I don’t make dessert very often. My dental integrity and blood sugar levels would be far too compromised. I am a high functioning sugar-head with the self discipline of a Winnie the Pooh and a pot of honey. But I do love a good dessert and I think the trick […]
Already awash with wonderful and eclectic food options, it’s hard to fathom how London can keep producing new restaurants of such excellent quality. But she does. I guess some fall off the bottom of the stack to make room, or we just loosen our belts and purse strings and welcome […]
This sneaky little vegan chocolate mousse will have friends and family squealing with incredulity. “I can’t believe it’s vegan!’ Yes, it is very scrummy. Putting aside the controversy over whether the phytoestrogens in tofu give blokes ‘man-boobs’ or not, this recipe is an excellent one to have up your sleeve […]
Hands up if you know Jersey has its own currency, Nope? A ‘fiver’ in Jersey is very much like the English five pound note, except for one small, but critical detail. The queen is smiling. Yes, beaming from ear to ear. It’s somewhat alarming, but having spent a few […]
On the eve of the US election, when the man with the orange hair was sticking needles into a voodoo doll of Hilary Clinton, I was learning about the unifying quality of cheese. France’s most famous ‘Comte’ cheese. Comte comes from the Jura region of France, where 3000 dairy farmers […]
My friend’s dog died recently. I have to declare that I’m not really a doggy person, but Frisco was a chilled and laid-back kind of sausage, and in his quietness, he let me grow quite fond of him. He wasn’t bouncy or brash or ballsy, but you always knew he […]
Roll mops. Go on, say it out loud. Roll mops. It’s ugly isn’t it? It just doesn’t sound like it would be a lovely luscious, multi-dimensional morsel to pop into your mouth. So for a long time I’ve harboured a prejudice against rolled pickled herrings, popular staples in the dark […]
Bayswater is a bit of an enigma. Sure, it’s buzzy and peppy and there’s always throngs of people and loads of energy in the streets. But it’s full of multinationals, chain eateries and pubs dollied up to deny their lineage as part of a mega pub empire. They seem to […]
The Ivy Café’s newest family member in charming Marylebone Lane doesn’t push any gastronomic boats out, but then it doesn’t need to. It’s elegant and comfortable and does a wicked Negoni Tasting Set. Weekend brunch in Marylebone is a notoriously staid affair. There’s rarely anything more controversial than somewhere serving […]
TIME SENSITIVE POST No plans for the weekend? I have an idea. Try ‘fusion’ food. But this is not ‘fusion’ food as you might know it to be. This is fusion food with a difference. For two nights only Londoners will have the chance to taste the fusion of food that […]
I don’t do new year’s resolutions. Too many direct debit payments to gyms and an avalanche of newsletters from obscure and esoteric clubs I’ve signed up to in the first blush of a new year, tell their own cautionary tales. I know now: Puppies aren’t just for Christmas and Resolutions aren’t just for […]
I’m a sucker for a beautiful floor. Polished concrete, shiny oak, cool marble, textured tiles, I love them all. So the first thing that snared me at Lima Floral wasn’t the food, but the floors. The tiles are wonderful geometric shapes, a little reminiscent of art deco tiles of the 30s. […]
“My biggest tip here is: Do. Not. Share. This dish needs to be eaten in its entirety. By you alone.” There’s no doubting the popularity of Middle Eastern and Peruvian food in London at the moment. But the latest cuisine-driven trend to tippy-toe up and surprise us, is Vietnamese. The fresh, […]
“American!”, ms scratchy went screechy. “You mean they do more than McDonalds?!” Yes, it seems, they do. It was a bit of a risk this. My palms were sweaty, I wasn’t entirely sure it would end well. She’d just got off a 24 hour long haul flight and we hadn’t […]
Sister restaurant to the much loved Modern Pantry of Clerkenwell, this younger sibling is sassy and glamorous and all grown up. Good food from the Antipodes is not well represented in London. Peter Gordon from Providores led the Antipodean push into London with Marylebone stalwart, Providores back in 2001. More […]
