Perelli's of Wrexham has been on my list of places to try for a very long time. Last night, I finally got to go - and it was well worth the wait! The location alone gives brilliant first impressions - a beautiful Grade II listed building that is one of Wrexham's oldest and the ideal setting for a special evening out.

Through the door, we were greeted by two huge, comfy leather sofas that begged to be sat on (I inclined, of course). Stunning linen fold wood panels grace some of the interior walls, and the small bar, subdued lighting and warm welcome create a traditional yet homely ambience.

The spectacular building is equalled only by the gorgeous food on offer. The oven-baked, garlic infused, goats cheese stuffed mushrooms was a delectable starter, and my partner's baked camembert worked exceptionally well with the accompanying caramelised balsamic and red onion chutney. For main course I had paella overflowing with my favourite ingredients; chicken, chorizo, squid, tiger prawns and other shellfish - I could eat their mussels till the clams came home! Dessert was a true delight, Limoncello pudding with warm mascarpone. Delicious.

The helpful waiter recommended a perfect Rioja Vega Crianza, a smooth, soft, richly fruited red, spiced with vanilla that went down remarkably well during the three courses. After dinner, unwinding in the relaxed upstairs lounge, we had a beautiful little bottle of the fab and funky Mini Prosecco from Anna Spinato - the bottles are decorated in marvellously chic 1970's designs, and the contents don't taste too bad either!

Now I've been once, and with fusion tapas, a great selection of sarnies and lots of the a la carte menu still to try, Perelli's is sure to become one of my regulars.

Walk in the footsteps of greatness at The Bull's Head Inn, Mobberley!

Visit Mobberley, near Knutsford, and you'll be walking in the footsteps of a legend in mountaineering; for George Leigh Mallory, who died on the 1924 Everest Expedition (alongside his partner, Sandy Irvine) came from Mobberley - and he must have rested his elbows many times on the bar at The Bull's Head, an early 19th century pub which has recently undergone a miraculous revival, rising phoenix-like from a former sorry state to become a splendid village pub with all the traditional values that English inn-lovers rate so highly.

It serves a vast array of fine ales - Mobberley Wobbly Ale being a local favourite (plus they're serving a wonderful summer elderflower lager right now) - and there's an equally impressive menu of classic pub food on offer, with special events tied in to the food on offer. For example, there's a magnificent pie and ale week (13-29 September) and a beer and bangers week (1-8 November) - and for further inventiveness, check out their corpse-reviving Bloody Marys on Sundays!

I was fortunate enough to dine out on a starter of perfectly crispy salt and pepper whitebait with lemon, followed by a 10-oz prime 28-day aged rib-eye steak served with grilled vine tomatoes, chips and dressed salad, though I was also tempted by home-made creamed leek and cauliflower hotpot cooked in Lancashire cheddar cheese sauce and served with granary bread. Dessert was an easy summer choice - fresh English strawberries with Chantilly cream, which rounded off a perfect evening at a venue that has, unquestionably, reached the summit of achievement in English pub excellence!

Ah... Boughton Road, Chester, where la dolce vita lies ready to be discovered in an enclave of Italianate romanza; well at least that's what you'll find when you visit La Cantina, an unexpected and entirely delightful treasure of a restaurant on Boughton Road, where fresh ingredients (sourced from Italy, of course) and vibrant, flavoursome cuisine create an entirely authentic Italian foodie experience. Simple, elegant and 100% Mediterranean, olives and Foccacia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar were a perfect accompaniment to starters of Antipasto Misto (mixed cured meats and vegetables) and Asparagi in Salsa (poached asparagus with a sauce of finely chopped egg, olive oil and white wine vinegar). For main course, the Abbacchio al Forno (tender lamb cooked in the oven in lemon juice and herbs) comes highly recommended, whilst the Pasta Contadino (pasta with pancetta, peas, chilli, sun-dried tomatoes and sweet white onion) is equally impressive. The accompanying absolutely sensational mixed salad contained fresh Sicilian oranges and tomatoes from San Remo, with just a squeeze of lemon and lime plus olive oil as a supremely simple, but effective dressing; and the perfect rustic dessert was a plate of Italian cheese, grapes and figs washed down with the remaining Chianti from a very fine bottle served at just the right temperature. Chef-proprietor Mark Evans is charm personified, and given his boundless enthusiasm plus his undoubted skills in the kitchen, you'll not fine a better Italian restaurant this side of the Via Appia!

Abersoch - for generations it's been the holiday playground of the Cheshire Set, and these days it's still a vibrant village with buzzing bars and beaches. If, however, you'd like to elevate yourself from Abersoch (but still be within easy reach of the village), may I cordially recommend Porth Tocyn Hotel? This elegant, beautiful, gorgeously traditional venue has 17 bedrooms and glorious views across the bay to North Wales.

Delivering perfect peace and quiet as standard, it also does a fine line in fabulous food, and has made much deserved guest appearances in The Good Food Guide since 1957, and with two AA rosettes to its credit, it consistently produces well thought-out menus which change every day - plus there's a gargantuan Sunday Lunch Buffet that will challenge even the most vigorous trencherman appetite. The dining room is charm personified, with country antique furnishings, parquet flooring and a stunning outlook across Cardigan Bay to Snowdonia - and when the weather's balmy and the zephyrs sweet, you can dine alfresco and enjoy the lovely gardens.

Plas Maenan is heaven on earth!

After a vigorous day wrestling with the windy fastnesses and rocky heights of Snowdonia, it was a delight to put my feet up at Plas Maenan, which is high on a bluff on the sunny side of the Conwy valley. Spectacular views of the river and mountains added to my sense of well-being, as did the a la carte menu, on which fine Welsh lamb and beef, crab and mackerel, venison and feathered game took pride of place - all locally sourced and freshly cooked to order. Aperitifs can be enjoyed in the lounge or conservatory, on the covered veranda or the fountain terrace - and if you're inclined towards plighting your troth here (or just having a great party), The Music Room would make an ideal venue. It has a stage area, a Steinway piano, an oak-block dance floor and an adjacent bar - and you can also get married in the adjacent Garden Room, which is a popular venue for civil weddings and private parties, with a fantastic fountain, topiary and statuary. So don't be shy: ask someone to marry you as soon as is conveniently possible - and head for Plas Maenan for the time of your life!

For a pure, full-on brilliant restaurant experience, head straight for The Straits!

This fab discovery of a restaurant opened in Menai Bridge in 2009 (Anglesey and Snowdonia are no distance at all) and has been a major success (hardly surprising, the food is fab). Serving contemporary British cuisine with an international twist, the menu is suffused with Cajun and Creole touches, thanks to the benign influence of owner Phil's dad, an international chef who runs The Marsh Cat in Parkgate, Wirral.

Lucy Geach, Phil's partner, makes delicious home-made desserts, which skillfully complement Phil's cuisine. And with locally sourced ingredients used wherever possible, you should definitely try their signature dish of warm duck salad - a confit sautéed in sesame oil, red onions, garlic, julienned carrots and grilled corn, tossed in noodles and finished with pickled plums. 2 courses for just £13.95 on the fixed price menu - a steal!

Go like the clappers to the Ring O!Bells!

Hearken unto those chimingly seductive words of Leslie Philips and head for the Ring O'Bells post-haste for superb beer and epic food. This award-winning gastro-pub in the picturesque village of Christleton near Chester is perfect for dinner after a day exploring Chester, Delamere Forest or North Wales - and it's brilliantly child-friendly too, with children's menus, an outside area and lots of space. Kick off with a crispy bacon, avocado and spinach salad with blue cheese and walnuts, followed by a steak burger with mozzarella, tomatoes, sweet red onion relish and chips - oh, and the kids will love the pollo piccante pizza (tomato, mozzarella, sweet chilli chicken, peppers). Sunday roasts are a speciality - and it's a great place for hosting private dinner parties too!

This family-run business, with outlets in Bromborough and Chester, is run by the Zuger family - no less than three generations thereof - and they've created a heavenly venue ideal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. A tea room and confectioners with a strong continental flavour, they offer a wide range of both Swiss and British cuisine, all prepared on the premises - so check out the delicious Swiss staples such as Wiener Schnitzel, Rosti Alpine, Apple Strudel and, of course, meringues! They're also highly adept at English breakfasts, sandwiches, ice creams, tea and coffee, plus they serve a range of 'lite' dishes such as sandwiches and hot baguettes. Try the homemade champagne pate served with a selection of chutneys and homemade bread, or Zuger's bacon, black pudding and emmenthaler cheese stacker, served with peppercorn sauce - and Chicken Saltimbocca, which is chicken topped with cured ham and sage, served with a lemon butter sauce and rice. Foodie heaven!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating! And we certainly ate lots of truly delicious traditional puds last night.

The Calveley Arms is a Traditional 1600's Coaching Inn with traditional wooden beams, a beautiful garden and a magnificent pudding club, that guarantees to pile on the calories simply by walking in the door...

