Looking for places to stay in Tokyo? Want a budget hotel in the Japanese capital? Read our hotel review and check out more foodie Tokyo tips here…

OMO5 Otsuka in a nutshell

A stylish spot with simple, contemporary fittings in a lesser-known area of Tokyo, offering daily neighbourhood tours for guests interested in discovering local foodie haunts.

The vibe

The hotel’s lobby, an open-plan lounge and restaurant space on the third floor of this sky-high modern building, creates a calm and friendly environment. Distinctively Japanese design elements cast a zen glow over the space – blonde wood beams; low, comfy seating in pale greys, yellows and blues; and floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the buzzing neighbourhood. A pinboard of local food and drink spots, a small shop selling local produce, and a canteen-style café (all on the same floor) lend up-market hostel vibes.

Otsuka itself is a quirky neighbourhood ­– wait at the crossing alongside traditionally dressed geishas, wave to sushi chefs (they’re usually the ones in white wellies, overalls and red bandanas), and soak up the calmness of the Tenso shrine, where two large ginko trees – husband and wife, according to the locals – are adorned with wooden wishing boards covered in Japanese symbols.

Which room should I book at OMO5 Otsuka?

All 125 compact rooms make clever use of space. Beds made from contemporary cedar wood are raised to make way for comfy rest areas underneath (sit awhile and enjoy sweeping city views, which are particularly atmospheric at sunset), stairs double up as cupboards, and a wet room manages to include a deep bath and rainforest shower, with separate Japanese-style toilet (complete with all the fun settings). Walls painted in matte muted tones and tatami-style floors, great for padding about on in your slippers, provide a calm escape from the buzzing city.

The food and drink

OMO Café specialises in vol-au-vents for breakfast and lunch, alongside pastries made on site, all served with OMO speciality coffee. Light bar snacks (colourful pickles, edamame, Japanese crackers) accompany local beers, including golden and fruity Yona Yona ale and malty Tokyo black porter, plus Japanese spirits from across the country – Kyoto dry gin, Tram whisky and Okuhida rice vodka.

The hotel has a strong affinity with local businesses, and its shop showcases local snacks and crafts – try senri monaka (macaroon-like sweets filled with sweet bean paste) and little bottles of orange juice made from super sweet, acidic oranges grown in Ehime in Western Japan. Parcels of beautiful bespoke OMO paper are filled with rice crackers, sweet dark molasses bites and senbei rice crackers.

Breakfast

Breakfast is niche but delicious. Homemade golden vol-au-vent pastry towers, filled with seasonal beef stew, fish fricassee or fresh fruit, encase the room with the aroma of freshly baked pie. There’s also a more classic American-style breakfast tray of bacon, scrambled eggs and a range of breads from brioche to focaccia and pumpkin bread. Both are served with yogurt and speciality OMO blend coffee, made with beans from Guatemala and beyond.

What else can foodies do?

Head out with one of OMO’s “rangers” for a foodie tour of the local area. Tailored around specific niches, you can choose between a local brewery crawl, a tour specialising in nostalgic Showa-style food, and one highlighting the hippest foodie spots in the neighbourhood. If you want to go it alone, there’s a board highlighting the crème de la crème of local spots – try uekiya takoyaki kiosk for molten octopus balls topped with katsuobushi flakes; cacao stouts and hoppy IPAs at funky Smoke Beer Factory; or queue behind school boys at Afuri for satisfying bowls of ramen. For more Tokyo tips click here…

Is it family friendly?

Sofas in rooms can easily be turned into beds for children, and cots are provided at no extra charge.

olive tip

If you want to get to the heart of local foodie life in Tokyo, specialist tour operator Inside Japan Tours offers unique experiences including sushi making, Golden Gai bar crawls and guided city tours to track down lesser-known foodie districts, quieter temples and cherry blossom and maple trees without the crowds.

omo-hotels.com

Looking for places to stay in London? Want a quirky, affordable hotel near Paddington Station? Read our hotel review and check out more places to eat in Paddington here…

The Pilgrm in a nutshell

A quirky, design-led, 73-bedroom hotel with lounge-bar and cafe that’s brought a fine Victorian building in London’s Paddington back to life.

The vibe

Ingeniously styled to respect both the building’s Victorian roots and the needs of the modern traveller, the warren-like Pilgrm turns conventional hoteliery on its head. Reception desk? Nope. Bathrobes and mini-bars? Neither. Such fripperies are stripped out to leave space for the things that matter: marshmallow-soft beds and utilitarian-chic black and white bathrooms; design features including the building’s original mahogany spiral staircase, upcycled radiators and parquet floors; and an art-hung drawing-room-style lounge serving simple mainly-vegetarian food. It’s so relaxed and un-corporate, it feels more like a luxurious home than a London hotel, and is priced accordingly. It’s also brilliantly located for anyone coming into, or out of, London via Paddington railway station, being just two minutes walk away.

Which room should I book at The Pilgrim?

Rooms are small so book the largest you can afford, and if you’re a light sleeper, ask for one away from the road. There are tiny (but very comfortable) bunk rooms, if you’re on a budget, or on a one-parent, one-child getaway. Decor is pared back and stylish, with slate-coloured walls contrasting with white sash windows and Egyptian linen-clad beds, and floors of reclaimed 200-year-old parquet giving a warm homely feel. Dinky bathrooms, with black-grouted white tiles and Victorian-style cisterns and flushes, are a design triumph, as are the enchanting Alape enamel basins and the no-waste soaps-on-a-rope.

The food and drink

Breakfast is the thing here, kicking off at 7am and continuing until 3pm in the vintage-chic first-floor  lounge. It’s a pleasingly well-travelled menu, and if it resembles the offerings of Bruno Loubet’s (now closed) Grain Store at King’s Cross, it may be because head chef Sara Lewis used to work there. There’s full-cooked Pilgrm (with house-baked beans) or a vegan version of smashed avocado, butternut squash hummus and a knock-out beetroot falafel. But the top seller is smashed avocado on toast with crumbled feta, which comes with the unexpected addition of a tomato and olive salsa. We also tried, and loved, the Pilgrm’s chorizo-dotted version of shakshuka. There’s sweet stuff too, including granola with fruit and yoghurt (Greek-style or coconut) and American-style pancakes as large as saucers. You eat at small round marble tables, seated on dainty reclaimed cocktail chairs that the hotel’s design team, 93ft (93ft.com), have re-upholstered in green, pink and grey velvets. Or eat while you work on your laptop on booth-like seats in the adjoining corridor.

For grab and go, there’s a small coffee bar downstairs, by the entrance, that’s run by Workshop Coffee, selling their own blends of coffee, teas and homemade cakes.

Between 3 and 10pm, the lounge serves snacks, juices (including Square Root London’s small-batch sodas) and cocktails. We enjoyed a pairing of padrino peppers and a fig-leaf collins (one of eight cocktails exclusively ‘loaned’ to The Pilgrm from bars across the world) but were also tempted by the anchovies and toast. The hotel is soon opening a terrace too, where guests will be able to enjoy alfresco tapas using ingredients from companies like Brindisa and Belazu.

What else can foodies do?

Being in the heart of London, you’ve plenty of dinner choices nearby – from the cheap-and-cheerful Paramount Lebanese Kitchen, next door, to the newly revamped Cleveland Arms around the corner, and Basque-styled Lurra and Donostia a short walk away (read our guide to Paddington restaurants here). If you fancy splashing out, Clare Smyth’s Core and Brett Graham’s Ledbury are a short cab-ride away, while vegans may want to head to (the more affordable) Farmacy. For an edgier, more street-food, vibe, jump on the tube or bus to Kings Cross to explore the newly opened Coal Drops Yard.

Is it family friendly?

Yes. Cots can be provided for large rooms on request and kids and younger teenagers will love the bunk rooms (though, sadly, these only sleep two, not four or more). Food-wise there are no separate children’s menus but kids (and their food preferences) tend to be happily accommodated.

olive tip

We loved the Pantries around the building, each one equipped with Zig Zag tea bags, CRU Kafe and fresh milk so you can make yourself a cuppa. There’s a tiny library of books to borrow too.

thepilgrm.com

Words and pictures by Clare Hargreaves

Looking for the best distillery tours? Read our guide to the best whisky experiences across the world, and read our whisky guide here…

Tasmanian Whisky Trail, Tasmania

Tasmania’s lush landscapes and burgeoning foodie scene is fast making it a must-visit destination and now you can add whisky to the list of gourmet attractions. The island’s small but thriving whisky industry was all but non-existent until a couple of decades ago, thanks to a 150-year-old distilling ban that was only lifted in the early 1990s. Since then, however, the scene has flourished, with some 13 distilleries now producing award-winning spirits, and many of them offering tours, tastings and other events. Happily, several distilleries lie within driving distance of the capital, Hobart, so you can combine tastings with sampling the capital’s buzzing restaurant scene – or use them as a jumping-off point for heading further afield and exploring the island’s white sand beaches, lush valleys and snow-dusted mountains. Time your visit with Tasmania Whisky Week (12-18 August 2019) and, as well as day trips to distilleries across the island, you can enjoy a raft of specialist tastings and even a whisky auction.

taswhiskytrail.com

Arctic Whisky Festival, Norway

Scandinavia is famously home to some of the planet’s most dedicated whisky fans so it’s little wonder the Arctic Whisky Festival is held in Norway’s Tromsø, 400km north of the Arctic Circle. The next event – supposedly the world’s most northerly whisky festival – is scheduled for 11 January 2020, a day-long celebration offering the chance to taste hundreds of whiskies and drill down on your whisky knowledge at seminars. Once the event comes to a close, there’s chance to admire the northern lights (Tromsø is one of the best places to see them), plus icy fjords, glaciers, craggy mountains and the university city’s lively pub scene.

arktiskwf.no

Blend your own whiskey, Ireland

Explore the subtle art of whiskey blending in a 90-minute masterclass at Jameson’s Distillery in Dublin. During each session you’ll learn how to taste and deconstruct the flavour notes in different Jameson blends, before being taught how to blend your own bottle of the fiery stuff to take home with you. The masterclass also includes a visit to the distillery’s maturation warehouse, where you’ll get to sample whiskey straight from the cask.

jamesonwhiskey.com

Whisky and food pairing, UK

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society runs regular food and whisky pairing events at its Edinburgh and London membership clubs, as well as a wide range of other venues, matching the spirit with anything from cheese to steaks and chocolate. Many of these events are open to non-members. It also offers supper club-style feasts – current events in the pipeline include a dinner at Café Spice Namaste in Whitechapel, London, which sees Saturday Morning Kitchen’s Cyrus Todiwala pair an Indian feast with matching whiskies. Or the Wanderlust Supper Club, a four-course dinner showcasing dishes from countries as diverse as France and Malaysia, with paired drams. Visit the website to book, and keep updated on future events.

smws.com

Whisky canoe cruise, Scotland

Speyside, in Scotland, is home to around half of the country’s distilleries, making it ripe for a whisky-themed road trip. A more unusual way to see the eights, however, is offered by Spirit of the Spey: a seven-day, 50-mile canoe cruise down the River Spey with visits to several distilleries on the way (including Dalwhinnie, Cragganmore, Aberlour and The Macallan). When you’re not exploring the region’s elegant and fruity whiskies, the trip (which includes four-star accommodation and all food) also features visits to historic sites like 16^th-century Ballindalloch Castle, as well as the chance to immerse yourself in the surrounding landscapes as you paddle downstream.

spiritofthespey.co.uk

Alpine whisky trek, Switzerland

Switzerland is another country with a small but lively whisky industry, one that has developed into the Appenzell Whisky Trek. Home to Säntis Malt whisky, the town of Appenzell lies at the foot of the Alpstein mountain range, across which are scattered a series of picturesque mountain inns. When word began to spread that the local distillery was producing one-off editions of its award-winning spirit, inn owners started asking for bespoke barrels that they could serve to their guests.

Today, each of the 26 inns in the Alpstein range has its own Säntis malt (each maturing in barrels at different altitudes and in varying conditions, so that each whisky develops its own unique character) and it’s now possible to purchase whisky vouchers (available at the distillery’s visitor centre in Appenzell, and at each inn) that you can then exchange for a sample at each inn before trekking on to the next. Nine- or eight-whisky voucher booklets are available, but those with extra time (and plenty of stamina) can attempt to reach all 26 inns – and receive a trophy upon completion.

myswitzerland.com

Whisky-tasting weekends, Scotland

For an old-school, traditional whisky experience it’s hard to beat the immersive weekends put on at Glenmorangie House – two-night stays that include tours of the distillery, guided tastings of Glenmorangie blends and malts, afternoon tea, three-course dinners (complete with whisky aperitifs), visits to local landmarks, clay pigeon shoots and even a ceilidh. If you want to extend your trip, drive on for 30 minutes to Dornoch Castle for a drink at the hotel’s acclaimed whisky bar, or an extra night or two away. The castle also has its own distillery in the grounds.

theglenmorangiehouse.com; dornochcastlehotel.com

Japanese whisky library, Japan

Japan’s carefully crafted distilleries are legendary, many of their whiskies regularly beating Scottish malts in international competitions. If you want to find out what the fuss is about, the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery is a good place to start. As well as regular tours you can also visit the on-site whisky museum. It’s an in-depth dive into the history and pedigree of the first and oldest malt distillery in Japan, with plenty to learn about the various processes that go into making its acclaimed whiskies. There’s also a whisky library containing thousands of different varieties, and a special tasting counter where you can try out different limited edition rare Yamazaki whiskies, as well as other labels from around the world.

suntory.com

Whiskey and music, Nashville

Those with a taste for sweeter, caramel-toned bourbon and Tennessee whiskies (both bourbon and Tennessee whiskey must be made with 51% corn, which accounts for their sweeter flavours than scotch whiskies) should head to Nashville. When you’re not feasting on the city’s famous spicy fried chicken, or listening to country music, visit Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery.

It may be less famous than Jack Daniel’s but, before Prohibition, Green Brier Distillery sold more of the hard stuff than Jack. Brothers Charles and Andy Nelson revived the family business in 2009 and now recount their family’s American Dream story over tastings on the Green Brier’s distillery tours.

greenbrierdistillery.com

Words by Hannah Guinness

Photographs by Getty and Carol Sachs

Looking for Beirut restaurants? Here are our favourite restaurants and hotels in the Lebanese capital, plus where to get the best ‘blonde’ falafels, pomegranate sorbet and saffron cake.

Falafel Aboulziz – best street food

Just off the main drag in the shop and café-lined Hamra neighbourhood, this small falafel joint is known for its crunchy little ‘blonde’ falafel; they’re paler than standard falafels because they have a different spice mix to the standard ones. Although the blend of eight different spices is a closely guarded secret, it’s safe to assume the rest of the recipe includes beans, chickpeas, cumin and parsley.

Most people buy to take-away, either as a plate of falafel drizzled with a punchy tahini, garlic and lemon sauce, or with the falafel stuffed into a wrap along with parsley, mint, tomatoes and radishes, but there’s a small counter with stools if you want to eat in. Either way, six falafel or a wrap will set you back only about £1.50.

facebook.com/FalafelAboulziz/

Oslo Ice Cream – best ice cream parlour

This ultra-modern ice cream brand has two branches in Beirut, one in Verdun and one in Mar Mikhael. Though it also stocks a range of prettily packaged, bite-sized biscuits (tiny brownies, chocolate halva sablés, mini meringues) the pricey but heavenly ice cream is the must-buy. Go for one of the Middle Eastern-influenced flavours such as pistachio, pomegranate sorbet or, best of all, rose loukoum – rosewater ice cream peppered with little chunks of rose Turkish delight.

osloicecream.com

Tawlet – best lunch restaurant

Tawlet opened in Mar Mikhael a decade ago as a spin-off to an ethically-driven farmer’s market, Souk El Tayeb (see below), and is part of an initiative that now includes five other projects across Lebanon, from markets to restaurants to guest houses. A homely, human take on building bridges between Christians and Muslims (albeit a stylishly designed one), the idea was to celebrate common ground, the shared territory in this case being food.

Operating under the motto Make Food Not War, the recipe at Tawlet is a simple one: every day a home cook from a different region of Lebanon is invited to cook a buffet lunch. It’s a two-way win: the cook (always a woman, always a home cook) gets a rare opportunity to earn some income and an often equally rare sense of being valued (some of the chefs are from refugee communities) while the diners get to try the humble but delicious regional Lebanese dishes that are normally only rustled up behind closed doors. Founder, Kamal Mouzawak, explains that cooking is done by men in many Lebanese restaurants and is often seen as a performance. “Home cooks don’t care about that,” he says. “They want to take care of people by feeding them, not performing for them.”

“In 2007, having already run the farmers’ market for three years, we set up a food and feast festival. We’d take people to, say, a cherry festival as a day out and think we’d better give them lunch but we didn’t want to serve generic tabbouleh, hummus and barbecue. We wanted to eat what the locals were eating, the dishes that were special to that particular area. Women are the guardians of these traditions so we put the word out to find the good cooks in each village. There would, perhaps, be someone who was known for her beans with tomato, another who was known for her baking and so on. They would come together and cook one dish each that they’d learnt from their mothers and grandmothers.”

Two years later, that same approach was taken with the setting up of Tawlet in Beirut. On the day we visited the kitchen was being led by Fadia, a farmer from Tripoli, with help from the site’s permanent staff. After sitting down to a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, homemade grenadine juice or Lebanese wine, we filled our plates from a vast rainbow of salads, stews and pastries set out on the buffet counter. Stand-outs included a gently spiced cauliflower salad with lemon juice and yoghurt, little bite-sized beef pastries flecked with pine nuts and cinnamon, spicy little bullet-like sausages, rice garlanded with lentils and fried onions, a deep pink beetroot and tahini salad, velvety Lebanese okra cooked with garlic, onion, tomatoes and pomegranate molasses, freekeh laced with roast veg and herbs, and a meatball-like kibbeh doused in a rich, tomato sauce.

There were desserts, too: an almost equally vast array of pistachio and lemon cake; crème caramel; halabiya (milk pudding swirled with rosewater, sugar and pistachios); fresh pomelo dotted with pomegranate seeds; semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup; sweet little pancakes that looked like wobbly cream horns stuffed with orange blossom ashta; and pistachio karabeej served with natef, a ‘cream’ made with soapwort, sugar syrup and rosewater.

It was delicious, educational and the most sure-fire way to get an insight into Lebanese food culture on a whistlestop visit to the city. As Kamal summed up, “Politics, traffic… these things un-nurture you but this kitchen (I’m not going to say restaurant) nurtures you. Yes it looks good, too, but it’s not about aesthetics. It’s about creating a nurturing space.”

soukeltayeb.com/tawlet

Sip coffee – best coffee shop

Beirut isn’t short on artisan-brewed coffee (other recommended places for a cuppa include Aaliya’s Bookshop, also in Gemmayzeh, and Kalei Coffee in Mar Mikhael) but newish Sip hits the spot with a short but sweet food menu of salads (mixed greens with avocado, sesame seeds, lemon oil and parmesan), all-day breakfast options (halloumi bagels, flatbread and labneh with olives, cucumbers and tomatoes…), a range of cakes freshly made by a local baker, seasonal juices and ice creams.

Décor is minimalist but leafy with a plaster pink and sage colour scheme and pretty tiled floor and the coffee is as hipster-friendly as the surroundings. Single origin, small-batch, freshly roasted coffees are the name of the game, with drip, cold-brew and iced lattes on offer alongside flat whites, espressos, macchiatos and more, and a choice of almond and coconut milks for non-dairy drinkers.

facebook.com/siplebanon/

Liza – best for fine Lebanese dining

If you’re in Beirut for a special occasion make sure you book in for dinner at this fairytale Ashrafieh restaurant. Set within an Ottoman-style palace with ornately fretted arched windows, handsomely patterned floor tiles, a dolls house-like series of different rooms and a shimmering atmosphere helped by flickering candles, pendant lighting and mirrored panels, it’s a showstopper.

