Golf Course: Chateau de la Chouette, Paris

Chateau de la Chouette is situated about 50 minutes drive from central Paris on the northwest side.

Your first impression when you see the course from the approach road is that it is very hilly. And let me confirm that the last (and maybe only) impression you'll have of the place is that it is damned hilly!

We arrived early (10:00am) hoping to get some breakfast. The kitchen wasn't open but the girl at the "reception desk" offered us a sandwich or a croque monsieur. I opted for the croque - big mistake. It was a frozen croque that they managed to burn. And it was as dry as sand. Not a good start.

The "reception desk" is literally that. A desk in one of the chateau's rooms. There's no golf shop as such.

The course started well with a lovely downhill hole. After your drive you are left with a difficult second shot over a stream just in front of the green. Nice start.

After that the memory starts to get fuzzy as a procession of holes come and go, quite a few of them involving water. For the front nine at least the holes are mainly played at the bottom end of the slope.

The 3rd hole was an exception. A climb up the slope from the 2nd green led to a great Par 3. The tee box is high above the shallow green with water in front and a bunker at the back. Nice hole.

Things start to unravel though at the 9th. This is a 370yd par 4 up quite a steep hill. In fact the last half of the hole up to the green really has you puffing.

From then on you really would need to be a mountain goat to enjoy this course. It is just a succession of steep climbs up and down with the lowlight coming between the 10th green and the 11th tee.

I don't think I have ever climbed such a steep hill on a golf course before. I measured the distance on Google Earth and it is about 150 yards from the green to the tee up a ridiculous slope.

This is not my idea of fun. All four of us had to stop more than once on the way up and we were all panting like mad. It was so bad that I could feel the lactic acid in my legs taking over! And none of us was fit to tee off for a good few minutes. Mad.

The back nine works its way up to the highest point of the course and then all the way back down to the lowest point of the course.

In fact the 18th is just as bad as the 9th as you have to work you way up from the bottom part of the course up another steep climb to the green. And then, just to rub it in a bit more, you have another climb to the club house.

Needless to say we were all knackered at the end of the round. I just could not imagine being a member at this club. It would either kill me first or I would go mad from climbing those damned hills.

So in summary - I will not be playing here again. There are far better courses around Paris more deserving of your time and money. If you decide to ignore this advice then bring plenty of crampons with you.

Restaurant: Benares, London

Atul Kochhar trained at the Oberoi Hotel Group in India before coming to London in 1994. He then worked as head chef in Tamarind where he became the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star.

On the back of this success he left Tamarind to set up his own restaurant in Mayfair called Benares where he has since won another Michelin star.

I'd been trying to get a booking at Benares for a Friday night for some months but without success. My penchant for keeping my options open till late in the week doesn't always work well when you're trying to get into one of the top restaurants in London.

I decided to try and book ahead and was fortunate to get a table within a week, probably due to the fact that it was August and lots of people are on holidays.

Atul has made a name for himself on TV over the last year or two appearing regularly on programs such as Saturday Kitchen and The Great British Menu. His food always looks fabulous so it was with a high level of anticipation that I headed there.

The entrance could easily be mistaken for an entrance into one of the many office buildings that occupy Berkeley Square. Once through the door you are taken upstairs to the main bar area. The decor is dark and contemporary and you certainly sense that you are in a temple of food. Having said that, you do feel as if you are sitting in what was once an office building.

As you'd expect, this is no ordinary Indian restaurant. Being a Michelin-starred restaurant you know it's not going to be cheap and in case you're in any doubt then one look at the prices will tell you that immediately. Do not go there expecting to pay high-street curry-house prices.

As we had arrived early (6:20pm) we were told that the good-value lunch menu was still available up to 6:30pm in case we wanted to avail of this. Nice of them to tell us this as it indicates that they are not being mercenary in squeezing us for every last penny.

However I'd waited for so long to eat here that I passed up on all the different menu options and headed straight for the A La Carte as I wanted to try the best of Atul's cooking.

We started with the Gosht Ke Shammi (Ground Lamb Patties Served with Cucumber Yoghurt) and the Tandoori Ratan (Lamb, Chicken Tikka and King Prawn Kebab Platter).

A slight side-track here. For many years my favourite UK restaurant was the Black Chapati in Brighton. It wasn't an Indian restaurant as the name might suggest. They served an eclectic range of dishes one of which was Lamb Patties. For me this was one of their best dishes and either myself or my wife would always order it when we went there. Unfortunately the Black Chapati is no more.

Anyway the point of the above is that once I saw Lamb Patties on the menu I just had to order it. I had this picture in my mind of the fantastic Black Chapati patties and I wondered if Atul could top them.

When they arrived they were nothing like the ones in the Black Chapati so it was actually hard to compare them as it would be like comparing apples and oranges - both nice but both different.

The Benares patties were very tasty without being exceptional. I probably wouldn't order them again but that's probably because I have a lingering vision of the exceptional Black Chapati patties.

The other starter was more memorable. A succulent piece of chicken, a big fat juicy prawn and a mini lamb cutlet all nicely tandooried. This I would definitely have again.

For the mains we had Machchi Amritsari (Batter Fried John Dory with Crushed Garden Peas and Gorkha Tomato Chutney) and Mongsho Ghughni (Roast Romney Marsh Lamb Rump on Rosemary and Garlic Chickpeas) with a side dish of Gobi Mutter (Stir Fried Cauliflower and Garden Peas with Cumin and Turmeric) and a basket of breads.

