David Levene takes a stroll down Omoide Yokochō – Memory Lane – to try out old school Japanese delicacies such as salamander, loach and viper wine. It’s all good for the stamina

Only in Tokyo can you sample the finest sushi from a skycraper, try tofu beside a carp pond or taste tempura under an oversized fedora. Robbie Swinnerton picks the best upmarket restaurants

• As featured in our Tokyo city guide

Kozue

No other restaurant in Tokyo has a setting to rival Kozue. Perched far above the fray on the 40th floor of the Park Hyatt, Kozue is still as swish as the day it opened in 1994, with a contemporary look (soaring ceiling, stylish tables and chairs) to match the confident modern inflections on kaiseki (japan’s version of haute cuisine). The menu features torafugu puffer fish in winter, ayu sweetfish in summer, matsutake mushrooms in autumn, and year-round shabu-shabu of perfectly marbled beef from premium wagyu cattle. Book a window seat to enjoy a peerless view of the western hills and even (if the weather gods are smiling) Mt Fuji’s cone silhouetted in the distance.
• Park Hyatt Hotel, 3-7-1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, +81 3 5323 3460, tokyo.park.hyatt.com, lunch from ¥3900 (around £34), dinner from £115. Open daily 11.30am-2.30pm and 5.30pm-10pm, closed Wed. English spoken

Mikawa Zezankyo

Tetsuya Saotome produces flawless tempura, succulent morsels of premium seafood and vegetables served straight from his deep-frying wok to your plate. He follows the classic Edomae style, using only ingredients that (with a couple of exceptions) would have been available in 150 years ago. He works solo, which is why he can only seat nine at his counter. The cuisine and configuration may be traditional, but the eclectic decor – from European antiques to traditional lacquer-work and an extractor hood in the shape of a fedora – certainly isn’t. There are many contenders for the crown of Tokyo’s finest tempura, but none take it to quite the same level of idiosyncratic artistry. Zezankyo is hidden away in the residential back streets to the east of the Sumida river, but it well repay the effort and taxi fare to get there.
• 1-3-1 Fukuzumi, Koto-ku, +81 3 3643 8383, lunch from £90, dinner from £140, mikawa-zezankyo.jimdo.com. Open Thurs-Tues 11.30am-1.30pm and 5pm-9pm. English not spoken

Nodaiwa

The speciality at Nodaiwa is unagi, charcoal-broiled freshwater eel. This is one of Tokyo’s unsung plebeian pleasures, but here served with refinement and a grand setting – a transplanted timber mountain farmhouse. The fifth-generation owner-chef uses eel caught in the wild rather than from fish farms and the flavour is incomparable. The cosy ground-floor dining room is fine for a simple (but rich and satisfying) lunch of unaju (juicy eel fillets broiled golden-brown, on a bed of white rice). Up the stately staircase, the private rooms are best for a full banquet. The highlight: shirayaki, eel that’s lightly steamed and grilled, then topped with caviar. Perfect with a bottle of crisp local koshu wine.
• 1-5-4 Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, +81 3 3583 7852, nodaiwa.com, set menu £60, a la carte from £17. Open 11am-1.30pm and 5am-8pm. Some English spoken

Nihon Ryori Ryugin

Ryugin sprang to prominence on the back of chef Seiji Yamamoto’s imaginative application of modern cooking techniques to classic Japanese cuisine. These days, he has no need for any molecular magic: his vibrant contemporary kaiseki speaks for itself. Yamamoto is now at the top of his game (as recognised by his third Michelin star), drawing massive depths of flavour from his premium ingredients – such as sakuradai snapper, from the Naruto Strait close to his hometown, creamy an-kimo (monkfish liver, known as the foie gras of the ocean), or hand-reared Iwate wagyu beef. Yamamoto’s candy pear dessert nitro-chilled to -196C and served with a sauce of the same fruit heated to a scalding 99C, is the stuff of legend.
• Side Roppongi Building 1F, 7-17-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, +81 3 3423 8006, nihonryori-ryugin.com, dinner £200. Open Mon-Sat 6pm-1am (last sitting 10.30pm). English spoken

Aronia de Takazawa

Chef Yoshiaki Takazawa’s bijou restaurant has long been one of Tokyo’s most intriguing secrets, more talked about than actually visited. Hardly surprising, since Aronia only sits two tables (maximum eight people) each evening. His French-Japanese signature dishes include: a ratatouille terrine, with vegetables layered into multicoloured cubes; carpenter’s salade niçoise, with sashimi tuna and tapenade sauce solidified in the shape of spanners and screws; and his hot balloon of seafood slow-cooked with bamboo shoot and seaweed. Takazawa stands centre-stage in this hushed, windowless chamber, with its sleek wood panelling and dramatic spot lighting, preparing or finishing each course himself, while his wife Akiko serves and explains in faultless English. • Sanyo Akasaka Bldg 2F, 3-5-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, +81 3 3505 5052, aroniadetakazawa.com, from £140. Open daily 6pm-9pm (last sitting). English spoken

Les Creations de Narisawa

Creativity lies at the heart of the eclectic modern cuisine dreamed up by Yoshihiro Narisawa at his impeccably polished Aoyama restaurant, with its swish, modern dining room and gleaming kitchen revealed through massive picture windows like a balletic silent movie. The fundamentals may be French but Narisawa’s ideas and execution are his own: from the foraged herbs and edible soil to the damper-style bread cooked at the table. At times, it all feels overly cerebral, but his delectable char-cooked vegetables and wagyu beef bring a sensual satisfaction, and the desserts seem to never stop arriving. Narisawa also boasts a cellar especially strong in Burgundies, as well as a groaning cheese trolley.
• 2-6-15 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, +81 3 5785 0799, narisawa-yoshihiro.com, lunch from £65, dinner from £185. Open Mon-Sat noon-3pm and 6.30-9pm. English spoken

Sushi Mizutani

Sushi doesn’t get much finer than at Mizutani – or more austere. There is virtually no decoration on the plain ochre walls of the small 9th-floor room where Hachiro Mizutani holds court. Nor are there tables, just one long counter; a single massive timber of smooth-scrubbed cedar and 10 plain chairs. The air is crisp with the faint aroma of rice vinegar and the atmosphere is hushed. Sushi veteran Mizutani is taciturn in his own language and speaks no English, but there’s little that needs saying, except to specify beer or sake (there’s only one brand of each). The sushi arrives in a set order, determined according to whatever is in peak season. A succession of flawless morsels of seafood on lightly vinegared rice kept at exactly skin temperature, it will include several cuts of the finest bluefin you have ever tasted, and the best abalone too. A couple of caveats: perfume is frowned upon, as are cameras and mobile phones. Nothing is allowed to disturb the serenity.
• Juno Ginza Seiwa Building 9F, 8-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, +81 3 3573 5258, lunch from £130, dinner from £180. Open Mon-Sat 11.30am-1.30pm and 5pm-9.30pm. English not spoken

Tofuya Ukai

In a city of contrasts and surprises, few are greater than discovering the traditional garden, carp ponds and sprawling low-rise wooden architecture at Tofuya Ukai. There is no central dining room, just a warren of private chambers (most with tatami mats and low tables, but some with chairs) with garden views built around the timber buildings of a former sake brewery. The multi-course kaiseki meals focus on tofu, produced freshly at Ukai’s own small workshop in the hills west of Tokyo. In winter, the house-special tosui-tofu delivers a triple whammy of bean goodness: cubes of tofu cooked down at your table in a creamy, savoury casserole of soya milk blended with chicken broth, topped with layers of yuba tofu skin
• 4-4-13 Shiba-Koen, Minato-ku, +81 3 3436 1028, ukai.co.jp, lunch from £50, dinner from £75. Open daily 11am-10pm (last sitting 8pm). English spoken

Bird Land Ginza

Toshihiro Wada was one of the first artisan chefs to elevate the humble craft of grilling skewers of chicken (yakitori) to a cuisine of substance and subtlety. He uses only top-quality free-range shamo gamecock, cooking the morsels of meat and offal over premium Bincho charcoal. Open the meal with his trademark liver pate, continue with wasabi-coated rare sasami white meat, and don’t miss the sansho-yaki, succulent breast meat dusted with piquant Japanese pepper. In another break from the tradition of smoky neighbourhood grills, Wada stocks a small cellar of Burgundies and New World wines – perfect with grilled fare of this caliber. • Tsukamoto Building B1F, 4-2-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, +81 3 5250 1081, ginza-birdland.sakura.ne.jp, dinner from £55. Open Tue-Sat 5pm-9.30pm. Some English spoken

Akasaka Kikunoi

From the bamboo-lined, lantern-lit path to the simple, traditional wooden decor of the rooms (with either chairs or tatami mats), Kikunoi is a microcosm of traditional Kyoto. The Tokyo outpost of one of Kyoto’s most illustrious kaiseki houses, it serves the rarified cuisine of Japan’s ancient capital – expect to spend a good three hours at table if you’re having the full-course dinner. For a more concise, affordable introduction, the lunchtime Kodaiji bento is an exquisite tasting menu in miniature, served in a lacquered box with several side dishes. Owner-chef Yoshihiro Murata is revered for the depth of umami he coaxes from the dashi soup stock that underpins all his dishes.
• 6-13-8 Akasaka, Minato-ku, +81 3 3568 6055, kikunoi.jp, lunch from £45, dinner from £140. Open Mon-Sat noon-1pm and 5pm-9pm (last sitting). English spoken

