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You can get Italian food (of sorts) in practically any supermarket these days. Spaghetti, pesto, thin slices of parma ham, even taleggio cheese or pecorino if you’re lucky.
But the pasta may not be the most authentic. And you might not be able to get panettone, or the rich and calorie-laden panforte di Siena, or squid […]
There’s a superb piece in the Independent today looking at the decline of the traditional English pub, and featuring interviews with landladies, a pub quizmaster, and regulars.
It includes one lovely old favourite that every Londoner should try once - the Wenlock Arms in Islington.
But I’m not so sure that the great British boozer is […]
London’s a great place to drink but it has fewer breweries than it used to. If you’re into real ale, that can mean you get bored drinking Young’s and Fullers, the most commonly available beers.
However, the Market Porter in Borough Market will help stave off beer boredom. It has an adventurous menu of real […]
Leadenhall Market, the finest complete Victorian market building in London, is worth a visit anyway. It’s a superb space, though not what it was. I remember when it had a faded little supermarket in the middle - a shop that seemed to have come through from the 1950s without ever changing - with a […]
I first became aware of Ottolenghi because of Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetarian recipes on the Guardian website. With a traditional Mediterranean feel, but a modern twist, they attracted my attention - and I did manage to make a couple quite successfully.
Then I found out there was an Ottolenghi restaurant in Islington. A chance to try the […]
One of the things I most miss in London is Alfredo’s. I may have blogged it before - it was a real love affair for me, perhaps my first big love affair in London, and whenever I visit Islington, I miss it all over again.
It was a lovely caff, all chrome and wood, very […]
Most of us think of Turkish food as the doner kebab. Fast, cheap, and far too often not very good.
But Turkey created a great empire. In the seventeenth century the Turks even laid siege to Vienna. And the sultan’s court enjoyed marvellous food, with recipes of great refinement and delicacy.
Kazan devotes itself to this […]
Meantime Brewery, based in Greenwich, has already attracted drinkers’ attention with its adventurous range of beers.
Now it’s setting forth on another great adventure together with the Royal Naval College. It will be restoring the College’s brewery, which dates from 1717. And it will be brewing a London Porter modelled on the beers being produced in […]
Fancy lunch in a crypt? If you want to mix some history into your lunch break, you can eat in the Norman crypt of St Mary le Bow, which dates back to before 1100.
If you’re looking for the macabre, though, you’ll be disappointed. This crypt has never been a plague pit or full of coffins, […]
We’re used to being multicultural in London, particularly when we eat. Chinese and Indian are staples of the ‘English diet’, so’s pizza and spaghetti; Vietnamese in Hoxton, Turkish in Stoke Newingon, Lebanese off the Edgware Road, and sushi everywhere. It’s easy to get blasé.
But Ethiopian food? That’s a bit unusual even for London. (In fact […]
A visitor’s and resident’s guide to London - events, attractions, art, ’must sees’ and offbeat sights, restaurants and pubs, and how to get around.
Written by Andrea Kirkby [email] for b5media.
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