The prices are as grand as the surroundings but, fortunately, the food warrants the expense and, as with most culinary experiences in Beirut, portions are huge. There’s nothing especially inventive about the menu of Lebanese classics but they’re served with precision and panache. Order from a long list of mezze items, grills, main dishes and desserts or, if there are four or more of you, avoid any dithering by choosing one of the restaurant’s set menus.

Highlights of our meal included grilled halloumi with a membrillo-like tomato ‘jam’, pinkie-sized sausages spiked with cinnamon and served with a sumac and pomegranate molasses dipping sauce, a spinach-like creamed chicory salad topped with slivers of fried saj bread and onions, an exemplary tabbouleh (made, as is the norm in Lebanon, with very little bulgur but lots of parsley), perfectly grilled chicken kebabs marinated in garlic and lemon, and a smoky, slow-cooked rendition of baba ghanoush.

The usual dessert suspects are all on offer too, from saffron cake to milk puddings, karabeej to ice creams and sorbets made in-house with local ingredients (pistachio, rose, lemon, strawberry). The most interesting (to me – it can be a bit of a Marmite dish) was Liza’s take on meghli, a Lebanese rice flour pudding made with star anise, cinnamon and caraway and topped with nuts. Normally served to celebrate a child’s birth, it was fresh, slightly grainy and fruity, a refreshing rather than cloying way to end a meal.

If dinner is out of your price range, go for brunch instead. Served on Sundays from noon to 4pm, Liza’s beautifully presented buffet is a popular item on the city’s weekly food calendar but you can order à la carte as well.

lizabeirut.com

Ixsir winery – best vineyard tour

A small winery in Batroun that’s winning a growing following for its high-end, sustainably produced wines, Ixsir is around an hours’ drive north of Beirut (allow 90 minutes at busier times). A good day trip in combination with a visit to the archaeological remains at nearby Byblos, the winery has taken a 400 year-old stone house and blended it with a hi-tech winery, underground art gallery and minimalist, almost Nordic-chic, restaurant.

Cultivating vines in a range of terroirs (sites at different altitudes with varying climates) across Lebanon, the company only produced its first bottle in 2008 but now turns out 450,000 per year – three reds, three whites and two rosés. All are temptingly easily drinkable but we particularly liked the dry Altitudes Rosé, with its complex, spicy flavours, the buttery Grande Reserve white and the Grande Reserve red with its tobacco and dark chocolate notes.

For the full experience, stay on for lunch at the winery’s restaurant. Operated by Nicolas Audi, a well-known Lebanese restaurateur, the setting is magical (especially on a sunny day, when you can eat outside beneath mulberry trees, on a terrace overlooking the surrounding vines). All the Lebanese classics are in attendance here – from tomato and walnut salads dressed with pomegranate molasses to a herby tabbouleh, silky hummus and juicy marinated skewers of chicken and beef, grilled over charcoal – but they’re given a lighter, modern touch. Don’t miss dessert; hits on the day we visited included a fruit salad scattered with almonds and pistachios and drizzled with homemade peach syrup and orange blossom water; maamoul made with honey and rosemary; and a twist on sahlab and halawet el jeben that involved rosewater ‘ice cream’ (actually made with egg white and mastic) sprinkled with pistachios and a little cloud of sesame candy floss.

ixsir.com

Taste Lebanon – best foodie walking tour

A tour company with a foodie slant, Taste Lebanon offers a range of trips from intensive five-day food tours taking in six different regions across the country (and, among other highlights, the chance to try baking saj bread, harvest wild herbs to make za’atar, visit olive oil presses and vineyards and learn how to make the nation’s famed kebbeh, a dish of minced lamb and bulgur) to seven-hour culinary walking tours of Beirut.

Traversing the city on foot promises the best way to get a feel for its cultural make-up, and the startling contrasts that co-inhabit its space – French-speakers and Arabic-speakers, ancient cathedrals and grand modern mosques, wealthy partygoers in ballgowns and impoverished refugee families living all in one room. Having a local to guide you along the way is also a likely method of subverting one of the more obvious of these contrasts, the gap between public and private. To visit Beirut and experience only its hotels, restaurants, museums and shops would be to miss what makes it special: the joyful gatherings of family and friends – be that a weekday dinner around a shared table or a wild, all-generations night out at the city’s Music Hall cabaret night – that hold this war-ravaged city together. Along the way, of course, you’ll get a more tangible flavour of the city via stops at Beirut’s best falafel outlets, Armenian bistros, mezze restaurants and much more.

tastelebanon.co.uk

Central Station – best bar

It would be easy to walk past this bar, in the heart of Mar Mikhael, but that would be an error. In this party neighbourhood the streets are saturated with a glammed-up, good time-seeking, self-possessed crowd most evenings and, from the outside, Central Station is much less striking than the beautiful people milling around it. Duck inside, however, and the vibe is a compelling combination of upbeat yet mellow, with a DJ sensitive to whoever happens to be present at the time and a slightly older, easy-going, less ostentatiously showy clientele.

What they come for is the cocktails, an expertly mixed, regularly changing selection with some seriously innovative options. Among them is the Reconstructed Falafel, a refreshing, herbal concoction made with vodka distilled with falafel spices – think coriander, basil, mastic, lemon and parsley mint oil rather than anything more earthy – and the Reconstructed Baklava (rum, baklava syrup, lemon and honey). They’re delicious, clever and not as gimmicky as they sound.

facebook.com/Centralstationbeirut/

Souk El Tayeb – best farmers’ market

The market that kicked off the Tawlet phenomenon (see above), Souk El Tayeb has been running since 2004 and now operates at Beirut Souks, in the Downtown district, twice a week. A smaller market takes place on Wednesdays but Saturday’s event is the biggie. Every stallholder present grows or makes what they sell and, like the restaurant, the aim is to help people across Lebanon without more obvious opportunities both make a living and gain a sense of value. It’s also a way of celebrating and perpetuating the country’s rural craft techniques, many of them culinary ones.

Prices are more urban than you might expect but it helps to know that money is going to families who need it, and who may not otherwise have access to a source of income. A point that hit home at the first stall we visited when we discovered that Oumali (“mother of Ali”), from south Lebanon, has managed to put her children through school with her takings from selling manoush – saj bread filled with za’ater, labneh, vegetables and tomatoes – at Souk el Tayeb, and from occasional stints at the stove at Tawlet.

It’s also a great way to see the diversity of the country’s food scene, with Georgina (a stallholder from north Lebanon who sells the traditional meat dish of kibbeh, in every shape and size) and Nabil and Nada (farmers from West Bekaa who sell their own-grown, and artfully packed, pickles, preserves and distilled flower waters) rubbing shoulders with Elmir (a hip Beirut craft beer producer) and The Good Thymes (a next-level za’atar business from south Lebanon selling a variety of blends, including one made with goat kechek, sumac, sesame seeds and sea salt).

Alongside these are fresh veg stalls selling the local (tiny) okra and wild asparagus, kaak bread, falafel, recycled glassware, dried fruits, honeys, handmade soap scented with wild herbs and much more. One word of warning: don’t be tempted to buy any olive oil as you’ll have it confiscated at the airport, even if it’s in checked-in luggage (see below).

soukeltayeb.com

The Phoenicia Hotel – best hotel

Majestically located, with views out to sea from almost all of its bedrooms, this ship-like hotel (there are 446 rooms) is an iconic Beiruti landmark and a perfect reflection of the city’s ‘live for the moment’ attitude; burnt out during Lebanon’s civil war it subsequently closed for 25 years but is now back to offering dizzying levels of opulence (for an instant history lesson, spot the battle-scarred carcass of the former Holiday Inn behind as you recline by the Phoenicia’s glamorous, mosaic-tiled outdoor pool). We liked the rooms in the Phoenician Tower best, with their Arabic-laced balconies and toned-down colour schemes.

Resolutely traditional elsewhere, with acres of marble and velvet and deep-pile carpeting, the Phoenicia’s blingy glamour is joyful, and surprisingly inclusive judging by the range of guests (though sit in the bar  in late evening and you’ll witness the floor-skimmingly frocked and glossily coiffed regulars cascading down the foyer’s sweeping staircase into waiting taxis). Home to a big-hitting collection of modern art, with works by Howard Hodgkin, Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long among it, the hotel also maintains an impressive service mentality. Daily deliveries of fruit, chocolates, jammy little raspberry macarons and freshly baked madeleines appear via housekeeping, and no request goes unanswered, whether you’d like more Ila toiletries in your bathroom, a customised massage in the spa or a small-group cooking class in the hotel’s penthouse suite courtesy of the Phoenicia’s Culinary Institute (a local membership-based cooking club which hotel guests can tap into if workshops are taking place during their stay).

The Cascade Lounge bar wraps around a fountain in the centre of the hotel and acts as a lobby lounge as well as a drinks space, so it’s bustling around the clock. Afternoons see the space play host to an elegant afternoon tea service while, come cocktail hour, it cranks up the glitz. If you have a hefty wallet you can sip your way through a range of rare whiskies, cognacs and wines but we recommend keeping it simple with a G&T, or a bottle of Lebanese wine from nearby Ixsir winery (read on for more on that) with a bowl of moreish jumbo cashews, pistachios and pecans on the side.

Restaurants-wise, there are three options – the Amethyst Lounge and shisha bar operates around the hotel’s outdoor pool in the summer months while indoors, year round, there’s a choice between Italian-themed Rossini and Mosaic, a contemporary, light-filled, largely Lebanese dining room that also hosts themed events throughout the week (sushi, French, Sunday lunch…).

The standout food experience at the hotel, however, is the breakfast buffet. Served in Mosaic, it’s one of the best we’ve tried (and we’ve tried a lot on our #olivetravels). A vast series of counters totter under the weight of fresh fruit and nuts; freshly pressed juices; myriad continental rolls, breads and patisserie; cereals and granolas; jams, local honeys, date syrup and carob molasses; homemade halva flavoured with pistachio or swirls of chocolate; local cheeses, labneh and butters; huge trays of house-made knafeh set beside jugs of lemon- and orange-blossom flavoured sugar syrups; olives of all shapes, sizes and colours; salads, hummus and moutabal platters the same could be said of; hot stews and meat dishes; Middle Eastern breads from khebez to sesame-sprinkled kaak and made-to-order saj.

Our tip? Queue up for the saj bread and watch it being cooked in front of you on a domed griddle then drizzled with your topping of choice (za’atar, kishk…). Then, grab some fresh fruit and a bowl of warm ful medames to go with it (slicked with olive oil, lime juice and a dusting of paprika) and take the whole lot outside to enjoy on the terrace with views out across the palm-peppered harbour and corniche (as per the image below).

phoeniciabeirut.com

Rafic Hariri International Airport – best food souvenirs

It isn’t often that we include an airport’s duty free shopping area in our foodie guides but this isn’t your average airport shopping experience. Go through to departures in plenty of time (and with plenty of space in your hand luggage) to stock up on nuts, dried fruits and Lebanese sweets (all sold by weight) as well as bottles of pickles, slices of freshly made sfouf cake (made with turmeric and orange blossom water), Lebanese wines, cigars and even jars of kishk (milk, yoghurt and cracked wheat that’s been fermented, dried and powdered).

One note of caution: no matter how professionally sealed it is, if you buy olive oil in Lebanon and try to bring it home in your checked baggage you will have it confiscated from you at a pre check-in customs scan. Save yourself hassle and money by buying it in Departures instead.

Words and photographs (except Phoenicia Hotel pool image) by Rhiannon Batten, May 2019

Looking for restaurants in Mauritius? Want to know where to eat in Port Louis? Food and travel writer Lucy Gillmore takes us on a foodie road trip though Mauritius, stopping off at sustainable hotels, roti stalls and fruit markets.

Ten minutes from the sleepy village of Clemencia, an organic smallholding is blanketed in thick, rubbery vegetation, a verdant tangle of coconut, banana, lychee, sugarcane and taro. It’s off the beaten track, and a million miles away from the clichéd, honeymoon images of Mauritius. There’s a makeshift shelter and mattress in a clearing, and red flags fluttering to ward off bad spirits and wild boars. “I love being up here on my own,” says young farmer, Denis Aristide. “I’ve just planted some chilli bushes and curry plants,” he says, as he points to some spindly stalks. He is also gradually replacing the sugarcane with taro plants, because he can get a better price for the root vegetable. Crouching down, he shakes a plant free from the soil. The leaves are one of the ingredients in a traditional Mauritian curry, the speckled stalks used to make very snackable taro chips.

Denis, who farms without pesticides, supplies Salt, the new community-centred, food-focussed, environmentally savvy resort on the east coast (where I’m staying) with taro leaves. He’s also the head bartender.

One of the hotel’s aims is to get guests out meeting Mauritian people, and this window into Denis’s life adds an extra dimension to my stay. I pull up a stool at the rooftop bar and watch as he whips up one of the hotel’s signature cocktails: No Smoke Without Fire. Each drink comes with a background story relating to the island’s heritage. In this case, I learn that sugarcane was once the most important crop on the island. And that, as far back as 1639, Dutch settlers used it to produce an alcoholic drink called arrack.

My own, very 21st-century Mauritian tipple is a mix of oak-aged rum, burnt cane, home-smoked cinnamon syrup, savage pepper bitters and sweet orange oil, served over ice with a stick of cinnamon. For the final flourish, Denis sets fire to dehydrated sugarcane in a smoking gun, filling a glass cloche over the cocktail with sweet, swirling smoke. The result is silkily smooth and toffee-tinged, with a citrus twist – pure southern comfort.

This rugged volcanic island has had a rollercoaster ride through centuries of slavery, sugarcane production and settlement. Today, it’s a mash-up of cultures and cuisines, from Creole to Chinese, Indian to French. It’s also a tropical idyll, its beaches washed by warm turquoise waters and cradled by coral reefs. The mountainous interior is swathed in luxuriant rainforest threaded with hiking trails that weave past thundering waterfalls. It’s a popular honeymoon destination for obvious reasons. But couples checking into the luxury resorts that garland the coastline often remain cocooned within the confines of manicured grounds.

Salt is something different: a forward-thinking hotel brand that aims to provide authentic experiences for “culturally curious” travellers. The idea is to introduce guests not just to places but to people. The design of the 59-room hotel, courtesy of French interiors guru Camille Walala, reflects the island’s vivid colours. Among its library of 300 carefully curated books, three-quarters are Mauritian.

Food is at the resort’s heart (the philosophy explained by catchphrases such as “Farming it, not flying it”) and everything from supper with a Mauritian family to fishing trips with a local fisherman are on the menu. With an eye on environmental impact there are no mini-bars in the rooms and no single-use plastics. Each guest is given an aluminium bottle to refill at the water stations, and to take home.

The hotel has a Slow Food Travel ethos, supporting small-scale farmers and producers. In each room there’s a guidebook written by locals listing their top restaurant tips around the island, from vegan café Eat with Fingers in Grand Baie to roadside restaurant Chez Tino in the village of Trou d’Eau Douce, which serves a delicious octopus curry with green pawpaw.

At the hotel, there’s no breakfast buffet (to limit food waste) and what is on the menu is seasonal and local. There’s an in-house bakery and the hotel smokes its own charcuterie. Then there’s the farm. Some hotels have kitchen gardens but, from this month, Salt will have a whole farm at its disposal, five minutes down the road and founded on permaculture principles. Developed with the help of a local NGO, Island Bio, the farm has a ground-breaking hydroponic system using beach sand for cultivation.

As well as growing pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, cultivating mushrooms and establishing its own beehives, the farm will be home to a rustic vegetarian and vegan restaurant. The Salt Raw section on the current hotel menu features wildly creative vegan dishes – tacos made from seeds and stuffed with beet balls, vegan soured cream and avocado salsa. The lasagne is a must-order: layers of courgette, tomato sauce, cashew truffle cream, basil pesto and fresh basil leaves.

On the main menu, highlights include homemade chevrette croquettes (crispy, deep-fried shrimp balls with herb mayonnaise) and nutty smoked beetroot with a tamarind dressing. The signature dish is also a showstopper: free-range Mauritian chicken curry with tomato chutney, mango pickle and faratha, a Mauritian flatbread.

Printed on the menu is an invitation: “If you love it, ask for a lesson on how to make it from the chef.” The next morning I put on an apron in the resort’s state-of-the-art kitchen as head chef, Rehad Khader, shows me how to pound herbs, spices and chillies to a paste on a local volcanic stone slab. Along with the complimentary cookery sessions (you can also learn how to knock up vindaye: fish coated in turmeric, chilli, ginger and mustard seeds), the Salt Bakery offers bread-making classes and the bartenders mixology lessons.

Keeping the Salt ethos in mind, I drive to the capital, Port Louis, an hour away, to join a street-food tour, passing pineapple plantations, fields of aubergines and corridors of sugarcane along the way.

The Taste Buddies guide, Dada, gives us a potted history covering the discovery of the island by the Arabs and the arrival of the Dutch, French and British settlers, before leading us off to graze our way around the city’s different neighbourhoods.

Our first stop is a roti stall, where Indian flatbread is spread with chilli and tamarind sauce and rougaille. Dubbed the soul of Mauritian food, this spicy tomato, thyme and chilli-laced ragout forms the basis of many local dishes. We dip into a tiny, off-the-beaten-track bakery, tuck into dholl puri (delicate pancakes made from yellow split peas and wrapped around a bean curry, rougaille and coriander chutney), then pull up a stool for a bowl of dumplings (fish balls, chou chou and sao mai) swimming in a light chicken broth. “Mauritian hangover food,” Dada smiles.

In Chinatown, Dada dishes up more history (the arrival of Indian and Chinese workers after the abolition of slavery) along with gloopy steamed sweets made from rice flour and sweet lentil paste. In the Central Market we peel longan (a cousin of the lychee), chew sticky tamarind sweets with a vicious chilli kick and drink fresh sugarcane juice.

Less touristy is the Sunday open-air market in Flacq, five minutes from Salt, the largest outdoor market on the island. I mooch around stalls piled high with coconuts, okra, plump purple aubergines, mangos, breadfruits and curry leaves. On the way back I swing by roadside snack bar, Ti Baz, for Jimmy Armoogum’s homemade tamarind juice: dark, almost syrupy, and sweet with a hint of saltiness.

On my last night, Vimla, one of the hotel’s ‘Salt Shakers’ (a team of local experts), takes me to the village home of Mirella Armance, who hosts supper club dinners in her garden – with the help of her nine daughters and husband, Alain. The evening starts with an aperitif: a table under the mango and frangipani trees is lined with bottles of homemade flavoured rums: coffee, passion fruit, ginger, rosemary, vanilla, spice and cinnamon.

Crammed around tables under the stars we tuck into chicken curry, rougaille, bean curry, green papaya gratin, and a little jar of spicy chilli paste. It’s hearty home cooking. “If we don’t have chilli, we don’t eat,” Vimla laughs. We even dip fresh pineapple into chopped chilli and salt.

Alain is teaching the table some Creole phrases and regaling us with tales of his fishing trips. Vimla chats about her years studying in Canada and how her 17-year-old son hopes to become a chef. Anais, one of Mirella’s daughters, tells us they had 150 for lunch the day before to celebrate her niece’s christening. “Just a small gathering.” And then the Sega music starts, the singing and the dancing, guests and family together under the night sky. It’s a warm, all-enveloping Mauritian hug of a final evening.

