August 2012 archive

Review: The Lion, Leintwardine

[singlepic id=336 w=280 h=210 float=right]Why do so many restaurants and cafes insist on putting cappuccino on their menu then serving up a huge cup of hot milk with a mouse’s bladder of coffee squirted into it and a spoonful of phlegm on top? Is it the misguided belief that bigger is always better? Is there …

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Bilberry Tart, Tarte aux Myrtilles

[singlepic id=333 w=280 h=210 float=right]If you’re familiar with the French bakery-cafe chain Paul then you’ll know they do a mean Tarte aux Myrtilles, so deeply purple as to be almost black and utterly loaded with the tiny berries. For me, Paul are one of the few places helping to rescue the word “chain” from being …

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Bilberry picking

[singlepic id=330 w=240 h=180 float=right]Bilberries are one of my favourite wild foods, right up there with wild garlic and parasol mushrooms. They start to appear in August and can be got into September, it all seems to depend on where exactly they’re growing. You’d also be well advised to look for them somewhere that sheep …

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Review: Ceviche, Soho

[singlepic id=325 w=280 h=210 float=right]My experience of South American food from the three months we spent there at the end of our year around the world was generally poor. How could a continent that provided us with so many of the most brilliant staple ingredients have such rubbish cuisine? And I don’t just mean the …

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Review: The Checkers, Montgomery

[singlepic id=323 w=280 h=210 float=right]One thing a restaurant really can’t be blamed for is having to share a dining room with a big party of cheerfully noisy people. Indeed, as they’re likely to have a storming drinks bill it’s only to be expected that restaurants would actively court such parties. The Checkers is a cosy, …

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