Aussie wine isn’t all big and loud – there are fine bottles to be found October 29, 2013 Bottle.opener@cityam.com THOSE of us of a certain age will always remember our first Australian wine. They burst onto a fairly turgid scene in the 1980s and turned everything on its head. They were brash, fruity, powerful and, let’s face it, astonishingly cheap compared to the snooty French competition. OK, they were also brutally one-dimensional but [...]
Restaurant review: Urban Meadow October 15, 2013 RESTAURANT Urban Meadow, 150 Bayswater, W2 4RT Tel: 020 7792 7066 FOOD Three Stars VALUE Five Stars ATMOSPHERE Four Stars Cost for two with drinks: £50 THIS is one of those columns restaurant critics write after they’ve been on holiday, where they bang on about the nice places they’ve been eating while you’ve been stuck [...]
The bottle opener October 15, 2013 bottle.opener@cityam.com I HAVE travelled a fair amount in the Middle East and Israel in recent months and one of the things that has struck me is the quality of wine. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Europe lost its monopoly over fine wines decades ago and besides, Jesus Christ himself won considerable praise for his wine-making [...]
Gino D’Acampo polpette recipe: Meatballs like mamma made them October 15, 2013 This is my mum’s recipe. She used to cook this for me once a week. It was a special occasion when she made it because it requires expensive ingredients (meat and parmesan) and mine was not the wealthiest of families. Mum began using smaller meatballs because we used to complain when we only got one [...]
Mix it up: Absinthe cocktail is cultural gem in heart of Mayfair October 15, 2013 @philip_salter OLD HABITS die hard. But after more than a decade in London, I’ve finally managed to offload most of the dingy pubs, sleazy bars and uninspiring restaurants that I frequented when I first landed in the capital. It’s time you did the same. Let those dodgy establishments serving stale beer and saccharine cocktails slip [...]
Foodie heaven in Moroccan town October 9, 2013 Philippe Agnello, head chef at Momo, explains how to make an authentic pigeon pastille I was in Morocco visiting a very good friend of mine, Omar, who returns to his hometown every summer. His family lives in Kebdani, a small remote village near Nador in northern Morocco where few tourists stray and it is rich [...]
Cheers, it’s Cocktail week — here’s five of the best October 9, 2013 London Cocktail Week is taking place in Seven Dials between 7th-13th October. For more information visit Sevendials.co.uk/events Champagne style: Bellini 2 shots peach puree 1/2 shot creme de peche de vigne liqueur 1/4 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice Top up with Prosecco sparkiing wine Shake first three ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled [...]
Meander through London on the trail of great Italian food October 8, 2013 London Restaurant Festival’s Ciccheti Trail is a foodie’s dream THE PUB crawl, once a concept that filled my youthful soul with an inordinate degree of excitement, nowadays seems somewhat antiquated. Is this my fault – is it simply that I have grown into a dour 30-something severely lacking any kind of alacrity? Or is the [...]
Mix it up October 8, 2013 @philip_salter I’VE just found out it’s National Inclusion Week. Nobody told me so I’m feeling rather left out. It’s also National Curry Week, and no doubt a dozen other “Weeks” that are busy passing us all by. One worth taking note of though is hosted in this great city of ours; in fact, in my [...]
Restaurant review: Berners Tavern October 1, 2013 BERNERS TAVERN The London Edition Hotel, 10 Berners St Tel: 020 7908 7979 FOOD Two Stars VALUE Two Stars ATMOSPHERE Two Stars Cost for two with drinks: £110 Berners Tavern sounds like a nice little place, doesn’t it? Like a Somerset country inn that’s been converted to a gastropub by an ex-Londoner with a moustache [...]