Category Archives: London

London-centric posts, usually from David. London restaurants or events.

Straight from the sauce

My recent ‘Retro Puddings Workshop’ at Leiths School of Food and Wine was by no means ground-breaking in content. I can already whip up fairly respectable meringues, lemon curd and profiteroles and my pastry is improving with practice. Being back at cookery school was simply an excuse to mess around for five solid hours in […]

H Forman & Son

I can say with confidence that we have dined at the most British of British restaurants. It’s in the capital overlooking the site of the 2012 Olympics, it dishes up salmon that’s been ‘London cured’ on the premises since 1905, it serves glorious syrup sponge puddings steaming in individual Tate & Lyle tins. Oh, and […]

Sky garden spuds

Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew. Or, in our case, grow ’em on a third floor balcony in Hackney and tuck into ’em fresh out of the earth. We’d been tending these glorious potatoes (Organic Orlas and Maris Peers) since early March and enjoyed a continuous harvest from mid June until the […]

Smokey Dauphinoise

There comes a point in your life when you have to ask yourself this one, vital question: why am I reading the internet when I could be tucking into a lip-smacking bowl of smoked mackerel dauphinoise potatoes? I asked myself that very question when I came across this recipe on Domesticsluttery.com last week and immediately […]

Absolutely essential tomato sauce

Everyone has their own interpretation of a basic tomato sauce that can be used in all sorts of recipes. My version might find itself stirred into penne served with spinach and parmesan, added to a flavoursome soup, mixed into a vegetarian lasagna filling, poured over patatas bravas or smothering a homemade pizza base. It’s super-easy […]

Deep purple beetroot soup

For months I’ve been meaning to write up my recipe for beetroot soup. Actually, it’s been so long now that I’ve committed it to memory and there really is no need for me to record it online. Of course, in the event that I get hit on the head and forget how to make this delicious, […]

Beans on toast

A very british food and one of my top 5 comfort foods (particularly when hung over), beans on toast is a classic dish. Dead simple, delicious and utterly unpretentious. Heinz have opened a temporary “It has to be Heinz” cafe. It’s open from 7am-3pm for the next couple of days (closing Thursday 14th) on Shoreditch […]

London Coffee, a summary and a map

SF has a big coffee culture, I wrote about this recently in my San Francsico trip report. At the time I thought how the coffee (and coffee shops) out there put London to shame, but it’s more likely my lack of knowledge about good coffee in London that’s the problem. Having done some research there’s […]

Growing your own

I have quite limited space for plants in this flat, but for a year or so I had a few herbs in pots on the balcony. It’s been nice having fresh mint, thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley and sage on my doorstep. It’s certainly helped with cooking, homegrown herbs do taste that bit better, plus they’re […]