Radio Three Counties newest pundit, me
It’s been a while since Sunday mornings were a blissful lie in followed by a casual read of the papers with a pro-offered opine on their contents. This is mainly due to the arrival of The Nipper(™). So as I’m up early on a Sunday I might as well put that time to good use. ...
What’s it like to work, live and eat on the road?
‘If you’ve got it, it came by truck’ says veteran trucker John Eden at one point during my interview with him for The Food Programme. You can listen to the full programme here. John’s right of course, practically everything we enjoy in Britain today is moved around by an army of truckers, couriers and van drivers....
Lunch with a little ‘un – The Jugged Hare
Pre lunch venue: Art and Science on the Brain, Barbican Venue verdict: Playing with brains, what’s not to like? @foodjournalist adopt me please. @thejuggedhare — Melanie Jappy (@japster2008) April 9, 2013 Neuroscience and brains formed the prelude to the latest lunch with a little ‘un, and you can’t get cooler than getting kids into science....
Chicken in half-mourning
What to serve good friends on Good Friday? Were one of a devoutly religious persuasion then traditionally the day calls for something simple and abstemious, in remembrance of the suffering of our Lord on the cross. But these are not abstemious friends, consequently it had to be something a bit special. And when special is...
Why I really love ordering ‘chicken to share’
To break bread or chew the same piece of meat was one of the human race's most primitive acts of companionship. But fast forward to the present and, though we still eat out communally, what’s eaten has often become separate choices on separate plates. Some venues, however, have embraced family-style serving, sending out a large...
Lunch with a little ‘un – Balthazar
Balthazar doesn’t have a children’s menu, it doesn’t have high chairs, on the face of it, it doesn’t ‘do’ children. And yet within its gilded and mirrored walls daughts and I encountered some of the most child-friendly hospitality we’ve yet received. This past month all of London has been abuzz with the news of Balthazar's...
Lunch with a little ‘un – Trullo, Islington
Pre lunch venue: Highbury fields playground. Venue verdict: Hopefully the refurb will make it even better If George Orwell ever decided to add ‘the perfect neighbourhood Italian restaurant’ to his 1946 search for the perfect English pub, he could a lot worse than Trullo. Loved by the critics (and me) since it opened in 2010,...
Belle Époque redux and the return of the brasserie
London isn’t really one city, but two, we’ve just done a better welding job than Buda and Pest. So while in the East it’s mainly pop-ups, Americana-influenced speak easies, and drinking from kilner jars. In the West End some of the newest restaurants hark back to a golden age of style, it’s just a shame...
The tall tale of Richard III and Bosworth jumbles
So, the skeleton in the car park is indeed that of Richard III. With that in mind here's an entry from my book on Bosworth Jumbles biscuits, which comemortate the battle that ultimately put him there. When matters need celebrating, we reach for cakes, pastries and other sweet delicacies. Getting hitched? Time for a wedding cake....
Lunch with a little ‘un – Clissold House
Pre-lunch venue: Clissold Park Venue verdict: Great park, but not enough swings Among the various tribes of North London, Stoke Newington parents stand apart. These are thee most flexible of workers; the elite of the bearded mankles-out camper-shoe wearing earth-mothers – and that’s just the dads. Kelross passage marks the no-mans-land between Highbury and Stoke...
Food on a pension: what’s it like to shop, cook and eat when you’re old?
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Recently, I 'time travelled' 30 years into my own food future for Radio 4's The Food Programme. I looked at the eating habits of the elderly, and tried to cook while wearing a suit that mimics some...
A chat with Oliver Peyton
Oliver Peyton’s various business endeavors are like little milestones in my life. As a 20-something art student, I wasn’t cool enough to get into the Atlantic Bar which opened in 1994. I spent much of the late 90s boozing in his Mash bar just off London’s Oxford Street. And finally, while writing my book a...