Bab Dar is the latest venture of Jihad Assabi, the man behind Kif Kif in Flagey. Moroccan-born Assabi is clearly a man on a mission; or rather, two missions.

The first is culinary, and boy does he succeed. My companion and I shared a starter billed as an assortment of delicate salads. Our table was invaded by twelve tiny dishes, each containing bite-sized treats combining vegetables with spices and/or fruit. Highlights included sliced carrots with sesame and rolled-up aubergine slices stuffed with almond paste.

Listeners to Mark Lamarr’s sorely missed BBC Radio 2 programme ‘God’s Jukebox’ fondly remember Dollar Bill’s late 2010 live session: passion oozed from tracks such as Gibson Stomp and Dollar Bill Breakdown.

Luckily for Rollin Records – a prime contender for ‘best label in Britain’ – the English bluesman shows an equal enthusiasm throughout his first album. Lovers of homegrown jump blues rejoice... the most hardened purists among them can even plump for the 10” vinyl version of this irresistible long-player.

(Rollin Records)

Via Lamanna is stylish and buzzy with four separate elements: a bar-lounge with large terrace for casual dining and drinking; an enoteca for apéros and nibbles; a gastronomic restaurant with high-end food and prices to match; and a cantina where you can pick up the ingredients to try and recreate the dishes at home.

A year on, Park Side does what it says on the box. On a warm rentrée lunchtime, the sober black, brown and white interior and the terrace overlooking Cinquantenaire Park were packed with euro-types exercising their expense accounts. Bustling waiters in black aprons shuttled trays from the kitchen hatch past the horseshoe-shaped bar and a striking bubble-glass lighting feature. Chef Donald Loriaux aims for food that is sophisticated but not over-elaborate, letting his excellent ingredients do all the talking.

When the mighty Girls Against Boys called it a day, a golden opportunity arose for any punk/grunge band with two bass players to fill the gap.

Welsh outfit Exit International did far better than that. They now count GvsB’s Eli Janney among their most fervent admirers. This breathtaking debut album will gain them many, many more, so infectious is the twin-bass racket cooked up by Fudge Wilson and Scott Lee Andrews. Drummer AdamThomas more than keeps up with the onslaught, as the suitably scary Lights Out will testify.

(Undergroove Records)

Given that Chao Phraya covers so many bases, it goes without saying that it does some things better than others. The service is polite and efficient but could do with a touch of warmth. The décor has an Ikea-does-Thai feel to it which is inoffensive but hardly reminiscent of the Buddha Bar style opulence to which it appears to claim affinity to. And the food? Generally it’s solid Thai fare with occasional flashes of excellence. The beef penaeng would have been perfect if only the meat provided a little less work for the jaw.

The signs were bad, for so many reasons. Firstly, there was my friend Jack’s claim that he knew “this great little Italian”. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard this announcement, but it’s often enough to twig that “great little” usually means “cheap(ish), for the very good reason that the food is – at best – average”. Secondly, there was the fact that the restaurant in question was in the stretch of Rue Haute halfway between the flea market and the bottom of the Sablon; an area where the onus is more on fashion statements than on culinary excellence.