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Bao
I used to date a guy whose motto was “we don’t queue, we don’t pay, we just large it”. Many years later, I can safely say that I do pay and I’m not really sure that I large it. I do also often find myself queuing, much as I dislike it. Therefore queuing for a restaurant is something I try to avoid, especially when there are plenty of bookable, queue-free options around and when London weather is not exactly queue-friendly. This is why I had never been to Bao. Until now. And yes, I did have to queue. And yes, it was totally worth it. A bao is a Taiwanese steamed bun…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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The Best Food and Drink of 2015
Yep, it’s the end of another year so time for yet another list. Here is my round up of the best things went into my mouth over the course of 2015: Chicken Berry Biryani from Dishoom I visited the Kings Cross branch of Dishoom all the way back in January but I still keep raving about their biryani. Tender meat, fluffy rice, a good amount of spice….it ticks all the biryani boxes but has the added bonus of cranberries. Plus the restaurant itself just looks so, so sexy. Spaghetti with Cuttlefish and Ink Sauce from Osteria Alba Nova Good food can be hard to find in tourist-ridden Venice, but venture…
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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…
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The Manor, Clapham
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Eating The Street
You would have to be living under a rock not to realise that street food is a big deal. The London street food scene has exploded over the last year or so, with a range of top notch vendors serving takeaway scran to suit every palate. With excellent food markets every day of the week, I’m determined to eat my way through all that the capital has to offer. Here are a few of my highlights to date: The Little Yolk The clue is in the name. Starting life as a market stall, these purveyors of fried egg yumminess now have their own cafe at Dalston Farm Shop. The menu…
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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…
