Our resident chef Mark Hix on how the tomatoes from his youth have inspired the tomatoes of his today August 16, 2016 One of my fondest food memories as a kid was my grandfather’s tomatoes. At a certain time of year, he grew chrysanthemums in one greenhouse and tomatoes in the other. I would often help him gardening and at night we would go to the greenhouse armed with tweezers and a torch to remove earwigs from [...]
Texas Joe’s restaurant review: Joe Walters brings the Lone Star to London Bridge August 16, 2016 Anyone who has been to Levi Roots’ Caribbean Smokehouse will know that success on Dragons’ Den does not a restaurateur make. So it was with some trepidation that I approached Texas Joe’s, opened off the back of an appearance on Dragons’ Den (and, more recently, a number of London pop-ups) from jerky peddling Texan Joe [...]
Five must visit Edinburgh gin bars August 14, 2016 | City Talk If it's world-class gin that you're after, then look no further than Edinburgh. It will come as no surprise that Edinburgh has its fair share of whisky bars. Gin, however, has become increasingly popular and Scotland's capital is not only home to some of the country's best gin distilleries, but it also has a number [...]
Here’s why Edinburgh is the perfect place to launch a gin brand August 14, 2016 | City Talk Fancy a tipple with a twist? With the growth of fashionable speak-easy style gin bars, Edinburgh has witnessed a renaissance of gin distilling within the city. Premium brands such as Pickering’s Gin and Edinburgh Gin have been at the heart of a global explosion in Scottish gin sales, with the latter recently opening a new [...]
Our resident chef Mark Hix on how the Glorious Twelfth heralds a hunting season full of delicious grouse August 9, 2016 This Friday marks the Glorious Twelfth, the day on which the grouse-hunting season officially begins. I’m hoping to squeeze in a little shoot in Dumfriesshire, and perhaps do some salmon fishing on the River Nith while I’m at it. The game season is one of the most important events in the British culinary calendar – [...]
Scarfe’s Bar review: A sophisticated and upmarket social bar matching political doodles with a sharp Indian menu August 9, 2016 A classy social bar festooned with the political artwork of feted doodling satirist Gerald Scarfe, this stately lunchtime boozer offers an Indian menu as tantalising as it is incongruous. Signature cocktails are rarely seen in such close proximity to curries and naan, but with careful drinks pairings they make deliciously spicy bedmates. WHERE? 252 High [...]
Working Lunch review: 8 Hoxton Square is what the phrase “I know a great little place” was made for August 2, 2016 8 Hoxton Square 8 Hoxton Square, N1 WHAT? An independent restaurant and bar with a cosy Continental-style outdoor terrace in the midst of Hoxton’s hipster bustle off of Old Street. WHERE? If you need me to tell you again, you’re no longer welcome in the food and drink section. WHO? Still here? Good, it’s executive chef [...]
Mark Hix on the difference between morels, chanterelles and girolles and why you should eat them all the time August 2, 2016 Girolles are one of the first mushrooms to appear on the UK’s culinary calendar. If you’re very lucky, you might find a rare morel or a scarlet elf cup, which grows in freezing conditions in the early part of the year unlike most of themushrooms we pick here. But trust me, the first funghi you’re [...]
St Emilion wine has a chequered reputation but I’m discovering it can be worth a little TLC August 2, 2016 Sometime later this summer, when I have ploughed my way through another 100 pages of paperwork and weaved through a bewildering slalom of French bureaucracy, I will have realised a dream. I am buying a house in Bordeaux, a few miles from St Emilion. It sits in a small hamlet in Entre-Deux-Mers, surrounded by well-tended [...]
Viognier once dwindled to just eight acres of vines; thankfully now this varied wine is getting the props it deserves August 2, 2016 Viognier is one of my favourite summer whites and one that grows on me with every bottle. It has a complexity, a range of floral scents and flavours and even a slight muskiness that demands attention. It’s a sobering thought that we almost lost this harlequin grape completely. Viognier is a pain to grow, prone [...]