Head chef Josh Emett has worked with the great Scot at several of his restaurants already, and replicates the peerless French style that has earned Ramsay so many stars in London.

Go for it: Reservations for Gordon Ramsay at The London can be made by telephoning 00 212 468 8888. But book well in advance of travelling; reservations are accepted two calendar months prior to the requested booking date by telephone only. The dress code for Gordon Ramsay at The London is smart, with jackets required for gentlemen.

2. Feast in the Welsh streets The Abergavenny Food Festival in Wales has the most imaginative and appetising programme of any British food festival.

You can attend tastings and masterclasses, and then meet some of the most charismatic characters in the food world throughout the weekend. Guests include Keith Floyd, Clarissa Dickson Wright, Yun Hider, George Alagiah and Tom Parker Bowles. The streets of the Welsh market town will be thronged with a feasting crowd and inside the Victorian market hall you can eat and buy everything from paella to sheep's milk ice cream.

Go for it: The Abergavenny Food Festival runs between 15-16 September. Admission charges are �5.50 (/8.10) for adults and �2 (/2.90) for children on the Saturday; and �4.50 (/6.60) for adults and �1.50 (/2.20) for children on the Sunday. A family ticket costs �9 (/13.20) plus �1 (/1.45) per child; and a weekend family ticket is �18 (/26.45) plus �1.50 (/2.20) per child. For more details see www. abergavennyfoodfestival. com or tel: 0044 01873 851643 3. Sample pure Irish genius Since it opened almost a year ago under the guiding hand of Richard Corrigan, The Mill restaurant in Kildare has received glowing reviews from the critics and won the Best Newcomer Award at the 2007 Jacob's Creek Restaurant Guide awards. The London-based colossus of modish Irish cooking has brought his flair for cooking earthy and traditional produce to The Mill, where the 70-seat restaurant at Lyons Village is part of an epicurean idyll bringing the best Irish produce and talent together. There are further plans for a farmers market, a wine shop, a bakery and a food store to open in 2008 on the grounds of Dr Tony Ryan's Kildare estate, which means Lyons village should become a great showcase for Irish food in all forms.

Go for it: The Mill Restaurant and Cafe La Serre, The Village at Lyons, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

For more details see www. villageatlyons. com or telephone: 01 6303500 4. See the Thai garden grow As any cook knows, the fresher the ingredients the better the result, so the Thai Culinary Package at the Four Seasons Resort in Chiang Mai in Thailand practically guarantees great things for all who take part. The cookery school at the resort offers cooking classes suitable for novice and experienced cooks alike, using the many herbs, vegetables and fruit that grow in the organic farm at the Resort.

Students from the cookery school can pick their own produce to use in their classes but will also get the opportunity to haggle in the local markets. The cooking school has also introduced sessions for children, while guests who don't want to cook can eat in the dining pavilion on the farm.

Go for it: Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand. A three-night Thai culinary package costs from /1,525 (based on two people sharing) including accommodation with breakfast included, two cooking school classes, a visit to the local market, optional fruit carving course, and airport transfers.

For more details see www. fourseasons. com/chiangmai or tel: 0066 0 5329 8181 5. Line up for a London debut Joel Robuchon, one of the greatest chefs of the past 20 years, broke the mould in Paris with his no bookings, no tables L'Atelier. Diners queue, sit at a counter facing the kitchen and relish brilliant little dishes such as avocado fondant with tomato coulis, caramelised quail with pureed potato and white truffles and basil and lime sorbet with peach. Robuchon brought his revolutionary style to London last autumn and since then the threestorey L'Atelier has become known for its informal, speedy fuelling of the most exquisite sort. La Cuisine on the first floor offers more conventionally structured meals in a 60-seat restaurant that feels like dining in the kitchen . . . chestnut veloute with caramelized foie gras and langoustine carpaccio are typical dishes; while on the top floor is an intimate bar serving finger food of the most manicured variety.

