Californian winemakers Turning Leaf have recently launched their ‘Discover the Colour” campaign to present their portfolio of five wines as expressions of colour. To be precise, Turning Leaf’s oenologist Stephanie Edge has teamed up with Dutch chef Esther Röling to create a new series of colourful recipes designed to match the Turning Leaf wines throughout the seasons. Qin Xie was invited to sample their selection of wines and some of the summery dishes to match.

Tamarind, the posh Indian restaurant in Mayfair, has decided to end the spice drought in Arny Schwarznegger’s California and open Tamarind of London in Newport Beach, Orange County one of the best beachside cities on the Pacific Coast.

You catch glimpses of the man – Giorgio Locatelli, his trademark hair almost back to its original piratical length, emerges from his kitchen at Refettorio every now and then to see how the ‘grass’ is going down with guests.

I’m liking it a lot, the seasonal treat that is English asparagus, or ‘grass’ to greengrocers, is fresh, crisp and delicious. At this time of year it demands to be eaten every day because when it’s gone, it’s gone and we’ll soon be back to inferior foreign stuff.

Many people are not too sure what to expect when they are met with the words ‘Bavarian’ and ‘Beerhouse’. Is it a pub, which serves Pretzels? Or is it Bratwurst’s galore and a pitcher of beer? Priyanka Kara makes a visit to the new Bavarian Beerhouse opened at Tower Hill to find out!

For lunch we worked our way through a range of tasting plates that had been specially selected from the Namaaste Kitchen menu. These were all very tasty dishes, bright and full flavoured, giving the taste buds a great work out, I absolutely savoured and enjoyed every mouthful.

Everybody needs good neighbours, apparently, and given the competition in this part of London, Bistro du Vin certainly has them. The area around Smithfield Market is home to Mark Hix’ Oyster & Chop House and John Terode’s Smiths of Smithfield. If one is in the habit of stone-throwing, St John is but a short one from BdV’s freshly polished threshold. In short, BdV needs to be a seriously good alternative to the well-established locals if it’s to be the first success for the group in London.

After first taste trialling Charlie Bigham’s pies it was a quick wipe of the mouth, a loosening of the belt and then eyes down for Donald Russell’s new range.

Girl stands on street corner, back-combing her boyfriend’s quiff; her designer dog artfully peeing against a sleek 4×4 parked outside Shoreditch’s restaurant-bar-club McQueen. It may sound like the story board for an advert, but this is the scene that greets me as I approach McQueen, an unlikely venue for a Voyer Cognac Masterclass

We washed ours down with tea, but of course the sommelier would recommend orange squash with added E numbers as the ideal pairing for the dish before running around the office breaking things and then throwing a tantrum and having to go to bed.

‘Aperitifs as 7.00pm – Dinner at 7.30pm’, the invitation from the Consorzio Piacenza Alimenttare and Confindustria Piacenza said. So not wishing to be a rude guest, and being quite ready for an aperitif we arrived at the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square soon after 7.00pm.