More from Harden's

Dining by Design:

Brunswick House Cafe (read)

oOo

Talking Toques:

Neil and Ed Martin (pictured, read)

 oOo

Book Feature:

Richard Johnson (read)

Mike Robinson's Cookery School

MOUNTAINEER, boulderer, hunter, restaurateur (The Pot Kiln, Berkshire), and co-owner of the Harwood Arms, Fulham, Mike Robinson also runs game workshops at his cookery school.

Read at Harden's

Simon Says

Simon Hulstone on potentially deadly foraging, mind altering tea and suicidal mackerel...

Click photos above to read (Eat Me magazine) 
For photos of Simon, see Visuals

Top Table's Most Romantic Restaurants Feature

500 Restaurant, 782 Holloway Road, London, N19 3JH:

I’ve often found the home to be a more romantic dining environment then even the softest lit, most smoothly served restaurant. However, for unexpected culinary fortune, I’d recommend the humble looking ‘500’ in Archway. For a marginal supplement to already reasonable prices, their own imported truffles - white abundantly shaved over buttery pappardelle; black over venison leg or veal escalope, makes a heady impression.

For: Top Table

Plates of Potential and Potential Plates

Restaurant writer, Douglas Blyde asked London’s leading food-focussed personalities what 2012 might hold for diners.

Read at Story PR's blog

Restaurant Review: CUT

HAVING been written-off as “good for nothing” by his coalminer father, Wolfgang Puck left school and home aged 14. On being subsequently fired three-weeks into his apprenticeship at the kitchens of Romantik Hotel Poste in hometown, Villach, Austria, hopeless Puck considered suicide, going so far as to reach the river’s edge. Fortunately, the hotel’s owner discovered sympathy and saved his life, relocating him among female cooks in the Poste’s sister property. Under improved conditions, once outcast Puck become a culinary protégé, gaining the highest catering school qualifications which the owner had seen...

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine (p. 23)

Majestic Mirazur

GAULT-MILLAU’s first non-French Chef of the Year, Mauro Colagreco talks to Douglas Blyde about realising his restaurant vision…

Read at Brummell magazine

For Whom The Bell Tolls

AN EXCURSION “brimming with surprises” is how our individually dapper host bills it. “Meet at 17:10 at platform six, Charing Cross, bring an overnight bag, and sport gastro coach-house chic” are his instructions, e-mailed in an invitation etched over the image of a stiff, stuffed squirrel bolted to a rocking chair. Its limbs are crossed in a pose at once casual and pensive. Bar one, who accidentally ventures to King’s Cross, our Quink spill of positive RSVPs – food journalists and food bloggers, and food journalists who PRs obstinately refer to as food bloggers – shoe-horn themselves into rush-hour rolling-stock. Bathed in fluorescent light, and frequently kneed by a bolshy congo of corridor haunting commuters buckled into wan suits, we’re plied with blotting paper dry fizzy English red...

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Harden's

THE latest newsletter features four Q&A's which I organised:

• Felicity Cloake
• Nuno Mendes
• Fred Sirieix
• Huw Gott

Realising Roganic

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

 BEN Spalding sips green tea amid numerous jars and tubs of herbs, spices and flowers, their exotic names boldly scrawled in marker pen. We’re in the kitchens under Roganic, first London venture from Simon Rogan, mind behind esteemed Cumbria restaurant, L’Enclume. Tattoos crawl Spalding’s arms. They include the line ‘keep your feet on the earth but your head in the sky’ as well as jigsaw pieces and music notes reflecting an interest in techno music. “I had no interest in food at school” he says. “My dad was an alcoholic and died when I was 16. I got caught-up in a bad crowd.” Fortunately eldest brother Andrew set him straight, enrolling him at catering college. “At night I’d work at a restaurant run by an Alain Ducasse-trained chef which is how I caught the cooking bug.”

Read at Harpers Wine & Spirit (pp. 24-26)

Leluu & Blyde, 8th December

 Photo: Leluu

HEREWITH, the menu for Leluu & Blyde supper club, 8th December. For details of how to book, please see: Leluu.com.

anaemic mary
strained vine tomato, basil, konik’s tail primeval forest vodka, discrete spices

sea petal
fins de claire, seaweed, sesame, stinging nettle jelly

pouting parcels
handmade wontons, pouter fish, sun-dried shrimp paste, sage, scandalous scallions, ricotta

taking the peas
strained, strained and strained again peas, mint, manzanilla, white truffle butter croutons, micro shoots

good raw deal
brazilian topside and rump tartare, rosemary powder, soy, cognac, wasabi, quail’s egg, autumn truffle

snow white risotto
squid, fennel, enoki, vermouth, early winter truffle

chickens have loved
halal hearts terryaki, coconut caramel, ginger, chinese chives, on brochettes

bathing birds
quail, rose perfume, citrus, crushed clove, pomegranate, parsnip nest

the green water
cool cucumber consomme, berries, leccino olive

pangea pancake
vanilla, clementine glaze, violet cream

minus mothers ruin
coconut, slow cooked juniper, lime zest

[Donation: £35+]

Talking Toques - Mark Sargeant

Photo: Leluu

WE catch up with Gordon Ramsay’s former right-hand man at Rocksalt - his new restaurant in Folkestone...

