I probably shouldn’t blog this, cos the place is already packed out on a Tuesday night. But it is such a great find. It is Bar Shu at 28 Frith St, Soho (London).

The food is Szechuan and I doubt you’ve tried anything quite like it unless you’re grandma is from southern China. Their big thing is ‘mouth numbing’ dishes (pork, beef, tufu). And loads of chilli. Nice chewy dried chilli. And the unusual ingedient is the sichuan pepper which, to me, tastes a bit like eucalyptus. In fact my tongue is still numb from tonights dinner.

The service is friendly and the decor groovey, so it is a fantastic chinese restaurant. You try; you like!

The resiny smell of hoochijuana wafting out of every second cafe, bikini girls lounging in windows yacking on their mobile phones, people wearing suits and riding bicycles - I must be in Amsterdam. Sleaze lovingly mixed with quaint tidyness makes Amstedam a delightfully mellow and sane place. It’s only a tiny city, but it never feels like a parochial backwater. I can’t work out why more people don’t move here.

We went over for Tony’s ‘Rubbish Super Hero’s’ Party. It was a total blast!

I don’t have any photos of me. I went as The Tickler. You’ll just have to take my word for it that I looked fabulous.

We also went to the Rijksmuseum which is only half open at the moment. They have piles of dutch masters as you would expect, but my favourite item is the big 17th century dolls house.

You can see more of it here:

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/BK-NM-1010?id=BK-NM-1010&page=0&lang=en&context_space=aria_encyclopedia&context_id=00050219