Pan Seared Valentine’s Steak with a Vanilla Peppercorn Sauce and Vanilla Panacotta with Valentine’s Berries. Sourced from the vanilla orchid, vanilla has been regarded as an aphrodisiac since the time of the Aztecs, while in the 1800s Dr John King advised in the American Dispensatory that one should use vanilla to “stimulate the sexual propensities”.
Gaucho City – a very hot Valentine’s meal
Gaucho, the steak place that was there before most other steak places, have created a special hot menu for Valentine’s day at Gaucho City that won’t cause any embarrassment later. Hot but not spicy it gives a warm romantic glow without the usual after effects How do I know? Well I got a preview.
Waipara West 2014
There must be something special about this site because every Waipara West wine that I’ve tasted has been memorable for all the right reasons; and the wines are numerous.
Review of Poppies fish and chip shop
‘Where’s there a bloody good chip shop?’ is a question probably not asked often enough; if you’ve ever read anything about fish and chips, you will of course be aware that the unequivocally beige meal is’the nation’s favourite dish’, despite the fact that most chip shops are rubbish.
Geales fish restaurant Chelsea
Definitely the kind of place we’d all like to have in our neighbourhood, Geales is no fish out of water in Chelsea.
Kanteen – K West Spa
I realise it doesn’t sound like a ground-breaking menu and the hardcore Come Dine With Me lovers will scoff and demand much more flamboyance, but that’s not the point of coming to Kanteen. If you want something bland from a brand and covet sitting in a huge fishbowl so everyone can see you eat, go to Westfield.
Almond Bar- 100 Syrian recipes
Syrians believe you should never eat alone and there is, Salloum says, good natured rivalry between household chefs to put on a great show. It’s from those women; the kitchen was almost entirely a female domain in her youth, that she learnt her skills and recipes.
Celebrity Cruises of the Ben Fogle variety
The Fogle’s got a new role as “Destination Expert†with Celebrity Cruises, creating a series of shore excursion programmes that I would have enjoyed more than nutmegging Gordon Banks or waiting in the Pompeii gift shop for the bus back to the boat.
Benugo Bar & Kitchen
Down by the river and and central as South-central gets, Poppy Laking goes to the movies but eats dinner instead.
Paul A Young’s Valentine’s chocolate collection
A new Paul A Young collection is always cause for celebration. Apt, then the first truffle I pluck from this lovely Valentine’s lot is a’Champagne cocktail’.