Nick Harman

Nick Harman

Nick Harman writes restaurant reviews and food/travel pieces for foodepedia. Suspicious of fads, unwilling to worship in gastronomic temples and heartily sick of sous vide he remains hungry for any food that has his stomach firmly in its sights.

  • Cha Cha Moon

    Friday November 18th, 2011

    I know some people expected more from Alan Yau of Wagamama fame, and it seems Cha Cha has reverted to a slow waltz since he stopped being in charge day to day. Even so, it’s cheap and it’s cheerful and, unlike some of Chinatown’s finest, you don’t get the feeling you’re a nuisance to the staff. For a fast feed, everyone can comfortably still keep going to the Moon.

  • Lunch at Roux at The Landau,

    Wednesday November 16th, 2011

    With a selection of fine cheeses, or if you prefer a wonderfully wobbly Amaretto Panacotta with pear ice cream and salted almonds, the Landau rounds off set lunch with light love. It’s a pleasure to eat such unshowy, unpretentious but finely judged cooking. And of course, once you’ve eaten the prix fixe, you’ll be back to try the impossibly good looking a la carte in the evening. Lunch is just for starters, after all

  • Suka Street Food at Sanderson

    Saturday November 12th, 2011

    I’m not really a street food kind of person, at least not in the UK. I’ve munched in Malaysia, snacked in Singapore and struggled to find a suitable verb in Vietnam, but they’re all places where eating is almost constant. The people of those lovely countries resemble eating bicycles, if they stop feeding for a moment they tend to wobble and fall over.

  • Full speed ahead for the wharf. Iberica goes East

    Thursday November 10th, 2011

    Iberica Food and Culture, one of the most stylish Spanish restaurants in London and one of the best, is to open in Canary Wharf on November 21st. Good news indeed for the suits marooned out there in a sea of money. Ahead of opening we chatted to Cesar Garcia, head chef at the Great Portland Street mother ship to hear a bit more about the new restaurant and taste some of his favourite dishes from the menu

  • Having a grand old time, Wish you were here

    Saturday November 5th, 2011

    I don’t know who’s been sleeping in my bed; it could have been Ernest Shackleton, possibly Hailie Salassie or even Winston Churchill. It wasn’t Liam Gallagher anyway because I know for a fact he was in the suite next door along with George Michael, although not at the same time of course.

  • South Lodge Hotel. Lord we like it a lot

    Thursday October 27th, 2011

    South Lodge Hotel in Horsham is part of the Exclusive Hotels Collection and as we found out, it is pretty darn exclusive with a fantastic Michelin-starred kitchen

  • The Rosendale, West Dulwich

    Thursday October 27th, 2011

    West Dulwich or West Norwood? Some blurring of the boundaries apart, The Rosendale is definitely in South London so that's a big plus already for local allotmenteer Nick Harman

  • Loving the lamb with Annabel Langbein

    Tuesday October 11th, 2011

    Not usually a fan of lamb – when it’s good it’s great but when it’s not it’s repellent – I needed a good reason to go out to eat some. That reason was an invite to join Annabel Langbein in the basement of Caravan in Exmouth Market to try recipes from her book The Free Range Cook.

  • Arbutus

    Tuesday October 4th, 2011

    Unpretentious, not chasing trends, no obvious tattoos on the staff and food cooked classically well, Arbutus is the kind of old-skool that can teach the new kids a lesson.

  • Touring the tapas

    Thursday September 29th, 2011

    The Tapas Tour recreates the spirit of bar hopping that is typical to the city of Logroño, capital of Rioja, where people visit different tapas bars tasting speciality tapas dishes alongside glasses of Rioja. Londoners will be able to purchase a Tapas Tour passport, allowing them to hop across five of London’s best tapas restaurants

  • Bedruthan Steps Hotel. A classic Cornwall break

    Monday September 26th, 2011

    There’s a magic moment as the First Great Western train leaves Exeter when you finally know that you’ve quit London. Suddenly the monotonous banks of earth and fields of green give way onto what seems like an endless expanse of water. The wet sand is reflecting a late September sun and small boats lean drunkenly in all directions, patiently waiting the return of the tide to float them back to sober and dignified bobbing.

