Lunch at the Savoy Grill: I was something of a regular visitor to the Savoy Hotel before the refurbishment completed in 2010. The Savoy Grill was like a comfortable pair of expensive, traditional all leather slippers, worn down at the heel and so easy to wear that you put them on whenever you wanted to […]
Discovering Dartmouth
Dartmouth – Heaven on Earth in Devon “Ruby’s going to Heaven for her holiday” announced my young daughter, not registering my look of shocked concern. Further probing clarified that rather than departing to a celestial paradise, Ruby (our trusty motor) was hitting the highway and heading to Devon, a destination which, as I recently discovered […]
Essential Cuisine Partridge in Red Wine and Medlar Sauce
Seasonal Cooking – Partridge in Red Wine and Medlar: It’s the game season – one of my favourite times of year for food. I tend to overindulge in Game with the justification that it is healthy (naturally organic and lower in fat that farm cultivated meat and poultry) but with a genuine love for the flavours […]
The British Charcuterie Box – #Giveaway
Ross & Ross Foods – British Charcuterie Box Giveaway: Ross & Ross combine event catering and weddings with a range of deli goods, hampers and gift boxes. Their selection is fun and unusual – there are Man Boxes, Curing Kits and Foodie Hampers for example – perfect for that hard to buy for relative or […]
The Shed, Notting Hill
The Shed Restaurant Notting Hill Walk into this ‘Shed’ just a few minutes from Notting Hill tube and find a cosy restaurant with an apparently haphazard arrangement of bar and tables spread across two rooms. Our host for the evening, the charming Richard Gladwin, ushered us to what I suspect must be the best spot […]
The Wigmore – A British Tavern Revival
The Wigmore at the Langham Hotel: When someone creates what is obviously a winning formula we all wonder why it hasn’t been done sooner. Converting what was The Langham Hotel‘s spa into a traditional London tavern with a luxury accent sounded unlikely to me, but the actuality of The Wigmore is a stunning space with […]
Above & Beyond, Dinner by Heston
Dinner by Heston, Mandarin Oriental, London: There are events I dream of being invited to. Usually, those events involve food, champagne and something quite exclusive. While I might not have created the itinerary for last week’s ‘Above and Beyond’ dinner it really is the kind of golden ticket planning that makes me proud to […]
Grown-up Dining at Plum & Spilt Milk
Plum & Spilt Milk – The Best of British at London’s Gateway: As a teenager, well before the Eurostar existed, I much preferred travelling by train. The French family who used to host me every year were kind enough to help me travel from Norfolk to Chambery in Savoie that way. My own parents would […]
Tin Belly Dining at The Clarence
How to make a Yorkshireman happy – Roast Beef with all the trimmings at The Clarence: Pure serendipity provided a request to review the Tin Belly Dining Room at the Clarence coinciding with meeting an old friend who just happened to have worked a stone’s throw from the pub for the last thirty years. The […]
Market Porter
The Best British Produce from Market Porter: I was invited to a Supper-club style evening meal recently at Market Porter’s new and shiny HQ in the newly developing “Embassy Quarter” near the iconic Battersea power station building famous for its use by Pink Floyd for their album artwork for “Animals” Market Porter is a new […]