I love autumn – the early half, when the leaves on the trees create a riot of my favourite colours and there is still a good chance of sunny days that are chilly but not freezing cold. And it’s apple season too. As I discovered recently, the apple isn’t a native fruit, but it’s become ... Read more »
The Courtesan Dim Sum Restaurant & Bar, Brixton
On a Saturday lunchtime, as I make my way from tube station to The Courtesan restaurant, Brixton is buzzing. I love walking down the long curve of Atlantic Road, peering at all the fish mongers, butchers and grocers, particularly fascinated by the number of items on sale that I don’t recognise and can’t identify. Only ... Read more »
Omar Allibhoy’s Tapas Revolution Restaurants, London
I’ll be telling you all about Omar Allibhoy – the wonderfully talented chef behind Tapas Revolution – in an upcoming post (and reviewing his recently launched cookery book too). But in the meantime, let me urge you to visit one of his two restaurants; you won’t regret it! There you can fill up on dish ... Read more »
Spalding’s Feast to the Future, for Miele
To celebrate their fiftieth year in the UK, kitchen appliances brand Miele commissioned a trend forecasting agency Trendstop, to predict what technology we might be using in the production and cooking of our food and drink, another fifty years in the future. Trendstop CEO Jaana Jatyri handed over a report with a list of suggestions ... Read more »
Chipotle Mexican Grill, London
In just 20 years, American restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill has grown from a single store in Denver, Colorado to a cross-country and international chain of over 1500 stores. Founder and CEO Steve Ells spent some time in San Francisco (working at the highly respected Stars restaurant), during which he came to love the little ... Read more »
Quick Brunch: Bacon Baked Eggs
Like many of you, I pick up ideas from other blogs, TV and Pinterest all the time. It’s wonderful to have so many sources of inspiration! The idea of forming bacon into little cups in which to bake eggs is one I’ve encountered so often I can no longer recall where I saw it first ... Read more »
Allotment Pickings: Pickled Beetroot
As usual, time ran away with us down at the allotment and the thickly sown rows of beetroot never did get thinned out or weeded. That resulted in a harvest of lots of teeny tiny beetroots which we were determined to use, as they were our very first home-grown. Pete roasted them in their skins ... Read more »
Japanese Grandpa’s Sushi-no-Mai, Watford Market
For 7 months this year, I was working a contract in central Watford. Since I last worked for the same client a couple of years ago, their business has expanded quite a bit and staff are now split across three different buildings along the same road; meaning I was no longer 30 seconds away from ... Read more »
The Soldiers’ Charity: Big Curry Lunch
It’s been a long time since we had a war that really touched ordinary Brits; a war that threatened us on our home ground. More than 60 years, in fact. So perhaps it’s easier now than it was back then for people to feel disconnected to our armed forces; out of sight is out of ... Read more »