Foodie weekends
Dining in England has changed beyond all recognition in recent years. More and more of the world's leading chefs are honing their skills in our cities – a fact underlined in 2005 when England was acknowledged as the best place to dine on the planet, with 14 restaurants featuring in Restaurant Magazine's influential list of '50 Best Restaurants in the World'. No other country fared better.
Northern flavours
Manchester is chock-a-block with delicious restaurant possibilities. Perhaps the most renowned is a short taxi ride outside Manchester in Altrincham. Juniper has won a Michelin star ten years running and is critically acclaimed as one of the most fresh, daring and eccentric in England for creating ingeniously theatrical food. The Manchester Farmers’ Market is held in the Manchester Recreation Centre every Thursday 3-6pm until 11th October and there’s also a daily Fine Food Market from April 18 to 29th in St Ann’s Square.
Elsewhere in the North West, the historic city of Lancaster makes a great base for exploring the culinary delights of the region. Nearby Glasson Dock is home to the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse, where fish is smoked using traditional methods to produce amazingly moist and flavoursome results. Dewlay Cheesemakers just outside the market town of Garstang is a cheese-lover's paradise, while if it’s fish and chips you’re after, head for Blackpool, where Seniors aims to "bring the fish experience to as many people as possible".
Theatre of fine dining
London is now acknowledged across the world as a culinary capital, with literally dozens of award-winning restaurants serving the gamut of world cuisine (this year 45 London restaurants were awarded Michelin stars.) Some of the leading lights include
Hakkasan, a basement temple to Cantonese cuisine (described in the press as London's "sexiest restaurant");
St John, a traditional food-lover's heaven, serving good old British cuisine;
Tom Aikens, a restaurant dedicated to the 'theatre of fine dining'; and
Sketch, conceived as a centre for food, art and music – somewhere for the imagination to run riot. If the combination of good food and beautiful art appeals, pay a visit to the
Wallace Collection - one of London's most attractive art galleries, and try one of
The Wallace Restaurant's hearty luncheons.
Tricks of the trade
You don't have to head for the bright lights of the capital to dine on exquisite cuisine: England as a whole is seeing a boom in the appreciation of fine food. Every city has its contenders. In Chester, the Arkle boasts the remarkable achievement of attaining a Michelin star 18 years on the trot, with one of the finest wine cellars in England to boot. In Newcastle, the Rèmy award-winning Black Door offers sophisticated lunches at great prices. In Cambridge, Midsummer House, nestled on the banks of the Cam, has added a second Michelin star to its tally.
Learn the tricks of the trade at Simpsons, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Birmingham that also runs a cookery school. Round off the day with a three-course lunch thrown into the bargain. For a more hands-on cookery course, they don't come much better than Coghlan's, near Sheffield, whose School of Wine, Food and Dining offers courses for all abilities.
Taste the regions
Of course, the food scene in England isn't all about starched tablecloths and celebrity chefs. There's also a huge range of good, honest regional cuisine to sample.
The farmers' markets and food markets of England's cities are a great place to start. Track down the huge range of regional specialities on offer – Romney lamb, perhaps (delicious slow roasted with rosemary), or Craster kippers (cured over a mixture of oak sawdust and whitewood shavings), or Suffolk samphire (a succulent green vegetable mentioned by Shakespeare in King Lear).
The huge Kirkgate Market in Leeds, housed in an impressive Edwardian building, is well worth a visit after recent renovations, as is Norwich Market, one of the country's largest, with stalls open Monday to Saturday. In London, be sure to visit Borough Market, the capital's oldest food market, housed under the girders of London Bridge.
One well-kept secret is the Goods Shed in Canterbury, a foodies' paradise described in the Guardian as 'pure gastro-porn'. This market represents small farmers and producers from Kent and is set inside a beautiful Victorian railway shed. On a raised gallery is a restaurant serving dishes made only from ingredients picked from the surrounding stalls. Perfect for lunch with friends.
Food festivals, chocolate and Indian spices
For sheer culinary indulgence, time your weekend break to coincide with one of the many food festivals that take place around the year in England's cities. Huge plans for the UK's most exciting food and drink festival are underway. The Manchester Food and Drink Festival taked place from 3-13th October this year.
If you have a stomach for ale, gather with friends for a three-day shindig at the CAMRA Beer Festival, held each summer near Derby – the real ale capital of Britain. Or visit one of the many micro-breweries dotted about the country; Manchester alone has twenty of them. One of the oldest micro-breweries in Newcastle is the Big Lamp Brewery, attached to the Keelman Pub in the suburbs – a big favourite with beer drinkers.
Beer tends to go well with Indian food, and for curry heads there's one city that trumps all the rest – Bradford, the home of English-Indian cuisine. Recipes from Bengal and Bangladesh to Pakistan and Goa have evolved to become uniquely British curries here in England. Sample the tastes of English-Indian cuisine at Kashmir, Bradford's oldest curry house, rated by many locals as its best.
Finally, for a sweet-toothed treat don't miss Chocolate Week in London, a week-long orgy of indulgence celebrating all things chocolate and culminating in the World Chocolate Awards. Or discover the pleasures of wine at Vinopolis, and while you're at it, learn how to taste like a pro.