Words by Lucy Gillmore, May 2019

Photographs by Lucy Gillmore, Getty

Follow Lucy on Instagram and Twitter @lucygillmore

Chicago – home to baseball, blues and jazz – is one of America’s largest, and most modern, cities. Little surprise, then, that the Windy City promises some cracking restaurants and bars. Read our expert guide to the best places to eat and drink in Chicago (including – appropriately for a city which was once the country’s meat-packing capital – its best steakhouses).

Heritage Bicycles and Coffee – for coffee

Hand-crafted coffee and bikes go hand in hand at this friendly Lakeview neighbourhood coffee/bike shop. Beautiful vintage-inspired bikes are built on site and can be customised to order.

The coffee shop is a high-ceilinged open space with reclaimed timber tables and homemade chandeliers. Order an expertly made cortado and one of the best cinnamon buns we’ve ever tasted from local West Town Bakery. You can even grab a growler (four pints) of cold brew coffee to go.

Floriole – for pastries

Owner Sandra started Floriole as a pop-up at Chicago’s famous Green City Market, selling two or three pastries each week from a put-up table. Now the business has a permanent, Lincoln Park, home and is a must-visit for brunch.

As well as beautiful patisserie – we tried the kouign amann and the delicate passion fruit tart – there are savoury offerings of pretty tartines topped with trout and pickles and some killer sandwiches – try the turkey, avo and bacon club on delicately toasted brioche with roast tomato aioli.

Band of Bohemia – for a boozy brunch

Chicago’s first Michelin-starred brewpub is probably not what you’d expect. Step through an unassuming yellow door on Chicago’s ‘Malt Row’ (in Ravenswood) and, inside, you’ll find a vast space that stylishly manages to mash up its former factory architecture with granny-chic decor and a functioning microbrewery and restaurant – think chintzy fabrics and chandeliers alongside exposed ceiling pipes, vats of beer (brewed with food in mind) and a wood-burning grill.

Head here for brunch; try the likes of caviar crepe cake with smoked sturgeon, creme fraîché and cultured butter or shrimp and heirloom corn grits with gravy and swiss chard. Order the beer pairing and work your way through a delicate, light brew made with jasmine rice and Vienna malt, through to moody Bruja – A Witches Wheat made with beetroot, orange, chicory and wheat.

Dovetail Brewery – for craft beer and a tour

A 15-minute walk from Band of Bohemia (this isn’t called Malt Row for nothing) brings you to Dovetail’s taproom (as well as plenty more breweries and distilleries). This is where traditional techniques meet new thinking, resulting in European-style craft beers that have an American flavour. Try the hefeweizen with its nose of clove and taste of mandarin, or an auburn rauchbier that smells like a heady mash up of smoke, maple, bacon, chocolate and beachwood. Or, if you’re feeling really experimental (and it’s on), ask for the Dovetail X01, a blend of smoked lager and Belgian-style sour – complex and a contender for the best-tasting, unusual beer you can buy in Chicago.

Deep dive into beer geekery on Saturdays at 11am, when the team host a 90-minute tour of the brewery for just 15 bucks (the price includes three beers and a closer look at their specialist equipment including Chicago’s first ‘coolship’ – no spoilers, you’ll have to visit to find out more). If you’re hungry there’s a choice of pretzels, cheese flights or landjäger sausage, otherwise you’re welcome to BYO.

Ema – for lighter, meat-free lunches

Vibrant colourful small plates with a Mediterranean twist make up the eclectic menu at Ema. This light and airy neighbourhood restaurant is dedicated to cooking California-style so local veg are a highlight and there are plenty of non-meat options.

Inventive dishes include tarted-up hummus with toppings of fresno chillies or spicy harissa lamb served with puffy homemade pitta, roast romanesco cauliflower with homemade yogurt and local honey, and grilled octopus with fried kale, fingerling potatoes and preserved lemon vinaigrette. Portions are a bit more delicate than your regular US super-size so there is scope to try quite a lot of the menu.

Katherine Anne Confections – for chocolate

For a sugar rush with a twist visit Katherine Anne Confections in the trendy Logan Square neighbourhood. Chocolate truffle flavours change with the seasons but expect unusual flavours like goats cheese and walnut or basil. The caramels are also really popular (don’t miss the rosemary and sea salt).

Buy your goodies to go or sit in the small, pretty shopfront and have a cup of Katherine Anne Confections’ famous hot chocolate. The rich liquid is made with only melted chocolate, milk and cream, and topped with gooey marshmallows or whipped cream. If you can’t decide between the different flavours order a flight of three mini cups and try varieties like salted caramel, Mexican and chai.

Forbidden Root Brewery – for the best beer snacks

Built on the site of an old theatre, the bar at this brewery has quite a dramatic feel to it and the beers are showstopping to match. In early American brewing, aromatics and botanicals like ginger, dandelion and burdock were in common use. Forbidden Root used this as a starting point for their brewing so each of the company’s beers contains subtly interesting layers of flavour; try Money on my Rind, with its notes of grapefruit and juniper in a wheat beer, or WPA, which uses wild botanicals such as elderflower and marigold as the base for a pale ale.

The food is as inventive and flavour-packed as the booze – bar snacks include Korean chilli popcorn, ’nduja sausage with pickled mustard seeds and honey, and home-made beer cheese spread. Small sharing plates include malted lamb ribs with tamarind glaze and sesame, and mussels cooked with Wildflower Pale Ale.

Pequod’s Pizza – best for deep-dish pizza

After much searching, and eating, we can confirm that Pequod’s Pizza, on North Clybourn Avenue, is the best deep-dish pizza in Chicago. Some (pedants) will argue it’s not technically traditional – thanks to its caramelised cheese crust and crown (all down to an ingenious sprinkling of cheese around the deep-sided dish before it’s baked) – but if this is wrong, we don’t want to be right. It’s fluffy, crispy, sloppy and supremely cheesy all at once – aka deep-dish pizza heaven.

Freehand Chicago – for cheap digs and sustainable cocktails

If Cocoa Puffs-infused old fashioneds, espresso martinis made with leftover Nicaraguan coffee grounds, or mescal shot glasses made from dehydrated waste lemon and lime skins sound like your cup of tea, then the award-winning Broken Shaker cocktail bar inside the Freehand boutique hostel is worth seeking out.

There are always two off-list cocktails to choose from – spot them on the coasters – and expect a sustainable and delicious approach to mixology from the enthusiastic team. If you need a place to stay, too, then look no further than the stylish rooms here. You can bunk-up, hostel-style, stay in a private king or queen room hotel-style, or rent out the penthouse.

Cruz Blanca – for Mexican food and Mexican beer

With nearly one brewery for each of the 77 neighbourhoods in Chicago, there’s a lot of beer to try in the Windy City. But, for something a little different, head to the 10-barrel brewery and taquería Cruz Blanca in the cool West Loop district.

Explore the range of modern Mexican lagers, barrel-aged brews, bright IPAs and tropical, lip-puckering sours (we loved the Electric Flamingo, a fruited Berliner with fresh mango sweetness and a gentle tang) alongside a menu inspired by the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. If you’re in a group, order the giant tostadas – crisp tortillas filled with cheese, beans and a selection of toppings from Florida pink shrimp to Gunthorp smoked pork loin or Oaxacan chorizo.

Other places to eat and drink in Chicago

Chicago Distilling Company – for hard liquor

If you fancy a bit of the hard stuff, visit the Chicago Distilling Company for a tasting. The company’s small-batch whisky, bourbon, gin and vodka is produced on-site by descendants of original Midwest moonshiners. You can buy a bottle to take away or just work your way through the spirits section in the buzzy bar. There are also regular tours/tastings with the owners to guide you through the art of brewing your own.

Piece Pizza and Brewery – for pizza, beer and basketball

Pizzas here are served with four bases – white, red, BBQ or New Haven (that’s tomato sauce and no mozzarella but with extra olive oil and parmesan) and come in three sizes. After choosing your base you then add whichever toppings you fancy. The pizzas are designed to share and they are HUGE (three of us ordered two mediums and we couldn’t finish them).

The large open space is made up of large communal benches and has a beer hall/sports bar-type atmosphere with screens showing local basketball and baseball games lining the walls. Watch them while sipping a craft beer that’s been brewed on site: there are usually seven on tap at one time – try the Astronaut Haus, a citrusy American Pale Ale. Famous fans have included Anthony Bourdain and Dave Grohl.

Vice District Brewing – for small-batch beers

This small-batch brewery in the Chicago South loop is owned by two Chicago South-siders whose aim was to provide a friendly, diverse, inclusive space (it’s both dog- and family-friendly) for the neighbourhood.

There’s no food on offer but you are encouraged to order in from local restaurants (ask the barman for recommendations). The beer selection is seasonal and, as everything is brewed in small batches, it can change month to month. We loved the Coconut Porter – a dark, chocolatey beer with a subtle creamy coconut accent.

Swift & Sons – for steak

Chicago is famous for its steak joints and Swift and Sons is one of the swankier offerings. This huge dining space is in the former meatpacking district and has a grand gentleman’s club feel to it – think curved leather booths, warm wood and shiny brass fittings and soft lighting. It’s the sort of place you’d expect to find Don Draper of Mad Men nursing an Old Fashioned. The travelling cocktail cart is definitely worth trying, too – have your martini mixed table-side and get a little history lesson on the drink thrown in.

The menu is a surf-and-turf dream with spankingly fresh oysters, shrimp, king crab and lobster to order individually or on groaning platters. Steak is the real star here, though, and you’re guaranteed a perfectly cooked strip, rib eye or porterhouse. It’s not cheap but portion sizes are hefty (the New York Strip is a whopping 16oz/450g) so split a steak and order a couple of sides (we liked the crispy brussels sprouts with soy and lime, and the spiced cauli gratin with parmesan). Sauces come on the side – try the umami-rich oxtail marmalade.

Portillo’s – for hot dogs

Chicago hot dogs are unlike any other American-style versions thanks to their multitude of toppings (affectionately known as “dragging the dog through the garden”). Head to any of Chicago’s Portillos (we loved the character of the River North branch) and get your dog (inside a soft poppy seed bun) layered up with mustard, relish, celery salt, onions, tomatoes, pickles and peppers. Ketchup is an absolute no-no. Seriously, don’t ask; you’ll only offend.

The Doughnut Vault – for donuts and coffee

If jet lag keeps you awake, make the most of it and head out early to North Franklin Street, in the River North district, to beat the crowds and catch the daily specials at The Doughnut Vault before they sell out. The team here specialises in old-fashioned donuts, which are more cake-like, with rough edges and a crisp exterior. Expect flavours including key lime, strawberry crumble, and pink lemonade and decent drip coffee, too.

Words | Janine Ratcliffe and Laura Rowe

Images | Adam Alexander, Anjali Pinto

Felicity Cloake talks about the surprising food of the US with our food editor Janine

olive magazine podcast ep24 – felicity cloake, US food trends, Michelin & World’s 50 Best Bars

Looking for food festivals to visit in June? Here’s our round-up of the best food festivals taking place this month, from open farms across the country to chef demonstrations in London. Check out all of the events, here…

Open Farm Sunday

Hundreds of farms across the UK are set to open their gates to the public on the second Sunday of the month for this annual celebration of the links between farming and food.

Now in its 14th year, the event promises a range of activities to get stuck in to, most of them offering the chance to really get behind the scenes and see how our food is grown, from country walks to trailer rides and milking demos.

Check out the website to find an event near you; we’re looking forward to tasting the food they produce at Godney Farm in Somerset and meeting goats at Manor Organic Farm in Loughborough. If you’re in West Yorkshire, be sure to visit Delph House Farm for a field-to-fork BBQ and artisan ice-cream.

9 June, farmsunday.org

Bristol Food Connections

Head to Bristol in June to celebrate everything that’s great about the local food scene and field to fork journey. Over the twelve days there’ll be cookery demonstrations from local chefs, with Genevieve Taylor teaching you veggie BBQ recipes and Elly Pear rustling up no-fuss vegan meals.

Join Zoe Adjonyoh on the Saturday for a 2-course brunch of oto cakes with baobab aioli, applewood smoked bacon and a fried egg followed by puff pastry, strawberry chilli jam and clotted cream for dessert. Guests will get recipe cards and spice mixes to take home, too.

Other events include campfire cooking using foraged finds, coffee cupping and a food and film night. There will be plenty for families too, including a two-hour samosa masterclass where you’ll learn to spice, fold and fry the street-food snack.

12 – 23 June, bristolfoodconnections.com

Check out our ultimate guide to eating and drinking in Bristol here…

BBC Good Food Show

For a snapshot of the British food scene, head to Birmingham’s NEC to catch one of two BBC Good Food Shows taking place this year (28 Nov – 1 Dec being the next event). Cooking demos from some of the UK’s best-known chefs and food writers (among them Tommy Banks, Nadiya Hussain and Brad Carter), shopping from artisan brands such as Gower Cottage Brownies and liquid deli Demijohn, and the chance to gather your own picnic from a range of bars, restaurants and street food stalls all adds up to a recipe for a food-filled day out.

Click here and use the code OLIVE at the checkout to save 20% on BBC Good Food Show summer tickets

13 – 16 June, bbcgoodfoodshow.com

Taste of London

Taste of London returns to Regent’s Park this June bringing together some of the best chefs from across the world. Head to the Taste Residence for a fine dining dinner; seated at the chef’s table, you’ll have the chance to enjoy a tasting menu cooked by Kobus van der Merwe of Wolfgat, winner of Restaurant of the Year at 2019’s World Restaurant Awards.

Hunker down by the Fire Pit stage where the likes of Rovi, Berber and Q, Quality Chop House and Som Saa will be cooking with fire and smoke. There’ll also be an artisan food market, and a Craft Beer Tent where you can try craft beer and cider from the UK’s best brewers.

19 – 23 June, london.tastefestivals.com

Shrewsbury Food Festival

Artisan producers from Shropshire and beyond will descend on Shrewsbury’s riverside Quarry Park at the end of the month to attend the award-winning annual Shrewsbury Food Festival. Stock up on cherry flapjacks from Baked for You, rustic breads from Hindleys Bakery and pickled chilli sauce from The Ludlow Pickle Company. Local drinks producers will be represented by the likes of Wrexham Larger Co. and Tiger Gin.

Other attractions include Food through the Ages, a talk covering food and farming.

29 – 30 June, shrewsburyfoodfestival.co.uk

Looking for wine tasting breaks in the UK? We have found the best English vineyards where you can stay over. Enjoy English wine tastings and vineyard tours before putting your feet up on a private terrace overlooking the vines.

Here are some of the best English vineyard breaks…

Tinwood Estate, West Sussex

Want to do a wine tasting in Sussex? Back in 1985, Dutchman Tukker bought 200 acres of land here to grow iceburg lettuce. Ten years ago, Tukker’s son, Art, took on the land for his own project – growing vines for English wines. Art and his wife Jody have worked, manicured and nourished the land and now 100,000 champagne variety vines flourish in their 65 acres of chalky, flint-topped soil. Book a vineyard tour with the optional extras of a cheese platter for two or a canapé selection.

What to eat: Slow-cooked medallions of pork tenderloin followed by crème brulee with shortbread at The Kennels, a members clubhouse that serves dinner to those staying at the Tinwood Estate.

What to drink: Blanc de Blancs sparkling Chardonnay.

Where to stay: Double lodges at the Tinwood Estate start from £175 per night for a double room with breakfast. Book your stay at Tinwood Estate here

Read our full review of the Tinwood Estate Lodges and wine tasting in Sussex here

Oxney Organic, Oxford

An organic vineyard with holiday cottages in East Sussex. The estate produces organic sparkling and still wines using pinot noir, pinot meunier and seyval blanc and chardonnay grape varieties. Winery and tasting tours take place every Friday and Saturday morning, lasting 90 minutes. Wander through the vines, learn about the estate’s approach to winemaking and end with a tasting.

What to eat: Tuck into a post-tour picnic of local cheeses, charcuterie, bread and, of course, wine.

What to drink: Try the fruity, delicately bubbly 2016 Oxney Classic.

Where to stay: Three barns (starting from £577.50 per week) sleep between four and six, while cosy wooden shepherd’s huts complete with a double bed and fire-pit start from £100 per night.

oxneyestate.com

Hush Heath Estate and Winery, Kent

A great vineyard tour in Kent. Dedicated to making world-class sparkling rosé, Hush Heath centres around a Tudor-frame manor house with gorgeous gardens and acres of ancient orchards and woodland. Visit the winery shop to enjoy a self-guided exploration, or book for a full estate and winery guided tour for £25, or a private guided tour for £25 (10 people minimum).

What to eat: An spring dish of asparagus, pea and mascarpone risotto at the estate’s own Goudhurst Inn. For an additional £30pp you can enjoy a three-course lunch or dinner with wine at the Goudhurst Inn or the Tickled Trout.

What to drink: Balfour Brut Rosé 2010.

Where to stay: Stylish, airy doubles at the Goudhurst Inn start from £80. Click here to book a night at Goudhurst Inn

Llanerch Vineyard, Wales

A farmhouse hotel, restaurant, cookery school and vineyard in South Wales. Guided tours and tastings show guests how Llanerch’s Cariad wines are made, and how the local terroir affects the taste of each vintage.

What to eat: Celebrating seasonal produce grown, caught or reared in the region, try dishes such as Welsh ox cheek croquettes, mutton shepherd’s pie and pearl barley risotto in the fine-dining restaurant overlooking the vineyards.

What to drink: Try the sweet Cariad sparkling brut.

Where to stay: Hotel rooms vary in size, from superior doubles to suites. Courtyard bedrooms start from £135. Book your stay at Llanerch Vineyard here

Kingscote, West Sussex

This is one of the best wine tasting breaks in the UK. Not just a vineyard but a full-on countryside experience founded by the late Christen Monge, Kingscote promises walking and fishing, as well as vineyard tours and tastings. Book a gourmet vineyard tour with lunch for £85 for two people.

What to eat: There’s a tiny coffee shop serving Kingscote’s own coffee in the on-site wine and artisan food store. For a full meal, visit nearby Gravetye Manor where a set three-course lunch is £48.

What to drink: The Fat Fumé, a lightly oaked bacchus.

Where to stay: Doubles at Gravetye Manor start at £275. Book your stay at Gravetye Manor here

Denbies, Surrey

Established in 1986, Denbies wine estate in Surrey offers indoor and outdoor winery tours. The former explores the working winery along with a cellar tasting, while the latter takes you on a 50-minute toy train tour of the vineyard, showing off panoramic views of the North Downs.

What to eat: A gallery restaurant looks over the 265-acre vineyard. Order Sussex confit pork belly with savoy cabbage, pan-fried halibut with roasted romanesco, or, on a Sunday, the Surrey Farm roast beef with rosemary-roasted potatoes.

What to drink: A glass of the 2016 Noble Harvest dessert wine, full of appealing dried apricot notes.

Where to stay: An on-site b&b has seven en-suite bedrooms starting from £80. Book Denbies b&b here

Camel Valley Vineyard, Cornwall

Want to explore one of the best English vineyards? Bob Lindo turned his hand to farming when he left the RAF and has built up the beautiful Camel Valley vineyard gradually, over 30 years, with his wife Annie. All the wines are sold in the shop by the glass or half glass (along with little snacks), so you can turn up for a taste even if the Grand Tour tasting is fully booked.

What to eat: Pink fir apple potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli and polmarkyn ashed goats cheese, or slow cooked lamb shoulder and cumin roasted cauliflower followed by lemon posset, raspberries and ginger crumb at St Tudy Inn, 15 minutes north by car.