For more information go to the Japan National Tourism Organisation’s website: jnto.go.jp/eng

• Robbie Swinnerton writes the Tokyo Food File column for The Japan Times

Whether you fancy sushi, noodles or top tempura, it’s easy to find good, cheap restaurants in Tokyo, says Robbie Swinnerton

• As featured in our Tokyo city guide

Kanda Yabu Soba

In a city that has celebrated the understated flavour of soba (buckwheat noodles) for centuries, no restaurant is as revered as Kanda Yabu Soba. Founded more than 100 years ago, it’s a handsome, free-standing wooden villa in its own tranquil garden courtyard with the feel of a traditional tea house. Kimono-clad waitresses bustle about, ferrying food and drink from kitchen to table (either with chairs or on tatami mats). Locals prefer their noodles cold, as zaru soba (plain noodles with a dip) or ten-zaru (the same with batter-fried shrimp). In winter the classic dish is kamo-nanban, hot soba in a rich broth with slices of duck breast and leek.
• 2-10 Kanda-Awajicho, Chiyoda-ku, +81 3 3251 0287, norenkai.net/english/shop/yabusoba/index.html, soba noodles from around £6. Open daily 11.30am-8pm. English menu

Tsunahachi

Tempura – batter-fried morsels of seafood and vegetables – is one of the supreme delicacies of Japanese cuisine and, like sushi, at the upper end it can cost a prince’s ransom. Hidden away on the upper restaurant floor of a mall close to Shinjuku JR Station, Tsunahachi proves it doesn’t have to. Bright, modern and drawing a youngish demographic, it brings some innovative nuances to the tradition, such as serving a choice of four different kinds of salt with the tempura instead of just the standard soya-based dipping sauce. Drop in for a quick, affordable lunch of tendon (shrimp and a few cuts of vegetables served on rice), or settle in for a leisurely dinner, picking from the considerable side menu of sashimi and other Japanese delicacies.
• Lumine 7F, 3-38-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, +81 3 3352 1012, tunahachi.co.jp, lunch from ¥1,260 (£10.50), dinner from ¥2,625 (£22), English menu. Open daily 11am-11pm

Sushi-Bun

Tokyo’s central fish market is an essential part of most visitors’ itineraries, and so is breakfast at one of its legendary hole-in-the-wall sushi counters. The seafood could hardly be fresher, and the sushi is as good as you’d expect at places charging four times as much. Sushi-Bun is one of the best in the market – it’s just as tiny (10 seats at the counter at a pinch) and as tasty as the others, but it’s left out of most guidebooks so the queues are usually shorter. Most people go for the set sushi menu (from £22 for eight servings of whatever seafood is in season, plus soup), which includes their succulent house-special, anago sea eel. The rough sake they serve with it, though, is far from premium.
• 8 Chuo Shijo Building, 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, +81 3 3541 3860, tsukijinet.com, sushi chef’s menu (omakase) from £22, English menu. Open Mon-Sat 6am-2.30pm, closed Sun and holidays

Kushiwakamaru

Yakitori – bite-sized cuts of chicken (and some vegetables) skewered, grilled and then seasoned with salt or slathered with thick soy sauce – is classic blue-collar fare: cheerful, affordable and best washed down with flagons of lager, sake or shochu. The cheapest places tend to be raucous and smoky, and often specialise in offal, but Kushiwakamaru hits just the right note. The feel is casual and accessible, while the charcoal-grilled chicken is well above average. There are always a few specials, such as duck or quail. And don’t miss the negima (chicken and leek), the tsukune (balls of minced chicken) or the tebasaki chicken wings (forget chopsticks – these you pick up and gnaw with your hands).
• 1-19-2 Kami-Meguro, Meguro-ku, +81 3 3715 9292, r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131701/13003193, yakitori from £1.60/stick, English menu. Open Mon-Fri 5.30pm-midnight, Sat-Sun 5pm-midnight

Nogizaka Uoshin

Five minutes’ walk from the opulent Roppongi midtown complex, the Nogizaka branch of the Uoshin group sets the template for the genre that’s come to be known as fish shack dining. Fresh seafood served any which way you like, at prices that reflect the rudimentary decor: bright lights, colourful fishermen’s banners and no-frills seating. Uoshin’s parent company is a seafood wholesaler, guaranteeing freshness and a great variety of seasonal seafood. You can’t go wrong here: generous sashimi platters; whole squid or other fish grilled to order; warming winter fish stews; and humongous portions of sushi.
• 9-6-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, +81 3 3405 0411, uoshins.com, full meals from around £30, including two hours of all you can drink. Open Lunch 12-2pm on weekdays; dinner 5pm-12am; Sunday and holidays 4pm-11pm

Maruni

Maruni does barbecue in a style all its own. The building is an old converted rice merchant’s store that somehow got left behind among the modern office buildings close to Shinbashi Station. The decor is all gaudy black and red. Instead of tables and chairs, there are half a dozen oil drums, each with a charcoal grill set into the top. You just order a plate or two of meat, then grill it yourself. The beef is all from the famously pampered Japanese wagyu cattle. Maruni doesn’t serve the super-premium steak grades so it’s all highly affordable.
• 1-11-1 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, +81 3 3572 1129r.gnavi.co.jp/gar6100/lang/en/, grilled beef from around ¥550 (£4.60 a plate. Open Mon-Thurs, Sat 5pm-midnight, Fri 5pm-4am. English menu

Ippudo

Ramen is Chinese in origin, but it’s unquestionably Japan’s de facto favourite late-night fast food. You find ramen counters on virtually every street corner, serving up nourishing, steaming hot bowls of wheat noodles in rich, meaty broth, invariably topped with slices of chashu pork, half a boiled egg and chewy strips of menma bamboo. Within the genre, though, numerous regional variations have evolved: all are available in Tokyo. Where to start? You can’t go wrong with Ippudo, a chain (now with a New York outlet) that flies the flag for Fukuoka ramen. The noodles are light and the tonkotsu soup (made from long-simmered pork bones) rich and satisfying.
• 1-3-13 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, +81 3 5420 2225, ippudo.com/store/tokyo/ebisu.html. Open Mon-Sat 11am-4am, Sun 11am-2am　

Shin-Hinomoto

There’s nothing in the West quite the equivalent of an izakaya: neither pub nor restaurant, it’s a place for eating — often well and always cheaply — as much as for drinking; and, just as importantly, for de-stressing after work. Shin-Hinomoto is a classic example. It looks unpromising, a cramped room full of noise and cigarette smoke shoehorned in under the railway tracks in Yurakucho. It’s a typical izakaya in all but one respect: the master of the house is British. Known to one and all simply as Andy, he married into the business and now runs it. Seafood is his speciality, which he sources each day from Tsukiji market. But you’ll also find chicken, cooked vegetables and simple salads alongside the tempura and sashimi.
• 2-4-4 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, +81 3 3214 8021, andysfish.com/Shin-Hinomoto. Open Mon-Sat 5pm-midnight, English spoken

Little Okinawa

The food and drink of Japan’s southernmost prefecture are so distinctive they could be a totally different cuisine. The Okinawa archipelago is far closer to China than to Tokyo and the influences are marked. Little Okinawa is a welcoming, long-time (yes, and very compact) bastion of this subtropical culture, and it serves all the island exotica. Start with umi-budo, seaweed resembling miniature grapes, and jimami-dofu, a tofu-like custard made from peanuts. Continue with goat sashimi and pig’s ear (crunchy, but served with a nice vinegar-sharp sauce). And don’t miss the goya-champur (scrambled egg, tofu and bitter gourd) and rafutei, pork belly soft-simmered till you can cut it with a chopstick. Wash it all down with shots of awamori, a fiery liquor that can pack a wallop.
• 8-7-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku, +81 3 3572 2930, little-okinawa.co.jp, ramen from £6.50, English menu. Open noon-1.30pm, 5pm-3am Mon-Fri, noon-1.30pm, 4pm-midnight Sat and Sun

Tonki

The first thing you notice about Tonki is how bright it is: it’s as spick and span as an operating theatre. The chefs wear spotless white uniforms, the kitchen gleams and the wooden counter and tables are scrubbed smooth. Quite remarkable for a place where the only form of cooking is deep-frying. Tonki’s speciality (in fact the only thing it serves) is tonkatsu: cutlets of pork that are dipped in breadcrumbs, then fried till the outside is a crispy golden-brown and the meat inside perfectly tender and juicy. You have two basic choices: rosu (blubbery-rich belly meat) or hire (lean loin “fillet”), though the latter is also offered as kushi, bit-sized cuts cooked on skewers. Most people order the set meal, with rice and miso soup on the side, leaving as soon as they finish.
• 1-1-2 Shimo-Meguro, Meguro-ku, +81 3 3491 9928, tonkatsu from £7, set meals from £14. Open 4pm-10.45pm, closed Tues and third Mon of the month

For more information go to the Japan National Tourism Organisation’s website: jnto.go.jp/eng

• Robbie Swinnerton writes the Tokyo Food File column for The Japan Times

Whether you’re visiting for the rugby or the races, Gloucester Cathedral or Cheltenham Jazz Festival, it pays to know where to find good affordable restaurants, cafes and pubs

