“New York doesn’t take a backseat to any city in the world when it comes to food, but there are two cuisines that are just better in London: Indian and Lebanese.” This is how a recent article on barrons.com opened up.

I have no doubt London tops NYC when it comes to Indian food – I would like to think that after 100 years of colonization, John Bull brought home something more than just an affinity for drinking tea. Yet I’m a little jealous of anyone with the kind of expense account that allows him to difinitively judge the spectrum of cuisine in two cities separated by an ocean, 3,400 miles, seven hours of flight time, and a common language.

The author, Richard Morais, goes on to explain how vastly superior London Lebanese restaurant Al Hamra is to every restaurant of its kind in New York. At this point, I was getting less jealous and a little more annoyed that he can thoroughly investigate the subject and get paid to rub it in. Until I got to this little bit:

But the point is, with this London benchmark to measure up to, every time I have eaten Lebanese in New York I have been disappointed. Until last weekend, that is, when I made my way to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to eat at Tanoreen,  a restaurant where Michelin inspectors take their families to eat on their days off.

I had no idea that multi-national food snobs ever make their way to Bay Ridge. This is very high praise. Continue reading »