Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
My friend Elsa suggested meeting at Leon de Bruxelles. As a lover of mussels and frites – in which Leon de Bruxelles specialises – this seemed like a great idea. Leon de Bruxelles started life as Chez Leon when it opened in Brussels in 1893. The first ‘Leon de Bruxelles’ restaurant opened a century later, […]
Read MoreIt was a day for grazing. I’d been up early as I had to finish work on some proofs and get them into the post. People are surprised that we publishers still sometimes work in the Dark Ages and I do actually read page proofs, as in a great pile of paper pages, to which I […]
Read MoreMy son’s 30th birthday celebrations continued at Ruben’s Refettorio last night. Igor’s wonderful bakery and pizzeria have become such family favourites that when Jonathan was deciding where to gather his friends to celebrate his entry into a new decade, it was a natural choice. Some of us had built up an appetite on the playing […]
Read MoreWhen I stopped by at the lovely Ruben’s Bakehouse at around 8 am this morning, en route to pick up Jonathan, Lyndsey and Zeph the Puppy and drive to Kent to visit my family, work was still in progress in the Refettorio. I’d popped in to buy one of their wonderful sourdough loaves and a […]
Read MoreI’ve never celebrated 4th July before. Well, I’m not American; I’m a Londoner through and through. But when I received an email from Joe Allen about their special 4th July American Independence Day menu featuring burgers, clam chowder, barbecue ribs and chocolate brownies for pud, it was an offer not to be resisted. And anyway, […]
Read MoreJune went out in a blaze of sun-drenched glory yesterday and it was thus a perfect day to head out of London and up the M40 to visit my daughter in Birmingham. Birmingham may be the UK’s 2nd city and famed for its ugly ‘Spaghetti junction’ motorway interchange but in the five years Nicola has […]
Read MoreAfter my indulgent week of eating in France last week and four salad-filled days at home trying to be good (you see, sometimes I try!), the car and I set off on another little trip that promised some gastronomic pleasure. My friends Lesley and Colin have bought a cottage in Dorset and had invited me […]
Read MoreIt was back in December 2011 that I first interviewed exciting young chef, Shaun Dickens, for my Top Ten Cookery Books series. Shaun had arrived at Fallowfields, a country house hotel in Oxfordshire, a few months before with ambitions to turn round the restaurant – and he did, earning it 2 AA rosettes pretty quickly. […]
Read MoreWith my last birthday ten days ago, I saw the passing of another decade. Those ‘0’ birthdays get a little more difficult as the years go by, even though I’ve never been one to worry about my age. However, the last ten days have seen such a rush of kindness and generosity from family and […]
Read MoreThere’s been a lot of talk about how difficult it is to get a table at London’s hottest new restaurant – Balthazar, in Covent Garden, situated in a prime location right near the Piazza. When Annie and I had an unusually long break between meeting up – 5 weeks – something prompted me to think, […]
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