What to drink: The 2012 Camel Valley Pinot Noir Rosé Brut.

Where to stay: The Cabana, a pretty converted stable down a leafy lane, with a private decked area equipped with a BBQ. B&B from £65 per night. lowertregleath.com

Trevibban Mill, Cornwall

A stylish vineyard in the rural Cornish countryside. Informal wine tastings take place every Wednesday to Sunday, while on Sunday morning walking tours cover the vineyard, orchard and lakeside, exploring how the wines and ciders are made.

What to eat: Former head chef of Cornwall’s Fifteen, Andy Appleton, is at the kitchen’s helm. Set within a working vineyard, the restaurant serves modern European dishes with a Cornish focus. Try Terras Farm smoked duck breast with squash caponata, rose harissa fish stew with aioli, and quince panna cotta with fennel meringue.

What to drink: The fresh, red berry-laden 2014 organic rosé brut.

Where to stay: There’s an on-site eco lodge surrounded by apple trees, vines and wilderness. The contemporary space sleeps up to four (and two pets), from £402 per week. Book to stay at Trevibban Lodge here

trevibbanmill.com

Three Choirs, Gloucestershire

A lovely wine tasting break in the UK. You can taste, trek, eat and sleep at Three Choirs near Newent, one of the longest established English vineyards. Most visitors book ahead for a guided tour with tastings.

What to eat: Take a seat among lots of local regulars to eat smoked wood pigeon, Springfield Farm chicken and Clonakilty black pudding terrine with spiced pear followed by roast sea bream, buttered samphire, crushed Cornish new potatoes and lobster oil.

What to drink: The Siegerrebe 2016, a spicy, fruity dry white.

Where to stay: Eight bedrooms in a red-brick block, from £129, have pretty views over the vines, but the nicest accommodation is in the glass-walled, timber-framed lodges with verandas, from £149.

Read our full review of the Three Choirs here 

Gusbourne, Kent

A two-hour drive from London, this Kent vineyard produces sparkling wines. Choose between three types of tour and explore the vineyards followed by a tutored wine tasting, or discover how to pair wine with food.

What to eat: For those that want to delve deeper into the world of wine, the estate tour includes vineyard visits before a three-course seasonal lunch (paired with eight wines) in the modern tasting room.

What to drink: Golden-hued 2015 Gusbourne brut reserve has buttery, brioche notes.

Where to stay: Head to the sleepy Kent village of East Brabourne – just a 30-minute drive away – and stay at The Five Bells Inn (Read our full review here)

gusbourne.com

Wyken Vineyards, Suffolk

Only big groups need pre-book for a wander round Wyken. It has been established as a vineyard since 1988, and is energetically tended by Mississippi-born Lady Carlisle, who, as a girl, trained at Chez Panisse and loves the ‘raciness of English wine’.

What to eat: The menu at the estate’s Leaping Hare restaurant/café/shop, housed in a 14th-century barn, offers monkfish with brown shrimp and cauliflower followed by Wyken lamb rack and belly with pomme anna, sprouting broccoli and wild garlic.

What to drink: Wyken Moonshine, a sparkling wine made with pinot noir and auxerrois grapes.

Where to stay: Camomile Cottage, an arty Suffolk longhouse where you’ll breakfast in the garden room on full English or eggs benedict with home-baked bread. Doubles, from £99.

Chapel Down, Kent

One of the best-known English vineyards, Chapel Down recently expanded its site to a huge 325 acres of prime Kentish wine country. It’s open all year to visitors, and offers packages and gift experiences with tutored tastings. Alternatively, just go and have a look and pick up a treat from the terrific wine and fine food shop.

What to eat: Pea velouté with ham hock croquettet then Romney Marsh lamb rump, confit cherry tomatoes and smoked paprika courgette puree at Chapel Down’s smart restaurant, the Swan.

What to drink: The 2017 Flint Dry, a blend of bacchus with chardonnay and cool-climate grapes, is a fine alternative to sauvignon blanc.

Where to stay: Sissinghurst Farmhouse, home to Chapel Down’s CEO, is also a charming B&B with brass beds and rural views, from £160.

Sharpham Wine and Cheese, Devon

One of the best vineyard tours in the UK, Sharpham is a great experience. In the same hands for 35 years, Sharpham is a serious producer of more than a dozen wines, as well as unpasteurised cheeses that are sold UK-wide. Visitors to the site, overlooking the River Dart, can embark on a self-directed Vineyard Walk, or a Vine to Wine tour with expert guides.

What to eat: The Cellar Door serves River Fowey mussels with cider, bacon, leek and mustard cream followed by wild garlic and sorrel chicken “kiev” with watercress and charred lemon.

What to drink: The Estate Selection 2016.

Where to stay: The Bathing House is a well-appointed holiday cottage within the Sharpham Estate, sleeping two from around £550 for two nights. helpfulholidays.co.uk

Ryedale Vineyards, North Yorkshire

There’s no visitor centre, shop or café at England’s most northerly commercial vineyard, rather a tiny winery set in a listed cowshed. Here Stuart Smith conducts tastings, once his wife Elizabeth has guided guests around the entirely unmechanised site. Tours and tastings take place between April and October, or, if you’re staying at the vineyard, you can book a private tour for any day of the week.

What to eat: At Mount House B&B in Terrington, owner Kathryn might cook venison in the autumn, or seabass, followed by a creamy Italian pud. Book dinner in advance for £30 for 3-courses.

What to drink: One of Ryedale’s award-winners, such as a bottle of Yorkshire’s Lass, a delicate dry white.

Where to stay: In a pretty, homely double or twin at Mount House starting from £100 per night.

ryedalevineyards.co.uk

Check out the best places to eat in Ryedale while you’re there…

Rathfinny Estate, West Sussex

It may be young, but Rathfinny Estate in the South Downs is still one of Britain’s most beautiful wineries. Vines are separated by rows of wild flowers, there are glimpses of the Sussex heritage coast throughout, and visitors can stay overnight in a stylishly converted 1860s barn.

What to eat: Get social and eat in the estate’s Flint Barns canteen at long, communal wooden tables. Being the casual kind of place it is, the menu is fixed; expect family favourites such as quality sausage and mash.

What to drink: Rathfinny produced its first batch of Sussex sparkling in 2018.

Where to stay: Rooms at the Flint Barns are simple but have expensive bathroom fixtures, quality bedsteads and access to a luxurious communal living room. From £100 for a double. Book to stay at Flint Barns here

Words by Sophie Dening, Ellie Edwards and Alex Crossley

Photo credits: Paul Winch-Furness, Ian Forsyth

First published August 2015, updated May 2019

Want to know where to spend the longest day of the year? We’ve found the best places to spend the summer equinox. Read on for Europe’s best midsummer spots…

Where to celebrate the longest day of the year across the UK

In a cabin in Cornwall – Kudhva

An off-grid glampsite near Trebarwith Strand, Kudhva means ‘hideout’ in Cornish and this former quarry site truly immerses you in the natural world. Clamber up a ladder to get inside your cabin and spend the midsummer gazing through the full-length windows that offer views of the surrounding greenery.

The lush setting means it’s a great spot for foraging (ask at reception for the site’s foraging guide), so make the most of the long day and hunt for wild strawberries or pick wood violets for cocktails.

Click here for the coolest cabins for foodies

In a hot tub in north Cornwall – The Scarlet

Make the most of the longest day of the year and book a stay at The Scarlet, a hotel perched on the edge of Mawgan Porth. Every corner of the hotel has been designed with its location in mind, meaning floor-to-ceiling windows look out over sea and the goosebump-inducing outdoor pool is a place to see sunsets of every shade.

Spend your summer solstice celebration in one of its private sunset hot tubs. The only interruption you’ll have is the natural landscape – birds, the ocean, the weather – oh, and maybe a glass of something bubbly.

Book a room at The Scarlet here

Read our full review of The Scarlet here

In a light-filled dining room in Herefordshire – Pensons

Celebrate the longest day of the year with a visit to Pensons, a new destination restaurant for Herefordshire, that’s redefining the modern, rural fine-dining experience. Housed in a previously derelict 15th-century barn, the space has been dramatically restored and renovated using as many materials from its surrounds, the Netherwood Estate.

Lunchtime is worth a venture, just for the light, which pours through the stylish Crittal windows, or if you’ve a night-time booking it’s hard to resist the glow of the open kitchen. Either way you’re in for a good meal.

pensons.co.uk

Where to celebrate midsummer in Scandinavia

By a lake in a Swedish forest – Stedsans in the Woods, Halland

Stedsans in the Woods offers an idyllic, food-centred experience in the heart of West Sweden. Set on the edge of a lake, guests are encouraged to explore the outdoors – read a book beneath the trees on the boathouse bench or take the floating sauna (lit with iconic Solstickan matches, used by the Swedes since 1936) on a little adventure to the middle of the lake.

Smart glass-fronted wooden cabins dotted amongst the trees and round the lake mean, even when it’s time for bed, the sun can still stream through.

Read our full review of Stedsans in the Woods here

In a bath tub in Norway – Canvas Hotel, Treungen

A unique camp, far from any road and surrounded by granite outcrops and birch forest, this is a cluster of ten stylish yurts that makes the ideal place to spend midsummer.

Each tent looks onto the peaceful water, but, make the most of the tin bathtubs and celebrate the summer solstice with a glass in your hand as you look out over the lake.

Click here for the best places to eat in the wild in Scandinavia

In a greenhouse on Gotland – Rute stenungnsbageri, Larbro

Stylish Stockholmers gather at this charming café for its excellent coffee and possibly the best cardamom buns on the island, but its huge greenhouse is where the spend midsummer.

Sit outside and share picnic-style benches, or hunker down in the airy greenhouse complete with rustic wooden tables, pots of lavender and, for the night, a roaring fire.

Read our full foodie guide to Gotland here

Where to celebrate equinox in Europe

In a hot tub in the Rambouillet forest ­– Le Barn, France

Set within a 200-acre estate near Bonnelles, in the heart of the Rambouillet forest, yet only a 45-minute drive from Paris, Le Barn is a super-sybaritic rural escape, complete with stables, sauna, hamam and yoga shala. Celebrate summer solstice in its outdoor hot tub which boasts views of the woods.

Book a stay at Le Barn here

These are the best affordable foodie hotels in Europe…

On a colourful rooftop terrace in Lisbon – Portugal

Ascend four levels of concrete stairway at the far end of LX Factory’s main street to find this trendy bar, set over numerous higgledy-piggledy levels. Climb higher to the upper level and venture outside onto graveled terraces. Sip pineapple rum sours under the shade of the colourful Christ the Redeemer mimic to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Find more places to eat in Lisbon here

In a yurt in Abruzzo – Italy

Perched on the side of a hill among the mountains in Abruzzo, a little settlement of yurts look out over the rolling hills. On the longest day of the year, pull a bottle of wine out of the makeshift wine cellar built into the ground, sit out on the terrace and soak up the peaceful surroundings, or, keep cosy in the snuggly yurts and watch olive tree branches cast dramatic shadows across the canvas roof.

When darkness does come, the resident fireflies carefully creep up and surround the tents with an ethereal glow.

Read our full review of Fireflies and Figs here

Where to celebrate midsummer in London

In a West London greenhouse restaurant – Petersham Nurseries, Richmond

Set within a glasshouse and adorned with jasmine, antique mirrors and Indian blinds, this tranquil west-London restaurant is flooded with natural light. Spend the longest day of the year eating seasonal Italian-inspired dishes and sipping strawberry bellinis in the sun-dappled shade.

Dig into roast chicken with king cabbage, pancetta and hazelnut before a dessert of coffee mousse with hazelnuts and crème fraîche.

Click here for the best restaurants with a view in London

On a rooftop in East London – Boundary, Shoreditch

In summer, the Boundary Rooftop is the ideal spot to rise above the streetside hustle and sip cocktails as the sun sets over a slightly hushed, 360-degree view of London. Shelter under the pergola for a summer solstice celebration and share plates of octopus and chorizo skewers, or fish or meat dishes cooked on a Robata grill.

Or, make the most of the longest day of the year and sit by the outdoor fireplace nursing a digestive glass of vielle prune.

Click here for the best rooftop bars in London

Drinking negronis al fresco in North London ­– Westerns Laundry, Drayton Park

A residential road in Drayton Park might not seem the obvious choice to spend the summer equinox, but Westerns Laundry outdoor area is the perfect spot to settle down with punchy negronis and bowls of olives among the olive trees.

Long wooden benches come strewn with blankets, while trees and lush greenery add a sense of calm. Floor-to-ceiling doors draw back, so, even those sat indoors have natural light and warmth. Small plates and seafood are the focus, so expect salted sardines, pickled mussels, baked cuttlefish fideo pasta and crispy ray wing with aioli.

Try Westerns Laundry’s recipes for yourself here

Compiled by Ellie Edwards

Words by Tatty Good, Alex Crossley, Hannah Guinness, Ben Love, Laura Rowe

Looking for the best vegetarian hotels across the world? Want to know the best places to stay for vegan food? Here are the best veggie and vegan hotels in the world.

The Forest Side, UK

A ramble through The Forest Side’s personal fellside (home to roe deer, red squirrels and blankets of wood sorrel) will work up an appetite for vegetarian fine dining at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant. It’s headed by Cumbrian chef Kevin Tickle, who calls upon a one-acre vegetable and herb garden (everything is cooked on the days it’s picked), planted with over 100 different varieties – try golden beetroot with cuckoo flower and smoked yow’s curd, and roast mooli with cherry bell radish at a 6- or 10-course dinner. Pickling is big here (try the walnuts), as is foraging – order a ‘Forager’ cocktail at the bar, made with pineapple weed-infused vodka and homemade ginger beer. Rooms are made cosy with woollen carpets and local Westmorland beds, and some have panoramic views of The Lake District.

theforestside.com

Hotel Balatura, Croatia

Though only 6km from the Adriatic coast, this 300-year-old stone manor house in the hushed Vinodol valley is hidden from Croatia’s tourist traffic by a screen of karst mountains and woodland. It’s strictly vegetarian – ingredients for dishes such as homemade pasta with red cabbage and barbecued celery, and juices made from elderberries or nettles, are often foraged from the valley, while a herd of goats provides the milk. Rooms are named after local flowers or herbs (they’re decorated to match that plant’s colour) and have been carefully restored – expect sunken showers carved out of stone, and TVs hidden behind moveable oil paintings. There’s a pretty courtyard dining area, flanked by rosemary and lavender bushes, and on-site workshops to try, including yoga and poetry.

hotel-balatura.hr

Bean Me Up, Goa

Start the day with fried okra sausages, buckwheat pancakes and scrambled tofu at Bean Me Up, a b&b and yoga space ‘for the nomadic traveller’ near Vagator beach. It’s like its own village, with a handful of huts comprising a bar (order a smoothie made with goji berries, strawberries, cacao and nut milk), vegan restaurant, guest house and fairtrade clothes shop, all buzzing beneath a canopy of mango, jackfruit and palm trees. Chilled music plays in the background, chefs make their own tofu (served fried with peanut sauce, or glazed with ginger) and rooms are modest but charming, each one decorated according to a theme (pick Jungle or Atlantis) and bright with natural light.

beanmeup.in

Hotel Heritage, New Zealand

Here you’ll find the first restaurant in New Zealand to achieve vegan certification from the New Zealand Vegetarian Society – quite right too, given that Hectors specialises in plant-based dishes, local ingredients and raw food. Set underneath a canopy of palm trees, in a seven-storey atrium, the restaurant serves dishes such as macadamia cheese salad with poached vegetables and candied walnuts; raw coconut yogurt cannelloni; and organic, made-in-Auckland tofu. There’s also a vegan tapas menu at the lobby bar, including baked tempeh and rosemary-dusted fries. Stay in the Art Deco Wing, or the contemporary Tower Wing, and eat from the raw breakfast bar every morning (sprouts, seed, fruits and even seaweed).

heritagehotels.co.nz

Boutiquehotel Stadthalle, Austria

This is, apparently, the first urban hotel with a zero-energy balance – huge solar panels (next to a rooftop lavender field, the largest in Vienna) heat enough hot water to supply the entire building with renewable energy. The organic, veggie-friendly breakfast includes jam made from Austrian fruits, honey made by the bees that buzz around the lavender field, homemade bread and hazelnuts – if it’s sunny out, eat in the wildflower garden. Every year the staff harvest and dry that sky-high lavender, so guests can take it home in the form of jellies, soaps and bath essences. Rooms are modest and bright, and family-friendly options come with painting books, fresh fruit every day and quirky decor (look out for the tennis racket mirror).

hotelstadthalle.at/en

The Stanford Inn by the Sea, America

It’s hard to imagine a hotel more happily situated than The Stanford. Overlooking its own organic gardens, above California’s Mendocino Bay, this eco-resort sells itself as a haven for people hoping to reconnect with nature, creativity and joyfulness (there’s a wellness centre, spa and canoe tours on offer, and rooms have a cosy, log cabin feel with ocean views). Ravens restaurant is all about plant-based cuisine: try sea palm strudel, wild mushroom polenta, or a kale stack, made from massaged kale, avocado verjus vinaigrette, cauliflower ceviche and avocado tartare. Plus they’ll arrange wild mushroom walks for you, and there are regular vegan retreats to join – meat-free meals, cooking classes, yoga, nutrition talks and mountain bike rental included.

stanfordinn.com

Nimb Hotel, Denmark

Copenhagen’s Gemyse restaurant, at Nimb Hotel in the Tivoli Gardens grounds, uses its own kitchen garden (complete with greenhouse café, where guests can bake their own twist bread) and an organic supplier as the basis for its (mainly) meat-free cuisine. Try pot-roasted leek with buckwheat, broccoli asparagus with kimchi, or fried cabbage with walnuts for dinner. Then, if you’re staying over on a Friday during the summer season, you can enjoy live music from Tivoli’s open air stage until midnight. Although it looks like an Arabian palace from the outside, Nimb’s rooms are all modern and luxurious, with four poster beds, wooden floors and Apple TVs.

nimb.dk

Raphael Hotel, Italy

The entire facade of this 17th century building is covered in lush vines and wisteria; it’s a green oasis in Rome’s otherwise chaotic centre, just a short walk from St Paul’s Basilica. The ethos here is biodynamic and organic, and is best encapsulated at Mater Terrae – an elegant, upscale vegetarian rooftop restaurant with panoramic views of the city’s domes. Sicilian chef Ettore Moliteo (a protégé of Pietro Leeman, founder of the first European vegetarian restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star) serves the likes of vegan Sicilian cannoli and wild mushroom terrine. Choose either a modern, Richard Meier-designed room (characteristically light, and awash with blonde wood) or a classic, luxury suite decorated with reds, golds and velvet.

raphaelhotel.com

The Whitebrook, UK

Great British Menu star Chris Harrod regained The Whitebrook’s original Michelin star (first achieved by James Sommerin, when it was called The Crown at Whitebrook) in 2014, and designs his menu around locally foraged ingredients such as pennywort, hogweed and bitter cress. Fruits, vegetables and meats come from producers around nearby Monmouth, and there’s a carefully designed vegetarian tasting menu that includes roast Jerusalem artichoke with ‘forest findings’; fermented carrot with sea beet; and crown prince pumpkin with three-cornered garlic. The eight refurbished bedrooms upstairs (The Whitebrook is set deep within The Wye Valley, so staying over is tempting) are all large but splash out on one with a double-ended bath and sleigh bed if you’re feeling flush.

thewhitebrook.co.uk

Conscious Hotel Westerpark, Netherlands

There are four Conscious Hotels in Amsterdam, but the newest, Westerpark, is the first hotel in The Netherlands to be powered entirely by wind energy. There’s a park right next to the hotel for morning constitutionals, and a surprisingly beautiful 19th-century red brick former gas works on the other side. Rooms are airy, with iron-frame furniture and background birdsong from the park, but the main draw is the hotel’s Kantoor bar and restaurant – it’s not exclusively vegetarian, but organic ingredients are transformed into meat-free stars, such as nettle risotto, tofu cheesecake with dried tangerine, and broccoli crumble. Breakfast comes from the same kitchen and includes hearty avocado, quinoa and watercress on rye.

conscioushotels.com

Words by Charlotte Morgan

Photographs by Stanford Inn Eco-Resort

Looking for places to stay in Kent? Want a luxurious yet relaxed hotel near Canterbury? Read our hotel review and check out the best places to eat in Kent here…

The Pig at Bridge Place in a nutshell

Just three miles from Canterbury, this carefully converted Jacobean mansion is the latest Pig to join a now six-strong litter. Style-wise, it ticks every Pig box: a focus on the kitchen garden, a relaxed restaurant and homely but luxurious bedrooms.

