Together with turbot, seabass and diver caught scallops, dover sole has been at the top of my culinary hit list. As a young journalist it was the thing to order in the private clubs of the industrial midlands and London clubland. At the time they cost over ten quid – the equivalent of the $50 main course. They would be cooked to order and then skinned and boned at the table. We asked the fishmonger to skin our seven quids […]
Author: Ed
A decent pint of Adnams and smoked haddock at the Eight Bells
Down to the Eight Bells in Saffron Walden for more culinary hits. This time ti’s two pints of Adnams Bitter, one of those almost flat English beers that I didn’t realise I missed so much. It’s (obviously) bitter, nearly flat and about 4.4% alcohol. It reminds me that so man of our craft beers are a bit too mucked about. For lunch I have my second smoked haddock dish of the holiday – a smoked haddock and mussel chowder. I’m […]
Hits all the way at Midsummer House (until the bizarre chocolate box arrives)
Just note that the spelling is Midsummer and not Midsomer. And the only nettles were crisp fried on the plate rather than in the cast. We are at Midsummer House on Midsummer Common in Cambridge, the single Michelin starred restaurant in East Anglia – or so I’m told. Despite being on the cam, in that perverse English way the main restaurant is in a conservatory overlooking a walled garden where we can see the staff tooing and froing to the […]
First night at the opera and supper at the Wolseley
Act 1 After a five year gap our protagonists meet in the offices of a discreet hedge fund just off Berkeley Sq. We catch at taxi to the basement bar Cafe des Amis just behind the Royal Opera House enjoying a couple of Kir Royales. A woman screams as a mouse runs under her feet. Our heroes exit stage let. Act 2 In the foyer of The Royal Opera House. What looks to be Australian Strewth columnist DD McNicoll disappointingly […]
No happy ending to this shitty desert banquet
The desert is inevitable in Dubai and it is difficult to resist a safari. While we will feast in the dessert there will be no booze or belly dancing tonight because of Ramadam. I don’t mind. We traverse the dunes in Top Gear fashion while I weakly exclaim “Oh my god!”. I don’t really mean it as the track up the peaks and down the dips aren’t that scary. While everybody else looks towards the sunset and the passing camel […]
Low rise traditional hotel in Dubai has charm
I‘ve never been one for hermetically sealed comfort of so-called seven or mere 5 star hotels. Instead of taking this safe and unadventurous approach to global accommodation I prefer something in the local traditional, which is also perhaps more rustic and certainly cheaper. IMy researches led me to the XVA Gallery in the Bastakiya area of Dubai, noted for the use of the traditional wind towers in the architecture. The XVA, which also serves as an art gallery, also features […]
Refreshing Indian food in Dubai
I‘m in Dubai but not in your usual hotel. I’ve picked low rise a traditional building in one of heritage areas, near the textile souks. The thing you notice in Dubai is that you meet everybody but the local Arabs. This is a city that has grown incredibly fast build on the blood and sweat on Indians, Pakistanis and Phillipinos to name but a few. Because I’m stupis I’ve chosen to visit during Ramadam. This means it is illegal to […]
London help needed for visiting food blogger
What are the essential food and drink experiences in London at the moment? I arrive back for the first time in four years, and the first as a food blogger, on the 10th September, leaving on the 22nd (Right now I’m sweating it out in Dubai for some reason). Part of my visit is for work to conduct some interview for a book but so easily it can become entwined with pleasure. But it’s a whirlwind tour where I also […]
A Quiet Achiever
From SBS Food For something that is more or less an underwater snail, the humble abalone has done pretty well for itself. Twenty years ago a Chinese grocer would pay a few dollars for a barrow load of the ugly blighters known as ‘Muttonfish’ picked out of Port Phillip Bay. Nowadays this mollusk, or to be more precise Haliotidae, is prized by chefs to the extent that many regions including South Africa, the Middle East and California have overfished and […]