They're on once a month and a friend and I went to one last night - you get to choose from one of four main courses (I had a magnificent pan-fried chicken breast with asparagus and pea risotto), the puddings were brought out one by one, and were paraded around the tables to great applause and cheers before being placed on the Pudding Table in the centre of the pub! Armed with a bowl each we were let loose to devour the castles of confectionery before us...

1. Rhubarb & Ginger Crumble - Deep crunchy crumble, tender rhubarb and a good infusion of ginger.

2. Rice Pudding - light and not too sweet with a hint of nutmeg and a lovely browned skin.

3. Sticky Toffee Pudding - shaped like a traditional Christmas pud and equally as flavoursome though light and airy with a rich, dark treacle toffee trickling from the top...

4. Baked Custard - a traditional baked custard made with free range eggs, lovely and creamy and very filling.

5. Hokey Pokey - a large pudding basin shape of homemade vanilla ice cream with cinder toffee, crushed Bourbon biscuits and digestives into the mix - really reminded me of bonfire night.

6. Summer Pudding - I'm not a fan of red berries but this was a triumph! It looked brilliant, with luscious red berries cascading down, and it wasn't too tart or too sweet.

7. Chocolate & Orange Bread & Butter Pudding - definitely one for Paddington Bear, tart orange with oodles of rich dark chocolate made with brioche - a chocoholic's dream.

8. Traditional Bread & Butter Pudding - Good hearty pud with a wonderful crispy top and plenty of plump fruit - just like gran used to make!

We washed it all down with a Domaine Philippe Testut Chablis (£21.75 a bottle) whose steely mineral backbone worked well with the sweetness of the puds. You can eat as many as you like and as much as you like as long as your bowl is empty when you return to the pudding table. At the end of your meal you vote for your top three, and the most popular stays on the menu for next months pud club. It costs £14.95 a head for a choice of main and as many and as much pud as you can eat - it's on every third Tuesday of the month, and the next is on 20 June 2010, so get it in your diary!

During June they're also getting into the swing of things with some brilliant World Cup dinners.

12 June - England v USA - hog roast
18 June - England v Algeria - all you can eat curry banquet
21 June - Spain v Honduras - Tapas & Sangria night
25 June - Chile v Spain - yep its Chile being served!

A colourful addition to Manchester's vibrant Canal Street and culinary scene, Troperio is a fantastic Brazilian restaurant which is simply a must-visit!

Ideally located in the city centre, it's bright and spacious and inside you'll experience the very best of Brazilian Gaucho cuisine with all its flavours, colours, textures and aromas in an inviting atmosphere.

Styled as a traditional Brazilian steakhouse or 'Churrascaria', meat waiters circulate the restaurant offering you perfectly cooked and seasoned pork, lamb, chicken and beef to savour. The service is impeccable, the atmosphere relaxed and the all the sumptuous food can be washed down with Brazil's national cocktail, a refreshing Caipirinha!

The owner is the talented Brazilian chef Nei Bogert, who grew up in the South of Brazil and who has successfully transported Brazilian charm to the rainy city. Tropeiro - which is the name of the first Brazilian cowboys - offers a fun and authentic taste of South Brazil and comes highly recommended for meat-lovers. You won't be disappointed!

Brazil Street, Manchester, M1 3WF
Tel: 0161 923 6846
www.tropeiro.co.uk
info@tropeiro.co.uk

Visit The Walls - Oswestry's best-known, most well-loved and magical restaurant!

I love Oswestry! Underneath all the ubiquitous high-street stores and supermarkets, it's a funky, hippy, off-beat place that attracts people looking for an altogether different kind of life on the mystical borderlands where England and Wales meet. Most wizardly and wonderful of all, it has a famous and fabulous restaurant echoing everything that's unique, amazing and unusual about Oz (as the locals call the town).

The Walls is Oswestry's most enduring, popular and well loved institution, part-restaurant, part meeting place, community focus, nurturer of local talent - it's held in high esteem by those fortunate souls who have discovered its fabulous 1841 Victorian schoolhouse surroundings and dreamy ambience.

Hugely popular as a restaurant serving fabulous food, it's also popular for grand corporate occasions, balls, private parties, jazz and cabaret nights, fashion shows, christening parties, art exhibitions and wine-tastings - the list is virtually endless! Right now, the quail breast and roast chestnut salad starter is particularly magical, followed by a highly recommended main course of roast rib and topside of beef, with horseradish sauce and Yorkshire pudding. Enjoy!

If you're in Liverpool, you simply must visit Noble House!

You absolutely have to visit The Noble House next time you're in Liverpool; or better still, make the trip especially for a visit - it's well worth it! Opened by the same people who run the fabulous Alma de Cuba, The Noble House is located inside the famous Heywood Building, a grade II-listed edifice which dates back to 1799.

Right now, The Noble House is the most talked-about restaurant and bar in Liverpool - and, located at the heart of Liverpool's business district, it combines the illicit thrill of a 1920s speakeasy with the decadent style of a downtown Manhattan restaurant. The venue features a new deco interior design concept, with a sumptuous Barlas Baylar chandelier incorporating 2.5 miles of delicate nickel chainmail - all suspended above a custom-made 16ft-long solid oak dining table.

There's deli-inspired charcuterie on offer, plus an exciting new menu with the emphasis on quality steaks, fish and the finest cured meat. Check out the tankards of fresh prawns and oysters, the elaborate skewers of meat and fish - and when you're ready to party, visit La Guarida (The Hideout) - an exclusive downstairs bar dominated by a stunning arch - and a must-visit destination if you're into late-night hanging out with Liverpool's ultimate demi-monde!

Hit the sack in Manchester - and get en entire apartment instead of a room!

If you're staying in city-centre Manchester for a while, you simply may not want to reside in a hotel room (which can get rather oppressive), and you may fancy something a bit more flexible with a touch of home about it.

Well here's a great idea: The City Warehouse Apartment Hotel offers one and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses to hire for any period from just a few days to a few weeks. Kitted out with all the mod cons and appliances that you'd expect from a luxury hotel (LCD TV, CD stereo system, fresh towels and toiletries) they also incorporate the best elements of a self-catering complex, and feature fully-fitted kitchen, essential cook-ware, glass-ware, utensils and crockery.

City Warehouse has a block of 28 apartments located on the edge of Manchester's fashionable Northern Quarter, just a few minutes walk from Victoria Train Station and The Arndale Shopping Centre, and it's a fantastic option if you're staying in the city for more than a few days. Highly recommended as a great way to enjoy the city whilst having a proper home to come back to every night!

MPW makes his grand entrance into Chester dining celebrity at Marco Pierre White Steak House, Bar & Grill, Doubletree by Hilton Chester

He's the Main Man, Le Grand Fromage, the Head Honcho in what's hot in modern food fashion - and now he's blown into town on the wings of a brand-new restaurant; yes, ladies and gentlemen, Marco-Pierre White has arrived in Chester, at the Marco Pierre White Steak House Bar & Grill, situated in Chester's most opulent new hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Chester - and believe me, he doesn't disappoint!

I was invited to the launch even that tied in with the great man's first official visit, and there was a palpable buzz of excitement arising from the great and the good of Chester who attended a reception of bellinis and canapes, before being served with a dazzling bravura symphonic performance of tastes and textures straight from the creative soul of the master.

From the menu, we started with a warm salad of smoked crisp pork belly with scallops and mulled apple puree, and this was followed by Ridings Reserve beef braised shin with roasted fillet and sauvignon vinaigrette - then to follow, a dessert of poached rhubarb with iced vanilla parfait and red wine jelly. Glancing up occasionally from this feast for all the senses, I clocked the fact that the restaurant interior is supremely tasteful (just as you'd expect) with understated creams and browns and - just to remind you who's the boss round here - huge framed pictures of MPW giving an altogether commanding presence to this already top-scoring Chester restaurant.

The standards here are amazing, the service superb, the food impeccably prepared and presented - this is going to give every other restaurant in Chester a run for their money and is a quite brilliant addition to Chester dining scene!

Discover the heart of the Portuguese soul at Luso, Manchester!

In case you're wondering about the meaning of the headline in this item, allow me to explain: Fado is the music of Portugal - a searing, heartfelt Portuguese blues that provides a very real insight into the truly passionate nature of the people. The Portuguese have equal passion for their food, so if you want to tap into that rich source of warmth and heartfelt joie de vivre, check out Luso in Manchester. Winner of the 'Best Fine Dining Restaurant' award from Manchester's celebrated Metro newspaper, Luso serves traditional Portuguese dishes, as well as those that evolved in nations within the Portuguese colonial diaspora - so expect fabulous food based on recipes from Macau, Africa, Japan, Goa and Brazil, with signature dishes that include Caldo Verde soup, Seafood Cataplana, Salt Cod Gomes de Sa and Chicken Peri Peri. The restaurant also provides an extensive range of Portuguese fine wines, beers, mineral waters - and fruit nectar, a kind of thick fruit juice particularly popular in Portugal. The restaurant is open six days a week for lunch and dinner with a Petisco menu (not dissimilar to tapas) available at lunch times. So check it out - and seal your fate as a Portuguese foodie fan!

