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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 […]
I mentioned Paxton & Whitfield, doyen of London cheese shops, yesterday. But any lover of cheese should also find time to pay a visit to one of the Neal’s Yard Dairy shops - the original one in Covent Garden, or the Borough Market branch.
Now P&W is a very fine shop, a very fine shop […]
There are ladies who lunch. And then there are ladies who do tea. Afternoon tea.
You can join them at the Ritz Hotel’s Palm Court, if you like. This is a marvellous, rather camp atmosphere, with Louis XIV furniture, chandeliers, bone china tea service. I can imagine Hercule Poirot or perhaps Lord Peter Wimsey taking […]
I remember once when I was travelling in France being asked whether we still had ‘le five o’clock tea’. Every Frenchman naturally identifies the English with cricket, a stiff upper lip, and afternoon tea - though somehow, cucumber sandwiches have never made it across the Channel.
But “tea” mean several things in English and it’s […]
In the heart of St James’s, you’ll find one of London’s best cheese shops. Some people say it’s the best, though I prefer to see it as a sort of Arsenal v Man U match versus Neal’s Yard - they’re both great outfits but you never know which one will win this match. And they […]
This little pub just off the river Thames was CAMRA’s Greater London pub of the year in 2007, and when I visited recently I could see why.
It’s quite plain looking, a nice enough frontage overshadowed by big mansion blocks on both sides, with a small beer garden or courtyard at the side. (It was a […]
There’s something wonderful about walking past a really good coffee shop. The smell of roasting coffee grabs you by the nose and pulls you in the door…
And that always used to happen to me when I wandered down Monmouth Street, just off Seven Dials.
This is a real coffee shop, not a Starbucks or a Costa […]
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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