Mr & Mrs Smith's team of in-house specialists don't just know everything there is to know about where to sleep, they can also point you towards the best hotels to eat at, recommend great restaurants nearby and cook up food-based itineraries (tasting tour of Tuscany? Gourmet Greek-island odyssey? You name it).

Here are just a few of our self-confessed foodie experts: contact them via email below, or ring 0330 100 3180 and one of the team will help arrange your perfect gastronomic escape.

Senior Travel Consultant specialising in Vietnam, South Africa, France, Argentina and Australia.

'At The Nam Hai in Hoi An, we had a table in the lantern-lit garden overlooking China Beach. The executive chef Richard Wilson prepared the most magnificent evening meal of just-caught seafood, exquisite New Zealand lamb and the most beautiful chocolate dessert I’ve ever had. We followed it with a few fabulous rose martinis in the moonlight…'

Senior Travel Consultant specialising in South-East Asia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

'I’d stayed many times, taken cookery classes, bought the books and eaten everywhere from high-end restaurants to street stalls – I didn't think I could be surprised by food in Thailand. I was wrong. The Thai Lao Yeh restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel simply stunned me. The decor was beautiful, the staff welcoming and every dish so mouth-wateringly good it was like rediscovering Thai food all over again.'

Now available in the App Store, Great Global Chefs features exclusive recipes from a hand-picked selection of 20 Smith-hotel chefs from all over the world.

Created by the team behind Great British Chefs – the company that provides food lovers with recipes, tips and how-to videos from the very best chefs in the country – the new iPad app features detailed chef and restaurant profiles, beautiful food photography, themed recipe collections and step-by-step cooking guides to help you serve up restaurant-quality dishes from some of the culinary superstars of the Smith collection.

This melting pot’s most appetite-arousing scents drift from its markets, which offer a soapbox for enthusiastic artisans to grandstand about farms their favourite meat and veg hail from.

What's cooking? Pulled pork, sliders, bratwurst and brisket: the London urban food scene is in the throes of carnephilia. Right now, if it ain't meat, it ain't street.

Don't miss

• Step aside Borough Market – London's serious epicureans make a beeline for Ropewalk on Maltby Street on Saturdays. Salt-beef on rye from Monty's Deli is de rigueur.
• Wannabe patty-flippers may as well give up – Lucky Chip have pioneered the 'dirty burger'. Pick up a bunful of juicy deliciousness at the Sebright Arms off Hackney Road or from a secret Dalston pop-up opening soon (check Twitter for clues). 
• We've achieved gladiator-level crowd skirting, bagging a whole sea bass from Portobello Market's Moroccan Fish Stall, but those who prefer their west a little less wild seek out Well-Kneaded Wagon's firebreads at Battersea Food Market (every Saturday), or Acton supper club Momma Goose's Dr Pepper ribs with mac 'n' cheese – BYOB, or two…

Stay at Town Hall Hotel & Apartments to take advantage of the scintillating East End street-food scene.

Pioneers of the all-dessert tasting menu, and masters of El Bulli-inspired deconstructed tapas – by way of meaty Catalonian fare – Barcelona’s gastro scene is bold and boundary nudging.

What’s cooking? Surf ’n’ turf, bulging bocadillos and custard-filled xuixos doughnuts, washed down with a judicious slug of vermouth.

Don’t miss

• Blow off tremendous but touristy La Boqueria market for Mercat de San Antoni, to summon a generous aperitivo at Milano Cocktail Bar and gourmet sandwiches at Bar Mariana; chase with vermouth at little-known Tarannà nearby.
• Van Van Market reflects the city’s growing hunger for excellent street food, where a convoy of delicacy-proffering trucks descend on Parc de la Ciutadella. Find bite-size bliss at Reina Croquette and the Jamoneta.
• Much like attendees after its first two outings, Eat Street food festival has grown in size. Come October scour this (potentially) moveable feast for Eureka Street Food’s fresh and zingy ceviche.

Stay at Stock up on the abundant fruit and veg, and decently sized slabs of carne, at the Mercat de San Antoni, to cook up in DestinationBCN’s designer kitchens.