At Signatures, the coast's hippest most happening restaurant - at Aberconwy Resort & Spa, Conwy

Outside it was North Wales; a big sea running, sun glinting off the water and bathing the Great Orme in sunshine. Inside Signatures Restaurant & Bar, however, it was definitely South Beach Miami; cool chill-out music, hip decor, great lighting - and an amazing choice of seriously hard-to-find vodkas at the bar - plus a menu to die for, courtesy of genius head chef and host, Jimmy Wills. Signatures is, quite simply, unique. There is absolutely nothing as chic, sophisticated or uber-cool and smart anywhere else in Wales, or the UK for that matter.

By miraculous attention to detail and immaculate good taste, they've managed to capture an ambience of international sophistication that takes you on a whirlwind world tour in the time it takes to eat a delicious meal - and mine was truly splendid, comprising Pantysgwan goat's cheese coated in Japanese breadcrumbs, followed by tenderloin of pork with crisp belly, sticky red cabbage, root vegetable Dauphinoise and Calvados sauce. Stunning. Fabulous. Unique. Just do yourself a favour, will you, and go there!

THE TERRACE AT NUMBER TEN, CHESTER

I'm a sucker for bohemian decadence and low-key, left-of-field atmosphere, and The Terrace at Number Ten serves up boho cool in generous measure at its cool venue right in the centre of Chester. A gorgeous boutique bar and restaurant that opened in May 2009, it contains two venues, each equally delicioso; the Bar and Brasserie is open all day, serving brunch from 10am onwards, as well as delicious lunches, afternoon teas and coffee. The surroundings are stunning, with wooden floors and bare bricks providing a backdrop to stunning antique Italian mirrors and chandeliers, French-style white painted cabinets and large commissioned artworks.

It's ultra-easy to linger longer than you intended, and before I knew it, the evening had drawn in, and I had been drawn to the bar area for some excellent pre-prandial drinks. Then it was upstairs to their other restaurant venue, The Loft, which is tucked cosily into the lofty rafter space. Of an entirely different character to the Brasserie downstairs, The Loft offered a fantastic menu, with great cocktail and wine lists plus a grand selection of champagnes, including the much sought-after (but seldom found) Perrier-Jouet!

One more place to visit on this magical mystery tour; The Terrace (as in the name of the entire venue) is at the back of the restaurant, and is a delightfully discreet haven of heavenly demeanour, complete with heaters, ambient lighting and outside bar.

So if you're partial to mixing with the demi-monde of Chester's cool and unusual people, Ten is your magic number - so track it down and drink it in at The Terrace at Number Ten!

19 hours at MC Cafe Bar and Grill at Abode Manchester

Oh, I am a weak and shameless creature; easily led and a slave to self-indulgence! I had intended to stay for one hour and one drink on a Friday night - so why did I end up spending 19 hours at the Abode Hotel in Manchester? Well, it's quite simple, really. All of hip Manchester was represented in this microcosmic encapsulation of the city, so when I stepped into the MC Cafe Bar on the ground floor of the achingly fashionable Abode Hotel, there was simply no need to go anywhere else. So the one drink became two, then four, then several more, and all thoughts of Manchester bar-hopping were abandoned for the night. And the fact that they do all-day dining for breakfasts, elevenses, lunches, afternoon teas and dinners meant that I didn't need to look anywhere else for delicious food either.

All pastas and pastries are home-made, and the menu is organised around seasonal local produce - and on the recommendation of my fellow barstool pals, I enjoyed a sharing platter of local meats, including Bury black pudding, honey-glazed ribs, Goosnargh chicken kebab and salted brisket. Every Friday from 5pm it's Fizzy Friday, when you can enjoy a bottle of Bernardi Prosecco for only £20, and so I took advantage of this generous offer - several times over - before moving on to the Abode's Champagne and Cocktail Bar - and then the BarMC, the hotel's late-night lounge bar which offers the most superbly sensual and seductive cocktails. By the time I'd worked my way through all these cool hotspots, it was far too late to go home, so I simply checked into the Abode Hotel, checked into my room and checked out of consciousness till late next morning - some nineteen hours after I'd first arrived at the Abode for one hour and one drink. You have been warned...

Last weekend, I went to Upstairs at the Bluecoat in Liverpool to see an exhibition by sound artist, musician and composer Janek Schaefer, who presented his new mixed-media installation, 'National Portrait [the last transmission]', a sound portrait of Britain captured on the 2nd December 2009 - the day the five analogue TV signals were turned off in Liverpool. It was a brilliant show; eclectic, original, surprising, and never less than entertaining - all the more so for being held at this brilliant Liverpool venue.

Upstairs at the Bluecoat is the perfect place to relax and unwind in a cool and creative setting, and it's located on the first floor of this magnificent 292 year-old arts centre in the heart of the city. The food on offer includes a wide selection of locally sourced, ethically produced foods, plus a fabulous wine and drinks list that will definitely appeal to all tastes. I can heartily recommend The Bluecoat's exquisite fish pie, made from fresh fish delivered daily from the boats that sail out of Fleetwood - and if light nibbles are more your thing, they also offer a fantastic selection of cakes and sandwiches. Entertainment, art and cuisine go hand-in-hand at The Bluecoat, so if you're looking for a feast of high culture, this is definitely the place for you!

"I sat next to the Fonz at Euston station!" a friend raved to me recently on the train home from a visit to London. I thought she was bonkers and clearly mistaken. I mean, why would the star of the iconic American teen series "Happy Days", be sitting on a bench in an English railway station?

Then I went to see Peter Pan at the Liverpool Empire and found out that she wasn't mistaken. Henry Winkler was in it. (So he must have got there by train. Which is a fondly prosaic thought) Yup, there he was. Larger than life. Hamming it up for all he was worth - and gloriously at home on stage in front of an audience of mums and dads, grandparents and kids, all of whom were unashamedly acting like children - shouting, jeering, yelling, hissing, cheering, booing. It was a zoo. A human menagerie of people having a riotously good time courtesy of the said Henry Winkler, as well as additional stars Natasha Hamilton - and Les Dennis, who played The Dame.

It was impossible to over-act in this breathless romp that embraced nice children, nasty pirates, amazing flying (Peter Pan himself - of course) the aforementioned ooh-missus panto dame, and a score of other characters. So my advice is: suspend disbelief, criticism and moral superiority. Leave your adult self at the door, shrug off all pretence at intellectualism and go and see this glorious caper. It'll do you the world of good - and it'll demonstrate that Henry Winkler was meant for far more than a quiff, a quip and a leather jacket!

With a new executive chef, multi-million pound refurbishment and extension of the brasserie, I had to discover what all the buzz was about at Oddfellows in Chester for myself - was it all worth it?

The answer is a resounding yes, absolutely, without a doubt! The interior is fabulous and the whole experience is one of magnificent luxury in spectacular surroundings - a feast for all the senses. We arrived in the evening, and coming in from the cold, anticipated a warming winter menu - and we certainly weren't disappointed!

The new chef is none other than Richard Philips, who trained under the guidance of Albert and Michel Roux and went on to lead the kitchens of Marco Pierre White and the Schrager Hotel Groups before opening his own restaurant and obtaining his own Michelin Star. His new menu takes the best seasonal produce and creates dishes that perfectly balance the traditional and the contemporary - we decided to go for the whole chicken - free range, succulent and perfect to share between two.

At Oddfellows there is also a fabulous cocktail list and boutique hotel rooms (in case you can't bear to leave) - which all add up to somewhere you'll want to return to again and again.

St George's Hotel, Llandudno, has netted a precious Gold Award from Visit Wales - one visit and you'll know why!

Rare and precious, Welsh gold is well worth seeking out - and I discovered a rich seam recently at St George's Hotel, Llandudno, whose gorgeous 4-star Terrace Restaurant overlooks Llandudno Bay. The hotel has been awarded a prestigious Gold Award from Visit Wales, which places it in the top 3% of Welsh hotels - and the whole place easily lives up to its burnished and gilded reputation, with the outstanding restaurant being well known for excellent food and superb wines.

I set out on an extended foodie journey in the Terrace Lounge and Bar for a sumptuous afternoon cream tea, with sandwiches and native Welsh bara brith plus home-made scones with jam and clotted cream, a lemon tart and chocolate marquis. Naturally, I needed to walk off these afternoon delights, so I set on a jolly jaunt along the sea-front, explored the lower slopes of the Great Orme (the tram took me to the top and back again) before returning for an agreeable snooze in my luxuriously appointed room, which perfectly honed my appetite for dinner. Wild rabbit and chestnut terrine was my first course choice, followed by pan-fried sirloin of Welsh beef with a baked pumpkin and wild mushroom cream. Finally I plumped (apt word, considering my expanding waistline) for a selection of Welsh cheeses with biscuits, fruit and chutney.

