Archive For November 2010
Here it is. The Golden Book of Baking. A chunky golden ingot of a book. A gleaming brick of a tome. Another metallic and gift-quality edition in this series from Apple Press. A Christmas pressie that hardly needs wrapping. Gold edges, silken book-mark and gleaming belly jacket all shout “Pick me” …and you probably will….
[This venue is now closed] So Degò restaurant and wine bar can be found at 4 Great Portland Street …or more accurately, it’s rather difficult to find at 4 Great Portland Street. Locate that corner plot and walk the few yards down Market Place and you will find Degò (the accent is on the ‘o’)….
Ricard is in fact a chap called Richard Howarth and the Bob Bob a wealthy Russian by the name of Leonid Shutov. Richard gave Leonid the nickname of Bob as he found Leonid unpronounceable. I guess Leonid renamed Richard out of revenge. The restaurant name is a bit of whimsical mathematics. Leonid is said to…
It’s summer even in the UK and a book-buyer’s passion turns to frozen desserts and all things deliciously cool. Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelati is a huge tome and amazing value for money. It offers more than 300 large-format pages, over 400 recipes, iconic illustrations, ice cream lore and information on one of the world’s…
The Mandeville Hotel is located in the trendy Marylebone Village, within a few minutes’ walk of some of London’s most exciting shops, art galleries and Mayfair hotspots. The hotel is on Mandeville Place which must be one of the most elegant yet overlooked corners of this neighbourhood – known by locals but passed by tourists….
Baker Street is in the Marylebone area of Westminster in London. It is most famous for being the home of Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at 221B Baker Street. The apartment, like the man himself, did not exist but these days the address has been created to house the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The street…
(This restaurant is now closed). Chor Bizarre – Mayfair’s most striking Indian dining spot – is a legend, at least with those who have crossed the threshold even once. It is a little corner of real India. My guest, an Indian lady with impeccable taste in both food and decor, remarked that it was truly…
[ Langtry’s Restaurant is now closed. ] The Cadogan Hotel in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, was built in 1887. The name commemorates the Earls Cadogan, who, through their company Cadogan Estates have owned Sloane Street and the surrounding area for generations. This marvellously appointed Victorian luxury hotel was, soon after its opening, to play host to…
Tim Halket has penned a truly amusing but practical book, Five Fat Hens. He says he was welcomed into the world by a chicken sandwich so in this case the chicken did indeed come before the egg. It’s about poultry from cradle (OK, so I know that eggs don’t have cradles) to grave (and I…
Just the name Aga conjures a fine chocolate-box picture of a cottage kitchen, butler’s sink, geraniums in pots, and a big ginger cat. Where would that cat be? Well, toasting his substantial fluffy paws by the aforementioned iconic stove. An Aga not only looks good but it’s the stove of choice for many, and those…
It’s getting near Christmas so it’s nice to be able to review a book with a seasonal ring to it. No it isn’t a book of holiday recipes. Balthazar was said to be one of the Three Wise Men, but it’s also the name of a rather smart New York restaurant frequented by the likes…
The Mango Tree Thai restaurant is a Belgravia institution and it’s been that way since 2001. It’s part of the Asian company ‘Coca’. The Mango Tree became their flagship Thai restaurant in Europe and has won numerous awards, and your first visit will show you the reason for those gongs and plaudits. The restaurant has…
Pasta is a food that is loved almost universally. It’s a neutral carrier of flavours and textures. It’s a comfort food that can be quickly prepared using commercial dry pasta, or it can be elevated to a memorable classic by investing the time and effort into making your own rich and delicious pasta. Carla Bardi…
Cheese! The savoury equivalent of chocolate. Yes, it offers similar emotions to so many people – craving, greed, joy of tasting and guilt. It’s one of the foods, along with chocolate, that weightwatchers least want to give up. We cook with it and eat it fresh – there are our traditional favourites but lots more…
Kunio Tokuoka is executive chef of Kyoto Kitcho. He was born in 1960, and is the grandson of Mr. Teiichi Yuki, founder of Kitcho. He became a chef at twenty and was sent to work at Kitcho Arashiyama , the flagship restaurant in Kyoto. The restaurant was awarded three Michelin stars, and Hana Kitcho, another…
Vatch’s Thai Street Food is a lovely large-format volume with brilliant food and travelogue photography by Martin Brigdale and Somachi Phongphaisarnkit. Vatch is in fact Vatcharin Bhumichitr who is probably the most celebrated Thai chef in the UK. He has been cooking and running restaurants in Britain since 1976. Thailand has a vibrant and active…
This is a chunky, classy tome from Absolute Press (I hope they work the same magic with my book next year!). Its photography is stunning, urban and imaginative. It’s a cookbook, for sure, but it’s also a modern food history and a tale of a thriving empire. This might not be the book that you…
I am not a vegetarian but I am a lover of good food. Vegetarian with a Vengeance is a full-colour cookbook with a slightly different slant on recipes. The authors are Scandinavians Christine Bille Neilsen and Tina Scheftelowitz, both food professionals, and they offer fun and delicious dishes that just happen to contain no meat….