Asda‘s resident wine expert, Philippa Carr, has been hitting the bottle for a good few years. For a thoroughly good cause, of course- bringing UK wine lovers top tipples for the 30+ years she’s been in the industry. And she’s particularly in demand over Christmas, travelling the world to sample over 450 different wines to ensure Asda‘s seasonal wine selection passes muster.

Okay, so a flat, rectangular package under the Christmas tree isn’t going to fool anyone. But when all the whizzbang doodads and gallimaufry of geegaws have been cast aside, the book is the one gift that keeps on giving. Just please remember to scrawl a personal missive inside the front cover. It’s the only time you’re allowed- indeed, implored, to deface a book.

Miguel Angel, head chef at El Pirata Detapas, has worked closely with Lalani & Co. the boutique tea trading company to select rare teas from India and Nepal to match the tapas on the menu. Anita cocks her little finger and takes tea.

Tobias Gorn is a sommelier. bon viveur and raconteur. Toby’s pretty excited about his recent move to The Whisky Shop and about the chance to foist a few of his finest festive tipples upon Foodepedia, and we trust him totally. This is one man who truly knows how to make proceedings go with a bang.

Advent calendars- how do you eat yours? Each day’s offering hotly anticipated and lovingly savoured, or rip open every door at once and scoff the lot in a festive frenzy of shameful delight? In the best festive manner, we present you with an advent’s- worth of Christmassy canape recipes for you to ration out or binge on to your whim, drip-fed week by week.

We do like Paul A Young’s chocolates. Eccentrically English yet never eschewing the exotic, he lays on a tempting menu all year round. So at Yuletide one rightfully expects great things. A bijou box containing his finest seasonal selections hitting the doormat is more welcome than any advent calendar, and, in the spirit of festive gluttony, is scoffed in its entirety that very teatime.

A subjective selection of sublime scran we like to scoff and/or share at Christmas.

We’re at the Playboy Club. Yes, there are bunnies. Yes, there are men in suits, but there are also just as many ladies, and they are resoundingly not’of the night’. The lighting’s low but more to create atmosphere than to disguise any nefarious activities. Oh, and Salvatore Calabrese, aka’The World’s Leading Cocktail Expert’, is mixing drinks and holding court with oodles of panache.

The nan is just crispy enough to enjoy but still soft enough to get a firm grip on the lamb kebab inside. The spices were well-balanced but personally I could have done with some more chilli kick. If I’d been drunk, I’d have liked a lot more chilli. Let’s face it sublety is wasted on a man full of cooking lager.

From the North to the South poles, people do like a nice bit of cake at Christmastime. Packed with the prestige indicated by copious fruit-and-nut usage, these are an often boozy, always bountiful, and occasionally barmy bunch.