Fabulous place, brilliant location, enviously effortless service - five gold stars and well worth the visit!

Ideal for cheeky night away in an outrageously period-style castle environment, Ruthin Castle offers a range of sumptuous rooms, each with four-poster bed - and, better still,  roll-top bath in the same room! You may imagine then, gentle reader, that I felt like a (decadent) prince with my princess, whilst she insisted that she felt like Maid Marion! The entire Ruthin Castle experience is a fantastic way to make a girl feel special, especially when you add lovely walks around the grounds (vociferous owls occupy the surrounding woods) and a delicious dinner. We dined at Bertie’s Restaurant and were exceptionally looked after by our waiter, Ash, who kindly explained that the restaurant was named after King Edward VII (‘Bertie’), who was the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and a frequent Ruthin Castle house-guest in his youth. He was a lover of fine food and wine, easting as many as five meals a day, and he conducted several of his affairs at the castle!

The Head Chef has won two AA Rosettes, and his skills were well borne out in our starters of pan-seared scallops, black pudding Dauphinoise and pink peppercorn dressing, plus smoked salmon, beetroot-cured gravlax, quail egg, caviar and dill oil with horseradish Welsh cakes. For mains we enjoyed rump of lavender lamb with courgette fritters, petit ratatouille, plus garlic and thyme chateau potatoes - plus baked fillet of sea bass, and buttered baby vegetables with Llandudno smoked haddock brandade.

So if you love fantasy, food, fabulous surroundings - and lashings of romance - you know where to go; Ruthin Castle. Be amazed. Be very, very amazed!

A rather arch and delicious play composed by Noel Coward, ‘A Room With A View’ expressed all the savoir-faire of an era of elegance, gentility and style now sadly lost - unless you know where to look for it; and happily, you’ll find a rare enclave of true élan at the Carden Park Hotel’s Redmond’s Restaurant, which truly is a room with a view. An impressive glass frontage looks onto perfectly manicured gardens that seem to stretch to infinity, halted only by the distant blue ramparts of the Welsh Marches, rising to beckon the friendly visitor or keep out the steely invader.

Food, drink and service are simply superb at Redmond’s, and if you wish to woo your inamorata in true Noel Coward style, you couldn’t find a better place to do so. Lighting is subtle, the murmur of conversation is like waves on a distant shore - and even when the restaurant is full (which it usually is), there’s an intimate atmosphere that makes you feel as if there’s only you, your companion, the moment - and this room with that wonderful view. So be joyously seduced - be a bon viveur at Redmond’s!

I just love the Olive Press in Manchester - it's vigorous, funky, lively and carefree - there's a sort of wild Italian atmosphere that makes it absolutely irresistible, whether you're in a crowd or a deux. I've lunched there, had early pre-theatre supper and late dinner there - in fact I'd eat breakfast there if it opened that early. With so much going for it, you won't be surprised to hear that it won a Metro Award for Best Working Lunch Venue of the Year, and if you need any proof of its utter gorgeousness, consider the menu - which contains gems such as hand-made pizza from brick-fired ovens, roast breast of Goosnargh duck with pecorino mash, macerated grapes and Marsala and home-made artisan pasta, and Pappardelle with rabbit ragu. Wonderfully crazy and absolutely irresistible is their hand-made Olive Press chocolate pizza, best served with coffee and a subtle Italian liqueur (try the grappa or limoncello). Happily, Manchester isn't the only home of the Olive Press, and if you love the brand as much as I do, you can also track them down in Cheadle Hulme south of Manchester and in Liverpool. So live a little, love a lot - and languish for as long as possible in your nearest Olive Press!

If mussels move you, if you're crazy about crustaceans - if you savour lovely seafood that's seasoned with a sociable, party-time restaurant atmosphere and super-friendly service, then you'll luurrve Moules A Go-Go (www.moulesagogo.co.uk)! I was there for one of their Chester Race Day Packages (they're only 100 metres from the course), and I was amazed at what I got for my money - 2-course lunch, County Stand badges, then back for a 3-course dinner, all for around just £80-£90. Quite deservedly, they were recently awarded Best Customer Service of the Year at the 2009 Chester Food & Drink Festival - and as well as serving moules in any number of different ways, they also offer delicious rotisserie-cooked chicken, duck and lamb. For a particularly cool special offer, check out Beat The Clock (6-7pm, Mon-Fri), where the price of your meal depends on what time you order, so order at 6:08pm and pay just £6.08, order at 7pm and pay £7! Being imaginative sorts of folks, they do monthly Wine Evenings (25th August: 'The New World') and on Thursday the 24th September at 7:30pm there's a credit crunch-busting 'Swish' party (the exchanging of chic fashion items). Swishing begins at 9:30pm, and the cost is £20, including a 2-course meal and a glass of Prosecco on arrival - irresistible!

Have you been to Wales recently? The place is changing, shifting from Cambrian clichés concerning miners, choirs and wet slate roofs to a cool destination of great restaurants, brilliant spas and achingly fashionable boutique hotels. This is a new Celtic tiger on the rise - and it's becoming a roaring success!

For a prime example of Welsh sophistication and élan, you've simply got to try Plas Bodegroes - a hotel that's honed hospitality to perfection over its 23 years of successful business. In an idyllic setting of the Llyn Peninsula, Plas Bodegroes treated me to chill-out relaxation that was rural, bucolic and pastoral - yet as sophisticated as anything an urban metro boutique hotel could offer. What's more, the food was superb and based on a modern interpretation of traditional dishes, with a splendid wine list to match.

Plas Bodegroes is a Georgian former manor house, and the rooms are picturesquely named in Welsh after the surrounding flora - including Gwyddfid (Honeysuckle) and Y Goeden Geirios (The Cherry Tree) - and when you hear those words spoken in a real Welsh accent, you realise just how lyrical this vibrant and living language is. When I wasn’t lying around being lazy, I found plenty to do in the locality, thanks to a challenging golf course at Nefyn, plus water-sports, fishing and ocean trips at nearby Pwllheli and Abersoch. For more information about Plas Bodegroes (including exclusive offers), have a look at the June INOUT newsletter online at http://www.inoutmagazine.co.uk/news.php - and if you want to complement your host and hostess at Plas Bodegroes, simply tell them: "Mae'n fendigedig!" ("It’s splendid!")
 

I've been a regular customer at 39 Steps in Styal for years - and yes, I'm vain enough to confess that I love the feeling of being welcomed as an old friend every time I step inside its warm embrace - but it's such a cosy and altogether heart-lifting place that I'm hard-wired to return there time and again. Owner John Rebecchi is a fabulous host, and he displays profound knowledge of food in a charming, erudite and totally accessible manner - so much so that I always let him choose for me. And as for his wine recommendations, such is his knowledge that I'm entirely in his hands, and he's always spot-on with his recommendations.

Even if you've never been to 39 Steps before, you'll still be made to feel like you're a longed-for member of the family making a welcome visit. So make that booking, take that trip - and commence a life-long affair of heart and soul. If I may refer you to the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu's famous words: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - in this case, your gourmet journey of a lifetime starts with just 39 Steps!
 

Once again, April in Chester witnessed the city's magnificent Food & Drink Festival, which attracted over 20,000 visitors - and the highlight was the 8th annual Gala Awards dinner at Chester Racecourse. Fantastic weather made for a sell-out evening, with a cocktail reception courtesy of Bar Lounge; then more than 250 guests were treated to a fabulous four-course gourmet meal, which was a real local food derby, with roast rib of Cheshire pork (supplied by William's of Flint), Dabinett cider sauce (cider supplied by Gwynt Y Ddraig) and an accompaniment of local carrots and spiced apples.

Chester scooped up an amazing number of awards, with Best Small Restaurant of The Year going to Joseph Benjamin, Northgate Street, Chester; Best Large Restaurant of The Year was awarded to Chez Jules, Northgate Street; Best Sandwich Bar was snapped up by Watergate Deli, Watergate Row; Best Cafe/Deli was awarded to Delikate, Handbridge - and there were many more Chester awards, though the Family Friendly Award went to the Ring O'Bells in Christleton (just outside Chester), whilst Local Produce Shop of The Year went to The Hollies, Little Budworth (quite a way from Chester) - and Cheese of the Year went to Allerdale Goat's Cheese, made by Carolyn Fairburne at Thornby Moore Dairy, Cumbria - which is absolutely miles away from Chester!
 
