Taberna do Mercado, Spitalfields, London

The hype that accompanies almost every new restaurant launch these days is crazy. We all swarm in, pronounce it the best opening this year then swarm off to the next hotspot.

No restaurant is perfect in the first few days, even one run by that luminous talent Nuno Mendes formerly of Viajante, now of Taberna do Mercado in Spitalfields which he’s combining with his day job as executive chef of the fashionable Chiltern Firehouse, a fact that’s bound to stretch his team in the first few weeks especially when a large party descends from a neighbouring wine fair.

Nuno is proudly Portuguese and this gives him a chance to explore some of his country’s great rustic food traditions but also - being Nuno - to innovate To say that his food occasionally oversteps the mark is like complaining that Delia Smith’s recipes are too reliable. Of course it does

What have I got in mind? Well the abade de Priscos a silky - no, go on, I’ll say it - slimey egg pudding made with pork fat and served with a port sauce is actually rather horrid. Turns out it’s a traditional dish from Braga and one of the 21 wonders of Portuguese gastronomy but to be honest I’d rather have a custard tart. And I’m not wild about the Tigelada, a slightly leaden milk pudding either. Clearly Portuguese desserts don’t do it for me.

I also wasn’t convinced about the chicory and pear and almond salad that arrived with a spicy chilli sauce (masa di pimentao) that overwhelmed the other ingredients or an over-crunchy carrot escabeche.

But the highlights were dazzling. The widely instagrammed (including by me) cuttlefish and pigs trotters coentrada is just insanely good, an umami bomb of a surf and turf dish that I could easily have made a meal of. (I might have to order two next time.) Runner bean fritters (below), a pretty tempura-like tangle of crisp vegetables makes the perfect snack while you’re debating what else to eat and the prawn rissois (or croquetas as they’d be called in Spain) are the biz.

I also loved the idea of the ‘tinned fish’ which are apparently cooked sous vide but cutely arrive in tins with an accompanying sauce, some very good toasted bread and pickled radishes. We had the daily special, some outrageously fat mussels with a wild garlic sauce which were fantastic.

Wild garlic also appeared in a dish of migas (breadcrumbs) with asparagus and fennel so there’s more than a nod to seasonal ingredients - appropriate to the restaurant’s market location. I thought it tasted nicer when it was lukewarm than hot - as is the way with these small plates restaurants, dishes all arrive at once. (Tip: don’t order more than two or three at a time if you don’t want to be in and out within the hour.)

We spotted some other dishes arriving at neighbouring tables. The sandwiches (beef prego with prawn paste and wild garlic, pork bifana, yeast mayo and fennel) sounded and looked particularly tempting and judging by the silky coils of ham that were sailing past, the cured meat section is also worth exploring. As is the all-Portuguese wine list, much of which is available by the glass. I loved both my sparkling Campolargo Bairrada rosé (great with the trotter dish) and intensely flavoured Antonio Lopes Air Vinho Verde - still remarkably fresh for a 2011 vintage. The charming staff are well-informed about both the menu and the list.

So I’ll definitely be back and you should definitely go, though maybe in few weeks once it's had a chance to get into its stride. And once the fuss has died down though given it’s Nuno and one of the city’s only Portuguese restaurants I’m not hopeful that will happen any time soon.

Taberna do Mercado is at 107b Commercial Street which is just inside the entrance to Old Spitalfields market. It’s open every day but only takes bookings at lunchtime (and is relatively small so you may face a wait to get in) and serves a restricted menu in the afternoon. Go early (like 6pm) as we did. Our bill came to £86.29 including 4 glasses of wine which is way more than you need to pay if you’re not as curious or greedy as we were

Auberge de Combes: a real taste of the Languedoc

Over the past few years we’ve become so disillusioned with restaurants in the Languedoc that we almost invariably end up eating at home.

That included the Auberge de Combes - a small family-run inn up in the mountains above Lamalou-les-bains with fabulous views over the surrounding countryside. When we discovered it 4 or 5 years ago we loved the food but were shocked when we checked the menu one day to find that the new generation had taken over and that it seemed to be in the grip of molecular gastronomy.

Happily Bonano fils has decided to move on and although there are still copies of Ferran Adria’s cookbooks in the dining room they’re not influencing the food which is firmly back in the hands of papa. In fact they’ve moved boldly in quite a different direction introducing a natural wine bar and largely natural wine list which may make some customers as apoplectic as I am about smears, drizzles and foams

Cleverly they’re keeping their options open. There is still a bit of fancy presentation and exotic flavours such as the cod with coconut milk, ginger and lemongrass on my fixed price La Balade du Chef menu but you can also order good old-fashioned dishes such as a fall-apart tender daube of Charolais beef and hearty plate of country ham with cep butter, two generous specials from the blackboard which could easily have fed the two of us even if we hadn’t ordered anything else.

