Restaurant review: Les Deux Salons is a reassuringly old-school restaurant July 14, 2015 You wait all year to review a French restaurant and then two come along at once. Last week Les Gourmets des Ternes, with its no-nonsense, unfaffy cooking, reminded me of a time before the gastronomic landscape was dominated by “sharing concepts” and pop-ups and street food and cocktails with bits of bacon in them. Les [...]
If you want to know your wine, learn your vintages July 14, 2015 Vintage wine is sometimes thought of in vague terms as either old wine or a particularly good drop. In actual fact, the vast majority of wines are from a specific vintage, which simply means that its grapes are primarily or all grown and harvested within a single year. The micro-climate of each wine-growing region will [...]
Mix it up: The perfect cocktail is a sublime balancing act July 14, 2015 The Cherrybrum Cocktail is probably the best rum and cola you’ll ever try Cocktails are a balance of five flavours: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. A good cocktail is made or lost on the balance between two of them: sweet and sour. The sweet in your cocktail will usually come from sugar syrup, [...]
Working lunch in Canary Wharf: Iberica, Cabot Square July 14, 2015 Our guide to the best places to eat during office hours in the City and Canary Wharf WHAT? Sophisticated tapas in a sparse, rustic setting. Think massive contemporary light fixtures and hunks of meat served on chopping boards. WHERE? A vast industrial space just off Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. It has [...]
Restaurant review: Les Gourmets des Ternes, the Frenchest place on earth, is now located in Knightsbridge July 7, 2015 I started reviewing restaurants for this newspaper back in 2011, a relative blink of an eye but enough time to see some pretty seismic changes in the London food scene. Back then the shadow of the Great Recession still loomed large over London and only the brave or foolish dared to open new restaurants. It [...]
Mix it up: Forget tradition, try these surreal cocktails from The Langham’s Artesian bar July 7, 2015 The Langham's celebrated Artesian bar has launched its new cocktail list. This time round, supremo bartenders Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale have chosen the theme of Surrealism. True to form, the cocktails are out of this world. In truth, Surrealism leaves me cold. Salvador Dalí and others' attempts to stimulate the subconscious are wasted [...]
Working lunch in the City: Street Kitchen, Broadgate Circle July 7, 2015 Our guide to the best places to eat during office hours in the City and Canary Wharf WHAT? After a run of successful pop-ups, it was only a matter of time before the Street Kitchen guys set up shop permanently. Serving gourmet sandwiches by the inch, the experienced chefs are looking to revolutionise fast [...]
Heading abroad? Immerse yourself in the wine culture July 7, 2015 Where will your holiday plans take you this summer? If to the hills of Tuscany or the beaches of France, chances are you will have no qualms about ordering Italian or French wines on your travels. Likewise if you plan to visit California, Australia, or South Africa. If, however, your destination is somewhere more exotic, [...]
Restaurant review: Bill Granger’s third UK venture leaves us cold June 30, 2015 Last week I wrote about how Stevie Parle’s thoroughly brilliant restaurant Craft London is being used as bait to convince people they might want to live next to the O2 Arena. This week, I’m heading up to King’s Cross, which is several life-stages ahead of north Greenwich. Although it’s still being built, King’s Cross [...]
Why wine collectors should flock to the Brunello Montalcino 2010 June 30, 2015 Brunello di Montalcino 2010 has already established itself as the greatest Brunello vintage ever. The vintage releases began in January of this year, five years after the harvest. Brunello di Montalcino’s ageing requirements are painstaking, demanding two years in wood and the total ageing requirement of 50 months. The vintage has received unilateral praise [...]