     

  • It's alive! Westfield Stratford City opens for business

    Sunday September 18th, 2011

    It’s a bit eerie at Westfield Stratford, thousands of people all walking in the same direction and with the same expression on their face. ‘Day of the dead,’ says M glumly as we watch from behind the safety of our security barrier, He’s right the resemblance to zombies is undeniable, although to be fair most zombies wouldn’t be seen undead in a shell suit and many have better complexions.

  • Classic Vegetarian Cookery: Arto der Haroutanian

    Saturday September 17th, 2011

    Classic Vegetarian Cookery has been unavailable for almost 20 years, the author Arto der Haroutanian can now be seen to have been ahead of his time. An Armenian by birth he was brought up from the age of 12 in the North West of England and was a painter of international distinction, as well as the owner of a chain of hotels and restaurants where Armenian cookery featured.

  • The Fishy Fishy Cookbook: Dermot O'Leary, James Ginzler , Loz Talent, Paul Shovlin

    Saturday September 17th, 2011

    Our Dermot is not a chef himself and so apart from contributing a foreword he is absent from the pages. What you get instead is over 90 recipes for fish and shellfish that are simple to deal with, clearly laid out, photographed with clarity and explained in layman’s terms. His co-owners of the restaurant James Ginzler and Paul Shovlin do the cooking and it’s a tempting seafood platter.

  • Spread the word, nduja is still hot

    Saturday September 10th, 2011

    Nduja. It doesn’t sound very Italian does it? More like a weapon used by a Kung Fu master, some kind of thing with blades sticking out that once thrown comes back like a boomerang lopping off people’s heads.It is Italian though, Calabrian to be precise.

  • Take it slow and win up to £3,500 with Crock-Pot

    Monday September 5th, 2011

    The point of a slow cooker is twofold. Slow cooking makes cheap cuts of meat tender and slow cookers can be left pretty much to themselves all day. This means that you can come home to a hot meal with tasty aromas filling the house, and in my case back then, drowning out the aroma of Mark B’s waccy baccy, which he grew in the attic under arc lights until the police came round questioning our power consumption.

  • Brasserie Joel

    Tuesday August 23rd, 2011

    A lot of critics seem obliged to say that Brasserie Joel is a great restaurant in the wrong location. It’s the usual snobbery towards hotels in genera,l and south of the river in particular. I disagree. It’s a great restaurant that happens to be in a hotel. Full stop.

  • Waldorf Salad. Lee Streeton Executive Chef grows his own at Syon Park

    Friday August 12th, 2011

    Chef’s rubber Croc shoes seem at odds with the mud we’re tramping through, but then so are his chef’s whites. ‘I’ve got big plans,’ says Lee Streeton Executive Chef at the spanking new Syon Park Waldorf Astoria hotel while waving his arms around. ‘This land is mine!’

  • The Drift

    Thursday August 11th, 2011

    The entrance to Drift is around the side of the Heron Tower, but it’s worth going into the main reception to ‘ask directions’ just to stare in awe at the fish tank. In fact it’s not so much a tank as Europe's largest privately owned aquarium. It's so massive you expect a heavily tied up James Bond to suddenly drop into it, and then a shark to appear looking peckish.

  • Meat the experts at A La Cruz

    Monday August 1st, 2011

    A converted pub in a previously neglected backwater, A La Cruz's interior is enlivened by fancy wall art and it’s a fresh, clean place. The asador burns brightly and next to it is a barbecue of the crudest kind, its cooking grill simply raised or lowered by a chain pulley. It’s simple but it’s also an art and head Chef Adrian Cocco keeps a close eye on it, manoeuvring steaks of all shapes and sizes, as well as plump chorizos and ribs, around carefully.