My 32€ (£22.90) four course menu included a Spanish-style ‘amuse’ of 3 different tapas, two generous slices of homemade terrine, a main which included 4 quail breasts (below), a whole goats cheese, a miniaturized gateau St Honoré (a choux puff filled with crème patisserie and drizzled with caramel) and some petits fours. We badly needed our post-lunch walk to recover.

My husband being a natural wine nut we drank a couple of glasses of a local ‘pet nat’ (petillant naturel from Domaine Rimbert) and two more from one of the more hard core offerings from the list - a deliciously funky red called Les Temps de Cerises from a local producer called Axel Prufer which they solicitously offered to decant for us then rebottled so we could could take the remainder home. But they do have less scary wines if that puts you off. A few more wines by the glass would be welcome given the restaurant’s location.

The only other quibble I have with the place is that the service is a bit slow and distracted. Despite the fact that there were only 10 other people there it took us almost half an hour to get a glass of wine and about 40 minutes for our first course to arrive. I imagine it could be worse at weekends and in the summer when there are also outside tables though maybe they take on extra staff at those times.

That aside it’s perfect - a restaurant that really reflects the Languedoc and there are far too few of those these days.

The Auberge de Combes is at 24240 Combes by the D180 from Poujols. Tel: 04 67 95 66 55. Our bill came to €126 (£90.22) but you could easily spend less. There’s a 25€ lunch menu that includes a glass of wine. (It has a Michelin Bib Gourmand.)

So what is Sticky Walnut really like?

This is not so much a review as a report from the front line on the UK’s most unlikely gourmet hotspot, Sticky Walnut in Chester.

From their Twitter stream you’d imagine it was the kind of place that would play visual jokes on you of the Heston purple-jelly-tastes-of-orange/orange-jelly-of-beetroot variety but that's not their schtick.

For those unfamiliar with it, the account which is run by chef Gary Usher is utterly manic, peppered with bizarre, deliberately misspelt tweets and regularly changes its name. (At the moment it’s ‘&expensive’, presumably a reference to an adverse Trip Advisor review). Despite sending up his own restaurant - the current biog reads “Winner of the international best photo of an apple on a restaurant wall 1996. Runner up in best use of the word 'and' on a restaurant menu 1999/2000” Usher has managed to raise £100,000 on Kickstarter (including a contribution from yours truly) for his next restaurant, Burnt Truffle (yes, Burnt Truffle) which should open in early summer 2015.

Sticky Walnut is in a modest neighbourhood of Chester called Hoole, sandwiched between an estate agent and an Indian takeaway. You could easily overlook it walking past - it looks more like a cafe than a restaurant, let alone a place that offers food worthy of a Michelin star.

We ordered 3 starters as the prices were so good - dark earthy glossy oven roast beets with the eponymous sticky walnuts and fresh ricotta, some deeply charred quail with carrot, dukkah and a vegetable nage (a surprisingly cheffy word for Sticky) and seabream with moreishly crispy ‘puffed’ chickpeas and mango salsa, a combination I’d normally run a mile from but which turned out to be a beautifully judged combination of flavours and textures and a top match with a glass of Amalaya torrontes and riesling from the very decent wine list.

I also went for fish for my main course - some fabulously fresh hake with kale, brown shrimps and a velvety smooth lemon and fennel (I think) purée while my host had a rather less exciting warm brassica salad with pickled romesco and caramelised cauliflower - a good stab at providing an interesting veggie option but I would venture to say veg isn't Usher's strongest suit.

Desserts, which we indulged in out of sheer piggery, were an outrageously rich chocolate tart with blood orange sorbet and a rhubarb trifle/crumble hybrid I’d like to try and make at home. Spot on.

The kitchen at the back of the restaurant remained subdued throughout. I’d expected a real life version of the SW Twitter stream with constant noisy joshing between the staff but it was utterly focused and professional. Usher who I’d briefly met at a social media conference in London was reluctantly prised out to say hello and is far shyer and more modest than the tweets and the tats (right) would suggest.

Like I said Sticky Walnut is full of surprises. If you’re in the area don't miss the chance to go.

Sticky Walnut is at 11, Charles Street, Hoole, Chester CH2 3AZ. Tel: 01244 400400. And on Twitter @stickywalnut

I ate at Sticky Walnut as a guest of Lemon Zestful PR but am guessing the bill was about £38 a head including service.

Three hot restaurants to visit in Paris in spring 2015

Deciding where to eat in Paris is just as stressful as where to eat in London. There’s just too much choice

Fortunately my husband is an assiduous researcher and came up with these three - all within (energetic) walking distance of the flat where we’re staying in the Marais.

They’re from a new breed of Parisian restaurants that offer short menus of light contemporary food - and natural wines which may be a deal-breaker for some of you (though They Are Not All Cidery as I never tire of saying. Try to keep an open mind!)

We had lunch at all three this week. Evenings would be more expensive, obviously.

