“There’s that moment after dessert when the restaurant owner wheels out a flaming pan of liquor coffee in order to stop anyone dying from a medieval curse…” All in an evening’s dining, if you’re on an island in the middle of Lake Como.
The Hampshire Hog. The name resonates with Englishness. You feel like it should be said by some portly, ancient chap wearing a cravat and a smoking cap as he reminisces about misspent student days in ‘The Hog’.
Chocolate wine first appeared on the English culinary scene in the 1660s, soon after the arrival of chocolate itself, which was known during the reign of Charles II as “the Indian nectar.”
Italians do it better. I could have told you that myself, yet last time Pret…
“You are sitting in Lady Thatcher’s seat madam: tonight you are the Iron Lady. And there, across from you, that’s the table Princess Margaret always booked.” It could only happen at The Ritz…
“As soon as you step through the doors, it’s obvious that there is an architect or two hanging in the wings. The restaurant is light and airy, with a clean, simple aesthetic and industrial edge.”
“The Victoria in Richmond manages to straddle a number of hospitality guises in a way that I’ve never encountered before; it’s a local-friendly pub, a restaurant, a café, and a hotel, all rolled into one effortless whole.”
“Viajante, meaning traveller in Portuguese, is an apt name for Nuno Mendes’ Michelin-starred restaurant at the converted Edwardian Town Hall Hotel, which has brought a much-needed dose of glamour to Bethnal Green.”
“Since opening in 2006, Riddle & Finns Champagne and Oyster Bar, tucked away in the maze-like Lanes, has established itself as one of the finest seafood restaurants in Brighton – or indeed anywhere.”
“Fillet is the French caviar,” crisply alliterates Thierry Thomasin, the author of Angelus restaurant. Sitting in the cosy, couth dining room, I struggle to recall a lovelier mouthful.
“We arrive as the sun begins to wane and are shown to a spot by the stage. The tables by the elongated, convex windows that fill one entire wall of the restaurant are full of bankers negotiating lobster claws and oversized steaks.”
“Jonesy and I make our way through the reception area of The Mandeville and slip into the low-lit cocktail bar. Fresh from the book, I immediately feel like Ripley. My recent reading is having a palpable effect on my state of mind, my sanity.”