In-depth cookery book reviews.

Made In Taiwan by Clarissa Wei with Ivy Chen

Made In Taiwan by Clarissa Wei with Ivy Chen

“Taiwanese food, that’s basically the same as Chinese, isn’t it?” That’s the refrain I heard from quite a few people when we planned our two holidays to Taiwan. The answer is “yes and no“, but that “no” is no small thing at all. Yes, a large swathe of Taiwanese cuisine has similarity to Chinese dishes ... Read more »

Vietnamese Vegetarian: Simple Vegetarian Recipes from a Vietnamese Home Kitchen by Uyen Luu

Cover of Vietnamese Vegetarian by Uyen Luu

Vietnamese Vegetarian by Uyen Luu follows on from her two previous books Vietnamese: Simple Vietnamese Food to Cook at Home and My Vietnamese Kitchen. I looked through both of these very beautiful books when they first came out but as a vegetarian, I found that even those recipes that looked as though they might be ... Read more »

Chetna’s Indian Feasts: Everyday meals and easy entertaining by Chetna Makan

Chetna's Indian Feasts: Everyday meals and easy entertaining by Chetna Makan

Chetna Makan burst onto our screens in 2016, participating in and then winning series 5 of The Great British Bake Off. Since then she’s firmly established herself as a popular and successful food writer with a whopping 7 cookbooks under her belt and has amassed over 280,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel. Her seventh book, ... Read more »

The Indonesian Table by Petty Pandean-Elliott

The Indonesian Table by Petty Pandean-Elliott

I’m a big fan of Phaidon Press’ country-specific cookbooks. Their spring release, The Indonesian Table by Petty Pandean-Elliott is a colourful book sharing 150 recipes from across Indonesia, alongside personal recollections from her childhood and the culinary journeys she has undertaken since. As I explained in my review of Lara Lee’s Coconut & Sambal, Indonesia is ... Read more »

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen by Sharon Wee

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen by Sharon Wee

Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen is an ode to author Sharon Wee’s mother. In it she shares her memories of growing up in a Peranakan Chinese family in Singapore, and a meticulously researched collection of recipes and cooking advice learned not only in her mother’s kitchen but from older relatives and experts in the ... Read more »

Dark Rye & Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn

Dark Rye & Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn

After two books focusing on British puddings (Pride & Pudding) and baking (Oats in the North, Wheat from the South), a special interest Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook, and The National Trust Book of Puddings, Dark Rye & Honey Cake is Belgian food writer, culinary historian and photographer Regula Ysewijn’s first cookbook dedicated to ‘festival baking ... Read more »