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Best restaurants in Paris

French fancy ... the glamorous dining room at the Hotel Meurice in the heart of Paris

Le Meurice

Anyone wanting a grand-slam experience of Gallic gastronomic grandeur won't do better than the glamorous dining room at the Hotel Meurice in the heart of the city. Though it was redecorated by Philippe Starck several years ago, it's good French bones survived intact – mosaic floor, crystal chandeliers, heavy damask curtains at the windows overlooking the Tuileries Gardens across the street – and the magnificent space is animated by old-school but friendly service that's as precise as a minuette. Chef Yannick Alléno bagged a third Michelin star in 2007, and his brilliantly inventive cooking is based on a deep knowledge of classical Escoffier vintage culinary technique. In addition to such recent creations as crispy green ravioli with a fricassee of snails and wild garlic, a starter, and spit-roasted red-wine marinated pigeon with red cabbage and apple juice, Alléno has become a dedicated locavore by occasionally featuring rare produce from the Ile de France – cabbage from Pontoise, honey from hives on the roof of Paris's Opéra Garnier – on his regularly evolving menu. 
• 228 rue de Rivoli, 1st, + 33 1 44 58 10 10, lemeurice.com. Métro: Tuileries. Open for lunch and dinner from Mon-Fri. Average €200. Jackets compulsory at dinner

L'Astrance

Despite the vertiginous prices of Paris haute cuisine, a meal at one of these nec plus ultra tables is an investment that just can't disappoint, and snagging a sought-after table at chef Pascal Barbot's three-star restaurant on a cobbled side street in the 16th arrondissement is well worth persistence. The smallest and most casual table at the top of the Parisian food chain, this high-ceilinged dining room with mirrored walls, widely spaced tables and friendly service offers a decidedly 21st-century take on French haute cuisine. Barbot, who trained with Alain Passard and once served as chef to the admiral of the French Pacific fleet, loves vegetables, fruit and fresh herbs, and his style is brilliantly witty and deeply imaginative, as seen in signature dishes such as his galette of finely sliced button mushrooms and verjus marinated foie gras dressed with hazelnut oil, or turbot with baby spinach and sea urchins, both of which are part of his regularly changing tasting menus. 
• 4 rue Beethoven, 16th, +33 1 40 50 84 40. Métro: Passy. Open for lunch and dinner Tues–Fri. Average lunch €80, average dinner €200

Huitrerie Regis

Tucked away in the heart of Saint Germain des Pres, this snug shop-front table with a white facade and interior is the best place in Paris for a fix of impeccably fresh oysters, which are delivered directly from France's Marennes-Oléron region on the Atlantic coast. Depending upon availability, prawns, clams and sea urchins can also be added to your plateau de fruits de mer, which will be served with bread and butter. A nice selection of mostly Loire valley white wines complements the bivalve-centric menu, and a convivial atmosphere is created by the jovial oyster shuckers and many local regulars. 
• 3 rue de Montfaucon, 6th, +33 1 44 41 10 07, huitrerieregis.com. Métro: Mabillon or Saint Germain des Pres. Open Tues–Sun for lunch and dinner. Average €35. No reservations

Macéo

Run by Englishman Mark Williamson – whose Willi's Wine Bar around the corner is a favourite local bolthole for Parisian oenophiles – this handsome restaurant with oxblood walls, wedding cake mouldings and parquet floors overlooks the Palais Royal in the heart of Paris. Chef Thierry Bourbonnais not only includes many vegetable dishes on his menu – making this a good choice for vegetarians – but features regularly changing tasting menus themed around a single vegetable, such as asparagus or tomatoes. Dishes like scallops marinated in sea weed oil on a bed of quinoa and wild sea bass with baby carrots and mange toute on a bed of cumin-scented bulghur show off his cosmopolitan style. Excellent wine list. 
• 15 rue des Petits-Champs, 1st, +33 1 42 97 53 85,maceorestaurant.com. Métro: Pyramides or Palais Royal. Open for lunch and dinner Mon-Fri, Sat dinner only. Closed Sun. Prix-fixe menus €33 (vegetarian), €38 and €48; average à la carte €60