Served on a stick, or sipped from a steaming bowl, Hong Kong’s cuisine rewards the brave. We dare you to steel your tastebuds and dive in.

What’s cooking? Warming congee, yak’s milk cheesecake, fat noodles and sticky char siu – Hong Kong is a bubbling and boiling, scent-swarmed hotchpotch of tastes and textures.

Don’t miss

• Hidden within the visceral melee of Gage Street wet market, Lan Fong Yuen is a historic reassuringly shambolic spot for a restorative cup of silk-stocking milk tea – a pungent concoction that’s achieved city-wide fame.
• Causeway Bay is threaded through with Dai Pai Dong eateries. Ho Hung Kee is one of our favourites; here fish, chicken or 100-year old eggs can be added to your congee (Chinese porridge).
• Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong’s modus operandi is extraordinarily well-executed tofu dishes; in fact, it’s the only thing on the menu, but their tofu fa pudding finds perfection in simplicity.

Stay at within walking distance of authentic eateries and markets – and the home of Hong Kong hot spot Café Gray Deluxe – The Upper House will keep connoisseurs happily sated.

In a city where you can eat Colombian arepa de queso (cheese bread) for lunch and Serbian cevapi (minced meat in flatbread) for dinner, there’s little New Yorkers haven’t sampled, but a fresh crop of pop-ups keep its foodie scene vibrant.

What’s cooking? Naked Cowboy oysters, pork ribs with watermelon pickle, wagyu steak and heirloom tomatoes, accompanied by expertly shaken cocktails.

Don’t miss

• Cochon’s pop-up at Momofuku Ssäm Bar is shrouded in mystery; however, the brawny boudin sausage and smoky-sweet pork ribs of its New Orlean’s menu ensure a carnivore-charming feast.
• Shucks away! Board the F/V Sherman Zwicker schooner to knock back the east and west coasts’ tastiest oysters with a few stiff cocktails. Grand Banks' seasonal eatery also serves a paprika-spiced lobster roll and sea-fresh ceviche.
• Food and Wine Magazine’s feverishly anticipated Chef’s Club moves from St Regis Aspen to New York, lining up superstar chefs from the country’s finest restaurants – snap up a table as soon as you can…

Stay at De Niro’s designer den the Greenwich Hotel is close to the action and – as you'd expect from the Goodfellas star – its Italian restaurant Locanda Verde is molto buona.

New York may be the de facto ringleader of American cuisine, but Los Angeles is turning gastronomes' heads. Ideally placed for flavourful fresh produce, the city’s inventive culinary offerings are putting the meagre egg-white-omelette meal out of style.

What’s cooking? Beef carnitas-crammed sandwiches, smoky lemon-drizzled mussels and Korean roast duck. Slake your thirst with craft beer.

Don’t miss

• In Koreatown, Sun Ha Jang’s nondescript strip-mall frontage belies little of the perfectly crisped, crackling-coated duck served inside. It's best wolfed down with piquant pickled veggies and a side of kimchi.
• Echo Park eatery Guisados promises down–home, ‘just like Mom used to make’ cooking; whether you find that sentiment sweet or a little sickly, their steak picado, chicharrón and mole poblano are just right.
• Like Italy’s tramezzino and Spain’s bocadillos, Bäco Mercat’s sandwiches are a sophisticated incarnation of the snack. Fillings include beef-tongue schnitzel and harissa, and lamb meatballs with raisins and pine nuts.

Stay at Petit Ermitage; its cuisine is as avant garde as its Kafka-inspired decor. Rattlesnake rillettes and alligator sausage are rustled up for the Gypsy Brunch.

When it comes to street scoffing, Parisian’s have deemed the baguette démodé, in favour of, well, the humble burger. Gauche, perhaps? Mais oui; however, the Gallic take on McDonalds is typically chic.

What’s cooking? Sizzling wagyu patties, bubbling gruyère and Tomme de Savoie, and authentic French fries.

