Losing its Michelin star this year will not deter Roussillon, say the staff of the genteel French Chelsea restaurant. They’re hoping fresh blood and head chef Dan Gill will win it back. The twelve-year-old menu is apparently a stalwart with vegephiles and it’s certainly rare to find such a thing in restaurants.
Baking bread with Spelt from Mulberry owner Roger Saul’s Sharpham Park Mill
He may not sound like the obvious choice for expounding the virtues of the most recent super-grain to hit the mainstream, but Roger Saul, founder of handbag brand Mulberry, couldn’t be better qualified.
Boundary Restaurant, Shoreditch
There’s a fine line, a boundary if you like, between cool and kitsch and in Shoreditch that line is a tightrope. Terence Conran’s Boundary escapes the issue by almost ignoring the Shoreditch vibe altogether. Rather than try and dance with the young ‘uns, TC has created a place that is all him and nothing else.
Butchery in the city
With news of the fourth National Butcher’s Week (13-20th March) arriving in Qin Xie’s Inbox, she had an epiphany. She should, and need to, learn about those cuts of meat by exploring some of the best butchery classes right on her doorstep. After one or two train/tube/bus rides, that is.
Hooray for the Upper Glasses
Traiteur and chef Franck Pontais won last year’s UK Iron Chef contest, although presumably not with verrines which are not exactly hunky He loves verrines, he even has a book about them, and has popped up with his pop-up Glass Kitchen, as part of Harvey Nicks Taste Lab project.
The Great British Food Revival or Dead Air Time?
The latest episode in a show that attempts to resuscitate the lacklustre British palate started with restaurateur and part-time Frenchman Michel Roux exclaiming: ‘I’m Michel Roux and I’m passionate about bread.” From these unpromising beginnings you wonder how Roux is going to make a 30 min programme on bread interesting, and to give him credit, he tries.
Chilango!
This busy eat in/takeaway café on Fleet Street belongs to a small chain of four regional restaurants serving up a tasty range of the best Mexican street food. There aren’t many places in the UK where real Mexican food joints like this can be found. Everything is freshly prepared in front of the customers and the chefs are consistently grilling and chopping away in the open view kitchen.
A Flare for Food
‘I just sort of got fed up with fiddly food,’ he says leading us up the stairs to his first floor kitchen. ‘I wanted to get back to simple, fun food.’ As well as the Chicken Kiev, whose origin is as much a mystery as what goes into the hideous things that call themselves Kievs in the supermarket, he does Gala pies and Arctic Rolls too, all things that appeal to the 70’s schoolboy in us all.
The Modern Pantry Pops Up at Meza in London’s Soho
The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell is known for its unique fusion of New Zealand cuisine with a Danish influence brought together by chef Anna Hansen. This spring, for a limited period, Anna Hansen will be transporting her eclectic menu from The Modern Pantry to Soho.
Digital dining in the dark at The Ubiquitous Chip
Caroline Sargent tries eating in 3D at The Ubiquitous Chip in Glasgow. All thoughts of deep-fried Mars bars are put aside as she discovers an experience in art and taste unique in the UK