Go for it: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, 13-15 West Street, London WC2H. For more information see www. joel-robuchon. com or tel: 00 44 20 7010 8600 6. Go mad for the Madeira magic Situated in the Atlantic Ocean, just one hour's plane ride from Lisbon, the beautiful island of Madeira might sound like a place to take a granny or a great-aunt for a tipple but it also has some of the best Portuguese food you'll ever taste.

Madeira's own hotel chain, Quintas, is a collection of 16 hotels spread across the island, ranging from designer billets to ancient country houses. They're charming and often rather quaint, especially the former golf club tea house, and the whole island, like its fortified wines, feels ripe for rediscovery. All the Quintas hotels have gardens, be they full of botanical plants or doubling as banana plantations, and the style of food ranges from local Madeiran and Portuguese specialities to the Portuguese-influenced cuisine of Goa.

Check out the local markets for fresh fruit and vegetables, and it's worth doing a tour of the Madeira Wine Company, so you can bring some wine and honey cake home with you Go for it: Prices to stay in a Quintas hotel start from around /100 per person per night. For more details see www. quintas-madeira. com 7. A rum do in the Caribbean Johnny Depp isn't part of the package unfortunately, but the second annual Food & Rum Festival from 1-4 November in St.

Lucia promises plenty of Jack Sparrow's favourite refreshment in a gorgeous Caribbean setting. The festival is based on Pigeon Island, which for four days will be a hive of activity with cookery demonstrations; tastings of more than 40 rums from all over the Caribbean in the Rum Pavilion in town; demonstration kitchens; a cookbook shop; a cigar-rolling station; rum boat cruises to the Pitons; and live musical performances from Third World, Monty Alexander and Arrow, among others. Proof that rum is too good to be left to pirates to enjoy.

Go for it: The Rum & Food Festival Pigeon Island, St Lucia, from 1-4 November. For more details see: w. foodandrumfestival. com/home. htm . Accommodation details and tickets will be available shortly from www. foodandrumfestival. com/travel. htm .

8. The joy of dining in Helsinki Europe's most northerly capital celebrates its growing restaurant scene with over 100 restaurants taking part in the Eat & Joy Helsinki festival in midSeptember. Helsinki is a relaxed and manageable city to walk around, so it's easy to work up an appetite. The diet is healthy, with lots of fish, especially herring, sea buckthorn and tangy yellow cloudberries used in contemporary ways by a new generation of chefs. For classic dishes, head to the 1930s gem the Sea Horse on Kapleenikatu; tuck into seafood at the modish artists' hangout Elite on Etela Hesperiank; or try reindeer and snow grouse at Lappi on Annankatu. If you're not sure where to go, check out the 50 Best Restaurants in Finland website, which was launched last year to coincide with the festival.

Go for it: Eat & Joy, 13-23 September all over Helsinki. For details, see www. eatandjoy. com. For the 50 Best Restaurants in Finland check out www.50bestrestaurants. fi FOODIE FUN IN IRELAND Make your own sushi Always been put off from making sushi because it looks too difficult? Learn how to roll your own sushi in one day. Japanese chef Yoshio Miyachi will be giving a class on how to prepare, roll and serve sushi that's as good as any you'd find in downtown Tokyo, plus students will also get to assist Miyachi in creating other Japanese dishes.

When and where: Fallon &Byrne's Food Emporium, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2, 10am-2pm on different Saturdays each month starting on 22 September.

Shaken or stirred?

If you've ever harboured secret ambitions to juggle a cocktail like Tom Cruise, then get down to the Concocting Cocktails evenings at the Clarendon Cafe and Bar on Clarendon Street, Dublin 2.

When and where: Twice monthly starting on Wednesday 19 September from 6.30 to 9.30pm.

Expert Mixologist Paul Lambert will be demonstrating how to blend and muddle.

Think real Thai Acclaimed Thai chef Tao will be guiding students through the secrets and skill of real Thai cooking in a day that begins with a typical breakfast of conchi, followed by cooking, tasting and shopping for the very best Thai ingredients available and finishing with a late Thai lunch.

When and where: SABA, Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, on 23 September.

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