A Cool Chef & Food Stylist Shares Her Travel Diaries

When booking your perfect hotel room, you want it to reflect your interior taste and the type of comfort you look for in your own home – only more elevated. If you're into cosy, good colours and old school charm, don’t suddenly book a hotel that's stripped back, and all hard lines and full of dark marble. In the UK, my favourite hotels are Claridge’s for the all-round luxury London experience and The Beaumont for stylish cocktails and dinner. I also love to order room service. I will always get the club sandwich.

If you’re looking to book a week away with friends, I’d recommend Cadaques. It’s on the most eastern point of Spain and it’s a small fishing town where Salvador Dali used to live. There are lots of great little coves for swimming and delicious restaurants right by the sea.

If I’m planning a city break, it’s Paris every time. It’s perfect in every season. I always go to Bistrot Paul Bert for steak frites, Merci  for bed linen and the Centre Pompidou for the latest exhibition. 

When I first started cooking, I used to work in Ibiza a lot. I would work on the north of the island and spend hours at the amazing covered market in Ibiza town buying produce or picking up fresh local fruit from the side of the road. It was incredible. More recently, I cooked for two weeks at the amazing guesthouse Casa Lawa with my friend Connie. It was amazing to be on Sicily in autumn and use the incredible produce. Lukas, the founder is wonderful, and his creativity and sense of fun is infectious.

The most memorable meal I’ve had abroad is probably one I ate at a small beach shack on Hydra, Greece, where a granny makes either a ham cheese toastie or Greek salad for lunch. The shack also sells delicious oregano crisps. It’s so simple and perfect – all washed down with an ice-cold Greek beer. Hydra is also where my favourite holiday photos were taken. It’s a very small island with no cars, so donkeys roam the streets delivering goods. The sea is so beyond blue and when you’re not at small beaches a boat ride away, you can lounge leisurely off the rocks. We rented an Airbnb a few years ago. It was super high up, so we’d be puffing by the time we got home. However, the views and sunsets were second to none.

My holiday packing essentials are… four good books, Indian print sarongs in the softest voile, a linen shirt and SPF from Ultra Violette. And I love my Eres Aquarelle swimsuit. It took years to find the perfect swimsuit. Now it's the only one I’ll wear. I love the new colours it brings out each summer.

The best souvenir I’ve brought back from holiday was a set of hand-painted plates I found in Ischia, Italy. I love finding ceramics on holiday – carefully wrapping them up in my sundresses, hoping they make it home in one piece.

One of the best further-flung countries I’ve been to is India. It was both breathtaking and life changing. I lived there for a year and will be forever taken by the colours, scents, noise, hospitality and hysteria of the country. The places currently on my bucket list are more Greek islands (specifically Sifnos, Amorgos and Tinos), plus Mexico City and Japan.

For more, follow Posie at @POSIEHALLFOOD