Douglas Blyde

Douglas Blyde

A former documentary man, Douglas Blyde is utterly gripped by gastronomy: driven by a love of good taste and fascinated by that almost nocturnal, nervously energetic breed known as chefs. He longs, one day, to own a pristine restaurant, boutique hotel, almost mythically revered vineyard and a vast chocolate factory

  • Ginstitute Launches

    Tuesday November 15th, 2011

    With the aim of conveying the long history of Londoners’ allegiance to dry gin, the second smallest museum in the capital recently opened in Notting Hill. The mind behind is drinks expert, graphic designer and part-time dandy, Jake Burger...

  • Magic of Martell

    Friday October 7th, 2011

    Standing over two metres tall, Martell Cognac's meticulosly crafted Trunk houses a rare collection of 28 eaux-de-vie including £400 per shot L'Or de Jean Martell which represent the finest exponents of ‘cru’ used by the world's oldest cognac producer (1715).

  • Sea Change in Suffolk

    Friday September 30th, 2011

    The day before this year’s two-day festival of food and drink at Aldeburgh a spirited conference focused on Suffolk and the Sea...

  • Illy Galleria and University of Coffee

    Wednesday September 7th, 2011

    This year’s pop-up ‘Galleria’ by Illy offers complimentary courses at its ‘University of Coffee’ among its heady cultural programme.

  • Kammerling on Kammerling’s

    Sunday May 29th, 2011

    A new spirit is dripping the capital. We talk to vodka ambassador and passionate drinks fanatic Alex Kammerling about his eponymous libation...

  • Black Gold, Shimmering Sky

    Monday May 16th, 2011

    Douglas Blyde heads to Islay, island of eight distilleries and one golf course. There he discovers his disinterest in golf is not a handicap.

  • David Berry Green on the wines of Nebbiolo

    Saturday April 16th, 2011

    Douglas Blyde talks nebbiolo with David Berry Green, eighth generation family member and buyer of wines for eponymous wine and spirits merchant, Berry Brothers and Rudd - the oldest in the UK.

  • The Portman, Marylebone

    Thursday February 24th, 2011

    Trained at Cape Town’s Higgs School of Good Cooking (Meerendal Hospitality Academy), Wet sharpened his craft at South African restaurants, Hauté Cabriere and De Oude Welgemoed (the latter offering Cape-Malay cuisine) then Brula Bistro, La Buvette, Landsdowne Club, Brasserie Roux (Sofitel St James) and The Carlton Club in London.

  • Catalan Cooking with Codorníu

    Friday February 4th, 2011

    A London café specialising in sweet treats was transformed into a Catalan home kitchen for one night only. Courtesy of Cava producer, Codorníu, ‘Bea’s of Bloomsbury’ was decorated with Bacchanalia. 

  • Tales of a Saxon Chef

    Monday January 31st, 2011

    Michael Saxon has looked after guests at some of the world's finest hotels, from Europe to North America, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and beyond. He talks to Douglas Blyde about his autobiography, 'Chef's Tales'.


     

  • Tricolore Takeaway

    Saturday January 8th, 2011

    Douglas Blyde was recently whisked to a Loire so frozen that Charolais cattle couldn’t break ice to quench their thirst. Back in an equally frozen Blighty, his task, from Monnières to Mosnes is to summarise summery wines sipped in foot numbing cellars...

  • Fine Deposits at Wine Bank

    Tuesday December 7th, 2010

    Dynamic Rheingau restaurateur turned hotelier, turned riesling producer, Balthasar Ress is not shy of courting publicity. In June, ostensibly believing it would optimise the maturation of their top cuvée, they buried 18 magnums and one Balthazar of ‘RESSpekt’ 18m below the surface of a flooded quarry. Barring visits from thirsty, thieving divers, there it will rest until 2013.

  • Camel Drool and Infinite Pool: Quinta do Crasto

    Tuesday November 30th, 2010

    Douglas Blyde gets high while watching his breath condense at leading Port and Portuguese table wine producer, Quinta do Crasto in the breathtaking Douro Valley.

  • Manseng and Musketeers

    Friday November 26th, 2010

    Is it fair to compare an offspring’s prowess with their parents’? Amidst visits to artisan producers of maple syrup coloured, orange and prune scented, addictively supple Armagnac in the drink’s 700th year, I tipsily ventured to the respective restaurants of father and son, Éric and Pepito Sampietro, deep in France’s Gers.

  • Food Safari in Kernow

    Tuesday November 16th, 2010

    Douglas Blyde wastes no time in sampling Cornwall’s bounty of meaty crabs, saline oysters and hardy cattle...

  • Cigalon/Baranis

    Friday October 29th, 2010

    Brought to you by the minds behind Smithfield’s Club Gascon, what was the formerly burger heavy wine bar, Hodgson’s has emerged leavened.

  • Le Bernardin, Manhattan

    Tuesday October 26th, 2010

    ‘Fish is the star of the plate, not the chef’ proclaims Buddhist chef, Eric Ripert across two pages of Le Bernardin’s menu...

  • Pony Tail

    Saturday October 2nd, 2010

    ‘It’s probably not going to make me a millionaire,’ said Shabani as the barman charged our glasses for the third time before we decamped to another Mayfair stockist. ‘In fact it’s going to take three years to break even,’ he added. Douglas Blyde hears a tail of Konik's Vodka.

  • Che Sera, Syrah...

    Wednesday September 22nd, 2010

    Because of his website’s dim catchphrase, ‘It’s just booze – drink it!’ I anticipate Washington State winemaker Charles Smith might seem loutish. Rather than produce and promote anaesthetics, I believe his resolute coolness is actually his way of disarming drinkers paralysed by European jargon and pretensions...

  • James Martin: Scotch Emissary

    Thursday September 16th, 2010

    BBC Saturday Kitchen presenter and prominent petrol-head, James Martin will be at classic car festival, Goodwood Revival this weekend as ambassador for Speyside single malt, The Singleton of Dufftown.