Category: Madsen

Easy leek and potato

It’s leek and potato soup, but not as we know it. First I chopped the leek (this had seen service a week ago and been plonked into a mug of water to watch it grow). Then I boiled it in water with a vegetable stock cube for about 15...

Dinner at Pembroke College

I got to wear my gown for a Pembroke dinner. On a warm summer evening we met in the garden beside the Wren Library and drank a glass of champagne. Dinner was in hall, with students fresh from bruising exam encounters sitting in the body of the hall in...

Perfect tart

I ate lunch in the Balls Brothers wine bar on the corner of Buckingham Palace Road. It is clean and light, unlike many wine bars. Light wood and walls, with elegant modernist pictures complement modern, rather Mediterranean food. I ordered the tomato, Ricotta and basil tart with a watercress...

Thames cruise

It was an almost perfect summer evening for a boat cruise along the Thames. We started at Westminster pier and went down towards MI6 before turning to go down river. London looked spectacular in the evening sun, We passed from Parliament on our port side to the London Eye...

Seafood stuff

In a previous life it was the Little Rose pub, near Pembroke and Peterhouse colleges. Now it is Loch Fyne, specializing in seafood, and very good, too. I began with pan-fried squid with cherry tomato and balsamic and garlic dressing, which was quite filling for a starter. Then came...

Formal hall

One of the pleasant dining experiences in Cambridge in going to formal hall. The less formal evening meal is often a cafeteria event called the Buttery and held earlier. But the formal one, usually at 7.30pm is commonly a three or four course meal with wine served to students...

Meal on a boat

Since 1973 the Hispaniola has been moored at Victoria Embankment, quite near to Whitehall and Downing Street, serving mainly Spanish cuisine to those who brave the sometimes steep gangplank. The boat rocks a little in the water, especially when a police launch sends waves against it. I was fortunate...

About Thyme II

I revisited About Thyme in Wilton Road, London. I used to go there when it was a friendly family Greek restaurant called Psistaria. Now it’s sleek and modern and very cool. I have a very high opinion of this place, justified yet again by a superb lunch. I had...

Cambridge beer festival

Now in its 33rd year, the Cambridge Beer Festival is currently offering hundreds of different ales from a marquee on Jesus Green. Many of them are produced by small breweries, and have names most people have never heard of. It’s always a popular event, where visitors pay a refundable...

English cheeses

A colleague tells me that when he was a boy there were only nine English cheeses. Given the numbers and variety today, this seems incredible, but he assures me there were nine. He named: Cheddar, Cheshire, Caerphilly, Gloucester, Lancashire, Leicester, Wensleydale , Derby, and Stilton. The first thing I...