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The Truffler: Conran; Stefano Cavallini; True Taste Experience; Gastromania

Saturday 08 December 2001 01:00 GMT
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A weekinto its life, the new Conran restaurant in Almeida Street, Islington has – not by The Guardian but by other poor spellers – been called Almedia. What could be more fitting in a London borough derided for its media types and Guardian readers? Until now Granita, which introduced the area to garrotxa, manchego and mojama, had cornered the market as the typical New Labour Islington restaurant. But while the Granita's menu now looks a little passé, the Almeida (020-7354 4777) is ahead in the fashionable menu stakes. With frog's legs, coq au vin and carré d'agneau, it's thoroughly, traditionally, French.

* In London, chefs are known for going to Chinese restaurants after work. When London-based Stefano Cavallini and two colleagues who'd flown in from the Italian island of Capri arrived in Dublin, it didn't take them long to find a late-night kebab joint. They were cooking at The Tea Room in The Clarence Hotel in Dublin recently. Cavallini made his name with brilliant Italian cooking at London's Halkin Hotel and now runs the deli and caterer I Sapori in Battersea. As The Tea Room's guest chef, he arrived with a large white truffle and thrilled diners. When the customers left, the chefs headed for the Zaytoon Persian restaurant for marinated meat and nan e lavash bread, baked on the spot the Iranian way – some of the best fast food in the world.

* As well as Cardiff's market, in the city to 22 December you'll find some of Wales's top food and drink producers. The True Taste Experience, organised by the Welsh Development Agency, is partly an exhibition to boost Welsh agriculture, partly a chance to meet farmers and producers and buy what they grow, rear and make. There are cookery demonstrations, producer stalls and a Welsh food shop. True Taste is at the Central Library Building, The Hayes, Cardiff, Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm.

The Gastromania! quiz book is based on a quiz the authors, Ronald and Eve Jones, host on cruise ships (he was a hotelier, she a food and wine writer and lecturer). They have a mental larder full of stuffed with food facts, and the book is divided into easy Starters, intermediate Entrées and hard Just Desserts. Gastromania! is £12.95 from Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols Foodmarket, Waterstone's and Books Etc.

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