It’s been almost a year since I visited the chaotic, crazy, captivating Indian capital and I’m feeling nostalgic. Especially since the Grande Dame of Indian home cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, has just made a rare London appearance at the South Indian Literary Festival, and I wasn’t there to see her. Madhur’s autobiography,’Climbing The Mango Tree??’ is full of delectable Delhi reminiscences- home-style chicken stews, the most artisan of breads, and the snack-y treats so beloved of the diverse people of the city that never stops.
License To Swill
Bond fans the world over have found themselves trying to keep up with him ever since ordering vodka martinis as pre film drinks to get in the mood each time a new Bond feature is released. This year Barz8 Events is offering them the chance to learn to load heir own.
Seasons Eatings from Maison Blanc
Maison Blanc’s head pâtissier, Alex Gresset talks and tastes us through the upcoming Halloween and Christmas ranges of Maison Blanc patisserie. David Bullock is very impressed, and now a little fatter.
Monsoon Valley Wines
Despite the geographical improbability of the location, The Siam Winery has been seriously involved in growing vines and making a series of domestic cuvées in Thailand for some time.
School of Wok’s Sunday Feasts Supperclub Series: Darjeeling Express
Elbow room? Yes, that’s lacking. But what I’m more concerned about is just where my growing gut is going to expand to. 40 hungry diners squished into the diminutive School of Wok is all well and good, but none of us accounted for the fact Asma Khan was planning to stuff us to the very gunwales with her British-Raj themed, multi-course Indian feast.
Who put the beef in wellington – James Winter
The etymology, or origin, of recipe names is a subject no one I think has ever really gone into before. Some names we know, such as Peach Melba and Eggs Benedict, but does Chicken Kiev really come from Kiev and who was Reuben of the famous sandwich?
Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio reviewed
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.
Donald Russell Beef Moussaka
Purveyors of meat and poultry to H.M The Queen, the folks at Donald Russell have a reputation for churning out quality mail order meat boxes and speciality pre-prepared dishes so, continuing my exploratory journey down the ready meal aisle, I looked forward to trying their new beef Moussaka.
Jim Beam launches Devil’s Cut in the UK
Up until recently, a US classic, bourbon whisky, had an image problem similar to American junk food before it got trendy.It’s presumably with the youth market in mind that Jim Beam has released a new bourbon called Devil’s Cut, a play on the notion of the’angel’s share’ where some of the bourbon is lost to evaporation while ageing in the barrel.
Fratelli La Bufala, Shaftesbury Avenue, London
Italians love kids, and pregnant women apparently, so I wasn’t worried about bringing along my second and five-month-old third cousins to this busy eaterie just off Piccadilly Circus. Within a half hour of arriving the place was heaving with parents and kids, the noise levels on a par to the traffic intersection outside, however not all of it stemming from the junior patrons.