Matching Historic Cheeses to Exceptional Ports – Christmas Selection: Christmas is coming and with it, there’s always that pressure of what to serve? Fortunately, those sensible people at cheesemeisters Paxton & Whitfield and Taylor’s Port recently held an event at Paxton’s Jermyn St headquarters to help to take the pain out of those festive Port and […]
The Grape Harvest – Porto and the Douro
Exploring Porto and the Douro Valley At any time of the year, RIB Beef and Wine in Porto would be a great place to enjoy a meal. Arriving, as we did, in Porto on a warm and sunny September day, our hearty lunch was the perfect introduction to the City. Part of the Pestana Vintage […]
Five Reasons to Fall In Love with Porto
Porto and the Douro Valley: We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe […]
Dining at The Don, City of London
Proper Dining in the City – The Don: Once upon a time, I worked in the City. One of my favourite places to eat was called ‘The Bleeding Heart’ – a charming French Bistro tucked away in a secret courtyard near Farringdon. Named after a 17th-century beauty, Lady Elizabeth Hatton, who was found murdered there, […]
Porto and the Making of Port
Northern Portugal – Porto Part I – Port For a while now I’ve been wanting to visit Northern Portugal. I have a real love for port so, apart from anything else, I wanted to learn more. My recent trip took me to Guimarães and Braga and then on to Porto. And, although we received a fitting […]
Hamburg – Part I
Hamburg – A Maritime City in the Modern World: Hamburg is the second biggest city in Germany and the eighth biggest in the EU. It is a hub of regional power, a centre for trade with a thriving cultural scene so when invited by the lovely people at cometohamburg.com I was keen to get to know […]