Blog
Tracking 2009 World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies & best street coffee in London
Since Londoner Gwilym Davies was crowned 2009 World Barista Champion my inbox has been clogged with the same two questions: Where can I find him pulling shots and why wasn't he included in my roundup of the top 10 coffee shops in London? Gwilym does not work at a...
Best Bagel in London
My search for a great London bagel took me to bagel bakeries on Brick Lane and in areas of north London – Golders Green, Hendon, Finchley, Stamford Hill – with large Jewish communities. I was not seeking something as tough, doughy and bloated as a New York bagel, nor...
Top 10 pizzas in London
[slider_pro id="19"] My top 10 pizzas in London list reflects a global renaissance in the appreciation of Neapolitan pizza. The difference this time is that the feeling is genuine. Naples shared its love for pizza and dry pasta with the world many years ago but...
What to make of a bad first taste
youngandfoodish: @NancyRomm Hate when u try an exotic dish for 1st time & it's wrongly prepared. Can't be sure if u dislike dish or only that version of it. NancyRomm: @youngandfoodish I once had a boyfriend like that. It was the guy.
Trio of chocolate pots de crème with matcha
Published in The Los Angeles Times – May 13, 2009 Pots de Crème takes its name from the petits pots in which the lightly set custard is baked and served. In my recipe the traditional French dessert is composed as a trio of three chocolates – white, milk, dark – each...
For chocolate, a matcha made in heaven
Published in The Los Angeles Times – May 13, 2009 At a glance, the cross-cultural dessert pairing of chocolate and matcha, the prized Japanese green tea powder, may not seem the sort of combination to elicit uncontrollable cravings. Among the many terms used to evoke...
Ferran Adrià tries pizza by descendant of legendary pizzaiolo
In an LA Times article about Ferran Adrià 's plans to open a pizzeria in Barcelona, the elBulli chef is shown sampling a pizza margherita at Turin 's Frattelli La Cozza [corso Regio Parco 39, tel: +39 011859900 map.] That pizzeria may take its name from brothers Carlo...
Gourmet & dismay at London’s Real Food Festival
I spent 4 hours on Friday at the opening day of the Real Food Festival at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre, seeking the meaning of "real" food, which I think we are all supposed to prefer to "unreal" food. I know I do. The organisers weren't much help. They...
What the duck, Zoe?
In her Telegraph review of Min Jiang in London's Royal Garden Hotel, Zoe Williams does not telegraph the identity of the "star dish" with a "wow factor" that "blew us [she and her mother] away."  She doesn't even name it, instead employing 237 words to describe the...
rude health porridge is no cruel gruel
When Camilla Barnard named her organic cereals company rude health she was likely evoking wholesome, happy breakfast bowls as opposed to the cruel gruels forced upon defenseless pupils by pitiless schoolmasters. That's the message I took from the recyclable cardboard...