The winners in full:
Best Small Restaurant of The Year - Joseph Benjamin, Chester
Best Large Restaurant of The Year - Chez Jules, Chester
Best Sandwich Bar - Watergate Deli, Chester
Best Cafe/Deli - Delikate, Handbridge
Best Bar - Telford's Warehouse, Chester
Best Pub - Brewery Tap, Chester
Best Cocktail Bartender of the Year - Matthew Jones at The Living Room
Family Friendly Award - The Ring O' Bells, Christleton
Best Newcomer - The Barn, Chester
Local Produce Shop of The Year - The Hollies, Little Budworth
Excellence in Customer Care - Moules a Go Go, Chester
Best Use of Local Produce in a Menu - Restaurant 1539, at Chester Racecourse
Best Chester Sausage of the Festival - David Joinson of Chester Market
Cheese of the Year - Allerdale Goat's Cheese, made by Carolyn Fairburne at Thornby Moore Dairy, Cumbria
Best Interior Design - Oddfellows, Chester
Outstanding Achievement Award - David Atkinson, Chester Renaissance

The exotic pilgrim town of Pushkar is in Rajasthan, northern India - but, scarcely less exotic, Puschka - the Liverpool restaurant - is an intoxicating blend of cultures and styles; and when you walk in, you'll be dazzled (as I was) by the fabulous black and purple interior that somehow works perfectly with the Georgian exterior.

I was equally seduced by the exotic menu - a starter of rillette of rabbit with cornichons and grain mustard, followed by a loin of cod with chorizo, sherry and thyme on sea-salt roasted potatoes with spinach. With just enough room for dessert, I squeezed in a heady dark chocolate and sweet chestnut torte with orange creme Chantilly.

Head Chef Glen Dumbell and Restaurant Manager Douglas Eglin are to be congratulated on this brilliant and original restaurant, which attracts a diverse clientele to the bar - so prepare for dazzling chatter with solicitors, academics, artists and actors! And check out the amazing website at www.puschka.co.uk.
 

The thing I love about the Prestbury Village Restaurant is the fact that it feels so thoroughly local - a local restaurant for local people, dare one say - with a kind of magical customer service that combines professionalism with relaxed good humour.  The people they employ all seem to be exceptionally intelligent and articulate, which makes for a thoroughly enlightening evening in a restaurant where the lighting, too, is intelligent (i.e., unlike many restaurants, you're not lit up like you're on an operating table).  I rather took to their Tapas Selection for starters, followed by the best fish and chips I can ever recall in living memory - and which should, rightfully, put all chippies in fear of their lives and reputations.  So if you're looking for a place that's confident without being arrogant, friendly without being overwhelming, check out the village-friendly people at the Prestbury Village Restaurant - you'll be made very welcome!

The Alderley Edge Hotel always was a highly elevated establishment - not just because of its lordly views from its lofty position on Macclesfield Road, but because of its altogether high-quality service offering that puts it into a superior league of its own. Well now it's attained even higher ground thanks to its newly refurbished and extended Lounge Bar, which gives the place a refreshingly chilled ambience that's destined to pose a real challenge to Alderley Edge's high street eateries and bars.The Lounge Bar is decorated in relaxing, easy-on-the-eye shades with contemporary furnishings and lighting (plus it plays mellow chill-out music) and it offers a bar menu that will delight your palate without overloading your plate. Enjoy a casual lunchtime or evening light meal (try the tempura of fish with a stack of chips - fabulous!) either in the relaxed Lounge seating area or at a table by the Bar - but wherever you sit, whatever you choose, you'll love the effortless sense of cool that the whole place exudes; and better still, you have the comforting reassurance of being in the very best hotel in the entire area where the food is superb (fresh local produce, naturally), the surroundings elegant and the service impeccable. So take a stroll up the hill, elevate your expectations - and get a taste of the high life at Alderley Edge Hotel's cool new Lounge Bar!

Had the good fortune to visit the lively and highly welcoming Tyn y Capel Bar and Kitchen recently - and if the amazing views of the Minera Hills don't bear you aloft to heaven, then the cooking certainly will! They serve delicious and hearty pub food, but with a modern, contemporary feel that sits very much at ease in its traditional surroundings. The wine list is excellent, and as you'd expect from a traditional pub, they keep their beers superbly well. I went on a Sunday lunchtime and enjoyed local Roast Welsh beef with Yorkshire Pudding, which is a steal for just £9.95 for one course and £12.95 for two courses, and I shared my dining experience with a particularly jolly and affable private party (this would make a great place for your very own special occasion!) who lavished endless praise on the cooking and the staff. Brilliant place, fabulous food - and scenery to die for. What more could you want!

...At Qwaff's Waffle and Pancake House, Bold Street, Liverpool

Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, The Day Before Ash Wednesday - they all add up to the same day, which many of us gourmets prefer to call Pancake Day! And where better to celebrate such an occasion than Qwaff's - a totally unique and quirky Liverpool cafe specialising in pancakes, savoury/sweet crepes and waffles, plus it also serves a wide variety of meals, as well as paninis, omelettes and other great snacks. 

The American buttermilk pancakes are simply spectacular, whilst the heavenly waffles are freshly made, golden brown and generously covered with the topping of your choice - including ice-cream, fruit, maple syrup, Nutella and an assortment of sauces.

They're having a pancake-flipping contest on Pancake Tuesday (24th Feb),

so get down there on the big day and check it out - it's going to be flippin' brilliant!

In case you haven't noticed, Xmas is long gone and it's time for that all important New Year resolution to de-tox, de-stress and firm up - so may I heartily recommend the Old Hall, Mobberley, whose Health Club and Spa will ease you into shape in a most pleasurable manner. Facilities include a gym, heated indoor pool, lounge, bar and spa, plus they run classes that include Step, Spinning, Yoga, Aerobics and Aqua Workouts in a flexible timetable that means you can work your classes around your lifestyle. They also have a wide range of treatments to re-balance the body and nurture the spirit - with physiotherapists, sports massage consultants and other visiting therapists ready to attend upon your mind and body to bring it back to a full state of health and well-being! They also run organised events such as dinner-dances, parties, activity days, food & wine evenings, cycling, walking and rambling - so with such a wide variety of activities to choose from, you have absolutely no excuses for not getting fit!

http://www.oldhallcountryclub.com/mobberley/index.html

Had a sumptuous dinner at the Manchester Malmaison the other evening - and couldn't help thinking what a wonderful place it would make for a Valentine's rendezvous. Intimate, subtly lit, lots of gorgeously warm colours - this place positively woos you with romance and decadence. Happily, Malmaison have recognised their own potential as a place of hearts and flowers, so they're running wonderful love suite love packages with champagne on ice, chocolate-dipped strawberries, aromatic oils and candles, a chilled Mal CD to create that all-important luuuurve mood, plus a champagne breakfast in your room. They're also offering Love Bites - simply divine dining with a menu featuring romantic nibbles and romantic shared bites to satisfy even the hungriest of hearts! So book now - any time from the 14-17th February; and by the way, if you're an INOUT Club member and book two nights at the Mal during the offer period, you'll also receive a complimentary bottle of champagne!

Delighted to report the return of a firm Liverpool favourite and much-loved native of the city – L’Alouette in Lark Lane, now in the form of a welcome supplier of prestige special event catering. For those of you who know this celebrated restaurant, you’ll recall the charismatic chef-patron David Roberts, who owned and ran L’Alouette for 20 years. He’ll now be designing modern, imaginative menus for all sorts of events, whilst David’s former employee, the talented Gemma Aldcroft, is in charge of marketing and event coordination. The new business empire will be known as Proscenium Ltd, with its HQ based on Rodney Street. David has an illustrious international reputation, so if you’re planning a big event – anything from a ball or business reception to a private party, he’s your man! David first trained as a chef in Zurich at the age of 18 before working in London and Paris – and over the years he has cooked for Kylie Minogue, Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello and his wife Diana Krall, Willy Russell, Ian Rush and George Melly.  One of his most frequent customers was Alan Bleasdale who was particularly fond of David’s French onion soup!  As I understand, Proscenium’s diary is already filling up fast, so if you want to book this fabulous catering operation for your event, act now! Call Gemma on 07775 567192 or contact her through the website at www.lalouette.co.uk.

With ever more depressing news of beer sales falling and pubs closing, it's a real treat to be able to celebrate a local pub that's entirely confounding gloom-mongers and those nay-sayers who claim that the village pub is on its knees. So please be upstanding for The Plough Inn, Christleton (www.theploughinn-chester.co.uk), which I can heartily recommend as being one of the friendliest, jolliest and cheerful pubs I've ever been in - with fabulous food to match. So it's no wonder they won 'The National Champion, Best Gastropub 2008' award at the recent all-star Great British Pub Awards.  They also nabbed 'North West Champion, Best Pub 2008' gong, with the judges asserting that Plough Inn co-owners Ralph Boydell and Philip Harland had taken their pub 'that extra distance', not least because much of their food is, amazingly, home-produced on the premises - including plump freerange chickens that lay lovely eggs, plus Gloucester Old Spot, Hampshire and Berkshire pigs destined for culinary nirvana. The Plough Inn is also recommended by the Good Beer Guide, and check out their write-up in www.beerintheevening.com.

