NPR Correspondents' Choice

Beirut: Hotel With Oriental Opulence, French Accent

January 29, 2009 • The boutique Hotel Albergo is the classiest, most relaxing and beautiful place to stay in Beirut, says Ivan Watson. He praises the hotel's tastefully decorated rooms, which stay true to Lebanese architectural tradition, and its restaurants' delicious food.

Chengdu: Marathon Meal Of Experimental Cuisine

January 28, 2009 • Yu's Family Kitchen, in Chengdu, China, confounds expectations. Located in a nondescript, gray apartment block, the restaurant takes its food seriously, says Shanghai correspondent Louisa Lim. A meal is a communion, where presentation, often humorous, is key.

Leptis Magna: Libya's Little Piece Of Rome

December 9, 2008 • Leptis Magna is a UNESCO World Heritage site located about two hour's drive east of Tripoli. Its incredible arches, fountains and sculpted Medusa heads are spitting distance from the Mediterranean Sea.

Al Bara And Serjilla: A Taste of Syria's 'Dead Cities'

October 22, 2008 • An hour southwest of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, eerily beautiful and strange ruins appear in the midst of sprawling olive groves. They're remarkable remnants of Byzantine farming villages that flourished in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Oran: A Busy Port With A Hidden Gem

September 30, 2008 • In its glory days a half-century ago, El Djazira was a favorite of celebrities and high-rolling Algerians who would stop in before spending their nights at one of the casinos over at Canastel.

Luang Prabang: A Calm River Town With Lao Taste

August 25, 2008 • Sampling Southeast Asian cuisine doesn't have to be a frenetic affair. Visitors in this Lao town have time to enjoy a drink along the river, stay in a quiet room, and savor food with a hint of mint and sweets with a lot of ginger.

Beijing: Alfresco Dining At Xihe Yaju

August 8, 2008 • In a city where buildings are often razed to make way for high-rise apartments, Frank Langfitt was happy to find his favorite neighborhood restaurant, Xihe Yaju, still stands after a five-year absence from Beijing.

Seoul: Taste of N. Korea at 'House of Many Returns'

June 4, 2008 • For those in South Korea who hanker for a taste of Pyongyang's most famous dish — naeng-myun, or cold buckwheat noodles — Seoul's Woo Lae Oak restaurant is considered by many to be the best option. Beijing correspondent Anthony Kuhn agrees.

Paris: All in the Family at Chez Georges

May 22, 2008 • Once dinner arrived at Chez Georges, Eric Westervelt understood why the Parisian restaurant has required reservations for 40 years. The NPR Jerusalem correspondent praises the family-owned eatery's traditional Lyonnaise fare.

Puerto Vallarta: A Modest Taste of Real Mexico

April 21, 2008 • You won't find Marisma, a taqueria in Puerto Vallarta, in any guidebook. But nearly every local Vallarteno knows about the simple, side-street stand that serves up some of the city's best fish tacos.

New Delhi: The Bustling Swagath Restaurant

April 16, 2008 • Though it can be difficult to find a truly great restaurant in New Delhi, one qualifies on all fronts: Swagath crackles with life, especially on the weekends when it's full of metropolitan Indians families on a night out.

Hanoi: Eating Royally at the Emperor Restaurant

April 16, 2008 • Hanoi-based correspondent Michael Sullivan and his 9-year-old daughter seldom agree on anything. But they do share a favorite restaurant: the elegant Emperor, located in a renovated French villa where tables overlook a beautiful courtyard.

Chongqing: A Genuinely Hot Dining Experience

February 4, 2008 • Spicy Sichuan-style hot pot is a signature dish in Chongqing, a mountainous city on the Yangtze in southwest China, and small, family-run restaurants draw the real connoisseurs. China correspondent Anthony Kuhn visits one of the best.

St. Petersburg: Chic Setting for Russian Cuisine

January 24, 2008 • Housed in a building of the former Imperial Academy of Sciences, Restoran offers classic Russian dishes in a chic-minimalist atmosphere. Russia correspondent Gregory Feifer says it's a welcome change from the neon of the city's other eateries.

Paris: Bofinger Offers Elegance Sans Pretension

January 9, 2008 • Lively Alsatian eatery Bofinger — the city's oldest brasserie — dishes up a grand dining experience in a Belle Epoque setting. Paris correspondent Eleanor Beardsley says it's both a historic symbol and a temple to the French way of eating.

London: A River Cafe Believer Is Born

December 21, 2007 • The River Cafe is frequently hyped as the best restaurant in London, and has prices to match. NPR correspondent Rob Gifford worried that the food might not be as good as the publicity. One dinner proved his worries unfounded.

Buenos Aires: Dominga, Where Staff and Food Excel

December 14, 2007 • Buenos Aires' restaurant scene oozes with options. The staples, of course, are meat: beef, lamb and pork. But what keeps Julie McCarthy, NPR's South America correspondent, going back to Dominga isn't meat but the raw fish — and the staff.

Berlin: A Dining Room with a View

December 7, 2007 • A glass and steel dome designed by Sir Norman Foster is the crowning glory of Berlin's Reichstag, or parliament building. But foreign editor Loren Jenkins says there's another reason to go to the Reichstag's roof: the Dachgarten Restaurant.

Paris: Take a Blue Train to Sumptuous Dining

November 30, 2007 • Located in Paris' Gare de Lyon station, Le Train Bleu is a far cry from Paris' crowded, noisy brasseries. And its priceless ambience is well worth a splurge, at least once, writes Rome-based correspondent Sylvia Poggioli.

Macau: A Taste of Portugal in Asia

November 15, 2007 • The former Portuguese colony of Macau has recently overtaken Las Vegas as the world's gambling capital. But Anthony Kuhn, who covers China and Northeast Asia, says visitors would be missing out if they dined only at swish new casinos.

Santiago: Eatery Serves Hearty Food, Eclectic Crowd

November 9, 2007 • Comfort food meets kitsch, and bow-tie sporting waiters serve up warmth, charm and hearty dishes, at Liguria in Santiago, Chile. Here, artists and intellectuals can settle their differences over a bottle of wine from an expansive cellar.

Warsaw: Food for the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat

November 1, 2007 • Enjoy a whimsical yarn and hearty food at Warsaw's Inn Under the Red Dog. It's where party bigwigs are purported to have indulged in luxury dining during Poland's Communist era, writes Berlin-based correspondent Emily Harris.