Trendy places to eat and stay …
Are you carrying a wine bar tote (those from September in Co Dublin are particularly pretty), wearing a hip pizzeria T-shirt (I spotted one from Bambino in Malaga) or coveting Victoria Beckham’s Dorian handbag, named after the buzzy Michelin-starred bistro in London’s Notting Hill?
Restaurant merchandise is increasingly seen as social currency for the #foodfirst brigade – travellers who book holidays after securing coveted culinary experiences.
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According to Hilton’s 2025 travel report, one in five people travel specifically to experience new restaurants or prioritise hotels with great restaurants.
One such is Osip, a tiny 18th-century coaching inn in Somerset, where chef Merlin Labron-Johnson’s Michelin-starred farm-to-table restaurant put Bruton on the map. Hauser & Wirth art gallery is close by, as are plenty of hiking trails in the Mendip Hills.
When next in London, I’m as keen to try The Portrait Restaurant by chef Richard Corrigan at the National Portrait Gallery as I am to see “Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World” exhibition, open until January 11 2026.
Another gourmet goal is to dine at Forêt bistro in Dublin 4, with an overnight stay at The Wilder, down the road, where the breakfast buffet is a delight.
Food and drink experiences are the leading incentives for short breaks in Northern Ireland. Stay and sample the excellent table d’hôte menu at Newforge Manor, Co Armagh. If visiting Belfast, a posh base is Regency House in the Queen’s Quarter.
Lunch at Podere Sala, a restored farmhouse 20 minutes outside Florence, also appeals with long tables, seasonal food and natural wine.