Read at Harden's
Read my longer feature on Mark Sargeant at Fork magazine

Sir Frank Williams

THE founder and manager of the AT&T Williams Formula One team faces the Spear's inquisition...

Read

Morgenster wines at The Square

GIULIO Bertrand and Henry Kotzé came to London restaurant, The Square to introduce the Morgenster range of wines to journalists. The 300 year-old vine and olive estate is based in Somerset West, Stellenbosch. Owner, Giulio Bertrand, who was formerly in the textile business, and originally purchased the 200ha site as a retirement domicile, but found the idea of a 200ha garden impractical, admires the wines of leading Saint-Emilion Château, Cheval Blanc. So too does his winemaker, Henry Kotzé, who sows Cabernet Franc alongside Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and a little Petit Verdot (on Tableberg sandstone). Pierre Lurton is consultant.

Read at Harpers Wine and Spirit magazine

Tapas Dance

NACHO Manzano, the two-Michelin-starred Asturian chef behind London’s Ibérica Food & Culture restaurants talks kilometer- zero cuisine, and the importance of unfussy fare...

Read at Brummell

Ginstitute Launches

WITH the aim of conveying the long history of Londoners’ allegiance to dry gin, the second smallest museum in the capital recently opened in Notting Hill...

Read at Foodepedia

Juliette Joffe, Giraffe Restaurants

BEFORE establishing Giraffe, Juliette Joffe was the mind behind the Café Flo chain. She founded Giraffe 14 years-ago this summer with husband, Russel and business partner, Andrew Jacobs who she first encountered as a waiter at Flo. Giraffe employs 1,200 staff across 43 restaurants in England, including five franchises.

Read at Livebookings

The Room at The Elephant

“I ate beans on toast and spaghetti hoops until I was 15” says Simon Hulstone, the once “fussy eater” who went on to become the only British chef to win gold at France’s World Chef Championships. Fortunately work related travels with father, Roger, group executive chef for hoteliers, Hilton and Forte saw his disinterest in food disappear. “I started to like chefs’ banter,” he recalls...

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit (p. 23)

¿Quéviar?

WE’RE used to free-range eggs, so why not organic caviar? Douglas Blyde dons his waders for some Spanish roe...

Read at Spear’s

Test Dining THIRTY SIX by Nigel Mendham

IN tandem with general manager, Debrah Dhugga, chef Nigel Mendham has brought the restaurant at much-loved five-star, Duke’s of St. James up to the standard of its attendant bar. It’s long been a favourite on account of its balanced but - if you’re not watchful - unbalancing martinis.

Read at Hot Dinners

A Tail To Remember

PLEURAT Shabani, the creator of Konik’s Tail vodka, tells Douglas Blyde how he brought rare premium vodka from Poland’s primeval forests to London’s best bars…

Read at Brummell

Brummell Blog: Wolfgang Puck

THE celebrated Austrian-born American chef has just opened his first British venture The Cut at the 5-star hotel, 45 Park Lane. Here he talks about cruelty, inspiration, benevolence and rock and roll…

Read at Brummell

Q&A with Justin Thomas

OUR reporter Douglas Blyde talks to Justin Thomas – the man behind Belgravia’s ever-buzzing Thomas Cubitt, on the importance of the dining environment...
Read at Harden's

Talking Toques - Simon Hopkinson

“I think you can afford to go a touch thinner, Tom” says Hopkinson, lifting coppa-style sliced beef sourced from Trealy Farm, Monmouthshire. “We’ve also been discussing sausages” he adds, observing the full English at the centre of attention.

Read at Harden's

Leluu & Blyde

‘I think it would be great fun to share Douglas' enthusiasm for cooking - he is brilliant and inventive - at my supper club. A creatively delicious British menu, eg. minted pea and Manzanilla soup, Konik’s Tail Bloody Mary lolly with soy, tile of flighted animals, and roast figs with violet sugar...’

More details: http://www.leluu.com/

Another Course of The Kitchen

Arnold Wesker's dine-amic, The Kitchen (currently served up at the National Theatre) is being live streamed in cinemas on Thursday. To find out more visit: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive. It features my former colleague of hospitality, Marek Oravec (Hans, pictured).

