Food and Drink

Cocktail bar group Dirty Martini (with seven bars in London, one in Cardiff) have launched a new cocktail menu filled with innovative new serves, plus boundary pushing flavour combinations. Created with the seasons in mind, each of the new cocktails experiments with less conventional ingredients or unique garnishes. The ‘Sweet Sorella’, for instance, is the simplest to recreate at home – combining Bold London spirit, white rum, pomegranate juice, hibiscus syrup, pink peppercorns, egg white and blueberry shrub. At the...

Much to my ignominy, until last Christmas I’d never visited Scotland. Fleeing London for a long weekend in Edinburgh, I’d hoped to receive an insight into nation’s famous food and drink heritage, if not complete immersion. After swanning around the hilly, cobbled streets of Edinburgh, I couldn’t escape an overwhelming thirst. “Where’s the best place to drink whisky, nearby?” I enquired - in a specialist whisky shop, of all places. “There’s a wee pub around the corner, but avoid opening...

Street food pop-up sensation 2 Fingers – ‘London's original fish finger bad boys’ - will be making an appearance at the Spit & Sawdust Beer Festival in Elephant & Castle on the 27th and 28th May. The South London boozer will be hosting the two day festival in its sun soaked beer garden with 2 Fingers cooking up its much-esteemed fish finger sandwiches along with more recent additions to its extended retro-menu including the Soft Shell Crab Burger with napa-slaw, Bánh Mì 2 and the B.A. Baracus...

We all try to live within our means, but this can make us feel a little miserable like we are missing out on some of favourite things. Well, here’s how a little outlay upfront, can help you have little luxuries all year long, so when you feel the pinch you don’t have to feel like you are missing out on everything. Waffles anyone? Breakfast the most important meal of the day and actually breakfast allows us to have the most...

Strength: 5.7% ABV Brewed: Žatec, Czech Republic Brewed in the cellars of a 14th century castle in the historic Czech town of Žatec, CELIA produces two different beers. Both are notably vegan-friendly and gluten-free, thanks to a silicon filtration technique used during the brewing process. As a result, the brewery takes great pride on providing beer that doesn’t leave drinkers feeling uncomfortably bloated, without compromising on flavour. CELIA Dark, a dark lager, for instance, is hand-crafted and brewed with premium...

With news of a rapidly increasing population and the constant search for new food sources, particularly protein, to meet popular demand; it’s perhaps unsurprising that (disregarding unpleasant connotations) insects have become such a popular dietary addition. It’s estimated that over two billion people, worldwide, consume bugs as part of their daily diet, while in a BBC interview earlier this year Hollywood Actress Angelina Jolie revealed that she and her children regularly enjoy eating insects. Once we’re able to overcome the...

According to the people of Tripadvisor, Green Pea is London’s best Irish restaurant - a bistro and wine bar in an East Greenwich pub, just a stone’s throw from my home. Trumping the likes of iconic Irish Pub Waxy O’Connor’s, Green Pea is also joined by various branches of O’Neils (the chain pub) also within the top five. It would be unfair to criticise the TripAdvisor users’ choices – I mean how many people can be entirely mistaken in waxing...

Here's how to turn the humble gas BBQ into a wonderful smoker in order to create some mouth-watering smokey flavoured lip-smacking food. Gas BBQ Lots of folk in the UK are cooking outdoors on gas BBQ’s and there’s nothing wrong with this. OK, so a purist will always prefer to cook on charcoal, and getting a smoke ring on the food usually requires proper charcoal or wood combustion. However, lots of people like the ease and simplicity cooking on gas gives,...

With the hospitality industry having never faced a worse staff shortage, with warnings of a 60,000 shortfall of workers a year, M Restaurants Executive Chef Michael Reid and Bookatable by Michelin have partnered for a unique event to encourage young talent working in the UK restaurant industry. An annual competition which aims to nurture tomorrow’s top chefs, the winner will be given the chance to host a ten-day pop-up restaurant at the Bookatable Young Chef Take Over at M Victoria...