Don't miss

• Le Camion qui Fume, Paris New York and Big Fernand’s atelier take on a burger joint makes their queues almost worthwhile. Find speedier meaty succulence with blackened red peppers and bleu cheese toppings at Cantine California on Marché St Honoré.
• It 's a long way from the Yorkshire Dales, but Paris is barmy about Ginger Pig's short-horn cattle and Tamworth pigs – well, eating them anyway. Takeaway Frenchie To Go insouciantly slaps its bacon and brisket between pain, resulting in an effortlessly on-trend snack.
•  Burgers not your bag? Quai d'Austerlitz’s Wanderlust performance space hosts three-day feast Super Barquette, one of Paris’s trendiest food-truck love ins. Alix LaCloche’s feather-light fried chicken and Fricote’s Bahn Khot are stand-out eats.

Stay at Saint James Paris to swap kerbside munching for Michelin-starred cuisine come nightfall.
 

German street food may conjure up stodgy Christmas Market mainstays, but Berlin's perennial hipness has influenced its gastro scene, bringing sophisticated snackage to the city's coolest corners, which means you're more likely to bite into Beijing Jiaozi dumplings and fresh ceviche than clutching a solitary wurst.

What's cooking? Nigerian Fufu (cassava balls with soup), Korean buns, British pies – anything goes, as long as it's washed down with something frosty and foam-topped. 

• German's foodie fests are a frequent affair: Street Food Thursday (Thursdays, from 5pm–10pm) and Asian-night-market-aping Bite Club (every Friday and Staurday) bring the city's finest on-the-go chefs to the fore: we love Taco Kween's plump gorditas, Sababa's Isreali mezze and Brot and Zeit's hearty platters.
• For a little taste of weimar-era dining, time travel to vintage deli Rogacki on Wilmersdorfer Straße. Primly uniformed staff, dressed-to-the-nines lobsters and hams and dainty canapé platters make this a unique souvenir-hunting experience.
• Since the German Beer Purity Law slackened, Berliners have merrily knocked back steins of Ale Mania’s 19th-century Prussian-recipe beer (brewed with coriander seeds) and BrauKunstKeller’s smoky-citrus and malty-caramel ales. Sip them both at Oktoberfest's cooler cousin, Licht zum Bier festival in May.

Stay Das Stue's elegant restaurant Cinco earned a Michelin star within a year of opening – master chef Paco Pérez has already racked up four of the accolades. 

With inventive pintxos to nibble on and a constellation of Michelin stars, the Basque Country is home to Spain’s most enthusiastic eaters. It championed slow food before it became a gastronaut rallying cry, and each region has a distinct delicacy and vintage.

Known for Idiazábal sheep's cheese from Navarra, black cherries from Itxassou, Lekeitio paprikas and spicy guindillas from Ibarra. Sparkling txakoli wine or still cider are the refreshments of choice.

Fish and crustacea frequent Basque menus, as do veal cheeks, jamón and marmitako tuna stew. Modern pintxos can be simple brochetas or avant-garde El Bulli-influenced offerings: anchovy toasts with blueberry jam or salad served in a hamster ball – yes, really.

Don't miss

• Still rather than sparkling, but definitely not flat, Basque cider involves a great deal of showboating. Head to 16th-century sidrería Gartziategi – in Astigarraga, outside San Sebastián – where merry Basques pour from oversized barrels heartily yelling 'Txotx!' – you'll soon follow suit.
• Fragrant, sparkling, refined: Gaintza vineyard's txakoli wine is one of the best. Just a half-hour drive from San Sebastián, this dynastic vineyard also offers local light bites and a guide who's more than willing to waffle about viticulture.
• San Sebastián may have Michelin stars to spare, but Biarritz's seafood restaurants serve up splendid fish dishes. Fresh catches of all ilk are served at Chez Albert, Port des Pêcheurs, and Ilura, Pointe Sainte-Barbe; and Les Halles market has plenty for pescetarians to pick at.

Stay at Astoria7, at the heart of gourmet hub San Sebastián. There are no less than three Michelin-starred eateries within walking distance: Arzak on Avenida Alcalde Elosegui, Akelarre on Paseo Padre Orcolaga and Martin Berasategui at 4 Loidi Kalea. Bars such as Txepetxa and mod Zeruko make it an excellent place to plan a txikiteo (a pub crawl with pintxos).

