I had the pleasure of not one but two fry-ups in York, UK last weekend. The first was courtesy of Bill’s Restaurant Overall, pretty good, and I’ve had much worse. All the ingredients seemed decent. The black pudding was overcooked and almost biscuit-like, but that’s my only serious grumble. The bacon was cooked well. That black pudding, beans and the mashed/friend potato thing were each extra charges annoyed me. Particularly with a hangover, I just want to be able to order a full english, without playing Mastermind to work out what’s in or not.

On a family holiday in South Devon last week I had some good food experiences. Top of the pile was a Lardy Cake, a delicacy new to me but which I’ll be sure to be searching out again. It reminded me of an Eccles cake, but bigger and lardier! I got mine from Vinnicombes on the High Street in Sidmouth. Just down the coast from Sidmouth is a village called Beer.