Vice Travellers

Barcelona has no shortage of brunch spots. What it has a shortage of is brunch spots that feel genuinely thought-through — where the pancakes are actually worth ordering, the owner is actually in the room, and you actually leave in a better mood than you arrived.

Allora is the kind of Italian restaurant Warsaw has needed for a long time — not a pizza chain dressed up in checkered tablecloths, but a genuine ristorante with soul, staff who mean it, and pasta that makes you close your eyes.

There are restaurants that chase trends, and there are restaurants that simply refuse to. Lotos, on Belwederska 2 in Warsaw's Mokotów district, has been the same since 1958. The wicker decorations are original. The recipes haven't changed. The coat check attendant still greets you at the door.