The North West is constantly deluged by new dining venues, eateries and bars - and the struggle to be cool - that most immeasurably amorphous and impressionistic of fashion-style concepts - seems to be elusive, if not altogether totally lacking in so many establishments. However, I'm glad to report that you'll find cool in shedloads at The Barn - a 400 year-old dairy farm that's finding a new métier as Cheshire's hottest, dining venue. After an impressive and expensive renovation, it now features an amazing open-plan restaurant, a gorgeous bar area, and modern British dining that does cool effortlessly - all the more so since it warmly champions local produce suppliers, of which there are many in and around Bridge Trafford. The Barn is owned and run by Sam Sharter, who previously owned the amazing Netherton Hall in Frodsham, and with over 20 years' experience in the restaurant industry, he has the experience, the élan and the charm to make this place one of the dining spots in the North West. So forget the cold winter weather and experience the warmest of welcomes in a towering temple of cool - the big, bold, beautiful barnstorming Barn! www.thebarncheshire.co.uk

When I biked through Havana some years ago on a trans-Cuba cycle trip, the coolest place in town was La Bodeguita del Medio -Hemingway's favourite watering hole. It wasn't remotely cool in the fashion sense, but it was pretty well the only place on the island that had functioning air-conditioning and a half-reliable power supply, so it was popular with anyone who could stump enough cash for one of their famously synapse-frying Mojitos. Happily, the modern aficionado of all things cool and Cuban needs only to schlep as far as Alma De Cuba at St Peter's Church, Seel Street in Liverpool, in order to enjoy the full-on Cuba experience - and recently I attended an amazing 'Piece of Havana' evening, hosted by cool rum brand Havana Club, headlined by Havana's hottest music export, hip-hop artist Kumar.  Signed to Universal records, he's one of the most talked-about acts emerging from this amazing island, and played many acclaimed festivals this year, including the Montreal Jazz Festival and Boom in Portugal. Percussionist Hammadi Rencurrell provided an authentic Cuban rhythm soundtrack as well, and we were treated to fabulous Mojitos and genuine Cuba Libres - we could even purchase bespoke hand-rolled cigars, expertly created by a professional Cuban cigar roller! So when you're next in Liverpool, experience Alma de Cuba - it's cooler than Hemingway's bar back in Havana, and it's got the hottest sounds this side of Cienfuegos!

Sometimes it's an absolute joy for a chap to unleash his inner boy; for fully grown 21st occupants of blokedom, this could involve mass simian behaviour in front of a wide-screen TV showing football in a pub; it might be the anally retentive cataloguing of CDs (preferably alphabetical, with cross-reference via genre, lead guitarist and year of issue); or even better - it could be swinging through the air on ropes and wires enough feet above the ground to turn your bowels to water.

This was my experience recently at Carden Park, where they've recently completed their latest outdoor pursuit challenge, the Carden Ropes Adventure Trail. It's the latest element in their brilliant events programme for corporate and fun days, and it comprises a series of aerial tasks, all linked together over two acres, leading from ground level up into the tree-tops - and culminating in an amazing twin zip wire 250m descent. The ropes course features ‘low’ ropes and ‘high’ ropes treks, so whilst it's very challenging, it's also extremely kind to those who simply can’t bear the thought of leaping around at a height of 12 tremulous metres off the ground (me included). I'm glad to report that safety is a major factor on the course, and a safety expert is present with every group, ensuring 100% safe activities - and, I'm bound to admit after my aerial experience - 100% fun!

I once cycled across Rajasthan - India's colourful desert state - and it taught me several lessons; never ever, ever cycle on an Indian main road, because you'll instantly be turned into road-kill by a Tata lorry from Uttar Pradesh whose red-eyed Benzedrine-fuelled driver has driven non-stop for 36 hours. And never ask the locals for directions, because they're so anxious to please that they'll point you down the nicest, quietest road in the area, even thought it's in totally the wrong direction. On the positive side, though, I did learn that the best and most authentic food in India is cooked fresh at the roadside - always accompanied by the ubiquitous daal (made from chickpeas) and buffalo-milk chai served sweet and hot from an old oil drum.

For the most authentic food outside India, you needn't cycle any further than Altrincham, where Dilli (www.dilli.co.uk) cooks up recipes that are the real deal - and a million miles from the usual Chicken Tikka Masala nonsense you'll find in the average two-plain-two-spicy-two-pints-of-Lager Indian restaurant. Dilli's food is also based on Ayuverdic principles, so it's actually good for you, which is more than can be said for the artery-clogging stuff most Indian restaurants. So saddle up, get on your bike and pedal down to Dilli - but keep your eyes open for those Tata trucks...

Gallows humour is something the English do rather well; you've only to consider that wonderful brand of cigarettes from the 1990s, Death Cigarettes. Yup, that's right - Death Cigarettes. Here's what the packet said: 'Manufacturer's advice: Cigarettes are addictive and debilitating. If you don't smoke, don't start. Death is a responsible way to market a legally available consumer product which kills people when used exactly as intended. Death cigarettes: For an honest smoke.'
Happily, the new Altrincham-based Belgian beer bar Mort Subite (or 'Sudden Death' in French) has a more enlightened name, despite its somewhat cadaverous title. The owners have borrowed it from a particularly flavoursome range of Belgian beers branded 'Morte Subite', all of which you'll find at this inspired bar that specialises in the world's finest, most fragrant and fulsome beers from the small European country that's otherwise only famous for Tintin and Jacques Brel. The bar only has 65 covers, and they regularly turn 30+ people away on Friday and Saturday nights, so book in, get down to 28-32 Greenwood Street - and share their delicious, deathly secrets!

In these straitened times, we're all having to make sacrifices to save money - so it's a fair bet that many people will be knocking foreign holidays on the head as an indulgence too far. So what do you do if you want to enjoy some foreign travel that won't cost a fortune? Well here's a destination that's not far from home but a world away from the crazy lives we need - and it's not even marked on a map. It's The Marches, those debatable high lands and hilly lands that run along the English-Welsh borders - not yet England nor quite Wales. They're only an hour or so from Chester but they're as magical, mysterious and remote as you could wish for. And as I sat in the Cross keys in Sellatyn (check it out, find it - it's near Oswestry and well worth the journey) on Friday night, warming my feet by the fire, nursing a pint of Shropshire beer and listening to the best and wildest live Irish fiddle music I'd ever heard (great concerts and bar sessions), I reflected that this was truly a piece of heaven fallen to earth. The same can be said of a wonderful restaurant in Oswestry - The Walls (www.the-walls.co.uk) - that captures all that's best about The Marches; original, unusual, full of surprises and utterly captivating. The Walls is housed in a former Victorian school, cooks up wonderful food, holds magical gourmet, musical, wine-tasting and art events - and extends a warm and sincere welcome that you'll find all along The Marches, from Oswestry and Ludlow to Bishop's Castle and Presteigne, from Clungunford and Clun to Kington to Knighton.

So dump the passport, get in the car, head west to Oswestry, dine royally at The Walls - and discover a foreign land on your own doorstep. If you want to save money, this is a world beyond price!

I've always been a great fan of Lloyd George, who was always something of a dark horse in both his political and personal life - so here are a few Interesting Facts about the man; you might think of him as Welsh, but he was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester; he married his mistress of thirty years when he was eighty (how cool is that!) - and he once remarked that The Golden Pheasant Country Hotel and Inn (in North Wales's Ceiriog Valley) was "a little bit of heaven on earth". Happily I can report that his wise words still ring true - as proven by an absolutely sensational Gourmet Evening I enjoyed at this former coach house run by the brilliant Nick Hannan and his attentive staff. Over dinner David Williams, the Assistant Manager, gave taste notes of the wines, and demonstrated how each was carefully chosen to complement the food cooked by inspired head chef, Jack Hatley. Enjoying a seafood spectacular, we had oysters on ice (with Cava), lobster tortellini (with Chenin Blanc), poached monkfish tail (with a superb Côte du Rhône) and smoked salmon iced parfait with seaweed coulis and balsamic sorbet (with Reisling) - simply stunning!

So get down to the Golden Pheasant double-quick, prove the veracity of Lloyd George's pithy observation - and dine in gourmet splendour! www.goldenpheasanthotel.co.uk

I have a terrible confession to make; I've joined the ranks of those too-organised-for-their-own-good people who buy next year's Xmas cards cheap in January, find uses for discarded postmen's red rubber bands - and re-cycle butt-end lumps of soap by pressing them into a new cake using a special gizmo they got from Mr Kleen-Eezee. Normally I would eschew such moribund and ghastly behaviour (see also turning old newspapers into firelighters, growing cress in former yoghurt cartons etc), but on a recent chance drop-in to The Hollies Farm Shop in Little Budworth, I ended up being a clever-clogs and doing all my Christmas shopping in one go. They've got this brilliant Christmas barn which is choc-full with gift ideas such as silverware, cards, gourmet food - and hampers you can hand-pick yourself. If you want to try before you buy, they're having tastings every weekend in the run-up to Christmas, plus you can meet the suppliers of all the home-grown and locally made produce on offer - The Hollies even grow their own! So don't be shy of joining the Smartypants Brigade; save those little bendy bits of plastic-coated wire that hold new electrical goods flex together; use cannibalised clear plastic bottles to create mini-greenhouses to protect tender winter garden plants - and shop smart at The Hollies for all your Xmas presents!

