Mine´s an alpaca, waiter!

Look down the menu of any standard Peruvian restaurant and you´re likely to find a selection of meats that would only feature as guest stars in London´s more adventurous eateries. Alpaca, ostrich and even the guinea pig all fall under the butcher´s knife in this country. And they´re mighty tasty too (although we´re yet to try guinea pig. I´m not sure Amy is too keen on eating the brethren of one of her former pets).

An alpaca steak tastes like beef, but is much leaner. We were told that it actually has only half the fat of beef. And ostrich, as sampled by Mrs. Ma turned out to taste nothing like a bird at all. Close your eyes and imagine a pig breeding with a lamb. Now, if you slaughtered the baby that was produced by that ungodly scene and cooked it, that would taste like ostrich. Don´t let your mind´s eye put you off. It´s actually a lot more appetising than my description above.

Peacock springrolls

Sorry to go on about the food, but it really is fantastic here. Here's an example of what we were served as an appetizer at one restaurant (they're not actually spring rolls with peacock meat inside them by the way!).

This peacock here has mini spring rolls on cocktail sticks stuck into his body. His actual body is made out of a hollowed out pineapple with a candle inside it. His head, wings and tail-feathers are carved out of carrot. This magnificent food sculpture lasted just long enough for us to take this photo before we devoured it (in seconds...).

Oh boy! The food in Hanoi!

Hanoi is an incredible city for dining. The strong French influence has resulted in a culinary legacy of fresh Asian fusion cuisine and fine wine. Amongst the dishes we sampled were:

• Rabbit and turnip crumble, served with a tomato sherbert
• Boneless chicken legs, stuffed with 'tartiflette' (a French dish of cream, potatoes, cheese and bacon)
• Fresh spring rolls stuffed with omelet, fresh prawns and mint, served with a spicy vinegar
• ...and loads of fresh, crispy baguettes! (the standard bread in Vietnam)
  

If you plan on visiting the place, make sure you're hungry when you arrive - you'll find plenty of excellent restaurants there.

Namche Bazaar

Namche is a small town nestled in the side of a mountain at approx. 3400 metres above sea level. It's the main stop-off point for all trekkers and climbers on their way to Everest and various other destinations within it's vicinity.

Due to it's altitude it is a popular place to take a rest day to acclimatise. An atmosphere of anticipation hovers over the town as everyone prepares for what is yet to come - for some, the possibility of summiting the largest mountain on earth, but for us it was just the hope that we might see it. Excitement enough, I reckon!

Another reason to stop off in Namche is their amazing Yak sizzlers, which we indulged in more than once...

Traditional Indian food - The Thali

When you think of Indian food, most likely, your mind will automatically wonder towards curries.
Well, yes there are lots of different curries here, but the most commonly eaten dish here in India is the Thali - a perfectly balanced meal made up of small dishes.

Each restaurant's thali is different, and they're almost always vegetarian. Here, you see a thali from an excellent restaurant called The Mango Tree in Hampi. I'll try to remember what we had working clockwise from the rice...

Rice with lime chutney, yoghurt, mung dahl, papdom, chapatis, more dahl, okra curry, spicy & sour tomato soup.

If you see one of these on the menu, order it! Masala Zone in Soho and Angel do fantastic Thalis.

Next... The Masala Dosa (they're SO good...!)