The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner [Import] [Hardcover]

Jay Rayner (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755316347
• ISBN-13: 978-0755316342
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,569,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars When at Katz's Deli get the tongue, August 18, 2008

By 

Valerie Usowski - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner (Hardcover)

I was so pysched when I read the 'Warning' (urging the reader to get a snack beforehand or suffer through hunger pains)that I actually grabbed a banana and settled into my couch for a long read. I happily read the first chapter about having a 'proper dinner' and wondered where in Upstate NY I could actually get a decent app of escargot. Still intrigued I read on. Las Vegas. Really? I know, a blossoming culinary mecca. The only things blossoming there are the busoms of the waitresses. I read on and slowly lost patience. Blah, blah truffle, blah, caviar, blah, freebies, blah, name dropping. I wanted to get into it, but just couldn't. I would recommend 'Garlic and Sapphires' by Ruth Reichl instead.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hide your credit cards. Then read this book., July 15, 2008

By 

Genene Murphy (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner (Hardcover)

While reading this book, avoid Expedia and Orbitz or any deep-seated desires to taste Toyko or tour New York City. Stay far, far away from wine auctions and think twice about booking reservations at restaurants that issue fraud alerts. Because after reading Rayner's adventures and quest for the perfect meal, you'll want to spend a lot of money for your next travel/foodie fix.

With each chapter--and arrival in another city--you may crave exotic food and culinary adventure and more of Rayner's writing. He gives words life. His arrogant, yet charming tone reminds of that guy at that bar that you'd like to call your friend or uncle. I distinctly remember reading in bed and yet also sitting next to Rayner, getting sick in a cab or throwing envious glances to investment bankers wasting a $5000 bottle of wine just because they could. You may taste the sea. Or smell grapes. You may also feel your heart race when he describes what happens in France. And you'll definately experience Dubai in ways that this month's travel magazine can't describe. (His description called to mind the book, A Fine Balance.)

Soon after reading and loaning this book, I craved really good sushi. I checked the balance on our Visa, closed my eyes ... and Rayner was right. I could taste the sea. Read this now if you need a vacation or a gluttonous night out in town. The experience is free.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and Mouth-watering, April 3, 2011

By 

The Dougger (NYC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner (Paperback)

Jay Rayner is a food critic from the UK but more recently has been a judge on Top Chef Masters. His spot on that show doesn't do justice to his snarling wit, world-class knowledge of restaurants and chefs, or his abiding love for even the simplest ingredients. THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD is a luxury dining tour of New York, Las Vegas, London, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, and Paris in which Rayner searches for the perfect meal in the most famous restaurants and the most getting-lost-on-the-back-streets-of-Tokyo holes in the wall, as long as they've been promised to serve something incomparably delicious. But it's not just about the food. It's the atmosphere, the history of the chef and the space, the sourcing of the ingredients (a trip to the docks in Tokyo hunting for the perfect tuna), and even some talk of globalization thrown in (why does one chef insist on flying his lobsters from Brittany, France to Las Vegas, when the coast of Maine is so much nearer by?). Still, the food, and Rayner's rip-roaring sense of humor do take center stage. Everyone will have a favorite chapter and dish but the entire book is a sustained love letter to haute cuisine written by a regular chap with a big appetite and a sophisticated palate. I wish Rayner had a companion show on the Travel Channel where he could spend a season taking us to all the restaurants in this books!