• See our interactive map of Britain’s best budget restaurants
• If we’ve missed your favourite, tell us on our blog

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CHELTENHAM

Vanilla

If you’re looking for “cheap eats” you could easily overlook this smart basement restaurant. It is located below an upmarket hairdresser and beauty salon in one of Cheltenham’s many handsome Regency buildings. The window, moreover, is dotted with Michelin stickers – not usually a signifier of keen value. But don’t hover at the door: get in there, because Vanilla delivers sharp cooking at very competitive prices. Between 6pm and 7pm, it offers a two-course menu for £10. That menu is also available at lunch, alongside a selection of sandwiches, salads and simple mains. It is crowd-pleasing stuff, rendered with style and precision: Gloucester Old Spot sausage and mash; haddock fishcake with wilted baby chard and chive velouté; chicken liver parfait. Whisky and honey gravadlax (£7.50) arrived atop an incredibly light pillow of a blini, accompanied by clean, lemony blobs of creme fraiche, tangles of nicely modulated pickled beetroot and a mound of bright, sharply dressed salad leaves. The salmon’s dressing smoothly melded honeyed sweetness and cockle-warming single malt flavours, too.
• Lunch, sandwiches from £3.95, light meals/mains from £4. 9-10 Cambray Place, Cheltenham, 01242 228228, vanillainc.co.uk

Svea

This small, charming Swedish restaurant is a cafe by day, offering decent, non-stewed filter coffee (£2.25) and first-rate baking (try the kanelbullar cinnamon buns, £1.90). The lunchtime menu runs from open sandwiches, such as the Hönö – falukorv sausage and cheese with a fried egg, served with a green salad – to the definitively Scandi Kungshamn – herrings, new potatoes, creme fraiche and crisp bread. A sample hagasmörgås on a thick slice of rustic bread is sound: the ever-so-slightly dry pork and beef meatballs coming alive when mixed with the creamy beetroot salad below. It is a happy to and fro of sweet and savoury flavours. On the menu you will find various useful phrases translated into Swedish, including “I hate flatpack furniture” and – either a typo or very subtle satire, this – “Sven bought out the best in English football”.
• Lunch, dishes £4.95-£9.95. 24 Rodney Road, Cheltenham, 01242 238134, sveacafe.co.uk

The Swan

A literally and figuratively beige gastropub, complete with the obligatory Chesterfield sofa by the front door, the Swan won’t win any awards for design originality, but the food is good, the price is right and the staff are on the ball. It is a perfectly if generically pleasant place to hang out. The kitchen uses good-quality artisan products, including O’Hagan’s award-winning sausages, and air-dried ham and cured meats from Oxsprings in Worcestershire and Monmouthshire’s Trealy Farm. A sample burger, topped with a fried sliced of Diana Smart’s renowned, robustly flavoured double Gloucester, was spot on (£6, lunch menu). The coarse ground patty was well-seasoned with herbs, cooked to a moist pinky-purple and had a decent exterior char. The beer – the Swan has five real ale pumps – was also in excellent condition. A glass of Brakspear’s Oxford Gold (pint from £3.30) sang with flavour, its bristling, almost peppery hop tang giving way to a mellow caramel sweetness. Food prices climb a little at night, but all the main dishes (sausage and mash, fish pie, ploughman’s) come in under £10.
• Lunch dishes from £4, evening mains from £7.95. 35-37 High Street, Cheltenham, 01242 243726, theswancheltenham.co.uk

Well Walk Tea Room

Look closely at the myriad antiques that fill every nook of this (very friendly) tea room, and you will notice they are all priced. Who knew that you could pay £250 for a piece of what, to the untrained eye, looks like distinctly amateur 19th century needlepoint? Not that you’ll be buying, of course. Not if you’re travelling on a budget. Instead, you can take all this in, while enjoying some fantastic, traditional baking and speciality teas. Although, winningly, Well Walk serves no-nonsense Yorkshire Tea as its house brew. The pot arrived correctly primed with two bags, too. The baking includes several low-fat and coeliac-friendly options, which, judging by a slice of moist courgette cake filled with homemade raspberry jam, are much less worthy than you might imagine. The wider menu includes a variety of affordable old-school snacks, such as Gentleman’s Relish on toast and potted stilton (£2.50). A retro soundtrack which toggles between Adam Faith, Frank Sinatra and similar icons adds to the convivial atmosphere.
• Snacks and sandwiches from £2.50, cakes £2 a slice. 5-6 Well Walk, Cheltenham, 01242 574546, wellwalktearoom.co.uk

Simpson’s

Simpson’s is one of those slick new-school chippies – half takeaway, half cafe – attempting to bring a modern foodist rigour to fish ‘n’ chips. It does the right things (sourcing sustainable cod from the Barents Sea; using freshly chipped local spuds; cooking to order as much as possible) and the result is a superior fish supper. The chips could have been a shade crisper, perhaps, but were buttery- soft within. The fish was great, encased in a light, nicely seasoned, largely greaseless batter. The only significant flaw was the homemade tartare sauce. Tartare should be clean, sharp and, preferably, full of capers and gherkins. Simpson’s almost smooth version had a curious cloying sweetness. Not good. Still, overall it was worth the 20-30 minute walk from the centre. Away fans note: it is not far from Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground.
• Fish and chips from £5.75. 73-75 Priors Road, Cheltenham, 01242 521964; simpsonsfishandchips.co.uk

Red Pepper

There is a lot going on at chef Richard Whittle’s three-storey cafe, deli and bistro. Scan the blackboards outside and you may well find a sub-£10 bargain on that evening’s bistro menu. For instance, on the Thursday night I visited, you could snaffle a plate of gussied-up sausage and mash for £8.95. The bistro also offers a two-course £10.95 pre-theatre menu – the Everyman Theatre is just down the road. However, if you’re really watching the pennies, get a takeaway, or head downstairs to the “coffee lounge”, a rather dated basement of black floor tiles, red leather armchairs and blonde wood furniture. It serves from 9am to 5pm, the menu morphing from eggs Benedict, through a populist lunch menu (homemade burgers and pies, quiche and potato salad, pea and pesto risotto, around £6/£7) to late afternoon cakes from local bakery Vanilla Pod. The bourbon-spiked pecan pie is highly recommended. A sample smoked bacon and mushroom soup was very good. It delivered great fungi flavour, a slight smoky tang at the edges and, thanks to some tiny flecks of chilli, an understated base note of heat. To conceive and enact such a combination successfully takes thought and skill.
• Coffee lounge, breakfast from £2.50, hot dishes from £4.15. 13 Regent Street, Cheltenham, 01242 253900, redpeppercheltenham.co.uk

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GLOUCESTER

Cafe El Bahdja

Gloucester is hardly the most frenetic of places, but this North African cafe is a notable oasis of calm, the dispatch of good food accomplished not with the usual crashing of pots, pans and plates, but smoothly under cover of esoteric ambient music. It is a place, perhaps, to linger after you have eaten over mint tea or El Bahdja’s brilliant baklava. The menu includes lamb and chickpea harira soup, “ratatouille-style” chakchouka with baked eggs, minced beef borek and several tagines. A sample dish of Moroccan lentils served with a semolina-topped khobz bread roll was just the thing to brighten a wintry day. The lentils had been cooked with tomatoes and onions almost to the point of disintegration. The heat, such as it was, was residual and mellow. The whole thing was an advert for patient slow-cooking and the judicious use of spices and herbs to draw out fathoms of flavour from simple ingredients. Prices are low anyway, but takeaway prices are a real bargain. The lentils cost just £3.40.
• Mains from £4.50. 59-61 Westgate Street, Gloucester, 01452 545178, elbahdja.co.uk

StanMan’s Kitchen

All blackboards, bunting and wicker baskets, this deli-cafe and gift shop is a popular haunt among Gloucester’s foodies. The simple snacky menu is all about good-quality artisan products, many from the Cotswolds. It includes, for example: a handmade scotch egg with mustard; a rather good locally made open beetroot and goat’s cheese pie with chutney and pickled cucumber (£5.95); a local cheese plate; and a selection of good-looking cakes and scones. Typically, a breakfast sandwich uses dense bread from Hobbs House (the local baker du jour) and tasty Gloucester Old Spot sausages from Nick Brown, butcher in Longlevens. Said bangers were, however, almost overwhelmed by a layer of strident, very jammy onion marmalade. Service is refreshingly bright and cheery.
• Dishes from £3.50. 42-44 Westgate Street, Gloucester, 01452 412237, stanmanskitchen.co.uk

Peppers

You will find this tiny hive of making ‘n’ baking activity, which places a high emphasis on organic, seasonal produce, down an alley off Westgate Street. It is but a stone’s throw from the cathedral and the Folk Museum, and well worth hunting out. It is rare for a salad bar to set the pulse racing, but the one at Peppers is a real treat: thick glossy coleslaw; an interesting colourful mix of giant couscous and vegetables; and a moreish savoury amalgam of wild rice, peppers and seeds among its highlights. Alongside those, a caramelised onion quiche struggled to shine, a little, the onions not as evenly distributed throughout the filling as they should have been. But the flavour was there. Peppers’ filled baguettes looked good, too. Hot dishes include soups and pizza, alongside specials such as curry, chilli and hot pot. There are also multiple vegetarian options. If you eat in – there’s seating upstairs and in a “hidden” courtyard – you can also chug on an organic beer from Stroud Brewery (£3), regional ciders and English wines from St Anne’s Vineyard.
• Baguettes from £2.95, dishes from £3. 2 Bull Lane, Gloucester, 01452 384343,

