A Savoy Inspired Menu To Savour Duchy, in Shoreditch, takes its name from the Duchy of Savoy, a historic territory straddling French departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie and parts of Piedmont and Switzerland. The menu draws on flavours from these Alpine and northern Italian regions. In common with its aristocratic namesake, the 40 seater restaurant […]
French Date Night – A Valentine’s Menu
Avoid “une loterie d’amour” with our French Date Night Menu There’s nothing more romantic than zipping over to Paris on the Eurostar for a Valentine’s date with your significant other. But we can’t do that at the moment… Putain! So on February 14th, we will all be downing a couple of Valium, searching for our […]
Chicken in Red Wine – Coq au Vin from Raymond Blanc
Classic Chicken in Red Wine or Coq au Vin paired with Moon Wine! For years I’ve made Chicken in Red Wine, Coq au Vin, using the recipe Elizabeth David called Coq au Vin de Bourgogne and the second of her two recommended methods. I generally drink French wine with it though not necessarily the Burgundy […]
Lady of the Grapes Wine Bar – Review
Meeting the Lady of the Grapes in Covent Garden. Tucked away on Maiden Lane, almost opposite Rules, is a charming new(ish) wine bar with a focus on female winemakers. Lady of the Grapes is the brainchild of Parisienne, Carole Bryon, who set the place up to help redress an inherent male balance in the wine […]
The Perfect Tarte Tatin – and the cheat recipe!
Professional Tarte Tatin from Galvin Brothers vs the cheat version: Earlier this year I was invited to take part in a competition to make the perfect Tarte Tatin. Unfortunately, I was in France at the time, but one of my friends did take part – and amazingly, he won! Ed Benson (who I’ve known for […]
The Ivy Cafe, Wimbledon
The Perfect Bistro in Wimbledon – The Ivy Cafe: Wimbledon Village is charming, chic and can be a little expensive. I have no problem at all with pricey restaurant menus if the quality of the food warrants the cost to the consumer. But, in those ever-so chi-chi parts of London like Wimbledon, it’s easy to […]
Gratin Dauphinois with the Panasonic CS-894 steam microwave
Simple and Quick Gratin Dauphinois Recipe: The Panasonic CS-894 steam microwave has so many more features than a conventional microwave. It really does speed up the cooking process even with dishes that you might normally expect to need hours in the oven. This year, Spring seems to be rather late, so I’m craving comfort food. […]