The one thing that Singaporeans love is their food. So, when it comes to holidaying overseas, it is only natural that food and dining also take centre stage.

For gourmands looking to marry travel with food, The Straits Times Life editor Tan Hsueh Yun has recommendations for the best eats in eight destinations, including Kyoto in Japan, Hobart in Tasmania and Italy's Piedmont region.

Her food-centric travelogues - she features everything from where to find luscious conger eel in the back streets of Tokyo to Michelin-starred meals in Copenhagen - have been compiled into a microsite called Travel & Eat With Tan Hsueh Yun. It is one of the new foodie resources on ST's new food website ST Food, straitstimesfood.com.

The destinations listed on the microsite (str.sg/hsueh) are a compilation of travelogues from the past three years of ST's print and digital publications. More food- related travelogues will be added in the future.

All of Ms Tan's vacations, she says, are planned around food. She uses food to get an insight into a city's culture.

"I always pick a mix of high and low, well known and unknown places," she says. "Eating, talking to restaurant staff and even discussing restaurants with cab drivers, bartenders and hotel staff, have paid dividends. I find out where they like to eat and, usually, they're spot on in their recommendations."

Unlike many foodies who would rather keep good food finds to themselves for fear of the masses descending on their favourite eateries, Ms Tan, 49, prefers to share.

She says: "I do not delude myself into thinking that I can make a restaurant popular just by writing about it. I would hate for my friends to keep good food finds from me, so I figure I should tell others about my own finds."

In turn, people reciprocate with other food and drink recommendations. "It's a two-way street," she says.

One year, someone had recommended her Switch Coffee by the Meguro River in Tokyo. It was there that she experienced her first espresso with tonic water and it blew her mind.

A mantra she stands by when travelling and dining is that of "no repeats". She says: "I want to find and go to new places on each visit."

On the launch of the Travel & Eat microsite, she adds: "I hope people will find it useful in deciding what and where to eat and, hopefully, they'll enjoy their meals as much as I did."

• Go to straitstimesfood.com for the best eats