7am on a Saturday morning is not the usual start time for events I attend, 7pm is more like it, but since Billingsgate market is only open early mornings, I had no choice but to be up at the crack of dawn to get down to the market for the new series the “Andaz Liverpool Street Seafood Workshops” in conjunction with Head...
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I rang up my friend Luiz (The London Foodie) the other day and asked him if he wanted to help me drink the latest release of Billecart Salmon champagne, the Brut Sous Bois as I hate to drink alone and nobody was home at the time. Being a good friend, and living just round the corner, Luiz agreed to help me out. “Sous...
read moreAs we pulled up through the gates of the champagne house/B&B of Ployez-Jacquemart we heard a doorbell go off. I walked back through the gate to get a picture and the bell went off again. Ah, a sensor gate, a very good way to know when people have entered the compound, either on foot or by car, especially when the winemaker is...
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London recently had a week dedicated to cocktails and who doesn’t like a well mixed cocktail? I’ve visited a few cocktail bars in London and the best seem to be located centrally but if you’re one of the lucky ones who live in or near Chiswick, you’ve got a gem of a cocktail bar/restaurant on your doorstep....
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I had the pleasure of trying the Lanson Gold Label 1999 the other day while I was in Champagne with the CIVC. Lanson is well known for their non-vintage champagnes but their lesser known vintage wines are the ones to wait for. Lanson makes their wine in a different style to many of the grandes marques in that they don’t let...
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Walking up Kingsland Road and then merging onto Stoke Newington Street, I was wondering if I would ever find the venue for Shacklewell Nights’ latest dinner. Past rows of closed shops with the metal shutters locked tightly, Turkish grocers and off-licences, I spied a hipster with a clipboard in the battered open doorway of...
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The old saw goes, “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a big one and buy a vineyard.” Which is basically what Nicole Rolet and her husband, Xavier did in the late 90’s when they bought a derelict vineyard along the southern border of Gigondas in the region of Vaucluse in Provence. After having the land...
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Summer 2010 is over. Wait, did we even have a summer this year here in soggy England? Whether or not we had a proper summer, there’s always hope that we’ll have an Indian summer. Indian summer. The two words always remind me of N. American Indian moccasin-clad feet and sunny forest lakes (I know, I’m being literal...
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The History of Rum. Could be interesting in the right hands. At the Worship St Whistling Shop bar it was one of the most fun and informative evenings I’ve had out drinking in quite awhile. And that’s saying something. Tristan Stephenson was our genial host/narrator and led us through the dark Victorian style bar to The...
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Champagne and a boat ride down the Thames. Then High Tea and Gin. Perfect. If only we lived in a sunnier clime. As it was, we were greeted with torrential rain when we arrived at the Hotel du Vin in Henley. But not to worry, rather then have champagne on a boat, we were warmly seated on the leather banquettes of their lounge,...
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