Posted 24 January 2012

It’s January, the season when many people traditionally forsake alcohol and stay indoors watching boxsets of The Killing, but I’m on a stool at the InterContinental Park Lane, watching as our bartender Fabio Immovilli fills up two glass phials with a 40 per cent proof clear liquid. We’re here to learn about the history of gin, along with some of the chemistry and biology. It’s a journey that whisks us through 400 year, across oceans and continents. It also takes us through several glasses of unadulterated gin, and some tasty sharing plates.

Created in Philadelphia, the Bronx cocktail dates back to 1905 when visitors to the Bronx Zoo spoke of the many ‘animals’ they saw after a few too many libations

50ml Tanquery gin
40ml orange juice
20ml Martini Rosso
20ml Martini Dry
Add to boston shaker, sake and double strain into Martini glass

Posted 24 January 2012

This really is a meal in a bowl, but it’s very quick to put together and with no seasonal ingredients you make it with a clear conscience at any time of the year.

You can use whatever bacon you have in the fridge for this dish. If it is smoked so much the better, because it will enhance the smokiness of the fish, but if it’s unsmoked don’t worry. I think bacon is a very personal thing, so use whichever you prefer. What i would say, though, is try to find a good, traditional, dry-cured bacon. Mass-produced bacon is often pumped up with injections of water or brine, sometimes containing preservatives, in order to increase its weight, and when you fry it the liquid leaches out again into milky-white puddles.

Posted 20 December 2011

Ed Wilson, executive chef and co-owner of Brawn (pictured) on Columbia Road, on what makes Hackney great. For a full list of his favourite hang-outs in the area, see the next issue of London Evening Standard Food magazine, out early 2012.

Homeslice Pizza – Netil Market – homeslicelondon.com
The best pizza in London. Full stop. It’s run by some New Zealand guys who have got this mobile wood-fired oven, and they drag it into the car park come rain or shine. They do really simple pizzas – try the Margarita with a bit of chilli oil on – but they are just fantastic. They are in Netil Market every weekend.

Posted 20 December 2011

Black bream with cockles and pearl barley risotto with seasonal vegetables

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:
For the risotto:
500g (1lb)pearl barley
2l (3.5pts) good quality vegetable stock
100g (4oz) shallots
2 cloves garlic
Rapeseed oil (or olive oil)
Seasonal vegetables

Posted 24 November 2011

The pioneering restaurant Moro helped kickstart Exmouth Market’s revival. Samantha Clark – one half of Sam and Sam Clark, at the helm for 15 years – is excited about Moro joining Dalston’s The Long Table, a month-long celebration of street food.

Sam Clark knew early on that her fascination for food was possibly verging on obsessive: ‘I have memories of eating a banana in different way – if you split it lengthways how would it be? Why does the end bit of the banana taste more lemony than the top bit? And I used to think of all the different ways of eating a Jaffa cake – I thought about everything in quite a lot of detail. My mother was a good cook, and my grandmother lived in france for 40 years, so we would go and spend every summer there. I grew up with sardines and lovely tomato salads.’

Posted 10 November 2011

Need inspiration for last-minute Christmas shopping? Check out our pick of the hot food bibles for the close of this year …

TASTING INDIA
Tipping the scales at more than 6lb and almost a square foot in size, Tasting India would make a great chopping board or a spice pestle. But it should mainly be used for bringing one of the world’s great cuisines to your kitchen. Christine Manfield, an acclaimed Australian chef with her own Sydney restaurant, Universal, has been travelling around India for the past two decades, and this highly personal book reflects her love affair with the country. From Kolkata to Mumbai, Kerala to the Himalayas, she builds an evocative portrait through travel writing and recipes donated by restaurant chefs, domestic households and friends – from simple relishes and pickles to Jamshyd’s Chicken Dhan Sakh, which has 66 ingredients to its name, and the fragrantly named ‘One hundred almond curry’. The stunning photography by Anson Smart captures India’s luscious colours. This will inspire not just your next meal, but your next holiday, too.
Conran Octopus, £40

Posted 8 November 2011

When you have been sitting waiting in an upstairs room of a derelict pub on the border of Peckham and New Cross for two-and-a-half hours amid a cacophony of riotous revelry for a burger you begin to realise three things: firstly, you are unimaginably hungry; secondly, no longer at all sober, and lastly, that there must be something very special about your forthcoming meat sandwich.

Posted 27 October 2011

Cocorino on Chiltern Street, www.cocorino.co.uk
This does an excellent breakfast and an excellent coffee – as well as great Italian anti pasti and cheeses, pastas, sauces and gelato. My favourite start to the day is the scrambled eggs and a spicy Italian sausage in a croissant. They have one large communal table at the back of the room and it is always packed out.

Posted 20 October 2011

And the winners are:

Bravery – Mikael Jonsson at Hedone. The former Swedish lawyer is passionate and obsessed about obtaining the best ingredients.

One Person’s Passion – Petra Barran of eat.st – her own mobile van Choc Star revealed to her the animating effect of food sold on the streets. She runs the site with Giles Smith and Gareth Davies