Paul Ruel

  • OXO French Press on test. The cafetiere comes of age?

    Tuesday December 18th, 2012

    Sick of coffee grounds dotting your sink? Then the OXO Goodgrips cafetiere has the answer with a clever update to a classic piece of kitchen kit

  • A very Mexy Christmas

    Tuesday December 11th, 2012

    Tequila.the old Mexican mother’s ruin, is now a drink of flavour and palatability. We’ve already looked at Olmeca Altos tequila and now it’s Herradura’s turn to come under the bar spotlight.

  • Olmeca Altos - a tequila too good to slam

    Wednesday October 24th, 2012

    Olmeca Altos is a relatively new tequila (2009) but it has the gravitas and style of a much older hombre. ‘Altos' refers to the highlands of the tequila-producing region  of Jalisco, Mexico, where the best 100% agave tequilas are created and the blue agave used is hand picked. Here too the soil is unique, giving the tequilas made here a ‘terroir’ tast

  • London Bridge Hotel

    Monday October 22nd, 2012

    The London Bridge hotel is at the foot of the Shard. Paul Ruel looks it up and stays the night

  • Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio reviewed

    Thursday October 11th, 2012

    The 2012 Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio has new features and refinements to add to the experience and the flavour. Just as before it’s rather cute and stylish and takes up almost no room on a worktop; the base occupies a space less than a foot square, which is about 30cm if you insist on surrendering to the tyranny of Brussels. And it makes a decent cup of Joe too.

  • Salt Sugar Smoke: The Definitive Guide to Conserving, from Jams and Jellies to Smoking and Curing- Diana Henry

    Thursday September 6th, 2012

    We should preserve the art of preserving, it’s satisfying and it gives you tastes you just can’t get in the shops or get as good. I’m off to pickle some allotment tomatoes now and on Boxing Day I’ll crack the first one open to go with my cold turkey. The best things come to those who wait.

  • Everybody Everyday - Alex Mackay

    Thursday June 21st, 2012

    Everybody Everyday (Bloomsbury) is one of those rare cookbooks, one that doesn’t stint on mouthwatering photography but which doesn’t let you down with poorly explained, badly edited copy either. Nor does Alex waste our time with whimsical guff about food discoveries and food stories. He has a job to do and he gets on with it very well.

  • Top 3 Hotel Destinations for Food Lovers

    Thursday May 31st, 2012

    With the help of experienced luxury holiday hotel experts Exsus luxury holidays we’ve put together some favourite destinations for fine food at hotels both in and outside of Europe, ones that you should put on your foodie radar this summer.

  • Burgen discovers the chia seed

    Friday May 4th, 2012

    The newest Burgen loaf is a textural feast. The flavour is mild, but the seeds give it a heartier feel and make it perfect for sandwiches and toasted with soup.

  • Grow your own with ALLOTINABOX®

    Saturday April 28th, 2012

    Allotinabox kits contain all that you need to start growing your own vegetables and herbs anywhere, from a window sill in the city to a vegetable patch in the countryside.

  • Veggie burgers every which way- Lukas Volger

    Friday April 6th, 2012

    Between the toasted halves of this book you'll find recipes, packed with flavour and light on the stomach. Sweetcorn ‘burgers’ with sun dried tomatoes and goat’s cheese, Chipotle Chilli black bean ‘burgers’, red lentil and celeriac ‘burgers’, Sweet potato ‘burgers’ with lentils and kale and of course falafel ‘burgers’.

  • Hyatt Regency London Tapas and very tasty Riojas at the Chef's Table

    Monday March 5th, 2012

    The menu pairs the “La Rioja” region wines of Bodegas LAN, from the flagship Vina Lanciano Reserva to the recent high-end Lan Edicion Limitada, Bodegas LAN using its blended oak barrels technique  - mixed wood barrels with staves of American oak and heads of French oak - with a five-course family-style variety of traditional Spanish tapas and main dishes.

  • Simply Good Pasta by Peter Sidwell

    Friday March 2nd, 2012

    The book is set out by seasons, which is always helpful and encourages the reader to use what’s in the shops and cheap.  A dish of Spring cabbage and pancetta is simplicity itself and you know it can’t go wrong. His idea of using up spare cooked pasta in a frittata is an odd one, but probably worth a try, while baby spinach, pasta and smoked salmon is nought to plate in about ten minutes.

  • Say cheese and get it online with Farmison.com

    Friday December 16th, 2011

    Drop down menus let you narrow down cheese choice by country, hard or soft, type of milk, pasteurised or unpasteurised and then you’re off. We bagged some Berkswell, a Blarliath Smoked, a Blue Stilton (as it’s Xmas), a large Cromarty, a Pecorino and some Ragstone. Portion size of the cheese varies with the type but it’s invariably generous.

  • Chop'd at Boxpark

    Friday December 2nd, 2011

    The site of the new Boxpark ‘pop up’ shopping mall smells of freshly sawn wood and recently applied paint. But it’s a good smell. New, exciting and full of potential. And while these shops don’t have any windows, they do have a positive recession-bucking outlook selling unusual, interesting things and offering some food outlets too. We try Chop'd

  • Mongoose Beer, your new favourite curry house drink?

    Thursday November 24th, 2011

    If you remember your Jungle Book, the film or the book, you’ll recall that the only creature brave enough and tough enough to take on the fearsome Cobra was the mighty Mongoose. So it’s a cheeky bit of branding for Wells & Young to call their new beer, one aimed at the curry loving market, Mongoose beer. They clearly have their sites set on the big snake of curry house lager

  • Kikkoman's Soy sauce. Don’t save it for stir-fries

    Wednesday November 23rd, 2011

    ‘I use it in bolognaise sauce,’ says Silvena Rowe, her trademark hair for once not in rapid motion around the kitchen of the May Fair Hotel where she’s head chef. She’s taking five minutes out to tell us how she used Kikkoman’s Soy Sauce in the dishes just served us to add salt, umami and the delicious vibrancy good soy brings.

  • The Meat Free Monday Cookbook

    Friday November 11th, 2011

    The Meat Free Monday Campaign was launched in 2009 and has grown as more people discover the benefit of taking a day off from meat – health wise and budget wise too. It’s also sensible as most people will balk at the idea of going totally cold turkey on meat, but once a week is do-able given the right incentives.

  • Your new daily bread? Crosta & Mollica on taste test

    Monday October 24th, 2011

    A range of Italian breads made with love and the best flour are now available in Waitrose. We got out the bread knife and got down to business.

  • MasterChef Kitchen Bible

    Saturday October 22nd, 2011

    This is a good book if not The Good Book. Everything you need to bring your cooking up to a higher level. A practical book to help you feel that, actually, cooking needn’t get tougher than this and it’s well worth the investment.