Wonderful food, nice atmosphere.

My wife & I booked up to go between Christmas & New Year - it was almost full, so booking is necessary. When booking, I mentioned we were vegetarian, and was asked "fish or no fish?" which gave me confidence that they knew that real veggies don't eat fish.

That was it as far as menu choice goes. No choice at all - the only menu one is offered is a wine card (from £10.00 up). This was refreshing to us - we hate spending hours deciding what to have, and it's justified by the statement "why bother choosing - we give you everything". The menu changes weekly.

Starters for us was a large portion of baby sweetcorn in tempura batter, small veg likewise, and mushroom & coriander in little wanton wrappers - deep fried. These came with saucers of soy sauce, sweet chilli and a hot chilli, ginger & soy sauce dips - very nice - the latter definitely homemade. I know there were little spicy pork cakes for meat eaters - the table of elderly people next to us complained that one found them too hot, likewise the spicy sauce - which seemed medium to my palette. They also asked if some real Thai music could be put on instead of this English stuff, which amused me, as the English stuff was in fact Thai pop music (and definitely in the background).

Mains. A large plate of sticky white boiled rice is provided, then we had thinly sliced sweetcorn, green beans, garlic, galangal & chilli in a gravy; pak choi in 'oyster' sauce - this was the vegetarian mushroom based version of 'oyster' sauce; and a large heater full of a wonderfully fragrant coconut, mushroom & cauliflower soup heavily laced with lemon grass & galangal. As our plates emptied, we were asked if we needed more rice, or more of any of the dishes - we didn't as we were quite full (but not stuffed).

Afterwards, a choice of lemon or mango sorbet (or a mixture), and coffee.

Set price as at 29/12/06 is £24.50 plus wine.

Staff: front of house are all English, very efficient & friendly - all dishes are explained well. I'm pretty sure that the male owner out front is married to a Thai woman who handles the cooking.

Upstairs is a B&B - Cardynham House, run by the same people, I assume - but I can't comment as I've never stayed there, living just down the valley in Stroud as I do.

We really enjoyed the meal & atmosphere. Good tip left & I will visit again (and I don't often tip).

Tibbiwell Street, Painswick.
Tel: 01452 813452. Coming from the north (Cheltenham) on A46, turn L just before the church, then left again - you'll see the restaurant in front of you - park in the car park just past the church on the A46.

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A jenever (gin) tasting house (aka bar).

As well as the usual Bols jenevers, this delightful small bar has a large range of flavoured gins (including liquorice and a salty one), aged 5 & 10 year old gins and bitters (their own brand Olofspoortje Bitter is on my desk at the moment - a very nice bitter orange 30%).

The bar is on the corner of the main Red Light area, not far from Centraal Station. I went on a busy evening & approached from the wrong direction, past hoards of drunken English tourists trying to find somewhere to get ... well, what do people go here for?

But this historic bar was nice & quiet - about 10 Dutch people (including two who were tourists), and a small party of Japanese who were shown into a back room for a 'tutored tasting'. I stayed & tried to understand as much Dutch as I could, whilst selecting the more unusual jenevers.

Beer, cheese and other snacks are also available.

Nieuwe Brugsteeg 13, 1012 AG Amsterdam; tel 020 624 3918

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A good, reasonably priced (£60) hotel, with good breakfasts, and rooms that sleep 4 in comfort.

It's quite close to the Cite d'Europe and the Channel Tunnel terminal, but not too hard to find from the Ferry terminal.

The hotel is part of the Accor group, and is one of three hotels in a little block with secure parking at the back (the others were Ibis and Etap, both cheaper).

Nice reception area, complete with mountain bikes to borrow (and a Smart Car at the back for you as well - don't know if there's a charge for these but got the feeling not).

Access to room is by a chip card. The rooms are LARGE, certainly compared to the Holiday Inn Express or Travel Lodge. As we walked in, there was a loo on the left, a table and 2 chairs (both on wheels, likewise the TV). Large sofa which turns into a single bed, and a pull out one from under the double bed so the room comfortably sleeps four.

There's a fridge, small sink and microwave in the room, and then we discovered there was a room divider that one can pull across to separate the (very big) double bed from the rest of the room - thus ensuring a little privacy from children should you have them. One caveat - the divider is quite thin - almost japanese in style.

Next to the double bed there's shelving (with a small safe box), and entrance to the bathroom (with a bath and separate shower, hairdryer, as well as a wash basin).

I felt that one could spend a whole holiday in one of these, even cooking a little in the microwave. There were no real glasses or cups/plates or the like, so if you want to feed little ones, bring your own. There were a couple of plasic glasses and paper cups along with tea and coffee. There are both smoking and non-smoking rooms.

Food. Don't know what dinner is like - there were 'meal packs' in the large fridge by reception. Breakfast. Croissants and coffee are free of charge, I understand, but you can also buy a 'breakfast box' for about E6 - well worth it when you eat it - very nice fruit, quality honey and jam, a large portion of very tasty butter (I like expensive butter), a plastic container of ham (don't know what that was like - we're veggies), a kiwi fruit and some President cheese - again a big portion. Help yourself to rolls and decent criossants.

Highly recommended.

Place de Cantorbery
62231 COQUELLES
FRANCE

Tel :(+33)3/21195000
Fax :(+33)3/21195005
E-mail : H3335@accor.com

www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/fichehotel/gb/sui/3335/fiche_hotel.shtml

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