Kitchen Rat: comfort food for chancellors and baguettes at dawn

At the other end of the scale, Andrea Leadsom consoled herself on losing the business secretary post with what The Daily Mail bellowed was a "CHAMPAGNE lunch" at the Goring. One of the advisors present responded on Twitter: "We also had FISH."

Propose a toast

Leap-year proposals traditionally see women getting down on one knee, but who cares about tradition when there's a free magnum of Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne on offer?

Searcys at the Gherkin, apparently determined to take full advantage of a marketing opportunity that only comes round every four years, is offering the bottle to anyone of any gender who plucks up the courage to propose on 29 February. I wonder if my ratty partner fancies another turn down the aisle?

Baguettes at dawn

The Guardian's restaurant critic, Grace Dent, was at the Global Restaurant Investment Forum in Amsterdam last week, divulging how she chooses which establishments to review. Dent explained that after going through lists of new openings and crossing off those that fail to excite, she has to battle her Observer colleague Jay Rayner to decide who will take the top pickings. However, far from drawing baguettes and staging a bread-based swordfight for the right to take a winding tour through the life of Tom Aikens, the pair go through an intermediary, ensuring everything remains civil. How dull.

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