Maritime for dinner | The Pumproom at Copper Rivet Distillery, Chatham

"Back then, it was a riotous and unlawful place, a lethal cocktail of soldiers, sailors, whores and booze"

KO’d | Ikoyi, London

"How best to define this restaurant? Don’t bother"

Gotta catch ‘em all | Review: The Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo

"'But can you find me a table at the Pokémon Café?' I blurt, staggering fresh from the red eye and up through the sleek black elevators into an atrium reception"

Effervesce sense | Karen Krizanovich on Exton Park Rosé and champagne for a good cause

"My hand went to the wrong neck. The foil off, it was like breaking into an ISA for shits and giggles"

365 Days Later

"We have vaccines, some kind of road map, and spring. English asparagus has arrived!"

Behold: A really good Indian restaurant in Dubai | Review: Trèsind Studio

"For such a new and advanced city, Dubai’s culinary offering remains sluggish; a decade-or more behind others. It’s skyscraper dining, bottomless brunches and sushi by the pool"

Effervesce sense | Valentine’s Day edition

"It’s silly, I know, but love is silly"

Effervesce sense | Mad about Methóde Cap Classique

"When you see a bottle marked Cap Classique, buy it… Drink it alone - you know I often do - or with people. Drink it crying, laughing or feeling totally numb"

“Bring out your dead!” | Review: Tales from the Colony Room by Darren Coffield

"Todays conservative Millennials and Gen Z readers will view all this as if it’s a TikTok from another, more prurient planet, and recoil"

Effervesce Sense | Noble Rot, Wine from Another Galaxy and other stories

“…even if you think you know that Barolo smells of roses and tar, or Chablis tastes like it has trickled through ancient oyster beds, great bottles always have an originality that begs the question: how can this be made just from grapes?”

The best books of 2020

"Pandemics, zombie cities, political coups attempted by inept supervillains – the stuff of fiction invaded real life this year"

Review: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

"All this is bleak stuff. Delighted as I always am to see my home city represented in fiction, and to rewalk its geography in prose, I also cavil at depictions of Glaswegian life that are unremittingly grim"

Top tier | Middlethorpe Hall

"Apparently, it is also a place for a wake. This is a good thing. If you are born, then you must die"

The robot nose, the smell of you

"When you smell Elizabeth Taylor you feel you are inside her own mink coat. It is heavy and late night"

Effervesce Sense | Out of Africa, into your mouth

"That was back when you called everything champagne. That was wrong, as we know now that 'it’s only quarantine if it’s from the quarantine region of France. Otherwise, it’s just sparkling isolation'."

Meet the Simpsons | Karen Krizanovich on some of the finest fizz in Kent

"I once threw a loaded flute over my shoulder in disgust because the champagne in it was terrible"

Fassona beef | Review: Bifrò la Bistecca Frollata, Turin

"This is a region that prides itself on this unique breed of cow, renowned for their muscular hypertrophy, commonly known as double muscling"

Contemporary twist and shout | Review: Contraste, Milan

"Not another contemporary twist promise, another twiddly-accented, jus-dribbling, foam-flicking chef"

Pop Life

Neil D.A. Stewart dives into the biggest book of the year

Why I’m not dumping New York, I’m just getting back with Philly

"I was awoken by my roommate screaming at me, through a cloud of smoke"

Sparkling Victoriana | Review: Hampton Manor, Solihull

"We’re drawn to it like Britt Ekland to the wallpaper in The Wicker Man. Tonight one of us will sing Hey-Ho and roll our breasts against the walls of our De Mountford suite"

Effervesce Sense | Are you having any fun?

"Hand-harvested, bottled at the vineyard, I was waiting for her to tell me no grapes had been harmed'

Old town times two | The best hotels in Palma

"There is little to suggest from the outside of Can Bordoy that it is as grand as it is. The walk to it involves narrow, cobbled, fairy tale alleyways that twist and turn. Then: BOOM"

Towering achievements | Review: Rosewood Bangkok

"Oh, 2020. For a few sweet weeks, whether or not my laptop would link to the hotel television was among my greatest concerns"

Cinema paradise… oh

"She got up at the end and – wiping tears from her eyes – said it was the best day of her life"

From my kitchen to Tom’s Kitchin

"Spoots - you've heard of them, right? Don't lie, you haven't"

Rasherman

Effervesce sense

Why I’ve got a problem with Promising Young Woman

RIP, The Standard West Hollywood

Rasherman | Review: Nicolas Cage in Pig

Effervesce sense | Karen Krizanovich on the big ol’ Bollinger R.D. 2007