The vibe

This is a happy place. From Pia the sommelier, who decorates biscuits for young guests in between recommending wines, to cheery head chef Kamil (“every day I feel lucky”), The Pig team wants to be here. The effect is a contagiously uplifting atmosphere.

The Grade II-listed building at the hotel’s heart, once bright pink in places (it was a popular nightclub in its heyday, hosting the likes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd), has been expertly restored during a £5.5million makeover. A new red-brick wing houses most of the bedrooms while, aside from the addition of log stoves, the original 17^th-century house looks exactly its age. An imposing elm staircase takes centre-stage, while cosy snugs are great places to sit and ponder, with huge open fireplaces, gnarled wooden panelling and Persian rugs. The bar, refreshingly bedecked with female portraits, is all mahogany and maroon and, as with all Pig bars, is generously stocked with multi-coloured cocktail glasses that shimmer on window shelves.

Which room should I book at The Pig at Bridge Place?

There’s a lot of choice. Extremely Small rooms are just that, while Cosy rooms have views of the kitchen garden and a trickling stream (apparently, this once-dry section of the Nailbourne river started flowing again when The Pig team moved in). The more you spend, the bigger your room, but all are finished to a superb standard and come with complimentary background birdsong – we spotted a treecreeper and a nuthatch on our visit.

Some bedrooms benefit from original doors, four poster beds and freestanding baths, though all have mini bars stuffed with Kentish treats (grab a bag of crisps, made with Canterbury’s very own Ashmore farmhouse cheese). You can also stay in a hop pickers’ hut – a romantic log cabin for two, set on stilts in the water meadows near the kitchen garden – or a family-friendly two-bedroom lodge, complete with kitchen.

The food and drink

Pigs don’t stand on ceremony – there are no white tablecloths or leather-bound menus here. Instead, expect cheery waiting staff and a dining room that wouldn’t look out of place at a posh garden centre (there are potted herbs everywhere, and rows of giant Kilner jars stuffed with exciting things like salted oranges and forced rhubarb). The restaurant’s biggest commitment is to locality: what can’t be grown in the kitchen garden, which you can see from your table, is mainly sourced from within a 25-mile radius, including Kentish Pip apples and wild meat from Mallards Farm.

Every table comes with a bottle of olive oil infused with kitchen garden herbs (juniper and rosemary on our visit), and a little pot of homemade smoked salt that smells like saunas. Mix the two together, and you’ll be dipping sourdough into it all evening. Other than such simple pleasures, the best things to order from a mix-and-match menu include dainty vol-au-vents made with zero-mile mushrooms (you can see the little hut they’re grown in from your seat), smokehouse carrots with red mizuna and local rapeseed oil, and juicy Sandwich Bay mackerel with pickled fennel. To drink, there are Shepherd Neame beers, dozens of Kentish wines to choose from (including bottles from Simpsons Estate and Chapel Down) and cocktails made from spirits infused with homegrown produce, such as chilli vodka.

Breakfast

This is a real feast. Try dairy-free banana bread, stewed home-grown rhubarb, and nut-free muesli with coconut yogurt. Or, indulge in The Full Pig-Out, made special by the addition of zero-mile mushrooms and poached eggs from the hotel’s hens (they keep quails, too).

What else can foodies do?

That classic Pig ethos – allow what’s growing outside to guide the menu – makes for a beautiful kitchen garden. Cross a wooden bridge to wander around immaculate rows of elephant garlic, lemon drop, young peach trees and over 1,000 other plants, herbs and vegetables.

Is it family friendly?

Despite it’s perfectly polished interiors, The Pig actively welcomes children, and staff are happy to see them. There’s a children’s menu at the restaurant, travel cots on request, and even a tree swing to play on (equally fun for adults).

olive tip

There’s a stall in the kitchen garden that sells wood-fired flatbreads and beer during the day. Ask for the smoky chorizo topping and eat it on one of the tables laid out next to hop vines.

Words by Charlotte Morgan

thepighotel.com

Looking for restaurants in Rome? Want to know where to eat in the Italian capital? Local food writer Rachel Roddy shares her insider tips for the best restaurants in Rome, along with where to find Roman sandwiches, slices of pizza and the best gelato. 

Armando – for traditional Roman food

Metres away from the Pantheon, Armando is a quietly elegant, but not at all precious, trattoria serving excellent, traditional Roman food. Try the fettuccine con le rigaglie (fresh egg pasta with chicken livers) and the torta antica.

armandoalpantheon.it

VinoRoma – for wine tastings

Hande Leimer’s wine tastings at VinoRoma are illuminating and relaxed. Her most popular tasting is ‘My Italians’, a two-hour event held in her handsome studio near the Colosseum.

vinoroma.com

Mordi & Vai – for sandwiches

At Mordi & Vai ex-butcher Sergio Esposito’s sandwiches are some of Rome’s greatest (and best value). The classic, panino con l’ allesso, is a soft roll dipped in rich meat broth, filled with meltingly tender boiled beef.

mordievai.it

Il Gelato – for gelato

In case of indecision, nocciola e cioccolato (hazelnut and chocolate) is a good default position at Il Gelato. A brisk 10-minute walk from the Colosseum other favourites at this gelateria include lemon and wild strawberries, pear, port and almond, and the Roman favourite, stracciatella.

ilgelatodiclaudiotorce.com

Forno Campo de’ Fiori – for pizza

Get to Forno Campo de’ Fiori by 11 to grab a late-morning snack. Order a slice of both pizza bianca (olive oil and salt) and pizza rossa (with tomato). Don’t stand by the door or the bins – take your hot pizza into the relative calm of Piazza Farnese and eat it beside one of the fountains.

fornocampodefiori.com

Testaccio market – for market shopping

Modern and bright Testaccio market is as tremendous and genuine as its grubbier previous incarnation. Wander between stalls selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and cheese, then buy mozzarella from Lina (box 89), bread and pizza from Artenio  (box 90), and tomatoes and strawberries from Gianluca (box 32).

Between Via Aldo Manuzio and Via Beniamino Franklin.

Flavio al Velavevodetto – for pasta

At trattoria Flavio al Velavevodetto, partly burrowed into Monte Testaccio, the quartet of classic roman pastas – carbonara, gricia, amatriciana and cacio e pepe – are all superb. In season, order artichokes either Roman-style (braised whole with mint and garlic) or Jewish-style (deep-fried until they look like an exquisite bronze flower).

ristorantevelavevodetto.it

Bar Barberitini – for coffee

Rome is peppered with bars in which the real business of life is conducted over small cups of espresso, drunk standing at the counter. Follow suit at Bar Barberini; pay first, stand at the counter holding a small coin on your receipt, order, and drink in both coffee and atmosphere.

Via Marmorata 41, 00 39 06 575 0869

Best street food in Rome

Demand for more affordable dining options has brought delicious changes to Rome’s food scene, not least a growing number of venues providing high-quality street food. At Trapizzino in Testaccio thick and spongy pizza corners are toasted, sliced open and filled with spoonfuls of hearty Roman dishes like oxtail stew, braised beef, aubergine parmigiana and meatballs. Beloved local chef Arcangelo Dandini launched Supplizio in the Centro Storico in a space that resembles a Renaissance lounge. He serves supplì (fried rice balls), crochette (potato croquettes) and crema fritta (fried pastry cream) from around €3 – a fraction of their cost at his restaurant, L’Arcangelo.

Head to historic bakery Antico Forno Roscioli (Via dei Chiavari 34), where pizza con la mortazza (mortadella-filled flatbread) is an inexpensive sandwich served year-round.

Across the river in Prati, porchetta (deboned roast pork) sandwiches, are the specialty at Birra e Porchetta (Via Ciro Menotti 32) and the pizza con la porchetta (roast pork filled flatbread) from Panificio Bonci (Via Trionfale 36) has to be the city’s most satisfying street-food bite.

Where to stay in Rome

Double rooms at Hotel Re Testa, above Testaccio’s new market, cost from around €90, B&B.

Trust olive: Rachel Roddy is a Rome-based food writer. Her first book, Five Quarters: Recipes and Notes from a Kitchen in Rome is published by Saltyard books.

the team reminisce about their favourite foodie adventures in Italy; plus, editor Laura talks about the recent renaissance of authentic, regional Italian restaurants in the UK

olive magazine podcast ep62 – Gibraltar gastronomy and Italian food adventures

Looking for restaurants in Florence? Want to know where to eat in the Italian cultural capital? Local food writers Emiko Davies and Nardia Plumridge share their insider tips for the best restaurants in Rome, along with where to find Roman sandwiches, slices of pizza and the best gelato. 

I’ Brindellone – for local bistro vibes

I’ Brindellone sits on the corner of Via del Leone, near Piazza del Carmine, a resolutely un-touristy spot in the San Frediano district. It’s where the locals come for an honest bistecca and down-to-earth service.

Piazza Piattelina, 10; 00 39 055 217879

Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino – for offal

In Florence’s cutest piazza, Osteria Tripperia Il Magazzino specialises in making offal undeniably delicious. The house antipasto plate is a must; their lampredotto meatballs will turn even the pickiest eater into an offal fan. The pear and taleggio cheese risotto is definitely worth a trip.

Piazza della Passera 2; 00 39 055 215969

Trattoria Mario – for a busy trattoria

You can’t come to Florence and not have lunch at Trattoria Mario. It’s very busy, with a no-bookings policy, so you may well find yourself eating elbow-to-elbow with other diners, but it’s a Florentine institution – and worth the crush.

trattoria-mario.com

Le Volpi e L’Uva – for natural wines

For a glass of wine, look no further than lovely wine bar, Le Volpi e L’Uva. The carefully chosen (and often changing) list of boutique or natural wines here means you’ll always find something wonderful to drink. The crostini with lardo, honey and black pepper or a platter of Italian cheeses go down well, too.

Piazza dei Rossi 1R, 50125; 00 39 055 2398132

Cafe Verrazzano – for coffee and pastries

My favourite spot for a snack is Cafe Verrazzano. It serves some of the best coffee in town as well as delicious pastries, focaccia and cecina (thin, crêpe-like pancakes). There’s not much space to sit, so sip your coffee standing up, as locals do.

verrazzano.com

Zeb Gastronomia – for a family-run atmsophere

Mother and son Giuseppina and Alberto Navari serve fresh spring flavours at the 21-seat Zeb Gastronomia. Sit at the gallery table and enjoy dishes such as pecorino and pear ravioli, which are made to old family recipes.

Ditta Artigianale – for coffee

Redolent of cafés in New York and Melbourne, Ditta Artigianale serves rare coffee blends by barista Francesco Sanapo. At night, gin sommelier Cecilia creates sublime cocktails – try the Gin Mule.

via dei Neri, 32; 00 39 055 274 1541

Il Mercato Centrale – for street food

The recently opened food hall at Il Mercato Centrale is a worthy addition to Florence’s legendary culinary scene. Head to SUD for southern-style pizza or go for the local delicacy, a tripe sandwich, at Il Lampredotto.

Taste Florence – for foodie tours

Visit some of the best food spots in town by joining one of Taste Florence’s morning walks (9.30am–2pm, €79). You’ll discover San Lorenzo’s renowned food market and family-run shops, with tastings of cheeses, salumi, sweets and wines.

La Prosciutteria – for a quick bite

When exploring Florence, a panino is the ideal quick bite between galleries. At La Prosciutteria choose from an array of freshly sliced meats in ciabatta; other fillings include truffle cream and marinated aubergine.

Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina – for Tuscan wines

Oenophiles should head to Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina, where brothers Eduardo and Zeno Fioravanti’s extensive list of Tuscan wines range from bold Brunello to softer Chianti Classico. Resident chef Donatella’s delicious Tuscan cuisine complements the booze.

La Bottega del Buon Caffè – for Michelin star dining

Riverside restaurant La Bottega del Buon Caffè received its first Michelin star in 2015. Chef Antonello Sardi creates delicate dishes from the finest Tuscan produce, much of which is grown at the restaurant’s country farm.

Gelateria Santa Trinita – for gelato

No Italian trip is complete without sampling the local gelato. Gelateria Santa Trinita next to the Santa Trinita bridge hand-makes its selection every morning. Try sesamo nero (black sesame seed) or cioccolata fondente (dark chocolate).

Words by Emiko Davies and Nardia Plumridge

Photographs Getty, Phototravel/Corbis, Rob Streeter

Looking for restaurants in San Francisco? Want to know where to eat in the northern California city? olive’s sub editor and drinks writer Hannah Guinness shares her insider tips for the best restaurants in San Francisco, along with where to find the best burnt honey ice cream, xiao long bao, and porchetta and fried egg sandwiches.

olive’s top 10 must-visits for foodies in San Francisco

Commonwealth – for low-key fine dining

Although white brick walls, exposed light bulbs and dried foliage in jars set a casual, relaxed tone at Commonwealth, executive chef Jason Fox’s precise and layered take on modern Californian cuisine has won the restaurant a Michelin star. Dishes might include briny-fresh oysters poached in their shell with a zingy apple and lemon verbena broth, or luscious fat-marbled American wagyu, cooked in smoked beef fat, with earthy turnip cream and fermented ramp. Leave room for desserts such as silky burnt honey ice cream with grassy matcha meringue and crisp chocolate tuile.

commonwealthsf.com

Ferry Building Marketplace – for foodie shopping

Once a major transport hub for the city, this 19^th-century Beaux-Arts style building now houses a collection of market stalls and shops where you can pick up everything from organic pain au levain loaves at Acme Bread Company to Cowgirl Creamery’s American artisan cheeses (including sweet and mild Wagon Wheel).

Diners also have plenty of choice, from Californian oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co. to dinner at Boulettes Larder, where an Instagram-friendly open kitchen is bedecked with copper pans, bowls of fresh fruit and flowers. Soothing brunch dishes include porridge with poached egg and ghee, smoked wild king salmon with crème fraîche and Meyer lemon toast.

Visit the Ferry Building on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday and you’ll also catch the acclaimed Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market, where you can buy fruit and veg, flowers, herbs, meat and eggs from small regional farmers and ranchers.

ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

SPARK Social SF – for street food

A vintage bus guards the entrance to this street-food park in Mission Bay. Inside, discover a colourful warren of food trucks (some 150 from across the Bay Area are regularly rotated), plus a beer and sangria bar. Visit Korean-Japanese fusion outfit Koja for its take on a burger – generous amounts of tender Korean barbecue short rib stuffed into crispy garlic rice buns with katsu aïoli – and kamikaze fries: criss-cut waffle chips loaded with spicy minced beef, kimchi, Japanese mayo and green onion. Drink peach, thyme and rosé sangria, or a local craft beer, while lounging on adirondack chairs in the sun.

sparksocialsf.com

Tartine Manufactory – for patisserie and bread

Foodies have been lining up to sample Tartine’s baked goods since the first bakery opened in 2002 and it’s now a global brand, with outposts in LA and Seoul. The company’s second San Francisco branch (there’s a third bakery at the airport) is an ambitious, multifaceted operation in a huge, light-filled space a few streets away from the original site in Mission.

As well as a bakery – where you can still find cult Tartine items including sourdough country bread, croissants and morning buns – there’s also a coffee shop, cocktail bar and restaurant. Start the day with house yogurt and seasonal fruit, bee pollen and granola, or a porchetta and fried egg sandwich with salsa verde. For lunch, or dinner, try steak tartare with pickled celery root, crispy sunchoke and cured egg toast, or chickpea and potato soup with fermented collard greens and orange oil.

tartinebakery.com

Holy Mountain – for casual cocktails

After exploring traditional taquerias and hunting down street art in the Mission district (head to Clarion Alley for some of the best examples), step inside brightly coloured Laotian restaurant Hawker Fare and venture upstairs to discover a low-key drinking den that’s a favourite spot for the city’s off-duty bar tenders. The menu keeps it pithy with just seven regularly changing cocktails (plus a few classic ones), as well as a brief list of beers and wines. Try the Temperance: a punchy, smoky, spicy marriage of Legendario Domino mezcal with hibiscus, chamoy, palm sugar, chilli salt and lime.

holymtsf.com

Noosh – for Middle Eastern food

Noosh’s teal-hued frontage, on Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights, houses a bright and light space (think chic Santorini vibes) where chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz – whose pedigrees include Eleven Madison Park and Blue Hill at Stone Barns – have created a fine-dining/casual eating hybrid.

With a DIY approach to ingredients (they make their own halloumi, pitta and preserved lemons), expect an expansive approach to Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, from mezze-style dishes to sumptuous dips (think red pepper muhammara, or warm baba ganoush with kasseri cheese) and lavish stuffed pittas like the Greek po’ boy: tender fried calamari with smoked tzatziki. Don’t miss the Turkish flatbreads, especially the pork soujuk with runny egg, roast garlic and oozy cheese. Drinks include Middle-Eastern tinged classics like the Urfa Manhattan with sour cherry, plus homemade shrubs and Armenian foraged teas.

nooshsf.com

SF on Tap – for local breweries

San Francisco’s beer scene is booming, and one of the easiest ways to dive in is to book an SF on Tap walking tour. Each one takes four hours but the pace is leisurely, local guides are engaging and full of knowledge about the city and beer, and you can expect lengthy stops at three different breweries, with generously sized taster beers and snacks.

The Celebrate the Haight tour explores one of the city’s most iconic neighbourhoods, Haight and Ashbury, referencing the Summer of Love and visiting the area’s best breweries. These will vary from tour to tour, but may include the sleekly minimalist Black Sands Brewery (try the ultra-stacked burgers), Magnolia Pub – the cooling cucumber and Meyer lemon double IPA is a winner – and Barrel Head Brewhouse (we loved its Cuvée du Satja, an elegant barrel-aged sour with pomegranate).

sfontaptours.com

China Live – for Chinese food

Think of this huge Chinatown emporium as a one-stop-shop for Chinese food, whether you’re seeking tea at Oolong café or fine dining at Eight Tables By George Chen. At Market Restaurant, chefs work in exhibition kitchens that include a charcuterie station stocked with caramel-hued roast ducks and chickens, a traditional charcoal-fired Chinese earthen oven (like an Indian tandoor) for slow-roasting pork and a dumpling station.

