Restaurants

Restaurant Review – 'La Voile Bleue', Les Halles, Angoulème, France. By long-established family tradition, we enjoy regular holidays in the backwaters of the Dordogne which provides a great location for swimming in freshwater lakes, cycling (Le Tour graced the village this summer, although Mark Cavendish won't have fond recollections of that) and al fresco dining. […]

At Holm Our friends, and frequent dining companions, Paul and Ashleigh had long been extolling the virtues of chef-patron Nicholas Balfe, who had firmly established a successful career in their habitat of south London, prior to relocating to our homeland in Somerset in 2021. The obvious thing to do was select a mutually convenient date […]

L'Entente brasserie, Paris To Paris, with Tom, for a challenging but enjoyable whistle-stop run of meetings and tastings at Wine Paris, a sizeable but well-organised wine fair that is the strangely successful offspring of the Bordeaux-based leviathan that was Vinexpo and Montpellier's more manageable Vinisud. Anyway, whatever its heritage, for the time being it works […]

Beckford Canteen – Bath One of my and Mrs Yapp's preferred pastimes is visiting new dining establishments, preferably before we've read or heard much critical feedback from other people. It is something we have really missed out on since the Covid crisis and so we were delighted to get back in the game with a […]

A Yapp Brothers catch up in London after our Summer holidays usually involves visiting a new restaurant, tasting a few wines and sharing a few anecdotes about recent vinous discoveries. We decided to meet for lunch at Clarette, the latest opening on the booming restaurant scene in Marylebone. The owners Alexandra Petit and Natsuko Perromat […]

As one of the most underrated regions in France, the Loire valley still attracts many wine lovers. At Yapp Brothers, we never had a doubt of its full potential as we have been importing a large diversity of styles from the region since the 1960's. The Touraine sub-region is the cradle of Cabernet Franc, a […]

Following a memorable lunch at Portland in Marylebone last summer catching up with an old friend from Germany, I could not resist for long when I heard that Will Lander and his team had opened a sister restaurant around the corner, eponymously named Clipstone. After four attempts I finally managed to secure a table a […]

Like many French people living in London all I dream about when it comes to good food is simplicity, authenticity and charcuterie! After a few years working with French wines in London, I've come to appreciate the diversity of restaurants and styles of cuisine the European capital can offer.     When we heard that […]

To the famous Royal Native Oyster Stores in Kent yesterday for a staff training session followed by a highly convivial dinner with the management team lead by their inexhaustible hostess Angharad Renshaw-Green.     Unsurprisingly our afternoon's wine tasting focused heavily on crisp, clean white wines that make a fine accompaniment to the local bivalves. […]

The brilliant baroque basement of Otto's restaurant, on the border of Bloomsbury, was the sumptuous setting for a highly-convivial wine dinner with Antoine Graillot last night. Otto and I go back a long way and he keeps a very fine table and enviable cellar to boot so I am keen to stay in his good […]