Art & Food: They Can’t Keep Me Away …

It was a fairly last-minute arrangement for me to meet friends Lucia and David at the highly acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s St Martin’s Lane. As they weren’t able to meet for a meal beforehand I decided to eat at that old favourite of […]

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Art & Food: An Artist Interviewed & Pasta

I used to go to a lot of events at London galleries where artists, art historians and art critics talked about their work. There have not been so many of these in recent years so I was particularly excited by the National Gallery’s new series: Picture This, in which broadcaster John Wilson is in conversation […]

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Where to Eat with Kids: Wahaca

It’s becoming a family tradition to go to The Nutcracker at Christmastime – again! Again because I was taken to see it as a child for many years and it’s wonderful that now my grandsons are old enough to enjoy it too. It was Freddie’s (10) third time; Ben’s (8) second and this time my […]

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Return to Cinnamon Bazaar, Covent Garden

I first went to Cinnamon Bazaar in Covent Garden in April 2019. I was a long-time fan of the Cinnamons and although I loved the Kitchen and Club, was delighted by this less formal version at Bazaar. Despite promises to myself to go back soon, it wasn’t until April this year that I went again, […]

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Restaurant Review: Delamina Townhouse

My friend Sharon proved to be a source of great restaurant recommendations again, having suggested Delamina Townhouse as a place to meet up last night. There are three ‘Delaminas’ – Delamina East in Shoreditch, Delamina in Marylebone, and the Townhouse in Covent Garden, which is where we met last night. Housed in a Grade II […]

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Return to The Barbary

I’d only been to The Barbary once before and was quite surprised when I checked on this blog to find it was as long ago as 2016 – a few weeks after it opened. As ‘little sister’ to the wonderful The Palomar – one of my favourite restaurants – and receiving great reviews, it couldn’t […]

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Restaurant Review: Frenchie, Covent Garden, London

I saw Greg Marchand, chef/owner of Frenchie on BBC TV’s Saturday Kitchen last month, in Christmas mode and making a rather wonderful stuffing for chicken. I looked up his restaurant on my iPad and made a note that I must visit sometime. Then serendipity stepped in soon after and in an exchange of emails with […]

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Art & Pasta

My lovely friend Lucia emailed to say she and her husband David had booked entry to the National Gallery – which is open late on Fridays – to see The Ugly Duchess exhibition and were then eating at Bancone after. Did I want to join them? I most certainly did! We were meeting at 7pm […]

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Return to Bancone

It had been a long time since I was last at Bancone. Well, pre-pandemic. After my first visit in August 2018 (click here), it became a favourite haunt where I ate many times and took friends and family along to enjoy too. Would it be the same? Would I still rate it as one of […]

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Art & Food: Edvard Munch at The Courtauld & Lunch at Joe Allen

An email from The Courtauld alerted me that the Edvard Munch exhibition I wanted to see was ending at the weekend. I knew very little of Munch apart from his famous and iconic painting The Scream, which has so often been used as a symbol of the anxiety of the human condition. After reading the […]

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