The New York food writer who loves it here (and where he eats in NYC)

As Silversea’s Silver Nova arrives in Australia for its inaugural season Down Under, food and travel writer Adam Sachs – previously the editor-in-chief of renowned US magazine Saveur, who now looks after the cruise line’s groundbreaking SALT program – takes us through some of his favourite places and experiences, here and overseas.

Adam Sachs of Silversea’s SALT program, at a vineyard in Cadiz, Spain.Credit: Trudi Jenkins

What are your favourite countries to visit from a food perspective?

Wherever I’m heading next. There are life-improving, happy-making eating experiences to be had – new tastes to discover, old favourites to revisit – wherever you travel.

I’m not properly trained in any way, but I love to cook and spend a lot of time in front of a wood-fired grill at home. So I’m particularly happy when I can go somewhere and watch someone who really knows what they’re doing on a grill, and pick up ideas.

It could be Elkano in Getaria on the Basque coast of Spain, where they make the best grilled turbot in the universe, or the guy turning steaks over the embers in the little fireplace at sweet Antica Osteria del Mirasole outside Bologna. Or the ladies grilling anticuchos at outdoor stalls in Lima, or all the smoked and charred magic they make at Burnt Ends in Singapore.

Turbot on the grill at Elkano restaurant in Getaria, Spain.

What have been your favourite discoveries globally when devising the SALT program?

There have been a lot, it’s hard to choose. As a food and travel editor, I’ve been lucky in my career to have access to many remarkable people and places. Sometimes you just immediately know: this is the place to be, these are the stories you want to hear and share. With SALT, we’ve had a lot of those moments.

In Crete, we spend the day with a family that runs a biodynamic farm high up in the mountains, where they cultivate wild herbs and honey and make olive oil from their own trees. The food they cook on a giant wood-fired stone hearth makes you want to weep.

A culinary adventure at the exceptional Peskesi Organic Farm in Crete.Credit: Lucia Griggi

Or an afternoon foraging in the Murge plateau of Puglia with a pair of chef brothers, and cooking with them outdoors, followed by the best coffee gelato of my life made by fourth-generation artisans in a little wood-panelled shop.

Or venturing out of Naples to see Franco Pepe, considered by many to be Italy’s best pizzaiolo, stopping first to meet his cheese maker and tasting fresh, warm mozzarella straight from the salt-water bath, then having pizza after pizza made by the master himself, all while he’s explaining his process and telling his personal story.

Franco Pepe, considered by many to be Italy’s best pizzaiolo.

These are delicious, memorable moments not everyone can have, and I’m as excited to share them with our guests as I am to experience them myself.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love that we get to work with the best authorities wherever we go, from authors and entrepreneurs such as the Salmon Sisters in Alaska to the writer and expert on all things Italian, Laura Lazzaroni, and restaurateur and author Luke Nguyen in Vietnam, among many, many others.

I’m lucky to work with amazing teams of people, onboard and off, from the behind-the-scenes geniuses of procurement who help us source regional ingredients and the creative chefs who put them to great use, to the chef-instructors who lead our cooking classes and the very detail-focused shore-experience specialists who work with culinary experts to create compelling adventures in the ports we visit.

The SALT lab runs cooking classes by day and a degustation menu in the evenings.

How did you curate the SALT program for Nova’s visit here?

I’ve eaten really well around Australia over the years and am always happy for any excuses to come back and explore more. Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are all compellingly great eating cities.

I’d say Tasmania has a special hold on me. I spent a week on a sheep station there 20 or so years ago for a story, and have been back often, driving all around the island, doing the Cradle Mountain and Bay of Fires walks, eating around Hobart and taking cooking lessons with Rodney Dunn at the Agrarian Kitchen.

Tasmanian chef Analiese Gregory is hosting a SALT shore excursion in Hobart.

I first encountered Analiese Gregory when she had Franklin restaurant in Hobart, and I was immediately a fan and really love her cookbook How Wild Things Are. So when we were coming to Australia with Silver Nova, I knew we had to do something with Analiese. I’m especially excited about the special foraging, live-fire cooking experience we’ve put together with her at The Bowmont on the banks of the Huon River.

Adam’s top five NYC restaurants

New York, like any great city, is too messy, too multitudinous to be tamed by any one list. But here are a few spots I’d take you to if you were visiting the city this week, in no particular order.

Sailor: Gabe Stulman and chef April Bloomfield’s ideal neighbourhood bistro happens to be in my neighbourhood. www.sailor.nyc

Borgo: Low-key king of Brooklyn restaurants Andrew Tarlow’s first Manhattan opening. Italian from a wood-fired hearth. borgonyc.com

Le Veau d’Or: Tiny, fancy, perfect classic Midtown bistro miraculously reincarnated by the city’s leading non-French Francophiles, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr. lvdnyc.com

Hamburger America: Come to America, eat a hamburger, specifically the double classic smashburger at “burger scholar” George Motz’s loving and intentionally kitschy tribute to the American diner. hamburgeramerica.com

Atomix: Modern Korean chef’s counter experience that’s both serene and thrilling from JP and Ellia Park. atomixnyc.com/counter

THE DETAILS
Silversea’s SALT program is about immersing guests in local culinary cultures. In the SALT kitchen, the menu changes daily to reflect the specialty dishes of the destination, while the SALT bar serves bespoke cocktails crafted with local botanicals. In the SALT lab kitchen, travellers prepare regional dishes under the guidance of a culinary expert. By night, the SALT lab transforms into the chef’s table, an intimate, interactive dining experience for 18 guests.

Cooking classes and chef’s table dinners take place in the airy SALT lab.

Silver Nova will return to the Asia-Pacific in September 2025, completing voyages in Asia before undertaking a 47-day circumnavigation of Australia, departing from Melbourne. Subsequently, Silversea’s first Nova-class ship will operate Sydney-to-Auckland voyages, from 12 to 15 days.

See silversea.com