In celebration of Chocolate Week, 11th-17th October, The Botanist on Sloane Square are offering a limited edition luxury Chocolate Afternoon Tea.
New Autumn menu at Brasserie Joël
Famed for his classic bistro dishes combining seasonal ingredients with the expertise he’s gained from 30 years of working in the best kitchens in the world, Joël Antunes has devised a new Autumn menu at Brasserie Joël.
Game to eat at The Fire Stables, Wimbledon
The blue lights flashing through the Fire Stables in Wimbledon Village from the Paramedic car parked outside are too little, too late. The dead bodies lined up on the table are beyond help; they won’t be flying again.
The Wine Opus
While you can’t exactly take this book with you to the wine shop, unless you have a small trolley handy, its perfect for reading at home with a glass of something special at your side. It would make an especially good Xmas present, although it might give Santa a hernia.
Canadian ingredients at L’Atelier Des Chefs in London
We’d come to L’Atelier des Chefs cookery school to learn about Canadian ingredients hosted by the Canadian Tourism Commission. And despite the Canadian chat about syrups of birch and maple, berries of cloud and lingon, almost every attendee was neck-craning for the fiddlehead ferns.
Pony Tail
‘It’s probably not going to make me a millionaire,’ said Shabani as the barman charged our glasses for the third time before we decamped to another Mayfair stockist. ‘In fact it’s going to take three years to break even,’ he added. Douglas Blyde hears a tail of Konik’s Vodka.
Camino, Puerto Del Canario has a media party
Together with some 30 media colleagues, I arrived at Hays Galleria – by London Bridge – with a view to hitching a ride on the ‘sherry ferry’ to Canary Wharf pier. This trip had been arranged so that Richard Bigg could introduce us to his latest bar/restaurant, Camino Puerto Del Canario. Camino, Puerto Del Canarion really should be experienced, try getting there on the ferry, it’s very relaxing.
Minako at the Hilton Metropole launches
Sitting on the top floor of the Hilton Metropole in Edgware Road, Minako occupies a space that many restaurateurs would kill for. Facing south you have views across Hyde Park and for many miles beyond, it’s like a huge chunk of the London A to Z is set out before you.
The Scandinavian Cookbook – Trina Hahnemann
For many, the clichéd aspects of Scandinavian cooking (dumplings, lingonberry jam, pickled everything and the ubiquitous meatball) can be as cloying as my grandmother’s chintzy tapestry cushions and scatterings of nick-nacks, but here Hahnemann uses a much lighter touch. Arranged seasonally, this book takes a temporally sensitive approach to both produce and preparation…
English Apple season launches
I was invited to attend a Dinner to mark the launch of the English apple season on the 29th September at ‘The Deck’, a great venue which sits on top of the National Theatre and has stunning views of some of London’s most iconic buildings. I was also inspired to urge you all to seek out and buy English apples while they are available, which I do, wholeheartedly.