Eastway Brasserie review: A slick and Manhattan-styled diner serving classic dishes May 24, 2016 This slick and moody Manhattan-style brasserie is tucked inside the illustrious Great Eastern Hotel by Liverpool Street Station. The glossy walnut and polished marble decor suggests Mad Men cool, but Eastway Brasserie turns out to be a more casual lunchtime spot, a charcuterie and grill serving burgers, sandwiches and steaks to hungry commuters. Here's the [...]
Mark Hix on how to forage for wild ramsons, Britain’s most underrated herb May 17, 2016 Wild garlic, or ramsons as the common variety is known, is one of the most abundant and tasty herbs growing in the British countryside. It’s a shame more people don’t forage for it and use it in their cooking. There are two main varieties that grow in the UK: three-cornered and hedgerow garlic. The latter [...]
Roka review: A Japanese robatayaki restaurant serving up grilled meat and seafood, sashimi and sushi May 17, 2016 Roka is a Japanese robatayaki restaurant – basically BBQ, but with a lighter touch – serving up grilled meat and seafood, sashimi and sushi. WHERE? 4 Park Pavilion, E14 5FW. On the first and second floors of Park Pavilion, that shiny enclave off the South Colonnade. Floor One is the main restaurant and wine/sake tasting area while [...]
Eight of London’s best rooftop bars and summer terraces in London to drink cocktails, eat BBQ and get sunburned, from Chelsea to The City to Canary Wharf May 11, 2016 The weekend's mini-heatwave may already seem like a distant memory, but fear not – we're due plenty more long, hot afternoons that are good for nothing but sitting on a terrace sipping pink cocktails and sweating. But where can one achieve such a glorious thing? Well, let us tell you – here's a round-up of some [...]
New Holland Park restaurant Six Portland Road serves black-pudding to die for May 10, 2016 Remember Neil Webb? He was a roving midfielder who played for Manchester United and England, but in my mind he’ll always be synonymous with the generation of footballers who retired just before the unfathomable riches of the Premier League rolled in. Unlike today’s players, these guys had to carve out new careers in their mid-30s, [...]
This egg is only in season for the next six weeks – get it while you can May 10, 2016 The first time I saw gulls’ eggs on a menu was during my my first job in London at the Ninety Park Lane restaurant in Grosvenor House. I was still a bit of a green lad from Dorset and I remember saying “I thought I’d escaped these flying terrorists when I left the seaside”. We [...]
Mark Hix on the classic Negroni: A bitter pill to cure your ills May 3, 2016 Although I’m rather partial to hardcore cocktails, I arrived to the Negroni party late – about ten years ago – because the medicinal flavour didn’t really do it for me. Then, like with so many things, the Groucho changed my life: now it’s my cocktail of choice. My bar staff even put one in my [...]
Eight of the best gins to rock your world April 29, 2016 The beginnings of the gin craze are shrouded in notoriety. Just over 100 years ago it was the scourge of the working classes, an unregulated, often highly toxic spirit that was more cheaply and easily available than fresh water (hence its nickname Mother’s Ruin). The following half a century saw its reputation improve until it [...]
How Nyetimber put English wines on the map April 29, 2016 My good friend Pierre Emanuel Taittinger has decided to buy a tract of Kentish orchard, grub it up, plant vines and join the Gadarene rush into the English industry. And if he’s prepared to put his name to a drop of vin d’Albion, we really must be doing something right. But by the time he's [...]
Celebrity vineyards: Who makes the best wine, Donald Trump, Cliff Richard or Angelina Jolie? April 29, 2016 Feel depressed about the US presidential election? Need a stiff glass of something to steel yourself against the carnival of bigotry unfolding in the Republican ranks? Well, why not indulge in a large glass of Trump? I’m afraid it’s true: Donald Trump is a winemaker. Down in Virginia there is a 200 acre winery that [...]