In Dorset each gastropub waiter worth their locally sourced salt will rattle off the life story of every ingredient on your plate. With more farms than you can shake a hoe at, a fortuitous coastal perch and a hearty array of home brews, this southwest outpost is the destination for country cuisine.

Known for Abbotsbury rock oysters, Wolfeton cider and Blue Vinny cheese, and of course, Moore's Dorset Knob biscuits and Piddle brews – stop sniggering at the back there…

Here portion control is regarded with as much dubiety as Creationism. Hearty rabbit pie, haddock casserole, whole mackerels in gooseberry sauce and slabs of meat may turn up on your plate, followed by hedgerow-fresh berries, Dorset apple cake and a very fine cheese plate – seconds, please.

Don't miss

• Immortalised by poet William Barnes and made to a hallowed recipe, Blue Vinny ('blue veins' in West Country patois) has been the pride of the region for more than 300 years. Only Woodbridge Farm produce it, which is well worth a pilgrimage for cheese devotees; they also make delightful soups and chutneys.
• Lyme Bay's pillowy scallops are a joy to bite into. It's no surprise that Dorset's – and perhaps the world's – finest crab and mackerel festival is held at this coastal spot in July, and Mark Hix decided it was the spiritual home of Hix Oyster & Fish House. Need a nightcap? Cider brandy, mead and fabulous fruit liqueurs are found at the Lyme Bay Winery.
• Dorset's craft breweries are legion. We recommend electing a designated driver and blazing a boozy real-ale trail. Start in Bridport, home to Palmers and Art Brew Barn, then head west and loop round the Royal Standard Inn near Nottington, the Dorset Brewing Company in Crossways, the Brewhouse and Kitchen in Dorchester and Dorset Piddle Brewery in Piddlehinton, before returning back to the hotel all the cheerier.

Stay at The Pig – on the Beach, the seaside incarnation of epicurean fave The Pig. Its micro-seasonal menus are excellent, and suffused with hyper-local ingredients, but we'd be happy with just a plate of their famed pork scratchings.

Italy's booted ball is a degustation-worthy destination in its own right. Plump olives, grapes and citrus fruit sprout from Sicily's fertile soil, there are few middlemen between the sea and your plate, and pistachios, marzipan and creamy cheese are worked into dreamy dessert creations.

Known for ricotta: piped into cannolis, encased in pasta or baked and eaten with a spoon, Sicilians love it. Capers from Salina, blood oranges from Catania and panelle chickpea fritters are very good; cannolis, gelato and Marsala wine cater for sweet-toothed Smiths.

Dishes here are tableaux vivants of star-turn ingredients. Fresh and flavourful fish sprinkled with herbs, and pasta with spare sauce: a dollop of ricotta, juicy tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil and a jaunty basil leaf makes a perfect pasta alla nonna. Candied-fruit-dressed desserts are comparably flamboyant 

Don't miss

• A humble but punch-packing ingredient, capers are liberally sprinkled over Sicilian dishes; those from Salina are the most revered. The Aeolian Island's caper buds, preserved with salt instead of brine, are the island's pride and joy, and they're infused into gelato and panna cotta during the caper festival in June. Salina's also the only place where Malvasia wine is produced.
• Prefer your wine honey-hued and sweet? Visit Marsala on the west coast, to drink your fill of its eponymous plonk. Take a cellar tour of Florio Winery, then stop at Donnafugata Winery for more Dionysian swigging and slugs of grappa. The famed vino was first produced by the English, but maybe it's best to keep schtum about this when mingling with Marsalesis.
• With iridescent swordfish, frilly-legged langoustines and surprised-looking skates, Catania's fish market is a dizzying, and pungent, experience. Dishes are simple – a smattering of squid tentacles, a squeeze of lemon – but oh so good. Wash down with very fresh orange juice from the stalls and finish with cannoli from Prestipino Cafè or chiacchiere biscuits at Savia pasticceria.