Blue Thai Kitchen

This small, cash-only cafe-restaurant is a no-frills affair. The strange leatherette tablecloths look makeshift, the floor is worn and the A-board outside has seen better days. But there is a reason why it is packed at lunch: it’s cheap, cheerful and, for the money, pretty good. The daytime menu includes a core of mainstay Thai dishes, such as tom yum soup, pad thai and green and yellow curries, as well as stir-fry noodle dishes at £3.99 and £4.99 (£4.50 take away). My massaman curry was a little oilier and less creamy than you might expect, but all the constituent parts (potato, a good scattering of cashews) were present and correct, and the notably fresh vegetables were accurately cooked. What it lacked in sophistication it made up for in flavour, and the fact that, on a freezing day, it left a ringing chilli tingle on the lips.
• Eat in, lunch mains, £4.99, evening from £6. 19 St. Aldate Street, Gloucester, 01452 526531

• Tony travelled from Manchester to Cheltenham with CrossCountry (crosscountrytrains.co.uk). For more information on things to do and see in Gloucester and Cheltenham from thecityofgloucester.co.uk and visitcheltenham.com

If you’re after a foodie treat this autumn, Been there readers have the answer – try chestnuts in Sorrento, a wine tour of Alsace or a meat-feast in Rio

Click here to add a tip, and you could win a digital camera

WINNING TIP: Chestnut festival, San Felice D’Ocre, Italy – 30 November

In an impossibly perfect medieval hilltop village, a stripy food tent is crammed with extended family groups dining on chestnut dishes made with beef or chickpeas, then a selection of chestnut desserts. A steady stream of sacks is delivered to a giant hotplate for roasting, then transported to the back of the kitchens to be transformed into more chestnut delicacies. bit.ly/pQe7OM MandyMc

France/Germany

Alsace wine route
We toured the Alsace wine route one autumn. The vines were bare as it was after the harvest, but the little wine towns of Kaysersburg and Riquewihr were ravishing. For one afternoon we popped over the Rhine to the pretty university city of Freiburg in Baden-Württemburg for a look at the gorgeous high-gothic Münster. In the Christmas markets we sampled hot bratwurst in crusty rolls, currywurst and dampfnudel – a suet pudding – with a cherry sauce and custard.
duncandonuts

Italy

Sorrento, Campania
In late summer, the evenings are cooler, but the days are still sunny and warm, and the colours of the autumn foliage blaze along the Amalfi coast. Foodies are in for a treat, as this is the time of year for freshly picked mushrooms, chestnuts and walnuts. For a splurge try L’Antica Trattoria – fabulous food (tasting menu €180 for two people), a beautiful terrace and a cosy traditional interior for the cooler evenings. For a restaurant with a local neighbourhood feel, try Il Leone Rosso – spot on for an authentic pizza marinara (€4).
lanticatrattoria.com, illeonerosso.it
troutiemcfish

Sibillini mountains, Le Marche
We spent a superb weekend in autumn sunshine staying at Villa San Raffaello with its great apartments, amazing views and free organic vegetables. We blew away the cobwebs walking along old mule tracks in the rolling hills, past the heady scent of locals making vino cotto (cooked wine). The next day we hiked into the Sibillini mountains and ate at the rifugio (refuge) at Monte Amandola – tasty strozzapreti pasta with truffle and sausage, and succulent lamb cooked on coals. The bill, including wine and homemade tiramisu, was under €20 a head.
villasanraffaello.com, apartments from €700 in autumn; rifugiocittadiamandola.blogspot.com
VinniForno

Santa Lorica, Livorno, Tuscany
Surrounded by wooded hills and vine covered slopes, this rural agri’ is perfect for foodies and families. Breakfast on homemade preserves, tarts and local cheeses while taking in the views across to the medieval town of Sassetto. The evening meal was our daily highlight, the friendly owner and his family served delicious and unusual regional dishes, always with an equally tasty veggie option. We chatted over local wine at communal tables under the stars while the kids hunted in the grounds for wild boar and fireflies.
+39 0565 794335, agriturismo.it/santalorica, €55pp half-board
dawnhove

Brazil

Marius Carnes, Rio de Janeiro
There are loads of all-you-can eat meat restaurants in Brazil and we tried three while I was there for a two-month stay working my way through Brazil. This place was the best. For meat-eaters it was heavenly. Best tip – don’t bother having lunch and stroll up about 7pm. You’ll feast. If you take a trip to Brazil now it will be coming into their spring – it’ll be hot but a great time to visit.
Av Atlantica 290B, +55 21 2104 9000
Mozzawatt

UK

Northumbria Food and Wine Festival, Corbridge
This takes place over three days, featuring wine tasting and live music, plus classic British cuisine. You can indulge your tastes, explore some great local food, all in a picturesque rural setting. Entrance includes tokens for wine samples and a commemorative tasting glass to take with you as you trot gracefully (or stagger) between tables. A great starting point for a trip to Northumberland.
7-9 October, Tynedale Park, tickets £20, northumbriafoodandwinefestival.co.uk
Forbesspeaks

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

The Natisone valley in north-east Italy is home to hidden villages in fairytale forests. And in autumn, the local restaurants play host to one of Europe’s best food festivals

I live in Venice, and I’ll make any excuse to escape the invading tourist hordes at the weekend, not to mention the eye-wateringly expensive restaurants. So when friends told me about an autumn food festival, Invito a Pranzo (“Come for lunch”) in the Natisone valley in Friuli, on the border with Slovenia, I jumped at the chance to explore one of the wildest, most upspoilt corners of northern Italy and, at the same time, discover a unique regional cuisine at knock-down prices.

Every weekend, in-the-know food lovers flock here from all over Italy, unable to resist the temptation of a lazy three- to four-hour lunch – especially when the fixed price for a 10-course tasting menu is just €23. A dozen rustic trattorie and osterie take part in Invito a Pranzo each year, and although they are open all week, this special menu is only offered every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from October through to December and you must make a reservation.

Many of the restaurants also have rooms, either basic B&Bs or old-fashioned pensione accommodation, so it is easy to plan a long weekend that takes in not just a couple of the restaurants, but also hiking or mountain biking through thick pine forests, or less strenuous pursuits, such as trout fishing and mushroom picking.

Natisone is an isolated, mountainous land that divides Italy from Slovenia. Getting here is easy, as the autostrada links Udine, the rather noble capital of the region, with Venice, Treviso and Trieste, all of which have low-cost air links with the UK. A short drive from Udine brings you to the ancient Roman town of Cividale del Friuli, where things start to get more complex. Road signs, when they do appear, are in both Italian and Slovene, and addresses of the restaurants taking part in Invito a Pranzo rarely give accurate details of their actual location, in tiny hamlets deep in the forest. It is impossible not to get lost – satnav doesn’t work here – and many winding lanes peter out into dead-ends or lead you over the frontier into Slovenia.

I headed first for the Trattoria Alla Posta (+39 0432 725000) in the sleepy village of Clodig, where the road hugs the Cosizza river, passing austere stone farmhouses. Just outside Clodig the river widens, with an islet in the middle marked by a bright white statue of the Virgin Mary. There are probably only 30 to 40 inhabitants in Clodig, but just as many cars are parked outside the Posta. This trattoria is a gastronomic temple to la cucina casalinga (home cooking), with Maria Gilda Primosig creating dishes in the kitchen that are worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant. She makes wonderful use of autumnal products – wild boar and venison, dandelion and chestnuts, porcini mushrooms and radicchio – then produces her own recipes, adding wild herbs she collects in the surrounding forests. Her chestnut and porcini soup is unforgettable, her blecs (buckwheat pasta) are flavoured with nettles, her risotto features myrtle berries, while the first bite of her melt-in-the-mouth strudel shocks – it is filled with pumpkin and pears.

Maria’s cuisine is so fresh and surprising it makes me think of the media hype surrounding new cooking methods in Scandinavia, as pioneered by Noma restaurant in Copenhagen; except that here, no one is following trends or food blogs, they are simply using seasonal, carbon-zero products as creatively as possible.

The idyllic Albergo alla Trota (via Specognis 10, Pulfero, +39 0432 726006, allatrota.com, double rooms €60) sits right on the edge of the Natisone river itself, and the speciality of the house is, naturally, delicious river trout, oven-baked with herbs and served with polenta. The owner-chef is Patrizia Maring, who used to be the local school teacher until she bought the Trota, transforming it from the village’s general store into a trattoria and albergo, or family-run hotel. Maring has been president of Invito a Pranzo for the past 10 years, and she told me that each autumn the event attracts more and more visitors. Not surprising, when her Invito menu features 10 different assaggi (tasting dishes) for €23. Wine is not included, but then a litre of the surprisingly good vino della casa costs only €9, and at the end of the meal, several glasses of the local digestive, a serious prune brandy, are offered on the house.

