Food and Drink

Anyone who knows me will know that my main passions in life are travelling, food and fine wine. I do have another guilty pleasure though, and that is Gin, so when I was asked by friends if I would like to go to a Gin cocktail masterclass at the Bombay Sapphire distillery in Laverstoke I jumped at the chance.

One of my favourite foods in a Gdansk is Pierogi. Pierogi are a small polish dumpling, which visually are a cross between Japanese gyoza and a small Cornish pasty. Pierogi can have many different fillings, and the texture and look of the Pierogi can vary massively. On my most recent trip to Gdansk I set out to find the best Pierogi in Gdansk.

The McLaren Vale is one of the Adelaide’s premium wine regions, with over 120 vineyards creating countless bottles of stunning wine every year. Many of the vineyards in the McLaren Vale are traditional style vineyards with tasting rooms and cellar doors, but at d’Arenberg wines they have tried something different.

I first touched down in Gdansk a mere six months ago and upon arrival I immediately fell in love with the beauty of this city, so much so that I couldn't resist returning here to enjoy a second Gdansk weekend break.

A while ago I read about a great Sunday night deal offered by Hotel du Vin, so I thought I'd give it a try. The deal allows you to book a room for the night for as little as £30, with the condition that you spend a minimum of £75 on Sunday evening in their bistro. For this trip I decided to book a stay at the Hotel du Vin Cambridge as this was the ideal location for a place that I wanted to visit in the vicinity.

When I travel abroad one of the biggest things for me is being able to enjoy the local cuisine. The Spanish cuisine is one of my favourites, so while I was in Madrid this summer I had to revisit Restaurante Sobrino de Botin.

With a total of 18 world-renowned wine regions in South Australia, and over 200 cellar doors all within an hour’s drive from Adelaide, it's no wonder Adelaide is one of the 10 great wine capitals of the world. The three most famous wine regions in South Australia are the Barossa, Clare Valley and the McLaren Vale.

On the 25th November 1928 Adelaide's premier nightspot, the Palais de Danse mysteriously started taking on water and then sadly sunk to the bottom of the River Torrens. After a long 89 years the...

The South Australian city of Adelaide is known for many things, but mainly for being home to some of the best wine regions in Australia, and even the world. Adelaide is also known as the "City of Churches”. Another thing Adelaide is known for is its fantastic and diverse culinary delights. From fresh, locally caught seafood and locally grown produce, to delicious treats from Asia and beyond. Adelaide is a melting pot of different cultures. Eating in Adelaide is a tantalising experience for everyone's tastebuds.

I recently went on a short break to Holywell Bay, near Newquay in Cornwall with some friends for the bank holiday weekend. When I'm at home, Sunday is a day for having family or friends over to visit and to enjoy a traditional Sunday roast. If I'm away for the weekend, it's the one thing I really miss. However, when I'm away for a weekend within the UK, I don't have to go far to find a cosy local pub to enjoy my Sunday lunch.

The Tinwood Estate is located just three miles from my home, on the edge of the South Downs national park. Tinwood first set up their vineyard in 2007, and since have been producing three fantastic varieties of sparkling wine. From their Blanc de Blancs, and their Estate Brut to their cool refreshing Rosé.

This year celebrated the 20th year of the West Dean Chilli Fiesta. To my shame West Dean is less than ten miles from my home, and this was to be my first visit to the Fiesta. The Chilli Fiesta is a three day event, from Friday to Sunday, and its aim is to celebrate everything about the humble chilli.

After my first visit to Cornwall three years ago I try and keep at least one weekend per year free to take a trip down to this beautiful part of the country. This was my fourth trip to Cornwall, and there is still so much left to explore.

When you are in Porto it is highly likely that you will sample some finest Port at least once. Either with a meal or on its own, or perhaps you will make a trip to one or Porto's famous Port cellars for a professional Port tasting. This was at the top of my to-do list for my recent trip to Porto. I would recommend booking a tasting for the afternoon, perhaps after lunch.

The Isle of Wight, with its stunning coastline and beautiful beaches, has long had a reputation for being a holiday destination aimed at families who want a budget summer holiday close to home. The result is that the island has also gained the reputation as offering nothing more than beaches and amusement arcades.

Spitbank Fort is one of four forts built in the Solent as part of the 1859 Royal Commission to protect Portsmouth's dockyard from a possible French invasion. They formed the most expensive defensive system undertaken by Britain during peacetime. By the time the forts were completed all perceived threat to Portsmouth had passed, and because of this the forts became known as the Palmerston Follies, named after the Prime Minister at the time, Lord Palmerston, who had defended the enormous build cost.

One of my local wine stores, Hennings Wine Merchants of Chichester often holds wine tastings on Friday evenings. Each evening is usually themed on a specific wine region or wine. A couple of weeks ago they held a Croatian wine evening, and after having been to Croatia a few times and enjoyed the local wines, I decided to book to go with some friends and experience more of what Croatia has to offer the wine world.

We arrived at Carr Taylor Wines on a warm Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. After checking in for our vineyard tour and wine tasting at their cellar door we were shown to a sun-kissed terrace, where a handful of other people were sat around wooden picnic tables (the kind you would find in a traditional pub garden) happily chatting while waiting for the rest of the guests so the tour could commence. The terrace area was absolutely beautiful, an old rustic farm house to the side, the cellar door in front of us, and just fields of vines as far as the eye could see.