Celebrity food favourites Food bloggers' Britain

Date Published:

07/05/2008

Britain is awash with inspiring food stories – from backstreet caffs to bourgeois bistros every town and city throughout the kingdom has a culinary institution to be proud of. Nowhere are these local legends celebrated more than in the UK's thriving food blogging community, which document the great and the good of the nation's eateries. So who better to kick off the Big British Food Map than these feasting fanatics?

4Food asked bloggers across Britain to give us their favourite foodie places across the country. See if you agree with them and if you think they've missed somewhere add it to the Big British Food Map

Around Britain with a Paunch is run by blogging duo Jonathan and Cowie - enthusiasts of all things gastronome who've built up a varied collection of culinary discoveries, restaurant reviews, cook book recommendations and everything else that satiates the appetite. Here are their top five foodie haunts:

River Cottage, Devon.
In the autumn we went on a pilgrimage to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage HQ in Dorset/Devon where we spent the day mushroom foraging with John Wright.

Riverford Organics Farm Devon.
Spurred on by River Cottage we went to Riverford Organics Farm in Devon. It was a delight to see a successful rural business doing something genuinely good for society and the farming community. Read the review.

Fifteen, Cornwall. Jamie Oliver's award-winning restaurant in Cornwall is a real treat.

Pannier Market Bideford.
Barnstable's Pannier Market is fantastic and well worth a visit. We buy a lobster there each year and barbecue it at the nearby camp site.

Volks Coffee
A mobile coffee bar which lets us sample fresh tasting organic brews in the back of a VW campervan.

Cheese and biscuits is run by a late-twenties Londoner, Chris, who's interested in the great and the good of the gastronomic world especially if it involves cheese. As well as giving his pert opinions on all the capital has to offer, cheese and biscuits has also feasted further afield sampling the culinary delights of America and Spain. Here are Chris' top tips for the North West:

Baltic Fleet, 3 Wapping, Liverpool. Tel: 0871 9614272
Liverpool has some excellent pubs and the Baltic Fleet is a fantastic place to try some of the local beer after a tour of the Cairns brewery. Cairns is a bit of a local institution so I would rate this tour as a 'must-do'.

Vinea, North John Street, Liverpool. Tel: 0871 2078947
A lovely little wine bar. Try a really fancy bottle of wine for a measly £5 mark-up and wash it down with some Stinking Bishop cheese (they sell it there too).

Liverpool Cheese Company
Talking of cheese, the Liverpool Cheese Company in Woolton Village is cute, and they know their stuff.

The Swan, 52 Stanley Street, Southport, Merseyside, Tel: 01704 530720.
Southport has a selection of great fish and chip shops. My favourite is The Swan, which does a great cod and chips for something stupid like £5.