Turkish Delight: a culinary journey through one of the world’s most diverse nations November 13, 2015 When most people think of Turkish food, they imagine kebabs and Turkish delight. In reality the food of this vast nation is among the most vibrant and diverse in the world, drawing influences from the olive-scented villages on the Aegean coast to the dusty towns near its border with Syria. The epic landscape – the [...]
Lessons in wine: To decant or not to decant, that is the question November 11, 2015 A decanter is a vessel to pour wine into; these are almost always glass or crystal and decanters come in wonderful shapes and sizes. Deciding whether to decant, or how long to decant for is a difficult question, even for the most fervent wine enthusiast. So here are some thoughts which might help you decide. [...]
Sexy Fish restaurant review: Richard Caring’s seafood menu is all about that bass November 10, 2015 Berkeley Square House, W1J 6BR FOOD ★★★★☆ VALUE ★★★☆☆ ATMOSPHERE ★★☆☆☆ Cost for two with booze: £180 Sexy Fish. Sexy Fish. Sexy Fish. Wherever you put the emphasis on Richard Caring’s new Mayfair restaurant it sounds terrible. I suspect this might be the point: it’s wilfully crass, intentionally boorish, purposefully provocative. It’s flippant but [...]
Lessons in wine: Why Piedmont is a unique and wonderful region November 6, 2015 Piedmont translates as “foot of the mountains”, with the Alps to the North and West of the region. Along with Tuscany it is Italy’s most important winemaking region. In this region south of Turin we find the famous Barolo and Barbaresco wines. These are made from the same grape, Nebbiolo, which gets its name from [...]
Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket American steakhouses to cross the Atlantic November 4, 2015 WHAT? Renowned for its USDA Prime slabs of cow, Smith & Wollensky is the latest of the upmarket steakhouses to find its way across the Atlantic. WHERE? A ground floor and basement inside the historic Adelphi building, this spot looks for all the world as if a small chunk of 1930s New York has been [...]
Hoppers, Gymkhana’s casual sibling, lives up to the family name November 4, 2015 Sometimes I want to sit down in a restaurant, eat and be gone. Sometimes I want to move in, stay for a while, invite friends, meet the restaurant’s parents, marry the place and have a baby. If I were to marry a restaurant, though, a more sensible betrothal would be to one of Hoppers’ siblings [...]
Mix it up: How Spectre has us all bonding over cocktails October 30, 2015 Everything in this world has a price. And for an undisclosed, but no doubt princely sum, Belvedere vodka has become the official of the drink new James Bond film Spectre. (Next time, I’d like to see him knocking back a bottle of Lambrini, please.) Last year, Bond courted controversy by drinking a Heineken in bed. [...]
Restaurant review: There’s more to Palm Court than afternoon tea, thank god October 29, 2015 If I could click my fingers and banish one element of our national cuisine, it would be afternoon tea. It’s a dreary throwback to a time when we felt the need to ape our social betters, in this case by eating wildly overpriced cucumber sandwiches. Its emergence is often credited to Anna Maria Russell, the [...]
Celebrate Dom Perignon’s 2006 vintage champagne release by joining the City A.M. wine club and spending an evening tasting the stars October 28, 2015 This month Dom Perignon released its highly-anticipated 2006 vintage. For £455 per case of six in bond, you can enjoy a bottle so good it’s already received 97 points from leading Champagne critic Richard Juhlin. This acclaim puts it on a par with the legendary ‘64, ‘61 and ’49 vintages, and surpasses even the ’96, [...]
Lessons in wine: Tis the (Harvest) season for truffle and wine enthusiasts in Italy October 13, 2015 October is the most awaited month of the year in wine country. Harvest is a most decisive moment in the winemaking process as it determines the acidity, sweetness, characteristics and, in general, the style of the wine we will be drinking. The precise date varies, but the majority of wineries in Europe harvest during this [...]