Nick Harman

It's alive! Westfield Stratford City opens for business

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Simply Red - Taking the Gastrobotanical Tomato Tour in Alicante, Spain

Big Burger at Bistro du Vin

Now people say I am a burger denier but it’s really not true, I just don’t make a fetish of them that’s all. Nothing wrong with a decent burger for lunch and it fills a hole just as it’s designed to. Bistro du Vin’s burger could fill several holes; by my handy pocket theodolite it seems to stand six inches tall

Assaggetti

It's as well that Haymarket is lined with restaurants on both sides. And what a lot of restaurants there are. Well-known chains, all catering to the Croydon crowd come up West for the night. I can slander Croydon like this because I was born and lived there until I was 16, so I know of what I slag.

Handling abundance in Chiswick

Sam Harrison is walking around a sun blasted garden in ‘leafy’ Chiswick looking like Macbeth after a particularly heavy night with the in-laws. His hands are running blood red; juice drips down his arms and gorily spatters onto the grass. He is a very happy man.

Joe's Restaurant

Joe’s sounds like a cheap cafe but with its glam interior, complete with glossy style mags to read if a table isn’t free, it’s anything but. Outside I see a Lamborghini, which has probably never ever left Zone 2, attempting to parallel park. It takes him ten attempts while taxis hoot at him derisively.

The Gascon Foie Burger - let them eat brioche

When it comes to the Foie Burger, obviously the ToL judges saw something different to me so you may well want to gamble £9.00  for yourselves. I wouldn’t recommend it though. I know Comptoir Gascon can do, and normally does do, far, far better food than this.

The Bonnie and Wild

The Bonnie and Wild is a simple idea done well – take quality and don’t muck about with it and do it all in an informal setting. This was opening night and any slight mistakes will hopefully be fixed in time for the next Saturday. Don’t forget to bring your own bottle and reservations are a must.

Give peas a chance

A pea picked from your own plot though is another matter. As long as you don’t leave them in the fridge for days then you have the only pea that’s better than a frozen one. The pods burst open with a crisp crack and a little spray of moisture hits your hands. Quickly rattle the peas out into a bowl, toss the pod into your bucket for the compost heap or for stock and sing along to your favourite tune on the radio

Tasting the Russian Standard in Vodka

You will find Russians who poopoo Russian Standard, who say its market dominance is down to many things not all of them the vodka itself. No doubt the detractors have their valid reasons, but for us in the UK this is a premium vodka that absolutly (sic) stands head and shoulders over its nearest rivals.

Cox Cookies & Cake Cookbook

With a foreword by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, this book was never going to be anything but high camp but the cakes also speak for themselves. Wondrous cupcakes such as Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with a chilli-flavoured frosting. Summer Flower Cupcakes and Orange and White Chocolate Chip Cookies are just some of the 75 recipes, on glossy black backgrounds, created by Eric Lanlard and designer Patrick Cox.

Lutyens

I’d like to see what chef David Burke can do a la carte; the constrictions of keeping to the £40 line are perhaps too much to handle given the overheads of a place like this. That said the Lutyens meal deal is a fair one, nothing stunning but perfectly ok and you get to eat in a classier place than you deserve for the money.