Dropping out of the cloud our Oasis Hong Kong flight was already touching down onto the runway. The journey; entirely pleasant compared to the easyjet experience I was expecting. Oasis have a small fleet of old Singapore Airlines 747s which then and now boast superior legroom and pitch. Seat-back screens and a half empty plane made that £220 return price ever so pleasurable.


right on the edge of the city, Hawksmoor is an atmospherically sultry experience. Simple, understated restaurant, heavily overstocked bar and comfy-seats drinks area. Blatantly intended for a quiet and sedate clientèle. Tonight though, a few too many of us arrived for a friend's leaving drinks and treated it as a more normal bar... much to the distaste of both my credit card and a self-inflated head waiter, who bluntly presented a 'shift out of the way' or 'be scolded with hot food' ultimatum when the throng spread too near the kitchen door. The hot food in question looked to be a far more magnetic reason to be here. Mostly steak in appealing masculine cuts. Didn't get close enough to taste and wont be top of the list for a re-visit. Treated a little too rough for the money - shame.


4.75/hour is a modest sum for a week's worh of snow [that's both awake and asleep]. However with that thought pushed aside it was too late. Cheques have been cashed, bags packed and 16 of us descended sleepless and bleary eyed into a Meribel chalet for a proper 3 valleys experience.


On the corner of the Berwick Street market, Yauatcha waits incensed. A 5 metre tropical fish tank runs along one side of the restaurant, and a thin view of the cake counter along the other. The remaining facade - a wall of opaque blue glass emanates the restaurant's distaste for sub-chic lesser mortals. Yauatcha is the next child of Alan Yau, who's siblings include a couple hundred Wagamama restaurants and elitist big brother Hakkasan. It's Michelin rated (the only Chinese restaurant with a star), recently voted in the top 10 of London's restaurant and best 50 in the country. The building is split over two levels, ground floor tea & cake room - downstairs main restaurant. Although it's possible to eat in the tea room, it's a whole world away from what lurks underneath and weak in comparison. Underground is an obsidian, designed, oppressive hive of activity. One wall is a translucent window to the steamy kitchen where chefs outlines blur in and out of focus with hectic blade-runner effect. Waiters squeeze between tables (steer clear of table by the stairs). In fact it's a little too close. If you're not coming here for atmosphere, give it a miss because you'll be chewing on it for the whole meal. I know there are reviews-a-plenty heralding Yauatcha as the best dim-sum place in town. I profess to be a no-fuss traditionalist when it comes to dim-sum so would rather be over in low-cost china town for such cuisine. Here, however is on another level for a different purpose, Jasmine tea soaked ribs, sea bass Mooli roll, Wagyu beef Cheung Fun and Pandan Wrapped chicken spoil the senses rotten. Yauatcha is a perfect match for those soho-types who talk loudest to be heard furthest. It's fantastic place to come if you're not keen on a relaxed eating experience and are happy to pay for quite the opposite.

Yauatcha:
15-17 Broadwick Street
London, W1F 0DL
Tel: 020 7494 8888


Chasing the Moment is a revamped recent addition to the Arcola Theatre and Time Out 4 star play. It takes two distinct halves - the before and after of an East London jazz gig performed during the intermission by 4 members of an un-named (I think) band.


Cocoon nestles on the first floor of that dominating curved complex at the southern end of Regent street. Although only 20 paces from the Picadilly epicenter of the universe, once upstairs you're distant enough to shake off the tourism and unwind. Comprising of five oval 'cocoon' dining areas middled by a swanky and well-stocked circular bar, the restaurant is an alluring and intimate use of space. Soft interior design, earthy lighting and shallow egg-chairs make walking to the table feel more like tip-toeing through an amazonian millionaire's tree-house chill-out. Wait staff glide between the tables with stealthy trained ease - they've obviously done a year on Hugh Grant's yacht or a couple seasons with Wimbledon VIPs. However, when it came to questioning one or two of the more elaborate choices on the menu all ours could do was struggle to read back the printed descriptions. It would've been nice to feel more involved in the menu. And what a menu it is. Pan-asian by category so sushi, dim-sum, dumplings, tempura (soft shell crab!), fine seafood and Wagyu beef are all jostling around on the menu. If you've come as a pair be prepared to spend some time shortlisting this cornucopia of choice. Scratch that... I'll make it easy - Ebi roll of Prawn Tempura, Wagyu beef and Teryaki: divine. Beef foie gras gyoza: fiendish. Chillean sea bass in black bean & shaoxing wine: almighty. A holy trifecta of taste and top of my food-heaven list. Cocoon is a popular place with jackets and shiny skirts alike and the exclusive ambiance from both the restaurant and bar is magnetic. As such prices come with an extra cool-tax, however it could be worse. A meal for 2 with wine can be sub £100 with a lean eye on the menu. Swanky, impressive, relaxed. Pucker up, put on a shirt and your fine-food face... then head over. Cocoon
65 Regent Street
London, W1B 4EA
+44 (20) 7494 7600
http://www.cocoon-restaurants.com/


Mexico DF is the world's third most populous city and that's no lie. Flying in on the plane a blanket of urban developments spreads hazily to all points on the horizon punctured only by a scattering of mini-mountains rising out of the haze.