Archive for August, 2007
Top chef selects the best restaurants in Venice
Aug 29th
Angela Hartnett of the respected Connaught Hotel has offered her expert advice to help people find the best restaurants in Venice.
First of all, she strongly recommends avoiding the restaurants around St Marks Square and anywhere with a menu touristica.
Another useful tip is to visit the Rialto fish market in the morning and have a good look at the day’s catch. This is a really useful way to familiarise yourself with the local seafood on offer, much of which is unseen at home.
Classic Venetian dished include spaghetti alle vongole (clams) and bigoli “a fabulous dish of fat tubular spaghetti with sweet, cooked-down onions and anchovies‚
Angela Hartnett’s top 10 Venetian restaurants:-
Alla Madonna, Calle de la Madonna, San Polo (00 39 041 522 3824, www.ristoranteallamadonna.com): Buzzy restaurant near the Rialto, popular with family groups; ‚£25pp.
Vini da Arturo, Calle dei Assassini, San Marco (528 6974): Small menu with no seafood, but great beef dishes such as bistecca tagliata; ‚£35pp.
Alle Testiere, Calle del Mondo Nuovo, Castello (522 7220): Small (20 seats) osteria specialising in modern Venetian seafood; ‚£30pp.
Osteria Assassini, Rio tera dei Assassini, San Marco (528 7986, www.osteriaaiassassini.it): Set daily menu (Thursday is beef or salt cod, Friday is fish). If you don‚t like offal, avoid Wednesday; ‚£25pp.
Corte Sconta, Calle del Pestrin, Castello (522 7024): Feast on the seafood starters, or try the full menu, which will leave you gasping; ‚£35pp.
Alle Vignole, Isola del Vignole (528 9707): Take a water taxi to the island of Vignole, choose your seafood, beef or chicken and have them grilled while you sit at tables under the trees (April to Sept only); ‚£20pp.
Ruga Rialto, Ruga Rialto, San Polo (521 1243): Cheap and cheerful set lunch of local dishes with coffee, biscotti and a carafe of red; ‚£20pp.
Fiaschetteria Toscana, Salizada San Giovanni Grisostomo, Cannareggio (528 5281, www.fiaschetteriatoscana.it): An elegant choice for a big night out, with a superb cellar and tempting dolci trolley; ‚£40pp.
Source: The Times
Customers say cost is important when they book a flight but a nearby local airport is desired
Aug 29th
Web Certain Service Aug 24, 2007: 6:42 am Edit This | [en]
A survey of customers who have booked holidays through www.holidays-direct.co.uk has revealed that although cost is the most important factor when choosing to book a flight, the option to fly from a local airport is almost as important.
Customers were asked to pick what they consider to be the most important factor when booking flights from a list of options.
Cost was the choice of nearly half of respondents to the survey (44%), but over one third of people stated that the location of the departure airport was the most important factor for them.
Despite a lot of recent hype by airline companies, the option to check-in via the internet is not a feature desired by air travellers. None of the survey respondents claimed this was a major influence when booking a flight.
The full survey results are as follows:
Question: When you book a flight, which of the following is the most important factor?
Cost 44%
Location of departure airport 37%
Time of flight 11%
Option to choose seat 4%
Reputation of airline 4%
Option to check-in on the internet 0%
Paul Reeve of www.holidays-direct.co.uk said: “When we carried out the survey we fully expected cost to be the defining factor, but we have noticed a change in the behaviour of our customers over the last few years, following the mass expansion of local airports in the UK.
“People are now very used to being able to fly to their favourite holiday destinations from their nearest airport.
“The days when holidaymakers from the north of England were willing to waste a day of their annual leave just to get to Heathrow Airport are long gone.
New London to New York flights announced
Aug 29th
American Airlines has announced plans for a second daily flight from London to New York.
The daily flights from London Stansted to New York JFK will launch on April 8 2008, following the airline’s launch of its first daily flights on this route on 29 October 2009.
The airline is extending its services from New York JFK with other new routes to Milan and Barcelona. These routes will start on 2 May 2008.
Recent research has revealed that the ability to fly from a local airport is of great importance to travellers.
New York JFK Airport is the hub for over 40 routes around north America and the Caribbean, as well as being a vital connection point to destinations around the world.