Month: July 2009

    I called in for lunch at one of the many small bistros which dot the streets within easy reach of where I stay in Nice. I was attracted by the day’s special of St Jacques aumonieres, which means scallops done in a flaky pastry and with a...

It was a variation on a theme, an experiment if you will. I started off by frying some chopped green pepper and a chicken breast in a dry pan. When the pepper was soft and the chicken colouring, I replaced it in the pan with the last of my...

For a long time now I’ve bought my salmon from Waitrose. It’s usually Atlantic salmon and is a deep reddy pink. More often than not, I bake it simply on foil at 190C for around 25 minutes. This time, I put the oven on earlier and cooked some potatoes....

I was given a Drakenskloof pinotage from South Africa’s Western Cape.  At 14.5 percent, the odds are against it being bland, and in favour of the full fruitiness we expect from a New World treatment of this grape.  I’ll save it for a really good red meat meal, maybe...

I was in Waitrose, and got some lambs’ liver and kidneys from the butchers’ counter. The liver was reduced-to-clear and cost me a whopping 26 pence! (The kidneys were a little more expensive, at £1.27…) I chopped a couple of onions and a couple of cloves of garlic and...

Two of us decided to eat Turkish, and debated between Kazan on Wilton Road near Victoria station, and Tas on the Cut, just South of the Thames near Waterloo station. We decided on Tas, not having been there for quite a time. The décor seemed more clean-lined and under-stated...

This was a superb combination. I started off the cooking by putting two whole sweet potatoes in to bake: 200C for one hour. Then for the duck: two breasts into a hot pan, skin side down. After about 10 minutes, the skin was looking good so I drained the...

Laithwaite’s sometimes sends me bottles as extras to the ones I’ve ordered, and it’s often pleasant trying out the unusual ones. This was Don Cayetano, an ’08 chardonnay from Chile, delivering 13 percent alcohol. It is very pleasant, with a nice acidity and strong flavours of peach, with a...

The day had started reasonably early, but I wasn’t going to be a part of the noise and commotion of Manhattan for a change. I stepped out of the hotel and into the subway: I was Brooklyn-bound, first stop Botanic Gardens. I spent a few hours wandering the well-tended...

On the corner of 18th and Irving, just up from Union Square, is New York’s oldest continually-serving pub/restaurant: Pete’s Tavern. It was early on a sunny evening when I arrived, and I pulled up a stool at the quiet bar. There was a good selection on the pumps, but...