Drawing on Dolly Parton’s self-parodying comment, ‘it takes a lot of money to look this cheap”, it takes a lot of calculated planning to create a space and an atmosphere without them seeming in the least bit contrived. Very cleverly, but without seeming so, the Cock Tavern has reinvented the pub and Joanna Biddolph’s enthusiasm for eating while she drinks has been revived.

I’ve committed the cardinal sin to which no self-respecting reviewer should succumb: on the day of my reservation at The Empress I googled it and read their reviews to date. Every one a winner, but then I’d already made my mind up I was going to like this place.

27 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3JZ www.atithi-indiancuisine.com Gentle sitar music played in the background, not […]

‘We are in zone six, here’, explains the gentle owner, smiling as red London buses drive past the village green. Clearly driven, Asad Khan has lovingly created a sophisticated Indian restaurant that caters to the well-heeled locals as well as those who make the short journey from central London by train.

Southgate Road, N1 3JS delapanza.co.uk It was with a degree of trepidation that I stepped […]

You might expect an alpine hut selling schnitzel in the Italian Dolomites, but not a two Michelin-star restaurant at the foot of those colossal peaks. Yet a fine dining establishment is exactly what we found at the enchanting family-run Relais & Chateaux Rosa Alpina Hotel & Spa in San Cassiano in the Alta Badia valley…

It’s not often you get to eat dinner in the same spot you once had your tyres changed. As Balham has gentrified, the old shops have gradually disappeared to be replaced by bars and cafes all catering to the monied young overspill from Clapham. There’s even a Waitrose now, a poor replacement in my view for the old open air market now a shadow of its former self.

87-135 Brompton Road, London SW1X 7XL www.harrods.com George has been making coffees at Harrod’s for […]

We’re treated like so many Shahs from the off, which is always nice. A table laden with cocktails greets us- with the appropriately-monikered Maharaja Fizz amongst their number. More often than not, ‘fusion’ and ‘cocktail’ are two words that have no business being in the same room, let alone sharing glass space. Curry leaves? Fruit chutney? You sure?

Acre Lane has changed since my time. The houses around no longer boast the 70s front doors so often fitted in that flared and flawed decade, instead Victorian doors, white plantation shutters and other classic signs of gentrification indicate that the local demographic is not what it was.Boqueria is another indication.