China Town Noodle Bar

China Town Noodle Bar

2 Bath Passage

Birmingham

B5 4SZ

Meal for two with beers: £20

This cheap as chips cafe has been a favourite haunt for Birmingham's many students for more than a decade. Ten years ago, I was one of them. But it's more than just a cut-price feeding station for those rich in time but poor in money. With a voluminous menu spanning several regions of China, as well as a handful of other Asian cuisines (not recommended), there's a reason it also attracts well-heeled shoppers and Chinese customers of all ages. And with most dishes coming in well shy of a tenner, it has long been one of my favourite places for lunch. Yet somehow life has come between me and my first neighbourhood-restaurant-love. Last weekend, after an absence of nearly five years, I returned to rekindle my affair with their Big Plate Rice.

Burger Lobster.. Bentley's?

Bentley's, 11 - 15 Swallow Street, W1B 4DG

2 course meal with wine: £55 per person

Trying to get a table at Burger and Lobster on a Friday night was, in retrospect, a terrible idea. Thankfully we phoned ahead or else we would have gone there without knowing that they already more people in the queue than they would be able to accommodate in an evening. That would have been Very Bad. Instead, we drank another bottle of wine and conducted a remote trawl of the surrounding restaurants - what did we do before mobile internet? There was a table at Bentley's, so there we went expecting to have oysters or steak but instead found lobster burgers were the special of the day... result.

A short trip to Cape Town: lunch at Groote Post

As always in adult life, time just flies by. In a blink of an eye another month goes past without much writing. Even more daunting, all of a sudden Mr F and I have been married for more than two years. Gulp. Thankfully, we seem to be as happy with each other now as ever we were in the past, even if he has spent more than 150 hours over the past year playing Dark Souls. Last year, we chose Dinner for our anniversary celebration. Topping that was always going to be difficult, so we chose the only really safe path: returning to site of our nuptials, the wonderful Groote Post. OK, so we didn't go all the way to South Africa just to have lunch. There was some family stuff involved too. However, seeing as we were there, it seemed only right to stop by... After all, it's only just about my favourite place in the whole world. Ever.

A few more London burgers

Once again, I have neglected my blog. New job, new flat (hopefully), Skyward Sword... The list of distractions is almost endless. However, with January safely dispatched for another year, I find myself with time to reflect on the meals that missed out on a write up. Among them, a mixed bag of burgers. Cue the inevitable round up post, the blog equivalent of the episode of that show you love, compiled almost exclusively from recycled old footage. 

The Poke at the Draft House

In with the new at the Vincent Rooms

The Vincent Rooms, 76 Vincent Square, SW1P 2PD

Two course meal with wine: £25 ish (we split the bill, some people had dessert)

Sometimes, when I want to escape to an imaginary world in which I have won the lottery and can afford a beautiful house in SW1, I go to Vincent Square. It's the perfect place to reflect on just how awesome it would be if I were ludicrously rich. It is quiet, it has a big playing field in the middle and the houses look like the sort of accommodation American film-makers imagine all well-to-do Londoners live in, complete with a Rolls Royce and a butler. Once a year, they even hold the London rum festival in Vincent Square; presumably so the wealthy folk don't have far to roll home. However, until recently, I have been missing out on one of Vincent Square's best attractions: the Vincent Rooms. Attached to the college that trained such luminaries as Jamie Oliver and (ahem) Antony Worrall Thompson, the Vincent Rooms lets one test the abilities of the current batch of chefs-in-waiting, and all at prices a mere mortal can afford. I only wish I had tried it sooner.

Sushi in Soho: Kyoto

Kyoto, 26 Romilly Street, W1D 5AL

Dinner for two (with beer): £50 plus service

It is only the twenty-second of December, but already I feel jaded. It's not a wholly bad feeling, coming as it does from a few weeks of deliberate boozing and eating. However, even the best December sometimes wears thin and an occasional pretence at healthy eating can help to assuage the mince pied excesses of the month. Such was my reasoning when Mr F and I found ourselves in search of supper in Soho. For what could be healthier than sushi?

La Girole, Grenoble

La Girole, 15 Rue du Docteur Mazet, 38000 Grenoble

Dinner for two: 140 euros

Had Mr F not lived there as a child, it is likely I would never have thought to visit Grenoble. It is a long way away, more than six hours from London by train and an hour from Lyon by road. It is a small town, whose few well regarded restaurants are outshone by the gastronomic institutions just down the road in Lyon. However, all parts of France, even its most remote corners, have their own culinary highlights. Located on the edge of the Alps, Grenoble and its environs are bastions of mountain cooking, home of the gratin dauphinoise and an unusual dish of chicken and crayfish. Best of all, there are stunning mountain vistas and challenging walks to stir the appetite for all that cheese.