Photo by Zé Eduardo

Ethereal truffle ravioli that melt in your mouth. Heavenly mascarpone sprinkled with bitter dark chocolate shavings. Dreams are made of such things.

At Drogheria della Rosa in Bologna, jovial owner Emanuele Addone keeps you smiling all night. After all he did take home the prestigious San Pelligrino Cooking Cup. If his contagious enthusiasm doesn’t hit you, the continuously flowing wine certainly will.

Drogheria della Rosa’s cellar has several hundred choices of vino for every budget. Second piatti range from €9 to €15 per dish. Each dish is simple, made from the freshest ingredients, and prepared to perfection. Be sure to reserve a table ahead of time. During the summer months, we recommend outside tables.

Drogheria della Rosa is located at Via Cartoleria, 10. Telephone: +39 51 22 2529. Hours: 12:30 p.m. until 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Photo by Kaymaria Daskarolis

When you have decided to leave the clubs in Psirri in the wee hours of the morning and are hungry—but not so hungry that you feel able to consume one of Kosta’s delicious crepes from Picasso di Crepa—consider going by the bakery at 23 Karaiskaki Street and picking up a freshly-baked, warm, scrumptious koulouri. The koulouria made by the bakery at 23 Karaiskaki are distributed to koulouri stands throughout Athens.

A koulouri is a wreath-shaped piece of slightly-sweet bread with sesame seeds all over it. (We suggested them long ago as Syntagma Square pigeon feed.) People in Greece love koulouri so much that the snack is sold on corners throughout the city every morning, typically disappearing by mid-day.

If a mid-morning koulouri from a kiosk is tasty, a post-clubbing koulouri straight out of the oven is a little slice of heaven.

Photo by hedgiecc

Taste of London runs from June 21 through June 24. Stop by and sample a whole lotta London grub in Regent’s Park. Don’t miss The F Word Live, the Beer Masterclass, the Times Chef tent, or any of the other fun culinary attractions. Ticket prices offend your Cheapo blood? Remember all the food you’re getting. Enter to win VIP passes plus the chance to meet Gordon Ramsay.

From Angela Hartnett (Ramsay’s old understudy) to Fifteen (Jamie Oliver’s place), Mocoto (new Brazilian haunt), Rhodes 24, Scott’s, Tom Aikens, and many more, this festival allows us Cheapos to nibble the otherwise prohibitively expensive high-end London fare.

We’ll be there filling up, and we’d bet our last quid that there’ll be freebies.

Photo by oliviagiovetti

In Prague, you can get your fill of apple strudel at any sidewalk cafe. However, (especially if you’re in the Czech Republic long-term) no one will blame you for craving a giant soft-baked chocolate chip cookie. And expat Anne Feeley’s Bakeshop Praha (Kozi 1, just a block down from the Kafka statue) is just the place to find them, along with a wide range of other American-style baked goods (including bread that isn’t rye!).

The cheery shop, located near the Jewish Quarter, has a design that isn’t too far from Feeley’s Californian roots, warm with a retro, gee-whiz interior. The staff is oh-so-helpful, whether toasting your ham and cheese croissant (a delicious buttery sin) or bagging up a dozen scrumptious oatmeal raisin cookies to bring home.

While the shop makes for a nice afternoon pick-me-up, it is also the perfect locale for a quick, cheap lunch (their quiches are roughly CZK65/$2.00 and are so addictive they should be outlawed). If you have some extra time and extra money burning a hole in your pocket, Feeley’s sister restaurant Bakeshop Diner, is nearby in Mala Strana (next to the Charles Bridge) and offers up the full dining experience for a few extra Czech crowns.

Photo by Floppy Monkey Puppy Love

Try this for some quick math: 4 days + 22 fabulous restaurants = 1 great culinary event.

This year’s Taste of Dublin will be taking over the city’s Iveagh Gardens for a long weekend of fun and food from June 14 - 17. In addition to offering the chance to taste the delicacies of some of the city’s best restaurants, this year’s event will also host a Chef’s Demonstration Theatre that will feature some of the UK and Ireland’s best loved celebrity chefs including Rachel and Darina Allen, Nevin Maguire and Antony Worrall Thompson.

Tickets can be booked twenty four hours, and group bookings are available.

Photo by TraceyF

One of the chief pleasures of visiting another country is sampling its special food and drink. If you visit Hungary you expect to taste the goulash (gulyás), which you may be surprised to find is a soup, not a stew you should also expect to have a shot of the national drink, unicum.

