Bites: It's time to sound the dinner gongs

It may be a quiet month for restaurant openings, but January has been chock-a-block with awards. First, the nation's gastronomes got in a tizz when the new Michelin stars were leaked online five days ahead of schedule. Then Tatler got on with its annual restaurant gongs, where Mark Hix won restaurateur of the year. "Apparently there were only two candidates for the title," one onlooker noted. "They either had to give it to Mark or resurrect Peter Langan from the grave."

Adding to her collection of a Michelin star for the Connaught days earlier, Hélène Darroze picked up Tatler's "Fabulous food" prize, prompting her peers to wonder just how she finds the time: the busy chef has an adopted baby daughter at home.

Though neither were winners on the day, Fergus Henderson and Claude Bosi both looked happy enough. Perhaps because the former had just picked up his first star for St John, while Bosi's Hibiscus regained its second, a year after being downgraded to one.