In this, the first and most delicious of my ninth annual end-of-year round-up posts, I highlight some of my favourite coffee shops, restaurants and dishes of the year, both in London and on my travels. This year, I visited nine countries (Estonia, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and France). From £4 chicken rice in Singapore to tempting tasting menus in Tallinn, as well as sublime speciality coffee, it's been quite a year. As usual, I've only included places I visited for the first time in 2019.

Estonia is the 12th EU country I've visited since 24 June 2016, as well as trips to Norway and Iceland. I've been to most of these countries before, but my Euro-philic sensibilities have also encouraged me to venture into EU pastures new — and to hope that these visits don't turn into a EU-logy. I'd wanted to visit Tallinn for some time and was able to book BA flights, including an outbound leg in business class, for a good price during the Christmas sale.

For a compact city, Tallinn has an impressive variety of specialty coffee spots. During my weekend break in the Estonian capital, I visited six of them and there were several more that made my shortlist but which are closed at the weekends.