Spring

Ever since Chicago-born chef Daniel Rose moved from the 9th arrondissement to a renovated 17th-century house in Les Halles in July 2010, he's been playing to a packed house with his inventivecuisine du marche menu. This talented American shows off just how cosmopolitan the city's culinary talent pool has become, and Parisians have been swooning over dishes such as Basque country trout with avocado and coriander flowers and grilled New Caledonian prawns on a bed of shaved baby fennel. There's also Buvette (wine bar) in the basement, with a selection of charcuterie, cheese and several plats du jour; and with reservations tough to land for a table upstairs, it's a good bet for anyone who wants to taste Rose's wares without going through the reservation wringer. 
• 6 rue Bailleul, 1st, + 33 1 45 96 05 72, springparis.fr. Métro: Louvre-Rivoli. Restaurant open for dinner Tues-Sat, lunch Wed-Fri; Buvette open for dinner Tues-Sat. Restaurant average €150; Buvette average €50

Les Tablettes

Signalling a revival of the serious, dressed-up restaurant in Paris (which had lost out as a vehicle for young chefs going out on their own in favour of the bistro) chef Jean-Louis Nomicos's new table in the swanky 16th arrondissement has a dramatic modern basket-weave interior by French interior designer Anne-Cécile Comar and a dog's leg banquette upholstered in apricot velvet. Nomicos, who most recently cooked at long-running society restaurant Lasserre, trained with Alain Ducasse and is originally from Marseille – which explains the produce-centric nature of his excellent contemporary French cooking and its Provencal accent with a starter such as squid and artichokes barigoule (cooked with white wine, lemon and herbs) and veal sweetbreads with a confetti of lemon pulp offering good examples of his style. 
• 16 avenue Bugeaud, 16th,+33 1 56 28 16 16,lestablettesjeanlouisnomicos.com. Métro: Victor Hugo. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Lunch menu €58; tasting menus €80, €120 and €150; à la carte €90

Le Stella

Since most of Paris's storied brasseries are now owned by corporate chains and serve wiltingly mediocre food, it's a pleasure to head to one of the last remaining independent ones in a quiet corner of the silk-stocking 16th arrondissement for a fine feed of such well-prepared French classics as onion soup, escargots, sole meunière, steak tartare, roast lamb and other Gallic standards. The people-watching here might be subtitled "the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie", service is efficient and this place has what the French call du gueule, or real character. 
• 133, avenue Victor Hugo, 16th, +33 1 56 90 56 00. Métro: Victor Hugo. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Average €45

Thoumieux

Previously head chef at the glamorous Les Ambassadeurs at the Hotel de Crillon, chef Jean-Francois Piège went out on his own two years ago when he rebooted Thoumieux, a long-running Left Bank brasserie known for its cassoulet and huge resident cat. While the new menu and slick Manhattan supper club décor at this address created a lot of buzz, this gastronomically witty young chef's talent was never really on display here until he opened an intimate first-floor restaurant with a Las Vegas, rat-pack decor by Parisian interior designer India Mahdavi at the same address last autumn. A veteran of several Alain Ducasse kitchens, the very shrewd Piège understood that the traditional French restaurant experience needed tweaking – people go out now to have a good time, eschew formatted formality, and don't always want the three-step performance of starter, main and pudding. So here you can order a single dish, maybe a delicious riff on paella comprised of lobster, langoustines, squid, baby clams and cockles in a saffron-spiked shellfish fumet, and still get a suite of hors d'oeuvres to start, a cheese course and dessert. Not surprisingly, this restaurant just won two Michelin stars in one fell swoop. 
• 79 rue Saint Dominique, 7th, +33 1 47 05 79 00, thoumieux.fr. Métro: La Tour Maubourg. Open daily for dinner only. Average €75

Yam'Tcha

After training with chef Pascal Barbot at the three-star L'Astrance, young Burgundy-born cook Adeline Grattard – one of the still rare female chefs in Paris – did a stint in Hong Kong during which she fell in love with Asian produce and cooking techniques and met her husband Chiwah, who works as the tea steward (as an alternative to wine, you can be served a different tea with every course of your meal here). At their small charming restaurant near Les Halles, with a beamed ceiling and ancient stone walls, Grattard's tasting menus change according to her daily shop, but dishes such as grilled scallops on a bed of bean sprouts in bright green wild-garlic sauce and a superb dessert of homemade ginger ice-cream with avocado slices and passion fruit deliciously display the finely honed culinary technique and imagination that won her a Michelin star. 
• 4 rue Sauval, 1st, +33 1 40 26 08 07. Métro: Louvre-Rivoli. Open for lunch and dinner Wed-Sat, Sun dinner only. Prix-fixe menus €50 and €85

