Food and Drink

As we get deeper into summer, you’re probably already thinking about those long evenings filled with great company, plenty of drinks and, of course, the best food. That food often comes courtesy of a BBQ when the weather is good. But if you haven’t got a BBQ yet, now is the time to change all that. Buying a BBQ is not a process that’s as straightforward or as simple as we wish, at least, not if you're going to do...

World Gin Day takes place this weekend (Saturday 10th June), providing plenty of reasons to enjoy a drink (or twelve) containing the nation’s favourite spirit. In turn, Sopwell House – a Georgian manor house hotel in St. Albans - has fused two of the nation’s favourite drinks: tea and gin, in their ‘G&Tea’ cocktail. Created by the bar’s mixologists, the drink combines Bathtub gin with cooled Earl Grey tea and grapefruit juice for a ‘sophisticated twist’. So with World Gin...

Like most things in life, the simplest restaurant dishes are generally the endearingly memorable. So it's hardly surprising that the ingenuous bone marrow salad at St John in Clerkenwell has been on the menu, unchanged, for the past 23 years. In turn, when presenting paying customers with something so simple, it's crucial that each element (no matter how trivial) is as near perfect as possible. Most of London's absolute worst dishes, in fact, are over complicated marriages of ingredients that...

Within Death in the Afternoon – a paean to Bullfighting, published in 1932 - Author, Journalist and keen drinker Ernest Hemingway wrote: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.” Not only does wine unlock a magical gateway to drunken, innocent gallantry,...

With Dalston having served as London’s coolest place to live for such a long time, recently overtaken by Peckham, it’s perhaps surprising that such a flagrant tribute to Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory hasn’t seen the light of day – until now. The first East London bar from Tony Conigliaro, often dubbed the ‘Heston Blumenthal of cocktails’, Untitled Bar sits just a stone’s throw from Dalston Junction Overground, on Kingsland Road. Inside, the ground-floor bar is awash with natural light that cascades...

Strength: 4.2% ABV Brewed: Dublin, Ireland In celebration of their 21st anniversary, The Porterhouse Brewing Company have recently begun to supply their range of craft beers throughout the United Kingdom. Initially opening Ireland’s first brewpub, The Porterhouse Brewing Company was launched by cousins and friends Liam LeHart and Oliver Hughes, spotting an opportunity to compete against the bland beers being produced by mass-producing breweries, at the time. Since, the brewery has developed a four-strong core range, while The Porterhouse in Temple Bar still serves just...

As recently as five or six ago, Mayfair was once London’s least accessible area, exclusively reserved for those either “in the know”, or with a spinal stenosis surgeon on speed dial, to compensate for lifting heavy wallets or Dover Street Market shopping bags. Nowadays, this part of the city has become far more inviting, particularly for young people with creative professions. Take a closer look - past the seventeen year olds tearing around Berkeley Square in Daddy’s gold-wrap Range Rover,...

Once known and loved as the city’s most ineffably debaucherous neighbourhood, Soho is now London’s rightful home of the ‘No-Reservations’ policy. Now, most of the area’s restaurants are impossible to visit during a realistic dinner time, without forcing guests to queue around the block. As a result, eating out in Soho has somehow become less fun than standing on a packed Piccadilly Line tube all the way from Heathrow to Cockfosters. With three successful restaurants already operating across London (Kensington,...

Mac & Wild has partnered with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society to create an underground bar that fuses the Scottish chain's revered food offering with SMWS's rare and exclusive whisky selection. The Kaleidoscope bar opens its doors to punters today with some of the city's most exclusive and diverse collections of rare single malt whisky. Launched by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the world’s foremost whisky club, and located underneath Scottish restaurant Mac & Wild in the heart of the City, it is aimed at...