The John Dory was nicely cooked. It was still succulent inside which is not easy to achieve. Too often fish in batter is overcooked because the fish cooks quicker than the batter. The batter obviously had spices in it as it was much tastier than your average chop shop batter.

The crushed garden peas (i.e. frozen peas) were really delicious and complimented the dish perfectly.

Overall a very satisfying dish but I would not order it again. It just lacked that certain "je ne sais quoi".

The Lamb on the other hand was superb. Perfectly cooked lamb (i.e. pink) on a bed of spicy chickpeas. The flavour from the lamb was fantastic. Absolutely moreish.

The Gobi Mutter was another stand-out dish. A definite must-order for the next time. The breads were also delicious.

The thing that struck us most about the food was the background taste we kept getting long after we'd swallowed a mouthful. The subtlety of spicing and the lingering flavour was far beyond anything you'll experience in a high-street Indian.

As might be expected from a Michelin-starred restaurant the wine list favoured French wines but there were also choices from across Europe and the New World. At the top end there were the expected wines from Puligny Montrachet, Meursault, St Emilion etc.

Given that it was a warm summers evening and that we were having both fish and red meat we decided to opt for the rosé wine. This was a "Rose of Virginia" (at £42) from the Barossa Valley in Australia.

I'm not a fan of sweet wine (excluding dessert wine) and I'm always cautious of ordering a rosé in case it gets too sickly sweet. This wine was fresh and flavoursome but wasn't at all sickly sweet. It worked really well with our meal.

We finished off with a shared plate of three different Kulfis (pistachio, coconut and mango). I thought that these were superb and probably the best kulfi I'd ever had. The crunchy bits accompanying them added an extra dimension to the dish.

The service throughout was generally very friendly and efficient although one of the waitresses could do with spending another few days at Smile School!

Overall a very enjoyable evening's dining. The food ranged from very good to superb and I would definitely want to visit there again a number of times. I think that you only realise how good a restauarant is when you've tried many of their dishes and they are all consistently excellent.

The bill came to £162 with 12.5% service included. Not a shocking price for a Michelin-starred restaurant and I certainly have no complaints about it.

However is Benares five times better than Lahore (my favourite cheap Indian in London where £30 will buy two people a fantastic meal)? No of course it isn't but then it's horses for courses.

If you want a cheap night out with friends then go to Lahore but if you want a romantic evening with your partner or if you want to entertain a client then head to Benares. You won't be disappointed.

Restaurant: Thai Lounge, Lingfield

Lingfield in Surrey is best known as the home of Lingfield Park race course. It's is a bit of a one-horse town (except when it's race day!). Blink as you drive through it and you'll miss it.

It would be a shame to blink though as you might miss out on a wonderful Thai restaurant called Thai Lounge. It's in the High Street so is easy to find.

The first impressions are good. It's obviously had some money spent on it. You enter into a bar area with some comfortable seats. The cocktail bar offers a wide range of cocktails as well as all the usual drinks.

The eating area is situated up some steps from the bar area. The whole place has got a nice contemporary feel to it.

All the waitresses were dressed in traditional Thai dress and had that warm friendly approach that you associate with Thai people. Service throughout the evening was both friendly and efficient.

There were four of us there on a Friday evening and whilst the place wasn't full it had enough people in it to create a buzzy atmosphere.

We all ordered different items from the menu so that we could try as many dishes as possible.

Starters included Goong Phaow (Tiger prawns with herbs & chilli sauce), Satay Gai (Chicken Satay) and a plate of Mixed Starters

I regard myself as a bit of an aficionado of satay as I spent 4 years in Holland eating satay. It's almost a traditional pub dish over there due to the Indonesian influence from it's colonial days. I've also eaten satay as street food in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The satay in the Thai Lounge definitely ranks high up on my list of best satays. The skewers came with big pieces of perfectly tender chicken. 9 out of 10 for this. (As an aside there is a nearby Thai restaurant in East Grinstead called Mae Ping that serves probably the worst satay I've ever had. Miserable pieces of dry, chewy chicken).

The other starters, with one exception, were all delicious. The exception was the Thai fishcakes which came with the Mixed Starter dish.

As with satay, I am a bit of an expert on fishcakes. I cook fishcakes at home that are very light and easy to eat. They are fat, crispy and tender. My wife says that she can never eat anybody else's fishcakes as they don't even come close to mine.

I don't know what it is with Thai fishcakes but wherever you go in the world you get served small flat things that are like rubber. I know this is the traditional style but I've yet to meet anybody who raves about these. The ones we had here were just as rubbery as anywhere else so low marks for this dish.

Mains included Gaeng Phed Gai (chicken curry), Gai Yang (Thai-style char-grilled chicken ), Goong Phad Nam Prik Phaow (stir-fried tiger prawns), Neua Phad Gra Pao (stir fried beef) and Pad Thai (thai noodles).

Everything was delicious but one dish stood out above the others. The Gai Yang was one of the tastiest, tenderest pieces of chicken I've had in a long while. It's a fairly substantial dish so definitely one for sharing.

Overall this place deserves high praise for its decor, food and service. Easily the best Thai restaurant that I've been to in the Surrey/Sussex area.