Every now and then a particular dish pings ferociously into the stormy eye of the capital’s culinary zeitgeist. In 2014, it was *those* crab donuts at Chiltern Firehouse flooding instagram and Twitter feeds, knocking out any news of the Ebola crisis or Lindsay Lohan’s exploits. Earlier this year *that* green matcha […]
New Bermondsey collaboration by Watch House Coffee and Waffle On waffle-wranglers is a love match orchestrated by the angels. Watch House has been pumping out perfect shots of caffeinated joy for just over a year from the teensy, but gorgeous 19th century ‘Watch House’ in Bermondsey. They also do a very […]
“Is this wonderful restaurant in the wrong part of town?” The food at Morden & Lea is vibrant, bouncy, seasonal British fare. It’s well prepared, well priced and well presented. I would definitely recommend trying it out if you find yourself in the midst of the dragons and throngs […]
Jason Atherton has insomnia. Well I don’t know this for sure, but it’s all I can think by way of explaining how he can possibly have the energy and time to launch and manage the number of eateries in his rapidly bulging portfolio. Latest up is his new Social […]
“Asma Khan’s food is more aromatically spiced that the ‘hot hot hot’ spicing many British palates have come to believe is Indian fare. It’s layered and complex and sophisticated.” Asma Khan is utterly delightful. Warm and gregarious. Witty and charismatic. Her energy is so contagious that you just want to […]
Shepherd’s Bush has a lot going on for foodies. The wonderful Damas Gate middle eastern supermarket has anything you’d ever need to whip up a lavish middle eastern banquet. There’s the famous Shepherd’s Bush Market and also an outlet of Abu Zaad - one of my favorite Damascan restaurants in […]
Hands up if you’ve ever been embarrassed to admit you like your wine, pink. Come on now, be honest. Thought so. Until recently rosés were served with a sneer and a shooter of judgement; dismissed as a girly tipple for the ‘little lady’ or worse, the effeminate man. But […]
“I love a tasting menu. Maybe it’s just the greedy girl in me, but I want to try everything.” Most Londoners and visitors to London have heard of Southbank. They’ve got a vague concept of where it is and what to expect once they get there. The Tate. The National. […]
“Spring is light and breezy, embracing all the loveliness of a period building without slavishly bowing to heritage or giving over to historical heaviness.” Too girly. When London’s Spring restaurant first opened at the end of 2014 it attracted a fair whack of criticism. Not especially about the menu, the […]
In a world of do-it-yourself, where Waitrose makes you your own check-out-chick and most of us don’t remember the last time we processed a payment with an actual cashier (cashier? huh? the younger generation will find a useful glossary at the end of this post), Rex & Mariano are taking self-service […]
This is the one that prompted the penning of “A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips”. There. You have been warned. It is, however rather scrummy and a worthy contender for your weekly calorie intake. It’s slightly fiddly to make but that’s probably a good thing as […]
If a snuggle came in vegetable form it would be a Potato. Mashed with knoblets of naughty, creamy butter. Fried to a crisp in duck fat, billowy inside and chalky outside. Wrapped in cream and nutmeg and layered in thin slices. They’re all edible snuggles. It seems quite mean that ‘they’ […]
Updated April 2015 A lovely lassie on one of the recent Soho Food Walks asked if I could recommend ‘somewhere nice’ to go for a special occasion dinner. Not too fancy or expensive but a place with good food and a nice vibe. I promised to email a fabulous long […]
Quinces are humbling. One of those old school fruits that remind me, that in a skirmish with Time, I shall never win. I start out insanely desperate to cook with them. They’re in season for such a short Time. It has to be now. I scurry high and low, clamoring […]
In London’s food scene, it is really not fashionable to blog about a restaurant that opened eighteen months ago. Uh-uh. Nopey no. You’re a dead-as-a-do-do kind of blogger if that’s your caper. Eighteen days since the whizzy ‘launch party’ and many bloggers have forgotten to pen their promised ‘review’, moving […]
