Emmi is Europe’s leading provider of premium Swiss dairy products, and has a long history of producing first-class speciality cheeses that are ideal for melting in fondue and Raclette. Both traditional dishes are experiencing a resurgence as we turn to comfort food in the colder weather. Fondue and Raclette are both made using Swiss cheeses, which have a good level of maturity and distinctive taste, and contain no additives or preservatives.
Number Twelve
The clergy and food, what is it eh? Across the world priests of all denominations have been traditionally depicted as being as well fed and corpulent as a restaurant critic. It shows in the names of dishes like the Middle Eastern Imam Bayaldi, ‘the priest fainted’; either at the deliciousness or at the thought of how much olive oil went into it. And here on Santino Busciglio’s excellent menu at Number Twelve are strozzapreti, or ‘Priest Stranglers’.
The Hat and Tun
Bang off Clerkenwell’s Hatton Gardens at the Hat and Tun (Hatton Tun – punny, no?) is Ed and Tom Martin’s latest addition to their empire, a funny cross between Victorian East End boozer and English country pub.
So we have the ubiquitous dark, wood-panelled walls hosting haphazard stuffed pheasant, wild boar and badger heads. Then – on the counter – a jar of pickled eggs, a tureen of cauliflower soup, mushy peas in a vat.
Caviar and Cigars fill luxury food boxes
Nothing pleases a foodie more than opening their door to a delivery person carrying a food hamper full of everything they love. Caviar House will design a gift box exactly to your specifications, pulling fresh from their shelves just what your loved one was dreaming about as they were writing their Christmas wish list.
Can’t be there for the holidays? Send a turkey instead
Eversfield Estate has gotten together with local Devon farms to put together Christmas hampers filled with local meat products and all the trimmings for Christmas meals. The Eversfield Deluxe Christmas hamper has enough home-produced organic meat to feed six-eight people for the entire holiday season.
Black Boy Inn combines a feast with Christmas shopping
On Wednesday, 3 December, the Black Boy Inn in Milton will offer a feast made from local produce alongside the opportunity to buy gifts directly from producers. And for this shopping trip, all under one roof, no umbrellas will be needed. The Black Boy Inn’s head chef Kevin Hodgkiss has prepared a menu using entirely local seasonal produce, including “Upton Smokeries” goose breast with berry salsa & shaken oak sweet honey mustard dressing, or “The Meat Joint” made with rosemary & redcurrant sausages. Guests will be able to try the “Country Deli” Christmas pudding or “Oxford Cheese Company” cheese board. With Homemade mince pies served with handmade Grand Marnier truffles, the dinner alone is an event not to be missed.
Holiday staff at Waterloo Brasserie are waiting to help you plan your party
Waterloo Brasserie is offering a twenty percent discount on food at any Christmas party booked from now until the end of the year. But book soon, so the dates don’t all get taken. Located on London’s South Bank, the brasserie has a range of seating options, from discrete tables for two to a large circular table for groups of up to twelve. Private events space can offer seated dining for up to sixty-five diners and will accommodate between thirty to one-hundred and ten for a drinks and canapés reception. Another option is to hire the entire restaurant for up to two-hundred and fifty people. The restaurant has an intimate bar for dancing and carries a late licence until 3am.
Henrietta Green’s Christmas book online at Foodloversbritain.com
Even though you can’t bring Henrietta Green home with you to help prepare your Christmas celebration, you can still have access to the regional food writer’s advice twenty-four-hours a day at Foodloversbritain.com. Her regular feature, the “Little Green Book” has turned into the overflowing “Big Green Christmas book.” The online resource is bubbling over with suggestions for finding everything you need for the holidays.
Let this doll mix up your drinks for you
Smirnoff is stirring up some holiday spirit with a collection of gifts to thrill the closet bartender on your gift list. Look inside a traditional Russian Matryoshka doll and usually what you’ll discover are five or more increasingly smaller wooden figurines. But take off the lid of Smirnoff’s Black Matryoshka, and your surprise is a bottle of premium vodka. The special holiday bottle container, a doll’s face painted in gold on a deep black exterior, also doubles as a cocktail shaker. Smirnoff’s Black Matryoshka is available at Selfridges and Waitrose in [Great Britain] for around £20.99.
LEON Ingredients and Recipes
This really is the funnest cookbook that has ever crossed my desk. Things suddenly pop out, charts and tables are stored in pockets, and a double page of a cupboard opens up to reveal the contents. It’s like those books we had as children, where every page was a revelation inside hard-backed covers that boasted a solidity that was reassuring and comforting.