Clean. That’s the word, the concept, the feeling that kept coming to mind during my epically epicurean journey along North Road ‘s seven course tasting menu. The other recurring thought I had while dining my way through this seven course scenic feast was that eating at North Road was a whole lot of fun.
Fine Dining Fun at Christoffer Hruskova’s North Road
Great British Chef, 12 June 2012
Fusion, London’s first ever Central American food festival, starts tomorrow (Tuesday the 12th) at the InterContinental London Park Lane‘s Cookbook Cafe. The event runs through Sunday the 17th and celebrates contemporary cuisine from Central America and the Caribbean. Acclaimed Chef Mario Castrellon of Maito restaurant in Panama will headline the foodie fiesta alongside chefs from Intercontinental San Pedro Sula in Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
Here’s the low down on the events. And if these feasts turn out to be as delicious at the press preview I attended tonight, folks are definitely in for a treat! Also, Cookbook Cafe’s weekend brunch is the most impressive brunch (quality and quantity) I’ve come across in London – giving it a bit of Latin sabor sounds like an amazing idea.
Tuesday 12 June: Mayan Inspired ‘‘Food of the Gods”
An evening showcasing the very best of Mayan cuisine. Choose from a range of starters,
main courses and desserts. £10 starters, £18 main courses, £6 for desserts or £32 for three
courses.
Wednesday 13 June: Interactive Street Food & Bar
Experience the true art of Central American-Caribbean street food with an interactive culinary display. £25 per person.
Thursday 14 June: Panamanian Chef Mario Castrellon
Acclaimed Chef Mario Castrellon will share his passion for Panamanian cuisine and give
diners the chance to explore Central American-Caribbean food at its best. 4 courses at £45 per person.
Friday 15 and Saturday 16 June: Evening Market Table Buffet
The Market table at Cookbook Cafe will be transformed to include a selection of Central American-Caribbean favourites, celebrating the region and its influences. £35 per person.
Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 June: Weekend Brunch
Cookbook Cafe’s spectacular weekend brunch will continue to be served throughout the festival
featuring “bottomless” sparkling Cremánt and Bellini’s.
Saturdays: £49 adults, £25 under 17s, £15 under 12s and free for under 6s.
Sundays: £55 adults, £25 under 17s, £15 under 12s and free for under 6s.
A selection of ever-changing a la carte specials will be available in the evenings to diners at Cookbook Cafe, alongside the regular menu. In addition, from Tuesday – Friday Market Table lunches will be available for £18 per person (buffet only) or £25 (hot plates).
For lots more info visit http://www.cookbookcafe.co.uk/fusion.php.
This summer, the Science Museum in London will showcase the “Universe of Sound” – a major new digital installation which will see a virtual Philharmonia Orchestra taking up residence in the museum from May 23rd to the 8th of July.
Science Museum Hosts the ‘Universe of Sound’: a Virtual Philharmonia Orchestra
OneTravel, 10 June 2012
A first of its kind, the Cake & Bake Show at London’s Earl’s Court this September is set to be the baking event of the year, with some of the industry’s biggest names such as chocolate maker Paul A Young, Eric Lanlard, Edd “The Boy Who Bakes” Kimber, Mary Berry, Mich Turner MBE, Paul Hollywood, Juliet Sear and Richard Bertinet coming together under one roof for a weekend of demos, workshops, shopping and eating.
The 2012 Cake & Bake Show will be 22 and 23 September. Find out lots more at www.thecakeandbakeshow.co.uk.
I’m just now picking up on the story, but this over-the-top Diamond Jubilee cocktail is available throughout the month of June. So it’s still relevant and definitely retains some gawk value …
To celebrate Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Louis XIII has collaborated with the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane to create the Diamond Jubilee Fizz. A blend of Louis XIII cognac, raspberry liqueur and rose essence, topped up with Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne, the drink also comes with a Leviev Diamond “served on the side” for its imbiber to keep!