Expect a rich array of regional dishes from the (very lengthy) menu – hits include mapo doufu cooked in a clay pot with wobbling cubes of tofu and minced pork, xiao long bao filled with a rich, meaty consomme, blistered spicy green beans, sesame bread ‘pockets’ filled with kumquat-glazed peking duck, and Cantonese garlic chicken with bronzed, moreishly crispy skin. While you’re in the area, make a detour to historic Ross Alley and the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, where fortune cookies are made by hand in a tiny open-plan bakery.

chinalivesf.com

Tacolicious – for tacos

The taco menu at this buzzy and colourfully tiled restaurant in Mission (the company has several other sites across the Bay Area) includes everything from guajillo-braised beef to baha-style pacific cod with the crunchiest of batters, shredded red cabbage and cumin crema. Don’t miss the homemade tortilla chips with made-to-order guacamole and multiple salsas (from mild and fruity tomatillo-avocado to racingly hot yellow habanero). Pair your tacos with a selection of chupitos – punchy shot-style servings including tequila with pineapple, coconut water and lime, and a zingy habanero tequila with passion fruit. Once you’ve filled up, head next door to sister mezcal and tequila bar Mosto to continue the party.

tacolicious.com

The Riddler – for sparkling wine

Take a break from exploring the hip boutiques of Hayes Valley at this intimate champagne bar, which sets a stylish tone with its marble bar, tumbling greenery, gold embellished ceiling and large black-and-white photograph of a slinky, 60s-era Jacqueline Bisset. There are over 100 champagnes available by the bottle and plenty by the glass, as well an interesting selection of other sparkling wines – we tried a dry, rich and softly bubbly Hungarian furmint on our visit. Check out the quirky bar snacks menu, too, especially the caviar-topped tater tot waffles.

theriddlersf.com

Other places to eat and drink in San Francisco

Avital Tours and Edible Excursions – for hands-on food tours

Avital Tours’ chatty, friendly guides take guests on a ‘progressive meal’ of two appetisers, entrée and dessert – with each course in a different location (tours run across San Francisco, LA and New York). Destinations vary on the Mission District tour, but an evening might include pork belly breakfast tacos, vegan quesadillas, an American cheese flight and homemade churros with chocolate sauce.

Edible Excursions operate across the Bay Area, but we recommend the Japantown tour as an introduction to a part of the city that’s often overlooked by visitors. One of just three remaining Japantowns in the US, San Francisco’s is a treasure trove of hidden restaurants and food businesses – stops during the tour might include creamy sweet potato lattes at YakiniQ Cafe, rich tonkotsu noodles at Ramen Yamadaya, handmade mochi and more.

edibleexcursions.net; avitaltours.com

Eno – for cheese and wine after dinner

This sleek wine bar on Union Square distinguishes itself by its lengthy list of wines, available by the glass or in affordably priced flights. While you’ll find plenty of European vintages on the menu, it’s worth exploring the bar’s impressive collection of Californian and other West Coast wines, preferably with a sumptuous cheese platter or a flight of locally made chocolate alongside.

enowinerooms.com

Lord Stanley – for date night

This minimalist Michelin-starred restaurant in fashionable Russian Hill has some serious talent in the kitchen. Co-owners and chefs Carrie and Ruper Blease have worked at the likes of Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Per Se, and deliver simple yet refined plates of food with British and European influences – think fat, golden seared scallops with peas, sunflower seeds and a gentle curry broth, or nutty buckwheat and green garlic waffles topped with salty pearls of salmon roe and tangy cultured cream. Try and get a table on the more intimate mezzanine level.

lordstanleysf.com

Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar – for rum cocktails

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a visit to a tiki bar. Set in the basement of the lavish Fairmont Hotel, the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is the work of a Metro Goldwyn Mayer set designer who, in 1945, transformed the basement (and its 75-foot swimming pool) into a delightfully over the top Polynesian-themed playground. Order a (dangerously strong) mai tai and watch a live band play on a thatch-covered barge in the middle of the lagoon, complete with periodic rain and lightning ‘thunderstorms’.

tongaroom.com

Where to stay in San Francisco – Hotel Emblem

Located between the Theatre District and the opulent Victorian homes of Nob Hill, this new Beatnik-inspired hotel is replete with thoughtful and creative amenities, from eco-friendly filtered water stations on every floor (limiting the need for plastic bottles) to welcome cocktails on arrival and even a book butler – an on-demand cart filled with Beat Generation literature curated by San Francisco’s famous City Lights bookstore. The hotel also comes with a slinky, low-lit Obscenity Bar & Lounge, which offers Kerouac-themed cocktails and runs weekly poetry slam nights. Rooms have a sleek retro, mid-century vibe, with writing desks and mini libraries.

Click here to book a room at Hotel Emblem

viceroyhotelsandresorts.com

For more information visit sftravel.com

Words and photographs by Hannah Guinness

Looking for Cascais restaurants? Here are our favourite restaurants in the Portuguese coastal town, plus where to get the best custard tarts, seafood stew and passion fruit sorbet.

Cascais, a seaside town just 30 minutes from Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, attracts both city dwellers looking for a laid-back weekend by the beach and families keen to explore the rugged, rocky coastline. It’s where Portuguese royalty used to spend their summers but Cascais offers far more than fine-dining – here you’ll find made-from-scratch fruit sorbets, spiced veggie shakshukas and slices of caramelised almond tart.

Best restaurants in Cascais

Marisco na Praça

There are no tablecloths or napkins here – just brown paper and kitchen towels, on simple tables in a room decked with traditional Azulejo tiles. The focus is rightly on the bustling fish market on the other side of a glass wall partition – head to the counter and choose your catch (it changes daily, but expect everything from fresh oysters to gnarly barnacles), then watch as chefs prepare simple dishes from it.

If you’re after something light, order a cold platter to share; or go straight for the hot stuff. Blushed, plump prawns swim in hot garlic juices (order extra bread to mop up leftover fish-infused olive oil), while steaming pots of seafood rice soaked in white wine come packed with meaty lobster and clams. Waiters recommend adding homemade hot sauce to turn up the heat, but use with caution as it’s pretty punchy stuff. There’s only one dessert to consider ordering, and that’s the almond tart – also a popular sweet in nearby Sintra – with a crumbly shortbread base and sticky caramelised nut topping.

facebook.com/marisconapraca

Café Galeria House of Wonders

This laid-back, rainbow-hued spot serves some of the best veggie food in town, including homemade tortilla wraps and cumin-spiked shakshuka. With four entrances, it’s a little confusing to find… but climb the cobbled steps to the vibrant roof terrace, adorned with plants and sunshine-yellow bean bags, for the best seats.

There’s no menu, just a counter displaying all the dishes you can have, from fruit-filled granola and sweet potato salads to vegetable-packed, wholemeal-crusted tarts. Pile your plate high, meze-style, to try a little of each. Head up another set of stairs and you’ll find a dinky juice bar, where chilled staff blitz mangos and passion fruit together and sugar-free raw berry cheesecakes are served by the slice.

facebook.com/houseofwonders

Bago du Vin

It’s worth a visit to this wine bar even if you’re not staying at its base, the Intercontinental Hotel. Open since January 2019, the glass and chrome-framed space is as cool and crisp as the Vinho Verde served here, leaving the panoramic sea views to do the talking. Seats are dotted across a decked terrace, but sink into a sofa if you’re planning to stay a while.

The menu offers wines by the glass, but if you can’t tell your Arinto from your Encruzado, ask the sommelier for their suggestion. For an easy-drinking option, sip on the mineral Druida Reserva from Dão, or go sweet with a silky tawny port from the north. If you want a long, lazy lunch, order grazing boards that come with a selection of Portuguese cheeses, from the slightly acidic semi-hard Queijo de Nisa to Queijo de Azeitão, a milky, butter-like cheese that you can (and should) eat straight from the spoon. 

estorilintercontinental.com

Mar do Inferno

Work up an appetite with a walk to Boca do Inferno, a striking formation of cliffs also known as Hell’s Mouth, where you’ll find Mar do Inferno tucked inside the small bay. Book ahead, and ask for a window seat to get the best views of the rocky coast and crashing waves. Given the location, it’s little surprise that seafood is the focus here, with brill, red mullet and snapper coming simply grilled, and huge platters loaded with juicy tiger prawns and clams also available. 

mardoinferno.pt/en

Best bakeries in Cascais

Sacholinha

You’ll find Sacholinha on Cascais’ main, palm-fringed, street, before you reach the promenade. It’s a traditional bakery with glass counters spanning the whole café – get there for an 8am breakfast of blistered pastiche de natas (the custard, so generously administered, spills out when you bite into the flaky pastry), or take your pick of pastries to nibble on throughout the day, from egg chestnuts and butter muffins to Berlin ball cream, a doughnut-shaped pastry filled with golden crème pâtissière. Those in the know stock up on miniature baked cheesecakes to take to the beach.

sacolinha.pt

Panisol Bakery

Take a ticket and join the queue at this old-school bakery, where police officers, surfers and elderly couples alike start their day sipping espressos and tucking into simple ham sandwiches. Wait until your number is called before ordering bollos de arroz, a golden madeira-style rice muffin with sweet citrus notes. Sit at the high mirrored bar, or take your coffee outside onto the cobbled pavement. It’s cash only, and the pace is fast, so make your decision quickly or you’ll risk losing your place.

R. Frederico Arouca 23, 2750-642 Cascais

Bijou

Restaurants in the main square tend to attract a touristy crowd, but Bijou is well-established and well-regarded by locals. A narrow window tempts with its glossy custard tarts, but there are four specials to try, the best of which is the jésuite de amendoa – a flaky, frangipane-filled triangular pastry topped with almonds that’s bigger than the size of your hand. Unless you’re ravenous, get one to share. Those with a sweet tooth should order a noz – a set egg yolk custard coated in crystallised sugar and topped with a whole walnut. Sip espressos as you queue, or order thick hot chocolates from the machine that churns away on the counter top.

bijoudecascais.pt

Best ice cream in Cascais

Santini

This family-run ice cream parlour has been in the town since 1949, and while it now has 10 shops across Portugal (including in Lisbon, Porto and Belem), all the ice cream is still made in their small lab just a 15-minute drive from Cascais. Fruit (all seasonal, sourced from Portugal and peeled by hand) is mixed with one of four bases: milk, cream, vanilla or ice and sugar.

Pay first, then take your ticket to the counter where staff in candy cane-coloured stripes let you try before you pick your scoop. Try zingy passion fruit and tangy raspberry, or Portuguese specialities such as sweet egg and pine nut and (a must-order) Bloacha Maria (a thin wafer biscuit) with milky, vanilla notes. It’s not just the ice cream that’s made by hand; the wafer biscuits for the cones are, too, tinged with a delicate lemon flavour unique to Santini. Staying in an apartment in the town? Make full use of their home delivery service and get tubs of the good stuff sent straight to your door.

santini.pt

Best foodie experiences in Cascais

Cascais traditional market

Open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, this traditional food market has been going since 1952 but has maintained its rustic charm. Families bring home-grown fruit and veg to trade while fishermen sell the day’s catch, so you might go home with everything from fava beans and romesco to snook and octopus.

Expect a fast pace and raucous shouting, with old-school sellers offering 2kg of strawberries for €2.50 and regulars bustling their way through the open space. Get there early in the morning for the best haul before it slows down, post-lunch, as stall holders pack up their produce and dig into prego sandwiches.

R. Padre Moisés da Silva 29, 2750-437

Cooking memories

Sign up for a class at this marina-front cookery school and tailor your session to what you fancy. Group sizes can be as small as you like, so just call a few days in advance to book. Learn how to recreate traditional Portuguese dishes, from simple pan-fried salt cod served with migas – a side dish made of blitzed kidney beans, corn bread, cabbage, garlic and olive oil – to citrus-spiked pudding rice, boiled with water, condensed milk and cinnamon for a comforting, creamy dessert.

cookingmemories.pt

For more information see visitcascais.com

Words and photographs by Ellie Edwards

Looking for restaurants in Yorkshire? Want to know where to eat in Malton? Food and travel writer Clare Hargreaves takes us on a foodie road trip through Malton, stopping off at herb-fed chicken farms, coaching inns and artisan coffee roasters.

As I watch Yorkshire farmer Ed Wilkinson’s clutch of birds pecking at fragrant fronds, I wonder if this is the sweetest-smelling chicken farm in Britain. Ed believes his free-range chickens are also among the tastiest in Britain, thanks to their special diet of herbs.

It started by accident. Ed trained as a chartered surveyor but, after a stint in London, the stone-walled fields of his native Yorkshire beckoned, so he returned to the family farm near Thirsk to raise turkeys and chickens. His aunt, meanwhile, had set up a herb-growing business and Ed noticed that the eggs produced by her chickens, fed on the waste herbs, were exceptionally flavoursome. He wondered how poultry fed on herbs would taste, so gave it a try.

“Birds are inquisitive and, as soon as they saw the herbs, went for them,” says Ed. Like the rest of us, though, they have their dietary preferences. They prefer soft, aromatic herbs such as coriander and basil, both on the menu on the morning I visit Herb Fed. “They’re less partial to hard herbs, and they won’t touch sage,” says Ed. “The herbs give an incredible depth of flavour.”

Diet is equally important for the 35-odd butterscotch cows grazing the buttercupstudded meadows around Botton Creamery in Danby Dale, beneath the heather-clad rumps of the North York Moors. Most British dairy herds are Friesian, but here the cows are Dairy Shorthorns, native to this region, and their rich, unpasteurised milk is being turned into exquisite cheeses right on the bucolic farm itself.

Botton’s standout cheese is Dale End, a tangy cheddar that can rival any of its better-known Somerset equivalents. The work of ‘cheddaring’ and pressing the cheeses into cloth-lined moulds is orchestrated by Alastair Pearson, aided by residents of the Camphill Community, which supports people with learning difficulties and mental health issues. Each team member has a task, whether it’s milking the cows, washing the cheeses or cleaning equipment.

If some of the other cheeses have a continental feel about them it’s because Alastair learned his craft in Germany. His Summer Fields, made to a Swiss recipe, is mellow and nutty, almost fudgy like a mature gruyère. There’s Moorland Tomme and Yorkshire gouda, too.

With such outstanding produce on the doorstep, it’s no surprise that, when I head south across the Moors to the newly revamped Talbot Inn, just off Malton’s pretty market square, I find both Herb Fed chicken and Dale End cheddar on the menu. They sit alongside other local supplies, from honey from hives in the garden, to just-caught Whitby crab and hogget from Malton butcher Food 2 Remember. Chef Robert Brittain’s style is to let ingredients speak for themselves, so Ed’s chicken is simply spatchcocked and served with a herb mayonnaise and hand-cut chips or – appropriately, given its diet – over a basil-fragrant pistou soup. And Botton’s cheddar gives a flavoursome punch to the signature twice-baked Dale End cheddar soufflé.

The inn’s décor is equally relaxed, in a glamorous, playful sort of way. Ex-Lucky Onion stalwarts, Georgie and Sam Pearman, spruced up the 26-bedroomed Talbot earlier this year, bringing a modern style to the imposing 17th-century coaching inn. The sedate, white-tableclothed restaurant has been replaced by oak-floored rooms where modern art and antique finds rub alongside ancestral portraits. Eating is when and where you want. Already savoured the views of the watermeadows from the plant-draped Garden Room? Curl up by the log fires in the Snug, or slouch into a leather armchair beneath the wall-mounted wild boar in the navy-walled Upper Bar. Wherever you sit, jeaned and Converse-sneakered waiting staff miraculously appear.

The inn’s transformation goes hand in hand with the drive by owner Tom Naylor-Leyland to turn Malton into Yorkshire’s foodie capital. It’s working: over the past four years, an impressive 26 food and drink businesses have set up shop in and around the town, and you can meet the region’s food producers at Malton’s annual food festival and monthly food market. Penetrate its narrow brick lanes and you’ll even find the Malton Cookery School and the Brass Castle micro-brewery: try its citrussy Sunshine pale ale in its streetside taproom or head back to the Talbot’s bar to order a pint of its malty Northern Blonde.

“Malton was facing the challenges that so many market towns faced, like out-of-town shopping and the rise of internet shopping. We had empty shops,” says Tom. “I was in London’s Borough Market and saw Yorkshire produce being celebrated, so I thought, why can’t that produce be celebrated in Yorkshire itself?”

Thanks to Tom’s efforts, the town’s red-bricked Talbot Yard, which once stabled horses while their owners were victualled at the inn opposite, now accommodates several thriving food businesses. These include an artisan roaster, Roost, and the Bluebird Bakery, run by Nicky and Al Kippax. The Kippax’s tiny Malton outlet may be little more than a multi-tiered trolley but the joy of it is that you can watch the bakers shaping their dough in the kitchen behind as you buy. And the cream-hued flour the bakery uses is grown by local farmers and milled by Philip Trevelyan on the fringes of the North York Moors National Park. I eat Bluebird’s sourdough toasted for lunch at The Talbot, topped with pork terrine and a dollop of chutney made from local sloes by Sloemotion.

Come evening, I join locals, hotel guests and their dogs around the fire in The Talbot’s vaulted lower bar, where bar manager David Jhugroo dispenses a range of local drinks against a backdrop of stuffed gamebirds.

In the non-alcoholic department, it’s hard to beat the apple juice pressed by Cameron Smith inside the remains of a 12th-century manor in the village of Husthwaite, due west. An amateur historian, Cameron discovered that for the past three centuries Husthwaite’s fertile soils and microclimate had made it famous for fruit growing (the village even supplied Captain Cook). Sadly its fruitful industry ground to a halt when the 60s Beeching cuts closed the railway line that took the fruit to market, and its orchards fell into neglect. Then, a decade ago, with the help of grant funding, Cameron persuaded the village to replant its orchards to how they’d been in 1856. Today Husthwaite is again the ‘Orchard Village’ it traditionally was, producing a not-too-sweet apple juice, as well as three very drinkable ciders.

There’s more apple action in the gardens around Malton, where fruits are being harnessed by university professors Alan and Kathryn Murray, property developer James Cleary and assorted family and friends, to make Malton Cider.

“We had two apple trees in our garden, James had a cider press and scratter, so we said, let’s have a go,” Alan tells me. The cider started off being just for friends, then extended to community pressings. Eventually, the group started flavouring it with Yorkshire’s most iconic crop, rhubarb, which happily also flourished in the Murrays’ garden.

Rhubarb from Yorkshire’s Rhubarb Triangle is also celebrated in a host of gins and liqueurs, the standout being the delicately blushing Hedgerow Gin made by Sloemotion. Conservationist-cum-businessman Joff Curtoys, who crafts it, actually started (more than a decade ago) by making sloe gin liqueur as a way of saving North Yorkshire’s hedgerows and their wildlife. “By buying sloes from farmers we gave them a reason to hang on to their hedges,” Joff tells me. “Yellowhammers and buntings flourished.”

Spotting the gin craze, in 2017 Joff returned to the hedges, this time to gather botanicals for a distilled Hedgerow Gin. Last year he launched a rhubarb and raspberry version – now his bestseller – that includes Timperley Early cultivated by John Dobson in the heart of the Rhubarb Triangle.

At the Talbot Bar, I try a combo of Joff’s new gin with fresh raspberries, lemon juice and soda. Unlike so many rhubarb gins, it’s dry and tangy, not syrupy sweet. If quaffing this helps save Yorkshire’s birds and bees, I might just have to force down another.

Words and photographs by Clare Hargreaves, May 2019

Follow Clare on Instagram @larderloutUK

Looking for hotels in the Lake District? Want to know where to stay in Windermere? Read on for the best hotels in Cumbria…

The Gilpin, Windermere

In a nutshell

Luxurious bedrooms with lakeside views, and an on-site Michelin-starred restaurant that puts an Asian twist on Cumbrian dining.