Names Can’t Be Bulldozed

HONOURING the avoidably lost is one of Great Britain’s not-so-great traditions. It irks me to see identikit dormitory estates steal first land then titles of dismantled noble estates and useful post offices adjusted into twee Old Post Offices not worth a posit on a postcard.

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Fizz

THE authority responsible for safeguarding Champagne’s name and quality turns 70 this year. Founded by producers in 1941 in response to Germany’s impolite ransacking of much of the area’s 280kms of cellars, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) exists on an annual budget of 20m Euros. This is raised from bottle tax levied on producers obliged to join. Although a major aspect of the CIVC’s role is to ensure ‘Champagne’ is only applied to traditional method sparkling wine from the region rather than deceitfully promoted £10 spring water for domestic animals, Norwegian orange juice or even Kiwi soap, the body devotes much time to innovation. According to PR head Philippe Wibrotte, in response to environmental concerns (the region gained an average 1.4 degrees Celsius over 40-years) the CIVC cut carbon emissions by 7% by simply deploying a lighter bottle. By skimming shoulders the shed 75g brings the most popular 75cl format to 835g.

Read more »

A one to one with John Sullivan, IT Director, Gondola Group

JOHN Sullivan is IT Director for the Gondola group which serves 40 million meals a year via restaurants, Pizza Express, Zizzi, Ask, Byron and Kettner’s. He says it’s a fantastic time to work in information technology.

Read at Livebookings

Illy Galleria and University of Coffee

PERFORMANCES by Marina Abramović, mirror paintings by Michelangelo Pistoletto and dishes by Michelin-starred chefs, Viki Geunes and Giorgio Locatelli feature at this year’s pop-up ‘Galleria’ by Illy. Also within its densely coffee scented confines - and despite not having a degree-granting licence - the Galleria offers complimentary courses at its ‘University of Coffee’. The aim: to teach consumers the craft and flair behind flawless macchiatos, velvety cappuccinos and creamy caffè lattes.

Read at Foodepedia

Monza in Photos

VIP guest of at&t Williams, Douglas Blyde gained access to the pit stop and paddock at the historic Monza circuit during the last European race of the season. Here is his photo-story…

View at The Prodigal Guide

Water Drinking Wit: The Charles Lamb

EIGHTEENTH century essayist, Charles Lamb doesn’t seem the obvious choice to lend licensed premises his name. In ‘Confessions of a Drunkard’ (Last Essays of Elia) the Georgian Islingtonite presaged against ‘draughts of life-destroying wine … distilled into airy breath to tickle vain auditors.’

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Feeling Dizy

A guest appearance on Lucy Shaw's fine 'Wine In The City' site, filmed at Champagne Jacquesson.

For photos of Champagne, see Visuals

Punch & Suttie

THE Edinburgh Fringe offers rich pickings for printers. Often beautiful flyers are perpetually pressed into hands by more often than not, beautiful people. One chap, clad beak to braces in gaudy plumes, touted ‘underground rebel bingo’ complete with giveaways of glitter balls, tents and sleeping bag suits. Another lady enticed me to behold a singing shimmering mermaid. By end of week one, sturdy pillars flanking the Royal Mile – scene of scores of outdoor gigs – are deeply swathed with the flickering papers.

Read at The Arbuturian

Fast Food, Slow Wine

I REMEMBER a riveting restaurant review by wit, Victor Lewis-Smith. ‘When I got this job’ he mused in The Guardian in 2005, ‘my mate Kev (who’s very high up at Channel 4) told me, “Don’t just go to all the poncey places. Review Little Chefs, too.”’ Despite the fact Lewis’ ensuing pit stop delivered him ‘sad sausages’ with ‘less flavour than roadkill stuffed into a condom’, Kev’s sentiments still circulate my subconscious. I think it’s important for critics to maintain context. To solely steer shiny silver or Sheffield plate to scrupulous morsels at steamed linen is to evade an abundance of intriguing eats unravelling beyond Michelin’s zenith. So, shunning pomp and “ponce”, I positively RSVP’d to ‘All For Wine and Wine For All’s’ intriguing invite to digest a tasting menu of ‘junk food and fine wine’.

Read at All4wine.co.uk

Balfour Castle

TWEED clad gamekeeper Karl collects me in Reggie, Balfour Castle’s launch. It’s piloted by Mike who prefers its speed to the tug boat which he used to skipper. As well as transferring family and guests from Kirkwall on the mainland to Shapinsay, he’s harbourmaster. Measuring six miles by three it’s one of 70 islands within the Orkney archipelago which locals claim is closer in culture to Oslo than Edinburgh. Hence fiddle music’s more likely to pierce the breeze than bagpipes.

Read more »

Thai Food Safari

GARLANDED with jasmine, papped like filmstars, then escorted through heat hazed rush hour gridlock by a police motorcyclist in a minibus blessed by a monk. This is the unconventional welcome three British journalists basked in, in Bangkok.

