My Top 5 Books of 2017

After my mammoth — but not always enjoyable during the home strait — effort to read 200 books last year, I decided not to strive for any particular total this year. Inevitably, though, as I neared the 150 mark, I did my best to reach this figure, although 'only' managed 148. Here are my five favourites, as well as five more that almost made my shortlist (some of these also featured in my summer reading list).

1. The Unseen World by Liz Moore. Meticulously plotted and researched, moving and thought-provoking, Moore's novel follows 12-year-old Ada Sibelius as her father David — a brilliant but eccentric pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence and a director of a computer science lab in Cambridge, MA — begins to develop signs of dementia. The race is then on for Ada to discover the secrets locked inside his mind, but it's more of a marathon than a sprint, as the novel edges through the 1980s to the present day, with a few hops back to the 1920s and 1930s. As someone whose day job involves the communication of science — including recent developments in computer science and AI — I found the themes covered here most interesting, but at its heart, The Unseen World is a complex, richly portrayed family drama with a fascinating mystery at its core.

2. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. Quinn's novel weaves together the stories of two women connected through the real-life Alice Network — a network of about 100 female spies posted by the British Army and MI6 in northern France during World War One — in a compelling work of historical fiction. In 1915, Eve Gardiner is recruited into the network and posted in a small town in northern France. Eve is trained up by Lili — based on the real-life Louise de Bettignies, the so-called 'queen of spies' whose code name, Alice, gave the network its name. Her assignment is to gather as much information from the occupying Germans as possible and feed it back to her handlers, a perilous job in a town where collaborators and spies abound. Thirty years later, Charlie St. Clair, an unmarried, pregnant American student, comes to Europe with her mother, but takes off to search for her beloved cousin Rose, who went missing in France during World War Two — a search which soon connects her with Eve. Both Eve and Charlie make flawed but courageous heroines and once I got into The Alice Network, I was gripped by both stories.

3. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo. Set mainly in the first decade of the 20th century in New York City, Santopolo's novel is a beautifully written, intense and often devastating love story. Columbia students Lucy and Gabe meet on 9/11 and, after a couple of false starts, fall in love. But Lucy soon struggles to compete with Gabe's all-encompassing desire to become a photographer, forcing her to make some very tough decisions. With convincing dialogue, and believable, if sometimes frustrating, central characters, The Light We Lost is a fantastic debut novel.

4. Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito. I read a lot of legal thrillers and Persson Giolito's story about a teenage girl awaiting trial for her involvement in a mass shooting at her exclusive prep school was smart, gripping and satisfyingly twisty. If you enjoy novels with unreliable narrators, this fast-paced novel will keep you guessing as to whether our intelligent, knowing narrator Maja is indeed as innocent as she claims or whether we should believe a word she says.

5. Sourdough by Robin Sloan. A young woman from the Midwest — Lois, a gifted programmer — takes a job at a San Francisco-based robotics company but before long, finds herself becoming an obsessive sourdough baker in her spare time. So far, so standard. But if you've read Sloan's previous novel, you won't be surprised to find that the sourdough, and the novel itself, have been proved with a hefty dose of quirkiness and magical realism. Sourdough is a delightful, clever and unpredictable novel, which is particularly enjoyable for those who have lived in or visited San Francisco.

And now, here are five more books, which didn't quite make my top five this year but which I enjoyed a great deal:

• Startup* by Doree Shafrir. A darkly comic, smart and keenly observed cautionary tale set in New York's fast-paced, social-media-saturated tech startup world.
• The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter. An intelligent, well-plotted thriller about a small-town lawyer who is caught up in a violent crime that drags up memories of the violent crime that tore apart her own family almost 30 years earlier.
• This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. Often funny, sometimes sad and always keenly observed and thought-provoking, writer and comedian Kay's memoir of his former career as a junior doctor is an absolute must-read.
• The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. Ware has a real knack for producing tense, twisty psychological thrillers and her latest, in which four women who were once inseparable during their boarding-school years reunite to prevent past secrets from becoming present-day nightmares, is no exception.
• Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. One of the few non-fiction books I've read this year, Stephens-Davidowitz's work is an eye-opening dive into big data — and particularly the behavioural insights that can be gleaned from online search engines — making it essential reading for anyone who uses Google.

My full 2017 reading list is as follows (re-reads are in italics):

