Pete and I were recently invited to Dublin by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, to attend Bloom 2012. A bustling gardening and food show held in Dublin’s enormous Phoenix Park, Bloom is now in its 6th year and we quickly understood why it’s become so popular. My biggest criticism of RHS Chelsea, which I ... Read more »
Since our weekend in Amsterdam a couple of months ago, I’ve shared a comprehensive list of Amsterdam food specialities and my recommendations on where to find great coffee, cakes and snacks. In this post, I want to share a few tips on restaurants and bars: Getto (Burgers & Bar) Brouwerij ‘t IJ (Brewery Bar) Lab ... Read more »
Pete and I recently enjoyed a short break in Amsterdam. Eschewing all the normal tourist attractions, we spent all our waking hours eating and drinking our way around the city. I’ve already written about food specialities to look out for in Amsterdam. In this post, I’ll share places we stopped for coffee, cakes and snacks ... Read more »
There is much good eating to be found in Amsterdam, including a wide range of Dutch food specialities and favourites that are well worth seeking out. Appeltaart Apple pie, cake or tart is popular in the Netherlands, and in Amsterdam we often saw an enormous apple pie, under its protective glass dome, atop many a ... Read more »
As you might expect from a modern hotel sited in such an expansive historical estate, the Waldorf Astoria London Syon Park is subtly themed to bring the outdoors inside and to help guests enjoy the peace and quiet of its serene, natural setting. On a recent late autumn visit, we found it the perfect venue ... Read more »
We packed a lot of excellent eating into our short trip to Parma, where we discovered the origin of Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Masticabrodo Situated in Pilastro, a small rural village about 15 kilometres from the centre of Parma, is a small trattoria-osteria called Masticabrodo. The village is virtually in the shadow of the ... Read more »
When invited by Bath Tourism Plus to spend a day in Bath, taking our advice on what to visit from twitter, Pete and I jumped at the chance. We started asking for suggestions in the run up to our visit and by the day itself, the advice was flowing in at a great rate. Both ... Read more »
In a recent post about Parma ham, I explained about my invitation to learn more about the production of two of Parma’s most famous products – the ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano, parmesan cheese. You can read a little more about what it means to have a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status, in that previous post. ... Read more »
A few weeks ago, I was invited to Parma by Discover the Origin, to learn more about the production of two of Parma’s most famous products – Parma ham and parmesan cheese, known locally as prosciutto de Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Both have PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status, which means that only products made in ... Read more »
There’s something deeply satisfying about making a meal of ingredients foraged directly from the earth, not by some faceless stranger who’s sold his lucrative hedgerow hoard to a restaurant chef, but by your own hands. Common mallow Of course, there’s the thrifty delight in a free meal. £3 for a bundle of asparagus or marsh ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]