Why foodies stay here

Chef Hrishikesh Desai earnt his stripes at top-end training grounds including The French Laundry and Lucknam Park. Two things reign supreme at his Hrishi restaurant: Cumbrian produce and spice. Duck liver, for example, comes capped with a wafer of warm Cumbrian gingerbread, tangy pineapple relish, dabs of coconut emulsion and bittersweet chocolate jelly cubes. To drink, try a Dusk of Bangkok, a potent blend of prosecco, apricot brandy, Cointreau, Blue Curacao, dry orange liqueur, mango and lime juice.

What are the rooms like?

There are two hotels on two separate estates (The Gilpin Hotel and The Gilpin Lake House) – the former has bedrooms with lakeside views and cedarwood hot tubs, as well as five ‘spa lodges’ that have their own private ensuite spa. The Lake House is just over a mile away from the main hotel, and each of its six rooms have access to 100 acres of grounds, including a private lake, boat house, heated indoor pool and jetty spa.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in the Lake House, and includes terrines of fresh fruit salad and steaming bowls of porridge made with cream and laced with whisky.

Where to eat and drink nearby

Try The Watermill Inn for a beef and home-brewed Collie Wobbles ale pie beside an open fire.

Get great deals on The Gilpin here

thegilpin.co.uk

The Samling, Windermere

In a nutshell

A luxurious country house hotel (think al fresco hot tubs, fine-dining and ornamental water gardens) set in nearly 70 acres of woodland, gardens and fields. It sits right on the banks of Lake Windermere.

Why foodies stay here

The kitchen garden, surrounded by apple and nut orchards, is well worth exploring. Cucamelons and microgreens grow in the central greenhouse, and wildflower meadows buzz with bees (their honey is used to sweeten desserts and cocktails). At the restaurant, which is made entirely of glass to make the most of those lake views, executive head chef Robby Jenks is in charge of a modern menu that includes the likes of shellfish raviolo with citrus bisque, turbot with mussels and samphire, and rhubarb with vanilla, ginger and lemon.

What are the rooms like?

Most overlook a tree-lined Lake Windermere (only two have woodland and garden views instead), and all are decorated in plush neutrals, with sash windows, marble bathrooms and goose down pillows and duvets. For an extravagant stay, pick the Windermere Suite: it’s at the very top of the estate and benefits from its own private patio (with astonishing views) and a copper-clad freestanding bath.

Breakfast

It’s a short menu, but one which includes kedgeree, homemade granola with yogurt, and fresh fruit.

Where to eat and drink nearby

The Priest Hole restaurant and tea rooms, part of Kelsick Old Hall, is a 10-minute drive away, and is the ideal spot for a laidback lunch on the terrace. The classics are done well here – jumbo fish finger sandwiches with homemade tartare sauce, Cartmel-smoked salmon salads and Cumberland sausage chilli dogs.

Book a stay at The Samling here

thesamlinghotel.co.uk

The Pentonbridge Inn, Penton

In a nutshell

A once-tired coaching inn, The Pentonbridge Inn now prospers as a gourmet pub under the direction of chef Gary McDermott. The River Esk, that natural dividing line between England and Scotland, is about half a mile to the north.

Why foodies stay here

The pub’s owners, Gerald and Margo Smith, live at nearby Netherby Hall and have renovated their Victorian walled kitchen garden to supply the inn with fruit, veg, microgreens and herbs. Expect solid pub food at lunch and dinner, with an emphasis on locality; try the soup of the day with Cumbrian farmhouse cheese on toast, Cumbrian chicken and tarragon pie with garden broccoli, or warm treacle tart with clotted cream. There’s also a Sunday lunch menu, including local loin of pork with caramelised apple sauce and cider gravy.

What are the rooms like?

The nine rooms, all different shapes and sizes, are named after famous Border Reiver families – marauding raiders who rampaged around these parts between the 13th and 17th centuries. Style-wise, it’s all whitewashed walls, contemporary cream wooden furniture, vintage-style radiators, tweed chairs, and cheery tartan throws. The barn rooms are dog-friendly with wooden floors, soaring ceilings and rafters, but they don’t come with the views of the upstairs rooms.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in the conservatory, overlooking the car park and hills beyond. Choose homemade granola topped with fresh berries, porridge with rhubarb and ginger compote, or bacon (thick and salty) with fried eggs and sliced avocado.

Where to eat and drink nearby

You can book afternoon tea at Netherby Hall on the last Wednesday of each month. It’s taken in the Great Oak Hall and might well include swirls of meringue, pastry cones, fruit tarts and mini chocolate eclairs.

Book to stay at The Pentonbridge Inn here

pentonbridgeinn.co.uk

Askham Hall, Penrith

In a nutshell

The Lowther name is everywhere in this part of Cumbria – pubs, a ruined castle, even a village bears the name. Capitalising on its organic estate, the Lowther family turned to hotels with the opening of Askham Hall, home to Allium restaurant and 18 rooms.

Why foodies stay here

Richard Swale works in an environment most chefs dream of. His sunny, conservatory-style restaurant opens out onto acres of its own kitchen gardens and farmland. “Pick, cook and serve vegetables within the hour,” explains Richard, “and their freshness is amazing.”

The kitchen is often busy pickling damsons or preserving edible flowers, either to deal with gluts or to extend the shelf life of ingredients. Meat used to be the centrepiece of Richard’s dishes, but now he gives equal prominence to creatively treated vegetables. He might, for instance, add fermented cabbage to salads, or serve scallops with smoky courgette flowers, flash-cooked in the wood-fired oven. You can choose either a la carte or a tasting menu; the latter may include native lobster with smoked bone marrow, home-reared goose with sour cherry sauce and chocolate tart with milk sorbet and candied walnuts.

What are the rooms like?

There are 18 spacious bedrooms to choose from, all with their own character. The Admiral’s Room (located in the 13th-century Pele tower, the oldest part of Askham Hall) benefits from a central four poster bed and River Lowther views. The Train Room (where the family used to keep their model railway set) has a duplex-style layout, with two extra beds upstairs for children. The Old Dressing Room combines original features, such as mullion windows, with modern luxuries, including an open-plan drench shower.

Breakfast

Start the day with fresh eggs, local smoked kippers, or apple pancakes.

Where to eat and drink nearby

Penrith’s Four and Twenty, with its rustic mix-and-match furniture and open kitchen, is loved by locals. It’s a converted former bank that serves modern British food, including carrot, ginger and honey soup, cheese soufflé and apple crumble fool.

askhamhall.co.uk

The Forest Side, Lancrigg

In a nutshell

This imposing Victorian manor sits above the road, skirting the slate-strewn prettiness of Grasmere. It looks staid and traditional, but behind the old-fashioned façade is one of the most innovative restaurants in the Lakes.

Why foodies stay here

A ramble through The Forest Side’s personal fellside (home to roe deer, red squirrels and blankets of wood sorrel) will help you work up an appetite for fine dining at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant, headed by Cumbrian chef Kevin Tickle. He draws on a one-acre vegetable and herb garden (everything is cooked on the days it’s picked), planted with over 100 varieties – try golden beetroot with cuckoo flower and smoked yow’s curd, or roast mooli with cherry bell radish, at a 6- or 10-course dinner. Pickling is big here (try the walnuts), as is foraging – sup a ‘Forager’ at the bar, made with pineapple weed-infused vodka and homemade ginger beer.

What are the rooms like?

Bedrooms are cosied up with plush wool carpets and locally built Westmorland beds, and some have panoramic views of The Lake District. Choose from Cosy (petite, but still stylish, with Zoffany fabrics), Superb or Master; the latter comes with astonishing Lake District views and Bramley bath products.

Breakfast

All the classics plus homemade granola, foraged wild mushrooms, Bannerigg Farm duck eggs, Slack’s Farm bacon and Cartmel Valley smoked salmon.

Where to eat and drink nearby

Expect spotty crockery and cow murals at Grasmere’s Jumble Room, a fun village bistro that serves everything from Whitby crab crostini to local lamb rump rubbed in rose harissa.

Click here for the best veggie hotels across the world…

theforestside.com

L’Enclume, Cartmel

In a nutshell

Simon Rogan’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Cartmel, with a famously-innovative menu that capitalises on local produce and the team’s creativity. There are bedrooms, too, scattered around the village.

Why foodies stay here

L’Enclume feels low-key and local with its stone-flagged floor and slate walls. But from the fragrant pink rhubarb cordial (served in a long glass with a slice of sweet, dried rhubarb) to the bread (homemade sourdough with a jar of rendered pork fat and apple), the attention to detail is palpable.

Every dish is exquisite and clever. You might try a broth of artichoke, Westcombe cheddar and hen of the woods, which teases diners: the cheese ball is cheese-free (instead, cheese-infused water is thickened and made into balls). Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel is a house specialty: delicately diced venison from the Holker estate is peppered with tiny sugary balls of gin infused with fennel and sugar, which explode in the mouth. Whatever you try, the ingredients are guaranteed to be seasonal and local – Rogan operates under a strict farm-to-table ethos.

What are the rooms like?

Simple, elegant and modern, with a choice of double, superior or deluxe. They’re dotted around Cartmel (two suites are in a townhouse that overlook the town square), and some come with beamed ceilings, window seats and views of the River Eea.

Breakfast

Breakfast is taken in L’Enclume’s more informal sister restaurant, Rogan & Co (informal up to a point – it still has a Michelin star). The usual suspects – fruit salads, smoked haddock, eggs come beautifully presented.

Where to eat and drink nearby

At the Pig & Whistle, Rogan’s pub, you can try small plates of brawn and black pudding fritters, pigs in blankets with mustard mayo, and homemade scotch eggs. There’s also a nice selection of ales, including Hartleys XB, Robinson’s Dizzy Blonde and Hawkshead Lakeland Lager.

lenclume.co.uk

The Drunken Duck Inn, Ambleside

In a nutshell

A quirky, country-style watering hole that makes its own beer, enjoys panoramic views of the Lake District, and serves polished food that’s free from pretension.

Why foodies stay here

This has been a pub for at least 300 years, and became one of the area’s first gastropubs when new owners took over in the 1970s. The cooking is more refined than traditional pub grub: cheddar and almond soufflé comes with onion soubise and crispy sage, pork collar with celeriac, celery, truffle and crackling. As well as an excellent menu, The Drunken Duck also has an on-site microbrewery – try a pint of the single-hopped, citrussy Cat Nap.

What are the rooms like?

There are 13 of them, all simple and clean in style, with some in the pub and the rest in a L-shaped extension (built to suit the Drunken Duck’s style) at the back – the latter is a good option if you’re travelling with children and would like to avoid background chatter come bed-time. Deluxe rooms have leather armchairs, wool cushions and feature baths.

Breakfast

Try fried mushrooms and wild garlic pesto on an English muffin, or homemade granola, smoothies, sourdough toast with grapefruit marmalade, and overnight oats.

Where to eat and drink nearby

The Old Stamp House is a fine-dining bistro that serves strictly Cumbrian produce, including roe deer tartar with rye crumbs, pickled mushrooms and nasturtiums; and Cumbrian gingerbread with ginger panna cotta. Top fact: the setting is the cellar of the building where Wordsworth once worked as a distributor of stamps.

Book a night at The Drunken Duck Inn here

drunkenduckinn.co.uk

The Rum Doodle, Windermere

In a nutshell

Just one mile from Lake Windermere, this stylish b&b is named after mountaineering spoof novel, The Ascent of Rum Doodle. It specialises in Cumbrian-sourced breakfasts and homemade cakes.

Why foodies stay here

Mainly for the excellent breakfasts, but also for the style of the place – the theme is quintessentially English, with everything from vintage typewriters and worn Edwardian suitcases to Queen Elizabeth II tea caddies dotted throughout. Plus the owners are keen bakers, so expect a complimentary slice of carrot cake or a stack of homemade shortbread when you arrive.

What are the rooms like?

All nine bedrooms – each named after a The Ascent of Rum Doodle character – are peppered with antique and retro furnishings, and are decorated to match the personality of their namesakes; Shute, an expedition photographer, is all mirrored furniture and antique cameras while Burley, an extravagant individual, includes a freestanding pink bath and vintage wardrobes.

Breakfast

Blueberry pancakes, smoked haddock with poached eggs, or a mammoth Cumbrian breakfast, complete with peppery sausages and fresh eggs with rich yellow yolks. It’s taken in a room made wonderfully sunny with tall windows.

Where to eat and drink nearby

Five minutes’ away is The Wild Boar Inn, which benefits from its own micro-brewery and smokehouse. Try wild boar and damson scotch eggs, fillet steak with bone marrow gravy or rabbit and crayfish pie.

Click here to book a room at The Rum Doodle

rumdoodlewindermere.com

The Yan at Broadrayne, Grasmere

In a nutshell

This 1620s stone farmhouse, surrounded by grey-faced Lakeland Herdwick sheep, has been transformed into a boutique hotel halfway between Windermere and Keswick. There’s an on-site bistro that serves rustic Cumbrian food made from strictly local ingredients.

Why foodies stay here

The menu at The Yan Bistro covers every whim, from staples such as shepherd’s pie made with braised lamb and cheesy mash potato, to sharing platters of thyme and garlic beef brisket, baked potatoes filled with garlic cheese, corn on the cob, coleslaw and chargrilled flatbread. There are plenty of veggie options too (don’t miss mozzarella and roast tomatoes with saffron potatoes, roast figs, pesto and fresh basil), and a children’s menu.

What are the rooms like?

Choose standard, deluxe or pet-friendly. All seven bedrooms take inspiration from the surrounding fells, so expect plenty of wood and woollen cushions. Deluxe rooms can include a double sofa bed if there are four of you, and there are two pet-friendly rooms if you want to bring your dog.

Breakfast

A refreshingly original affair, including courgette, tomato and herb frittata with hash browns, tomato salsa and hollandaise sauce, or an epic plate of Cumberland sausage, middle back bacon, black pudding, homemade baked beans, hash browns, roasted tomatoes, fried field mushrooms, eggs and thick-cut buttered toast. There are lighter options, too, including homemade muesli with fruit and yogurt, and porridge topped with nuts and berries.

Where to eat and drink nearby

Lucia’s takeaway coffee shop, also in Grasmere, is perfect for on-the-go homemade sausage rolls, cinnamon buns, sourdough loaves and, of course, coffee. Just the thing when you’re planning a picnic.

theyan.co.uk

Sharrow Bay, Ullswater

In a nutshell

Situated on the shoreline of Ullswater, and surrounded by 12 acres of its own leafy land, Sharrow Bay’s charm is definitely helped by its location. But this country-house hotel is also home to the original sticky toffee pudding recipe (staff are sworn to secrecy) and a smart restaurant with a cellar of over 700 bottles.

Why foodies stay here

For the chance to try that sticky toffee pudding. Sharrow Bay insists that it still serves the lightest, figgiest pudding (it was invented here in the 1970s by chef Francis Coulson), served with a sweet toffee sauce. The dining room is traditionally splendid, with wood panelling and tall sash windows that frame magnificent views of Ullswater. A tasting menu includes refined dishes such as seared Scottish scallops with Nashi pear and coffee, noisette of wild venison, and halibut fillet with nut crust. There’s also private dining at Hallin View, a romantic cabin at the water’s edge, a little way apart from the main hotel, that has just one table.

What are the rooms like?

There are three levels of luxury, and the option of a garden view. All the bedrooms are traditionally furnished, with patterned wallpaper, plush carpets, sweeping curtains and patches of tweed throughout. Choose the Silver room for perfect Ullswater views, a four-poster bed draped in rich silk damask, and upholstered window seats, or the Beatrix split-level suite, with its direct access to the garden terrace, a partly panelled bathroom, antique ceramics and close proximity to Sharrow Bay’s luxury dog shower room.

Breakfast

A fine affair, served on Royal Worcester porcelain. Expect stewed fruit, full English breakfasts, porridge and much, much more.

Where to eat and drink nearby

1863 Bistro, also in Ullswater, is the place for smart, modern food, served in a relaxed and friendly environment. A la carte dishes rely on foraged local ingredients (including hen of the woods, berries and morels) – try Herdwick lamb with gremolata and lamb fat roasties, or wild sea bass with Yorkshire asparagus and yuzu sauce.

Get great deals on Sharrow Bay here

sharrowbay.co.uk

Words by Charlotte Morgan, Lucy Gillmore, Tony Naylor and Alan Spedding

Looking for places to stay near Lancaster? Want a stylish bed and breakfast in Bay Horse? Read our b&b review and check out more places to eat in the Ribble Valley here…

Lancaster Barn B&B in a nutshell

Stylish, eco-friendly B&B, set inside a stone barn and surrounded by lush countryside, just a few miles from historic Lancaster and the M6.

The vibe

With its bespoke hand-crafted oak furniture, calming Scandi colours, and stonking breakfasts, Lancaster Barn is the design-conscious foodie’s dream. The ethos here is ‘natural’, starting with the ancient stone barn the B&B was converted from but also encompassing the slate, stone and wool that furnish its nine bedrooms, and a more general respect for nature demonstrated by planet-friendly toiletries and water-saving showers. Owners Clare Holt and Paul Riggs, who spent three painstaking years creating the luxuriously serene space, have thought of everything – from binoculars for bird-watching to mini-bar ales brewed just across the road. Its proximity to the M6 (two minutes’ drive away) makes it a perfect stop-off if you’re heading up to, or back from, Scotland or the Lake District but it’s also a great base for exploring Lancashire’s finest food spots.

Which room should I book at Lancaster Barn B&B?

All bedrooms have hand-made white oak beds, side tables and desks plus soothing white and pale grey walls hung with oak-framed lino prints by local artists. A Nespresso machine and a mini-bar provide sustenance when needed. If you like a view, book Number 6 at the back, which looks over the River Cocker (grab those binoculars to spot the herons) and cow-grazed fields beyond. If you fancy having both a free-standing bath and a walk-in rain shower, choose Number 9, whose bathroom has gorgeous slate basins and limestone floor and wall tiles.

The food and drink

Being a B&B, breakfast is the only meal served here, but what a meal it is. Most produce is local, including bacon and sausages from the local butchers (served as part of a “Barn Breakfast”), free-range eggs from Penrith and, in season, home-grown raspberries and tomatoes. We tried the Veggie Breakfast of eggs, roast asparagus (we visited in May), tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado and tomato jam. Vegans and veggies will adore the almond milk porridge sprinkled with blueberries, almond butter, honey and dark chocolate shards, as well as chia seed pots topped with home-grown soft fruits. Tea and coffees hail from Atkinsons in Lancaster (see below); you can also buy them to take home from a little crafts-and-food shop at the B&B’s entrance.

For dinner, there’s the Bay Horse Inn, a family-run gastropub just up the road. Chef Craig Wilkinson’s must-eat main is the Goosnargh Duck legs from nearby Swainson House Farm, served with wine-braised lentils, roast potatoes and kale, although the rack of lamb from Honeywells butchers in Woodhampton (near Preston) is terrific too. For dessert you’ll struggle to leave without sampling Craig’s comfortingly carb-laden warm orange and almond cake with rich vanilla ice cream.

What else can foodies do?

Lancaster’s go-to for foodies is Atkinsons, who have been roasting and grinding coffee beans since 1837 – you’ll know you’re nearby when you catch the aroma. Beans are still stored in original gold-and-black cannisters on wooden shelves behind the counter. Buy teas and coffees here, or try them with cakes or sandwiches at one of Atkinsons’ three cafes – we liked the Art Deco-style Hall cafe two doors down, where you also see the cakes being made. For French bistro-style cooking and atmosphere, head to Quite Simply French, on St George’s Quay, or for Indian food in a splendid 17th-century building, try Babar Elephant.

Family friendly?

