The hottest joint in Dalston just happens to serve excellent food – Angelina. There’s something charming about naming a restaurant after one of your Dad’s favourite songs. That’s just what owner Joshua Owens-Baigler (ex River Cafe and Artusi) chose to do when he opened Angelina Restaurant in Dalston with chefs Robin Beparry and Daniele Ceforo […]
Adam Handling’s Bean and Wheat food and beer pairing
Bean and Wheat, Hoxton – Food and Beer Heaven: Food and wine pairings have always been accepted as a sophisticated approach to eating well. It’s something that is not really questioned beyond an accepted truth. A couple of years ago though things began to shift and attention began to swing ever so slightly to other […]
The Frog – Hoxton
Adam Handling in Hoxton – The Frog. When Adam Handling made his move from The Caxton Grill at St Ermin’s Hotel to his own achingly hip restaurant, The Frog in East London, I was lucky enough to be invited to go along and try the tasting menu there. I couldn’t help but enthuse. A well-timed […]
Cub – Luxury and Sustainable Dining in Hoxton:
A Restaurant with an Ethos – Cub, Hoxton: Intrigued by the title? I was – especially as I’d been invited to try the food and drink pairing set menu which comprises several small courses of food with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to complement. In my head the concept of ‘luxury ‘ generally contradicts ‘sustainable’ […]
Yuu Kitchen Review
Yuu Kitchen Revisited: Sometimes my travels seem to conspire against me. When the casual Asian restaurant Yuu Kitchen first opened, I really wanted to visit – but a series of back to back press trips meant that I simply couldn’t make the dates offered. Instead, the ever-enthusiastic Hedonist went along and came back to write […]
Tonica By The Distillery – Review
Exploring Tonica by the Distillery – a new concept from Portobello Road Gin: What could be more summery than a gin and tonic? The days of a simple Gordon’s and Schweppes are long gone and these days the humble G&T is at the forefront of cocktail development and experimentation. So in the spirit of progress, […]
Lahpet – Review
Authentic Burmese Restaurant in London at Lahpet: Burmese cuisine is one of the most under-represented of the various South-East Asian food cultures in the London food scene. Lahpet Burmese restaurant on bustling Bethnal Green Road in the heart of Shoreditch is trying to put that right. After a successful year-long pop-up in Hackney, founders Dan Anton and Head […]
Nest – Review
Three men in a Nest… Imagine three young men having a beer or three. Two have just lost their jobs and the third is a chef with Fulham’s Michelin starred pub The Harwood Arms listed on his CV. They reach that dangerous point in the evening when one of them cries out “Let’s start our own […]
City Spice – Review
East End Curries for West End Boys Over the last few years, I’ve reviewed and visited a number of the new wave of Indian restaurants. The food is often lighter and more fusion based than traditional curry houses. But sometimes you yearn for an old-school curry so I was delighted to be asked to review […]
Via Emilia – Regional Italian in London
Visiting Emilia Romagna without leaving London – Via Emilia: It is some time since I visited ‘In Parma‘ – a small Italian restaurant in Fitzrovia where you can enjoy a simple menu of pasta, meats and cheeses from Parma in Italy – while drinking fizzy red lambrusco from bowls as it would be served in Italy. […]