Easy Indian Cookbook by Manju Malhi During lockdown everyone has found a different way to stay sane and keep busy. If you’re a writer like me there really has been no excuse to not get on with it. Except I’ve found that quite hard. House unusually full and busy, no ‘quiet’ moment in the day,
The Restaurant A History of Eating Out by William Sitwell Lockdown is a time for dreaming, dreaming of things past and dreaming of things to come. The world of restaurant dining seems somewhat incongruous to us at the moment in the middle of a global crisis the likes of which we have never encountered
Asparagus: Edible gold April in Europe can mean only one thing in the vegetable world, asparagus. That wonder of the chef’s table, speared, doused in butter, poached egged or just plain steamed. It is a thing of beauty and taste. Time to find out where most of our asparagus comes from and how to eat
Venice, Four Seasons of Home Cooking By Russell Norman In a market that loves books on Venice Russell Norman has produced something of a coup, a book that brings you into the world of the Venetian and how they live and eat. In this latest adventure he lives out his dream and goes ‘local’. On
Hot Pot 17 Wardour Street London W1D 6PJ Tel: 020 7287 8881 Hot Pot or to give it its original Mongolian name ‘huo guo’ is a traditional form of cooking that has been around for a 1000 years. It can now be found across Asia with regional variations. It is a simple way of
A Japanese Banquet Hampton Court Palace I had never been to a ‘washoku’ banquet before let alone at Hampton Court Palace. I was intrigued. I was the guest of The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Group and JA Group Kyoto. Washoku is a Japanese meal consisting of four elements:
Central America A New Revolution Once the hotbed of revolution and unrest the collection of seven countries that separate the Americas are experiencing something of a renaissance, a revolution in tourism if you will. Visiting three of them gave me a flavour of what’s on offer to the more adventurous visitor. I started my
Polo Bar The Westbury Hotel 37 Conduit Street Mayfair London W1S 2YF Tel: 202 7629 7755 The first glimpse of the über cool Polo Bar is just that, a glimpse. Casting my eyes through the glass beads that screen the bar from Conduit Street all I could manage to see were some blurred shadows
Wagyu Beef The King of Meats Wagyu or Wa Gyu which, translated means Japanese Cattle is a supreme form of beef. There are imitators and cross breads but only the real thing comes from Japan. Strict breeding protocols and high levels of welfare are part of the story that makes Wagyu such a tremendous
The West Coast of Finland & The Midnight Sun I’m going to take the rather unusual step of starting this travel piece with a recipe for what I think is the best blueberry pie I have ever tasted. Read on to find our where I tried it, maybe you’ll have a
Divine Chocolate I had quite a bit of fun recently when I attended a chocolate making lesson at one of Divine’s pop up shops in Covent Garden. In conjunction with Fairtrade, Divine has forged links with farmers in Ghana to harvest and produce chocolate for them. And what a great job they are
Tozini cooking Lessons Tozi Restaurant 8 Gillingham Street London SW1V 1HJ Tel: 020 7769 9771 The Victoria based Italian restaurant Tozi has come up with a great idea to keep your kids busy during the school holidays. Maurilio Molteni the talented head chef will be holding cooking lessons teaching your children how to cook
The Fine Art of Tea Tasting For the English tea is part of our psyche. We have been drinking it since 17th century but the Chinese were using as a medicine long before that. The tea plant or Camellia Sinensis to give its proper name is versatile and enjoys many climates. The main producers
Chocolate evening at Sartoria & Willie’s Cacao Chocolate 20 Savile Row London W1S 3PR Tel: 020 7534 7000 I believe that most people love chocolate, we reward ourselves with bars of it, we pass them round boxes of them at dinner parties and come Christmas there are coins made of it.
The Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs By Ivor Peters Ivor Peters, know as the ‘Urban Rajah’ describes himself as a food author, cook, traveller and lifestyle adventurer. His childhood in 70’s Britain was full of fish fingers and baked beans mixed with traditional Indian food kept alive by his family. He has assembled a charming