Dove, 31 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU (020 7043 1400; dove.london). Starters £4-£16; mains £12-£33; wine from £35 I am a potentially dull person to eat with. However much I love and relish food, food is not my friend and I have a host of verbotens, ranging from garlic, onion and chives, which for … Read more
Like most sane people, I’d always assumed “love at first sight” was a concept reserved solely for sappy romcoms and teenage diary musings. It certainly didn’t happen in real life, to real people, and it certainly couldn’t happen to me. I was entirely devoted to my career in radio and, after a particularly bad breakup, … Read more
I was sold on Le Touquet even before we reached the beach, a vast sweep of golden sand and grey green sea. There’s something about the way the town was created that appeals, an eccentric idea that was based on nothing more than a desire for pleasure. (A bit like Las Vegas, but classier and … Read more
For so many years Devon was viewed as the poorer relation to Cornwall; its coastline less rugged and epic, its beaches smaller, less elemental. For us, the county was always just a cut-through to the treasure beyond and never a destination in itself. The fact that Cornwall was much further to get to somehow proved … Read more
Mussels, ribbons of pasta, herbs and cream is a perfect marriage for a spring lunch. I sometimes fill a puff-pastry case with such an assembly or present it in a white porcelain dish with a splodge of creamy potato in the retro style of coquille St Jacques. (And when exactly did I last see that … Read more
Nick, 64 For the past two years we’ve been meeting up once a month, but I want more A couple of years ago I was in the pub with a friend, several pints deep, and he asked whether I’d ever had a “great love”. I was 62, and had been married for 30 years – … Read more
I really wish I had a Tesla. Ideally it would be a Cybertruck but any Tesla would do. Then I could plaster it with those “I bought this before Elon went mad” stickers, shamefacedly sell it at a loss and write a performative social media post about no longer being able to stomach the guilt … Read more
The British think the cuppa is their national treasure, but a new interest in tea sets among young people is bringing with it an interest in the international cultural significance of the teatime ritual. Online vintage homeware marketplace Vinterior reports a six-fold increase in teapot purchases over the past six months, while sales at John … Read more
My earliest memories of childhood involve hugging my dad, and also punching him. Let me explain. My father, who moved from Hong Kong to New York in the late 1960s, was a professional artist and a black belt in karate. When my brother and I were kids, he trained us up in his studio, to … Read more
It feels as if time has stopped, frozen in the swinging 1960s, as you pass through the pristine gate that opens on to this enchanting lakefront building. The lake in question is the magical and wild Mergozzo, tiny, utterly charming and yet still rarely visited by tourists. The house was built in 1963. Its equally … Read more