Le Servan

Le Servan was the only one of the three we’d been to before back in November where we were charmed by the simple seasonal food that chef Tatiana Levha, who runs it with her sister Katia, produces. It’s an unspectacular spot off the rue Roquette, occupying a corner site that looks as if it might have been a tearoom or a rather genteel lady’s boutique in a former life. The only touch of luxury is the very beautiful Japanese knives they provide to eat your food.

Levha, who has an impeccable pedigree having worked at Arpège and L’Astrance, manages to give all her dishes an unexpected twist - tete de cochon, served crisply rather than pressed into a terrine, is worked into in an Asian-style warm salad with lightly cooked celery, cockles and pinenuts. Other entrées included a very pretty dish of leeks topped with flocons of foie gras fluttering like bonito flakes and a gravlax of trout with endive and just the right amount of orange to make you realise most places use too much. A deep sticky braise of beef and cooked and steamed carrots - still with their leaf stalks - showed she can handle the bistro repertoire too though fish (lieu jaune) on this occasion was slightly bland, less well handled than the previous time we went. Desserts might also not satisfy the sweet-toothed although I’d have been more than happy with the tatin-like caramelised apple on a slice of warm crumbly cake with salted caramel sauce if I hadn’t opted for cheese. (A simple slice of blue served with a mâche salad.) Oh, and you don’t need to take my word for it It’s one of former Figaro critic Francois Simon’s favourite spots.

Le Servan is at 32, rue St.-Maur, Paris 75011. Tel: 01 55 28 51 82 Nearest Metro Voltaire.

We drank: A bottle of Alice and Olivier de Moor’s Le Vendangeur Masqué 2013, a Chablis-like chardonnay made just outside the region, a glass of Muxagat Tinta Barrocca and an Arbois Chardonnay-Savagnin from Patrice Hugues Beguet. Servan offers the most mainstream wines of the three.

We paid: 157€ (£113.67) for 4 of which food came to 25€ a head

Yard

Yard is about 7-8 minutes up the road from Servan in an equally unglamourous area off rue de la Folie-Regnault near the Cimetière Père Lachaise. It’s even smaller than Servan with the kitchen at the back of the dining room and has more of a bistro feel about it. Tables of two, largely occupied by locals, are grouped in a block down the middle of the room.

The lunchtime formula is similar - a short, seasonally inspired menu of small - but not too small - plates: fresh radishes with fromage frais, super fresh mussels with celery, cabbage and bergamot (lovely), a great piece of seared cod cooked to perfection with broccoli rabe and anchoiade on the side and a more robust dish of crisply fried boudin noir with eggs which even my eggophile husband couldn’t finish. That would have been just 15€ but we paid an extra 3€ each for an impeccable warm tarte au citron and a blood orange salad - an eminently copiable fresh tasting dessert of sliced oranges, walnuts, dates and shredded mint.

Yard is at 6 rue de Mont-Louis, 75011 Paris. Tel: 01 40 09 70 30. Nearest Metro Philippe-Auguste. Note you can't book at lunchtime.

We drank: A couple of glasses of La Peur du Rouge, a funky chardonnay/viognier blend from Axel Prufer’s Le Temps des Cerises (23€), taking the rest back home with us. Wines by the glass start at 3€.

We paid: 59€ (£42.65) for two. The best bargain of the three.

Heimat

This recent opening from natural wine bar pioneer Pierre Jancou is In the upmarket 1st rather than the hipster 11th and is quite different in style from his previous venues, Racine and Vivant., The big stone-walled rooms and 80s-style bentwood chairs make it sparse almost to the point of being clinical though I suspect it would be more cosy in the evening. The lunch menu offers just 6 dishes including dessert and is quite fierce given what turns out to be quite a conventional-looking all-female clientele: two of the six were bulots (which we’d had the night before) and tripe. Fortunately there turned out to be a satisfyingly savoury special of veal tongue on which my husband leapt.

The other starter was a beautifully elegant plate of chinchard (horse mackerel) tartare with shaved radishes and coriander sprouts. We both opted for the non-tripey main, a spicy seafood linguine dusted with what looked like soot but turned out to be burnt sage. Weird but rather good - much nicer than it sounds. The natural wine list is hugely impressive as you’d expect from Jancou and well explained by our waitress.

Heimat is at 37 rue de Montpensier just by the Palais Royal (don’t miss the gorgeous garden). Tel 01 40 26 78 25 Nearest metros Palais Royal or Bourse

We drank: Camerlengo's Accamilla, an 'orange' malvasia from Basilicata, Les Cailloux de Paradis Quartz from the Sologne and Vuillaud's Sang Neuf 2013 a dark, robust Beaujolais. All quite hard core but the helpful waitress spoke good English and could almost certainly steer you to a less exacting choice.

We paid: 89€ (£64) for 2 courses, 3 glasses of wine and 2 coffees. Evenings are quite a bit more.