Stay at homestead Azienda Agricola Mandranova; here you'll find yourself drifting to the cucina frequently, whether to eat co-owner Silvia's home-made fare or to make your own in the excellent cookery school.

While it can't quite match the French wine industry's cachet, Napa Valley's largely organic, Tricolore-waving gastro offerings will raise a 'Que c'est délicieux!' from the most patriotic Gaul. The region's sun-kissed rows of vines spread for miles over gently rolling Californian hills; with more than 300 estates to explore, even dedicated oenophiles may be overwhelmed.

Known for wine, wine and more wine… Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot are especially sippable. Food-wise, pick up chicken and pork from Hudson Ranch, olive oil from the Cliff Family Winery and peaches and meyer lemons from Frog's Leap Winery.  

Food isn't second fiddle to drink in Napa: tasting menus with soulmate wine pairings wow Michelin inspectors and St Helena Farmers' Market has succulent organic fruit and veg. 'Freedom fries' may be a faux pas, but luxe fried-chicken joint Addendum, and chilli and 'franks' at Gott's Roadside are skewed to heartland tastes.

Don't miss

• Yountville is Napa Valley's hedonistic heart: home to Moët-Hennessey-Louis Vuitton's Domaine Chandon estate and Michelin-star-amassing eateries, including The French Laundry and Bouchon. Wine pairings are, of course, discerning.
• No mere mortal can sample all of Napa Valley's quaffable delights. However, it's possible to get an informed overview in a day or two. We suggest a select few: pinot noir at Taittinger's Domaine Carneros, sauvignon blanc at The Lane Vineyard, a rich Cab Sauvignon at Joseph Phelps Vineyard, moscato at Kuleto Estate and a sophisticated slap-up meal at Auberge du Soleil.
• Culinary Institute of America’s California campus, in St Helena, offers expert cookery demonstrations from the next generation of superstar chefs. The Institute's suite of eateries – Bocuse Restaurant, Greystone Restaurant – show off their alumni's wizardry with dishes such as Oaxacan hot-stone soup.

Stay at Carneros Resort and Spa, a mod farmstead in between Napa and Sonoma, where guests can tuck into mouthwatering organic cuisine and arrange an on-site wine-tasting – or take a tour, if you prefer.

The Périgord's vine-sprinkled terroir is a no man's land for vegetarians and calorie counters: with creamy offal-filled pâtés, duck every which way and vin de pays on tap, only bons vivants need apply…

Known for ubiquitous foie gras, golden-hued goose roasted in its own fat, crusty pain, creamy chèvre, walnut wine and cake, plump strawberries and fungi worth as much as a car.

There's little Parisian-style frippery here; expect earthy andouillette sausages and confit de canard slathered in cèpes-flavoured sauces with a side of Sarladaise potatoes. Foie gras with something fruity and strawberry-strewn tarts too…

Don't miss

• Mediaeval pilgrim-resting-point Collognes-la-Rouge is hosting a new wave of sustenance-seekers. Ferme de Berle dishes up Limousin beef, cabécou smeared on walnut bread (studded with locally grown nuts) and comforting choucroute. Don't be squeamish, the 'veal-head' and 'pig-trotter' menus are excellent; La Grange aux Oies, close by offers a great modern menu, too. 
• There's black gold in the Périgord noir: try your hand at truffle prospecting – and seek out wild saffron – in the Natural Park of Quercy. Slim pickings? Head to self-proclaimed truffe central Sorges, where Auberge de la Truffe's dishes are dappled with black-diamond shavings, and die-hard fungi fans can go follow a truffière trail and visit Musée de la Truffe.
• Home to the Truffle Festival, foie-gras fiesta Fest'Oie and Les Journées du Terroir (where tastings and cookery demonstrations take place), Sarlat is the premier destination for Périgordine produce. There's a market every day too, alongside the organic night market (every Thursday from June to September) and the Truffle and Foie Gras market (Saturdays from December to February).

Stay at Château les Merles; the new-Périgord cuisine at La Bruyère Blanche – whipped up with veggies from the hotel's organic garden – is colourful and creative; Bergerac's wine and Sarlat's stonking food are nearby for top-notch guzzling, and the cookery school gives you something to do in between gorging.
 