Lunch at the Trota is served outside on a shady terrace that has panoramic views over the river and pine-clad mountains, and while most of the tables are packed with visitors, this is also still very much a local bar. One table is left for villagers who spend the afternoon in an animated game of cards, and I found it a bit of a culture shock that none of the locals speaks Italian, as everyone prefers to talk Slovene here.

Driving up into the high mountains that surround Albergo alla Trota, tiny villages seem to pop up in the middle of thick forests – a few houses, a bakery selling the famous local cake, Gubana, and a cosy locale taking part in Invito a Pranzo. Osteria all’Antica in Cras (+39 0432 709052, osteriallantica.com) has a fabulous flower garden and waterside terrace in summer, but in autumn, diners prefer a cosy table inside, sitting around the stufa, a traditional stove, where a pot of polenta is slowly bubbling away, ready to be served with a hearty wild boar stew.

Don’t expect too much in the way of gourmet dining at the simple but friendly Trattoria Ai Buoni Amici (via Tarcetta 76, Pulfero, +39 0432 709164), while San Pietro al Natisone’s Enoteca ai Trevi (Via Alpe Adria 118, San Pietro al Natisone, +39 0432 727454) only serves local cheeses and salamis, though it does offer an exceptional cantina of local wines.

And for a last stop-off, I couldn’t resist lunch at Sale e Pepe in Stregna (Via Capoluogo 19, +39 0432 724118), no longer part of Invito – something to do with local politics – but renowned for the highly original cuisine of chef Teresa Covaceuszach. Stregna is right on the Slovenian frontier, and the place feels like the end of the world, but push open the door of Sale e Pepe and you enter a warm, elegant dining room, where Teresa transforms strange Italian-Slovenian recipes into gourmet dishes. Bizna is a rich minestrone soup of potatoes, beans and brovada (pickled turnips), while wild duck is roasted with chocolate and cinnamon. And forget the traditional Gubana for dessert, as the house speciality is Teresa’s take on a crème brûlée, leaving the kitchen clouded in fragrant puffs of smoke.

Driving back to Venice from Sale e Pepe, I got the feeling I was leaving a curious no man’s land and coming back into Italy again.

• Invito a Pranzo, Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunch from 1 October– 8 December. By reservation only: +39 04321 714559, invitoapranzo.it

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

Pop-up tandoor tents in Suffolk, France’s first Fête de la Gastronomie and a herring fair in Helsinki – our writers pick the best treats for foodies around Europe this autumn

Harvest, UK

Harvest is a food and music festival split between two farms: Alex James’s in Oxfordshire and Jimmy Doherty’s in Suffolk. Both include pop-ups (Lily Vanilli’s Piece of Cake Diner, Dock Kitchen’s Tandoor Tent), a cookery school, chef visits (Richard Corrigan, Francesco Mazzei, Yotam Ottolenghi, Nuno Mendes), workshops and farmers’ markets, and this year’s British Street Food awards take place at Jimmy’s.
• 9-12 September, adult weekend camping £97.50/£105 (Suffolk/Oxfordshire), adult day ticket £36/£45, harvestatjimmys.com
Oliver Thring is a regular contributor to the Guardian Word of Mouth food blog

Fête de la Gastronomie, France

When France organises a food festival you can be sure that all the stops will be pulled out, and that is certainly the case for the first ever Fête de la Gastronomie on 23 September, with 2,400 foodie events taking place all over the country. There are a host of Michelin-starred celebrity chefs involved, such as Alain Ducasse, but it also features master charcutiers, bakers and pâtissiers, farmers and wine makers. Hundreds of gourmet restaurants are offering two meals for the price of one (19-25 Sept, tousaurestaurant.fr), and you can attend a giant picnic or go on a foodie treasure hunt.
• 23 September, nationwide, fete-gastronomie.fr
John Brunton is a food and travel writer based in Venice and Paris

Ebel Festival, Denmark

As we all know, in recent years Danes have become much more aware of the produce that grows around them, and one of the emblems for this new pride in local produce is the Danish apple, or rather apples. The Danes are coming to realise that there is more to life than sugary Pink Ladies and turnipy Golden Delicious, and that there are more than 300 apple varieties to be found in the country. This diversity is celebrated in October in the eastern Jutland town of Ebeltoft. At the Ebel Festival, locals get together to rejoice in the fact that different types of apple can be used for different purposes – for juice, cider, cakes, brandy, vinegar, snaps or art.
• Ebeltoft, 15-22 October, ebelfestival.dk
Michael Booth’s latest book is Eat, Pray, Eat (Jonathan Cape, £14.99)

Stromming – Helsinki Baltic Herring Fair, Finland

The end of the arduous, but hopefully successful, fishing season is celebrated in early October with Stromming, a festival dedicated to the Clupea harengus membras, otherwise known as the Baltic herring. The fair has been held since the 18th century – thousands of locals wrap up against the icy chill and descend on the harbour to eat more than 50,000kg of their nation’s favourite fish, served in traditional ways such as salted, pickled and smoked, and with dark rye bread. Helsinki’s restaurants get in on the act, too, offering more modern interpretations using the herrings with local berries and even Asian spices.
• 2-8 October, visithelsinki.fi
Simon Majumdar is the author of Eat My Globe (John Murray, £8.99) and Eating for Britain (John Murray, £9.99)

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

What did Samuel Pepys have for dinner, which fish did Alice B Toklas cook for Picasso and how did Victorian cooks get their cakes to rise? We sample recipes preserved in historic food books and talk to the editor of a new series of books featuring 20 historic food writers. We’re joined by Mrs Beeton’s biographer Kathryn Hughes in a discussion of changing food fashions and what it is that makes today’s chefs bestsellers.

We also discuss literary responses to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. John Freeman, editor of Granta, joins us down the line from New York to explain his latest edition featuring fiction, reportage and poetry from around the world, while Richard Lea talks about the short stories that have been running throughout the week on guardian.co.uk/books.

Reading list
Penguin’s Great Food series
Granta 116: Ten Years Later

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

The west coast of Scotland offers fantastic sailing with millionaire views at affordable prices. Rope-pulling is optional, but everyone enjoys mooring up for fresh, locally caught seafood

Read about two new tourism developments on Scotland’s west coast in Saturday’s Guardian newspaper

You can emulate at home our first night in west Scotland’s waters, as the waves lapped on the aft cabin of our boat: simply lie on the floor and ask a friend to drop a sack of potatoes next to you, over and over. For effect, add in a mild whisky hangover and get a neighbour to wake you at 8am playing the bagpipes.

In my pounding head were dreamlike memories of drinking below deck with a Liverpudlian sailor cuddling his post-alopecian African grey parrot ransomed from kidnappers in Grimsby – man and bird alike nodding along to electro-bagpipe pop. It was the kind of night to ruin a weekend: yet within moments of popping my head out into the fresh sea air of Oban’s marina, it had been miraculously revived.

Living in London, Scotland’s west coast looked too remote for any kind of weekend break. But a flight to Glasgow on Friday morning gave enough time for a guided visit of the ornate City Chambers by Queen Street station before catching the scenic train to Oban – a ride worth taking for views of the Firth of Clyde and Loch Lomond alone. We reached Oban by mid-afternoon, and one quick whisky distillery tour later we were on the ferry to the marina on the island of Kerrera. There you can eat lavish platters of fresh seafood, in what looks little more than a hut next to a marquee, at the Waypoint Bar and Grill (June-September only). While the rain lashed down, we warmed up with chowder and feasted on scallops, clams, mussels, langoustines and salmon from the grill.

It felt like I’d packed so much into the first 24 hours of my trip, and we hadn’t even set sail yet. My boat for the weekend was Caitlin , a 12.7-metre Bénéteau yacht that comfortably took six of us – including the skipper, Jim Smith, veteran of decades in the Royal Navy and his wife and navigator Dorothy, arguing agreeably over the course to sail. While qualified sailors can charter yachts “bareboat”, anyone can go out to sea by hiring skippers while chipping in with as much (or as little) rope-pulling as they’d like under expert supervision. Our small three-boat flotilla included Jeanne, skippered for now by the bagpipe-playing Colin Brown with Paul and his parrot as crew, and Moonshadow, a bigger, more luxurious yacht whose owners Colin and Pauline Taylor both sail and cater for their guests.

Sailing, like skiing, is too good to be left to the rich. It’s often perceived as a bottomlessly expensive billionaires’ pursuit, but a sailing trip can also have the rough and ready feel of a camping holiday, and if you fill the berths on a boat with a few friends it works out cheaper than many hotels – around £40-£50 per person per night. And there’s no checking in or out. One of the most surprising sensations to me still after a couple of sailing trips is the moment the ropes are first slipped from their moorings and your home is suddenly drifting off somewhere entirely new, and you haven’t even had to pack.

Here, we were heading up to the Sound of Mull, as Oban’s Victorian seafront slipped further away behind us. And then, with motor off and sail raised, the incredible moment when all is silence bar the waves and the wind, a few seabirds – and somehow this boat is zipping through the water, sucked on by the strange magic (or aerodynamics, as Jim explained) of the sail.

The forecast was grim: rain followed by showers, then showers followed by rain. But even – perhaps particularly – with overcast skies the panoramas were something else: clouds rolling over clifftops with forested slopes and waterfalls below, and ruined castles to port and starboard as we sailed.

