Since ZUMA’s launch in 2002, the London born ZUMA and ROKA restaurants have been expanding to international locations – Hong Kong, Istanbul, Dubai, Arizona and now, the latest ROKA is opening back home in London’s Canary Wharf late October 2009.
Canteen Baker Street
The suffix Canteen never boded well for meal prospects: School Canteen, Staff Canteen, Office Canteen, you knew it meant grisly grey dishes of indeterminate meat served by a woman in a tabard, probably with a cigarette dangling from her lips. In this Canteen,they could do with a bit of a tighten up in the kitchen, particularly by whoever is on the chip station, but they have the right work ethic.
The Meat & Wine Co celebrates its first’birthday’ with celebrity charity event.
To celebrate its first anniversary, on Tuesday 29 October, The Meat & Wine Co will host a celebrity event in aid of its adopted charity, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, a brilliant cause that does much to empower children and young people from impoverished backgrounds.
Harrods now has a Spanish Accent
Some people are seduced by Selfridges, others bang on about Borough Market, but for me there is only the corner shop in Knightsbridge when it comes to food heaven on earth. Right now the focus is on Spain both in the Food Hall and in the restaurant.
Ferran Adria: Will you still love a man out of time?
Ferran Adria was in town last week. The legendary chef/patron of the World’s Best Restaurant El Bulli took part in a live Q&A session in front of his adoring fans. It turned out to be one long answer though as the Master held forth non-stop and at length. Andy Lynes bravely had his hair blown back by the word blast and reports on it all here
Everyday Harumi – Harumi Kurihara
The manageress at one of London’s finest Japanese restaurants, if not the finest, told me that when Harumi Kurihara came to eat there one day the hardened, perfectionist uber chefs in the kitchen queued up to be presented. She is Japan’s most popular cookery writer and most of the staff had got the chef bug from reading Harumi’s books when they were younger.
Ondine Edinburgh
Douglas Blyde last saw Edinburgh’s ‘Ondine’ restaurant as a building site. Two months on, he returns to test-dine the finished product and is enthusiastic about this glamorous seafood restaurant and what is arguably ‘Edinburgh’s opening of the year’.
Woman of the year –
Responsible for introducing Pesto to our nation’s supermarket shelves, Managing Director of Sacla UK Clare Blampied has built Sacla UK into a £30 million plus business empire.Sabrina Ghayour manages to steal a little chunk of time with one of the most remarkable women in the UK food industry and we find out what motivates and makes her tick… (apart from Pesto, of course)
Catalan Seafood Stew
As Mussels are best at this time, I wanted to bring you a lovely dish from Spain that has all the warmth and vibrancy of summer with bags of flavour and an abundance of seafood which always reminds me on being on holiday. As the weather gets colder and greyer, this is just the type of dish that gives me the much-needed ‘sunshine’ to get me through the week.
Delia Smith – Delia’s Happy Christmas
The truth is Delia is old-school, bordering on a tad fuddy-duddy, so if it’s innovative culinary inspiration that you are after, then there is not much here for you. But, if along with the rest of the nation, you are yearning to go ‘back to basics’ and embrace tradition, old favourites and timeless classics, then this is most definitely a book for you and the whole family.