• The Parrots — Alexandra Shulman
• Big Brother — Lionel Shriver
• America's First Daughter — Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray
• The Couple Next Door — Shari Lapena
• Selection Day — Aravind Adiga
• Bloodline — Conn Iggulden
• Arctic Chill — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Geek Love — Katherine Dunn
• 4 3 2 1* — Paul Auster
• Midnight's Children — Salman Rushdie
• Hypothermia — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Any Human Heart — William Boyd
• Almost Missed You* — Jessica Strawser
• When She Was Bad — Tammy Cohen
• Seven Days — Deon Meyer
• The Memory Keeper's Daughter — Kim Edwards
• Cell 8 — Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström
• The Carrier — Sophie Hannah
• See Jane Run — Hannah Jayne
• The Three — Sarah Lotz
• High Crimes — Joseph Finder
• A Separation — Katie Kitamura
• See Jane Run — Joy Fielding
• The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini
• Lasting Damage — Sophie Hannah
• Little Deaths — Emma Flint
• Always a Bridesmaid (for Hire) — Jen Glantz
• Outrage — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Little Face — Sophie Hannah
• The Other Half Lives — Sophie Hannah
• The Truth-Teller's Lie — Sophie Hannah
• Everything You Want Me To Be — Mindy Mejia
•  The Point of Rescue — Sophie Hannah
• A Room Swept White — Sophie Hannah
• Kind of Cruel — Sophie Hannah
• The Telling Error — Sophie Hannah
• The Narrow Bed — Sophie Hannah
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan— Lisa See
• The Idiot — Elif Batuman
• The Lake of Dreams — Kim Edwards
• Did You See Melody?* — Sophie Hannah
• The Death of Lucy Kyte — Nicola Upson
• Black Skies — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Kiss Mommy Goodbye — Joy Fielding
• The Mind's Eye — Håkan Nesser
• Half of a Yellow Sun — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Longshot — Katie Kitamura
• See How They Lie — Sue Wallman
• Now You See Her — Joy Fielding
• Flowers for Algernon — Daniel Keyes
• Japanese for Travellers — Katie Kitamura
• Missing Pieces — Joy Fielding
• Startup — Doree Shafrir
• East of Eden — John Steinbeck
• Five Star Billionaire — Tash Aw
• New Boy* — Tracy Chevalier
• Into the Water — Paula Hawkins
• Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
• Quicksand — Malin Persson Giolito
• My Husband's Wife— Jane Corry
• Strange Shores — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Woman No. 17 — Edan Lepucki
• Fingersmith — Sarah Waters
• The Burning Girl* — Claire Messud
• Good Intentions — Joy Fielding
• The Rules Do Not Apply — Ariel Levy
• The Keeper of Lost Things — Ruth Hogan
• Borkmann's Point — Håkan Nesser
• The First Time — Joy Fielding
• Don't Cry Now — Joy Fielding
• The Weight of Lies — Emily Carpenter
• Testimony — Scott Turow
• Camino Island — John Grisham
• The Edge of Lost — Kristina McMorris
• Tell Me No Secrets — Joy Fielding
• Life Penalty — Joy Fielding
• The End We Start from — Megan Hunter
• The Light We Lost — Jill Santopolo
• She's Not There — Joy Fielding
• The Dry — Jane Harper
• Sunday Morning Coming Down* — Nicci French
• He Said/She Said — Erin Kelly
• The Lying Game — Ruth Ware
• The Power — Naomi Alderman
• The After Party — Anton DiSclafani
• Place of Execution — Val McDermid
• Scienceblind —Andrew Shtulman
• Blood Sisters — Jane Corry
• Little Boy Lost — J.D. Trafford
• The Girlfriend — Michelle Frances
• The Informationist — Taylor Stevens
• My Brilliant Friend — Elena Ferrante
• Sometimes I Lie — Alice Feeney
• Don't Close Your Eyes — Holly Seddon
• Charley's Webb — Joy Fielding
• The Unseen World — Liz Moore
• The Good Daughter — Karin Slaughter
• The Good Widow— Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
• If I Die Before I Wake* — Emily Koch
• Beautiful Animals* — Lawrence Osborne
• The Locals — Jonathan Dee
• Lies — T.M. Logan
• Gather the Daughters — Jennie Melamed
• The Missing Ones — Patricia Gibney
• The Deep End — Joy Fielding
• The Alice Network — Kate Quinn
• Every Last Lie — Mary Kubica
• Close to Home* — Cara Hunter
• The Child in Time — Ian McEwan
• The Diplomat's Daughter— Karin Tanabe
• Lost — Joy Fielding
• Sourdough — Robin Sloan
• The Blackbird Season — Kate Moretti
• Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro
• Her Every Fear — Peter Swanson
• Heartstopper — Joy Fielding
• Bluebird, Bluebird — Attica Locke
• The Last Tudor — Philippa Gregory
• Prague — Arthur Phillips
• City of Friends — Joanna Trollope
• Mad River Road — Joy Fielding
• The Vegetarian — Han Kang
• The Sparsholt Affair — Alan Hollinghurst
• Amsterdam — Ian McEwan
• Snow Falling on Cedars— David Guterson
• The Girl Before — JP Delaney
• The Dying Game — Åsa Avdic
• The Good Guy — Susan Beale
• Bonfire — Krysten Ritter
• Reykjavik Nights — Arnaldur Indriðason
• Saints for All Occasions — J. Courtney Sullivan
• In Between Days — Andrew Porter
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson
• Two Kinds of Truth — Michael Connelly
• Still Life — Joy Fielding
• The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983–1992 — Tina Brown
• The Vanishing Season— Joanna Schaffhausen
• The Ice House — Laura Lee Smith
• Ferocity — Nicola Lagioia
• The Secrets She Keeps — Michael Robotham
• The Marriage Pact — Michelle Richmond
• The Foster Child — Jenny Blackhurst
• This Is Going To Hurt — Adam Kay
• Good Me Bad Me — Ali Land
• Are You Sleeping — Kathleen Barber
• Since You Fell — Dennis Lehane
• Persons Unknown — Susie Steiner
• The Kitchen God’s Wife — Amy Tan

* Disclaimer: I received pre-release review copies of books marked with an asterisk from NetGalley. Receiving a review copy of a book influences neither my decision to review it nor my opinions of it in any reviews I do write.

