Where to watch Euro 2020 in London: Top beer gardens May 29, 2021 After a mad, harrowing year, it seems difficult to believe that Euro 2021 is mere weeks away – and that the biggest games will be taking place in London. For fans without tickets to the tournament, which runs from 11 June to 11 July, watching at the pub looks set to be a game of [...]
Another defence of Chardonnay, which is better than you think May 28, 2021 Last week our wonderful wine columnist Libby Zietsman-Brodie weighed in in defense of Chardonnay, a grape variety often wrongly maligned by people who know enough about wine to have an opinion but not enough to have a correct opinion. And quite right she was, so I though I’d throw my two cents’ worth in too, [...]
This new pasta delivery service might help you live to 100 May 26, 2021 “Blue Zones” are those parts of the world where the people have unusually long life expectancy. There’s the Greek island of Ikaria, which has the lowest middle age mortality in the world; Japan’s Okinawa tropical island, which boasts the world’s longest lived women; California’s Loma Linda, where Seventh Day Adventists rely on a biblical diet [...]
Why the Isle of Man is the new hotness for small-batch spirits May 25, 2021 In an old milking shed at Ballakelly Farm in Andreas on the Isle of Man, a new F&B scene is being created. The Manx Outlier movement even has its own manifesto, written by two gentlemen from Surrey. “We are based at an outlying point of the Isle of Man, which is itself an outlier of [...]
Wagamama owner Restaurant Group sees sales rebound as dining returns May 25, 2021 Wagamama owner Restaurant Group said sales were recovering well as Brits dined after the lifting of lockdown restrictions. The group, which has around 350 sites trading since the resumption of indoor dining, said delivery services were much higher before Covid curbs were eased. Some 130 of its Wagamama sites traded at 85 per cent of [...]
Drinking around the world: The rise and rise of Thai wine May 24, 2021 Producing over a million bottles a year, Thailand is a little known but increasingly adept wine producing region. Vines have been planted there since the 1960s despite the humid tropical climate and the Thai portfolio is now considered by many as the ultimate in “New Latitude wines”. Thailand’s dominant grape variety known as the Malaga [...]
In defence of the long lunch: Business needs the human touch May 24, 2021 No-one quite knows when the long lunch suffered a mortal blow. Perhaps it was the financial crisis of 2007-08, when money lost its lustre. Perhaps it was before that, in the 1980s, when US working cultures flooded the City of London after the Big Bang. The grim phrase “al desko” was first recorded in the [...]
Cafe Biltmore’s new terrace is a leafy oasis in the heart of Mayfair May 22, 2021 Despite Londoners gritting their teeth through one of the wettest Mays on record, outdoor space has never been at more of a premium. We may now be allowed to eat indoors, but social distancing has drastically reduced the number of covers most restaurants can accommodate and the pandemic has reinforced the pleasures of al fresco [...]
Forget Angelina Jolie: Support bees this week by drinking rum May 21, 2021 If you hadn’t already gathered from the pictures all over the internet of Angelina Jolie covered in bees – well, more of a smattering than a covering to be fair – this week is Bee Awareness Week, when the plight of the bee should be foremost in our minds. Wyre Forest’s eco-distiller Wildjac’s Honey Spiced [...]
Not as easy as ABC: Why you like Chardonnay more than you think May 21, 2021 You may have heard the phrase uttered near you at the bar, perhaps you have even said it yourself and ignored the twitch in the waiter’s eye. “A.B.C” is shorthand for “Anything But Chardonnay”, a hangover (in more ways than one) from the 1980s fashion for rich, heavily oaked wines. This trend was taken to [...]