Food & travel
Destination guides and culinary finds from Richard Jarocki
Choosing a destination usually starts with food, a hotel that interests me or a Formula 1 race. Then I get there, discover something I did not plan for, and usually come home with another reason to go back.
These destination guides bring together where I stayed, what I ate and the practical details I would want to know before booking. Start with São Paulo or Barcelona below. New York City, Lima and the Hudson Valley are next.
Explore the destination guidesFind a destination that fits your trip
These guides are ready to read. They reflect my own trips and preferences, with researched alternatives identified where they are included. A place does not have to suit everyone to be worth talking about. I want you to understand whether it would suit you.
São Paulo Travel Guide
Formula 1 brought me to São Paulo, but the restaurants, hotels and people are why I keep wanting to return. Evvai is my favorite restaurant in the world, and places like Tan Tan have given me plenty of reasons to build a trip around more than the race.
The guide brings together neighborhoods, hotel options, food and cocktails, plus the less glamorous details that matter here: traffic, reservations and leaving enough time between plans.
My suggestion is to decide which meal or experience matters most, then look at what is nearby. A destination this big can tempt you to collect reservations all over the map. A good lunch followed by an unhurried afternoon in the same area can be more enjoyable than spending that afternoon crossing the city.
Start here for: food-focused trips, hotels and a city stay around the Grand Prix.
Read my São Paulo guide
Barcelona Travel Guide
Barcelona gave me Sir Victor’s rooftop, a meal at Mont Bar I still talk about, late dinners, cocktail bars and a Formula 1 weekend. Sagrada Família and Park Güell deserved space in the itinerary too.
I share where I stayed, the restaurants and bars I visited, and how those experiences fit together. There are also researched hotel alternatives, clearly separated from my own stay at Sir Victor.
This is a destination where I would think about the shape of the day before filling every hour. A landmark visit, time back at the hotel and a late dinner can be enough. If Sagrada Família is part of your plan, use the official Sagrada Família website to check current visit options rather than relying on an old screenshot or someone else’s booking details.
Start here for: dining, Gaudí, a lively hotel base and fitting a race into a city trip.
Read my Barcelona guideComing next
More places, still taking shape
The full guides below are not published yet. I am keeping them here so you can see what is coming, without sending you to an unfinished page.
New York City
New York is close enough for a day out, a dinner or a reason to stay overnight. My guide will bring together the food and experiences I have tried, including the kind of practical decisions that can make a day in the city work better.
You do not need to turn every New York visit into a sightseeing marathon. Pick the part of the city you want to spend time in, work out how you are getting there and give the main experience room to breathe. For broader neighborhood ideas, NYC Tourism + Conventions is a useful official resource.
For one experience you can read about now, see my Edge and Peak article.
Lima
Food is a big part of how I remember Peru, and Maido belongs in that conversation. The Lima guide will focus on my time in the city and the dining experiences that stood out, with the wider Peru trip kept in its own context.
If Lima is one part of a longer Peru itinerary, give the city its own time rather than treating it only as a connection. Keep the city plans separate from days needed to travel elsewhere. My destination notes will distinguish what I personally experienced from anything included as an option to research.
The full city guide is still being put together.
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley is home, so this one starts closer to my everyday life. I want to bring together restaurants and local outings worth making time for, whether you live nearby or are planning a visit.
A local destination deserves the same thought as an overseas trip. Decide whether you want a relaxed lunch, a full day out or an overnight stay before linking several stops together. I want this guide to help with those choices, with clear locations and context rather than a long list that sends you driving back and forth.
A local guide is on the way. You do not always need a flight to have something worth writing about.
The moments behind the guides
A restaurant reservation might get a trip started, but it does not explain everything I remember about it. These are a few of my own photographs from the places behind the stories.
How I would use these destination guides
Start with the experience you care about, then build a trip you will actually enjoy around it. These are the questions I would ask before turning a destination wish list into reservations.
Choose your priorities before your hotel
A rooftop and a beautiful room can be a good reason to choose a hotel. Location matters too. Look at where your dinners, activities and transport connections sit in relation to it. If the place you want to be every evening is across the city, that impressive hotel may make the rest of the trip harder.
Think about atmosphere as well. I liked the social side of Sir Victor, but someone looking for an early night might make a different choice. The useful part of a firsthand account is understanding that difference, not assuming my favorite will automatically be yours.
Give meals and race days enough space
For a food-focused destination, decide which reservations are the reason for the trip and which are flexible. Leave time to enjoy a meal without watching the clock for the next booking. An ambitious tasting menu does not need a packed afternoon on either side of it.
Formula 1 changes the planning. Getting to the circuit and back is part of the day, and a race weekend should not be treated like an ordinary city break. Check the current event information, think through transport and avoid committing to a tightly timed dinner after the track.
Use my experience, then check the details
My destination guides describe experiences at a particular point in time. Menus, opening hours, access rules and reservation policies can change. Before committing money, check the venue’s own website and the terms attached to your actual booking.
For Barcelona, the city’s official tourism website offers broader ideas and practical information alongside my personal recommendations. Official resources help with current logistics; the stories here explain what the experience was like for me.
Keep room for your own trip
You can use a destination guide without following every recommendation. Choose the places that match your appetite, budget and energy, and leave the rest for another visit. A slower morning or an afternoon without a reservation can be part of a good trip too.
I would rather explain a few experiences clearly than imply that I have covered everything. The upcoming guides will follow the same approach: personal visits identified, researched suggestions labeled and enough context for you to make your own choices.
There is more between the guides
For individual restaurant reviews, hotel experiences and the stories that do not fit neatly into one destination, read the travel blog. If you are new here, get to know me and how RJVIPGP started.
Interested in working together? Visit my travel and brand partnerships page.