At Lochaline, we stopped at a new pontoon built in the loch off the Sound of Mull – part of an ongoing investment in upgrading facilities for leisure sailors along the west coast. A short, atmospheric walk past an old sand mine took us to lunch. Once a remote Scottish village promised little for the hungry visitor, but times have changed. The Whitehouse Restaurant, a lovely, cosy yet bright place, was serving langoustines fresh from the loch and roast monkfish that we washed down with jugs of fresh fruit cordial and Heather ale.

We couldn’t linger: Saturday night meant a booking at another miniature seafood paradise, Cafe Fish on the brightly painted harbour of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. In the last hours of sunlight, we overlooked the stretch of water that separated us from the western tip of the mainland, back where cities and stress existed. After dark, a trad-music night in MacGochans pub – highland dancing, wellies filled with drink, and Colin from Jeanne playing bagpipes on the dancefloor – was as far removed from any city nightlife I remember (and more fun).

Our night was completed by Moonshadow’s Colin, who on board his boat in the small hours took us through a passionate “nosing” of the various Highland single malts, including the peatier, acquired tastes of the likes of Laphroaig. (Jim told me the next day he had a bottle at home: “We give it to people we don’t like.”) That sea air truly is invigorating: the next day, Colin and Pauline were up to cook us first breakfast and then, after seven hours sailing, a farewell lunch back at Kerrara.

Our boats returned into the final strait of water amid a pod of porpoises; a sea lion bobbed around the harbour as we said goodbye. Some touches of a Scottish sailing weekend just can’t be emulated at home.

• Portway Yacht Charters (01369 820120, portwayyachtcharters.com) offers a range of yachts from its bases at Kip Marina, Craobh Haven and Ballahulish for either bareboat or skippered charter. Weekly charter rates start at £800 for the smaller boats (sleeping four-six) in low season, and go up to £2,400 in high season for a larger boat sleeping 8-10. For accommodation offers and further information on Scotland go to visitscotland.com/surprise. For more information on sailing in Scotland visit sailscotland.co.uk

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle

From Cliff Richard’s passion for chicken tikka to Noel Gallagher’s favourite cuppa and Tinie Tempah’s love of seafood linguine, music stars give us a taste of their favourite foods and drinks

• Interactive: Love music love food

Tinie Tempah loves seafood

Life is good when you’re Tinie Tempah. The Plumstead-raised artist – otherwise known as Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu Jr – has won a tonne of praise for uniting the disparate music scenes of grime, underground rave and radio-friendly pop without selling any of them out. He’s had two No 1 singles, a No 1 album and two Brit awards.

One of the fringe benefits of fame is that you get to discover new experiences in eating. Born in London to Nigerian parents, Tinie has always appreciated his food. He reminisces about an “amazing” roast chicken with garlic and thyme jus that he had at the Salon Millesime in the Carlton Hotel, New York. “They warned me it would take 45 minutes. After about 35 minutes, they brought out an almost-cooked chicken and told me it was coming along nicely, and 10 minutes later I ate the best chicken I’ve ever had.”

Whenever he visits a new country, Tinie heads off the beaten track to try some traditional food – the old town in Dubai or backstreet places in Australia. “Didn’t enjoy kangaroo,” he says. “It was like a cross between beef and chicken, smoky and really chewy.” He’s kept a picture of the receipt on his phone: stubbie, stubbie, stubbie, kangaroo … and chips.

Nigerian food is a fundamental part of his life. It’s what he grew up with and it builds up the palate because it’s packed with flavour. “Nigerian food is lots of flavour, lots of tomato purée, rice, yam, beans… it’s a whole load of stuff, really good.” His favourite would be pounded yam with egusi soup, a savoury soup with meat and spinach which exists in countless variants across West Africa.

He has a couple of favourite Nigerian restaurants, both on the Old Kent Road in south-east London: the classy 805 and the more home-style Presidential Suya Grill. They’re both family-run businesses, friendly and personal. Presidential, in particular, is one of those places where you feel like you’re in Nigeria, he says. “There is a real nice atmosphere. When I come back from travelling the world, I do like to go there and chill. It’s humbling.”

He’s a recent convert to seafood. Tinie used to be apprehensive about shellfish and squid. Then he saw that his Maltese mate, who ate it all the time, was light on his feet and full of energy, whereas a steak would wipe Tinie out. Then he tried a seafood linguine, “and all my prayers were answered. It just felt right – it was light but it filled me up. I could still run around and do my thing.”

The recipe: Seafood linguine

Serves four as a starter.

325g linguine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A knob of butter
75ml olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
200g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
4 large scallops, shelled, cleaned and halved
4 langoustines, cleaned
The tail of 1 small lobster, cooked, peeled and sliced
4 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled,

deseeded and diced
8 basil leaves, finely chopped
100g clams, cleaned
Lemon juice, to taste (about ½ lemon)
A pinch of dried chilli flakes
Lemon wedges, to serve

Three-quarters fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the linguine and a good pinch of salt, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until just cooked.

Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and all but a dash of the oil, and gently fry the garlic and onion until soft. Add the prawns, scallops, langoustines and lobster tail slices, and fry quickly for about two minutes.

As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain, toss with a dash of olive oil and add to the frying pan, along with the tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper and clams. Pop the lid on the pan for a minute, or until the clams open, then remove from the heat.

Divide between four warm pasta bowls and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon, a sprinkling of chilli flakes and salt to taste. Serve with a wedge of lemon on the side.

Johnny Borrell loves salmon

Johnny Borrell was a latecomer to the kitchen. “But cooking’s creative – it’s the same impulse as writing or painting. If you’ve got that interest, it will transfer to cooking. There’s the macho gamesmanship aspect, too. I’ve got at least three friends who reckon they’re the best cooks in the world – as all blokes do.”

He likes to cook dishes that take plenty of time: “Something with the quality of a grand project. Get a few cod fillets and leave them salting in your airing cupboard for a week, to get that deep flavour. Something epic.”

Borrell grew up on fish fingers, chips and pizza, and discovered food by travelling the world with his band, Razorlight. (They chose to sign with Universal in part because the label took them out for a better meal than rival bidders.) Most bands don’t take enough advantage of the places they visit, he says, but Razorlight consult the Zagat guide and try to go local.

At home he loves the Bell in Oxfordshire. “I’ll turn up starving and without fail they’ve got an incredible hot, crusty roll with coarse Ardennes pâté.” And the Food Lab in Islington does a brilliant Italian-English breakfast. Then there’s the temple of nose-to-tail eating, St John in Smithfield. “It’s not for the squeamish – it’s brains and hearts and tails – but I’m not squeamish. There’s nothing I wouldn’t eat off their menu.”

But the best thing he’s ever eaten was a little less exalted. When Borrell was first trying to become a musician, he lived on the dole with a friend who wanted to be a writer. One week their benefits didn’t come through and they applied for – “This sounds very dramatic” – a hardship loan. They queued for three hours, filled in the forms and waited. “We’d spent all our money on alcohol and cigarettes, and hadn’t eaten in two days.” When the £35 loan came through, they ran straight to Safeway on Holloway Road, bought lamb chops and ran home. “The feeling of just getting these chops home was sheer delight. We chucked them in the pan – I think we seared them for only a minute on each side – and just devoured them. It’s got to be the most satisfying thing I’ve ever eaten. That’s my Proustian lamb chop, the one I’ll always remember. It’ll never get better than that.”

The recipe: Smoked salt and chilli crispy-skin salmon

Serves four.

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp smoked sea salt flakes
½ tbsp chopped fresh parsley
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
4 salmon fillets, about 150g each, descaled
Oil, for brushing and frying
4 tbsp soy sauce

In a small bowl, mix together the lemon zest, smoked sea salt, parsley and chilli flakes. Put to one side.

Check over the salmon for pin bones, removing any you come across. Lay the fillets skin-side up on a board and score the skin with a sharp knife. Brush with some oil and rub in most of the salt mixture.

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and add a little oil. Lay the salmon skin-side down in the pan, fry for three minutes, then turn over and sprinkle with half of the lemon juice. Cook for another minute or two, until the fish is cooked through.

Transfer to warm plates, drizzle with the soy sauce and finish with the remaining salt mixture and a squeeze of lemon.

VV Brown loves Marmite

“My boyfriend says I’m a bit of a jazz cook,” VV Brown says. “I experiment, chuck everything in. You don’t know what you’ll get until you try.” Her successes include lamb joint glazed with chilli sauce and wine, and putting couscous in a pineapple and refrigerating it overnight: “You get pineapple-flavoured couscous in its own bowl.” Among her disasters, salad cream on mince: “It went hard in the fridge and looked disgusting.”

Her parents ran a school in Northampton, and the dinner lady was her Auntie Corinne, who cooked fish and chips, Caribbean and the occasional Chinese. “Much better than ordinary school dinners,” she says proudly.

“I’m a simple girl; I don’t like flashy restaurants.” She prefers quiet Thai or Japanese places, or a “gorgeous” place in Greenwich Village, where her meal is lodged in her memory: fried mushroom, scallops with cauliflower and crème brûlée. “There were maybe 15 people in the restaurant and it was like home cooking, really cute and cosy. Just what I like.”

The recipe: Marmite and red onion scones

Makes eight scones.

