Need to boost office morale? Just set up a bar in the boardroom March 2, 2011 IT’S 6 o’clock and it’s been a long day at work. You’re not quite finished yet – but lord could you do with a drink. Suddenly, your wildest dream becomes reality.? We’re talking about an actual, zippy bar setting up shop in the conference room or kitchen, with a couple of cute and enthusiastic barmen [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS March 2, 2011 CINNAMON CLUB’S LAVISH TENTH The Cinnamon Club, stalwart of the Westminster fine dining scene and easily the most atmospheric restaurant in the radius of our governmental seat, has reached the grand old age of ten. So what? Well, the chance to win, via lottery, a ticket to what has to be one of the most [...]
Meet the hottest of HOT HATCHES March 1, 2011 DESPITE the fact that Citroën has been doing rather well these past several years in the World Rally Championship, it’s taken until now for the French manufacturer to create a road car with WRC credentials. Citroën has created its new 204bhp 1.6-litre DS3 Racing model to be an extremely sporty rival to cars including Mini’s [...]
CAR TALK March 1, 2011 Vauxhall’s new Zephyr Officially it’s only a concept, but make no mistake: most of what you see here is Vauxhall’s new Zephyr. The rakish exterior design of this Zafira Tourer Concept has been inspired by high-speed train design and is conceived to be a “lounge-on-wheels”. Ambient mood lighting, a panoramic windscreen and flexible seating for [...]
Episode three: Sunday Lunch Blitz February 28, 2011 EMMA peers over the top of the Sunday supplement. “That smells wonderful, darling.” I add a stalk of rosemary to the bubbling casserole and glance at my wife. After a couple of days’ biding my time I sense my opportunity. Returning the casserole to the oven I make my move. “I think you should have [...]
Dinner’s on Heston: Fat Duck chef makes a grand entrance to London February 28, 2011 Dinner by Heston Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA Tel: 020 7201 3833 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: XXX LEARNING that Heston’s new restaurant was to be called Dinner, I grimaced and sneered. How pretentious! Plain old Dinner indeed – this from the man behind snail porridge and yam flakes [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS February 28, 2011 FINE WINE AND BURGERS AT HAWKSMOOR Beloved steakhouse Hawksmoor, which recently added a Covent Garden restaurant to its Spitalfields restaurant, will be making top-end wines available by the glass at both restaurants, and teaming them with classic dishes from the Hawksmoor menu in a series of tasting events over the coming months. Think lobster rolls [...]
Where to book if you’re planning the ultimate honeymoon February 27, 2011 Jade Mountain, St Lucia JADE Mountain is about the most spectacularly situated hotel in the Caribbean. Facing out across a bay towards the Pitons, St Lucia’s iconic pair of dramatically steep mountains, it hangs against the side of a jungle-covered mountain like an eagle’s nest. Some nest. The rooms – or “sanctuaries” as they are [...]
Why Marrakech is now the fashionable place to relax February 27, 2011 WANDER into Marrakech’s famous souk and you can find all manner of unctions, ointments and powders intended to cure ills, sooth skin, clear airways and put a spring in your step. Among alley after alley of cloth and leather merchants, pottery shops, brass vendors, blacksmiths, and hawkers of every kind of tat, are spice stalls [...]
Falling in love with Gstaad February 27, 2011 I HAVE never liked the idea of skiing. I was raised strictly on a diet of city breaks and cultural immersion holidays. I thought that was the noble way forward, holiday-wise, until I went to Gstaad and stayed in the Grand Hotel Park. It might have helped that my baptism of Alpine leisure took place [...]