Food & drink

Food & drink

When determining the ranking of these Panera goods, I paid attention to flavor, texture, and whether the soup lived up to what it was supposed to be or tasted like. Did the lobster bisque actually taste like lobster? Was the creamy tomato actually creamy and tomato-y? Was there plenty of tortellini to be found in the Tuscan-style tortellini soup? These were all questions I asked myself (and found the answer to) when trying and ranking these soups.

These days, if you want lobster, you pay a premium price for it. Even at a chain like Red Lobster, a Maine lobster tail and a rock lobster tail can cost around $45. At other restaurants, a single rock lobster tail may set you back almost $50. Considering the cost involved, you want to make sure you're getting what you pay for.

The 2010s were rife with new pizza concepts, like Blaze and MOD, and each were anointed the future of the industry at some point. In fact, fast casual pizza was so considered the next big thing in that even big name celebs were getting involved in the restaurants, with basketball stars LeBron James and Dwayne Wade owning portions of Blaze and 800° Woodfired Kitchen respectively.

For many years, wagyu was at the top of the branding pyramid. On menus, the word was synonymous with a singular, ultra-high-quality type of imported beef from Japan. The meat was famously so marbled with fat that it could appear almost pale, and the specialized cows were so well-treated that the final, shockingly expensive cost seemed justified. But in recent years, with the rise of cross-bred wagyu cattle in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand,

Tomato toast is a fan favorite of things to have for breakfast. It's quick and inexpensive to make, flavorful, and satisfying, and we love that it's filling yet light enough to start the day without making me sluggish. It is also quite versatile, as you can use different kinds of tomatoes and complement them with a variety of toppings. And when you want to dress it up, simply slather your toast with herbed cream cheese before topping with the tomatoes for a treat that feels a bit elevated,

Thanksgiving at The Beer Thrillers household usually means one thing: yes, the kids are arguing over who gets the wishbone, the pies are cooling on the counter, and the Macy's parade is droning in the background - but most importantly, a Pennsylvania craft beer is getting cracked and poured into whatever dish I'm cooking. Because if you're not using local beer in your holiday feast... what are you doing?

Silky, buttery, aromatic smoked salmon is one of Christmas's purest pleasures, yet salmon farms have a well-earned reputation for poor welfare and environmental damage, so choosing a sustainable one is more than a little daunting. Some certifications, however, are genuinely rigorous. My main guide, as ever, is the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) Good Fish Guide, which rates wild-caught Alaskan salmon as the best choice and ranks European Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified salmon as a good farmed choice.

Whether you're driving home for the holidays, travelling to far-flung places or staying cosy at home, one of the great joys of Christmas is making memories and indulging in nostalgic traditions. All over the globe, different countries and cultures celebrate the season in different ways, marking the holiday with long-established rites and rituals or merging heritage to create beautiful new traditions. Below, we run through some of our favourite Christmas traditions around the world, and ask the Traveller editors about their own personal festive rituals. From seafood feasts on Christmas day in Australia to surfing Santa's taking to the waves in SoCal, these are the most wholesome traditions for some festive joy this season.

For those who grew up slathering their steaks with it, finding out that A1 Sauce is a controversial ingredient is a bit surprising. After all, who wouldn't want to have their meat doused with that tart, sweet, spicy goodness? But steak lovers are often a dogmatic lot. Each one thinks their way of eating steak - how well done it should be, what cuts of steak to use, and what seasonings go on it - is the "correct" way to do it.

After living in the U.S. for seven years, Hung recently took the streets of New York by storm with an informal, intriguing business. The idea started three years ago when thousands of his fellow Venezuelans came to the Big Apple, but it only materialized a few weeks ago when he began selling portions of Venezuelan-style fried rice (a tropicalized version of the famous chow fan rice, which includes beef, chicken, shrimp, diced ham, vegetables, and wheat germ) in Brooklyn.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The winter holidays are nearly here, which means it's a great time to gather with friends and family for some festive celebratory drinks. But where to go? If cozy kitsch, the glow of Christmas lights and an abundance of tinsel are your vibe, head for one of these 11 pop-up holiday cocktail bars around the Bay Area.

The supermarket will debut in Friendship Plaza at 95 Murchison Drive and 135-143 S. El Camino Real, with an opening date scheduled for winter 2026. This is now the third T&T Supermarket in the works in the region, with other spots planned for San Jose's Westgate Center in the first half of 2026 and San Francisco's City Center at the end of 2026.

I didn't grow up in a baking household. As the Asian immigrant lore goes, our oven (and dishwasher, while we're at it) was, indeed, used primarily for storage. That isn't to say that we didn't love baked goods. One of my favorites growing up was the classic black-and-white cookie found in many New York City bakeries and Jewish delis. It was a real treat to pick one up after a museum or gallery trip with my mom.

They will give 100 free burgers from each of their locations across the UK (32 in London) to the first 100 people to queue up outside their restaurants. Not just a burger, but also a portion of their rosemary salted chips to add some carbs to the protein-rich meal. Honest's Double Smashed Burger features two smashed British beef patties, American cheese, brown butter mustard mayo, diced onions, and homemade pickles - and usually costs just under £13.

And you know what? I regret it, because by the end it was totally shot; its elaborate layers of spice, incense, and fruit had become as woody and lifeless as an antique wardrobe. The moral of the tale is carpe diem. Because, whatever people tell you, spirits do fade. It takes time - often years - but once they're opened oxygen always gets to them in the end.

A favorite for building breakfast bowls, enhancing homemade bakes, and blitzing into smoothies, yogurt is a regular in many of our fridges. Whether thick Greek yogurt, tangy kefir, or a plant-based alternative is your go-to, yogurt is always sure to bring a delicious dose of creaminess. One way to make this humble ingredient shine is transforming it into a decadent dessert.

In the fray of the holiday, we often forget the significance of the food on the Thanksgiving table. Almost all of it is made from ingredients-plants and animals-that are native to the Americas. Squash, beans, and corn. Cranberries, blueberries, and pumpkin. The tender turkey and the humble potatoes. It is the contents of the banquet that give it context, underscoring its origins as an event of intercontinental exchange between the Native cultures of the Americas and the interloping Europeans.

The famous limestone quarry in Rosendale, N.Y., supplied material to build many of the monuments that define America. In the 1800s, this town in the Hudson Valley produced half the cement used in North America and the material was used to build the foundation of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, and the 27,000-ton pedestal that the Statue of Liberty stands on.