Monthly Archives: May 2011

They told me Tucker’s Grave was closed, they told it was shut. They brought me bitter news to hear, with no ifs or buts. I wept as I remembered how often Charles and I Had put the world to rights … Continue reading →

When I first got my Falcon Continental Cooker with its induction hob, I fell in love with it. Hitherto, I had been a Falcon gas man. Not any more. Induction was quicker. It was more efficient. It responded to the … Continue reading →

The season for gulls’ eggs is so short that, blink twice and you’ll miss it. In a normal year it runs for 3 or 4 weeks between April and May. This year, blink once, and you will have missed it, … Continue reading →

Steve Wellington is a legend. He’s the man who saved Worthington White Shield, that peerless tipple among British bottle-conditioned beers. He made a decent pint out of Inde Coop. He brought Worthington E, Imperial Stout and Barley Wine back from … Continue reading →

Note. This is not so much a review as a record of a particularly agreeable lunch. I wrote it during a short break in the break of the last Guardian Food Writing Course. Having commanded the cheery group who came … Continue reading →

Sir Terence Conran, the Blueprint Café’s original begetter, was there, as were D&D, the present owners. There was a fair sprinkling of senior chefs and restaurateurs – the Hendersons, Fergus and Margot, Bruce Poole, Richard Corrigan, the Clarks (Sam and … Continue reading →

Bloody heirloom tomatoes. Wretched heritage carrots. The words ‘heirloom’ and  ‘heritage’ are spreading like a pointless mildew across restaurant menus. I have lost count of the times I have said to a waiter ‘Tell me, these ‘heirloom’ tomatoes, what varieties … Continue reading →