The Lavery, London SW7: ‘One of London’s loveliest new places to eat’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

One of the main challenges of writing a weekly restaurant column is finding new ways (and at least 11 times a year) to describe the experience of eating Mediterranean small plates in a room painted in Little Greene’s Silent White. Other food – and, indeed, paint colours – are available, but in recent years, whenever you cast an eye over some hot, hip new place, you need to brace yourself for polenta, coco beans, galettes and neutral furnishing. The Lavery, just opposite the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, is by no small margin the new emperor of this style of cooking and decor, with a former River Cafe, Petersham Nurseries and Toklas chef, Yohei Furuhashi, serving up gnocchi with fresh peas on the upper floors of a dreamily restored, Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link

Preserving English eccentricity: 20 years of the World Marmalade Awards

What could unite octogenarian Cumbrian farmers, diplomats from Japan, Spain and Australia, and Paddington Bear?The answer, of course, is marmalade. Or, more specifically, the World Marmalade Awards.With a flock of spray-painted orange sheep, a giant red squirrel and Paddington wandering among the marmalade aficionados (many of whom are also dressed in orange), and a choir of schoolchildren performing a specially commissioned marmalade song, the event held at Dalemain Mansion near Penrith is something of a showcase of English eccentricity.The event’s founder, Jane Hasell-McCosh, set up the awards in 2005, “mainly because we’d had foot and mouth and the whole county had really suffered from it”, she said, and also because “I love marmalade and I was trying to think of a way of getting people to come to Cumbria”.It began as a local competition, with Hasell-McCosh, who lives in Dalemain, convincing people to hand over jars of their marmalade

Oranges are not the only fruit: Cumbrian marmalade awards offer unusual blends

Marmalade was never really my jam, but at the world marmalade awards at Dalemain house on the edge of the Lake District, I found myself a convert.The experience has given weight to my theory that you might fall in love with any food if you try it at its finest. Hate tomatoes? Go to Italy. Not a fan of marmalade? Savour a spoonful in the presence of beaming marmalade fanatics who have spent their lives devoted to creating the tangiest, sweetest, jelly-ish version of the preserve.At first I was sceptical about tasting the jam off the spoon

Sunday best: Thomasina Miers’ recipes for braised chicken with chickpeas and rosewater dried apricots

An aromatic Persian stew, followed by stewed dried apricots with pistachio cookiesSpring is here in all its glory, as the birds testify with their ebullient chitter-chat. But the weather is wilful and the air can turn chilly in a flash, and it’s this in-between time when soothing braises made with lighter ingredients are just what’s needed. I recently found a recipe for an Iranian chicken stew recipe that paired carrots and yoghurt, and its sunniness really appealed to me; I added cardamom for its evocative scent and chickpeas for body, and it was demolished by the troops. Pudding had to be simple, and both the biscuits and poached apricots can be made a few days ahead, so it is also blissfully easy. A lovely spring lunch for a lazy, sun-soaked day

Pudding for breakfast? Latest internet fad is a dream for those with a sweet tooth

The idea of pudding as a sweet finale to lunch or dinner is being inverted by the rise of the breakfast pudding. This topsy-turvy food trend includes everything from chia seed puddings designed to taste like cookie dough, overnight oats that resemble tiramisu and Weetabix biscuits transformed into what could be mistaken for vanilla cheesecake.TikTok is the main instigator of the trend, causing dieticians, fitness influencers and homecooks to do battle with viral recipes. The process tends to involve soaking base ingredients such as oats and chia seeds overnight with natural plant additions such as dates and cacao powder or somewhat less healthy, processed items such as melted chocolate bars and spreads including Lotus Biscoff, a brand of caramelised biscuits. There are recipes inspired by Snickers, Kinder Bueno and Bounty bars alongside others modelled on cinnamon rolls and matcha lattes

Ravneet Gill’s recipe for apple souffle and hazelnuts | The sweet spot

Take souffle to the next level by baking it inside an apple. This retro dessert is easy and a bit of fun, too. The result is a soft, tender apple shell filled with light, airy souffle, perfect with lashings of vanilla ice-cream (which will hopefully form a delightful puddle when served with the hot pudding). Ideal for entertaining – it’s like eating the filling of an apple pie, but lighter.Prep 10 min Cook 1 hr Serves 44 eating apples, such as braeburn20g softened unsalted butter45g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting1 tsp cornflour2 egg whites20g blanched hazelnuts, roasted and chopped, plus extra to serve, if you likeIcing sugar, to dustVanilla ice-cream, to serveCut the tops off the apples and very carefully scoop out the flesh with a small spoon or melon baller, leaving about 4mm of flesh all around the edges of the shell