Bread

If like me you like good dark bread, you will find yourself lost, deprived and starving outside of France, Belgium, Germany or Holland. When I'm travelling one of the first things I do is to look for a good bakery.

In New York Amy’s bread in the Chelsea Market (672 9th Avenue, New York) is the place to go. Or else Le Pain Quotidien which also serves breakfast and lunch (multiple locations throughout New York, I like the one at the corner of Grand Street and Mercer Street in Soho. They've also opened branches in Los Angeles and London, 72-75 Marylebone High Street).

In London try the Neal's Yard Bakery in Covent Garden, which is where I used to buy my bread when I was living in London. Or else Baker and Spice or the bakeries of Selfridges, which sells bread by The Flour Station (check out their site for other stores) and Harvey Nichol's.

Germans like their bread heavy and compact, the Dutch light and airy. My favourite bakeries in The Netherlands stand in the French tradition. Try De Bakkerswinkel, Warmoesstraat 69 and other locations in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Haarlem, Het Vlaamsch Broodhuys, Haarlemmerstraat 108, Vijzelstraat 109, Elandsgracht 122 and other locations. They also do great sandwiches. For classic Dutch bread try Bakkerij Bertram in the Reestraat in Amsterdam.

In Paris get yourself a copy of Cherchez le pain: Guide des meilleures boulangeries de Paris by Steven Kaplan and Marie-Christine Fabiani-Kaplan. Published in 2004 it lists the 100 best bakeries in Paris out of the over 600 the authors have visited. A must if you love bread. As a matter of fact there is a "competing" book, Le Guide des boulangeries de Paris: Les 180 Meilleures Adresses - Pour apprendre à déguster le pain by Augustin Paluel-Marmont, also published in 2004, which tells you something of the quality and variety of French bread and bakeries. I mean, can you imagine a similar book for New York or London?

Also in Paris there's now a Moisan branch in the Bd. de Denain, just opposite the Gare du Nord: exit through the main entrance, cross the rue de Dunkerque. The hotel Terminus Nord is at the corner of the rue de Dunkerque and the Bd. de Denain. They've got excellent breads, sandwiches and petits pains. So if you're waiting for your train to London, Amsterdam, Cologne or wherever, skip the shops inside the station, this is the place to go.