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Andrew Kay heads north for nine days in the Netherlands and finds a warm and exciting welcome

“When it’s spring again, I’ll bring again…“ Sorry, forgive me, but I am just back from my annual trip to the low countries. This year a week in Amsterdam and two days in Arnhem. Arnhem is rather pretty but the highlight was a trip to a Robbers & van den Hoogen’s wine cellars, where the delightful Bonnie took us on an excellent guided tour and showed us a lot of wine that I can only dream about drinking.

In Amsterdam my time was divided between two hotels. First up: the very smart and luxurious Amsterdam American, which was conveniently a five-minute stroll from most of the great museums and galleries. The hotel is of international standard and stylish, slick and efficient. The dining room, though, is of museum quality, a grand affair in the Art Nouveau style, a fin de siecle masterpiece, with a painted brick vaulted ceiling, beautiful glass and huge arched window overlooking the Leidseplein. Sitting there for a rather grand Dutch breakfast was an excellent experience.
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Andrew Kay on the perfect sausage roll and Sevendials gets ready to celebrate seven great years

Say sausage roll to me and you’re unlikely to get me excited. That was until I first tasted one of Edward’s luxury sausage rolls. That was some time ago at Sussex and the City. Then I discovered I could get them at The Sir Charles Napier, where I am a regular on Sunday evening for the quiz. Yes, if I have failed to eat properly I will treat myself to one of his sausage rolls, my current favourite being a chorizo style that packs a nice paprika kick. In fact even if I have eaten well I can be tempted to one, as they are really very good and a million miles away from the dismal, soggy, fat-drenched offerings so often found these days.
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Andrew Kay lunches in style at Benares Atul Kochhar’s Michelin starred Mayfair restaurant

It’s been a full week since I stepped over the threshold of Benares in Berkeley Square at the very heart of Mayfair. It’s my old stomping ground and I know the area well. You can easily sum it up with the word ‘posh‘. And for many that word gives off a warning, posh can mean elitist, unfriendly snobbish and above all expensive.

Sometimes that is appropriate but I very soon discover that at Benares it is far from the truth. There is no denying that this is a very sophisticated, very grown-up, very smart restaurant indeed. But unfriendly – certainly not, the welcome is huge and generous. And expensive? No, not for cooking of this calibre and in these surroundings.
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Andrew Kay heads over to Lewes for a Gujarati feast at Chaula’s including elephant’s ears

Growing up in Lancashire in the 1960s meant that I came late to Indian Food. I did have a school friend whose mum would do the occasional vesta, but I know that does not count, not even as food really.

When I arrived in London, aged 18, I was in for a massive shock. Indian food was cheap, delicious and did not come served in a puddle in the centre of a ring of white rice and dotted with sultanas. I soon found my way to both Euston, Tooting and Wembley and tutored myself in Indian delicacies. You might note that I say Indian because at that time we would still refer to this food as Indian, even though by travelling in the capital, I was engaging in regional Indian delights. It’s still hard to find regionally accredited Indian dishes but at Chaula’s in Lewes that is most certainly what you will find.

‘‘My favourites are the petis and kachori, you won’t find them in many places heaven knows why’’

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