Every Sunday morning I spend an hour checking independent.co.uk, Twitter and Facebook to get an early idea of the reaction to the paper's biggest stories. Sometimes I'll tweet a link to something I think will particularly capture the imagination, or a gem from The New Review supplement or the Money section that might otherwise not receive much attention.

If you were inventing a restaurant to promote London's scene it would, surely, be this: Korean street food in Hoxton. It's got in-flight magazine article all over it: "Visitors to London will love this edgy eatery." Shudder.

While using the Polpo cookbook the other day, I had a moment to think about why the book was one of last year's biggest successes. Perhaps because it has an innovative spine that allows it to lie flat; perhaps because it looks beautiful and the recipes work; perhaps because it is true to one, quite specific cuisine – the Venetian cicchetti (little plates).

2013 was the year I found Twitter to be a useful resource for breaking news and a signpost to reading material I would otherwise have missed

It has not been, we must report, a vintage year for facial hair. The prize for the annual Beard of the Year has had to be shared between The Choir's Gareth Malone, actor John Hurt and rugby player Geoff Parling.

Every year I think “that’s it, I’ve got enough cookbooks”. But rather like a black cardigan, or pair of jeans, one can never quite get past the nagging feeling that the next one might just be the perfect one. And then the shelf collapses.

When the Italian restaurant brings you focaccia and a bowl of olive oil, do you groan inwardly? It has become a standard-issue "freebie", but the olive oil is standard issue itself all too often. At Café Murano, the oil is so good that I could quite happily drink it (from Planeta, it's grassy and refined).

Room Service

Some things change, some things stay the same. The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London has stood since the 18th century, resolutely unrevamped. The man behind its new restaurant is on at least his sixth reinvention.

Rogano, 11 Exchange Place, Glasgow, tel: 0141 248 4055