Ze Kitchen Galerie

Styled like the neighbouring art galleries on this Saint Germain des Pres side street, this loft-like white space with parquet floors is furnished with steel tables and chairs and decorated with contemporary art. Chef William Ledeuil's popular restaurant offers an intriguing experience of contemporary French cooking. Ledeuil, who trained with Guy Savoy, is fascinated by Asia and makes imaginative use of oriental herbs and ingredients in original dishes like Sardinian malloreddus pasta with a pesto of Thai herbs, parmesan cream and green olive condiment, or grilled monkfish with an aubergine marmelade and Thai-seasoned sauce vierge. 
• 4 rue des G

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World's best cities to Live

 Sydney, Australia

Climbing one spot from last year, Sydney breaks into the top 10 best places to live this year as the only Australian city to make the rankings. However, it is one of five Australian cities to rank within the top 30 – highlighting the country's prominence for the quality of life it offers.

Top ski Resorts

According to www.uk.askmen.com the best ski resorts are:

Credit: Aspen.Hyatt.com

Sure, lounging on a white-sand beach is relaxing for many, but for others it's the snowy adventures found on the slopes that spells paradise. From Aspen to Zermatt, cities from around the globe boast a number of world-class ski resorts to choose from when planning your next downhill expedition.

So, bundle up and make some cocoa because we're about to embark on some crazy vertical drops in these cities with the best ski resorts.

Top Greek islands

Mykonos

At the heart of the Cyclades archipelago, in the Aegean Sea, lies Mykonos. This island attracts a frantic mix of good-timers, cruise-ship crowds, and posturing fashionistas.

They come because Mykonos’s beaches are magnificent and the nightlife is pumping – plus, it’s the closest spot to the sacred, archaeological island of Delos.

Beyonce Admits...

Beyoncé is days away from kicking off one busy February. She'll take the stage (and sing live) this Sunday during the Super Bowl halftime show, and just two weeks later, she'll get candid in her HBO documentary, "Life Is But A Dream."
The network will air the documentary, which Beyoncé helped direct, on February 16. During a press conference held Thursday (at which she also performed the National Anthem live), she opened up about the ups and the downs in the special.Sings The National Anthem At Super Bowl Press Conference
"Editing myself and seeing all the mistakes that I've made and still putting in the film and seeing life as if it wasn't me, and I feel like it's time, it's time for people to really get to know me and see a different side," she explained to the room of reporters about the special. "And I'm really curious and scared and every night now [I go,] 'It's too late. It's coming out.' But I'm happy with it."
Bites from the special were released Thursday, giving some insight into just how real Bey will get in the special, including opening up about how she channeled the pain from her miscarriage into her music.
And, she hopes that this doc will give her baby, Blue Ivy, a look at what her life has been like. "I feel like my daughter has changed my life and has given me so much purpose. I feel like this movie, it's very necessary," she said. "I think it shows a human side. We're all human and I feel like at some point my job is to protect her and I'm happy that I could tell my story on my terms."
With a gap between the Super Bowl and the HBO special, some were wondering if Beyoncé will take the stage at the Grammy Awards on February 10. But, she didn't think that was in the cards. "Well, who said I was performing at the Grammys?" she laughed. "No, I don't know if I have that much going on. I don't know if I'm performing at the Grammys."
She did, however, tease that she will have more announcements post-Super Bowl, including tour plans. Before then, she's expected to play something new off her 2013 album release during the show and rumor has it she'll also be joined by her pals in Destiny's Child during the high-profile gig.

London's top restaurants

Hawksmoor Seven Dials

This former fruit warehouse is now Carnivore Central in Will Beckett and Huw Gott’s confidently expanding empire, and the bar a place of pilgrimage in its own right for cocktail geeks.

Winner of Time Out’s Best New Restaurant award in 2011, the discreet-fronted basement location is elevated to a high-end destination with a characterful interior of reclaimed materials and the fan-boys’ zeal for premium meats and other taste sensations. The bad news is, with a similar appreciation of gustatory pleasures (a couple of cocktails, say, followed by crab or lobster, sirloin and side dishes, wine and pudding), dinner here can easily set you back £100 a head.

A good day to die hard

Summary

 Since the first "Die Hard" in 1988, John McClane has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the skills and attitude to always be the last man standing,