Where L’Olivo, Capri Palace Hotel & Spa, Italy

Cuisine Modern Italian

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Inspiration comes from the raw material, and the traditions and memories I carry with me. I remember sitting in my grandmother Tina’s small kitchen, watching her cook and relishing the unforgettable aroma: high-quality oil, fresh fish, rabbit, pork, vegetables, herbs… From there I build a curiosity and love for the kitchen, I began to ask more and more about cooking.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Datterini tomatoes

Best breakfast?
High-quality yogurt, cereals, fresh fruit and espresso

Where do you like to eat out?
The first place is my house! But I like to go around and try new thing; I choose places depending on the circumstances…
 

Where Barachois, Constance Le Prince Maurice, Mauritius

Cuisine Gallic-Asian fusion

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Nature for the colours. People and traditions for the structure. Gormandising for the taste.

Favourite ingredient right now?
All the citrus fruits – and particularly preserved.

Best breakfast?
Fresh baked home-made croissants with home-made cherry jam, in my family home when I was a kid.

Where do you like to eat out?
In a small family restaurant (generally Italian; if possible in Italy), and at Le Bristol in Paris, to eat Eric Frechon's food – the best in the world to me!

Where La Residence, Franschoek, South Africa

Cuisine French

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Fresh seasonal produce – in full season and bursting with flavour.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Spices – they add warmth to winter cooking My favourite is cumin.

Best breakfast?
Pannetone French toast with crispy bacon, fresh berries and crème fraiche.

Where do you like to eat out?
Hemelhuijs, a small oasis in the heart of Cape Town city centre.
 

Where The Nam Hai, Hoi An, Vietnam

Cuisine Asian Fusion

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Simply the enjoyment of being around different ingredients and being in a kitchen with my chefs.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Herbs from our garden, eggplants and duck.

Best breakfast? The Nam Hai’s, of course.

Where do you like to eat out?
A little place around the corner from where I live called Son – good food and good feng shui.

Where The Restaurant, Saint James Paris

Cuisine Modern French

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
I was born in Normandy and love to cook products of the sea – always fresh and in season.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Coriander flowers.

Best breakfast?
Breakfast at the Crillon hotel with chef Jean Francois Piège, especially a coddled egg with spinach and a Parmesan cheese emulsion.

Where do you like to eat out?
I love to have diner in small Parisian bistrots belonging to friends.

Where The Typing Room, Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, London

Cuisine Modern European

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
I let the produce and the seasons be the inspiration for my dishes.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Gooseberries.

Best breakfast?
Eggs Royale, fresh fruit and yogurt.

Where do you like to eat out?
The Clove Club, or The Ledbury.

Where Café Gray Deluxe, the Upper House, Hong Kong

Cuisine Modern European

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Strong coffee in the morning and the New York Times. Ha.

Favourite ingredient right now?
I'm very intrigued by why we are not using more underrated fish species such as hake, cask, etc – I'm very into safeguarding our oceans.

Best breakfast?
One I had in Wyoming, on a fire, in a cowboy outfit, with the classics such as baked beans, lots and lots of bacon and scrambled eggs, devilish hot sausages. The coffee was undrinkable…

Where do you like to eat out?
At my country home, or grilling on a campfire.
 

Where Borsaro 36, Palazzo Victoria, Verona, Italy

Cuisine Modern Italian

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
My cooking is inspired by classic Italian recipes, with a modern twist.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Tomato and basil, inevitably.

Best breakfast ever?
The best breakfasts I ever had were at Shangri-La Sydney and Burj al-Arab Dubai.

Where do you like to eat out?
I normally prefer to eat food in the place its ingredients come from, whether that's a simple trattoria or a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Where Bells at Killcare, Central Coast, Australia

Cuisine Modern Italian

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Often our vegetable gardens, or a stroll through the markets – be they fish or produce – provides inspiration but mostly it’s the regional dishes of Italy and my travels to those regions, provinces and towns.