The Diamond Jubilee Fizz was concocted by Davide Guidi, manager at the Four Season’s Amaranto Bar, and is available all month for a mere £10,000 (roughly $15,500). Still upscale but well downmarket of this 10K mixologism is the £350 Jubilee Fizz, which features the same blend of Louis XIII, Roederer Cristal, raspberry liquer and rose essence, but comes sans diamond and served with a rose petal on the side instead.
Diamond Jubilee Fizz – £10,000 is available from the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane for £10,000 throughout the month of June and is served with a diamond on the side Jubilee Fizz – £350 is the same delicious blend of Louis XIII, Louis Roederer Cristal, raspberry liqueur and rose essence but is served with a rose petal on the side.
I had a pretty awesome – and very British – lunch yesterday: a slow roast pork pie with stuffing and rhubarb. The price was spot on too – £3.50 for my especially filling and tasty handmade lunch – and I reckon super cheap considering I bought the thing in upscale Chelsea.
The pie was but one of the many crusted creations made by Timmy’s Pies. A fairly new enterprise, Timmy’s is at Chelsea Farmers Market every Saturday (where, to be honest, all the vendors I noticed were offering their goods for a reasonable mark up). If you can’t catch ’em on Saturdays, Timmy’s Pies are also available at Harvey Nichols, Wholefoods and the Peoples’ Supermarket with even more snazzy outlets being lined up as I type!
I’m all about the current street market/street food hype coursing through London these days. It’s refreshing to see someone tapping into that zeitgeist-iness while still adhering to British tradition.
London Ceviche Week 2012 will run from the 23rd to the 30th of June, coinciding with Peru’s national ceviche day on June 28th and offering a range of events centered around the culinary art of slicing and marinating.
London Ceviche Week
CheapOair, 7 June 2012
From digestives to custard creams to wafers, biscuits are about as British as it gets. And now there’s an all-things-biscuit festival coming to London that’s sure to send folks on a sugar rush. From the 8th June 2012, the Brunswick Centre in London will host the first ever British Biscuit Festival, a three day celebration with biscuit-centric activities and entertainment aimed to please young and old alike.
London Hosts First Ever British Biscuit Festival
Great British Chefs, 6 June 2012
Photo/Great British Chefs
An up close and personal hoax that’s a lot of fun – and just in time to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne – a new photography exhibition has opened in Londonfeaturing candid and personal photos of “the queen” and other members of the royal family.
Up Close and Personal Photographs of the Queen (Wink Wink)
OneTravel, 6 June 2012
The 2012 Chrysler 300C goes on sale June 14th here in the UK. Injecting a heaping dose of testerone into my usually kinda wimpy inbox, Chrysler dropped an email invite to the Jeremy Clarkson wannabe convention that was the launch and test drive for this mamma jamma of a luxury cruise. Assembled in Cambridge we Clarksonites et al hit the mean streets … erm … the bucolic lanes of the Cambridgeshire countryside for a day of driving fun.
And speaking of Clarkson, he and the rest of the macho folk at TopGear reckon the new 300C to be “superbly refined, and massively quiet … a lovely place to waft around in”. Getting in on the wannabe action, and having sat behind the wheel of the 300C myself, I suppose I couldn’t agree more with such an assessment.
Better built, safer and even more lavishly equipped and efficient than its predecessor, this “Quiet American” is a dreamboat of a ride. Offering the type of engineering, design, materials and driving dynamics that European buyers expect, combined with American swagger and value for money, the 2012 appears primed for an attempt to sail ahead of its competition too.
So just what is it that sets the 300C apart from previous models and the rest of the executive sector lot?
For starters, both the Limited (£35,995) and Executive (£39,995) versions of the 300C come with Fiat Group Automobile’s new 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel engine with MultiJet 2 technology, yielding a class-leading compromise between effortless power and fuel-saving efficiency. Rain Brake Support helps keep both Limited and Executive brake pads dry for better stopping power in poor conditions.
