The Truffler: Phoenix Bar & Grill; Selfridges food hall; holiday food deliveries

People usually retire from London to Wales. But Franco Taruschio defies convention, and by a strange trajectory has turned up in Putney from the Marche region of Italy via 35 years in Abergavenny. Ring any bells? The Italian chef who put Llandewi Skirrid on the gastronomic map with the Walnut Tree Inn sold it last year to Stephen Terry, but found retirement not to his taste. Now he's dividing his time between Wales and London, acting as consultant chef at the Phoenix Bar & Grill in London, SW15, where he's installed one of his former chefs from Wales. His repertoire always was unique, influenced by his native Italy, historical recipes and a connection with South-east Asia through his adopted Thai daughter. Dishes for which Taruschio is known, such as vincisgrass maceratesi, an 18th-century version of lasagne with truffles and cream, papardelle with baby artichokes, parsley, chilli and garlic, and Thai salad with scallops and prawns are now on the menu at the Phoenix, 162 Lower Richmond Road, London SW15 (020-8780 3131).

Over at Selfridges in Oxford Street, cheese is on the menu in the Food Hall. Now it is being supplied by Neal's Yard Dairy, some of the producers are visiting the department, so customers can meet the makers of the finest British and Irish cheeses. This weekend the producers have come from Ireland. Today Mary Burns introduces cheese lovers to her Ardrahan cheese, and tomorrow Debbie Harrod (no relation to the founder of a rival Food Hall, we assume) accompanies her Durrus cheeses. Next Friday and Saturday, Graham Kirkham will be at Selfridges with the Lancashire farmhouse cheese that bears his family name. This weekend and next, Neal's Yard Creamery will be offering tastings of its cow and goat's cheeses, crème fraîche and Greek yogurts. Selfridges, Oxford Street, London W1 (020-7629 1234).

One last London-based event, and apologies for being so capital-centric, but that's the way this week's truffles have crumbled. Sri Owen, the well-known cook and writer of definitive books on South-east Asian food, including Healthy Thai Cooking, Indonesian Regional Food & Cookery, and Noodles: the new way is now concentrating on teaching in her specially equipped Wimbledon kitchen. You'll have to move fast to catch the first in the series – she's demonstrating Indonesian, Thai and Indian curries on Monday, 18 March. The session lasts from 10am to 1pm and costs £48. The following day, Tuesday, she's showing how to cook a South-east Asian meal. Next weekend on Saturday, 23 March there's an all-day introduction to South-east Asian cooking for £100 per person including lunch, and on Tuesday, 26 March a three-day class in advanced South-east Asian cooking begins. Courses can be tailor-made for groups; bookings and details 020-8946 7649 or e-mail: sriowen@compuserve.com.

No more spoiling the Easter holiday with supermarket shopping while you're out west. Several mail-order schemes and websites round up regional and farm foods and deliver them nationally. Westcountry Foods Direct is one of them. What it also does, which as far as I know nobody else has thought of, is drop off local produce at holiday homes in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. If you've booked self-catering accommodation in those counties and dread arriving to an empty fridge, this is the answer. Choose any of the foods in its catalogue (01803 814310 or www.westcountryfoodsdirect.co.uk), plus some more perishable stuff such as veg, milk and eggs, which it doesn't send by post, and arrange for a welcoming box of local produce to be waiting for you when you arrive in the area. Order at least three days ahead. Westcountry Foods Direct has a tie-in with the Helpful Holidays agency, but you don't have to have booked through them to use it. If you're not heading for the West country, you can have the catalogue's selection of cheeses such as Quicke's Cheddar and Cornish Yarg, pies, smoked fish, fresh meat, yogurts, jams, bread and apple juices delivered, but I bet they're even more enjoyable closer to where they are made.