Jonathan Phang's Gourmet Express

Venice to London - Jonathan Phang, a self-confessed bon viveur with a passion for gastronomy, feels the allure of old world glamour and sets off on a gourmet journey crossing continents aboard some of the world's most elegant trains. Jonathan boards this historic train at Venice train station and travels via Innsbruck to Paris and then on to London. In Venice, he explores the Rialto food market and cooks scampi which he buys with chef Ivan Cantenacci. He visits the palazzo Lezze, home of Marie Bagnasco, on the Grand Canal, and finds out how Venetians live and entertain in these palatial houses. In Paris Jonathan is invited to the laboratory of chocolate master Patrick Roger where truffle making doesn’t go quite to plan and he does retro dining at the art nouveau restaurant, La Fermette Marbeuf.

Bucharest To Istanbul - Jonathan Phang retraces Queen of crime Agatha Christie's footsteps in a journey which inspired her most famous novel - Murder On The Orient Express. This sees him travelling from Bucharest to Istanbul through the Carpathian Mountains to the former royal resort of Sinaia - where he cooks a wild venison dinner in a hunting lodge. In Bucharest Jonathan explores the emerging food scene and cooks with Mircea Dinescu, a poet and political revolutionary turned restaurateur. In Istanbul Jonathan explores both the traditional and more cutting edge food scene, meeting Istanbul's only female shop owner in the historic spice market.

Singapore To Penang - In Singapore, Jonathan meets executive chef Christopher Christie who is in charge of 30 restaurants at the 8 billion dollar 'wonder of the world' that is the Marina Bay Sands. He takes on a chilli crab challenge and cooks with young British chef Ryan Clift who is making a name for himself with his molecular approach to gourmet cuisine at the award-winning Tippling Club. He then boards the Eastern and Oriental train from the world famous Raffles Hotel, and travels through the night to Penang in Malaysia. On board he enjoys a dinner so much he goes back for seconds.

Penang To Bangkok - In George Town the historic capital of the Malaysian state of Penang, Jonathan explores a Sunday morning market and sends up buying a 100 year-old egg which he eats back on the train with chef Yannis Martineau. The train stops off at the infamous bridge over the River Kwai and Jonathan pays his respects at the war graves there. On to Bangkok with its markets, temples and food on every street corner, where Jonathan gets the ultimate lesson in making Thai green curry from one of Thailand’s most popular celebrity chefs, Vichit Mukura. He then explores Chinatown and puts two restaurants, which are old rivals, to the test to see which one makes the best Tom Yum soup.

Jonathan Phang takes the British Pullman to Whitstable in Kent where he faces his phobia for oysters, before going foraging on the beach with 'fine food forager' Lucia Jackson and cooking a gourmet dinner with his finds. His Northern Belle journey takes him to Rutland where he has an early morning start making artisan bread, then he embarks on a bread and butter pudding cook-off with Mark Beastall the chef of a Michelin starred country house hotel. Back in London he is invited to the Orient-Express depot to see how the trains are restored, before cooking lunch with the chef of Aqua, 31 storeys up, in the newly built Shard.

Jonathan Phang's journey starts in Budapest, where he tackles an ancient dish inspired by blood sucking leeches at the influential Bock Bizstro. Since Budapest is all about spas, Jonathan strips off to enjoy these healing waters. The Venice Simplon Orient-Express takes him to Vienna, where he takes part in a cook-off at Figlmuller, the city's most famous schnitzel dynasty restaurant and is let in on the secrets of a legendary Viennese lobster dish at the Opera House restaurant Vestibuel. He also finds out how a city vineyard in the centre of Vienna is producing award winning wine.