Standard on Limited models are ventilated front seats and heated rears, Uconnect infotainment system with Bluetooth, dual-zone climate control, an 8.4-inch touch screen display, mirrors that darken automatically to limit headlight glare, cruise control and 18-inch wheels. Executive 300Cs come with Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) system, radar Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and a two-panel panoramic sunroof as well as the forward collision monitoring system and 20-inch alloy wheels.
From redesigned Nappa leather seats to real wood panels on the dashboard, interiors feature high grade materials throughout both Limited and Executive 300Cs. The 300C’s body is made from a variety of new materials including advanced high resistance steel. Improved rigidity combined with all-new suspension to make the rear-wheel drive Chrysler 300C a quieter and more refined float through the streets. The more rigid construction also combines with a suite of nearly 70 electronic safety aids that ensure the Chrysler 300C offers top-class safety in a supremely stylish package.
Not so testoster-iffic, I honestly can’t claim to hold much knowledge when it comes to the goings on underneath the bonnet of any car. So no need to knock your knees there, Jeremy. However, I can tell you this about my test drive: the 300C drove like a breeze along those winding country roads. A generally fidgity driver, the lux interface and roomy seats eased me into total (yet still attentive and alert!) comfort as I zipped through the pretty swaths of English greenery in my Limited 300C. I loved the ventilated seats – no sweaty backs!
From the very moment I opened my 300C’s door and settled into the driver’s seat, I found my test drive to be an especially intuitive experience and a cut above any road time I’ve spent in a car for ages: plush style without compromising any umph! As one iconic American so eloquently put it, “walk softly and carry a big stick”. Chrysler seems to have incorporated Teddy Roosevelt’s sentiments into the 300C’s design: drive quietly and pack a wallop.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy … and I’m home.
Kemey and I just got back from taking advantage of this extra long weekend with a fantastic afternoon feast at a friend’s place across the river. It’s been the most relaxed Tuesday we’ve had in ages – thanks Queenie! Steak, wine, a little more wine … and then a little more wine … and bam it was time for us to head home and face the inevitable humdrum routine of starting back to work tomorrow.
Lulled, full and a little buzzed, neither of us were up to hoofing it to the nearest Underground station (about a 10 minute walk away), taking the Tube and then the bus to get home. So, I used the Get Taxi app that I’d recently installed on my phone. The process was pretty intuitive and essentially effortless.
Tony, our cabbie, showed up quickly (as was indicated countdown-style on my phone’s screen while we waited) in a clean Black Cab. He was friendly and drove safely. The metered price was comparable to times I’d taken minicabs from the same friend’s place back to my flat in the past. But I didn’t have to trouble my friends’ for a rec or wait ages for a car to come.
In full disclosure, I should mention I was offered some free taxi credit in exchange for a review of this app. That said, I was really pleased with the service, and I definitely intend to use Get Taxi again. It was a lot easier and more seamless and felt more secure than calling an unfamiliar car company. I can especially see the app coming in handy next time I’m in a part of London that I don’t know all that well.
Get Taxi is a free app. It’s available throughout the UK and a number of other countries and is well worth checking out and giving a spin.
The thoughtful menu alone makes The Honours well worth a visit. However, it should be noted that the elegant art deco feel of the restaurant, along with some of the most impeccably gracious service you’ll probably ever come across in the UK add layers of “oh yeah” to any visit.
An Edinburgh Brasserie Where it’s an Honour to Dine
CheapOair, 5 June 2012
At Champagne + Fromage, all 20 of French Bubbles’ award-winning champagnes will be available for purchase along with a selection of French cheese and charcuterie from Une Normande à Londres.
I ambled in for one of the shop’s recent launch events. It’s a lovely, rustic setting with an inspired and informed collection of bubbly produced with indie spirit. While there I was turned on to a real winner of a wine – Michel Furdyna’s Brut Rosé. It’s better than you might think a whole lot more versatile than you might otherwise expect.