Favourite ingredient right now?
I've just received a few jars of caper leaves preserved in vinegar. They are from the western shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy (close to where I was born). They are relatively unknown outside their terrain and I’m very excited to start using them in soups, vitello tonnato and seafood dishes.

Best breakfast?
I’m not a big breakfast sort of person. All I need is good espresso, made properly, and a perfect, just-made croissant. I love Pioik Bakery and café because it’s close by where I live and Shady Wasef is a consummate baker.

Where do you like to eat out?
I’ve been eating a lot of pizza lately because I’m working on opening a pizzeria later this year. A few days ago I had a wonderful pizza at Gigi’s in Newtown.

 

Where Cinco, Das Stue, Berlin, Germany

Cuisine Mediterranean

What's the inspiration for your cooking?
Inspiration has many aspects: places, moments, memories, aromas – but above all, work and consistency.

Favourite ingredient right now?
Always some product from the sea, but perhaps at the moment gamba panxuda (spot prawn) from Llançá – it's extraordinary.

Best breakfast ?
The best breakfast is the one I can sometime enjoy with my wife and children; I like fruit, red tea, jamón iberíco, fried eggs and pastries.

Where do you like to eat out?
On Sunday evenings I usually go to a little restaurant, La Sirena in Rosas, to dine on simple things: roast artichoke, jamón, calamari, scampi.

Stay at Castello di Casole – a hill-view haven in the heart of Tuscany set in a culinary utopia, with grapes, olives, lemons and saffron a few of the ingredients in plucking distance – just the place to get inventive with your pizza making. 

Take a bite of a fresh-out-a-Tuscan-oven slice and all limp, regrettable crime-against-pizza take-aways are forgotten; this is the real deal. Replicating it at home is the hard bit. Which is why being schooled in the perfect pizza is a lesson worth learning. All the crucial crust-based challenges are tackled, from the dough to the toppings via the all important tomato and cheese foundation, with the added satisfaction that almost everything you use has been grown, pressed or reared somewhere on Castello di Casole's endless estate. Daring dough-flingers may find some inspiration in the pizzeria menu where combos like prawns and swiss chard and red potatoes and rosemary go up against the ever-presents. However yours turns out, though, few foodie endeavours are as fun as muddling your way through your first Margherita, so flour-faced five-year-olds will get as much enjoyment as desperate dinner party show-offs. 

Stay at The Kensington Hotel London, where the Aubrey Restaurant's chef Russell Ford serves up appetite-kerbing Anglicised fare. Book here and you'll get a gratis gourmet cocktail-making class as your Smith extra.

Teal-hued velvet sofas, wood-panelled walls and mirrored countertops bestow a sophisticated, retro Mad Men-style air to the Aubrey Bar, so it's the ideal spot for some amateur mixology. When your cases have been whisked away and you've settled in to the jewel-box bar, you're armed with several glasses, petite bottles of spirits, quartered fruit and an array of metal whatsits and doohickeys that wouldn't look out of place in an operating theatre – albeit a lax one. Galvin Cup-holding cocktail maestro Alessandro Pizzoli gently guides you through addling techniques, spirit densities and the surprisingly complex choreography behind the all-important shake, diplomatically ignoring any spills or shakes along the way. You can choose to make a minty mojito, a passion-fruit-flavoured Truly Madly Deeply, a grown-up Campari-spiked Americano or a classic dry martini; you may not be able to pull off Tom Cruise's Cocktail spectacles – or his flowery attire – by the end of your session, but you'll have something decadent to drink that you'll be justly proud of.

Discerning foodies will admire the skilfully slivered truffes and cleaved meats served up at Cinco (Das Stue boutique hotel's divine restaurant). If you already know your Saji from your Tojiro Senkou (Heston’s fave) the next step is a hand-forged blade. For €200 (including materials) you can take a two-day metalsmithing course at Holzapfel, in association with the Berlin smithy. You might get a bit Thor, hammering your blade into sirloin-slicing submission, but when finished you’ll be carré-ing on with pride. Contact Holzapfel for details.

Stay at Das Stue. There’s not a whiff of curry wurst on Cinco’s à la carte; however, its chef Paco Pérez’s all-truffle and 25-course tasting menus that keep punters tongues wagging.

