Tom Aikens: The comeback kid November 11, 2012 TOM AIKENS is tired, and it shows. It’s 9am on a Friday morning and he’s already clocked up 72 hours during the week, working in his hugely successful eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant in Chelsea. For a chef, those kinds of hours are standard but Aikens has had to work particularly hard this last few years after [...]
CapCo tightens hold on West End November 7, 2012 CAPITAL & Counties (CapCo) said yesterday it has snapped up a further £60m worth of sites in London’s Covent Garden area as it steps up its expansion in the area. The group raised £149m in July to accelerate growth plans and has since bought properties on Wellington Street, Floral Street and Henrietta Street with offices, [...]
Mutton doesn’t have to dress like lamb: it’s just fine as it is November 5, 2012 Head chef, Paternoster Chop House I don’t know why but people have started asking me about mutton. Maybe it’s because I run a British restaurant and I have big mutton chop sideburns – but whatever: it’s got me thinking. Why don’t we eat more mutton in this country, and could there be a demand for [...]
Thrill seekers put one foot in La Grave November 4, 2012 I am teetering on the edge of a cliff at the top station of Les Deux Alpes. I normally feel confident on my carving skis but this feels like no ordinary black run. Around me are some of the most spectacular views of the French Alps known to man, but all I can do is [...]
Boisdale restaurant chain returns to profit October 28, 2012 BOISDALE, the Scottish seafood and steak restaurant chain, swung back into profit in the year to April 2012 and almost doubled its turnover to £10.5m. Companies House filings showed the group made pre-tax profits of £235,000, up from a £585,000 loss in the year to April 2011. Boisdale described the results as a “Curate’s egg [...]
Work up a sweat and prepare for a challenge in this Egyptian paradise October 28, 2012 REMEMBER that week back in August, the one just after the Olympics when it wasn’t dark by 5pm? The Eurozone crisis had gone on its summer holidays and the whole of London — starry eyed with Team GB’s success — was convinced that being an Olympian was the best job ever. I do. Partly because [...]
Summer of love for Symphony sends portfolio values soaring October 24, 2012 INVESTMENT firm Symphony International, which owns firms that sell lifestyle goods to people in Asia, yesterday reported a jump in fund value on the back of a stellar summer for its business investments. The London listed company, which backs a host of companies owning beach resorts, fast food restaurants and television stations, said the net [...]
Break up Whitbread and let Costa star in its own show October 23, 2012 IN a day peppered with corporate disappointments, Whitbread and its shareholders will have been more than happy to have seen their first-half results described as “outstanding” on more than one occasion. The FTSE 100 leisure firm used the term itself in its results presentation, and analysts were also keen to heap praise on a close-to 30 [...]
Costa energises first-half profit for Whitbread October 23, 2012 WHITBREAD yesterday warned that growth in the second half of the year would be more subdued after the Olympics and a wet summer helped drive up first-half profits by 11 per cent. The owner of Premier Inn and the Costa coffee chain said a strong performance across both brands had helped push revenues up by [...]
Hard-to-beat meat at Beard To Tail October 22, 2012 RESTAURANT BEARD TO TAIL 77 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3BS Tel: 020 7729 2966 FOOD ***** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost for two people with wine: £100 I’m ONE of of those awful meat eaters that should really be a vegetarian but in actual fact, loves poor-quality canned meat and a post-pub kebab too much [...]