… Burgundy’s delectable regional specialties epitomize what’s great about French cuisine … and demand equally delicious wine. Here’s (a hardly exhaustive) list of some of Beaune’s best places to wine and dine in style …
Where to Eat in Beaune, Capital of Burgundy Wine
OneTravel, 2 June 2012
… a quick and easy ‘I’ll have that’ was a no-can-do when I gave the weekend brunch menu at The Gilbert Scott a mouthwatering peruse. A problem it was, but such a delicious one.
The Gilbert Scott: Brunch at the Bar
Great British Chefs, 2 June 2012
London’s streets will resonate to the tune of everything from Chopsticks to Chopin this summer as 50 Golden Street Pianos take up residence across the British capital as part of the City of London Festival’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
50 Golden Street Pianos for London Public This Summer
CheapOair, 30 May 2012
Photo/Ash-rly
I’d recommend trying these burgers or your own variant of them at your next barbecue. But don’t tell anybody they’re venison. I think it would be fun to see …
Making Josh Eggleton’s Venison Burgers
Great British Chefs, 30 May 2012
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is to be celebrated in grand style at London’s famous Covent Garden and promises royal fun for all.
Celebrate the Diamond Jubilee at Covent Garden
CheapOair, 29 May 2012
Photo/Shashwat_Nagpal
… London‘s first temakeria has recently opened offering a hands-on opportunity to try sushi with a bit of Brazilian beat.
Yoobi, London’s First Temakeria, Now Open in Soho
OneTravel, 29 May 2012
If you’re even a cursory reader of this blog, it should come as no surprise that, for my latest WOTM post, I’ve gone with a wine I tried while in Burgundy.
While having a fantastic lunch at La Ciboulette, a modest little eatery with an amazingly down home Bourguignon kitchen in the heart of Beaune, it was suggested I have a glass of Bouzeron with my starter course of snails. ‘A Bouzer-huh?’ I wondered. Merely a sip later I was thinking ‘a Bouzer-wow!’
In a white wine producing region that’s overwhelming all about the Chardonnay, Bouzeron is the only communal Appellation to be made from the Aligoté grape. It’s crisp, lemony and floral and went excedingly well with my l’escargot.
2005 seems an especially refreshing vintage and Jaffelin a label worth looking out for.
Funny thing, snooping around the internet to see what others have thought of this wine I read a lot of “so-so” sorts of reviews. I’m not sure those responsible for the “meh” write ups really got this wine. It’s different … and obviously a detour from the usual Burgundy whites … served chilled it’s a winner for the sort of cloudless early summer days we’ve been having here in London lately (and will hopeful continue having for at least a little while longer).
If you do some online detective work about this wine, you should find that Jaffelin Bouzeron 2005 is fairly easy to obtain and will probably set you back around £12 or so if purchased in the UK. Just in case anybody finds an especially good bargain or happens upon a shop stocking bottles of this quaff, please let me know!
Would you like some free beer delivered to your home?
I’ve got a Carling Jubilee Hamper valued around £300 that I can have delivered to one lucky reader before the extra long weekend commences. The hamper includes “a (very large) rectangular wicker hamper, six bottles of Carling (including the latest Zest and Chrome ranges), Carling glasses, Carling bunting, and loads of Jubilee decorations including tablecloths, napkins, flags, horns – basically everything you need to have a rocking Jubilee party!”
The folks at Carling got in touch with this promo to spread the word about its roles as the official beer for the Big Lunch events happening across the UK over the Diamond Jubilee weekend. Carling has already given away more than 300,000 bottles of beer to fans who are hosting a Big Lunch event.
Do you want to have the hamper sent to you? Leave a comment below explaining why you deserve the hamper. I’ll pick a winner by tomorrow (Wednesday 30 May 2012) night.
To be eligible to win you’ll need to be in the UK, 18 years of age or older and able to prove it. Good luck!
COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED AND WINNERS HAVE BEEN SELECTED/CONTACTED. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE FUN AND FREEBIES TO COME!
– tikichris