Read this at Fork magazine
Read Letter from Bangkok at Chef! magazine
Read about Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi at glass magazine

Turkish Delight In Mayfair

AFTER success as a food writer and television chef, Silvena Rowe opened her first restaurant, Quince at The May Fair hotel, in June serving Ottoman-inspired dishes with a very modern twist. Here she talks about the restaurant, her cooking and why she loves London...

Read at Brummell magazine

Blueprint: An Icon

‘Paolozzi’s mainly concerned with copulating grasshoppers’ says Christopher Turner as he comes face to phiz with ‘Head of Invention’, a bulky sculpture leaning, leadenly on Shad Thames. ‘And I’ve a friend who owns Paolozzi’s raised skirt Marilyn Monroe with detachable legs,’ he adds. ‘Her billowing skirt and torso lift off to leave pins standing on a bit of gauze substituting for the NY grate.’

Read at The Prodigal Guide

The great British picnic

IN the final part of a six-part series, chef Matt Tebbutt prepares crab lettuce cups, grilled sea bass then warmed strawberries and peaches for a beachside lunch with actress and cook, Lisa Faulkner...

Read my advertorial at Guardian Weekend

Blazing Spirit: noma

RATHER than fairy tales, Hamlet’s castle, Viking saga and Technicolor LEGO, Douglas Blyde opts for the purity and persistence of Denmark’s cuisine, jolted by the tongue by René Redzepi at noma...

Read this at The Arbuturian
Read about noma's designers at Spear's
See photos of Copenhagen

The Admirable Sargeant

“You’re a dead ringer for Giles Coren ten years-ago” says Mark Sargeant, wide-eyed. “And smaller than I expected. People think the same of me.”
Read a copy at David J. Constable's site

No Beef with Bull

“SLOW it down, don’t speak and don’t look it in the eye” whispers ghillie Mitchell Partridge. As we gingerly approach the beast, its breeze block of a skull lifts from the grass buffet. Beside it are big bellied charges. As we encroach, they emit booming complaints, amplified in this amphitheatre of hills. “That was interesting,” I remark when considerably clear of the hardy grazers. “Now you know why I ask guests to avoid bright clothes,” he responds, unshaken.

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Made in Yorkshire

THE final of the inaugural cocktail competition Made in Yorkshire took place at Leeds' 13th floor SkyLounge at the Mint Hotel on August 1, a day officially designated Yorkshire Day. As well as the city's nightlife, organisers Welcome to Yorkshire and SLB Public Relations intended the event to highlight the county's bounty of local produce. Consequently competitors were required to include a minimum of one local ingredient whether wine, rhubarb, carrot or relish.

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine
See photos at Visuals

The Ferryboat Inn

SAILING boats bob to the sound of Moby, kayakers swerve past kingfishers, herons and oystercatchers, and spherical hanging baskets almost imperceptibly swing. This is how life looks in the early evening from the broad, canopied terrace of Falmouth’s 300 year-old Ferryboat Inn. It’s the local outpost of the Wright Brothers who, rather than being pioneers of human flight, also operate wildly successful seafood brasseries in Borough Market and Soho. They also grow and supply oysters (over five million per year) and mussels to a great many more.

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine (p. 23)

Marcus Wareing

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

YOU don’t realise the volume of people in a train station. But what I find more incredible is the Euston Road. 1.6m people pass by the front door every fortnight...

Read this at Brummell
Read another piece at The Quarterly

The Olde Bell

“We don’t talk in food miles but food yards,” says Warren Geraghty, The Olde Bell’s executive chef. “In fact, we haven’t bought rocket leaves for five weeks and our potatoes are about to come through.”

Read at Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine

Noma Nom Nom

DANISH cuisine has long been about more than herring. Douglas Blyde travels to Copenhagen to meet the designers behind noma, the world's best restaurant...

Read at Spear's

Social Dining with Jason Atherton

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

IT may have just opened but Pollen Street Social has already made a huge impact on London’s furiously competitive restaurant scene. Executive chef Jason Atherton explains why...

Read at Brummell magazine
Read longer feature at Fork magazine

Taking a Punt on a Dream

“My mother’s poor cooking,” is how Mark Poynton describes his motivation for becoming a chef. Born in Chester in 1980 - “a disappointing year for wine” - he worked as a waiter before discovering chefs had “more fun”. He jokes: “they also finished in time for last orders at the pub.” His big break occurred at Altrincham’s Juniper restaurant where he proved his determination to chef Paul Kitchling by working unpaid initially. Of Kitchling (now patron of Edinburgh’s 21212) Poynton remarks: “Some called his cooking wacky. But for a 20 year-old it was wonderful to be involved in it. At first, just four of us produced often wild 20-course tasting menus.”

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine » (pp. 38-39)
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