I’m sitting in Le Café Anglais with five rather nice dishes in front of me. Also in front of me are two PR ladies and the man who cooked the dishes, Rowley Leigh the chef/owner. If anything is guaranteed to cause indigestion then it’s this, I feel like a retarded lab monkey under their unblinking gaze, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re the only hack to turn up to an event.
Angela Malik’s Alternative Apple Crumble
Leiths graduate, Angela Malik worked at Bidendum and Vong. Recently launched, her eponymous, Acton-based cookery school focuses on Asian cuisine via the prism of the five taste sensations – hot, sweet, salty, sour and umami.
Asian Dinner Club at the Bedford & Strand – matching wine, cheese and the sexes
Set up by enterprising mother of two Salima Manji, the Asian Dinner Club aims to get professional single Asians together over food and wine. Anita Pati finds though that she’s the only one actually eating as the high-flyers are networking too hard. All the more tasty cheese for her, then.
Paradise by way of Kensal Green introduce the’Paradise Boot Camp’
This January work off your Christmas weight gain at the newly introduced Paradise Boot Camp. Every Saturday morning throughout January, popular west London gastropub Paradise will host a series of personal training sessions with leading experts in heath and fitnes. Click here to see some detoxing cocktails too
Tea Total
Amidst service bells and cake carousels, we share a brew with The Lanesborough Hotel’s ‘Tea Sommelier’, Karl Kessab.
The American way -Saltine Crackers and Rye Cheese Twigs
Carol Egbert paints and cooks in the Vermont village of Quechee and posts on her website www.carolegbert.com. She will be sending us a fresh recipe once a month. Her dishes are simple to make, family friendly, tasty and often inspired by food from nearby farms and markets. Cakes and bakes feature strongly, food that make a kitchenwarm and a home even warmer.
Praise the Pig – A love letter from Spain
Annie Manson lives and works in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, where she runs bespoke cookery classes in the heart of this historic Andalucian whitewashed village. Along with a sprinkling of sherry, topped up with fabulous Spanish wines, she ensures guests will head home inspired to bring Andalucian sunshine into their kitchens. Find out more at www.anniebsspanishkitchen.com
Head to Hove for New Year’s Eve
One of our favourite restaurants in Sussex is decadently auguring in the new decade.
Sweet thrill: new Harveys tipple has the px-factor
Short of Christmas gift ideas and running out of time to find a present with the X-factor? Treat the gastronome in your family to the ultimate gourmet indulgence – a bottle of Harveys Pedro Ximénez, made exclusively from sun-drenched Spanish PX grapes. Smooth and velvety, this delectable dark mahogany-coloured dessert wine is bursting with aromas of raisins and dried figs.
Songs of Sapa – Stories and Recipes from Vietnam. Luke Nguyen
What, you might reasonably ask, is a Sapa? Is it a person, a place or a planet in a galaxy far, far away? It is in fact a town and district in northwest Vietnam and the homeland of Luke Nguyen the award-winning chef and owner of the Red Lantern restaurant in Surry Hills, Sydney. Well known across Oz as a ‘TV chef’ Luke is fascinated by his Vietnamese homeland and, speaking the language, is able to find and enjoy the best places to eat in this wonderful, and still to most westerners, mysterious land.