Ignoring the nasty, cheap stuff of the bottom shelf and sidestepping the highly priced aristocrats, we’ve taken a look at what’s currently available from good quality producers at a reasonable price.
The Stack at Malmaison
The core flavour of The Stack emanates from the juicy inch-thick patty. The beef is aged for 28 days, ground and seasoned: simple, unfussy, delicious . The sweet cured bacon is of an exceptional quality and nutty notes in the gruyère give a sophisticated complex edge. The onion rings snap and crunch as they should and the bun gift wraps the savoury contents in a semi-sweet parcel.
Angela Hartnett gets into truffle
Angela Hartnett launches the first of the Fortnum & Mason Chef’s Dinners series on 21st November with a seasonal White Truffle Dinner in The Fountain restaurant. Fortnum & Mason Chef’s Dinners will be regular events in The Fountain restaurant to highlight the very best Chefs in the UK cooking with the very best seasonal produce.
Mui Choy Kong Bak
Pork belly. Braised with garlic and preserved mustard greens overnight with a small bunch of dried chilli just for a little baby kick in the back of the throat. The fat and the meat took on all the flavours from the braising liquid and melted in the mouth from hours of braising.
Food writing course- the perfect Xmas pressie?
Blogging means that anyone can write about food. But how do you go about it? What are the tricks of the trade? And what do you do when you upset a 2 star chef with your opinions on his cooking and he comes after you on Twitter with a virtual cleaver?
Satsuma Japanese Restaurant
Once populated with space-age orange booths, management decided to over haul the space yet again with the more mingle-friendly seating plan of community tables. So now, along with the help of the floor length front window, it’s easier than ever to see and be seen at the Soho venue.
Dining in the dark in Clerkenwell
There are restaurants that serve memorable food and there are restaurants that provide a memorable experience. Dans Le Noir does both of these and to round things off, a marriage proposal!
The World Food Awards 2012
I’m sitting spinning a lazy Susan laden with bowls of Madhu’s finest curries, chewing my shami kebab in time to the still-sprightly vocal stylings of Carl Douglas. Yes, the celebrated one-hit wonder behind’Kung-Fu Fighting’. Surreal- even more so when Levi Roots bursts into’The Reggae Reggae Sauce Song’ ahead of handing Jose Pizarro the award for Restaurant of the Year for Pizarro’s. Welcome to the World Food Awards.
Monday Supperclubs at Roti Chai
‘This one will get you in a sweet mood’, Hindustani saxophonist Jesse Bannister assures. Good- I need a dose of sugar after a slurp of the companion’s exceptionally tart Nimbu Sour, seasoned liberally with black salt. Yum, yum, and thrice yum. Coupled with the chaat masala-sprinkled plaintain chips, it makes for a very merry welcome to Roti Chai’s weekly Monday supperclub.
Pitt Cue, Soho
Restaurants like Pitt Cue with their finger food, mess, and loud simple flavours are all fighting for a slice of the under 30 demographic pie but it’s a relatively small and fickle pie, always restlessly moving on to the next big food thing. Pitt Cue certainly do what they do pretty well, but is that enough to build a long-term business in a building? They could well be back on the road this time next year and that is where, I think, this kind of food works best and where it really belongs.