The Graze at Vista concept is very clever. Watching the sun set while enjoying views across our stunning city, a sense of freedom from being six floors up in the open air, dramatic decor, a quirky menu, an inventive bar – and, in Joanna Biddolph’s view, worth every expensive penny.

Enoteca Della Terra seems to have passed by the taste mongers of Twitter, perhaps it’s too grown up or even, in its rejection of finger food, old fashioned, yet it has the makings of a place I’d go to regularly for drinks and a tasty bite. Perhaps it’s rather secret location works against it, as does nearby Jamie’s Italian (Jamie’s Italian what?) hoovering up all the tourists. The wine bar maybe dead, but Della Terra suggests it’s not lying down.

Out in the middle of the Italian countryside, there’s no one to impress; no tourists or rubberneckers to rip-off. The food is fresh, regional and sentimental, made by people who care deeply in what they do. It’s food you want to eat, the food of home.

86 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6HR www.86restaurant.co.uk Eighty-Six is a French restaurant located on the […]

Drawing on Dolly Parton’s self-parodying comment, ‘it takes a lot of money to look this cheap”, it takes a lot of calculated planning to create a space and an atmosphere without them seeming in the least bit contrived. Very cleverly, but without seeming so, the Cock Tavern has reinvented the pub and Joanna Biddolph’s enthusiasm for eating while she drinks has been revived.

I’ve committed the cardinal sin to which no self-respecting reviewer should succumb: on the day of my reservation at The Empress I googled it and read their reviews to date. Every one a winner, but then I’d already made my mind up I was going to like this place.

27 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3JZ www.atithi-indiancuisine.com Gentle sitar music played in the background, not […]

‘We are in zone six, here’, explains the gentle owner, smiling as red London buses drive past the village green. Clearly driven, Asad Khan has lovingly created a sophisticated Indian restaurant that caters to the well-heeled locals as well as those who make the short journey from central London by train.

Southgate Road, N1 3JS delapanza.co.uk It was with a degree of trepidation that I stepped […]

You might expect an alpine hut selling schnitzel in the Italian Dolomites, but not a two Michelin-star restaurant at the foot of those colossal peaks. Yet a fine dining establishment is exactly what we found at the enchanting family-run Relais & Chateaux Rosa Alpina Hotel & Spa in San Cassiano in the Alta Badia valley…