Serves 2

Serves 2

A vision of beauty on the coast of Vietnam

This week I've been eating... cold udon noodles with hot broth

With news coverage from Japan still studying the aftermath of disaster, it seems fitting that something be done to move the focus back to the nation’s reputation of dynamism and efficiency.

Serves 4-6

The venue: Roka. It has great Japanese food which feels light and it's just enticing enough to ensure a guest turns up.

In his previous food memoir Booth put himself through a Cordon Bleu course in Paris for the self-flagellating reason that he was "a worthless fraud".

Easily the most incongruous sight in Davos this year is the proliferation of red-white-green-yellow-black-yellow-green-white-and-blue-striped bobble hats and scarves, as if a bunch of South African soccer fans had invaded the place – which in a way they have, as President Jacob Zuma himself, fresh from his recent nuptials (conducted in full Zulu regalia), leads probably the largest contingent of Africans to attend such a gathering. And there'll be plenty of talk about the World Cup. The scarves and hats were a gift from South Africa to every participant at the forum, and very welcome they are too in conditions that are slightly cooler and snowier than usual (good for skiing, they tell me).

Sales of Indian food have been surpassed by Chinese fare in the UK, signifying that Hoisin sauce and not curry sauce is the nation’s favourite du jour.

I vividly remember my first Chinese meal. I was 14, on the sofa taking part in my father's dinner party and ate sweet and sour pork, spare ribs and egg fried rice.

Hard to see how there's any justification for this Korean take on the cult spaghetti western: are we being primed for the rise of the noodle western? Some fancy setpieces here and there, and gunplay just about everywhere, but none of the principals can begin to rival the sacred trio of Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef and the other one.

Serves 4