My Top 5 Movies of 2017

The flip side of all the travel I've been doing this year is that I've had only limited time (and money) to spend on movies. Some of long-haul flights I took did allow me to catch up on films that I wanted to see at the cinema this year, but I only managed 18 cinema visits, and saw a further 18 films (some of which were re-watches) at home or on planes or buses. I did my best to see as many of this year's major releases as I could and also caught a few indie films, especially when prompted my free (preview screening) or cheap (Peckhamplex) tickets. Next year, I'm going to try to do better.

1. Moonlight. I went to see Barry Jenkins' remarkable film — which chronicles in a clever triptych structure the youth of a gay, African-American male growing up in the projects in Miami — at New York's iconic Angelika Film Center not quite knowing what to expect. Or, rather, I thought I knew exactly what to expect, but Jenkins confounded my expectations with its beautiful, melancholy and utterly moving coming-of-age tale. The performances are powerful, the three distinct sections fit together perfectly and this genre-defying film stayed with me for days. By turns heart-breaking, uplifting, intimate and all-encompassing, Moonlight gripped me throughout its 1h50 running time and left me wanting to spend more time with the central character in Jenkins' harsh but sensual world.

2. Dunkirk. Like Moonlight, Christoper Nolan's Dunkirk is also a story in three parts, but this time they are intricately interwoven and — because this is Nolan — they also take place over different timescales that range from one hour to one week. The central story is the odds-defying evacuation of trapped Allied soldiers during the titular World War II battle. Owing in part to the fact that World War II was covered in neither my GCSE history nor A-level (early-modern) history syllabuses, it wasn't a story I knew much about before watching the film, but I think that made Nolan's storytelling even more dramatic. There are some fantastic performances, including from RAF pilot Tom Hardy's sole visible eye, shellshocked soldier Cillian Murphy and especially Mark Rylance who, as usual, steals every scene in the most understated of ways as the skipper of one of the hundreds of civilian boats that were crucial in the rescue operation. Visually stunning and with a haunting score from Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk was rather overwhelming and definitely the kind of film you should watch on as big a screen as possible (I saw it at the Gloucester Cinema in Massachusetts, a rather low-tech venue where I also happened to see Jurassic Park, some 24 years earlier).

3. Call Me By Your Name. I had hoped to watch Luca Guadagnino's Italy-based coming-of-age story at the London Film Festival, partly because I was so impressed with Armie Hammer's performances in the two films I saw him in during last year's festival, Free Fire and Nocturnal Animals but I couldn't get a ticket. Instead, I finally caught up last week at a packed screening at the Peckhamplex. In the film, 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is spending another summer with his academic parents at their villa in a small northern Italian town. Each summer, Elio's father (Michael Stuhlbarg) hosts a graduate student at the villa as a research assistant and this year, it is the turn of tall, handsome, confident Oliver (Hammer). Over the course of the summer, the friendship between Elio and Oliver grows, as does Elio's own confidence and sense of self, gently encouraged by his cultured, liberal parents. Call Me By Your Name is beautifully shot and perfectly captures those lazy dog day afternoons of the southern European summer. It's a slow-burner, for sure, but builds up momentum without you noticing, and by the time it reached its crushing conclusion, I was completely captivated. Both Hammer and Chalamet were very good, and there's a certain monologue during the final act that Stuhlbarg nails.

4. The Death of Stalin. Armando Iannucci's darkest of dark comedies, The Death of Stalin, was just what the world needed in 2017. The film offers a depiction of Stalin's final days and the chaotic aftermath of his death, as his advisors circle, posture, plot and betray. It is a funny film, and there is a cracking script that crackles with energy, as well as some top-notch performances (Isaacs and Buscemi were particularly good) from the ensemble cast, most of whom seem have impeccable comic timing. Of course, many of the laughs are more nervous chuckles at the absurdity of what is happening, and at times, you do wonder whether it's even appropriate for you to be laughing (which is precisely the point Iannucci is trying to make, I'm sure).

5. The Handmaiden. Not to be confused with The Handmaid's Tale, Chan-Wook Park's film The Handmaiden is based on a novel by Sarah Waters called Fingersmith, although I only found this out after watching the film. Park's most famous film Oldboy is an all-time favourite of mine and I also enjoyed his English-language film Stoker. Based on these past experiences, I was expecting The Handmaiden to be both twisty and violent and it certainly delivered. It's hard to say too much about the plot without spoiling the film, but it centres around two young women in 1930s Japan-occupied Korea. One woman is a wealthy heiress, who is kept in isolation by her uncle on her large estate. The other is hired as her handmaiden, but has other intentions and plans for the heiress too. At almost 2h30 long, The Handmaiden kept me gripped throughout with its clever, unexpected volte-faces, leaving the viewer in a constant state of uncertainty about whom to trust and with whom to sympathise. Park is a master storyteller and this film is well worth seeking out.

NB: I did later read Waters' novel, but enjoyed it somewhat less than the film — perhaps because I knew what was coming.

The complete list of films I watched this year is as follows (re-watches are in italics:

- Silence
- Children of Men (home)
- Sing Street (home)
- Hidden Figures
- Boys Don't Cry (TV)
- Lion
- Hacksaw Ridge
- State of Play (home)
- Jackie
- Hell or Highwater (plane)
- Florence Foster Jenkins (plane)
- Moonlight
- Elle
- Personal Shopper
- Fargo (home)
- The Handmaiden
- My Cousin Rachel
- Olympus Has Fallen (home)
- To the Bone (home)
- Inception (home)
- Loving (plane)
- Fences (plane)
- Dunkirk
- The Circle (home)
- A Ghost Story
- Mother!
- Breathe
- Battle of the Sexes
- Blade Runner 2049
- Baby Driver (plane)
- Hunt for the Wilder People (bus)
- Logan (plane)
- Bad Moms (plane)
- The Big Sick (plane)
- The Death of Stalin
- Call Me By Your Name

A Year in Leaps: 2017

2017 has been my busiest ever year for travel. I spent 84 days outside the UK on 12 foreign trips, some for business but most for pleasure. 30 of these days were spent on a sabbatical in Australia and New Zealand. I visited five new countries and ten countries in total: the Czech Republic (Prague); France (Paris and Cannes); Germany (Cologne); Italy (Padua); Norway (Oslo); Spain (Barcelona); the United States (New York, Boston, Cape Ann and Maine); Singapore; Australia; and New Zealand.

Regular readers will know that as part of my year-in-review series, I like to highlight some of my favourite travel memories of the year by selecting five photos of me leaping in new or unusual places, so without further ado, here is this year's shortlist:

1. The 'business casual' leap. Barcelona, Spain.
As I hadn't been to Barcelona since 2001, I was excited to return for a business trip, although another work trip to the US the same week meant I only spent 24 hours in the city. The conference was at least being held at the W Hotel on the Barceloneta waterfront (alas, I was lodged elsewhere), which meant that in the brief breaks between sessions, I could dash outside to soak up some sunshine, even if I was more formally attired than usual. I didn't have time for a proper exploration of the city's speciality coffee scene, but I did squeeze in a quick visit to Nomad Coffee on the way to the airport.

2. The 'Czech-ing out Prague' leap. Prague, Czech Republic.
Prague had been on the travel to-do lists of both my mum and me for quite some time, so we decided to organise a long weekend in the Czech capital in April as a late celebration of our birthdays. The weather wasn't especially clement but it was quite pleasant on our first day, so we decided to walk up to leafy Letna Park, which has a fantastic view of the city. The chilly, rainy weather did mean I was able to check out many of Prague's excellent coffee shops.

3. The 'Red Sox fan' leap. Gloucester, MA.
Trips to Boston for me are a bit like buses, it seems. I hadn't been for a decade and then went twice in one year, once in frigid February for a conference and then again in the summer for a family vacation on the North Shore. These trips also allowed me to produce a speciality coffee guide for Boston and Cambridge, MA. In the summer, we rented a house a short drive from gorgeous Good Harbor Beach and the weather was so gorgeous that we spent four or five days there, relaxing on the soft sand, boogie boarding in the rough surf and, at low tide, wading out to Salt Island. Having now seen three Red Sox games at Fenway Park, I now consider them to be 'my' baseball team and even bought a cap.

4. The 'iconic bridge' leap. Sydney, Australia.
As my train pulled into Sydney's Circular Quay Station, the heavens opened, forcing me to dash to my hostel in The Rocks. Luckily, by the time I'd checked in and dropped off my luggage, the makings of a spectacular sunset were underway. I hurried down to the harbour to take some pictures of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I tried to take some selfie leaps but the lack of places to rest my camera and the volume of pedestrian traffic made this difficult. Luckily, a fellow tourist took pity on me and took this photo for me. In a short stay in Sydney, I also managed to visit 16 speciality coffee spots.

5. The 'leap so I don't have to swim in the sea' leap. Cannes, France.
I spent Christmas with my family in Cannes this year, for the first time since 2014. Although the weather was very sunny, it wasn't especially warm and so the family tradition of a swim in the sea was not enforced (my mum, who is toughest of us all, still did it). As the light on Bijou Plage was so lovely, I recruited my talented brother to photograph my leap into the sunshine. I could be jumping into the sea, after all...

Bonus: The highest 'leap'. Queenstown, New Zealand.
OK, so technically my tandem skydive from 15,000 feet in Queenstown, New Zealand, was more of a tumble and plummet than a leap but it was one of my favourite memories of my trip to Australia and New Zealand, and the most exhilarating activity I've ever done, so I felt it merited inclusion. You can read more about my experience with NZone Skydive here and if you promise not to poke fun at the funny faces I pull, you can watch the video here. If you have the opportunity to skydive in Queenstown (or pretty much anywhere in New Zealand), I'd strongly recommend taking it, even if you find the prospect daunting or scary. It took me days to come down from my adrenaline high (and that period included my flights back to the UK).

Although I don't think I'll be lucky enough to take as many overseas trips next year, I already have several short- and long-haul trips in the works, and am hoping to tick off another major bucket-list item in the autumn. If you are looking for ideas to inspire your own travel planning for 2018, you may like to check out my travel guides page, or for more coffee-centric suggestions, I hope you will find my coffee guides page useful.

Bex's Food and Drink Awards: 2017 Edition

2017 has been a particularly fine year for coffee, food and cocktails for me, partly because I've travelled to diverse destinations with copious coffee and culinary delights. Remind me not to work on next year's list on an empty stomach: reviewing so many food and drink photos gave me quite the appetite!

I've kept the categories — coffee, brunch, street food, restaurant and cocktails — the same as last year and in most cases, I've picked a London and a rest-of-world favourite. In the coffee shop category, though, I've included my favourite places in the UK, Europe, USA and the rest-of-the-world. Meanwhile, I ate so many excellent brunches in Melbourne and Sydney that I felt I also had to include an Australia sub-category in the brunch section. So, without further ado, here are my food and drink favourites of 2017; as usual, I've hyperlinked my reviews for each winner and runners-up below.

1. Best coffee shop
United Kingdom
Redemption Roasters (London)
There have been so many excellent new openings in the London coffee scene this year that it was really hard to pick a winner. I was particularly lucky that two of the finest — Redemption Roasters and Catalyst — are just about walkable from my King's Cross office on my lunch break and I regularly visit both. Redemption's coffee is roasted in small batches at HM Prison Aylesbury, where young offenders are trained up in roasting and barista skills. This in itself would be a worthy social enterprise, but the coffee is consistently top-notch too. I've tried various espresso-based drinks and Aeropress-brewed filter coffees, as well as buying beans to enjoy at home, and the coffee has always been faultless.

If you're looking for more great speciality coffee in London, please check out my guide.

Runners-up: Catalyst (London) and Colonna & Small's (Bath)

Europe
Tim Wendelboe (Oslo, Norway)
2017 was a year of speciality coffee pilgrimages for me and I was the first customer through the door at Tim Wendelboe's Grünerløkka coffee shop on my first full day in Oslo. While there, I had one of the best filter coffees of the year, a Honduran Caballero Geisha with beautiful papaya notes. I liked it so much that I bought a bag of beans that cost almost £30, which seemed expensive until I got to the Reformatory Caffeine Lab in Sydney one month later... If you're more organised than I was, you can also book onto one of their Saturday morning cupping sessions.

Runners-up: Misto (Prague, Czech Republic) and Nømad (Barcelona, Spain)

United States
Broadsheet Coffee (Cambridge, MA)
This year was the year I rediscovered Boston, which was the first US city I visited, some 25 years ago but which I'd neglected in favour of New York, San Francisco and DC during the past decade. I went to Boston once for a snowy conference in February and then returned in the summer for a family holiday. It was on the second trip that I visited the newly opened Broadsheet Coffee on Kirkwood Street in Cambridge. The coffee shop and roastery is beautifully designed and serves excellent hand-brewed filter coffee and espresso-based drinks. There's also an awesome brunch menu and the staff are super-friendly. I bought a bag of beans too and loved the striking packaging — rivalled only by one of my runners-up, Little Wolf (just up the road in Ipswich, MA), which has also been nominated for a Sprudgie this year (there's still time to vote if you haven't already!).

See also: my Boston and Cambridge coffee guide and my New York coffee guide.

Runners-up: Little Wolf (Ipswich, MA) and Black Fox (NYC)

Rest-of-world
Proud Mary (Melbourne, Australia)
Although this sub-category is named 'rest-of-world', it's really just Australia and New Zealand, where I managed to visit at least 60 coffee shops in my one-month trip. With 16 coffee shop visits in Melbourne alone, narrowing down my favourites was really tough, but continuing my 'coffee pilgrimages' theme, Proud Mary in the Collingwood neighbourhood was near the top of my list. I had a fab brunch, chatted with the friendly staff and had one of my top pourovers of the year, a jazzy and intensely fruity Pacamara Maragogipe from Panama. I then popped down the road, to their roastery and brew bar, Aunty Peg's, to keep me caffeinated during the rest of my stay in Australia.

Runners-up: Reformatory Caffeine Lab (Sydney, Australia) and Flight Coffee Hangar (Wellington, NZ)

2. Best brunch spot
London
Treves & Hyde (Aldgate)
One of the most Instagrammed new openings of the year — thanks in part to its striking millennial pink spiral staircase — Treves & Hyde served some of the best pancakes I've ever had — and I'm usually more of a savoury brunch kind of gal. The coffee is great too and if you don't have time for brunch, you can grab a coffee and/or a pastry in the downstairs cafe.

Runners-up: TAB x TAB (Notting Hill) and Where the Pancakes Are (Borough)

Australia
Haven Tailoring Coffee Joyously (Sydney)
Although I'd been saving all year for my trip to Australia and New Zealand, one category where I overspent massively was brunch. I had so many superb brunches, including outstanding avocado toasts (Folk's was the best) and all sorts of other inventive, photogenic and delicious creations. Although technically it wasn't my dish — mine was also fab, though — my friend's 'Amazing Kimcheese' at Haven really knocked everything out of the water. Waffles with kimchi, sesame, parmesan and vanilla bean ice cream might not sound like a winning combination, but just go with it. You won't regret it. The coffee is particularly good at Haven too.

Runners-up: Folk (Byron Bay) and White Mojo (Melbourne)

Rest-of-world
Cookshop (NYC)
One of the advantages of visiting New York in the bitterly cold days of early February is that it's really easy to get a table at some of the city's best brunch spots, especially if you're dining solo. I'd wanted to go to Cookshop, which is just opposite the High Line, for some time and it was worth the wait. I had a BLT mary (yes, with bacon) and a fried egg sandwich, which was colourful and delicious — the sandwich came served on a brioche bun with Italian sausage, aged cheddar, potato hash and jalapeño-cabbage slaw.

Runners-up: Eska (Prague, Czech Republic) and Bespoke Kitchen (Queenstown, NZ) — and not just because I was on such a high after my skydive!

3. Best street food
London
Giant Robot (Canary Wharf)
My travels this year have meant I haven't had as much time to explore new places in London, but I did enjoy visiting Street Feast's newest market, Giant Robot, next to the new Crossrail station in Canary Wharf. There's a good selection of food and drink vendors (albeit with prices slightly higher than at some of the other Street Feast spots — this is Canary Wharf, after all) and — particularly important during London's colder months — it is indoors too.

Rest-of-world
Boston Public Market (Boston, MA)
I went to the gourmet food market that is Boston Public Market a couple of times this summer, sampling various foods and drinks, from oysters to doughnuts, and coffee to...er, coffee. I also took part in a coffee extraction class run by George Howell in the market's Kitchen. The Kitchen runs a diverse programme of events and classes, so check out their website to find out what's on.

4. Best restaurant
London
Santo Remedio (London Bridge)
I missed Santo Remedio's first incarnation in Shoreditch, so I was delighted when, boosted by a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Mexican restaurant reopened this year just down the road from me near London Bridge. Santo Remedio specialises in tacos but the other dishes and sides were just as delicious, as were the cocktails. It's great to have an authentic Mexican taqueria in SE1 at last.

Runners-up: L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele (Stoke Newington) and Pique-Nique (Bermondsey)

Rest-of-world
Coco's Cantina (Auckland, NZ)
Of all the restaurants in which I dined in Australia and New Zealand, Coco's Cantina was the one that came most highly recommended. It was fitting, then, that I had my last supper there, just before heading to the airport to return to the UK. The fun, laid-back restaurant is owned by two sisters, who serve delicious, well-priced food and drink with thoughtful, welcoming service. I had a superb pasta dish and a very good cocktail, and it was the perfect place to spend my last meal of my trip.

Runners-up: Automata (Sydney, Australia) and eels (Paris, France)

5. Best cocktail
London
Dandelyan (Bankside)
The Dandelyan bar in the Mondrian Hotel on London's South Bank has won countless awards — it's currently ranked #2 in the World's 50 Best Bars, for instance — and my brother and I finally paid a visit as a warm-up for my birthday celebrations this year. Although there weren't any free tables — you should definitely try to book — we perched at the bar, and spent quite some time browsing the extensive cocktail menu. I settled on the (green) Arsenic Waltz, with Tapatio Blanco, sour pear, long pepper and cucumber honey, partly because of its name and historical provenance:

"Vanity boomed in the 16th Century (as well as the pox) so sales of make-up made a killing. Literally. Queen Liz I used “Spirit of Saturn” – a fun mix of vinegar and lead, whilst arsenic found its way into many a compact in the 1500s (not included here)."

Runner-up: Dirty Bones (Soho)

Rest-of-world
BlackTail (NYC)
Another bar featured in the World's 50 Best Bars list, BlackTail serves Cuban-influenced food and cocktails in its location in Battery Park, in Lower Manhattan. I went with a friend from work on Valentine's Day for a 'Galentine's Day' night out. The menu is comprehensive and creative, and every cocktail we drank was absolutely delicious.

Runners-up: L'Fleur (Prague, Czech Republic) and Bulletin Place (Sydney, Australia)


Please let me know in the comments if you have any favourite coffee, brunch, restaurant or cocktail favourites of 2017 — particularly in cities or countries I have yet to visit. I'd love to hear your recommendations!

The Caffeine Chronicles: Coal Rooms, Peckham

You might not want a lump of coal for Christmas but conversely, a lunch at the Coal Rooms in Peckham is an infinitely more appealing proposition. Peckham's Old Spike Roastery and Camberwell's Spike & Earl have long been favourites of mine, but because I've been travelling so much this autumn, it's taken me a while to visit their newest sibling, which opened in August. Occupying the former ticket office in Peckham Rye station, Coal Rooms consists of a series of three rooms, moving from the bakery and take-out-coffee spot in the first chamber, to the stools at the sleek black marble bar overlooking the kitchen in the middle, and the bright, minimalist dining room at the back.

Some fellow south-east London friends and I visited for brunch at the weekend and really enjoyed it. We booked a table (which is always a pleasant novelty), although as we were there fairly early on a rainy, winter's day, we probably didn't need to. We had a great table in the corner of the main dining room, seated at the comfy teal benches that skirt the room. The room is light and sparsely, but attractively, decorated. Although I didn't take any photos, the bathrooms — located in the station's former public facilities and retaining most of the period features — are well worth a visit even if you don't need to spend a penny.

The Saturday brunch menu erred on the breakfast end of the spectrum, which is just as it should be. There were three brunch cocktails and I was tempted by the bloody Caesar but stuck to coffee, as I've been fending off a cold for the past fortnight. Coffee is from Old Spike, of course, and the menu simply proposed black (£2.25) or with milk (£2.65). Of course they serve espresso-based drinks but in the absence of a piccolo prompt on the menu and distracted by the food choices, I defaulted to ordering a black coffee, which turned out to be an americano. It was pretty nice but had I thought more carefully, I would have ordered an espresso or perhaps a piccolo. One of my friends ordered a flat white later on, which looked rather good.

Most of the brunch dishes sounded great — the hash brown with kimchi and kimchi mayo, and the bubble and squeak with smalec, fried egg and plum brown sauce, in particular — but I had heard such great things about Coal Rooms' bacon sandwiches (£5), with coffee-cured bacon and homemade ketchup or brown sauce in a custard bun, that I had to go for that. I went for streaky bacon and ketchup, and also ordered a fried egg on the side.

Now, they must have been out of custard buns, although no one said anything to us, because the sandwich came on two ginormous slices of sourdough bread. This was so little of a disappointment — I mean, it was a half-foot-tall sandwich! — that I didn't even notice until later. I would still like to try the custard bun another time, particularly after enjoying the Dutch crunch sandwich at Spike & Earl. The bacon was delicious and flavoursome and came in a very generous portion. Seriously, this was a very challenging dish to eat, but well worth the effort. I ended up using my knife and fork because I don't think it's physiologically possible to eat it by hand without unhinging your jaw. This bacon sandwich definitely merits its rankings among London's best bacon sarnies, and although I probably wouldn't have guessed that it was coffee-cured if I hadn't already known, the coffee did add a rich, full-bodied twist to the meat.

We did almost regret not ordering the full English for two (£30), which came served on a huge platter of deliciousness, but our 'modest' main course meant that we had room for a pudding. The pudding was a millionaire's shortbread (£6), with rich chocolate sauce, brown butter caramel, crumbled shortbread and 'waste barista milk ice cream' (yes, we are in Peckham). It came served in a cup with the logo of the premises' former occupants, Fat Boy, and once all the layers were mixed, it tasted heavenly.

On the way out, we paused in the café room to look at the Old Spike coffee (whose packaging remains one of London's most beautiful) and merchandise — the Old Spike socks, packaged in a tin, would make a particularly good gift for the hipster in your life. There are a few pastries and sweet treats on offer here, waiting patiently underneath the Christmas tree.

Coal Rooms. 11a Station Way, Peckham Rye Station, London, SE15 4RX (Peckham Rye Overground). Website.

A Winter's Day in Bath

As I mentioned in my recent Bath coffee guide, I've been wanting to return to the city for several years, but the expensive train fares (often over £75, even off-peak) from London — no matter how far in advance I tried to book — have always discouraged me. Finally, though, I secured a £29 day trip ticket and headed off on the Friday before last for a wintry day in the city.

The train takes just 90 minutes from London Paddington, making Bath a great day-trip destination. This is lucky because accommodation can be quite expensive, particularly if you are travelling alone. I took a 9:00 am train from Paddington, which got into Bath just after 10:30 am. My return journey was supposed to leave Bath at 8:45 pm and arrive back in London at about 10:15 pm, but delays on the line meant we got back closer to 11 pm. Nonetheless, I had a full day in the city and managed to make the best of it.

Things to do
The Roman Baths
As I've visited The Roman Baths, on Abbey Churchyard, at least twice before, I decided to give them a miss this time, but the historic site and museum is a must-do if it's your first time in the city, particularly if you are a history buff. Adult tickets are currently £15.50 (going up to £16.50 in January), but there's a lot to see and the museum is interesting and well-run.

Thermae Bath Spa
I wanted to do something to make the most of the natural thermal spring while I was in Bath, and my recent visits to the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua, New Zealand, and the Blue Lagoon in Iceland convinced me that the Thermae Bath Spa was the way to go. Located in Hot Bath Street (of course!), the Thermae Spa consists of a rooftop pool overlooking the city and an indoor 'Minerva' pool, both fed by naturally warm, mineral-rich thermal waters, and a wellness suite including various sauna and steam rooms. Access for two hours costs £35 (£36 from 2018), and you can also book various treatments.

I arrived just after 4:00 pm and had to wait about 30 minutes to get in, as the spa was already full. It's right next to the Christmas market and so was very busy just two weeks before Christmas. As part of the entrance fee, you get a robe, towel and flip flips; once you have these and a wristband you can use to control your locker and pay for any refreshments or upgrades, you can proceed to the changing area. It was busy inside although not so much that it detracted from my enjoyment. I was hoping that the pools might be a little warmer — they were warm but not hot, and this was particularly true in the rooftop pool where I was trying to hover near a hot jet. That said, that view over the city from the rooftop pool was lovely and it even started snowing while I was in there, which made it feel wonderfully festive. Unlike in Rotorua and the Blue Lagoon, cameras and phones are banned, which was nice, although a lot of people were having quite loud, raucous conversations, which meant it didn't feel especially peaceful or relaxing.

The Royal Crescent and the Circus
Bath's city centre is quite small and easy to explore on foot. The Royal Crescent, a pleasingly curving row of 30 terraced houses dating to the 18th century is about 20 minutes' walk north of Bath Spa train station, but there are plenty of excellent coffee shops on the way if you would like to stop off for a drink and/or a warm. You can go inside No. 1 Royal Crescent (£10) to learn more, or just stroll the length of the crescent and enjoy the view. Capturing the whole crescent in a photo without panorama mode on is a bit tricky — you'll probably need to head down to the park below.

The Circus, another of Bath's iconic sights, is just three minutes' walk to the east of the Royal Crescent. Also dating to the late 18th century, it is an impressive sight and worth the short detour from the Royal Crescent.

Bath Abbey
Bath's impressive abbey dates to the 7th century, although it has been rebuilt a number of times since then. I popped inside only briefly, admiring the gothic architecture, but also enjoyed it from the outside, both by day and by night.

Bath Christmas Market
I hadn't appreciated before I came quite how big a deal Bath's Christmas market is. Running for just over a fortnight from late November to mid-December (this year's market has, sadly, already finished), it takes over a large area of the historic city centre. You could easily spend a couple of hours exploring all of the stalls — many local shops, cafés and bars run stalls — and enjoying the many food and drinks on offer. It had a lovely, festive vibe and because it was quite spread out, it didn't feel oppressively crowded, even though there were a lot of people there. Do note that Bath is even busier than usual while the market is running, so try to book trains and accommodation in advance, and be prepared to queue at some attractions.

As I only had one day in the city and as I was spending a large portion of it visiting coffee shops, I didn't have time to visit any of Bath's other museums, but you can find more inspiration from art and Austen, to the Masons and medicine, on the Visit Bath website.

Food and drink
I've already written about the best speciality coffee shops in Bath (if you just have time for one, I consider Colonna & Small's to be one of the best coffee shops I've ever visited in the UK). Here are some of the other food and drink recommendations.

The Green Bird — a cosy café on Margaret's Buildings that makes a great lunch spot. I had a very avocado toast but there are lots of sandwiches and salads on the menu.

Sally Lunn's — a café so historic it has its own bakery museum, which paying customers can visit for free. Sally Lunn's is famous for its 'Bunn' — a sort of cross between a very light, large teacake and a brioche. You can choose from a variety of sweet and savoury toppings and I chose the coffee and walnut butter — half a toasted Bunn cost the very precise £4.58, which seemed a little steep. It did taste very good, though, and I really liked the coffee and walnut butter.

The Scallop Shell — well, I did visit on a Friday, so fish and chips was traditional. I had a great and reasonably priced meal at this attractive, well-run restaurant on Monmouth Place. I started with the scallops (when in Rome...or near Roman Baths) and then had the haddock and chips. The food was tasty and the service very good.

Three places I didn't go to but would like to:
Acorn — this vegetarian restaurant was recommended by the staff at the Green Bird. The set menu looked delicious even to me — despite being vegetarian for a decade and eating little meat at home, I tend to eat meat when I eat out — but by the time I got out of the Thermae Spa, there wasn't a spot left for me. Try to book in advance if you'd like to go here — Bath seems to cater less well than London for walk-ins.

Henry's — a small, welcoming modern restaurant on Saville Row, Henry's has some fantastic-looking set menus. If I'd been visiting with someone else or wanted to celebrate a special occasion, I would definitely have booked in here. I think the vegetarian set menu would have won me over!

The Canary Gin Bar — I really wanted to indulge in a drink at the Bath Gin Company's bar before catching my train home but it was really busy and I was feeling quite under the weather. Instead, I bought a bottle of their gin, proudly displaying a winking Jane Austen, to take home. I've been enjoying it with Fever Tree tonic and a slice of lime.

Shopping
Bath has some excellent independent shops, many of which are located on and around Walcot Street and the Paragon, to the north of the city centre. Here are a few that stood out to me.

Article — beautiful homewares, gifts, cards and flowers, located on Bartlett Street.

Bath Old Books — antiquarian and old books store (surprise!), located on Margaret's Buildings.

The Fig Store — plants and homewares store, located on Walcot Street.

Found — very well-curated selection of homewares, clothing and lifestyle goods, located on Argyle Street, next to Pulteney Bridge.

Homefront — small shop with interiors, art and gifts, located on Margaret's Buildings.

Magalleria — excellent stockist of independent and specialist magazines, located on Broad Street.

Meticulous Ink — beautiful letterpress stationery shop, located on Walcot Street. Great for cards, gifts and custom orders.

Resident — minimalist, Scandinavian-inspired homewares and gifts, located on Walcot Street. Resident dog is particularly friendly!

Topping & Company Booksellers — superb independent book store, located on The Paragon. The shop is attractive and well-stocked and the staff are very welcoming and helpful.

My haul included coffee from Colonna & Small's, gin from the Bath Gin Company, cards from Meticulous Ink, and some chocolate, lip balm (not pictured) and a mini Baggu (not pictured) from Found.