Food & wine

This page highlights posts and features about BYOB restaurants, wine bar, restaurant and hotel reviews and recommendations around the world; sweet wines with chocolate, wine with Indian and Chinese and many other wine and food matching ideas. Work in progress as there's lots more on WineWriting.com...

Plenty of tips on where to eat and stay in Roussillon country can be found in my book: more info here.

Coventry & Manchester: bars, beers, restaurants (2021).

The Gourmet Food Kitchen, Dimitri's Taverna and Meze Bar, Atlas Bar, The Marble Arch Inn, Pizza Express.

Hoose's awesome Banoffee tart.

Sicily: Ragusa and Agrigento (2021)

Aruci Aruci caffetteria & gelateria / 'Casa Siciliana' Trattoria, Agriturismo Villa Zottopera.

Belgium and Netherlands: Bruges, Gent, Rotterdam, Haarlem; beer and eating... (2019)

Gauthierz brasserie, Babbels restaurant, Phang-Nga Bay Thai, Blij café restaurant.

Ballyhackamore Belfast BYO: Rajput and Good Fortune restaurants with wine tips to match dishes. (2019 - photo of lamb saag.)

The Hoose Bistro Belfast (2019).

Portugal: wines of the moment and restaurant tips in Funchal (2018): Espettus, Five, Restaurante do Forte and Ego's Café.

Château de Haute-Serre winery and restaurant, Cahors (2016).

French wine tasting & touring e-magazine updated: lots of eating tips too from across the Languedoc, Chablis and Cahors (2016).

Spain: Sherry and Jamón Ibérico (2016)

This sherry-and-ham-pairing piece stems from a fascinating 'masterclass' held in Dublin by embassy export body Wines & Foods from Spain; the words, jamónand sherries will be just as tasty now as they were then. Presented by César Saldana, Director of the Vinos de Jerez governing association, and Mario Hiraldo, master-carver and general Jamón Ibérico expert, which is arguably Spain's finest cured ham delicacy. The scrummy photo below was downloaded from actualidadgastronomica.es where there's an article (in Spanish) about it; and this site is good too, in English: www.jamon.com/iberico.

Slovenia: wine & travel and Croatia (2015 and 2014).

Languedoc special: Saint Chinian wine touring with restaurant recommendations (2014).

Spain v Australia: festive sweeties and reds, with or without chocolate (2013).

Roussillon and Languedoc: festive sweeties and reds, with or without chocolate part 2 (2013).

Montpellier / Béziers area restaurants & wine bars (2011):

Les Caves de Trinque Fougasse.
And links to: Folia restaurant @ Ch. de Flaugergues - Montpellier, chez Paul[e] - Montpellier, Chez Boris - Montpellier, La Raffinerie - Béziers, Le Chameau Ivre - Béziers, La Distillerie - Saint Marcel sur Aude, Marie-Jean - Sète and Le Plaisance - Bourg, Bordeaux.

Cherbourg resto tip (vegetarians don't read on) (2010): Le Pantagruel.

Soy Argentina @ Alexis bar & grill, Dublin (2010).

Wine Magazine bar & restaurant reviews 2002-2003:

Follow the links below to four bar and restaurant reviews written for Wine magazine (UK) in 2002 and 2003 (now defunct in this format: the title was bought by another publisher a couple of years later, then by another since, and renamed Wine & Spirit International):

L’Ambassade des Vignobles, Marseille
Chine Rouge, Manchester
Kro2, Manchester
Choice bar & restaurant, Manchester

Another Manchester resto is review here: Miyako (sushi) penned for Harpers On-Trade magazine in 2002, as well as a brief investigation into and review of sushi restaurants in Manchester... Plus a few thoughts on licensing policy and growth of late bars in the city centre...

And there's more Madchester food and wine etc. on this page:

City Life (Manchester) 1998-2003: wine columns, food & drink guide and travel pieces...Including: tarte flambée, choucroute and Munster cheese with Gewurztraminer vendange tardive in Alsace. The Gurkha Grill West Didsbury. Deli Republic. Marseille travel. Tunisia by taxi. And much more...