UP Box, the healthy and well-balanced ‘Urban Picnic’ bento box-style take out in Ludgate Circus has just launched Afternoon Tea To Go. An indulgent yet a very recession-friendly treat – priced at £4.50, the Afternoon Tea UP Box is freshly made and beautifully presented, available for a pick up from the shop or for a City delivery.

Elizabeth’s of Eastgate, Rochester’s historic French restaurant is to serve special menus dedicated to the English patron saint on 23rd April. Elizabeth’s was quoted in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, as the home of Uncle Pumblechuck.

Eagle Bar Diner is offering one lucky diner the chance in a million to win a pair of tickets to New York. The West End eatery is about to serve their millionth burger, and to celebrate this outstanding acheivement will give away a pair of tickets to whoever places the order.

Less than six months since opening, the Scandinavian restaurant Madsen has been awarded with its first AA rosette. Given in recognition of ‘culinary excellence’, the coveted Rosette is awarded to ‘excellent restaurants that stand out in their local area, where the food is prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good-quality ingredients’, as specified by the strict AA rules.

Island Restaurant & Bar, the dining space overlooking Hyde Park, is introducing a brand new gourmet à la carte breakfast menu. The new menu, woffers guests a two or three-course plated breakfast, accompanied by a selection of juices, pastries, teas and coffees.

Wahaca is delighted to announce that from March 2009 both of their restaurants, in Covent Garden and Westfield, will be stocking the world’s first certified biodegradable chewing gum (and it’s Mexican!).

Kanteen, located in trendy K West Hotel & Spa, has recently introduced a fabulous new ‘Saints & Sinners” menu. This offers a choice of both indulgent and super-healthy dishes. When dining, it is totally up to guests to decide whether they want to be a Saint or a Sinner!

Akashi-Tai Sake Brewery is organising London’s first Cherry Blossom Festival. Big in Japan, the UK version of ‘Hanami” celebrates the growth of Japanese culture in the capital, which now boasts well over 200 Japanese restaurants. The cherry blossom tree holds a prominent place in Japanese culture and tradition, and celebrations are taken seriously, with a strong emphasis on food and drink.

A quick nibble at some new things in brief

Whilst the Nordic Diet is being hailed as ‘next big thing’, the recently opened Madsen restaurant in South Kensington, calmly goes about creating dishes which are about to awaken our tastebuds to the new taste of tomorrow’s healthy eating.