What the experts recommend

The Cartford Inn Cartford Lane, Little Eccleston, Lancashire (01995-670166)

There are some “outstanding food pubs” in Lancashire at the moment, deploying the skills associated with classic French cuisine in the service of a typical British pub repertoire, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. I’m thinking of such stellar establishments as the Parkers Arms in Newton-in-bowland, and The White Swan in Fence. The Cartford Inn is in that class. Its kitchen “can clarify a consommé, make a silky duck-liver parfait”, and rustle up a perfect choux bun of epic proportions. But here they are also “cheerleaders for the pasty, the suet pudding and the fish pie”. And all of it is lip-smackingly good: an oxtail, beef skirt and ale suet pudding has “luscious glossy strands of long-braised cow”; likewise, a vast choux bun is filled with lashings of caramel cream. In fact, the latter is a “serious contender for my dessert of the year”. To call the Cartford an “undiscovered gem would merely be to shine a light on my own ignorance; it has won plenty of awards in recent years”. Long may it flourish.

Meal for two, with drinks and service, from £60.

East London Liquor Company

Unit GF1, Bow Wharf, 221 Grove Road, London E3 (020-3011 0980) Were you to stumble across this bar, restaurant and gin-vodka-whisky distillery in Seattle or Sonoma, “you’d punch the air at your own cleverness”, says Marina O’loughlin in The Sunday Times. From the intriguing list of cocktails, I start with a “Pandanmonium” made from mescal, pandan and sour cherry bitters: it’s ravishing, bittersweet and packs an almighty punch. Other thrills include a Benign Masochism (a gorgeous rum concoction scented with pine and jalapeño) and some “heavenly little” trios of martinis or twisted negronis. “After about four hours in the place, am I plastered? Friends, I am perfectly blootered.” This is the kind of joint where they could give you pork scratchings and you’d be happy. Instead, they serve seriously good Italian food, with real care. “I raise a glass to them. Yes, another one. And I’ll have another round of arancini while we’re at it.”

Cocktails from £9.50; plates from £5.

Largo de São Carlos 10, Lisbon, Portugal (+351 213 420 607)

There was a lengthy period, between about 1985 and 2005, when no decent London restaurant could have prospered without its army of hard-working Portuguese bar staff, waiters and general managers, says Nicholas Lander in the FT. Now that Lisbon has become a culinary hotspot, far more young Portuguese are staying at home – and who can blame them? Who would want to leave the glorious fish and shellfish from the Atlantic, the great pork cookery – and the chance to work in sensationally good restaurants such as Belcanto? I have eaten “enviably well” this year, and the meal cooked by chef José Avillez at the double-michelin-starred Belcanto (est. 1958) included several of its highlights: red prawns grilled in rosemary ashes; suckling pig with an orange and black garlic sauce; and red mullet fillets with corn porridge and exploding clams. The fact that it was all served with “such panache” and friendliness “added enormously to our pleasure”. Starters

from s35; mains from s45.