Food and Drink

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...

The Scotch Egg Challenge returns to Islington for its sixth year next week, with contestants taking to the kitchen in a head-to-head competition. Shortlisted contestants will compete in two categories, with chefs from Ealing Park Tavern and The Rat Inn taking part in the Traditional Egg category honouring the classic Scotch Egg. Whilst the Unconventional Eggcategory allows a little more culinary freedom, rustling up their egg-centric creations will be chefs from The Cinnamon Collection and Tang. The Canonbury Tavern hosts the free...

Here's a story about going shopping in Italy. Usually in order to protect the innocent, the guilty and myself, nothing I write is quite true. In this case it is all true. I have no client identities or world events I need to mask, because this story is solely about me being an idiot. My qualification for being your Secret Chef is having spent two decades being a private chef for High Net Worth (HNW) and Ultra High Net Worth...

With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, here’s our pick of the best new restaurants arriving in London over the coming month. Aster – Victoria The latest restaurant from D&D London, Aster has opened at Nova Food next to Victoria station. Set across two floors, the space comprises a 161-cover café and deli, plus an upstairs 122-cover restaurant and cocktail bar. As for the food, the kitchen will be overseen by Executive Chef Helena Puolakka, having previously held the...

I am, as my friends will tell you, often with a heavy sigh, and as my Twitter profile attests, a gin enthusiast. I like all sorts of gin, from London dry, to Plymouth, to oude and jonge jenever. My most recent discovery has been a thriving distilling culture in Ireland, both North and South, and their gins will keep me entertained for some time to come. (One distillery is also trying to repopularise poitín, with interesting results. I also like...

Walk in to any curry house in Britain and you're likely to find a blueprint menu of the same dishes. Comforting for some, frustrating for others, but there's a very ingenious reason why. The curry house has been a mainstay of the British culinary scene since the 60s when the first significant wave of south Asian people settled in British towns. By 1980 there were roughly 3,000 curry houses in the country, a number that was set to explode over the...

Let’s be honest – as January comes to a close, it’s highly likely that any sobriety resolutions have been completely forgotten. However, in keeping with record numbers of Brits opting to partake in ‘Veganuary’, and with 8 in 10 promising to take up a strict New Year diet, Dirty Martini have crafted a number of low calorie and vegan cocktails. One of two vegan cocktails on offer, ‘The Fixer Upper’ combines Belvedere pure vodka with Monin ginger syrup, pressed apple juice,...

Though all restaurant experiences revolve heavily around eating, so many restaurateurs fail to understand that there's more to a great restaurant than just good food. From service and general ambience down to the smallest, most pernickety details, the overall experience - from walking through the door to picking up the bill - is everything. Some of the best food I ate last year, for instance, was at a restaurant I actively despised. The culinary skill displayed was exceptional, though the...