It’s an impressive 100 years since Michelin first launched itself on the British public and in all that time it’s come a long way from a motorist’s guide to service stations with some helpful hints on car repair thrown in for good value.
Anticipation for Dinner grows
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is set to be one of 2011’s hottest new restaurants and after its original opening was delayed in December (thanks to the ‘mayhem’ of Christmas according to someone in the know) we are now only a matter of two weeks away from discovering whether Blumenthal’s first restaurant in London is Fat Duck or lame duck.
Guilty chocolate pleasures
There’s a lot of talk about January detox but admit it, how many of you have already fallen off the bandwagon? And even if you’re still going strong, isn’t the best part of the detox the day when you get to retox? And there’s nothing so tempting as the guilty pleasure of chocolates so that’s why Qin Xie has brought you the ultimate guide to chocolate in the next few months.
From pork to fork, Peaches pubs, butchery course
The day would one day come, I knew, when I’d be confronted with pig carcass. And that day came to pass in rural Oxfordshire this winter, and I was armed with a handsaw. I’m not vegetarian so when Peaches, the 13-strong chain of gastropubs, invited me to a butchery session at their headquarters near Bicester I reckoned it was only honest to go.
‘We’re above all that’ – the Great Galvin Giveway in London
Just because they are the highest restaurant in London, and now officially one of the best with their first Michelin Star, doesn’t mean Galvin at Windows looks down on the diner on a budget. Look at the ‘Galvin Giveaway!’restaurant manager Fred Sirieix explains to Nick Harman
New restaurant openings in 2011
Enough with 2010 already, what’s in store for 2011? We predict that the craze for burgers will finally die down and the next logical contender will step up – yes the Doner kebab. The ‘elephant’s leg’ in your local takeaway will be elevated to iconic status by the bloggerati and Twitter will be buzzing with people swapping tips on the best places get your fix.
Tricolore Takeaway
Douglas Blyde was recently whisked to a Loire so frozen that Charolais cattle couldn’t break ice to quench their thirst. Back in an equally frozen Blighty, his task, from Monnières to Mosnes is to summarise summery wines sipped in foot numbing cellars…
Nick Harman takes an alternative view of dining in 2010
‘Steak, what’s it all about eh? For me eating steak is like watching Miranda on the BBC – a large lump of meat that soon gets boring.’ Nick Harman recalls his favourite eating experiences of 2010. Not the ten best but the best fun. After all, eating out is supposed to be fun isn’t it?
Agua at Sanderson launches spa cuisine menu
Ready for your January Health drive? New Year, New You? Agua Spa at Sanderson is launching a new spa cuisine package this January where you can get a health-focused meal to complement whichever spa package you go for. Anita Pati went to try it out and found herself feeling a lot better, if still a litle hungry after
A march from Arch to Arch, the continued growth of Laithwaites wine

Alan King talks with Tony Laithwaite how his interest in wine began, the Laithwaites business and its development from modest beginnings to his becoming, other than supermarkets, the biggest sole wine merchant in the world.
