Food & Drink

There is something civilised about a Tuesday lunch that stretches into the afternoon. No weekend crowds, no conversations bouncing off the walls and, ideally, no need to check the time between courses. At Tortello, the promise was an unhurried Italian lunch in chic surroundings, with good food, a cocktail or two and a belated birthday celebration for a friend. For the most part, it delivered. There were, however, a few hiccups, including a birthday dessert that appeared to have suffered a minor existential crisis before reaching the table.

Christmas came early at Cinnamon Kitchen in London, where I recently joined Paul John for dinner and a taste of its Christmas Edition 2026. Our host, Anees Saboowalla, acknowledged the timing with good humour, although sometimes Christmas press events can happen in midsummer! Mid October therefore felt fine and thankfully there were no decorations on show.

A champagne bottle presents a rather different challenge from a dress, although Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen has brought a recognisable approach to both in her latest collaboration with Perrier-Jouët. Known for sculptural designs that draw on the natural world, she has reinterpreted the house’s familiar anemone motif for a limited edition of Belle Époque 2018, alongside two more elaborate pieces featuring older vintages.

I recently joined Indri for dinner in London to taste its Diwali Collector’s Edition 2026. This year’s release is a single malt matured in Ruby Port casks from Portugal, bottled at a substantial 58.5% ABV.

It is the fourth whisky in the annual collection, through which master blender Surrinder Kumar explores cask influences beyond Indri’s regular range. Just 180 individually numbered bottles have been allocated to the UK, priced at £200 each. That puts it firmly into special occasion territory, with elaborate presentation to match.

I was recently in Paris for the launch of Aberlour’s new 21 and 25 Year Old whiskies, the oldest expressions in its permanent collection. Tasting them together revealed two quite different characters, shaped by more than two decades of maturation and the individual casks selected for each release. Both had plenty to offer, but I was particularly drawn to the perfume and fruit of the 21 Year Old.

Havana Club Unión: Cuba Comes to Dinner in Paris

Havana Club’s latest release, Icónica Unión, completes its collection of six prestige rums. Drawing on reserves maintained by successive generations of rum masters, it brings together the producer’s approach to blending and ageing in a rum intended to accompany fine food. I travelled to Paris for the launch, where I had the opportunity to taste it alongside one of Havana Club’s Maestros del Ron Cubano.

There are restaurants you walk into, and there are restaurants you make an entrance at. Quaglino's has always been firmly the latter. Pause at the top of that sweeping staircase, look down across the room, and you understand at once why this place has drawn royalty, writers, film stars and London's café society since 1929.

It’s a concept that remains as practical and innovative as it was when Vagabond Wines opened their first outlet in Fulham back in 2010: giving guests the freedom to tap and pour at their own leisure from a selection of 100+ wines by the glass, so you can seek out your new personal favourites at your own pace.

Independent bottlings themed around the cosmos can easily risk leaning into gimmickry, yet the ambition behind The Whisky Exchange Zodiac Series has always been rooted in cask curation rather than mere novelty. Rolled out across three four bottle instalments, the twelve bottle project sets out to match the traditional archetypes of astrological signs with distinct flavour profiles from across Scotland.

During a recent visit to Witchmark Distillery in Wiltshire, the team made no secret of their ambition: when their inaugural spirit emerges from cask, it is intended to compete squarely as a super premium single malt.

Yet in spirits marketing, "super premium" is a term thrown around with easy confidence. What does it actually mean in practice?