Food and Drink

Landing a serious job in London is a cause for celebration for most twenty-somethings, but for Pizza Pilgrims founders James Elliot and brother Thom, it was a cause for great concern. In 2011, faced with the prospect of a 9-5 office desk existence and a life working for ‘the man’ with mortgage obligations, 2.5 children and the rest the brothers drew up courage of the Dutch variety and embarked on a pilgrimage to Italy to discover the true art of...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Ask everybody that you know about their ideal Full English breakfast, and it’s almost guaranteed that no two answers will match. The main reason for this is the colossal number of variables that all contribute to the perfect breakfast, entirely based on personal preference. Tea or coffee? Fried, poached, scrambled, or boiled eggs? Ketchup or brown sauce? Bubble and squeak, hash browns, or even (oddly) chips? Sausages, bacon, or black pudding? Or, indeed all...

The health and wellness industry, dubbed the next trillion dollar industry globally, is having its day in the sun. Fitness, mind and body exercise, health eating, nutrition and weight loss are all massively lucrative industries, but few have burst into the limelight more than the superfood. Over the last few years, superfoods have soared in popularity. Last year, it was all about mashed avocado on toast; the year before we couldn’t get enough of chia seeds, and kale is so 2013! This...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Strength: 5.6% Brewed: Akureyi, Iceland Named after the Icelandic word for “unique” – Einstök Brewery is located within the fishing port of Akureyi, 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Boasting some of the Earth’s purest water, which flows from rain and prehistoric glaciers through the Hlíðarfjall Mountain and ancient lava fields, thus allowing the brewery to craft some truly brilliant beers. Three beers currently make up their core range, including a truly remarkable white ale, an...

"Gourmet burgers have become a gluttonous overabundance", I wrote in an editorial back in February calling for restaurants to do the basic ingredients well rather than shove a basket of deep fried junk in a bun. But if you are faced with a significant dismantling job, we may have the perfect solution for you. A mind-boggling maze of burger ingredients which features just one solitary gherkin has been released on the web by on demand restaurant delivery service www.deliveroo.co.uk. The puzzle,...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food At the start of 2012, a young chef named Ollie Dabbous opened his first solo restaurant, having previously worked in the kitchens of Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, and Texture. Following some rave reviews alongside a swathe of excitement, the small Fitzrovia restaurant became an almost instant success, with tables virtually impossible to book - whereas four years later, in the present day, London’s foodie elite would be queuing the entire length of...

There are some 9,000 ‘curry’ restaurants in Britain, yet 99 per cent of them are cut from the same cloth. The Balti of Birmingham, the Tikka Masala of Glasgow and the onslaught of other salty, creamy dishes acting under the guise of ‘Indian food’ have created a unique Anglo-Indian style far removed from its country of origin, but that could be about to change. Britain is facing an unprecedented curry crisis as ageing chefs shut up shop at a rate...

If you ever want to get a taste of the vibrant multiculturalism in London, take a stroll down the backstreets of Covent Garden. Along New Row approaching St Martin’s Lane there is a French Asian bakery, Thai and Jamaican restaurants and then Italian and Egyptian street food alongside Greek and Indian eateries within a stone’s throw of each other. The West End is a microcosm of the cultural hot pot that is London, which makes it a food-lover’s dream. Murakami...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Heavily inspired by family tradition, R&B Distillers launched two brand new whiskies at the end of last year, setting the blueprint for what’s to expect from an ongoing project to build not one, but two new distilleries. Co-founder Alasdair Day’s great-Grandfather was a master blender in the Scottish Borders during the 19th century, and his other great-Grandfather hailed from the Hebrides, thus prompting the decision to build distilleries at these twin roots in the...