September 12 2022
food to eat, places to go
Travel
UK
In The Telegraph, there’s an excellent article on trends in hotels and self catering due to the rise in energy prices, signalling shorter weeks of opening, lower heating and lights, smaller menus and more seriously, closures and redundancies My experience of once renting out a holiday cottage is that people will just leave everything on as they are not paying for the energy. This will have to change.
The Guardian has asked readers for tips for budget holidays; the ideas in the comments are good as well.
The Daily Mail shares the secret of Mollie’s Motel near Bristol. I have explored the Cotswolds since the first one near Faringdon opened in 2019 and think it’s brilliant.
The Independent recommends Southside in Glasgow for a foodie break and the Guardian a scenic railway in Wales at Ffestiniog.
Europe
It looks as if the Spanish Tourist Board has been busy with a road trip up the Guadiana River and slow routes from France to Spain in the Guardian, the last of the summer sun on the Costa Brava in the FT and a family tapas tour of San Sebastian in the Times.
There are more tips on Paris from a local in the FT, the Pinocchio Trail in Florence in the Times, Munich in the Times, and a green guide to Amsterdam in the Independent and Rotterdam in the Guardian.
There’s lots of write-ups of Greek holidays with Thessaloniki as a new food destination in the Times, Crete in the Daily Mail but the Independent says see Albania as the new Greece.
The Daily Mail recommends walking in Cinqueterre in Italy. I did this some years ago but understand the paths are now quite crowded as it’s become better known.
Restaurants
In the FT, Tim Hayward said that 14 course tasting menus didn’t show a chef’s imagination and that ‘tasting menus are tiring, inappropriate and bad for us as an industry.’ ( Does Solstice reviewed below count? )There was also an article about where people were now power lunching instead of the Corbin and King restaurants.
In the Guardian, Grace Dent went to Solstice, (as did Marina O’Loughlin of the Sunday Times three weeks ago,) and appreciates the theatre, the pacing and the exquisite attention to detail.
In the Independent, Chantelle Nicholson discusses how her restaurant, Apricity, in Mayfair, London is sustainable but states that the word ‘sustainability has lost its meaning and it’s time to regenerate’.
In the Mail on Sunday, Tom Parker-Bowles went to Locanda Locatelli, which he said ‘never ceases to delight and is a true London classic.’
In the Observer, Jay Rayner visited to Etles, in Finchley Rd, London a restaurant with food from Uyghur, and thought ‘you would be well fed and ‘learn a little along the way’.
In the Telegraph, William Sitwell thought Maria G’s in Kensington, London, owned by chef Robin Gill was ‘cooking some of the most heavenly, divine, delicate and authentic Italian food in London’.
In the Times, Giles Coren went to Roti King which he liked.
In the Standard, Jimi Faruewa was testing out Valderamma, a sports bar in Islington, London, with food by chef James Cochran, e.g. his fried chicken
In the Sunday Times, Marina O’Loughlin went to Allegra in Stratford, London and loved Patrick Powell’s food but hated the building and the location.
Recipes
There was a mixed bag of recipes in this week’s papers and I start with an insightful article in the Guardian on which eggs to buy with the immortal line from Jayne Buxton, author of ‘the Great Plant Based Con’ “no other food gives so much bang for its cluck”.
In the Guardian, Meera Sodha gives a vegan recipe for marmite risotto with tomato and crispy chilli ‘butter’ using Marmite in the stock and recommends Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli in Oil. Ravneet Gill writes a detailed recipe for a malt pannacotta with a chocolate tuile. Ottolenghi preserves summer fruits and vegetables and James Mossman of 10 Greek Street in Soho, London shares his recipes for pork chops with pancetta, peach, runner beans, almonds and chilli and mackerel, greengages and slaw. Aika Levins explains how to make a hybrid Japanese/Middle Eastern barbecue with recipes for a with chicken kebab in oyster sauce, flatbreads flecked with seaweed and sesame, and smacked cucumber on tahini.
In the FT, there’sa Ravinder Bhogal recipe for cold yoghurt and cucumber soup.
In the Observer, Nigel Slater cooks a ricotta, pepper and basil tart and grilled corn with green beans.
David Tanis gave his recipes for summer dinner party ideas in the Independent, including tomato salad with smoky aubergine flatbread, slow-cooked lamb shoulder with green beans and summer fruit compote where he macerates fresh fruit in a bit of jam.
In the Telegraph, inspired by a trip to Paris , Diana Henry gives a typical French bistro menu, with recipes for warm lardons with leeks, eggs and tiny potatoes, boudin noir-stuffed squid with peas, and crème caramel with salt-caramel sauce. She visited L’Assiette, and was inspired by its chef, David Rathgeber.
Thomas Straker’s buttery recipes were in the Times, broccoli with burnt chilli and anchovy butter, roast chicken with ‘nduja butter, potato gnocchi with burnt butter and beef with bone marrow butter. He’s doing a book but it’s not published until April 2023.
Books
Moro Easy by Sam and Sam Clark. There are recipes in the Mail on Sunday for mackerel with tomato olive oil and vinaigrette, spiced rice with prawns and roast vegetables with orzo and olives amongst others and more in the Stylist. They've persuaded me to buy the book.
India Express by Rukmini Iyer
Her recipes were featured in the Times including, coconut and lime salmon with roasted cherry tomatoes, south Indian-style black pepper and fennel prawns, spiced roasted paneer with tomatoes and peppers and chilli, coconut and lime salmon with roasted cherry tomatoes among others.
Taste Kitchen: Asia: Six Flavours To Suit Every Taste by Philli Armitage-Mattin
An interview with the Masterchef the Professional contestant.
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Awesome! Great links.