Moving the mercury with everything from chicken-salt chips to deep-fried Creme Egg burgers (yes, really), here’s what we’re rating and hating this spring.

what's hot...

Resto art

Epitomised in Damien Hirst and Mark Hix's Pharmacy 2. Because dining out is about the whole experience, dahling.

Chicken-salt chips

As found at Dickie Fitz. Giles Coren said it makes chips taste like Monster Munch. He's not wrong.

Mocktails

We never thought we'd say this but we're digging these. Good for the waist.

Asian spirit

Shochu (pictured) at Roka and soju cocktails at Jinjuu. As the industry faces a shortage of Japanese whiskies, we suggest you get on board.

what's not...

Avocado-no

Apparently it's not even as healthy as we all thought, but we're sick of it on sourdough now anyway.

We love Creme Eggs. We love burgers. And most things taste better deep-fried (truth). But together? Non.

Over-familiar waiting staff

Pally staff crouching down and saying, "Hey guys!" like you're all just hanging out? Please.

Sharing plates

We've gone from "yay sharing" to "this table is a bit small" and are now ready for a retro meal-for-one.

This article was first published in the spring 2016 edition of Squaremeal Lifestyle magazine