Unicum is a dark brown bitter sweet liqueur, made from herbs and beloved by Hungarians as a pick-you-up. It is instantly recognizable in its round, jet black bottle, which has not changed for six generations.

As well as tasting unicum, you may also consider paying a visit to the Unicum Heritage Vistitors’ Centre (www.zwackunicum.hu) which charts the colourful history of the drink and of the Zwack family, who invented it. The museum houses one of the largest collections of miniature bottles in the world15,000 of them. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and a tour, including a tasting session at the end, will cost you 1,500 forints.

Photo courtesy of  Sunnia Ko

Whether you’re looking for a comfortable place to rest your feet after shopping or just looking for the perfect sweet to cap off a hearty meal, in the Balkan capital of Belgrade, those in need of a sugar fix need look no further than Hotel Moskva’s Café (café entrance is Teraczie 20; open 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily).

With its ideal location on central Teraczie, historic Hotel Moskva’s Café tantalizes with a mind-boggling selection of sweets. Cheapos with a sweet tooth ought to take note: the Hotel Moskva houses its own confectionary complete with award-wining products, so there is no shortage of sugar here.

Our favorite was the torta (DIN150/$2.50/€1.80). This slice of heaven took the form of white cake with chocolate, cherry and cream filling, topped off by a heavy dose of sinfully rich “sweet cream,” which, incidentally, seems omnipresent in Cafe Moskva’s long selection of house desserts.

You’ll want to order up a Vienna café (DIN160/$2.65/€2) to help cut the richness of your torta.

Photo courtesy of  Kaymaria Daskarolis

After a night of dancing in Psiri, leaving the clubs at 4.30 a.m. or later, most folks are hun-gry. Fortunately for all Kostas, a friendly, hard-working man with exquisite crepe-making skills, keeps his shop Picasso di Crepa (Taki Street 19 in Psiri, +30-210-324-7686) open until around 7 a.m. on Sundays through Thursdays and until about 11 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Oh the crepes, the crepes. They are the perfect post-club delight. Our current favorite is a savory crepe stuffed with cheese, tomatoes, and olives. Savory crepes cost between €4 and €6.50 depending on the filling, and judging by the ones we’ve tried so far they are worth every cent. Sweet crepes can be yours for between €3 and €5.50. Expect company at Picasso di Crepa no matter what time you find yourself there—Kosta’s divine crepes are no secret to locals.

Photo by Pe_Tah

Could it be? After years of Italian influence on the American coffee scene, the tables have finally turned. The latest coffee craze in the country that practically invented the stuff: Eraclea espresso drinks, available in three sizes: €1.10 for a small, €1.90 for a large, and €1.50 for a takeaway.

It appears that Italians have woken up to the joys of caffeine to go. And of course, they’ve done it right.

Dark chocolate sprinkle, white chocolate cream, hazelnut cream, and marocchino (mini-cappuccino) are getting rave reviews around town. While these babies cost a bit more than your standard €.70 caffé al banco—that is, espresso quaffed while standing up at the bar—they provide a refreshing treat for less than €2.

Photo by Letincelle&Soseau

Feeling jaded after all those meals of steak frites and braised veal shanks? Pep yourself up with an ice-cold smoothie at one of the great new juice bars in Paris.

Bob’s Juice Bar is located near the Canal St. Martin on the Right Bank. Run by an American filmmaker called Mark, it has a very laid-back vibe and is organized around a long shared table where locals come to hang out with their laptops and chat with the owner about the latest movies at the Cannes film festival. Find generous pile of magazines, a bottomless cup of coffee for €1, muffins, pancakes, soup, salad, and of course, an inventive roster of juices and smoothies. For an additional kick, ask for a supplement of spirulina or guarana. Smoothies cost €4-€5.50 and there’s a lunch formula at €10 with soup and a salad or a sandwich and a muffin with mint tea.

On the Left Bank near Odéon there’s Wanna Juice, which is more impersonal and geared towards takeout. Nonetheless, it is worth bearing in mind for a hot day in the teeming streets off the Boulevard Saint Germain. Wanna insists on using only fresh fruit and no added sugar. One of their bestsellers is the Apasionada, which consists of passionfruit, mango, banana, and pineapple juice. Smoothies begin at €3.90.

Bob’s Juice Bar is located at 15, rue Lucien Sampaix 75010 M° Jacques Bonsergent and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Wanna Juice, at 65, rue Saint-André des Arts 75006 M° Odéon, is open everyday from 8:30 a.m. ’til sunset.