Flawless food from a French master June 21, 2010 FLASH back five years. I’m in the new Covent Garden Market with Alexis Gauthier, then the chef patron of Gallic jewel Roussillon, researching a feature. It’s 4AM and Gauthier is getting very excited indeed. Never mind the fact that it’s pitch black and freezing, even under the market’s neon lights – no, he has just [...]
NOMURA READY FOR ROOF WITH A VIEW June 20, 2010 Only weeks to go now before the biggest decampment the City has seen in a while; Japanese bank Nomura’s move back to the City from the Canary Wharf offices it inherited from Lehman Brothers a few years back. The bank, which will move its staff floor by floor to minimise disruption, starting on 12 July, [...]
The elegant side of the Balearics June 20, 2010 THERE is so much more to Mallorca than sun, sea and the late-night drunken menace of us Brits in Magaluf. The largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, the 3,275 sq km atoll has mountains, lush vegetation and close to 100 sandy beaches, many of which are secluded because they are up to half an hour’s walk [...]
Latitudinal thinking in Aldwych June 14, 2010 28-50 140 Fetter Lane, EC4A 1BT 020 7242 8877 www.2850.co.uk Cost per person without wine: £30 THE first thing to chew on at 28-50 is its name. It gets stuck in the teeth, frankly, involving two non-symmetrical numbers that bear no obvious relation to each other. For the innumerate among us, it’s a bit intimidating, [...]
TASTING NOTES June 14, 2010 FINDING an excuse to enjoy chocolate is always welcome. And – as with all the naughtiest things in life – if it is of the highest quality then it is probably a bit less bad for you. Well, still another way to mitigate the dangers of greedy chocolate consumption is to learn more about how [...]
Don’t let City living dull your good looks June 7, 2010 A FRIEND visited from the country this weekend and claimed to have blown dirty snot into a tissue after spending just two days in London. Like most long-term Londoners, I’m in denial about black phlegm, but she had a point. Living between the office, the Tube, the fumes of the street and the boozy, salt-and-sugar [...]
Bali high: a health retreat with a view June 6, 2010 FROM the long balcony of my private villa up in the Balinese hills, I can gaze out over the kind of view that feeds the soul. The villa’s perch overlooks a jungle-swathed canyon that rises on the far side to slope upwards to the terraced rice paddies cresting the hills. Mix that with a soundtrack [...]
Midas Touch the golden Derby bet for O’Brien June 3, 2010 Who do I think is the most likely winner of the Investec Derby? It has to be Jan Vermeer. Who do I think is the best betting proposition? It has to be MIDAS TOUCH. Aidan O’Brien hasn’t won English racing’s premier Classic since 2002, but that looks set to change tomorrow and his supposed second [...]
NYC sends a slice of Gallic heaven May 31, 2010 Bar Boulud Mandarin Oriental, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA, tel: 020 7201 3899 Cost per person without wine: £45 THE name Daniel Boulud is a huge deal in New York, where everything is either a huge deal or offensively passe. The Lyon-born chef’s cluster of Manhattan eateries has managed to remain on the “huge deal” side [...]
How to eat like a (vegetarian) king May 26, 2010 DESPITE the cult status acquired by super-deli Ottolenghi, known for its heavenly salads and cakes, and the super-sleek vegan Saf (see Joe McCanta’s column below), vegetarian restaurants aren’t exactly alluring to a professional, urban and carnivorous crowd. But Andrew Dargue and his wife Donna Conroy, from Teeside, think things should be different, and so two [...]