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A man for all seasonal food. We talk and eat with Jose Pizzaro of Tierra Brindisa Soho
I love Jose Pizzaro; although this may be the beer goggles talking. No, I think it’s a serious crush. The man is ‘keeping it real’ with his Tierra Brindisa; simplicity and quality and a changing menu. The train spotters have moved on, chasing the next new thing, now his restaurant has proper customers, regulars. As we leave I reflect our offices are just a Rioja fuelled stagger away, so we will regularly be back.
Creating the cupcake - we taste a few cookery courses to see which is the icing on the top
Apparently name-dropping the ‘cupcake revolution’ is the fashion equivalent of extolling the maxi-dress: very 2008 darling. But the cupcake trend is still on a [parchment baking] roll – except that in 2008 we were buying ‘em, now we’re making ‘em. Enter the cupcake class – tutorials for the disenfranchised office-worker, wondering if they too could clear four grand a month* just by knocking up a few of Nigella’s best and selling them at £2 a pop to London’s glitterati. Of course it would seem I’m suggesting that such an entreprenual venture might be as simple as it is appealing. Believe me, it’s not
The magic of mushrooms. Recipes and more
They get a bit of a bad press do mushrooms. There are the naughty ones that make you see pretty colours, the ones that turn you into a berserk Viking bent on rape, and perhaps some light pillage if time allows, and then there are the ones that kill you stone dead.So consider the humble mushroom, virtually fat free, full of B vitamins, part of our 5 a day, filling, packed with antioxidants and minerals and sustainable when cultivated.
Seeds, dirt and a bitter taste
Organic food giant ‘Seeds of Change’ recently launched a new range of cooking sauces to accompany their ‘Great flavours, well grown” campaign. The sauces were used in recipes served up by organic enthusiast Arthur Potts Dawson, executive chef at Acorn House. After sampling the food we were also treated to a ‘dirt tasting’ demonstration by Garden Organic’s Director of Operations, Bob Sherman.
All rise! Gizzi Erskine's masterclass in baking real bread
‘It’s like squeezing a baby’s bottom,’ says Gizzi Erskine talking about how a well-risen, knocked back piece of dough should feel. I’m thinking of something else entirely but as the majority of people at this demonstration are women I decide to keep that to myself.
Beers all round as the Caldesis get ready for La Dolce Vita
Giancarlo Caldesi has been at the beer. ‘We’ve gone through boxes and boxes,’ he tells me as his wife Katie looks on approvingly. It’s all been in the aid of science though, using Birra Moretti beer as an ingredient of some dishes that we are about to eat.
Dining for the Devastated
In aid of survivors of January’s earthquake in Haiti - the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere - Foodepedia's Sabrina Ghayour masterminded a fundraising banquet at Le Bouchon Breton restaurant, Spitalfields Market. She talks to Douglas Blyde.
Cooking with Kumud Gandhi at the Saffron House
That I can do a mean keema myself made Kumud Gandhi’s Indian spice trail course all the more inviting. The trail began at Paddington, a train through winter snow to the former high-flying banker's large Hertfordshire home.
Bacchus Beside the Riverbanks
We travel to restaurant, Vivat Bacchus to taste award-winning South African liquid sunshine from vines sewn beside the Breede River.
Tea – testing, testing
Having blagged a load of free tea samples, we would have preferred samples of champagne obviously, however we’re not The Telegraph here, we put the kettle on and lined up an impressive array of chipped teapots, brown ringed mugs, cups with the hotels’ names still on them and a small bowl the dog once used. Not very scientific, perhaps, but certainly real world.
Breakfast at The Dean Street Townhouse,London
Oh Pitcher! Oh Piano! O tempora! O mores! Where now the pissed PAs staggering gamely about on stiletto heels? Where the young swordsmen from the suburbs gathered to hunt in packs? And where the office leaving parties swirling out of focus in a haze of cheap white wine? All gone, all gone. The Pitcher & Piano is now the Dean Street Townhouse in a transformation more fascinating than ‘From Ladette to Lady.’
Swine Fever
Douglas Blyde finds the offer of a ringside seat at the tabletop butchery of a Gloucester Old Spot pig at Trinity, Clapham Common, too hard to refuse...
‘We’re above all that’ - the Great Galvin Giveway in London
Just because they are the highest restaurant in London, and now officially one of the best with their first Michelin Star, doesn’t mean Galvin at Windows looks down on the diner on a budget. Look at the 'Galvin Giveaway!'restaurant manager Fred Sirieix explains to Nick Harman
Auguring a Feast
Douglas Blyde escapes hostile weather for exotic connations - the launch of ‘Malaysia Kitchen’, a campaign to celebrate London's 41 eateries...
Putting Words to the F-Word
Conscripted into a long afternoon of critical dining, Douglas Blyde reveals what it was like to eat at the F-Word's restaurant...
Blumenthal and Smith Awarded by Supermarket
Curious about which culinary figure, dish and ingredient summed-up the noughties? Read the results of a poll of Sainsbury's Magazine readers here...
Jody Scheckter at Laverstoke Park Farm. Racing toward a new organic ideal
One of the first things you notice about Jody Scheckter, the organic squire of Laverstoke Park Farm, is that he notices everything. As we move away from admiring his herd of water buffalo sheltering from the rain in their massive barn, he mutters into his memo taker ‘another back scratcher for the buffalos’ having heard mention that the big beasts are currently having to queue up for their mechanical treat.
Praise the Pig - A love letter from Spain
Annie Manson lives and works in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, where she runs bespoke cookery classes in the heart of this historic Andalucian whitewashed village. Along with a sprinkling of sherry, topped up with fabulous Spanish wines, she ensures guests will head home inspired to bring Andalucian sunshine into their kitchens. Find out more at www.anniebsspanishkitchen.com
Bringing home the bacon - pigs in The Peaks
Pig farmer and restaurant in perfect harmony. Outside Sheffield Max Freeman raises rare-breed pigs for The Milestone restaurant in Sheffield to serve to their customers. They're happy, the pigs are happy and Nick Harman has a smile on his face too as he sees how teaming up like this has made this city restaurant an award-winner
Re-Generating Tuscany
In the company of BBC's Olly Smith, Douglas Blyde travels to Tuscany to see how a quartet of its leading wine producers are thoughtfully modernising...
