Food and Drink

With plenty of Halloween celebrations taking place across the weekend, this week’s themed cocktail recipe is from Harry’s Bar in Edinburgh. Having teamed up with R&B Distillers, the bar has crafted a cocktail inspired by the colony of rare Brown Long Eared Bats living on the Isle of Raasay, the site of R&B's first distillery. A rich blend of crème de cacao brun, Chambord, plum bitters and R&B Distillers’ single malt ‘While We Wait’, the cocktail is garnished with a bat...

A Viking themed winter rooftop has opened above the Queen of Hoxton complete with a long boat, feasting hall inside a WigWam, fire pits, driftwood sculptures and a plenty of drinking horns. The bar offers the opportunity to escape modern life and join her band of noble savages celebrating a victorious battle. Raise a skål to Skye and enjoy Nordic nights filled with flowing mead, foraged cocktails, crackling fires and decadent feasting. The cocktail menu includes Freyja’s Nettle Love Elixir, a mix of Stinging Nettle...

I won’t lie TLE writers have spent a LOT of the summer drinking in the Magic Roundabout, literally on right top on Old Street station, the gateway to the East End. Yes that’s the same Old Street station that used to smell of urine, depression and the fact that you knew you would end up walking the wrong way out of one of the numerous exits, no matter how times you have been. Well no more of that now, you...

  Brewed: Brooklyn, New York Strength: 4.5% ABV Brooklyn Brewery are one of the very few craft beer giants that deliver consistency when brewing is concerned. Their flagship lager is, somehow, nothing like the over-sweetened, over-carbonated lagers that we’re used to in the UK and is all the better for it. Their American brown ale is classic, yet well executed; a slightly spiced autumnal seasonal featuring pumpkin is an ideal companion for the cooler months; and the East India Pale Ale is...

The great British pub is almost dead and I, for one, am unhappy. A few weeks ago, I visited Avebury’s The Red Lion Inn – the only pub within an ancient stone circle, built during the 1600s. Ten years ago, it was impossible to leave without having been filled with great cask ale, honest pub grub and scintillating conversation with nomads, druids, vagabonds, spiritualists and hikers. Now, having been taken over by Old English Inns, the pub’s décor has about...

A healthy take on classic, thick pancakes – these hotcakes are made with buckwheat flour and feta cheese, topped with crispy bacon. What’s more, they’re simple to make and relatively healthy, with an additional drizzle of Manuka Honey bringing some natural sweetness to the dish. ‘Everyone loves pancakes, but they can be overloaded with carbs and sugar sometimes, and aren’t actually that good for you. This is a healthy alternative that still tastes delicious and is great for people who...

There’s a saying in the media industry that if you’re going to screw over one PR, you might as well screw over them all. Actually there’s not, but there really should be. Late last week I let rip on a Meantime Brewery campaign after receiving their latest gimmick that is a blatant attempt to pull the wool over the consumer’s eyes, a move not too dissimilar to the big players in the craft industry per se. Today, it’s whisky and the...

Created in collaboration between The Botanist (the first and only Islay Dry Gin) and Blixen bar in Spitalfields, 'The Vermillion Botanist' is this week’s cocktail recipe. Following an immersive foraging expedition with an expert forager and The Botanist’s Brand Ambassador – Abigail Clephane, Blixen’s bartenders were challenged to produce an innovative cocktail that would ‘reflect their wild side’, as well as challenging other bartenders from across the country to create their own foraged cocktails. Each participating bartender foraged their own...

The banks of the Thames are awash with good restaurants in central London, but if you want something special it lies around 35 nautical miles down-river. Bray on Thames is a village a set on the banks of the river a stone's throw from Maidenhead and five miles north-west of Windsor. Other than being home to renowned film studios and a glorious ecclesiastical parish, it is contains two of the four three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom. The Fat Duck, run by Heston...