Food & Drink notes

Height of passion; Holiday feeding; Get a grip; Raise the bar

Hill Station is the ice cream that's shamelessly grown up and isn't a global brand. There's Madagascan vanilla in the vanilla bean flavour, 80 per cent cocoa solids in the dark chocolate, plus mango and lime, roast coffee, cinnamon, and now - voluptuous, velvety, tangy and capable of inflaming the senses - passion fruit with white chocolate. A sensational mix of milk, cream, passion fruit and Divine Fairtrade white chocolate. £3.95 for a 500ml tub. 01249 816596 for stockists.

Holiday feeding

If your idea of sightseeing is sniffing out local produce and perfect little restaurants, pack a copy of 'The Taste of a Place' by Vicky Bennison, from Chakula Press. Following Corfu and Mallorca, the latest destination in the series is Andalucia. The publisher's website (www.thetasteofaplace.com) has a link for you to buy the book for £12.99.

Get a grip

How's a banana-fingered gourmand supposed to hold these Presto mocha cups? You might well ask, but you don't have to be particularly dextrous to drink from them. They're by Alessi, the masters of witty culinary kit from Italy, where the idea of an espresso is a little slick of coffee in the bottom of the cup, so you should be safe if you drink it their way. The Presto cups are £60 a pair from Alessi UK at 22 Brook Street, London W1 and authorised dealers (020-7518 9090/www.alessi.com).

Raise the bar

Beware imitations. Jordans Crunchy Bar was the first of its type in the UK. In the 25 years since, there have been few cereal bars that have been anything like as good, and plenty that aren't as healthy as they pretend to be. The Jordans, a family of Bedfordshire millers, pioneered Conservation Grade farming, to help wildlife, and they're also the UK's largest producer of organic cereals. The original honey and almond Crunchy bar - again, unlike some of its imitators - has only natural and unprocessed ingredients: oats, seeds, almonds and honey (well, and sugar). They're available from major supermarkets for around £1.89 for a pack of nine bars.