Hot off the gastronomic press

As the Glorious Twelfth (that's the start of the grouse-shooting season to you and I) approaches, thoughts turn to game. There's always the comprehensive range at Rules in Covent Garden: really too good to be left to just tourists.

Or head for the Conran group of restaurants for some specially created grouse dishes: at Quaglino's it's roasted with puy lentils and mushrooms; it's served with more traditional accoutrements (bread sauce, redcurrant jelly) at the Blueprint Cafe or with braised Savoy cabbage and liver toasts at the Butler's Wharf Chop House.

The Blue Elephant's annual gastronomic festival is one of the best times to catch its bonkers Fulham-meets-the-rainforest decor. This year, from August 2 to 30, they're featuring a fusion cuisine that, we're told, has never been tasted outside Thailand.

As lavish and over-the-top as the interior, the menu offers the likes of Bag Of Gold Foie Gras (deep-fried foie wrapped in rice paper with tamarind sauce) and Emerald Crocodile (crocodile marinated in Thai whisky and herbs in pandanus leaves with lemongrass sauce). Need more excitement? There's Thai dancing and, er, fruit and veg carving.