Food and Drink

A gruesome Halloween menu has been created to make your tummy turn and your taste buds tingle. The fearsome feast is a collection of tantalising terrors designed by Emma Thomas (AKA Miss Cakehead) and British Chef and owner, Jim Thomlinson of London Mess and Prawnography. The four course menu has been created in partnership with UberEATS as a ‘Trick or EATS’ festive-themed takeaway dinner available exclusively on Halloween – Tuesday 31st October. An eerily life-like menu of starter, main and...

On the ground floor of the Marriott Hotel, just off Edgware Road, The Pickled Hen promises a ‘selection of authentic British food and drink, with a pickled twist’. I enjoy good pub food and pickles as much as the next person, but the signature Pickleback (Jameson with a chaser of hen pickle juice) fills me with concern. Opened at the end of the summer, this new ‘gastro-pub’ is not this year’s first new opening with a name suggesting a heavy...

Of all the square mile’s high-rise restaurants, Angler seems alone without a sole selling point that harks on about the view. Let’s be fair - even when the windows are (rarely) clean - the only real scenes observable from the top of the South Place Hotel are into the dreary lives of office clerks, or skyscrapers with ballistic lifts that blast unlucky diners into some of London’s worst restaurants. At Michelin-starred Angler, however, the main focus is on the food...

A criminally under loved cut of meat, shin of beef demands to be cooked slowly for a long time, given its natural toughness. When cooked properly, nonetheless, the shin is amongst the cow’s most flavoursome offerings (along with most of the cuts that have fallen out of favour), perfect as the base of a rich ragù sauce. As a result, a delicious, crowd-pleasing, relatively economical meal can be made with some due care and patience. This beef shin ragù recipe...

“The elixir of quietude”, according to E.B. White – the iconic Martini has become one of the world’s best-loved cocktails over the past century. Now with so many variations on the classic (traditionally made with gin and dry vermouth) readily available, from the lauded Espresso Martini to the Porn Star Martini, through to the Dirty Martini. One of the most iconic versions, apart from the classic Dry Martini; the Dirty Martini is typically embellished with a splash of brine from...

Everybody knows that grain is crucial in spirit production, yet the importance of water quality is so often overlooked by consumers. Operating from a site within The Lake District National Park – famous for its vast rainfall, in addition to breathtaking scenery - The Lakes Distillery uses water directly from the nearby River Derwent in the production of all its spirits. A fast flowing spate, the Derwent is one of the fastest flowing rivers in Europe which ensures the waters...

Eccentric, but warm and welcoming - Oslo is housed within Hackney Central’s redeveloped railway station building. Built in 1870 by the North London Railway Company, the two-storey building serves as not only a restaurant, but a bar and event space, hosting regular gigs throughout the week. The décor, which I am told draws on Nordic aesthetic, is somewhat moody with exposed bricks, dark wood table tops and interesting lamps . But it’s also cosy, with large windows and a lovely...

After London, Venice has quickly become my favourite European city. Compact, charming and boundlessly beautiful – with its picturesque vistas, compendium of canals and Italo-Byzantine architecture. Ignore the American tourist complaints of “this damn curb ain’t wide enough” or “what’s with all these goddamn tourists?”; avoid being fleeced for €80 to ride a gondola around the canals – and it’s almost impossible to avoid swooning over the city’s serene pulchritude. And so, it’s hardly surprising that restaurateur Russell Norman is...

In celebration of their 21st anniversary, The Porterhouse Brewing Company began to supply their range of craft beers throughout the United Kingdom earlier this year. Initially opening Ireland’s first brewpub, The Porterhouse Brewing Company was launched by cousins Liam LeHart and Oliver Hughes, spotting an opportunity to compete against the bland beers being produced by mass-producing breweries at the time. Since then, the brewery has developed a four-strong core range, while The Porterhouse in Temple Bar still serves just the brewery’s draft craft beer brewed...