When we reported back to friends about our meal at Ogino, a Japanese restaurant in Beverley, they reflected that after a few grim experiences they have basically given up on trying Japanese restaurants outside of major cities. And I must admit I can also think of three really poor examples without much effort. Four, now. …
I don’t usually go for wine pairings with a tasting menu. I find it ends up being too much booze and I can’t really pay attention to the later courses, often leaving the restaurant feeling a bit dyspeptic to boot. Now and again we make an exception and I’m very glad we did at Joro. …
We’ve got a new vice. It’s this: self-catering stays attached to National Trust properties. Okay, not as exciting as you were hoping. But so far it’s been great, staying in a historic building, in what have been huge and well-equipped apartments or cottages, and with free access to roam around the grounds (when no-one else …
I had no idea the Chilterns were such proper countryside; only a stone’s throw from London but with proper twisting lanes, bosky woods, hilltop views and bucolic villages. In one of them, Bennett End, is the old red brick Mash Inn, a restaurant with rooms. We stayed overnight in a garden room with dinner and …
Brighton has always been one of my favourite places; colourful, eccentric, full of stuff. But it was only after people began thinking of it as a commuter base for London that the food scene really took off. And now you get little home-grown empires of dining to match pretty much anything in London, like the …