By Rob Pickard
The recently opened St Pancras Renaissance Hotel is quite a sight, set within one of London’s most iconic landmarks, this 5 star hotel is now one of the leading hotels in the city, and hailed as the city’s most romantic building. Originally opened as the Midland Grand Hotel in 1873, it was designed to …
by Gareth Groves
Ask most foodies what they are looking for in a great pub and the answer will not be ’space to park an overpriced and oversized pram’ but such are the recent changes in my life that such a space is now a prerequisite for any lunch booking.
The problem is ‘family friendly’ pubs are all too often long on …
by Gareth Groves
Let’s cut to the chase: The Canton Arms in Stockwell, south London is a very good gastropub. Managed by a team who previously ran the show at Waterloo’s Anchor and Hope, it opened about twelve months ago to a barrage of press which mainly focused on its rather novelty foie gras toastie. No signs of those …
by Gareth Groves
The St John-isation of the UK dining scene is well documented. Where once Fergus Henderson ploughed a lone furrow of pigs heads and bone marrow, now those dishes appear on menus across the land. The gospel of Proper British Food has spread far and wide - and the world is a better place for …
by Gareth Groves
I’d make a rubbish restaurant review blogger. For a start, I’m useless with a camera and always feel embarrased when I do take photos in restaurants. I just feel bad stopping my friends from diving in to their scallops starter while I snap away merrily. All of which is my excuse for illustrating this post with a photo nicked for Odette’s website rather than …
By Jamie Ford
Quite rightly ‘Green Issues’ are increasingly on the forefront of people’s minds. Questions arise such as:
How can we be more environmentally friendly?
How can we make sure our lives and business’ are sustainable?
Has my chicken burger been organically farmed?
Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. So I took it upon myself to compile a list of tips that would help restaurants who were wanting …
By Denise Medrano, http://winesleuth.wordpress.com
In Italy, it’s commonplace to find enomatic machines in wine shops but the trend is still catching on here in London. There are only a few places I know of that have those machines on tap, so to speak. The Sampler in Islington and Kensington Wine Room being the two I can name off the top of my head. And now I can …
By Steve Evans, http://awinemerchantslife.blogspot.com/
Today I visited Shaka-Zulu the new South African Zulu restaurant which opens in June. Michael Clark (ex sommelier now Shaka-Zulu project manager) and I have just finalised the 100 bin all South African still wine list and I’ve had the chance to see the fit out progress at the site. This included my first real life glimpse of the £2 million worth of …
By The Little Welsh, http://www.thelittlewelsh.blogspot.com/
Primrose Bakery
A few weeks ago I ventured out to investigate another of London’s many trendy bakeries, having previously visited The Hummingbird Bakery…and Greggs (don’t think that one counts…). If you’ve read my previous blog post on The Hummingbird Bakery, you will know that I was not huuuuuuuuugely impressed, yes the branch I visited was in fashionable Soho …
By Mathilde Delville, http://mathildescuisine.wordpress.com/
Famous Scotch eggs and wine
IT was a rainy night. The kind of rainy and cold night where you suddenly feel that wearing high heels and forgetting your umbrella at the office were far from being your smartest choices of the day.
All the girls will picture those two actors kissing under the rain, as if nothing could …
