Food and Drink

Craft beer is facing somewhat of an identity crisis. On the one hand microbreweries are opening in Britain at a rate of one every other day according to figures from the British Beer and Pub Association, but on the other hand many of the more noted brands have been gobbled up by mainstreamism. Ask for a definition of craft, therefore, and you will get something in between size and taste. For most brewers the former is the most important characteristic....

By Adam Clark, @AdamClarkers  Bierschenke promises an authentic German beer cellar experience in London, and has clearly found its niche, having moved out of its original space onto a huge multi-level site in the London wall buildings a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street Station. With a friend’s birthday to celebrate and a David Cameron-style weekend in Europe sadly impossible we went for the next best thing. The beer hall basics were done well, with piled plates of German sausage...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Widely renowned as the oldest surviving cocktail bar in England – as well as being one of the finest – The American Bar at The Savoy is particularly steeped in British history. First opened in 1893, four years after the initial opening of it’s iconic location – Britain’s first luxury hotel – The American Bar was originally located in the riverside part of the hotel, before an extension made space for the wing on...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Strength: 4.5% ABV Brewed: Brixton, London Founded in 2013 by two local couples, inspired by the energy of Brixton, with its history, noise and vibrant mix of cultures and people, Brixton Brewery make beer in the heart of the neighbourhood. Drawing on traditional techniques, flavours and ingredients, with a dash of bold New World flair for distinctiveness, the Brewery is a small family run operation that brews its Beer in small batches, inspired by...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food It’s quite incredible to think that Marylebone high street is not a semi-rural village nestled on the outskirts of the city. Instead, the mutinous carnage of Oxford Street ebbs dangerously close to one end. The other end, meanwhile, is just feet away from herds of tourists descending upon Madame Tussauds to pose for selfies with waxworks that are often amazingly less synthetic than the celebrities they’re modelled on. Falling towards the latter, the northern-most...

The modern gourmet burger is a superfluous two fingers to a beautiful conception. There you go. I said it. For me, the higher a burger is stacked the more wasteful it becomes. A double beef patty with bacon, onion rings, guacamole, tomato, cheese, Portobello mushroom and the rest becomes a pointless dish the moment you look for a knife and fork for assistance and start dismantling it into more friendly bite-sized pieces. We flatten, we halve, we attempt to pick...

London Beer Week kicks off today for the second year, culminating in Craft Beer Rising this weekend. The festival celebrates the best beers, ales, lagers and ciders on the market, as well as the London pubs and bars who pump them out. A London Beer Week wristband costs £10 and allows you to stroll in to 100 of the capital's very best beer bars and order a £3 speciality beer. You can also grab £5 boilermakers across the bars for the entire...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Throughout the past five years or so, high-rise dining has become increasingly popular within the city. And it’s certainly unsurprising given the erection of so many monolithic new landmarks now piercing the sky, and towering over the iconic structures of yesteryear enticing with their Metropolis 21st century constructions, lifts (not elevators) that seem as though installed by NASA, and most of all: the sweeping panoramic views across our fair city. With many of these such...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Having enjoyed an impressive popularity resurgence in recent years, gin is currently taking the drinks market by storm. Last year, for instance, gin sales in the UK surpassed the £1 billion mark for the first time ever, and are predicted to steadily increase in the near future, what with just about every London bar jumping on board to accommodate demand. But it’s not just London and our famous gins that are being embraced, instead...