Libby’s Naked Wine Diary: The perfect glass to enjoy with friends April 10, 2025 @doesmybumlook40 @knackeredmother and @libbybrodie walk into a bar… And this is the Naked Wine they drank together The last time the three of us were together was at Kylie Minogue’s birthday party. It was a surprisingly intimate affair at Mayfair club Annabel’s, where we sipped Kylie’s Prosecco (very good) and rose (excellent) as the pixie-sized Queen [...]
The Last Supper: Gordon Warnecke on the perfect jerk chicken April 7, 2025 Star of 1980s movie My Beautiful Laundrette, Gordon Warnecke tells us what he would eat for his last meal on earth My mum wasn’t a very good cook. My first memories of food are of her making quite traditional British stuff. She came over from Guyana in South America, where she was the youngest of five siblings – [...]
Eating Dave’s Hot Chicken Reaper Tenders: Why do we love spicy food? March 27, 2025 I feel lightheaded, short of breath and the room has started to spin. Intense waves of heat radiate from my mouth throughout my entire body. The pain is searing, like someone is holding an open flame to my tongue. After a couple of bites my throat starts to swell, my lips are raw, my face has [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: London’s best dog-friendly restaurants March 26, 2025 Last week Franco Manca announced that they have become ‘dog friendly’. This a welcome turnaround for the restaurant group that turned away a guide dog from one of their venues in 2018. Fortunately, this shameful incident led to my meeting with Dave Kent, the blind gentleman who required his trusty friend Chad to lead him [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: The best restaurants in Florence March 20, 2025 Last week began with a wonderfully long lunch in Bluebird Chelsea with Mirabeau founder Stephen Cronk and his chief exec Richard Larkin. Everyone in the drinks business loves these guys, but I take credit for introducing the Batman and Robin of Provencal rose to each other back in 2017. In Bluebird, the restaurant atmosphere was [...]
Whisk(e)y Business: The Irish Whiskey renaissance March 14, 2025 Whisky Business: City AM’s monthly look at the world of whisky. Today, Scotland is the world’s go-to destination for whisky, but back in the 19th century, Irish whisky (the ‘e’ in Irish whiskey wasn’t universal until the latter half of the 1990s), not Scotch, dominated the global market. By the late 1800s, Irish distillers had the [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: Best Japanese restaurants in London March 12, 2025 Last week I was busy spending time dining charitably with sporting heroes. It began by sending Shawsey off on his ‘Legends of Telemark’ mission (he raises funds for MND) with a lunch where beautiful beef wellingtons reigned. It took place in the company of former Scottish international, Ryan Wilson at the Black Lamb in Wimbledon [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: The best gastropubs in London March 6, 2025 The past week has been one of celebrations. Gordon Ramsay opened his 22 Bishopsgate venue, where I enjoyed caviar and Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir as Nick Grimshaw played tunes and GQ’s Worst Dressed Man of 2018, Joe Wicks, danced with Angela Hartnett and other ‘A-listers’. I enjoyed an amazing St David’s Day dinner at Quaglino’s [...]
Top Pancake Day recipes: How to make the perfect pancake on Shrove Tuesday March 4, 2025 Pancake day is upon us! We asked some top chefs for ideas for something a little extra this Shrove Tuesday. Here’s how to make the perfect pancake from the comfort of your own kitchen. Chocolate and banana pancake Cyril Lignac, head chef at Bar Des Pres As a chef, pancake day gives everyone, both amateur [...]
International Women’s Day: The future of women in wine March 3, 2025 This International Women’s Day, I caught up with Queena Wong, a wine enthusiast who is helping to reshape the industry for the better Queena Wong has become a controversial character in wine after spearheading the first UK Women in Wine Survey. According to marketing research agency PROOF Insight, 78 per cent of the women who [...]