I'll start off by saying I really wanted to love this book. As someone who is in constant search for a perfect meal, I thought I would be able to enjoy some good old fashioned food porn. While the stories had some interesting pieces, the writing didn't capture my imagination and overall felt flat. I mean, what good is a book about the search for an amazing meal when I don't feel jealous about the experience? It's too bad - I guess I'll just have to be disappointed about being disappointed. ( )

In The Man Who Ate the World, Jay Rayner (the restaurant critic for the London Observer) chronicles his eating adventures in the world's leading restaurant cities, including Las Vegas, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, New York, London, and Paris. This is an entertaining armchair guide to high-end dining, including descriptions of food, interviews with chefs and other foodie personalities, and other food-related commentary. Some of Rayner's restaurant experiences live up to the hype, others fall short. Fortunately, Rayner's style, filled with cynical humor and a healthy dose of self-deprecation, is charming and accessible throughout.

On the downside, Rayner's adventure becomes tedious near the end. Indeed, even Rayner is ready to quit once he reaches Paris, the final city on his tour: "Lunch in a three-star no longer strikes me as a pleasure. To me, it seems to be a cruel and unusual punishment." High-end restaurant lovers will enjoy The Man Who Ate the World, but others will likely be quickly bored by the detailed descriptions of Rayner's many meals.

This review also appears on my blog Literary License. ( )

This book made me hungry. Really hungry. The author, Jay Rayner, warned that this would happen in the introduction...and he was right. Rayner is a restaurant critic for various places, including the London Observer. He has written a couple of well received novels and has won awards for his journalism skills. His writing in this book is no different...very fun to read.

The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner follows Rayner around the world as he eats as the finest restaurants he can find. The book is broken into chapters about each city that he visits: Las Vegas, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, New York & Paris. It was interesting to hear about the restaurant life in each of those cities. As you can imagine, Paris is the best.

It is funny to read this because he lists all of the foods that he ate at these establishments...and I had no what a lot of them were. I suppose this means I am not very cultured because I had to wikipedia things like "foie gras" (fatty duck or goose liver) and "turbot with Welsh rarebit" (flatfish with sauce"). My uncouthishness is pretty embarrassing actually. I blame my parents.

The book is filled with really funny stories from his youth and food writing experiences...which is good because at times it felt a bit tedious to read descriptions of every meal he ate. (yes, I realize that was the point of the book). But the chapter I enjoyed the most was his gastronomical assault on Paris where he took on a "Super-Size Me" like mission to eat 7 consecutive meals at a Michelin 3-star restaurant. Finishing at a place that cost $700 a head! And he didn't even like that one!

The entire book is very well written and will keep you entertained as you travel across the globe reading about food that other people got to enjoy.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

(this review, and others, can be found at www.lettersonpages.com) ( )

Never quite sure if this is just ghoulish gastro-porn or whether it's trying to make a serious point about gastro-globalisation. Nonetheless the author is a punchy wordsmith, although no idea why he thought visiting Moscow would be a gastronomically rewarding experience. Would be interesting to see if pictures would season the narrative, or take away from the magical writing. ( )