75g butter
1 red onion, peeled and diced
180g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp Marmite
1 medium egg
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
3 tbsp milk, plus extra for brushing

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Melt 50g of the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and sweat the onion until soft. Set aside to cool.

Mix the flours and baking powder in a bowl, then rub in the rest of the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. In another bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients, pour into the flour, add the onion and mix to combine (add a little more milk if it’s too dry).

Turn out on to a floured surface and gently roll to about 3cm thick. Using a scone cutter, cut out eight rounds and place on a floured baking sheet. Score the tops and brush with milk. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Best eaten warm.

Noel Gallagher loves Yorkshire Tea

“I am obsessed with Yorkshire Tea,” declares Noel Gallagher, for 18 years the leader of Oasis and now forging a solo career. “I even bring it on tour. It was always on the Oasis rider: ‘Tea – must be Yorkshire.’”

Why does a man whose formative musical years were characterised by cigarettes and alcohol and champagne supernovas feel the pull of this most homely of English beverages? “I’m a northerner,” he says, “and it’s part of our staple diet. Plus, I’m of Irish descent. The kettle always seemed to be on when I was growing up. It’s part of the fabric of your life.”

Gallagher gets through about five cups a day these days, but he used to have a debilitating 20-bag-a-day habit. When he was younger and worked on building sites, his standard brew was two bags, one cup. “I liked it really strong,” he says. “Then, one day, I saw how brown and manky the inside of the cup was and I thought, ‘That’s what my insides look like – better get off it.’”

Like a true tea drinker, Gallagher has rules that must not be broken. Milk goes in last. Put your sugar in first, with the teabag, then fill it up to about an inch from the top and leave it for a good while. And what colour should the tea be? ”You know the Quality Street toffees in the yellow wrapper?” he says. “It’s got to be the exact same colour as them or it’s going down the sink.” When in London, he makes his own cuppa because “there’s a lack of good tea-making down here. Paul Weller’s tea-making leaves a lot to be desired. It’s pretty watery and the colour’s not right.”

And, like a true connoisseur, Gallagher wonders about the mysteries of tea. How old should you be before you start drinking it? Why can’t you get a decent cup of tea in America? “Because the whole country runs on coffee, caffeine and people talking a load of shit.” And why, as Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers has pointed out, do people in London never use teapots? “Tells you a lot about London, that,” says Gallagher.

He admits he is not a great cook, although insists his missus is. “She’s truly excellent – she could have made a profession out of it.” He retains a taste for the things he loved as a kid, like fish and chips. With his mum raising three sons on her own, the Gallaghers were “on the breadline. We were just eating to survive.”

He didn’t go to a Chinese restaurant until he was about 21, and still rates his first ever Chinese – at the famously brusque Wong Kei on Wardour Street, London, with Inspiral Carpets, for whom he used to roadie – as probably his favourite meal ever. “It was like a whole new world,” he says. “I used to live in that place in the 90s. Best hangover cure ever – that and a can of Coke.”

Mick Hucknall loves lobster thermidor

Reputations once earned tend to stick, and Mick Hucknall will always have a name as a lover of both food and women. The latter is a bit out of date – he is now happily married with a daughter – but the former passion remains intact. He’s been a vintner since the late 90s, producing wines under the name Il Cantante (“the singer”) from grapes grown in the volcanic Sicilian soils of Mount Etna, but Hucknall tries to let his own offerings speak for themselves. “It’s all well and good being a pop star, but what does that have to do with wine?” he asks. “I’ve tried to avoid the celebrity angle.”

Hucknall has owned restaurants in the past, too. There was a minor stake in a bar in his native Manchester, and a Parisian restaurant, Man Ray, co-owned with Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and John Malkovich, an experience he recalls with a shiver. “It becomes a chain round your neck. I’d advise any aspiring pop star or actor to never ever invest in clubs or restaurants. You’ll get screwed. Stick with what you’re good at.”

A genuinely disadvantaged youth has made Hucknell appreciate the fruits of his success all the more. His mother left when he was three years old and his father, a barber, brought him up “just above the poverty line”. It was mostly northern dishes on the table at home in Denton: “Lancashire hotpot, steak and cow-heel pie… it sounds like Desperate Dan food, doesn’t it? But when they’re made well, these dishes can stand up to anything in the world.”

After Hucknall left home and moved into a bedsit in Moss Side in the early 80s, he learned to cook by default, picking up a talent for Indian food from shopkeepers in Rusholme. When Simply Red took off, he discovered a love of Italian, then French and German food. “German food’s very underrated,” he says. “It’s so beautifully simple. Roast goose, or Schweinshaxe – a roast knuckle of pork with crispy skin… it’s so good..”

The best meal he ever had, he says, was as a guest of one of the founders of Gambero Rosso, the Italian equivalent to Michelin, who took the band to a restaurant in the back streets of Rome. “We ate until about four in the morning, a beautiful array prepared with such skill and care that it was astonishing. The whole band were fainting because of its brilliance.”

He feels he’s come full circle with high-end cuisine. “Having lived in Paris for a number of years, I now loathe Michelin-starred food. To me, it loses touch with what food should be. I like really good quality, fresh, well-bred food, cooked simply. The Michelin thing underwhelms me. You’re supposed to be grateful for a three-inch piece of fish on a huge plate for 50 quid. It bores me.”

Though he loves lobster, as seen in the photograph, he’s just as happy with a tricolore salad. “Italian food is just genius,” he says. “Tomato, mozzarella and basil. Or garlic, oil and red pepper on pasta – those things are timeless.”

Does Hucknall’s track record prove the old saying that a lad will never be short of a girlfriend if he can cook? “It definitely helps,” he smiles. “I mean, if you can’t take her to a restaurant, you’re either going to her place or yours, aren’t you?’

The recipe: Lobster thermidor with roasted vegetables

Serves four.

2 large lobsters, cooked
40g parmesan, freshly grated

For the sauce
60g butter
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
570ml fish stock
2 tbsp medium dry white wine
110ml double cream
½ tsp English mustard
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges, to serve

For the roasted vegetables
8 tbsp olive oil
2 large red onions, peeled and quartered
10 asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into long diagonal slices
2 courgettes, trimmed, halved and cut into thick diagonal slices
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, halved lengthways and cut into 1cm thick slices
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
Pinch of sea salt (ideally Fleur de Sel de Camargue)
4 trusses baby plum tomatoes on the vine
Good-quality balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Lay the cooked lobsters belly down on a board, hold firmly and cut lengthways in half. Remove all the meat from the claws, tail and head, saving any coral. Cut the meat up into small pieces and place back in the shell, along with the coral.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the shallots and cook until softened. Add the stock, wine and cream and bring to the boil. Let bubble until reduced by half, then add the mustard, chopped herbs, lemon juice and cayenne. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat the grill to high. Spoon the sauce over the lobster meat, sprinkle with the parmesan, and grill for three to four minutes until golden brown. Serve with lemon wedges.

For the roasted veg, heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Pour half the olive oil into a large ovenproof dish and place in the oven to heat up. Meanwhile, put the red onions, asparagus, courgettes, fennel, garlic, fennel seeds, salt and remaining oil into a large bowl and toss. Carefully tip it all into the heated dish.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, checking after 10 minutes and turning down the heat if the vegetables are browning too quickly. Add the tomatoes on their vines and roast for a further five minutes, or until the vegetables are caramelised.Serve immediately, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with the chopped herbs.

Sir Cliff Richard loves curry

Harry Rodger Webb was born in Lucknow, India, in 1940 and grew up on curries. His father, Rodger, managed a catering company for the sprawling Indian railways, and though the Webbs were experiencing the final days of the Raj, they lived modestly, in Lucknow and later in Howrah.

“Curry will always be my favourite food because it reminds me of my childhood,” Sir Cliff Richard says, relaxing in his converted farmhouse in the Algarve, Portgual, bought with the proceeds of six decades of hits and 260m record sales, and the place where he likes to spend much of the summer. “It’s the most highly flavoured, the most vibrantly scented food there is. After we moved back to England in 1948, my mother used to hold back on the chilli, but we always used to ask her for more.” He pauses. “Well, I say we came back to England, but I’d never been before. Neither had my parents. But we still talked about ‘coming back to Blighty’.”

In India his father had been relatively wealthy, but in England “we had absolutely zero. We went through real poverty.” One of the standard meals of the day would be toast dipped in tea with sugar on it. “It was that bad.”

But a love of curry stayed with him over the years – not so much the heat as the spice. “Spice is what gives curry all its dimensions,” he says. “The cardamom seeds, the coriander, the cloves… Most Brits don’t like the heat. I do, but I like to taste the food, too.”

In particular, Richard loves chicken tikka masala, that peculiar, unbeatable, ever-changing but always dependable dish whose origins are lost in the past. (Is it Punjabi street food, or was it synthesised in the Indian kitchens of Soho and Glasgow? No one knows.)

When he’s back in England, Richard’s favourite curry places are School Of Spice in Shepperton or, a new favourite, the Tiger’s Pad in Sunningdale. He doesn’t like his Indian food too westernised, though. “The Bombay Brasserie had the most fantastic starters,” he says, “but I always thought the main courses were too posh. I like my curries to have a nice, thick sauce, I like a good mound of lentils and rice. I like it traditional-style, lots of everything.”

The recipe: Chicken tikka masala

Serves four.

