Once you have a baby foreign holidays (if you can afford them) take on the hue of a campaign requiring planning of the militarily precise calibre. How long will it take to get there? Will the baby sleep on the journey or, more likely, scream the place down? The latter scenario is guaranteed if you’re flying. Will you be able to take the buggy, will the hire car have a decent car seat? Will the hotel have baby sitters, or more accurately, baby sitters you would trust with your dog let alone your baby

It is fair to say that before we went to Zafferano with our friends Alistair and Eileen and their two year old, I had not fully appreciated the uses to which a bread stick could be put. We arrived for lunch one Sunday after a visit to a packed Science Museum. Jack, our nearly four year old was ravenous, but two year old George was ready for his lunchtime nap and not best pleased at still being awake

“Sorry, no children under 10.” That was the response I got from Bob Bob Ricard when I tweeted about planning to take four year old Jack there for lunch.

My husband and I had been for dinner the evening before. There isn’t anywhere in London like Bob Bob Ricard. It manages to combine the feel of a louche New York diner with European glamour. The booth style tables (with cubby holes for coats and bags) the teal walls and eglomisé mirror tiles all ensure an intimate, cosy atmosphere. The food is straight forward comfort food. Not any old comfort food: luxury comfort food