On the menu: Ruin Beach Café; Young British Foodie awards; Pierre Hermé; Gilgamesh
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Your support makes all the difference.This week I've been eating... scallops
Tresco is an island separated from Cornwall by 28 miles of cold sea. This is both a curse and an opportunity. A curse because it is, to be honest, a bit of a bugger to get to (requiring a two-and-a-half-hour ferry crossing, admittedly in an agreeable boat, or a hop and skip in a plane). But a whopping great opportunity if, like me, you are partial to scoffing the many tasty inhabitants of the deep blue sea.
The island, all green hills, white beaches and well-manicured lawns, has four restaurants. The best is the Ruin Beach Café. Why? First, it has one of the nicest settings of any restaurant I can remember – sidling up against the beach in chocolate-box New Grimsby. Second, because of its seafood. I ordered diver-caught scallops. They were A* good – big, bulging, creamy within and caramelised without. A gift from the sea. And worth that ferry crossing any day. Ruin Beach Café 01720 424849
Best of British
The Young British Foodie award final is an event that puts its money where its mouth is. Or more accurately, where our mouths are. Attending on Wednesday, I nearly had to be carried out, so much did I eat and drink. I have never been to a better-catered event – on each plate a surprise, a treat, some hitherto unknown joy there for the snacking. Toothsome salmon ceviche from sauce-makers African Volcano here; yielding dry-cure salt beef from Charcutier there; Madeleine Express's sea-salt caramels as you waddled to the door. So much food, so much talent.
Coffee fetish
Pierre Hermé is a man who likes things "just so". So much so that it took him 10 years to perfect his new collection of coffee macarons. But then to make those little balls of perfection – and believe me, they nudge at perfection – he visited jungles and south American Islands in search of the "correct" coffee bean. Quite the effort. But, my goodness, eat one of the 21-piece Fetish Infiniment Café Collection and it is to experience the rich, dark power of coffee anew. From £7, pierreherme.com
Fusion too far
There comes a time when you have to draw a line. A time when you have to say, "this far and no further". We are, ladies and gentlemen, at that point with the newest dish on the menu at Gilgamesh, a restaurant in London's Camden. Its T'N'T Pizza is a thin flatbread, the surface of which is smeared tomato, truffle and – gulp – slivers of sashimi tuna. Yes, sashimi; and yes on a bloody pizza. It is a crime against Naples, and one in need of righting. gilgameshbar.com
Mexico way
Hurry or you'll miss it. There are just four days left of Mestizo's Mexican Independence Day celebrations. The Euston restaurant is serving up sizzling dishes from all across Mexico's 31 states. Head down and try Mole Amarillo (slow-cooked lamb shank) and the divine Torta Ahogada (home-baked rolls stuffed to bursting with pork). Oh, and did I mention it has London's largest collection of tequila. Arriba! mestizomx.com
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