Joanna Biddolph

Joanna Biddolph

Joanna Biddolph thinks about food all day long which she puts down to having been born just in time for lunch. She's always available to review restaurants, food retailers and caterers - no meal too big or small - as well as cookery books and books about food. She blogs about the struggle that is freelance life, with recipes for lunch, and in nbetween runs crisis management and crisis media management courses for airlines, restaurants and food businesses. So she also blogs about crisis management. With 30 years' experience in communications under her ever-expanding belt, she promotes charities and independent businesses and is an occasional freelance journalist, writing about real life from askance. She lives in the foodie heaven that is Chiswick, determinedly supporting her local greengrocer, grocer, butcher, fishmonger, deli, health food shop and chocolatier - and hanging out in independent cafés.

  • Big warm flavours from Tamarind's autumn menu

    Wednesday November 2nd, 2011

    The launch of a new menu is excuse enough to go back to a favourite restaurant, even if you know you will find the regular signature dishes irresistible - as Joanna Biddolph discovered when she nipped back to Tamarind to test its autumn menu.  

  • Gin O’Clock – Queen_UK publishes extracts from her diaries

    Thursday October 27th, 2011

    The Queen [of Twitter] has published extracts from her diaries, revealing her surprisingly candid thoughts about the events of the day and showing that the only way to survive the nonsense we have to put up with from leading public figures is by taking hefty slugs of Bombay Sapphire gin, with or preferably without tonic. Joanna Biddolph went along to meet her at the official launch. 

  • Celebrate Diwali at Namaaste Kitchen – the best value tasting menu

    Wednesday October 26th, 2011

    If your eating out decisions are driven by your wallet, while hoping not to sacrifice taste, Namaaste Kitchen in Camden should be on your must-go list. And, if you want to experience its special Diwali tasting menu - seven courses, each matched with a wine - you must-go soon; the special menu extravaganza lasts until Saturday, 29th October.

  • Special offer on tickets for Taste of Christmas 2011 with Jamie Oliver!

    Tuesday October 18th, 2011

    You've got until 31st October to save £20 on a pair of tickets to this year's Taste of Christmas and the chance to see top celebrity chefs in action, get inspiriation for your own festive feast and eat your way round the exhibition.    

  • Meatballs at The Quality Chop House

    Wednesday October 12th, 2011

    Joanna Biddolph enjoys the playful juxtaposition of the thoroughly contemporary one-off Meatballs in the unique Grade II listed Quality Chop House then eats her way through most of the menu (and drinks most of the restaurant's Blueberry G&T).

  • Celebrate the Rugby World Cup deep in the heart of Covent Garden

    Wednesday October 5th, 2011

    Be ready to dash to Tuttons if the All Blacks win the quarter final on Saturday, 9th October – and later if they make it through to the semis and final. The first 50 diners will qualify for a free glass of Waipara West Wine on days the New Zealand All Blacks win a match. It's worth changing allegiance for, as Joanna Biddolph discovered. 

  • Angelus introduces light bite pichounettes and a new champagne

    Wednesday September 14th, 2011

    Angelus might not be in your residential neighbourhood but it ought to be on your “we really must go there” list. The latest addition to its menu - pichounettes (a light bite platter of tasting portions from its a la carte menu) and its signature Angelium champagne - are the excuse you need says Joanna Biddolph.

  • Bombay Sapphire – an imaginative excuse to visit the V&A

    Sunday August 28th, 2011

    It’s always the case. It’s on your doorstep, it’s on your to do list, it’s easy to do something else. Joanna Biddolph discovers that the thought of one Bombay Sapphire cocktail made her tick off “go to V&A” on her list of things to do. Make the museum's last Summer Camp Friday Late of 2011 (and visiting the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Bar) your reason for going.

  • Asda and Wagyu beef - an unlikely coupling?

    Sunday August 28th, 2011

    Wagyu, the world’s most expensive beef, will be hitting butchers’ slabs in five Asda stores later this year, making Asda the first UK supermarket to sell Wagyu. And it will be available at a price we can afford. How is it possible? And why Asda? Joanna Biddolph explains ...

  • Dine like modern Mughals at Tamarind

    Monday August 22nd, 2011

    For people who eat out at a high level regularly, it’s the small touches that make the difference between one fine-dining restaurant and another. Joanna Biddolph finds many exquisite touches, in the décor and on her plate, at 10 times Michelin-starred Tamarind.

  • FOX’s Mini Melts – just add willpower

    Friday August 5th, 2011

    These delicious new biscuits, one bite versions of the grown-up Fox's Melts, are ideal for sharing. Apparently, says Joanna Biddolph after eating the whole pack herself.

  • The Free Range Cook transports you to a New Zealand way of life

    Monday August 1st, 2011

    The Free Range Cook reflects the essence of New Zealand life: easy, relaxed, wholesome, fresh, warm-hearted, generous. Getting lost in its 320 pages, and especially its spectacular photos, is the cheapest way to travel there, says Joanna Biddolph not long after visiting New Zealand.

  • The Three Oaks

    Friday July 15th, 2011

    You don't need a fast car to dine at The Three Oaks - but the chances are you'll spot one there. Joanna Biddolph wished she'd taken her ancient Rover to the car wash before setting off for this posh part of near-London where good value, quality, generous portions and lashings of jus are always on the menu.   

  • Fox’s Ambers: an everyday indulgence of a biscuit

    Thursday July 14th, 2011

    Does the world need another chocolate biscuit, asked Joanna Biddolph before confirming that we do. Fox's Ambers fill a hunger gap none of us thought we had.

  • Infuse yourself with imagination the Bombay Sapphire way

    Saturday July 2nd, 2011

    Find out what you missed if you didn’t take up the invitation to apply for an imaginative evening with Bombay Sapphire. Joanna Biddolph went along, mostly in your interests.

  • Bombay Sapphire's imaginative molecular mixology recipes

    Friday July 1st, 2011

    Bombay Sapphire expects more and more bars to experiment with molecular mixology. You can beat them to it with these recipes - or by creating your own fantastical mixes by stirring up your imagination.

  • Cream tea heaven - delivered to your door

    Thursday June 30th, 2011

    We eat them wherever we can - in five star hotels, in tea shops in the country, in secret - but having them delivered at home, in deli-style rustic packaging, is much more of a treat according to Joanna Biddolph. 

  • Getting Divinely high at Glastonbury

    Wednesday June 22nd, 2011

    Whether you can trudge through the sludge down at Worthy Farm, or if you are at home and dry, you can indulge in a Divine fantasy, as Joanna Biddolph explains. 

  • Goose and gander at The Gay Hussar

    Tuesday June 21st, 2011

    If you’ve chased new restaurants to keep up with the times, remember that old restaurants only survive if they move with the times. The Gay Hussar might have been around for nearly 60 years but it is not stuck in a past of our imagination. Joanna Biddolph discovers modern dining, not rib-sticking stodge, at London's longest standing Hungarian restaurant.

  • Cheating imperceptibly thanks to Asda

    Sunday June 19th, 2011

    Friends coming for supper? No-one needs to know when all you've done is open a few packets and shoved something ready-basted in the oven - if you choose wisely. Joanna Biddolph puts it all down to geographical location - and a surprisingly imaginative range from Asda.