Bites: The key to seduction: a good soufflé

While Gordon Ramsay ponders the fall-out from his latest brush with the red-tops, TV world ushers in a new chef du jour. Eric Lanlard, the expletive-free protégé of Albert Roux, who's baked for the Beckhams and Madonna, has just bagged his first series, Glamour Puds (on Discovery), where he lures the ladies with gingerbread soufflés.

Also branching out, according to forecast/ research company, Mintel, are the nation's tastebuds. First Harrods unleashes bacon-flavoured chocolate on to the dubious masses and now, unlikely as it sounds, 2009 will apparently have us embracing the taste of masala-flavoured foods. No, not curries – but spicy teas, chocolates and breads. Mmm. Mintel also predict a surge in sales of persimmon, starfruit, lavender, cactus and peri-peri flavoured foods. You have been warned.

But warmest news of the week goes to the appointment of a sake sommelier at London's Cocoon – it's good for one's skin and immune system, she says. We'll drink to that...