Bulgogi is thinly sliced meat (usually beef and sometimes pork) marinated in simple sauce made using just a few ingredients. Then after a few hours of marination, the meat is ready to be fired up on the barbecue and this is really where the flavours become smoky and sweet and make the classic Bulgogi.
Hix Soho, London
What is it with the bloody front door at Hix Soho? Every time I go there I have to fight the thing to get in. I’m not alone either, I often go past the place and see would be punters shoulder-charging the door and bouncing off again. No visible handle and some kind of damper system seems to be the problem, but that’s what you get when you take over an old Japanese place I suppose. Inscrutable technology.
Russian Standard Gold vodka, now available in the UK
Russian Standard Gold is Distilled from, what we are told is the finest Russian winter wheat from the southern steppes of Russia and blended with the glacial waters from Lake Ladoga, incorporating Siberian golden roots to provide its soft taste.
700 years of Armagnac
You would think that an invitation to attend an event to celebrate 700 years of Armagnac, to learn about its development and production and of course, to sample the wares of the different producers of this French spirit would be something to leap at. Indeed, I did leap at the opportunity and when it got to the tasting part of the afternoon began to remember why I quite often avoid such events……
Guest Chefs Announced for Grand Designs Live, London 2010
John Burton-Race, Martin Blunos, Nancy Lam, Jun Tanaka and Ian Pengelley are among the celebrity chefs who have recently been unveiled as the individuals charged with the task of turning up the heat in the Live Kitchen Experience at Grand Designs Live 2010, from 1st- 9th May at ExCeL London.
Coming events – round up for the week of 17 April
Here are some of the things happening in this coming week for your delectation and amusement. Special celebratory menus and camp entertainment are the order of the week.
Texture, London
The menu is largely straightforward and unpretentious and each dish takes a handful of great ingredients and fuses them together to make something uncomplicated, unfussy but utterly delicious. These are just the kind of things that illustrate exactly why Texture were one of just six restaurants to be awarded a Michelin star this year and deservedly so.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume Two – Julia Child with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck
The reissued volume 2 of Julia Child’s seminal work Mastering the Art of French Cooking is now out and shows yet again how a cookbook should be written. A work of luminous writing, compassion, pedagogy and superb classic recipes made possible for any cook who wants to learn and knows how to read.
Openings in May
May sees three new eateries opening for Londoners and those a little to the west to look forward to, Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on 6 May The Sanctum on the Green Restaurant and Bar opens mid_May and The Tommyfield in Kennington, from the Renaissance gastro pub group, later in the month.
The Cat’s whiskers. Monty Bojangles new sweets
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you probably already worship at the Gucci-slippered paws of Monty Bojangles. Well to add to his range, the feline fatty has brought out a range of all-natural retro sweets to feed the nostalgic schoolboy in all of us. Cola Cubes, Aniseed Balls, Sherbet Pips, Rhubarb & Custard, Pineapple Cubes, Lemon Sherbets and even White Mice.