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Authentik Gourmet Guides

These are quite exceptional little books. Small in format, I should say, but full of the most useful information sufficient for any enthusiastic food lover. This series is quite eye-catching - the well-designed brown card covers are a stylish trade mark.

I have enjoyed the Authentik Gourmet guides to both London and Paris. They allow you an insight into the culinary scene by offering background information, a bit of history and culture as well as lists of, for example, shops selling kitchen utensils, lists of wine courses, and cookery schools. You’ll find the usual directories of restaurants, numerous maps, but also sections called City Secrets, in which the movers and shakers in the current food arena divulge some of their favourite establishments – this makes fascinating reading.

It’s nice to find a guide that is relevant equally to the resident and to the tourist. The local will obviously be familiar with lots of the suggested eateries but, unless you are the sort that dines out in restaurants three times each week and spends the other evenings researching local food issues, you will still manage to find much that is new and interesting.

The sketches by Alain Bouldouyre are charming and add much to the overall appeal. These books would make the most fantastic gifts for anyone going away for a special weekend or city break. They make lovely souvenirs in themselves but the guides have an elastic band closure and you are supplied with a little notebook to enable you to make each volume truly unique. Tuck a pencil inside and add your own experiences and opinions. Expand on those of the author.

If these little guides are still too much baggage for the foodie on the go, then you can download all the addresses onto a mobile phone. It sounds quite technical but the computer-savvy would have no problem with the method. I’ll stick to the paper versions!

The author of the Gourmet London guide, William Skidelsky, knows his stuff and writes for The Guardian, The Spectator and the New Statesman. Author of Gourmet Paris is Canadian-born Rosa Jackson who moved to France in 1995 to give culinary tours of the city, and now designs tailor-made food itineraries. She is also an author of two French language cookbooks.

For more information about Authentik guides please contact cphillips@footprintbooks.com

Authentik: Gourmet London, Gourmet Paris
Author (London): William Skidelsky, Illustrator: Alain Bouldouyre
Author (Paris): Rosa Jackson, Illustrator: Alain Bouldouyre
Publisher: The Globe Pequot Press
Price: £8.99
ISBN 978-0-7627-4635-4 (London)
ISBN 978-0-7627-4634-7 (Paris)