Restaurant review: Big Easy, Covent Garden April 1, 2014 Big Easy, 12 Maiden Lane London WC2E 7NA Tel: 0203 728 4888 Food: ★★★★☆ | Value: ★★☆☆☆ | Atmosphere: ★★★☆☆ Cost for two with wine: £150 @steve_dinneen “Crab shack” evokes images of rickety seaside restaurants held together by Sellotape and folksy charm; mom-and-pop joints that only make $7 a day but put a big smile [...]
The Bottle Opener: How wine buffs should spend that bonus April 1, 2014 CHATEAU Pontet-Canet, a lovely domaine in Paulliac but normally overshadowed by its more famous neighbours, has been making the headlines recently. Last week it announced the price of its 2013 wines, €60 a bottle in bond, the same price as 2012. So what? you might ask. Well you see, this is the week the world’s [...]
Alfresco v Aldesco March 25, 2014 With the sun out, it’s time to eat alfresco, says Alex Dymoke – but for those poor souls stuck to your desks, we have some special take away options as well… THE CITY (NORTH)The Water Poet9-11 Folgate Street, E1 6BX The Water Poet pub is located at the very northern tip of the Square Mile. [...]
Mix it up: Can a cocktail be subject to copyright? March 25, 2014 @philip_salter WHAT’S in a name? I’m with Juliet on this one: a Rose Petal Martini by any other name would taste as sweet. A few years ago, US bartender Eben Freeman put his head above the parapet and suggested cocktails should be protected by intellectual copyright. He may now wish he hadn’t – the idea [...]
Great culinary feats can still be achieved, even if you only have a microwave in your office kitchen March 25, 2014 FOREVER associated with the processed, the prepackaged and the unsophisticated, the microwave gets a bad rep within foodie circles. The microwave meal has come to symbolise everything that’s wrong with today’s food culture. They make our cooking easy and unhealthy, fast and fatty, and facilitate our tendency to prioritise convenience over care, The way that [...]
Melissa York on London’s top ten set menu lunches March 25, 2014 Aqua Shard, SouthwarkTwo courses for £24 or three for £28 A trip up London’s highest landmark doesn’t come cheap but this set menu at lunch time keeps the cost neatly under £30 with three or four options per course. And, of course, you get the added bonus of a spectacular aerial view over London. Not [...]
Luxurious way to curry favour March 24, 2014 City chef John Woodward tells Melissa York why lobster is the real food of love I‘VE WORKED in a lot of hotel restaurants in my time, but Strip Bar & Steak at the Malmaison Hotel, is more like a restaurant with rooms than a hotel with a restaurant. You don’t get all the politics you [...]
Dish of the day March 24, 2014 John Woodward’s Goan Lobster/Prawn Curry Fish ■ One lobster per person or 500g tiger prawns goan spice mix (makes about 10 portions depending on how hot you like it) ■ 1 tbsp cumin seeds ■ 2 tbsp coriander seeds ■ 2 tbsp black peppercorns ■ 1 tbsp cloves ■ 1 tbsp tumeric ■ 200g red [...]
Five of the best | Lobster dishes in the square mile March 24, 2014 Lobster roll at burger and lobster, 1 Bread St, EC4M 8SH There are only three things on the menu at Burger and Lobster, and this has to be the best. With rich mayonnaise, chives and a melted butter accompaniment, it’s an indulgent treat – just the way lobster should be. Half a native lobster with [...]
Mix it up: Want to loosen up? Forget tequila shots, rum is what you need March 18, 2014 @philip_salter IN TRUTH, most men don’t like dancing. But for reasons largely unknown to bearers of the Y-chromosome, men are expected to prance around like idiots in a vain attempt to attract the opposite sex. Perhaps we are mimicking moribund hunting rituals, but whatever the explanation for this failure of evolution to catch up with [...]