Reflecting on the cultural significance of bananas the other day (as one does), I trued to recall where this jolly yellow fruit in its own disposable organic wrapper pops up in popular culture - and found it to be surprisingly shy and retiring as a significant archetype in the fabric of our colourful world. Of course there was the seminal first Velvet Underground album with the banana on the front, plus a rather feeble children's cartoon character called Banana Man - and there's the wise Groucho Marx saying: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" - whatever that means. Did you know that bananas grow in 107 countries and some turn purple when they ripen? There - you're now fully armed for trivial facts when conversation lags at that next board meeting, blind date or disastrously dull cocktail party.

I recently made my acquaintance with Cheshire's moist significant banana - the Chilli Banana restaurant in Wilmslow www.chillibanana.co.uk - and it was a most pleasurable experience, principally for being probably the best Thai food I've ever tasted - Thailand included. The tastes dance on the tongue, the dishes are original and memorable - and unlike many inferior Thai food emporia, the use of spices is subtle and canny, allowing the flavours of the ingredients to speak eloquently for themselves. The service is supreme as well, executed with that sublime Thai courtesy that is as subtle and fragrant as the food. The Chilli Banana truly deserves its continued success - and they’ve now got further restaurants in Macclesfield and Liverpool, which will doubtless be as successful as the Wilmslow flagship venue, and a cause for outlawing that epic song 'Yes, we have no bananas, - which, you should know, was written in 1923. Tell them that next time you visit the Chilli Banana...
 

There's something rather piquant about combining the utter Englishness of Shocklach's wonderfully bucolic British pub, The Bull, with full-on and fiery passionate Spanish food. But that's exactly what happened at a most wonderful gourmet evening I recently attended at this tastefully refurbished hostelry that has flourished under the expert management of Jon Cox and his fiancee Lindsay Melling, who have refurbished and transformed a formerly languishing 150 year-old pub into a busy hub for local community life.

And seemingly everyone in the community wanted to be there for an evening of superb Spanish artisan food and fine wine hosted by Rohan Daft, the entirely English and celebrated author of MENU DEL DIA: More than 100 Classic, Authentic Recipes from across Spain. He began by introducing a selection of Tapas that included garlic prawns, grilled chorizo and potato mini kebabs washed down with a rumbustuous and sparky Cava, then the main course was magnificent paella which was cooked by Rohan, smartly followed by a talk on the different wines that had been served throughout the evening. This is just one of a whole series of events regularly hosted by the Bull – so if you enjoy the entirely exotic wrapped up in the reassuringly familiar, get down to this bovinely brilliant pub (great decor and ace beers too!) and share in Shocklach village's good-time epicentre!

I'd almost given up on the idea of a decent village pub - a place where there's a real ale alternative to Grauffklutzwurmsteiner super-chilled, mega-priced lager, and where the affable buzz of conversation isn't drowned out by an in-house sound system loud enough to waken the undead. Then there's the grub. Whatever happened to unaffected pub food? Stuff that wasn't conjured up by a graphic designer in cahoots with a minimalism-obsessed vegetable-whittler?
Happily, my gloom was alleviated by a visit to the recently re-launched Ring O'Bells in Christleton - which has been revived, refurbished and re-born entirely in keeping with its location in the centre of one of Cheshire's Best Kept Villages. There's a positive cornucopia of guest beers, the new layout encourages social intercourse and cheery bar-room chat - and the menu has sensible food on it such as Bubble & Squeak and Fish & Chips. So if you despair of a real ale, real-life, real-feel pub, feel gloomy no longer; head for the Ring o'Bells in Christleton - and rejoice that the concept of the village pub is alive and well in this corner of the county that is forever England!

The journey taken by the male shirt-tail has been a strange and unpredictable one. Time was when shirt-tails, together with other excess buttons, flaps, flanges and gussets appertaining to the shirt were sensibly well hidden within the belted confines of solid, bomb-proof tweed trousers or moleskin breeks. In recent years, however, the shirt-tail has escaped from the dark, cavernous interior of trouser legs and now languishes on the exterior of the male person, apparently telegraphing coolness, modernity and effortless fashion savvy. But who suddenly decided to kick-start this style? In fashion terms, it's about as attractive as wearing your socks over your shoes or putting underpants on your head - though in some of the bars I've visited recently, these too are becoming fashionable male accessories after several pints of Wife-Beater.

Of course the flapping shirt-tail works wonders for the man with a paunch, since the material simply plummets vertically from the furthest point away from the body and somewhat disguises the wobbly truth that lies beneath - though it does make stout wearers of the exterior shirt look somewhat bell tent-like, especially when the shirt-tail is several inches longer than is altogether necessarily and foreshortens fat legs. And then there's the question as to whether it should be worn with or without a jacket; you can just about get away with an exposed shirt-tail without a topcoat - but add a jacket and you simply look as if you're still wearing pyjamas and have absent-mindedly got out of bed and forgotten to dress properly.

Shirt-tails, like gents' sock-garters, braces and string vests, should remain hidden. Instead, it's time for a revival of trilbies, briar pipes and thick shag tobacco - or raw cut plug if you’re feeling adventurous...

Go past any watering hole at any time of day, in any weather conditions, and you'll observe the activities of a newly emerging tribe; Snout-loving tobacco enthusiasts, these Snoutcasts gather together in huddled, smoggy groups, sharing their love of fags by clustering like penguins in a snow-storm - though inexplicably, there are always one or two Snoutcasts who go off on their own orbit, alienated by the rest of the tribe and banned to the outer limits of external heater warmth that the outdoor bar area provides. Look for these solo Snoutcasts in doorways, trying to look casual and insouciant by staring skywards, blowing smoke out in artful columns or smoke-rings - or occupying themselves by texting furiously with one hand whilst manipulating the fag in the other.

You have to feel sorry for them though, especially when the summer weather brings the rain in sideways at 60mph, damping their dimps and their enthusiasm, rendering them labrador-damp and soggy, all for the tight addiction grip of the filter-tip. Whatever happened to pipes? OK, admittedly it would look a bit odd if a totty blonde in strappy Laboutins were puffing cheerfully away on a stout briar of thick shag or raw cut plug - but pipes are ideal for chaps in outdoor weather conditions, especially the kind of global warming flood lunacy we’ve been getting this summer. So bring back the meerschaum and the clay, the calabash and the corn-cob - and free these poor Snoutcasts from their weather-besieged misery!

I wish to discuss the vexed question of sunglasses. They're getting bigger. And frankly, I'm worried.

I was walking past a certain bar-restaurant with outside seating the other morning; the weather was dull, chill and gloomy. The sky was the colour of an F Class Frigate of Her Majesty’s Navy. Being August in England, it was a crepuscular, semi-twilight day for pullovers, mufflers and toasted crumpets by a blazing log fire. And yet the ladies wore sunglasses. It must have been like night-time from behind their shades – indeed there seemed to be some shared visual uncertainty as they felt their way gingerly  across tabletops to find their champagne glasses - well, it was nearly half-past ten in the morning (never too early! shall we be daring? etc).

Together, the ladies looked like a mass gathering of insects, peering at the world through huge, mirror-like unblinking eyes, swivelling their heads in unison every time an Aston-Martin drove past or a man with a bulging wallet dared to enter their field of vision. You could almost see their antennae twitch at the downwind whiff of money - especially if it wasn't theirs and was available to spend on their champagne habits. In fact the more I looked at them, the more they behaved like a swarm of ants, chittering away in their secret ant-woman language which was punctuated by the occasional recognisable 'sunbed', 'Armani' or 'divorce'; burrowing busily in their massive clunky, gold-leather-and-daft handbags for lippy, lighter or overheated credit card. But what happens when, like insects, they shed their outer shells? What lies beneath? Oh fellow men, beware ant-wags! They might turn into praying mantises - which are well known for eating their mates…...

