Eating

  • Gold Rush

    Channelling my inner Yosemite Sam isn’t something I tend to do very often.  Yet last Friday night I found myself  “yee haw”-ing to my heart’s content, whilst downing shots of buffalo juice.  This was not some marathon session of Looney Tunes, however.  It was Gold Rush. Gold Rush is the latest pop up from Django Bango.  Sounding like a cross between a Tarantino film and a 90’s dance tune, the team have previously held successful events such as Wild West Town in Shoreditch earlier this year.  Gold Rush sticks to the Wild West theme; this time transforming a steel yard in Vauxhall into a gold mine worthy of the Klondike.  A…

  • Syrian Supper Club – Part 2

    A little while ago I wrote about the Syrian Supper Club and the Hands Up Foundation; a group of young people who were motivated to start a pop-up event aimed at raising money for those affected by the crisis in Syria.  Well, the sound of all that Middle Eastern food made me really hungry so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and check out one of their supper clubs. Supper clubs are very much on trend at the moment, but I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I had never been to one before.  There are so many to choose from, where do you even start?  So…

  • The Little Taperia

    On a grey bank holiday Monday, it’s tempting to spend the whole day watching Netflix in your onesie.  Alternatively, you could pretend that you’re somewhere else entirely, somewhere with good food, good wine and summer vibes.  Tooting may not be the first place that springs to mind, but step over the threshold of The Little Taperia and it’s as if you’ve gone through a wormhole to sunny Spain. The Little Taperia is the lovechild of two of Tooting’s leading foodies: Hikmat Antippa of Meza and formerly Caprice Holdings, and Madeleine Limm of The Little Bar and ex-Food & Drink editor of the Independent magazine.  There is much noise made about Tooting being…

  • Syrian Supper Club

      The scent of orange blossom filled the house in the old town of Damascus. The courtyard garden, complete with its orange tree, offered a relaxing haven from the hustle and bustle of the city that was home to Louisa Barnett and Rose Lukas. As students of Arabic, they moved to Damascus to learn the language and quickly fell in love with Syria’s intoxicating atmosphere and welcoming people. However, the spark of revolution had been lit across the Middle East, and this grew into a raging inferno that consumed Syria. In 2011, as the Arab Spring left chaos in its wake, the girls were forced to leave. Back in London,…

  • Arabica Bar and Kitchen

    You’re supposed to feed a cold, or so the saying goes.  So when my birthday rolled around and I was feeling less than fabulous, it made perfect sense to go to one of the few restaurants where I could easily eat pretty much everything on the menu.  Arabica Bar and Kitchen regularly features in Time Out London’s Top 100 Restaurants list, and it’s been on my radar for some time.  With food “inspired by the sun rise nations of the Levant”, it offers more than your bog standard mezze restaurant.  The menu features dishes such as whipped feta with chillies, mint and pumpkin seeds, Lebanese style roasted cod, and sticky…

  • Duck and Waffle

    After spending quite a bit of time hanging around in establishments at the top of tall buildings, I have realised that a pattern is emerging.   The higher up in the sky you are, the worse the service usually is.  Which is a shame for many reasons, not least because most of these places seem to implement a kind of “sky tax”, meaning you pay through the nose for the privilege of being there.  True, the views are spectacular so at least you have something nice to stare at while you wait half an hour to get served at the bar (Hutong, I’m looking at you).  However, is feeling like you’re…

  • Taking A Bite Out Of…Istanbul

    Kebabs.  They have a bit of a bad reputation to be honest.  My first experience of the delicacy known as kebab meat and chips, “fresh” out of the local chippy in Pontypool town centre, was enough to put me off for a long long time.  Even the more upmarket grilled meats of Turkish restaurants around London didn’t really help to convince me that a kebab is anything more than a greasy, stomach-churning mistake.  So would a trip to Istanbul,  the home of the kebab, change my mind? Istanbul is a crazy, colourful, feast for the senses, and food plays a huge part in this. Everywhere you look there are stalls selling…

  • Dishoom, Kings Cross

    I’m always slightly wary about venturing outside of Tooting for a curry, but last Saturday I found myself in the freezing wilderness of a redeveloped Kings Cross and on the hunt for something that would warm the cockles.  Cue a queue free Dishoom.  Stepping into the cavernous converted warehouse was like entering another world.  Tiled floors, lush palm plants, ceiling fans lazily spinning; it was as if we had gone back to a more elegant time.  We had to wait for around 10 minutes before a table was free, but this was hardly a chore as we relaxed in the sophisticated lounge chairs and perused the menu. The main restaurant is…

  • Recipe – Pan Seared Pigeon Breasts with Red Wine Sauce

    Following a meeting on New Year’s Eve, I decided to head into town and ended up wandering into Borough Market, which was surprisingly not packed to the rafters for a change.  Despite the risk to both my post-Christmas bank balance and waistline, I couldn’t resist roaming around and picking up various goodies.  One of the delectable morsels that I purchased was a wild pigeon from Furness Fish, Poultry & Game.  I have always loved their stall and I defy any foodie to be able to walk past it without buying something from their amazing range of food.  I had never cooked pigeon but, having seen almost every contestant on this year’s Masterchef:…