Nick Harman races around the Cotswolds like local lad Jeremy Clarkson on E numbers. The challenge? To eat starters in one place, mains in another and dessert at a further place still. Why? Who knows, all he can say is that the food was great, the scenery beautiful and he’s very glad he didn’t have to take Richard Hammond along.

Can’t afford the Fat Duck? Too late to book El Bulli? Try a taste of molecular gastronomy at Le Cristal restaurant at Futuroscope France. Not only is it affordable it’s great fun and you and the family can enjoy a brilliant day out seeing stunning 3D and 4D films, dancing with robots and squirting each other. Nick Harman goes into the kitchen at Le Cristal to get a taste.

I don’t remember the journey home and whether I looked left and right for floodlit views as I crossed the bridge. But I do have a receipt for a pizza eaten (to soak up the liquid, presumably) in one of those thank-goodness-they-exist-when-you-need-them chains. And I will be making cocktails over long weekends when recovering is possible.

The Met Bar at the Metropolitan Hotel on Old Park Lane, London, has decided to rebel against royal revelries and serve an “an-tea establishment afternoon tea” to clash with the royal wedding, until 8 May.

The onset of summery weather and the consequent upsurge in gin consumption coincided with Tuesday’s ‘Distillers’ Dinner’ at Hix Soho. Master Distillers Desmond Payne and Sean Harrison spoke to guests about some of the history and philosophies behind Beefeater and Plymouth gin and Dre Masso, a leading cocktail maestro, talked about the launch of new website GinandTales.com

Summer’s fast approaching and everyone is looking for a coolant but it seems as if ice cream just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. Gelato may not have a fancy monotonous tone attracting people to buy it from a van but it’s certainly got the taste factor down to a tee and the fact that its less fattening than a Mr. Whippy is a bonus

The UK’s largest fish market also runs a wide range of daily seafood training courses, I went to the one which offers the best introductory overview to see how little I really knew.

Do we dare mention the ‘A’ word? No need, it’s done for us. One of the legions of men who pass by, almost all of whom mysteriously claim to be the chef at Maze, talks positively about the influence of Jason Atherton on the restaurant’s menu ethos. He seems almost wistful as he talks of the days when Jason and Big Sweary would stand around the Maze kitchen swapping ideas and possibly blows.

In the Georgian setting of Fitzroy Square, there’s a touch of time-travelling to publicise Perrier Nights, a planned series of exclusive mixology events in London.

Whether you think the Royal Wedding is an over-hyped media circus or the most exciting event to have happened for decades, or perhaps you’re simply nonchalant about the whole thing, there’s no denying that it’s a great excuse to party. we check out some of the Royal happenings.