4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3cm cubes
For the chicken tikka marinade
250ml plain yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Sea salt

For the tikka masala sauce
15g butter
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 green chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped or grated
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp sea salt
400g tin chopped tomatoes
250ml single cream
4 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

For the marinade, mix together the yoghurt, lemon juice, cumin, paprika, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger and some salt in a large bowl. Stir well and leave for 15–30 minutes. Add the chicken and turn to make sure it is well coated. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least two hours.

Preheat the grill to medium. Thread the chicken pieces on to skewers and grill, turning regularly, for about 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through – when pierced with a knife, the juices should run clear. Place on a plate to rest while you make the sauce.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli, cook for a minute, then stir in the spices and salt. Tip in the tomatoes and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Stir in the cream to enrich the sauce, and cook gently for about five minutes.

Pull the chicken off the skewers, add to the sauce and place over a low heat for five minutes, gently and thoroughly to heat it through.

Garnish with coriander and serve immediately.

Ellie Goulding loves sushi

“I never used to eat fish a lot when I was young, but now it’s like my body craves it. If I’m out, I try to order fish for every meal, and sea bass is the best in my opinion. If you don’t have fish often, you’re more inclined to choose cod or tuna, but sea bass is light and delicious. Grilled sea bass with Thai vegetables is perfect.

I hated sushi when I first tried it, and was quite intimidated by it. But curiosity kept getting the better of me and I kept trying it, until it became my favourite thing.”

The recipe: Miso-glazed suzuki (sea bass)

Serves four.

2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp light yellow miso paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
4 sea bass fillets, about 150g each, skinned
1 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

In a shallow dish, mix together the sake, mirin, miso paste, sugar and soy sauce. Place the fish fillets in the marinade, turning them to make sure they are entirely coated. Cover the dish with clingfilm and refrigerate for six hours.

Heat the grill to medium. Remove the bass from the marinade and place on a baking tray. Grill, close to the heat, without turning, until the fillets are just about opaque in the centre – about six minutes. Transfer to warm plates, sprinkle over the spring onions and basil, and serve with sticky rice or soba noodles.

Brett Anderson loves blueberries

“Music, food and sex are the three most important things in life,” says Brett Anderson, singer with reunited glam-punk Britpop Suede. “You can’t do without any of them.” He pauses and considers. “Well, you can do without a couple of them. But you shouldn’t.

“In the 90s, I had a phase of only eating brown rice for two months at a time,” Anderson says. “I was very unhealthy and I had this idea that brown rice would somehow be very good for me. Basically, all I was putting in my body was brown rice and cocaine, and that’s not healthy.”

He kicked the drugs before Suede split up in 2003, and in 2007 he went to see a naturopath: “And that changed my life.” (His wife also studies naturopathic medicine.) A diet tailored to his individual metabolism (no mushrooms, corn, milk or wheat) has “really, really worked, to a startling degree… I feel a lot better and I’m very conscious of my diet now.” Hence the love of antioxidant blueberries. Anderson makes his own muesli with oats, flax and crushed pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and the blueberries go on top: “I try to have them every day.”

In Suede, eating well wasn’t at the top of their priorities. “It was pearls before swine. We’d be in Hollywood or Japan, and we just wanted chips!”

The recipe: Blueberry fool

Serves four.

450g blueberries
Juice of 1 lime
425ml double cream
400g mascarpone
Juice of 2 lemons
6 tsp honey
4 fresh mint sprigs
Icing sugar, for dusting

Blend the blueberries and lime juice until smooth. Whisk the cream to peaks. In a bowl, gently combine the mascarpone, lemon juice, honey and three-quarters of the berry mix, then fold in the cream. Spoon or pipe into serving dishes and drizzle over the rest of the purée. Top with a mint sprig and a dusting of icing sugar.

(A behind-the-scenes video of Brett Anderson’s shoot for Love Music Love Food)

Juliette Lewis loves coconut and papaya

Music is a matter of dark and light, heaven and hell, good and evil, and all that sort of stuff. Thus the star of movies and rock and roll Juliette Lewis – who knows a little about such things, having starred in Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers and From Dusk Til Dawn – has both sinful and redemptive modes. “It’s yin and yang,” she says. “I love the healthy stuff and I love chocolate and ice cream, too. You have to balance it.”

She loves papaya – “It goes with anything, it has natural digestive enzymes and the taste is wonderful” – but it’s clear that coconut is her real passion. Oh, the flavour, the scent, the texture… she uses coconut hair and skin lotions and, when at home in Los Angeles, has a regular coconut smoothie from her favourite juice place at home. “It’s decadent and sensual and natural all at the same time,” she says. “On a purely nutritional level, coconut water is pretty much the most hydrating thing you can drink, and much better than man-made sports drinks. If you’re an energetic, physical person like me, it’s hard to imagine anything better for you. Papaya and coconut are like instant vacations in your mouth.”

Lewis is rare in the ranks of actors turned musicians because, unlike certain movie stars’ vanity bands, her music actually stands up on its own – a raw but poppy garage-punk noise with the magnetic Lewis as its focal point. But how does one move from the comfortable world of movie-making to the grind of the touring rock band?

When you play rock festivals, you’re always “pathetically grateful” if the catering is good, she says. You always remember who feeds you well, such as the German festivals, Leeds, Reading and the Isle of Wight. “If you’re tired and haven’t had a shower in days, you are so glad of any home comforts.” But she does love the touring life, only occasionally missing favourite restaurants in LA, such as Little Dom’s in Los Feliz or La Loggia in Studio City.

Movie versus rock and roll – who’s got the best food? “Oh, please, do you even need to ask?” she says, and laughs. “There’s so much more money in the movie world for food. I make a nice living from my touring, but half the time we live off bread and lunch meat.”

The recipe: Virgin detox cocktail

Serves two.

50g papaya
3 fresh mint leaves, shredded
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 fresh coconut, chilled
4 cherries

Put two martini glasses in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and deseed the papaya, then cut into small cubes. Spoon the papaya into the chilled glasses, add the shredded mint and squeeze over the lime juice. Pour in the coconut juice and garnish each with a couple of fresh cherries.

Rolf Harris loves curry

“Curry’s my absolute favourite food,” says Rolf Harris – painter and art educator, musician, creator of the wobble board, late-flowering patron saint of Glastonbury and international treasure in both hemispheres. “My wife and I have withdrawal symptoms if we don’t have one every few days.”

Indian food has become central to the lives of Rolf and his wife, Arwen, whom he married in 1958. They started going to London’s new wave of Indian restaurants in the late 1950s, when curry was far from widespread, and they’ve stuck with it ever since. He has now developed a connoisseur’s knowledge of curry houses in the Buckinghamshire-Berkshire area. They don’t like it fiercely hot, they’re in it for the endlessly fascinating mix of spices. “One of the many great things about curry is that you can find your own personal optimum level of heat,” he says.

When touring, he has made it a tradition to take the band out for a curry after every date. “We get the promoters to scout ahead, and we’re rarely disappointed, because England is the world curry capital.” He admits he’s no great shakes in the kitchen – “Scrambled egg is about as good as it gets” – but why bother when every street in the land offers the finest dishes on earth?

His love of bright, assertive flavours surely comes from his childhood in Perth, Australia, where his diet did not exactly sparkle. Rolf grew up on the “very traditional” English food of the years before the Australian culinary explosion. His mum’s approach in the kitchen was “to cook anything – meat, vegetables, whatever – until it was almost incinerated… Australian food is world-famous now, and rightly so, but when I was a kid it was overcooked British food, tomato ketchup with everything, very, very boring and every day your dinner was exactly the same. No wonder I love curry now.”

The recipe: Poori

Serves four.

200g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
50g chapatti flour
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp sea salt
Warm water, to mix
Vegetable oil, for frying

Put the flours, curry powder, turmeric and salt into a large bowl and mix well. Slowly mix in enough warm water to make a dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and work with your hands until smooth and elastic. Place back in the bowl, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Knead the dough on a floured surface until light and springy. Divide into about 12 equal-sized pieces and roll into balls. Keep covered with a damp cloth. Take one ball of dough and roll it out into a 10–12cm round. Repeat with the rest.

Pour a layer of oil into a heavy-based frying pan so it comes a quarter of the way up the sides, and place over a high heat. When very hot, carefully lower a dough round into the oil. Use a fish slice to baste and turn it, so that the poori swells up. It will be cooked in a few minutes. When golden brown, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm while you cook the rest of the poori.

• This is an edited extract from Love Music, Love Food – The Rock Star Cookbook, published by Quadrille at £30 in support of Teenage Cancer Trust. Concept and photography: Patrice de Villiers (patricedevilliers.com). Interviews: Andrew Harrison. Recipes: Sarah Muir. The book is currently available to buy from Selfridges exclusively, and from high street stores and at a discounted price of £24 from the Guardian bookshop from 5 September

• About Teenage Cancer Trust. Teenage Cancer Trust believes young people shouldn’t stop being teenagers just because they have cancer, so the charity builds units in NHS hospitals that offer young people specialist care, bringing them together so they can support each other in an environment suited to their needs. As well as these specialist units, it also funds a number of services all with the same goal – to help young people fight cancer. To watch a video about the work of the Teenage Cancer Trust, click here

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle