Restaurant: Morston Hall in Norfolk

In recent years Galton Blackiston has come to nationwide prominence thanks to his presence in the BBC programme The Great British Menu.

He has, however, held a Michelin star for a number of years at his award-winning hotel in north Norfolk. Morston Hall is situated on the coast just opposite the little quay at Morston.

Unusually, he only serves a single set menu each day. He bases the menu on whatever is available on that day, ensuring that you always get fresh ingredients. If you have certain food dislikes or allergies then you can tell them in advance and they will cater for you.

The food was classic Michelin-style cooking, everything perfectly executed and professionally served. There was little to fault in the meal and yet I left feeling a tad underwhelmed.

It was all just a bit too safe. There was no adventure in the cooking. There were no outstanding flavours (except for the superb orange ice-cream). This is food that is replicated in dozens of Michelin starred restaurants throughout Europe.

If that's your cup of tea then you'll love this place. Personally, I'm always looking for something that's got more edge to it.

We stayed overnight at Morston Hall in one of the best rooms I've had in the UK. Their new Pavilion rooms are beautiful contemporary suites with all the mod cons and a little patio area.

As a total experience (hotel + restaurant), Morston Hall is hard to beat. So if you're short of brownie points with your loved one then you could do worse than book a night or two there.

Restaurant 7½/10 Hotel 9/10

Golf Course: Chateau d'Augerville France

Chateau d'Augerville is situated about 90k south of Paris down some of the smallest, windiest roads you'll come across for a long time. It takes about 75 mins to get here from the centre of Paris.

The Chateau itself is a fine 4* hotel with about 50 rooms/suites. We played there on a Saturday and the hotel was buzzing with lots of guests staying for the weekend. Unusually many of the cars were Dutch and we didn't see another English car there.

Having driven down early from Paris we managed to blag a table in the hotel dining room for a buffet breakfast which kick-started the day nicely.

Teeing off on the first you have no sense of what a delight lies ahead of you. The hotel's 18-hole golf course has been classified amongst the 10 most beautiful in France and it definitely lives up to this.

The 1st is a short Par 4 doglegging around some trees to the green. Nice and easy start as long as you keep your drive fairly straight.

From the 2nd hole onwards the course is a succession of beautiful holes. The 2nd is a Par 5 that doglegs right up a hill to a huge green. The green has multiple levels and you could easily find yourself 100 feet from the hole if you find the wrong level. And if you're on the upper level putting down the slope then you're in big trouble.

Most of the holes are tree-lined and there's a real sense of quiet isolation as you plot your way around the course. Each time you think it can't get better it does just that.

The 9th hole finishes right in front of the chateau with the moat running in front of the green. The 18th hole finishes parallel to the 9th but to the side of the chateau. If there was one design change I'd make it would be to find a way to swap the 18th and 9th. The 18th hole deserves to have the grand view of the chateau.

The course has some great Par 3s. My favourite hole was the Par 3 15th. The tee box is set high up on a rocky outcrop looking down over a pond towards the green 180 yards away. It helped that I nailed a 5-iron to 5 feet and sank the putt for a birdie. My 2nd birdie of the day at a crucial point in our match.

The four of us rated this the best of the three courses we played on the trip (the other two were Chateu de la Chouette and Apremont). There wasn't a bad hole on the course and the greens and fairways were in excellent condition.

For me this is a must-play course if you are in the area. In fact I would recommend anybody to come to this area and play three gems - Fontainebleau, Chateau d'Augerville and Belesbat. These are all within 20 miles of each other. Play these three and you would think you were in golf heaven.

Restaurant: Chez L'Ami Jean, Paris

On a recent trip to Paris I had the pleasure of eating at three restaurants.

On our last night we ate at Chez L'Ami Jean which is situated on a quiet street in the 7th arrondisement.

This is a modern bistro headed up by a chef from the Basque region who bases many of his dishes on food from that region.

The place is small and the decor has lots of wooden panelling. You literally sit elbow-to-elbow with your fellow diners. However, rather than this being a negative it creates a very buzzy atmosphere and you quickly find yourself in conversation with people at nearby tables.

The place was packed - not a surprise given that it was a Saturday night. It seemed like the clientele was split evenly between locals and tourists.

This is clever and inventive food that is full of flavour. In fact the menu descriptions do not do justice to the tastes that you experience. Unlike Chez Georges which serves well-known classic dishes, you will struggle to find a single dish here that you recognise.

The service here is frenetic but friendly. The waiter was even able to joke with us in English. In response to a comment from us that everything on the menu looked good he remarked that "all the food and wine is excellent. It's only the service that's crap!".

As a starter two of us ordered the Croustillant dish. This was like a large piece of filo pastry wrapped around a very tasty filling of carrots, egg and other ingredients which I'm not sure about. Very unusual and very delicious.

