Restaurants

Those Cath Kidston aproned Domestic Godesses are often preaching on the educational and nurturing benefits of cooking with your children. They rustle up a picture of 1950s homely bliss and product designers have given them the props with retro kitchenware to match. Beautiful children help make picture perfect cakes in a spotless kitchen (I suspect […]

If one were guiding a tourist to the quintessential English village, Teffont Evias in the Nadder valley 15 miles west of Salisbury would be right up there in my UK top ten. Approached from the Salisbury direction, one descends past sheep grazing on the terraced fields, the impossibly picturesque church and you arrive among 17th […]

We used to do this sort of thing a lot B.C. (before children). Jason would be booked in to give a wine talk and I’d accompany him for a luxurious night out. Work for him, play for me. Our lives are busier now and the headache of farming out kids with hectic schedules and needy […]

It is not often that I embark on a 500 mile round trip to visit a single hostelry but such was my anticipation at the reopening of this lavishly refurbished and lovingly revived inn that I was prepared to schlep all the way from south-west Wiltshire to northern Norfolk last week. The Gunton Arms (www.theguntonarms.co.uk) […]

A couple of years ago over a long and languorous lunch at Le Café Anglais, with chef-patron (and FT food guru) Rowley Leigh, I was lamenting the fact that while the cuisine of Provence is justifiably celebrated its best wines are regrettably overlooked. Rowley is a man of action who requires little encouragement and before […]

To Dean Street in Soho last Wednesday for the opening of the latest outpost of the Bistro du Vin and Bar. This is a simple but ingenious concept which is basically the same well-tested offering as the Hotel du Vin but without the bedrooms. The emphasis is on simple menus using great quality ingredients coupled […]

It was a treat to be back at Le Gavroche for our annual Spring lunch yesterday playing to a full house of 100 diners keen to sample wines matched to a seasonal menu devised by Michel Roux Jr. We kicked-off with a lively Vouvray Mousseux Brut from Domaine Aubert by way of aperitif, which guests […]

As I mentioned back in November I’m a sucker for a ‘soft’ restaurant opening because there is a wonderful feeling of dining before the critics descend and pronounce the received view of an establishment, of virgin piste if you like, and, even better, you tend to get a benign bill when it’s time to call […]

It is a testament to how busy we have been over the past twelve months that the night for our staff Christmas Party appeared to come round again so quickly after last year’s great evening at the Museum Inn, Farnham. This time our Yapp car convoy was heading into Frome and the newly-opened Archangel. It […]

A recent reunion of an unofficial lunch club saw me dropping in on old friends at a new venue. Michelin-starred chef, Alexis Gauthier and sommelier supreme, Roberto Della Pietra (ably assisted by Damian Sanchez) have opened Gauthier Soho in the attractive town house formerly frequented by Richard Corrigan. The layout over four floors and steep stairs is […]