Free Republic

Threepeat: President visits same restaurants on this year's vacation as last year's... After a day of golf, President Obama on Friday night had a long, late dinner in Waikiki, spending more than 3 1/2 hours at Nobu restaurant. Joined by First Lady Obama and an unidentified group of friends, the President arrived at the "perennially hip" Waikiki Parc Hotel at 8:35 PM, home to Nobu, which bills itself as "yet another canvas for Chef Nobu Matsuhisa to display his legendary dishes." The closed-off streets around the hotel filled with excited crowds as word of the President's presence spread through Waikiki....

The Frome Cheese Show claims to be the oldest in the country. And organisers hope its cheese sandwich, costing £110.59, is the world's most expensive. It was created by Bath-based chef Martin Blunos and is made with cheddar blended with white truffles and sprinkled with gold dust. There is no current official record for the most expensive cheese sandwich. Mr Blunos said: "We Brits are known to love our cheese sandwiches and here's one that is fit for the banqueting table. Martin Blunos with cheese sandwich Martin Blunos has applied to Guinness World Records to have the sandwich recognised "The...

Rush was talking about the Allen Brothers on his show the other day. He'd ordered some gourmet hot dogs from them for one of his parties. He said they were great. He also said they are one of the chief suppliers for prime steakhouses in the country. The prices are a bit steep. Has anyone here ever ordered from them?

Twenty years ago, as a struggling and penniless sous chef in Paris, Giorgio Locatelli once saved a month's salary simply to buy a cut of beef. But then it wasn't just any cut. It was Wagyu, and it was making its European debut as the world's most expensive meat. Yesterday he tasted it again, though this time it was free. Which was just as well, really, since the rare ingredient, imported from Japan, was the gourmet filling in Britain's most expensive sandwich - a speciality which goes on sale from tomorrow at the Sandwich Counter at Selfridge's, in Oxford Street....

Possum pies and other meals made from the ubiquitous Kiwi pest have Australian animal-rights activists in a stew. Possum dishes such as Road Kill, Headlight Delight Pie, Guess That Mess and Shovel-Flipped Roadside Pizza have incensed Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV). President Patty Mark said New Zealanders' treatment of possums was an outrage and the culinary names "make your stomach turn". "Possums are a treasure and ALV would see them as individuals who have their own rights." The Kiwi behind the culinary treats, Peter Salter, dismissed the group's comments. After cooking up the pests for customers at his pub in Pukekura,...