Food and Drink

If you’re stepping out of the smoke for the weekend and you’re in search of something gorgeous and filthy (food I’m talking about), you’ll do well to beat Smokey's American Grill restaurant and takeaway in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Since opening in 2014 Smokeys has already scooped up the Wiltshire Restaurant of the Year 2015 award (voted for by Wiltshire Times newspaper readers), and is eagerly waiting to hear if it has won Britain’s Best Takeaway 2016 award after making it into the...

In this modern-day world of inescapable food fads and single menu demi-chains dominating London’s restaurant scene; the notion of visiting a British institution for dinner is actually somewhat refreshing. First opened in 1828, Simpson’s-in-the-Strand is located within The Savoy hotel and looks as though very little has been changed over the past 188 years. Inside, guests are greeted and whisked through to the vast dining space adorned with dark wood panelled walls, expectedly high ceilings, heavily starched linen and a...

A luxury cat food for the “insanely rich” goes on sale this week costing an eye-watering £9,000 a year and including ingredients such as Arenkha caviar, line-caught Scottish salmon, hand-caught Norfolk lobster and locally-sourced Devon crab! The yearly cost of the fodder is more than twice the average food and drink spend of a typical British family, according to Office of National Statistics figures. It works out at a pricey £10 for an 85g tin compared to an average Sheba tin which...

With the 19th annual National Curry Week taking place this week (10th-16th October), we’ve compiled a selection of curry recipes from a number of chefs and London restaurants. In addition to the many events taking place across the country, these home kitchen-friendly dishes are the ideal way to celebrate National Curry Week at home. Prawn Malai Curry from Shrimoyee Chakraborty, Founder of Calcutta Street Ingredients Makes one portion King prawns, 200g Onion, 1, blended Garlic, 1 large clove, coarsely chopped...

A new scientific study has revealed that beer really does give you goggles. Researchers at University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, found drinking beer affects the way we see specific emotions and allows us to see smiling faces quicker. And - confirming Shakespeare who wrote of beer "It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance," the research also found alcohol doesn't seem to lead to greater sexual arousal. But it does make it easier for people, especially women, to view explicit sexual...

Tying in with London Cocktail Week, Shrimoyee Chakraborty of Calcutta Street – Fitzrovia’s hottest Bengali restaurant - has shared the recipe for her ‘Bengali Rose’. Inspired by her city’s love of the rose as a flavour, this drink teams ginger-infused rose water, rose liquor and East London Liquor Company vodka before being topped with Prosecco. Described as “one for the ladies of the house”, the Bengali Rose is simple to make at home, or can be ordered at Calcutta Street,...

There’s something about a ‘City dining experience’ that I find very enticing. The concept conjures up notions of a Mad Men-esque lifestyle pushing ice cubes around a crystal glass of Scotch in some fancy boardroom before clinking flutes of Champagne in a high end bar and topping it off with an extravagant meal in an exclusive restaurant. It chimes of a day when work and play were more intermingled in the cosmopolitan parts of the World, and no one can...

Strength: 9% Brewed: Manchester, England Set up at the end of 2014, Cloudwater Brew Co. is a Manchester-based brewery that operates from an ex warehouse space, just a stone’s throw from the city centre. Initially inspired by a Copenhagen Beer Celebration, the brewery was set up with a respect for the changing of seasons at its very heart, specialising in producing a fine range of constantly changing seasonal beers. Following a string of successful double India pale ales from the brewery, the...

With the popularity of Mexican food having soared in recent years, it’s disappointing yet unsurprising that we’ve been subjected to so many culinary atrocities that pretend to be Mexican. In fact, thanks to a plague of simply foul Tex-Mex chain restaurants operating across the capital, many city dwellers have been led to believe that Americanised soggy burritos, crispy taco shells and lactic guacamole are the pinnacle of Mexican cooking. Operating from a neglected thoroughfare between Euston station and Camden Town,...