The Art of Pho Julian Hanshaw
Pho – as you cosmopolitan lot might know – is a beefy, noodly, minty broth – much loved in Vietnam and in the screechy badlands of London’s Dalston. The Art of Pho, as fewer of you might know, is a surreal, original and quirky graphic novel inspired by Vietnam’s food, set in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nicely Nigerian -Akhaya Cookery School
On hearing about this beginners’ day-long course, I hotfooted it, via sweltering tube, to cool and leafy Hampstead. The African cookery school Akhaya is run by Jenny, a young woman of Nigerian descent just setting up business. We were welcomed with fresh mint and rooibos tea as well as charming applause the second we individually stepped through the doors.
Riverford Travelling Field Kitchen in a yurt
If you thought Yurt was a noise kids made when confronted with broccoli, then you'll be surprised to discover the truth. Anita Pati eats a fabulous dinner in Riverford Farm's marvellous traveling tent of eco-gastronomy.
Apsleys Summer Tasting Menu launches
Can you eat at a high level and still stay healthy? From the look of most restaurant critics the answer is an emphatic no, the men so fat of chin they've given up shaving out of fear of cutting their own throats. Anita Pati has no desire to end up like that so she was happy to hurry along to Apsley's to try Michelin Star Heinz Beck's healthy summer tasting menu
Leong's Legends, Bayswater
The dish of tongues is speaking and we’re playing deaf. S and I are trying not to look at the grey curls of muscle, the Sichuan duck tongues, that S has ordered. They are arch and taut, twisted in a last quacky screech and hold horror in their sinews. And they are cold. And, in the ultimate diss, they are sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Tamarind Spring Menu
The Michelin-starred subterranean Mayfair restaurant has launched its spring menu, . At the moment there’s a lunchtime deal where you can get three courses for £18.50, £28.50 with wine, if you fancy.
Maker's Mark -make mine a bourbon
Gosh, everything’s a masterclass these days. If it’s not pointing Dutch bricks in wigwam stylee, it’s (very three years ago) butchering a cow or slicing gouda into helicopter blades. I plumped for a more traditional lesson – the master distiller of Yeehah Maker’s Mark (that redneck waxed bottle found on the top shelf), givin’ us all the lowdown on how the corn-rich distillate came to be a bourbon
Clotted cream at Browns - and a top scone recipe too
Anita Pati has her fill of Rodda's clotted cream in all its naughty glory when she meets the makers at Browns Hotel. Chef Fabien Ecuvillon whips up some delicious patisserie for her and shares his scones recipe with us.
A foodie weekend in Aberdeenshire
Venison and whisky lord over the menu when Anita Pati takes a foodie trip of Aberdeenshire. And the cock pheasants spar while the Cairngorms twinkle. What else in a land where monarch of the glen, stovies and a warming dram bring a welcome fit for royalty?
Inamo,London
“Maybe we’re not the demographic they’re aiming at,” says C, kindly. I am grasping and confused, sensory faculties aghast, mind rollicking. OK, it’s not quite that bad but I feel a bit luddite here at Inamo, the hi-tec Soho restaurant where the menus are interactive, and you can webcam into the kitchen from your table top.
The Mall Tavern
All in all, we enjoyed. There did seem to be a tendency to fritterise… were the ‘70s solely a decade of breadcrumbs? But Jesse’s keen, the place is rammed, the menu keeps changing and everyone looks jolly. It’s fun, reasonably-priced and will surely draw votes this election.
Monsieur M, Shoreditch, London
There’s a parade of rickety cutesy and authentic Vietnamese restaurants clustered down the Shoreditch end of Kingsland Road in London’s Hackney. They’re cheap, run by Vietnamese people – many originally refugees – and functional. Shoreditch’s fashion pack use them to chow down before drinking or just as a reminder of their hols to far off lands. But round the corner, in the beautiful Grade II listed Shoreditch Town Hall, Monsieur M is mounting a challenge to them all.
Cracking crabs at Trishna
Crabs can look quite alien to us ugly humans. What with their shifty sideways glances and bollard eyes. Maybe that’s why dismantling them remains such a daunting prospect to cooks. So, Trishna to the rescue, the Indian restaurant in London’s Marylebone has decided to offer a series of crab-cracking master classes each Sunday followed by a three course crabby meal.
Babbo, London
Anita Pati gets into fine Italian dining but has to endure some psychotic career counseling for starters. Will the Ossobucco reveal its innermost secrets? Was the Scallop a mussel in its past life? Could Anita have picked a worse dining companion?
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.
Bistro K, London
Football and fine dining – f-words that fit like fist and fur ball. So when, in the newly-opened Bistro K – plush, South Kensington deluxe – Anita Pati sees a giant sports telly slap bang in the wall, it comes as no surprise that the bar’s owner also owns the Olympique Lyonnais football team.
Asian Dinner Club at the Bedford & Strand - matching wine, cheese and the sexes
Set up by enterprising mother of two Salima Manji, the Asian Dinner Club aims to get professional single Asians together over food and wine. Anita Pati finds though that she's the only one actually eating as the high-flyers are networking too hard. All the more tasty cheese for her, then.
Feeding of the 5,000 - Trafalgar Square
I have lined up the russets, wondrous in their crunch, the foxy Coxs, the carrots - knobbly - and the bananas. All of them perfect, earthly gifts distributed during the feeding of the five thousand. It was a Biblical act, a water-coloured wintry vision in Trafalgar Square - part West Country festival, part Regency splendour as the skies unloaded their first Christmas snow onto a lunchtime mob of far more than 5,000 believers.
Chinese Cricket Club,London
The Chinese Cricket Club is apparently named after the new Chinese National Cricket team who this year played its first international match. Ni hau? I am no sports afficionado but is this a good omen for a fledgling venture? What will stand it in good stead is that it’s located within the Crowne Plaza in London which already houses Giorgio Locatelli’s Refettorio restaurant.
Vineet Bhatia’s Rasoi: New Indian Kitchen
Vineet Bhatia’s Rasoi: New Indian Kitchen is a beautiful book that refuses to patronise its readership. From the wry black flock cover that mimics high street Indian Tandoori décor to the serene, understated photography, this 272-page cookbook should thrill the style seekers.
