Beverley Knight: ‘When I’m on tour, my rider is kettle, water, teabags’
The singer and actor on why she’s teetotal, her mum’s Jamaican-style shepherd’s pie … and why Prince was the perfect dinner host
I have a new favourite wellness guru. And it’s not who you might think
Eat food that is mostly healthy, but also eat delicious food that isn’t healthy: these are the eminently sensible words of … Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Hunan Man, London: ‘The best Chongqing chicken I have ever had’ – restaurant review
Fortune favours the brave when tasting these superb but challenging chilli-boosted regional Chinese dishes
Gordo’s, Guildford: ‘It’s a food adventure playground’ – restaurant review
The sunshine-vivid Mexican flavours at this Latin American eaterie are the antidote to grey January days
Back to the land: young Italians find la dolce vita in a return to farming
A new generation is redefining what it means to be a farmer today, abandoning prestigious jobs in banking and industry to tend their plots with pride and passion
What I ate in 2023: a look back at the year’s culinary highs and lows
Plenty of places were worth rave reviews in 2023, although sadly it was goodbye to some old friends, too
‘Change is a bad word’: the roaring 20s never died at these decadent LA bars
The martinis might no longer be 50¢, but you can still party like it’s 1923 in a city where glamor never went out of style
Café Kitty, London: ‘Right in the heart of things’ – restaurant review
Soho has moved on, but there is still plenty of theatrical character to savour at Café Kitty
Harrods opens private members’ club in Shanghai costing £16,500 a year
Private jet flights and rare whiskies on offer at 250-member club aimed at wealthy Chinese people
‘If our food is good enough, they will come’: the hidden dining gems at Australian petrol stations and carwashes
As rents skyrocket, chefs and restaurateurs are turning to unconventional locations – you just need to know where to look
Café Lapérouse, London: ‘Dismal, expensive, and I had to cadge bread from the next table’ – restaurant review
I have low expectations of spendy London restaurants, and this one lives down to them
Guinea fowl pie, spiced chickpeas, sherry syllabub – Jeremy Lee’s ‘Betwixtmas’ recipes
After all the fuss of Christmas, dazzling dishes to share with friends any time before the new year bells toll
Whisky and peat go back a long way together. But is it time to put planet before palate?
With a possible ban on industrial peat use in Scotland, some whisky makers are experimenting with other aromatics
Blueberry pastries in Warsaw, 80p samosas in Blackburn – the best things we ate in 2023
From Andi Oliver’s fire-roasted vegetables in Stratford-upon-Avon to Tomos Parry’s cheese on toast in Puglia, cooks and food writers remember this year’s highlights
From a deep dive into Chinese cuisine to a celebration of cakes: Observer Food Monthly’s books of 2023
Ten titles to buy for adventurous eaters, gardeners or committed cooks. In no particular order, here’s OFM’s pick of the year