Reinvention has certainly suited Sambrook’s. Since its first cask was tapped in November 2008, over one million pints have been served to thirsty punters across London. Junction, one of its two permanent ales has even won Beer of the Festival at this year’s Battersea Beer Festival. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Qin Xie headed down to Sambrook’s to see what the fuss is all about.

On the Upper Richmond Road in Putney, lobsters meet their maker and chef Dom Robinson makes them into dishes that defy standard gastropub cliches. Nick Harman squeezes into the royal kitchen to hear a bit more about the Prince’s philosophy.

Veggie has suddenly become uber cool – almost over-night it seems. In July The Observer Food Monthly dedicated an entire edition to the cause; end of August sees NY’s highly regarded Otarian comes to LDN (fast-food, veggie style); and pretty much every other week every other celeb (as long as they’re of the young, female and lithe variety – oh and Russell Brand) is name-dropping Meat-Free Monday as the new ‘in’ cause. It’s hippy-chic all over again – but this time we’re talking food, not fashion.

Frozen yoghurt. Is this the guilt-free fix you’ve been looking for? Nick Harman holsters his prejudices and heads to Yuforia to meet Yuforia founder and frozen yoghurt evangelist Leo Bedford

The new ‘Cooks by Gordon Ramsay’ range is a selection of cooking appliances which aim to make cooking for friends and family easier. We tested the Searing Grill to see if it’s any good!

The ghost of Oliver Reed hangs over the The Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court. Far from being a middling actor who surrendered his career, and ultimately his life, to alcohol, here he’s a demi god, although of course he never did things by halves. It was always pints. Boom boom!

Plane Food as a restaurant name is obviously tempting fate. You can imagine the worried discussions around the table when the idea was first mooted – what if the food’s boring? What if it fails to ‘take off’? What if it crashes? No doubt Gordon overruled them all, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, chopping one hand into another and saying ‘yeah?’ at the end of every sentence. It’s just part of T5’s first-class food offering for travellers.

Singapore Airlines is so proud of its in-flight food that they’ve published an all-star cookbook to celebrate. Nick Harman flies Business Class to Singapore and back in just 48 hours to taste the food and to find out how it’s all done. Jet lag what let jag?

On hearing about this beginners’ day-long course, I hotfooted it, via sweltering tube, to cool and leafy Hampstead. The African cookery school Akhaya is run by Jenny, a young woman of Nigerian descent just setting up business. We were welcomed with fresh mint and rooibos tea as well as charming applause the second we individually stepped through the doors.

With the aim of finding ‘Real France, Real Close’, Douglas Blyde takes the Eurostar to the flatlands of French Flanders…