand, Australia, and Vietnam have achieved a semblance of ‘return to normal’ while in others like the U.S.A., U.K., and countries across the EU, restaurants are primarily open for delivery and takeaway or outdoor dining. Of course, rules keep changing as the virus surges on, and despite the good news on the vaccine front, it is likely that we will be social distancing at least until 2022 as Harvard scientists had predicted last year.