Bermuda has been given a good review in the travel section of Britain's Sunday Times.

Writer Mark Hodson, who was a guest of the Bermuda Department of Tourism, said Bermuda looked every bit as good in real life as it does in the brochures.

However he noted the down turn in tourist due stock market gloom and security jitters.

He wrote: "The irony that one of the world's safest destinations is being hit by fears of terrorism is not lost on the locals."

Mr. Hodson said his young son loved the Island and both seemed to like their taxi driver Vince Cann who he described as "a big man with a wide smile and a soft, gravelly voice; like Morgan Freeman without the angst".

The aquarium also gets a rave review from Mr. Hodson who confesses to having "the same enthusiasm for aquariums as I have for food poisoning".

He added: "Though never cheap, Bermuda was always cheerful."

Bermuda was also featured in an extensive article in the food section of the New York Times of February 12 written by R.W. Apple Jr. who wrote of Bermuda's "flourishing food culture".

He speaks to Aqua boss Claudio Vigilante whom he describes as "one of a handful of restaurateurs who are trying to sweep the cobwebs out of this island's stagnant post-imperial kitchens".

He writes: "You can eat deliciously authentic Caribbean-style conch fritters at Coconuts, a pizza margarita cooked in a proper wood-fired oven at La Trattoria and tempting noodles, sushi and tempura at L'Oriental.

"An enormous variety of wines are available on the island, including uncommon gems like Coldstream Hills pinot noir from Australia and Jermann Pinot Grigio from northeastern Italy."

He recounts feasting on salmon with mango marinated in blood orange vinaigrette at La Coquille.

It was followed by "a memorable dish of roasted sea bass on a bed of red cabbage, with caramelized onions and dumplings on the side - sturdy stuff, well suited to the cool, crisp evening."

Some of the chefs he speaks to complain of getting fresh ingredients. He writes: "Troy Smith, a young Australian, worked until recently as the chef at Aqua, the restaurant that Mr. Vigilante manages.

"He did fresh, zippy, Asian- and Latin-influenced lunch dishes like pita stuffed with tandoori chicken, dressed with cucumber slices and yogurt, and main courses in the evening like tuna loin brushed with chili mole, all of them served on heavy, stylish, free-form glass plates.

"The most innovative Bermuda chefs, like Scott Connor of the Seahorse Grill at the Elbow Beach Hotel, owned by the upper-crust Mandarin Oriental group, do the best they can.

"One of Mr. Connor's specialities is marvellously light and crunchy deep-fried Bermuda onion rings (although the onions are often imported, commercial cultivation here having tailed off in the 1930's after flourishing since 1616).

"He also makes a seductive hibiscus vinaigrette. When he can get it, he features local fish like wahoo, shark (in a meanly slung plate of hash) and Bermuda rockfish, a member of the grouper family that feeds on inshore reefs."

However, consistency is undermined not only by supply difficulties but also by cooks with limited skills wrote Mr. Apple.

"We ate dishes that were too salty, too thyme-heavy, too dry and some that were simply ill conceived.

"Who needs a foie gras sandwich with bacon and cheese?

"But a flourishing food culture has taken root, supported not only by tourists but also by executives drawn here by Bermuda's emergence as an international banking and insurance hub."

Meanwhile Bermudian painter Carole Holding has been featured in the Charlotte Observer where she explains her craft and the island.