Food and Drink

Brian May is an undoubtedly accomplished guitarist, but he’s hardly renowned for good taste. Yet according to their website, Mayfair tapas restaurant El Pirata (‘The Pirate’, in English) are very proud that the Queen guitarist once visited and said, “El Pirata rocks”. There’s also a testimonial from Johnny Depp, who apparently loves it here, and may or may not have visited in his Captain Jack Sparrow costume. Having been around for just under a quarter of a century, El Pirata...

Wine has long been seen as the stuff of connoisseurs, a beverage which comes with its own arcane mythology, only slurped and understood by an insufferable few. Films like Sideways and Somm have only served to deepen the mystery around the hallowed grape, and most sensible-thinking people are put off by anything breaking the dreaded £10 barrier. “Sometimes,” as the great cultural critic Alan Partridge once said, “you just want to say, sod all this wine, just give me a...

Today is National Pizza Day, and what better way to celebrate it than to take a look at how far vegan pizza has come these last few years? From something we vegans would have to sadly make at home on pitta breads (or shyly ask for without the dairy) to being widely available nationwide, vegan pizza is on the up and up. Two and a half years ago only one national chain, Pizza Express, provided vegan pizza on the menu:...

Brewed: Amsterdam, Netherlands Strength: 6% ABV Heavily inspired by the often forgotten history of Dutch brewing, using herbs, spices and fruits brought home by Dutch sailors, Lowlander Beer use botanicals during the brewing process of all of their beers. Named after the literal meaning of The Netherlands (‘Low Lands’), the brewery source all of their botanicals, herbs and spices from Jacob Hooy, the oldest spice store in Amsterdam and intend to ‘create great tasting beers which are full of both character and...

"Vodka is a tainted spirit in Britain", we wrote back in 2014 at a tasting session for the world’s first super-premium vodka from Ukraine. After all, "its bedfellows are typically a sugary brand of the Coca Cola franchise or the more fashionable pick-me-up-throw-me-down energy drink mix - very few people would opt to drink it straight". Britain is undergoing a spirit revolution of late, with premium gins littering the market and a smorgasbord of rums now on offer. But vodka has...

London's most romantic restaurants for Valentine's Day Valentine’s Day is around the corner and if you like me have left booking a place to eat until the last moment, never fear. We have a list of London’s 10 most romantic restaurants to eat from this weekend right through to the special day. From Nordic set menus to wine matching evenings we have compiled something for everyone in this list of London’s Valentine hotspots. There is also something to suit all...

On a humid afternoon last summer, I met with Jay Rayner in order to interview the esteemed restaurant critic over lunch. Jay chose for us to meet at Dumplings Legend on Gerrard Street, the beating heart of London’s China Town, and alongside talking about his new book and stage show, we spoke in quite some depth about Jay’s love of Chinese food - dim sum in particular. I, too, have always been fond of dim sum, but since eating at...

British supermarket shelves have long been awash with cooking cheats that are convenient aides but ultimately additive-ridden rubbish. White sauce sachets, bolognese pots, pasta sauce tins and the like have become a mainstay of our culinary landscape, but things may about to change. As Brits become more health conscious and start to establish more of a connection with food the use of readymade sauces seems to be in decline. Cooking sauce sales plummeted by £30 million in a year after the...

As a man who eats meat, and always has, I’ve never been in the position to take the moral high ground as far as dinner table ethics are concerned. I do, however, respect peoples’ choice to follow vegetarian diets, and understand that vegetarian food is not necessarily boring food. Alas, it is only within the past five years that so many British restaurants have begun to understand the true, delicious potential of vegetables. Until recently, most token vegetarian dishes would...