The Last Days of Sodom in a head-on collision with Walt Disney, via a body-swerve round Sir Christopher Wren cranked up on amphetamines - welcome to the architectural eclecticism displayed by the architecture of the Trafford Centre; and that's before it's lit up at night to make it look like a giant Spielberg sugar-coated neon lollipop spaceship. Mind you, I don't expect many of the shopping-mad visitors to the Trafford Centre are sensitive post-modern students of Le Corbusier, so they won't mind the cheerful Byzantium-meets-Blackpool arches or the unsettlingly numerous Greco-Roman-Egyptian-Amusement-Arcade plaster columns, frescoes and other epic historical building styles cheerfully borrowed from history without the owners' permission. In fact it's a shame that the Trafford Centre doesn't contain a public convenience in the style of Chartres Cathedral or a burger take-away that re-creates the towering magnificence of Ankhor Wat. But then you can't have everything.

Actually, you can - because you can choose just about any food style from the 60-odd restaurants at the Trafford Centre, varying from the gravitas of Albert Roux to the full-on cheerful anarchy of Frankie & Bennie's. For down-home solids staples, visit Nando's, Harry Ramsden's or Pizza Express - and for something a little different, you should definitely drop in to Shere Khan Express, Tampopo - or the hugely enjoyable YO! Sushi. With any luck, you'll be dining inside a scale model of the Great Pyramid of Cheops - very tasty with boiled potatoes and mint sauce...

Is there a global shortage of cows? Are our bovine bretheren being kidnapped from green meadows the length and breadth of the planet? The reason I pose this rhetorical question arises as a result of my sitting on an unfeasibly huge brown leather settee in a local gastro-pub the other night. Looking round, I observed an entire herd of these hulking leather ruminants grazing on the Real Wood Flooring, illuminated by the usual giant table-lamps that betoken today's text-book gastro-pub (see also menu blackboard containing 'hand-dived' scallops and 'line-caught' fish etc). It then occurred to me that an awful lot of cows must be heading to the knackers' yard in pursuit of these plump, wallowing couches, armchairs and ubiquitous cube-shaped pouffs - if that's what they're called in these politically correct an orientation-sensitive times.

I may have thought I was sitting on the settee in question; the fact is, though, that the sofa was slowly consuming me by virtue of its spongy, rubbery interior construction and soggy, sag-bellied springs. Actually I was trapped. My posterior was bouncing off the floor, my knees were either side of my ears, and my line of sight pointed directly at the ceiling. To have any chance of extricating myself from the gummy jaws of this accursed brown and bulbous beast, I had to see-saw myself forward in arcs of ever-increasing size, until I was cannoned out in an ungainly windmill of flailing arms of legs, withering under the icy gazes of various chilly and indifferent blondes cradling half-gallon glasses of Pinot Grigio.

No more the man-eating giant settee or amazing shrinking man Brobdingnagian armchair for me - it's sensible benches, rustic furniture and sturdy pews for me from now on - although I suppose, if pushed, I might risk sitting on a pouff...
 

It was a triumph of engineering over gravity. The broad-beamed dumper truck of a West Midlands girl from a Birmingham hen party had been squeezed, jammed, cantilevered and poured into an electric blue strapless dress that was straining like a lugger's sail in a force seven gale. Worse still, she was headed straight for me - with undisguised evil intent. All I was doing was innocently standing in the foyer of Oddfellows - that fine bar, restaurant and all-round sociable focus of Lower Bridge Street, Chester, admiring the roaring, boozing, hollering, swearing maul of elegant and sophisticated race goers who had tipped up there after Chester Races. And I was about to be kidnapped.

"Kumwimeeduck" she growled, enveloping me in sweet-choking Malibu-&-Baileys breath. Without pause for explanation or giving me a chance to make a run for it, she propelled me into a roomful of baying Perry Bar laddettes with plunging necklines, legs like Gloucester Old Spot hams - and strange feathered things on stalks bobbing from their heads like 1950s sci-fi aerials. The Dump Truck then proceeded to grasp me in a clammy embrace whilst her pals bayed like blooded werewolves, so naturally I hastily made my excuses - and stayed.

Some time later, dishevelled, bloodshot and smiling seraphically, I sat down to a delicious meal that was served with elan, charm and style despite the fact that Oddfellows was absolutely heaving in all directions. The staff weaved like stealth aircraft through crowds of blokes whose suits looked like they were trying to leave their wearers in a great hurry - and my food was delivered promptly, politely and with outstanding charm. The chilli squid salad was superb, the redsnapper was rapturously wonderful - and the creme brulee sublime - so I urge you to attend Oddfellows and enjoy as wonderful meal as I did. But a word of warning for gentlemen: beware an electric blue Bigfoot Truck with a lustful smile hovering in the foyer - and be afraid, be very afraid...

Oddfellows
20 Lower Bridge Street
Chester CH1 1RS
Tel: 01244 689809
www.oddfellows.biz

There is a great malady abroad in our cafe-bars and chic drinking places; it is insidious and irksome, unnecessary, amateurish and utterly ghastly – and it comes in twos. It is the floppy-haired live music duo who are there to entertain us by deafening us and eliminating all possibility of conversation by singing their own wincingly rancorous versions of Oasis's 'Wonderwall' – or, Heaven forbid, Robbie Williams' 'Angels'. Mind you, this latter song does make the blonde babes go all gooey and sentimental, which might earn the boys in the band a quick knee-trembler later on if they play their cards right.

Where have all these acoustic-jazz-Latin-hip duos sprung up from? Primary school music morning? Occupational therapy at the local day centre? And why do cafe-bar managers think we need dissonant, deafening and copycat live music to enliven a peaceful Sunday evening in our neighbourhood watering hole? We simply want a chat with our pals or an intimate get-together with our loved one; what we don't want is to have the whole evening grind to a halt as two blokes wearing t-shirts emblazoned with back-to-front Russian revolutionary slogans take a bunch of good songs and drive them into the ground at 600 watts with iffy harmonies and a guitarist who sounds as if he's playing in boxing gloves.

Please bring back the sounds of silence, the congenial buzz of bar-room conversation, the sudden tintinnabulation of laughter on a summer evening. And put those boy-band duos back where they belong – in Reception Class with a xylophone and a kazoo...

The Pink Pussy Posse were taking no prisoners. It was only 7.30 am and they'd already been drinking for hours prior to their flight to Palma, Majorca, which I had the misfortune to be sharing with them. I was off to a posh 40th birthday party at the achingly fashionable Esplendido Hotel in Sollier (http://www.esplendidohotel.com/) - they were off on an L-plate schoolgirl pink stetson rape and pillage week in Magaluf. With an average axle weight (unladen) of around fifteen stone each, these low-slung belly-bouncing flabsters had more tattoos and piercings than a tribe of Amazon headhunters - though they looked considerably less amenable, and were entirely unapologetic about their BO-whiffing bulk, plus the shameless wreak of Taliban Rocketlauncher and Prussic Acid Revenge cocktails.

What the hell do they eat to get that big? Wildebeest? Masonry? Decommissioned military vehicles? What they need is decent, wholesome food -which brings me neatly to the utterly delightful Alderley Edge Farmers' Market that I visited recently; here, sylph-like and shiningly healthy exemplars of the benefits of good food sold home-produced sausages and cheeses, cakes and fruit juices, biscuits, condiments - and much, much more. The atmosphere was genteel and the murmur of conversation had a chapel-like sanctity to it - though some of the products were struggling rather too hard to attain a traditional, hand-made, centuries-old, ethnic credibility. Granny Toffee-Head's Nethermost Unguent Specific and Dungstink Farm's Original Recipe Soot and Ballbearing Marmalade are fooling no-one - though, come to think of it, the Pink Pussy Posse might be taken in...

As a voluntary baldie and former anchovies-over-the-boiled egg Mr Combover, I take great interest in other people's hair - especially the blond manifestations that pervade the female population of the preening fashion beau monde that is InOutWorld. Ash, Strawberry, Honey and other standard blond shades were mere dull overtures to the startling mops I observed in Alderley Edge's Gusto (formerly Est Est Est Est Est...Est) the other night. Over a rather fine bottle of chilled Stellenbosch and a robustly crisp and delicious char-grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, I observed jaundice blond with black zebra stripes, death-white blond razored into a post-structuralist asymmetric wedge - plus the truly scary dead straight nuked aluminium blond with laser-trimmed fringe and permanent mobile phone. Throughout her meal, said helmet-headed blond on the next table masticated resolutely and bovinely through her spaghetti with pesto (which looked rather tasty), whilst gassing into her mobile, recounting that her nail bar and tanning salon day had been ''dead dead grairt.'' Her male companion, who was also blond, in a spiky Domestos-bleached sort of way, seemed happy to let her chunter on whilst he made free with a truly impressively duvet-sized pizza, confirming my suspicions that Gusto seemed to have upped their portion sizes whilst keeping their prices entirely reasonable.

As I left, an entire phalanx of feral blondness was coming in. All chewed gum robotically, their eyes swivelled like gun turrets in search of a Premier League footballer target, and they wore the kind of teeny, strappy, agonising shoes that encouraged horizontal activity rather than vertical perambulation. In InOutWorld, blondness is a glorious and glossy state of mind that underpins the very fabric of society - so hurrah for blond ambition and long may it flourish!