I have been to Lucky Cat at the summit of 22 Bishopsgate, London’s tallest building, a number of times now. It has always been bustling, busy and with a great vibe. Located Sixty floors up, with Tower Bridge and the Gherkin stretched beneath you, Gordon Ramsay has created something unlike anything else in his empire. But within this restaurant/bar, there is a hideaway Chefs Table called Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High. 

Arriving at Goodwood Revival this year felt like stepping into a real-life throwback filter—but one that actually smells of petrol, popcorn, and excitement, and sounds like pure engine chaos. From classic cars to people who look like they’ve time-travelled from the 1940s, it’s basically a full-sensory nostalgia overload, and I was here for every second of it.

Hotel Ambasador Split: A Luxury Arrival

I was in Edinburgh earlier this week to taste Glen Scotia’s Four Quarters set that is heading to the Distillers One of One charity auction. It is rare that a single tasting manages to cover history, technique, design and philanthropy with the same clarity. This did. Four single malts from the same month in 1999, each a quarter of a century old, and each showing a different facet of Campbeltown’s character through its choice of cask.

Arriving at Naturhotel Forsthofgut feels like stepping into a perfectly balanced world  - one where the warmth of a family-run retreat meets the refined elegance of a five-star hotel. Nestled at the foot of the Asitz Mountain in Leogang, it’s the kind of place where the air carries the scent of pine and wood, mingling with the aroma of freshly baked bread in the morning, and where hospitality is more than just a service; it’s second nature.

Step inside the newly launched Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern and you feel a sense of London’s dining history humming through the walls. Part tavern, part chop house, this is both a nod to the City’s 17th-century eating houses and a modern reinvention, where heritage and produce are treated with equal reverence. 

Every extraordinary meal is elevated by the company. On this occasion, I was joined by three luminaries from the worlds of hospitality, design, and gastronomy. 

The Alpine A110 R 70 arrives like a perfectly timed coup de théâtre—the final act of a 70-year love affair between Dieppe's engineers and the art of making automobiles dance. This 70th anniversary edition is, quite literally, the last of its breed before Alpine succumbs to the electric revolution. Consider it the automotive equivalent of Catherine Deneuve’s final film: impossibly beautiful, utterly French, and destined to leave you pining for what once was.

One of the things I love most about wine is how it refuses to sit still. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes a bottle that’s been resting in a river two hundred metres underground, or a grape variety you thought had vanished, suddenly shining again in a glass. In this issue I’ve been tasting wines with stories of rescue and resilience, growers saving old vines from the axe, families bringing abandoned plots back to life, and cooperatives keeping traditions alive against the odds. They’re reminders that wine is never just about flavour.

White Peak Distillery’s Necessary Evil Returns

Turn off the A6 and into the Derwent Valley and you’re in another world. The old Johnson & Nephew wire works loom over the river, relics of a time when men clocked in for twelve-hour shifts and left coated in soot and metal dust. Today part of that site is White Peak Distillery, founded in 2016 by Max and Claire Vaughan. What could easily have been left to crumble has instead become Derbyshire’s first whisky distillery, with a still house that feels as much cathedral as factory.

It’s not often that a whisky takes you from the Highlands of Scotland to the forests of northern Japan, all while sitting in Leicester Square. Yet that was the atmosphere at 8 at The Londoner Hotel, where Glengoyne unveiled its latest limited edition: the Mizunara Oak 16 Year Old. I love these tastings, as I got to see my friends, enjoy plates of Japanese inspired finger food, and have wonderful whisky and cocktails. I have been so busy recently that I almost pulled out, but am very pleased that I didn’t.