I just recently did a ton of research on this subject, and here's what I came up with:
I had four criteria that were of utmost importance to me:
1) Small enough to mostly palm, thusly making it unobtrusive in a restaurant environment.
2) Excellent low-light quality due to dim lighting at many restaurants.
3) Excellent macro focus to better show the up-close detail of the deliciousness.
4) Good all-around quality that wouldn't make me feel like I was sacrificing everything else to get 1-3.
I settled on the Fujifilm Finepix F11, and it's fantastic. It takes great photos at ISO 1600 with very little noise. It isn't ultrasexy, but it's still sleek, it's a great all-around camera, and it's absolutely perfect for snapping restaurant photos on the sly. After some Photoshop adjustments, I'm seeing details in my photos that I couldn't see in person at the restaurant (but be warned, it's low light... you WILL need Photoshop or other good image editing software).
A few notes... first, the F11 isn't generally available in the US. There are a few online merchants that carry it, but its US counterpart is the F10. The image quality is similar, if not the same, I believe. The main difference is that the F11 has a slightly larger LCD.
However, I would also recommend waiting for just a little bit longer, as the successor to the F10/11 is due out next month, and it sounds like they've added a ton of improvements, including a usable ISO 3200 (!), without increasing the size of the camera more than a millimeter in any direction. It's the F30, and I believe it's due out in the States in June.
Anyway, there's plenty of info about these cameras out there, so I highly recommend you include it in your search. I could post some sample images, if it helps. Let me know.
Addendum:
After posting, I just realized that I didn't read carefully... you didn't specifically say that you wanted to take pictures in restaurants, just of food. If you're not concerned about restaurant action, there are probably better choices out there.
Last edited by
Dmnkly on May 10th, 2006, 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dominic Armato
Dining Critic
The Arizona Republic and
azcentral.com