Food and Drink

As the blossom blooms, parks become desirable lunch spots and the tube becomes hotter than the filling of a McDonald’s apple pie -  it isn’t by chance that the classic, humble Negroni has seen such a resurgence in popularity of late. Served over a huge chunk of ice and garnished with a sliver of orange rind, it’s the perfect summer drink. Bitter and aromatic, a classic Negroni is the perfect appetite-building aperitif. Allegedly first created in Florence, Italy almost 100...

One of London’s oldest and most popular hotels, The Savoy is home to not just one, but two of the World’s best renowned bars. First opened in 1903, The American Bar is bright, opulent and classic, while the windowless downstairs Beaufort Bar has a far more sedate, still luxurious, atmosphere. Quintessentially art-deco, the low-lit space’s bar stands on the hotel’s former cabaret stage as the room’s prime focus, while black walls are punctuated with luxurious gold accents. Of an evening,...

Away from the hustle and bustle of Soho, Mayfair and Shoreditch, Ceru opened at the end of last year, offering a taste of the Levant in a neighbourhood space near South Kensington tube station. “Born from a love of food, drink and sunshine”, Ceru began life as a project from husband and wife team Barry and Patricia Hilton, inspired by numerous travels around the various countries that form the Levant. Striving to provide an insight into the region’s rich food...

With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, we pick the best new restaurants and bars arriving in London over the coming month. Calcutta Street – Brixton Following the huge success of her first restaurant, opened in Fitzrovia last Summer, Shrimoyee Chakraborty has launched a second branch of her Calcutta Street, taking over a space in the heart of Brixton. Bringing Calcutta Street south of the river, the new restaurant is promised to have a completely different atmosphere...

Brewed: Greenwich, London Strength: 4.5% ABV Founded at the turn of the millennium in a small flat in Greenwich by Brew Master Alastair Hook and some like minded friends, Meantime has since become one of the leading breweries in the British Craft Beer revolution. Having set up their state-of-the-art brewery in 2010, just a stones throw from the Prime Meridian, as well as opening The Tasting Rooms – a venue that offers the chance to tour, drink and shop in the company’s main brewery...

Within his 1952 opus, The Old Man and the Sea - the final novel to be published during his lifetime – Ernest Hemingway wrote: “But thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more able and more noble.” Of all the pearls of wisdom imparted throughout the writer’s collective novels, short stories and journalism, this still stands tall as one of the most valuable in terms of food. Because, let’s be honest, the...

At the beginning of the year, I wholeheartedly believed that genuinely brilliant high-end Italian restaurants in London did not exist. Before visiting Margot for dinner, in January, each of my previous experiences had ranged from the morbidly mediocre to the astoundingly atrocious. Peculiarly though, the city is still home to so many upmarket 'Italian' temples of bad taste. Restaurants that charge dizzying prices for food that's barely worthy of being served at Zizzi. Even more bizarre is the rapturous popularity...

A fisherman has opened a dedicated seaweed shop -- thought to be the first of its kind in the UK. Iain McKellar, 52, has been harvesting seaweed for over 10 years and selling it online to companies and restaurants from all over the globe. He realised that the abundance of seaweed on the Isle of Bute wasn't being taken advantage of, and saw an opportunity to sell local produce with a difference. However, after growing tired of working out of...

Earlier this week, iconic British actor Roger Moore died, aged 89, in Switzerland, following a brief battle with Cancer. Undoubtedly best known for his portrayal of secret agent James Bond throughout seven feature films – a classic Martini (shaken, not stirred) would, perhaps, be a particularly fitting tribute. No less, with Summer (Campari season) finally here – let’s remember Bond’s relationship with the classic Italian Americano cocktail – typically consisting of Campari, red vermouth and soda water. The first drink...