I can't even remember what the main dish was as I ordered something that I didn't recognise. I like trying different things so I thought I'd chance my arm. It had the word "Volaille" in it so I was assuming it would be based on chicken.

It was some concoction of chicken with a sauce and spices. Again very unusual and very delicious. One of the other mains was a rabbit dish which I tried. Again nothing but praise for this also.

There were four of us at our table and each one of us raved about our chosen dishes. In fact, at the end of our trip, we all voted Chez L'Ami Jean as the best of the three restaurants we had eaten in. Fine praise indeed given that we all loved Chez Georges also.

And to make matters even better it also was the cheapest of the three restaurants by quite a distance. With three courses, a couple of bottles of wine and some water the bill for four came to just over €200 euros. In my book that represents excellent value.

The only slight negative on the evening is that we got hurried away from the table at 10:30pm as there were people queueing to get in. We had booked the 9:00pm sitting fully expecting the table to be ours until closing time but it seems that this restaurant has a third sitting for late diners.

This is unique cooking and you come away feeling that you've just discovered a little hidden gem.

Just one tip - reserve your table well in advance. This place is popular both with Parisians as well as tourists.

Restaurant: Hiramatsu, Paris

One of my all time best meals in Paris (in fact, anywhere) was at Stella Maris a French restaurant run by a Japanese chef.

It was therefore with much anticipation that I had booked Hiramatsu. Like Stella Maris it is run by a Japanese chef and serves classic french cuisine. It also holds a Michelin star.

I had anticipated that of the three restaurants that our golfing group were going to visit, Hiramatsu would be the best. The other two were Chez Georges (qv) and Chez L'Ami Jean (qv).

All four of us elected to go with the Tasting Menu (Delice Gastronomique) as the tasting menu at Stella Maris the previous year had been stunning.

As you'd expect from a Michelin-starred restaurant the meal was kicked off with an Amuse Bouche.

The menu comprises various courses designed to show off the talents of the chef. These included a crab and prawn dish, a foie gras dish, a fish dish, a lamb dish, a cheese plate and a dessert.

It was all faultless in execution but somehow lacked excitement. This is a typical Michelin one-star restaurant in that it serves classic food faultlessly but it lacks that edge that will get your taste buds excited.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was also very stiff and formal. The service was friendly but slow at times. One of my pet hates is when a restaurant takes the wine that I have bought away from the table. On more than one occasion I had to indicate for a top-up. Very poor.

The most distinctive part of the evening was the bill - €650 euros for 4 of us with two bottles of wine. By far the most expensive meal we had over three nights. And by far the least memorable meal also!

Nearly 14 months after eating at Stella Maris we still talk about it and some of the dishes we ate. A couple of days after eating at Hiramatsu we could hardly remember the dishes. It really left no memorable impression with us.

By unanimous decision we would all return to both Chez Georges and Chez L'Ami Jean many times but one visit to Hiramatsu is plenty for us.

Restaurant: Chez Georges, Paris

On a recent trip to Paris I had the pleasure of eating at three restaurants.

The first night we ate at Chez Georges in the 2nd arrondisement. Beware that there are other restaurants called Chez Georges - this is the one on Rue du Mail.

This is one of those restaurants in a quiet street that you could easily walk by and not realise that behind some very ordinary looking doors lurks a hive of activity.

Chez Georges is a classic turn-of-the-century bistro that exudes warmth and coziness. Tables are close together but this just adds to the bonhomie of the place. Service was friendly and efficient even though the restaurant was full.

The menu is full of traditional bistro classics such as chicken-liver terrine, curly endive salad with bacon and a poached egg, steak with béarnaise etc.

For starters I had "harengs avec pommes à l’huile" (herrings dressed with potatoes in oil). Other starters at our table included herrings with a vinaigrette, mushrooms a la grecque and escargots. These were accompanied by some delicious breads including slices of Poilane bread.

The starter portions are huge. We could easily have ordered two starters for four of us and we would still have had plenty to eat. A definite tip here is to share starters.

With the exception of the mushrooms, which were tasty without being exceptional, we all rated our starters as exceptional.

For the main course two of us (myself included) ordered the "Sole Georges". This is a sole filet with a sauce made from Pouilly wine and crème fraîche. Absolutely delicious.

To accompany the sole we ordered some frites. The frites were quite possibly the best frites I've ever eaten. They were thin and crispy with no oiliness whatsoever.

Other mains included Rognons de Veau (veal kidneys) and grilled turbut with bearnaise sauce both rated as excellent.

All of the above was washed down with a number of bottles of wine including the house red, a Cote de Brouilly, and a bottle of Sancerre.

This is comfort food at its best. It's the sort of food that you could eat every night unlike some of the Michelin-starred food served in other restaurants.

It's not cheap here. Four of us paid €330 euros before we added service. However euro-for-euro I would prefer to eat here than in some of the Michelin-starred places.

This is a place that I will visit again and again.