The gastropub now sits at the top table of the British restaurant scene following an extraordinary rise in recent years.If Tom and Ed Martin are contenders for the throne of London’s gastro kings, it’s fitting then that we find their latest opening, the Cadogan Arms, in the regal setting of King’s Road, Chelsea.

A stone’s throw from Vauxhall Cross (where our secret service hang out) Nar Restaurant and Bar sits on the Albert Embankment occupying the space created by two of the arches on which the trains to and from Waterloo station serve the west on London and beyond. I was invited to attend its official launch party recently and of course was happy to do so.

I was invited to an event at Brown’s Hotel in Dover Street, W1, hosted jointly by the Brindisi Chamber of Commerce and Antonio Tomassini, a Brindisi wine and food promoter, recently. The purpose was to promote the produce from this area of Puglia in southern Italy and together with other food and drink writers and some importers I was able to sample some of them.

We were invited to Camino to sample the new range of wines that owner Richard Bigg is introducing, in association with his supplier Ben Henshaw, from Indigo Wine, who specialises in the supply of Spanish wines. This cavernous tapas bar/restaurant with its exposed Victorian brickwork giving it a kind of rustic feel, is set in the courtyard of The Regent Quarter, a stone’s throw from King’s Cross Station, in Pentonville Road.

It’s taken me a week to get over the hole in my life that is Hell’s Kitchen I began watching from the terylene embrace of a cheap bed in a hotel room in France and, thanks to Mr Tivo, watched it here when I came home late every night.

As chefs from around the world wake up in Soho doorways and pull half-eaten kebabs from their pockets, ‘Mon Dieu! What is zeees?’ the jamboree that is the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards comes to an end. Did your local curry house make it into the list? Read on Macduff

Kanteen’s Head Chef, Sylvan Chevereau has created a Saints and Sinners menu, which caters both for the health conscious, as well as those of us who are a little more indulgent, although it has to be said, the saintly dished are not calorie counted. Together with some other foodie scribes I was invited to go along recently to sample the menu.

With the Great Taste Awards coming up fast, we decided to do a round robin taste test in the office of some of last year’s worthy winners of 3 Gold Stars. The Great Taste Awards are fast becoming the definitive independent benchmark for specialty food and drink

The weather held for this season’s launch of the National Theatre’s rooftop events venue, The Deck, which was built last year. This cool space is huge and completely timber-decked inside and out, with the structure itself tastefully decorated mainly in white with beautiful clean lines and glass sliding doors that open onto a terrace running the length of two of its sides.

Some restaurants hide their light under a bushel, Tamarai hides its under a car park. It takes some nerve to descend the seemingly endless stairs to arrive at what turns out to be not a bomb shelter but a large clubby space with a massive bar and a special dining area. If war is declared, here is where I want to eat my last poppadum.