Lists

Places to Not Eat

Aberdeen

1. Jewel in the Crown: atrocious service, don't expect to be treated well here if you're Asian. Poor food.

Birmingham

1. Celebrity Indian Restaurant: service is fine, curries are atrocious. 
2. Café Opus at Ikon: served us burnt food without apology.
3. Mowgli Street Food: Pretty restaurant with nice service, but a shame about the food - every single dish is overloaded with sugar.  

London

1. Masala Zone Covent Garden: great decor, poor service and worse food.  
2. Fratelli La Bufala: forgotten orders, waited 40 minutes before coming back to ask us what we wanted again.

Places I Like to Eat

These are just nice places that serve good food, in a steady dependable manner. Arranged alphabetically by city or region, and not exhaustive

Aberdeen, UK 

1. The Light of Bengal: the best biriyani I've been able to find in Aberdeen
2. Rustico: for dependable (British) Italian comfort food
3. Foodstory: for the best coffee in town and surprisingly good vegetarian curries
4. The Coffee House: for groups, soup and sandwiches
5. Yorokobi by CJ: my local for Asian comfort food and sushi
6. Yatai: for fancier Japanese food in town
7. Thaikun: a surprisingly good chain, but do avoid their attempts at fusion
8. Shri Bheema's: for their traditional Indian buffet brunch on Sundays
9. Angus and Ale: for burgers with a Scottish twist
10. The Long Dog Cafe: for ice creams and freakshakes
11. Howie's: for their showcasing of Scottish cuisine and ingredients

Barcelona, Spain

1. ABaC Restaurant: possibly the best Michelin starred experience I've ever had
2. Granja M Viader: excellent desserts, classic rather than contemporary 

Birmingham, UK

1. Lasan: Indian fine-dining, though occasionally unreliable due to their experimentation
2. Red n Hot: Chinese comfort food 
3. Purnell's: my favourite fine dining restaurant in town
4. The Plough: for pub comfort food
5. 4023: for their amazing slouvaki
6. York's Bakery Cafe: a very versatile offering of coffee and cake to brunch and heavier meals

Dhaka, Bangladesh

1. Hirajheel: my neighbourhood go-to
2. Cilantro: for the varied and international menu
3. Star Kebab: for the sheekh kebab
4. Probortona: for homestyle food when you don't want to cook at home
5. Rosh: a chain which has been reliable and occasionally even innovative with sweets
6. Fakruddin's: arguably a little overrated but I do love their meat chaaps 

Edinburgh, UK

1. Field Restaurant: Scottish fine dining at wallet friendly prices
2. Sushiya: for casual but excellent sushi
3. Nanyang: for Malaysian comfort food

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

1. El Poc Chuc: excellent value loncheria on the island serving not too touristy food

Guildford & Surrey, UK

1. Kalm Kitchen: a very versatile menu covering Sunday brunch to food on the go
2. Pinnock's: for their coffee and cake...they serve basic food menu too 
3. Positano: for great (British) Italian comfort food
4. Restaurant Tante Marie: though I don't believe they open regularly to the public nowadays 
5. Gomshall Mill: for Sunday lunch, especially outside in the summer
6. The Star Petworth: for Sunday lunch
7. Ashuka Tandoori: especially for their lamb shanks and shatkora dishes

London, UK

1. C&R Cafe: for unassuming but good Malaysian food
2. Nopi: expensive but possibly my favourite restaurant in London
3. Lima: for an unfussy Michelin star experience
4. Tombo: easy, Westernised Japanese comfort food 
5. Nobu: excellent if expensive Western-style Japanese fine dining
6. Amar Gaon: the best Bangladeshi homestyle food I've been able to find in London
7. Dhaka Biriyani: the best Bangladeshi biriyani I've been able find
8. Darjeeling Express: excellent, reasonably priced Indian Bengali restaurant 
9. L'Eto Cafe: amazing cakes and pricey but interesting breakfasts
10. Tayyab's: they do great things with meat curries, though they're not worth queuing for 
11. Alounak: for nice Persian feasting food
12. Al Arez Express Edgware: if you want good, meaty food and then shisha
13. Red Fort Soho: for fancy but expensive curry
14. The Delaunay: for brunch and late night cake
15. SAID London: if you want to overdose on chocolate
16. Cutter & Squidge: pricey but delicious cream cakes and trademarked biskies
17. XU: excellent Taiwanese food

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

1. El Fogon: for excellent meat dishes. Touristy and apparently the quality of their output goes up and down, but great cooking when I was there late 2017
2. Los Aguachiles: for excellent seafood tacos. Again touristy, but great cooking and several branches

Rome, Italy

1. Pizzarium: for delicious (and different!) pizzas

Stonehaven, UK

1. The Bay Fish and Chips: only place in the world where I actively look forward to fish and chips

Zagreb, Croatia

1. Dubravkin Put: for contemporary cooking and seafood-led fine dining