A crowd has gathered in the upstairs room of the Hinds Head pub in Bray on Thames for the launch of a new cookery book. Many of the assembled have probably never heard of the author and have been lured to the event by the promised attendance of Heston Blumenthal, Andy Lynes included
Cranberry and Red Onion Toasts with Goat’s Cheese and Parma Ham
Everyone needs a quick culinary trick up their sleeve, here is yours! Rustled up in minutes, these posh little snacks or starters never fail to impress
Roking up to Canary Wharf – ROKA
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)