No-and-low alcohol spirits are here to stay, so do it in style January 29, 2021 Dry January has always been a challenge, but 2021 has made going sans alcohol even harder. If you have stuck with it this far – through Zoom meetings, home-schooling, and an inescapable sense of existential dread – then you deserve a treat in this final weekend of the month. We’re already well-versed in low- or [...]
Visit London’s first ever absinthe distillery January 29, 2021 London’s first absinthe distillery has opened in east London in a suitably trippy location. The Devil’s Botany Distillery is the brainchild of two devoted “absintheurs” – owners of The Last Tuesday Society, the Hackney bar famous for its taxidermy collection and absinthe-based cocktails including “The Naughty Nun” and “Magik & Medicine”. “Devil’s Botany London Absinthe [...]
Best of travel: Why the best Chinese food is found in Taiwan January 27, 2021 To tide us over until we’re able to travel again, we’re republishing classic travel stories from our archives. This week we revisit Simon Thomson’s trip to Taiwan, home to some of the world’s finest Chinese food. ••• In 1949, after years of civil war, the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang withdrew to an island in [...]
Amazon halts alcohol sales in Northern Ireland following new Brexit customs rules January 27, 2021 Online retail giant Amazon has halted sales of wines, beers and spirits in Northern Ireland as it prepares to de-list more products under new Brexit customs rules. The company is concerned that excise duty will now have to be paid twice on alcohol shipments sent from British mainland across the Irish Sea. Amazon suspended orders [...]
Restaurants warn of closures amid talk of lockdown extention January 26, 2021 Restaurant and bar owners say they are “devastated” by the news lockdown restrictions could be in place until July, with many saying they will struggle to remain open if they are not able to serve customers soon. Pied a Terre’s David Moore said restaurants were already “running on empty” and warned of another wave of [...]
City restaurants among those honoured in 2021 Michelin guide January 26, 2021 Restaurants around the City were celebrated in this year’s Michelin honours list, despite many being closed for most of the year. Da Terra in Bethnal Green and Restaurant Story in Bermondsey, headed up by Rafael Cagali and Tom Sellers respectively, were both awarded two Michelin stars, giving workers even more reason to return to the [...]
Best of travel: A psychedelic trip to San Jose Del Pacifico January 25, 2021 To tide us over until we’re able to travel again, we’re republishing classic travel stories from our archives. This week we revisit Alex Dymoke’s trip to San Jose Del Pacifico, where he discovered the darker side of psychedelic tourism. ••• It’s a beautiful day in San Jose Del Pacifico, a small village high in the [...]
Spirits focus: How Merser & Co is bringing rum back to London January 25, 2021 When we refer to London gin, we know exactly what we’re talking about, for London has long been considered the global capital of gin. But London’s rum history has very little awareness. Very few Londoners seem to know the history of the city’s rum blending houses and how London was a hub of rum in the [...]
How to host a lockdown Burns Supper, from haggis to whisky January 23, 2021 Monday marks what may be the most pared back Burns Night in living memory. While on a normal year swathes of the country head to special dinners to celebrate the life of the Scottish bard, this year we’ll all be stuck in the house watching reruns of Jools Holland. Still, there are a few ways [...]
Forget substandard pasta – try this new delivery service January 22, 2021 You know what I miss? Pasta. Not dried pasta, or the supermarket “fresh pasta” which is somehow worse than the dried stuff. Proper pasta, made by an Italian in a white hat. Proper pasta is hard. Making it is an art, but one that has correct and incorrect ways of going about it. Everybody knows [...]