La Vela, Pantelleria, Italy

Is this a restaurant I see before me? To be honest it looks more like a wrecked shack, complete with lashed-on bamboo roof and a clutch of peeling boats left for dead on the slipway that leads from the front door - hung with plastic curtains - down to the sea. Here there is no menu, only a waiter who will ask you to choose between the three starters and two or three pasta courses the kitchen has prepared, before bringing a tray with the day’s catch. ... read more

Da Dora, Naples, Italy

In high summer, the heat presses down on Naples like a giant iron; hovering above the flat roofs of the city, pushing the heat into every crinkled street and square. To escape the high temperatures, whole families decamp to the islands for weeks at a time while the less fortunate drag chairs outside or sit on their front step, yearning for a breath of air or a cooling breeze. ... read more

Uliassi, Senegallia

We can't travel anywhere without arguing. Is that a sign of getting older, or is it something else? Is it me, or is it him? It's him, of course. It has to be. As he says himself: ''Sorry, I keep forgetting you're perfect.'' Ten years ago, we would do anything to be together. Who cared if the flight was delayed or the hotel overbooked. There was always coffee and each other, plus the prospect of somewhere different and new things to eat. ... read more

Fontelina, Capri, Italy

La Fontelina must have one of the most beautiful locations of any restaurant, anywhere in the world. Situated at the foot of a 300-metre cliff on the south-east corner of Capri, it looks out over the famous Faraglioni rock formations and the sapphire glitter of the Mediterranean. The foam of the salty waves frill over half-submerged limestone crags, while the warm flutter of an ozone breeze is ripened by the scent of wild rosemary.To get here, you must either take the steep path down the cliff, with occasional agreeable shade provided by maritime pines, or do it the stylish way and arrive by boat. How you get here says something about how you have lived your life so far and, yes, that's right: I got a sunburned nose coming down that dashed old hill. ... read more

Grand Colbert, Paris, France

There is a lot of restaurant action in the film Something's Gotta Give, which stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. The romantic comedy - like so many real romances - begins and ends in restaurants, although that's where any similarities to real life end. In the Hollywood version of restaurant reality, handsome, smiling waiters deliver mouthwatering dishes faster than speeding bullets, while diners glow in a pastel soup of flattering light as brandy is poured in endlessly generous measure. ... read more