With its penchant for reverie-inducing confections, you’ll encounter a troupe of Willy Wonka-esque chocolatiers in Brussels. If you want sweet treats without having to be rescued by an Oompa Loompa, head to Zaabär to spend 90 hairnet-clad minutes hand-rolling truffles in meringue and coconut; sprinkling milk and dark cocoa bars with dried fruit, nuts and spices; and perfecting your calligraphic chocolate drizzle – then promptly scarf down your creations afterwards. Sated? Head to Rue de la Tête d'or to visit the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate.

Stay Be Manos; if the dramatic bubble chandelier and monochrome design of the restaurant don’t woo you, melt-in-the-maw Blanc-bleu Belge beef, lemongrass soup and tongue-fizzing sherberts will.

Ex-El Bulli pastry chef Oriol Balaguer’s Easter eggs resemble Dali-esque fetishes, with laser-cut cubist choc sculptures, trompe-l'œil fruits and some that look like incubating Giger beasties. He’s also famed for explode-in-your-mouth sherbert and popping-candy chocolates and surrealist gateaux. His 40-hour, €2,200 gastronomy course (for English and Spanish speakers) tops many a pâtissier’s bucket list. You’ll learn to craft gallery-worthy cakes, chocolates, pastries, pies and even sweet cocktails; it’s hardly a cakewalk in the park, but well worth the effort if you want to end every meal with a bang – perhaps literally…

Stay Hotel Omm (nom nom) has a holy trinity of Michelin-approved fraternal chefs: pleasingly alliterative Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca. Restaurant Roca Moo’s menu has two excellent tasting menus highlighting haute Catalan fare.

Stay at Idle Rocks – classically Cornish throughout, with seaside-inspired deco and right by the water’s edge: this is the place to awaken your inner angler.

St Mawes is full of picture-postcard fishing boats bobbing up and down in the harbour, but instead of Instagramming them from the window of your nautical nest, why not pack yourself a pasty and head into open water on one? As well as hosting the occasional wow-worthy encounter with dolphins, whales and basking sharks, these waters are home to mackerel, monkfish, octopus, crab and other sustainable species for you to pit your fisherman’s wit against. Fish & Trips run regular excursions and charters from the port, for all ages and abilities and with all the necessary kit thrown in. Amiable skipper James Brown (he’s a fishin’ machine) will have you feeling like a pro in no time, and if you’re successful – and nice to the chef on your return – you can tuck in to your take for tea.

In true Italian style, food is at the fore during a stay at La Villa. By all means join a perfect pasta masterclass or indulge in some Piemonte wine tasting, but the real gourmet prize is hidden in the surrounding vine-strewn countryside. 

We'd normally recommend you look out over such inspiring Italian scenery but divert your gaze to tree root level and you might just find yourself a piece of gourmet gold. Truffle hunting is, literally, big business in these parts and at La Villa you can join local expert Mario, and his well-honed hound Rex, in the search. From mid-September to late December several hunts are arranged and any fungal finery unearthed is brought back to use in a truffle brunch prepared by Mario – think truffle and gorgonzola toast, truffle omelettes and scrambled eggs with truffle. If your now tantilised tastebuds crave even more, the famed Alba white truffle fair is nearby and runs from 11 October to 16 November. 

Stay at The Pig – Hampshire's prize-winning hog of a hotel is an epicurean evangelist where the chef relies on his forager and kitchen gardener more than his stove-side companions and guests are encouraged to take part in daily harvests.

The bushes heave with berries, mushrooms line the grounds and fruits hang from the trees – these forests are fertile foraging grounds. An experience with the Pig's forager-at-large is part walk, part education and part wild snack-sourcing. If you've never done more than pluck the occasional blackberry you'll appreciate the expert guidance; many flavour-packed herbs and vegetables are easily missed by an untrained eye, and there are some deadly fungi to beware of. Autumn is the time for nuts and preserve-perfect fruits, with spring serving up salad specialties and unusual veg. Take the short hop to the Solent coast and you can add seaweed and shellfish to your bounty, too.