Food and Drink

  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...

It is a subject that I’ve touched upon before, but after four years, the thought of paying in excess of £30 to visit the top of The Shard still baffles me. Indeed, the view across the city is exceptional, providing that the weather is clear and the clouds are higher than the 800-foot viewing platform. However, the main view to be excited about is that of the city’s other very close skyscrapers, Canary Wharf, Parliament, the London Eye and maybe...

An Italian restaurant in London has made an attempt at the Guiness World Record for ‘Giantipasti’ with an antipasti board featuring a mouth-watering array of 62,100g of ingredients! The board, which includes 16,000g of cured meats, 13,000g of cheese and 13,000g of vegetables, stretches the length of the entire restaurant at a whopping ten metres long, and is looking to set the first ever record of its kind. It took a dedicated team three hours to build the feast for guests to...

Brewed: Greenwich, London Strength: 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...