No. This is very much a grown-ups-only space, perfect for parents looking for a peaceful kid-free escape or professionals seeking a restful retreat.

olive tip

Don’t miss the honesty fridge by reception. Its wines are hand-picked by Master of Wine Miles Corish so whichever you choose it’s likely to hit the spot. We particularly enjoyed the Sugarbird Californian White Zinfandel.

Lancaster Barn, Bay Horse, Lancaster LA2 0HW

Clare travelled as far as Manchester with CrossCountry Trains

Words and photographs by Clare Hargreaves

Looking for the best beer gardens in the UK? Check out our round-up of the best pubs with beer gardens and best beer gardens across London and the UK.

Best beer gardens in London…

The Faltering Fullback, London N4 (Finsbury Park)

The Faltering Fullback has a small but very popular beer garden split over higgledy-piggledy decking amongst plenty of ivy and other greenery. This clever use of space creates intimate corners to slouch into while enjoying the sunshine. 

This Irish pub has plenty of classic pints to choose from, and the food is of the Thai variety, so you can tuck into a feast of chicken satay, spring rolls and green curry in the secluded inner-city oasis.

falteringfullback.com

The Albion, London N1 (Islington)

Sandwiched between Caledonian road and Upper Street, the garden at The Albion under the wisteria-draped pergolas is an oasis of calm in this busy area. Food is the focus and, alongside the classics, during the summer they have a BBQ. Grab a pint or glass of rosé, find a sunny spot and forget you’re in the middle of the city.

the-albion.co.uk

CRATE brewery, London E9 (Hackney)

There are few more lovely places to spend a sunny afternoon than on the canal outside CRATE’s tap room in Hackney. The full CRATE range will be on offer as well as some fantastic hand-picked guest brews. They do great pizza, too, such as sage and truffle, middle eastern lamb and spicy salami.

cratebrewery.com

The Great North Wood, London SE27 (West Norwood)

This lofty gastro pub really brightened up the local area, offering an all-day menu of pub classics, ales and craft spirits in an airy space with exposed brick walls.

The pub boasts a large beer garden out the back with its own dedicated bar housed in a wooden shack and a dedicate barbecue area. There are six burgers to choose from, so pick between crispy Cajun chicken, lamb, mint and coriander, or Korean fried vegan patties to tuck into beneath the pergolas climbing with plants. 

thegreatnorthwood.co.uk

The Ferry Boat Inn, London N17 (Walthamstow)

Tucked between a nature park and a reservoir, in Walthamstow’s beautiful wetlands, The Ferry Boat Inn is the sort of London pub that will make you forget that you’re still very much within the M25. With a Pimms bar, and twinkly lights for when the sun sets, there’s always a fight for seats outside. On colder days, keep warm via the pub’s whisky passport – try four, get one free!

classicinns.co.uk

The Edinboro Castle, London NW1 (Camden)

Young folk gather in this lively beer garden after picnics in Regent’s Park and shopping in Camden. Surrounded by trees and bushes, this sheltered courtyard is packed with long tables to drink craft ales round (go for the local Camden Hells lager), with plenty of sheltered huts in case the rain comes. There’s a menu of pub classics, as well as regular barbecues in the garden, plus the occasional hog roast.

edinborocastlepub.co.uk

The Ship, London SW18 (Wandsworth)

As soon as the sun puts its hat on the beer garden at The Ship gets rammed. Right on the river with beautiful sunsets and summer BBQs, it’s easy to see why. They’re dedicated to serving the freshest beers here with a focus on local London breweries, but you’ll also find big names on the American craft brew scene. Don’t miss the scotch egg – it’s legendary.

theship.co.uk

Best beer gardens across the country…

The Old Neptune, Whitstable

Perched at the start of Whitstable’s pebbly beach, The Old Neptune offers an undisturbed sea view as you sip your pint. Known to the locals as ‘The Neppy’, this popular pub has been standing strong since the early 20th century. Take a seat on a picnic bench and tuck into fish and chips, or, in the summer, enjoy burgers and hotdogs straight from the beach BBQ.

thepubonthebeach.co.uk

The Packhorse, Bath

Re-opened in spring 2018 after a community buy-out and restoration, the Packhorse Inn makes a great destination to aim for on a walk from the centre of Bath up to the city’s southern slopes (there are also a handful of parking spaces if you want to head straight there; if you change your mind when you arrive you can pick up one of its leaflets of local walks and stride out into the surrounding valleys, or along the route of the old Somerset coal canal).

In the postcard-perfect, honey-stone village of South Stoke, a sensitive refurb has stripped this ancient, dog-friendly inn (the building dates back to the 17^th century) down to its picturesque bones (inglenook fireplaces, mullioned windows, simple wooden tables and chairs) and now makes one of the most convivial spots in the area for a pint of Brotherhood 1618 (or Honeys Midford Cider) and a posh sausage roll, a cider-glazed ham and Dijon sandwich or a full Sunday lunch.

Food is overseen by Rob Clayton (of Clayton’s Kitchen, in Bath) and ticks all the right boxes. In season there are plates of buttered Wye Valley asparagus, herb gnocchi with roast beetroot, pickled carrot and ewe’s curd or grilled Cornish mackerel but the menu mostly sticks to reassuring pub classics: beer-battered fish and chips, steak with triple-cooked chips, roast local beef or pork belly. There’s also a small but well thought-through kids’ menu.

The Packhorse also has one other killer attribute: arguably the best beer garden in Bath, with a backdrop of South Stoke’s pretty rooftops and wide-angle views out across the leafy Midford Valley below.

packhorsebath.co.uk

Queen’s Head, Blyford

This 15th century pub is close to the Adnams brewery in Southwold, so you’re guaranteed to get a good pint. There’s lot of green space surrounding the pub, as well as a dedicated beer garden where you’ll find ducks, chickens and pigs sharing the sunshine.

queensheadblyford.co.uk

Here are some of the best British beers to try including:

• Magic Rock High Wire 
• Cloudwater Session Bitter 
• Wiper & True Milk Shake 
• Wild Beer Co Millionaire 
• Beavertown Gamma Ray

 

The Cary Arms, Babbacombe

The Cary Arms must be the most tranquil place for a pint in Devon. Happily sat inside the curve of Babbacombe bay, right next to Oddicombe beach, the view from the inn stretches to Portland Bill in Dorset and takes in the pink-soil cliffs of the English Riviera and an old pier where both seals and locals like to fish.  Outside is a series of tiered terraces separated by pristine rock gardens, all with beautiful views of the bay (there’s no such thing as a bad table).

caryarms.co.uk

Hare & Hounds, Bath

Head to the Hare & Hounds for the best views of Bath. Perched above the city, sit on the sunny terrace and you’ll be able to see down into the town and out across the Bath countryside. The food is great, too, with dishes such as honey-baked figs, slow-cooked pork belly and pub classics.

hareandhoundsbath.com

The Bridges, Shropshire

This particular pocket of south Shropshire is home to more than its fair share of small, independent breweries. The Bridges in Ratlinghope is the Three Tuns’ bucolic country tap house. Set by a brook at the foot of the sweeping Long Mynd mountain, there are plenty of wooden benches to slouch around and enjoy a sunny afternoon. Five seasonal beers are on tap, including Clerics Cure IPA, which also features in the pub’s beer-battered fish and chips.

thebridgespub.co.uk

The Potting Shed, Cotswolds

Snuggled in to the heart of the Cotswolds village of Crudwell, The Potting Shed is the epitome of a country local. There’s an outdoor patio and garden from which you can peek into the neighbouring allotments or challenge your friends to a game of boules on the pitch out back. Try a Cotswolds dry gin (here are our favourite English gins), or taste local ales such as Elmers pale bitter from Flying Monk Brewery in neighbouring Malmesbury. The pie of the day (ham with a poached egg on top, or chicken, sweetcorn and black pudding) is a must, served, as it should be, with creamy mash and rich gravy.

The Dolaucothi Arms, Carmarthenshire, Wales

In the rolling greenery of the Cothi Valley, this pub dates back to the 16th century. There’s a big beer garden with views over the valley and the rivers Cothi and Twrch to which the pub has fishing rights. There are friendly hens to become aquainted with, a pub cat, Lily, and even beehives. There are great walking trails across the National Trust Dolaucothi Estate for you to explore, too. Click here to read our full review of the Dolaucothi Arms

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The Dundas Arms, Berkshire

The vast beer garden here, stretching between the Kennet River and the Kennet and Avon Canal and home to flowering shurbs, knobbly apple trees and dramatic willows, is the perfect place to unwind in the sunshine. Their menu offers a good range of classic and modern dishes, and during the summer they open a dedicated outdoor bar.

dundasarms.co.uk

The Bell at Skenfrith, Monmouthshire

On the banks of the River Monnow in Monmouthshire sits The Bell at Skenfrith, a former 17th century coaching inn with rooms which boasts a kitchen garden, leafy grassed area and paved terrace. Sit outside and sip on a tropical Hopfather from Wye Valley Brewery or a spiced Dabinett Medium from Apple County Cider Co.

skenfrith.co.uk

The Stag Inn, Dufton

This cosy Cumbrian pub makes the perfect stopping-off point on the Pennine Way (if you want to stay overnight there’s a great little youth hostel just across the village green). Not only does it serve fireside pints of Black Sheep ales (and many others from small breweries across the north) it also plays host to its own beer festival every August, with music from local bands as rousing as the booze.

Food-wise, it punches well above your average pub grub. On a previous visit we enjoyed some of the best homemade fishcakes in memory, plus an exemplary burger and a rich chickpea curry (you won’t want to miss the pies if you’re a pastry lover). But on a sunny day the beer garden is the real draw here. Don’t expect fancy umbrellas or garden furniture. Among its rugged setting the garden is suitably wild-edged with a jumble of plain picnic benches, a beautifully gnarled old tree that begs to be climbed if you’re under 10 and wide open views of Dufton Pike off in the distance beyond sculptural stone walls.

thestagdufton.co.uk

The Free Trade Inn, Newcastle

Beer ‘garden’ might be a strong term for this pub, but sit outside and you can enjoy great views of the river Tyne and many of Newcastle’s most iconic sights as you enjoy your beverage. Their beer range changes so frequently that it’s hard to keep up, but they regularly feature breweries such as Brooklyn.

facebook.com/TheFreeTradeInn

The Perch, Oxford

One of the oldest pubs in Oxford, it’s just a short walk to the Thames and Port Meadow, so makes a perfect pit-stop. The large garden here is the best in the city, so grab a pint from its ever-changing ale selections, a glass of English wine, or a pitcher ginger mojito and set up camp.

the-perch.co.uk

Looking for the best picnic spots? Need some picnic ideas? Read our guide to the best picnic spots in the UK, from city centre parks to pebbly beaches 

Want to pack your own picnic? Check out our picnic recipes here, from picnic pies to blueberry bars and portable cordials.

Picnic by the canal – Little Venice, London

Hop on the Waterbus from Camden to Little Venice and set up your picnic blanket under the willows beside Regent’s Canal’s calming waterways. For artisan picnic items, mooch up Clifton Road to get a taste of a traditional high street – stock up on crusty French baguettes, cheeses and sticky chicken wings from upmarket deli Raoul’s; organic avocados and your pick of apples from Clifton Greens greengrocer; and pastries for pud (pain aux raisins, fresh fruit brioche, swirls laced with cinnamon) from Baker and Spice.

Check out our favourite places to eat and drink in Paddington here

Picnic with a view – Bath

Jump off the train at Bath (“Bath Spa” station) and head away from the crowds, taking the exit that leads out of the back of the station to cross over a little footbridge into Widcombe. Amid the shops here you’ll find Widcombe Deli (for the quiche of the day and a rainbow of salads to go), veggie bakery and café The Cakery (pick up a vegan-cheese and chutney toastie or a falafel baguette to take away, plus a signature ginger, plum and oat slice) and Bath Botanical Gin Distillery and Herbal Apothecary (grab some tonic in the Co-op around the corner then splash out on a seasonal fruit gin, such as gooseberry, to go in it).

Fully stocked, either turn east and follow the canal towpath to nearby Sydney Gardens to enjoy your picnic in the leafy hinterland of the Holburne Museum; head up Widcombe Hill to find the perfect picnic-with-a-viewpoint on the Bath Skyline Walk; or wend your way up to Prior Park Garden for a long alfresco lunch framed by elegant views down into Bath through this manicured National Trust landscape (you’ll have to pay a fee to enter unless you’re a National Trust member but it’s worth it).

Check out our favourite places to eat and drink in Bath here

Picnic on the beach – Brighton

From Brighton station, scoot down Trafalgar Street towards the trendy boutique stores of the North Laine. Stop by independent Trafalgar Wines to stock up on craft beers, Flour Pot Bakery for seeded sourdough loaves, pork and fennel sausage rolls, and chocolate, almond and honey friands, then Brighton Sausage Company for British charcuterie and cheeses galore. Then wend down to the beach – head for pebbles by the pier to get the buzz of the crowds or head west along the promenade for a bit of peace and quiet on Hove Lawns.

Check out our favourite places to eat and drink in Brighton here

Picnic in the marshlands – Walthamstow, London

East Londoners in-the-know skip the saturated paths and parks of Hackney and Stoke Newington and travel to the end of the Victoria line, arriving at Walthamstow. Depending on your mood, grab a takeaway box (Holy Pepperoni with Cobble Lane pepperoni and spicy ’nduja is the best) from the city’s best, Yard Sale Pizza, or a freshly made (ridiculously cheap) nan bread from Fresh Nan Bakery amongst E17’s throbbing market (the longest in Europe).

If DIY does it for you, meander across to Walthamstow Village to the renowned Eat 17 store, the home of bacon jam and Biff’s Kitchen vegan junk food. Buy freshly baked sourdough bread with artisan cheeses, wobbly pasteis de nata, or fat sugary donuts, heavy with raspberry jam.

Then cycle through Walthamstow’s wild and wonderful protected marshes – past nettles, dandelion and hogweed, gorse flowers, hazelnuts, elderflower and blackberries (depending on the season) – and settle down for your feast.

Picnic in an abbey – Wye Valley

Drive through the Wye Valley and stop off at a wooden building between Brockweir and Hewelsfield that houses thriving community shop/café, Brockweir and Hewelsfield Village Shop. Run by 60 volunteers, it stocks a feast of local produce, from Preservation Society preserves to wild boar sausage rolls from Cinderhill Farm.

Drive on to the valley’s star attraction, Tintern Abbey, on the Welsh side, whose romantic ruins sent Wordsworth and Turner wild. Stock up on booze for your picnic at Kingstone Brewery next door, or stop off on the first Saturday of the month for stone-baked pizzas in the log-cabin taproom (try the meat feast, peppered with salami from Monmouthshire’s Trealy Farm).

Follow our foodie road trip through the Wye Valley here

Picnic in a castle – Carmarthenshire, Wales

Work up an appetite for lunch in the grounds of Dinefwr Castle with a pitstop at Ginahus deli, a dinky shop that stocks more than 400 gins. Pop in for a takeaway and leave laden with homemade quiches, pork pies and baguettes filled with everything from goat’s cheese and beetroot to brie, tomato and pesto. If it’s a little chilly, pots of soup with toasted flatbreads are there to keep you toasty. Make your way to Dinefwr National Nature Reserve (you’ll have to pay a fee to enter unless you’re a National Trust member) and choose your spot in the bluebell-dappled field.

Follow our foodie road trip through Carmarthenshire here

Fish and chip picnic by the Tynemouth – Northumberland

Picnics don’t have to mean sandwiches and scotch eggs, so join the queue at Riley’s Fish Shack for fish and chips as fresh as they get. Those in the know will go in a team, with one bagging the deck chairs on the beach and the other placing the order.

Get there before they open (queues can stretch for a couple of hours in peak times and, as with seafood, when the fish is gone, it’s gone) and work your way through the daily changing menu, trying mackerel wraps cooked in a wood-fired oven, chargrilled squid and hot garlic potatoes. Order a pint of ale from local Almasty Brewing Co. to sip on as you feast.

Click here for more places to eat in Northumberland

Picnic on a cliff – South Devon

Build up an appetite for lunch with a bracing coastal walk along the South Devon cliffs. Make Gara Rock your starting point and stock up on pasties and sausage rolls from the retro Citroën van parked on the cliff edge before heading west. After a quick ride on the passenger ferry, visit Salcombe Dairy for a refreshing scoop of blackcurrant sorbet to fuel your journey home.

Read our full review of Gara Rock here

Picnic in a vineyard – Penzance

Polgoon is a vineyard and orchard just outside Penzance that offers tours and wine tastings on a 24-acre estate. Owners Kim and John Coulson battle against the Cornish climate to produce up to 30,000 bottles of wines a year, as well as a range of ciders and juices. Sit under the dappled shade of the site’s vine-wrapped courtyard café and sip chilled bacchus and eat a chunky wedge of crab sandwich.

Get more Penzance foodie inspiration here

Picnic in inner city gardens – Manchester

Don’t want to escape the city? Keep your picnic close to home and head to Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens, a bustling spot close to the creative Northern Quarter. Stroll over to Pollen Bakery for slices of lemon and poppy seed cake, salted caramel brownies and Manchester tart cruffins before stocking up on imaginatively-filled sarnies at The Bagel Shop by Eat New York, from tempura-battered aubergine to crab claw, bacon and avocado. There are fries decorated with garlic, cheese sauce, pastrami and coriander if you’re really peckish.

Find more places to eat and drink in Manchester here

Breakfast picnic in a vineyard – Chichester

If laid-back picnics are more your style, book a night at Tinwood Estate Lodges where you’ll be brought a breakfast hamper come morning. Hunker down on the decking outside with views of the tranquil vineyard and tuck into jars of fruit salad, warm croissants, yogurts and cereals.

Read more about Tinwood Estate Lodges here

Picnic on a pebbly beach – Whistable

Hop off the train at Whitstable station and make your way down Albert Street, turning left to make a pitstop at David Brown’s Deli. Inside you’ll find shelves laden with pasta, tinned sardines, bottles of olive oil and breadsticks, but make a beeline for the fresh counters and pile your basket high with plump olives, Serrano ham and loaves of bread. For dessert? Its signature flaky pasteis de natas are a must. Stroll down the road to The Cheese Box and choose a couple of chunks to takeaway (anything from Dark Horse Ancient Ashmore to Kentish Blue) before setting up camp on the pebbly beach.

Find more places to eat and drink in Whitstable here

In Regent’s Park with an Italian hamper – Soho, London

For an oasis of calm in central London, wander to Green Park (one of eight Royal Parks in London) and explore its 40 acres. First, pop to Soho’s historic Italian deli, Lina Stores and order charcuterie, cheeses, antipasti and breads to takeaway. There’s plenty to choose from, and feel free to try before you buy, from porchetta to prosciutto di Parma, pecorino to provolone piccante. Buy a loaf of sourdough for makeshift sarnies, and be sure to pick up a ricotta and pistachio cannolo or two before you leave.

Picnic in botanical gardens – Edinburgh

Just one mile north of the city centre, Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden makes the perfect spot for a long, lazy lunch. Entry is free, and with over 70 acres and 100,000 plants, there’s plenty of lush greenery to explore. Before you find your shady spot, visit Twelve Triangles, a bakery focusing on slow-ferment, cold-prove doughs. A 30-minute walk from the gardens is the Duke Street site, selling sandwiches and pastries to takeaway, so stock up on baguettes filled with crushed peas, avocado and feta; baba ghanoush, smoky roast carrots and dukkah; or butternut satay with pickled Asian slaw. Satisfy your sweet tooth with pistachio and cardamom-flecked pastries.

Check out more places to eat in Edinburgh here

Compiled by Ellie Edwards