Author Archives: Sarah

Kopapa, London WC2

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
Zoe Williams, The Telegraph
» Zoe Williams, The Telegraph
Yup. More small plates of food
“Kopapa is not a very inviting space, with its clackety encaustic tiles and hard, stout chairs, plus I didn’t warm that much to the large and incomprehensible pillars. Perhaps they perform some structural function. Nevertheless, everything feels quite expensive. It has the perfect atmosphere for a modish business lunch; it puts the funk into functional, if you like (no, I didn’t think you would?). Peter Gordon pretty much invented the cookery style that calls itself ‘fusion’ (or, as my friend T calls it, ‘a posh word for a fridge raid’), so, if that’s the kind of thing you like, this is the place you’ll come for it. ”
Derivation of thought process behind: “Yup more plates of small food“.
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Food Stories, Helen Graves

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
Brown bread ice cream with a raspberry jam ripple
» Brown bread ice cream with a raspberry jam ripple
Look too quickly and, yes, it looks likes vomit. But as Dans Le Noir taught us – some things taste better with a blindfold
“Brown bread ice cream might sound weird but it?s actually one of the best flavours ever invented. Fact. Crumbs are caramelised in the oven with brown sugar and butter until gooey malt; the edges crisp and the centre remains soft so the final effect is like Ben and Jerry?s cookies n cream with chewy, dough-like pieces flecked throughout.

I got thinking along the lines of toast and jam; lots of nutty caramel from the crumbs and a ripple of sweet (high-fruit) raspberry jam running through. This is about as old English as it gets: a Victorian recipe with a ripple in it. Gawjuss”

Filed under Recipes | Tagged |

Cheese and Biscuits

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge
» Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge
Obviously this review needs no introduction and yet I’m feeling the need to write one and include the words “meat fruit”
“If there existed a movie that all your best friends loved, had received rave reviews from every movie critic on the planet, and had smashed all box-office records, would you be interested in seeing it? The answer seems obvious – of course you would, even out of sheer curiosity, and although there would be a risk your inflated expectations didn’t quite match up to the reality, you wouldn’t blame anyone but yourself, you’d probably still have a good time, and anyway what do you have to lose?”
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Lyfe Kitchen, Chicago-Based Healthy Fast Food Chain, Prepares For Launch With Former McDonald’s Execs

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
Huffington Post
» Huffington Post
“Two veteran executives from McDonald’s are starting a restaurant chain to revolutionize the fast-food industry – by serving food that isn’t harmful to your health. Lyfe Kitchen, a Chicago-based company whose name is short for “Love Your Food Everyday,” will be spearheaded by former Golden Arches President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Roberts, and former communications boss Mike Donahue, as the Chicago Tribune reports.”
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Olive Oil and Coconut Brownies

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
The New York Times
» The New York Times
“When it comes to dessert, my husband is a man of simple tastes, perfectly content as long as chocolate features prominently, and preferably in the form of chewy, dark brownies. This works out well for both of us since I?d rather make brownies than go to the trouble of baking a torte or frosting a cake. And brownies pack more flavor into a tiny square than most chocolate desserts do in their entirety, making them very gratifying to bake. With Valentine?s Day just around the corner, I?ve been tinkering with a new recipe.”
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Blue Nun – the world’s top-selling wine for 30 years – gets a makeover to tempt the female palate

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
Daily Mail
» Daily Mail
“It was the height of sophistication. . . or a byword for tackiness. Blue Nun was the world?s top-selling wine between the 1950s and 1980s, but became the butt of jokes and fell out of fashion. It was the wine of choice for the appalling, cheesy, TV chat show host Alan Partridge. However, it survived all the put-downs and even won the approval of style icon Victoria Beckham, who might be assumed to prefer Cristal champagne.”
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Rise of UK’s only school of artisan food based in Notts

Found by on Tuesday, 8th February 2011
BBC Magazine
» BBC Magazine
“The Welbeck Estate in North Nottinghamshire is home to the UK’s only school of artisan food. Since it opened in 2006, aspiring food makers have been learning centuries old techniques for making cheese and bread. The school started when the estate was looking for a baker – eventually finding one in the southern hemisphere. Director Gareth Kennedy said: “It became very clear to us that there wasn’t a supply of bakers in the UK suited to the emerging artisan skills.”Rise of UK’s only school of artisan food based in Notts
”
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Food TV: are we being served?

Found by on Monday, 7th February 2011
Tim Hayward, Guardian's Word Of Mouth
» Tim Hayward, Guardian's Word Of Mouth
Good to see what happens when a popular food writer stops scoffing…
“A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece here on a new TV programme, Michel Roux’s Service. I wanted to kick off a discussion about UK service standards and was mildly scathing about the BBC’s decision to make another programme in the “reality” genre – promoting it around the “personal journeys” of real people and “quest” of a celebrity. I have to admit, having been glued to the Sky+ for every episode, that I was wrong. Of course, I completely stand by the assertion that whoever penned the deathless line “Michel Roux sets out on a personal mission to train eight young people as front-of-house superstars” on the BBC website should get 12 points on their Artistic Licence and have their typing fingers cut off, but the programme itself was brilliant from start to finish.”
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On Location: LAUSD puts celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on no-film diet

Found by on Sunday, 6th February 2011
Los Angeles Times
» Los Angeles Times
La La Land is teaching Jamie what it means to live without an access-all-areas pass
“British chef Jamie Oliver’s food revolution is giving LAUSD officials a case of indigestion. The Los Angeles Unified School District has suspended all filming of reality TV shows in district schools after a standoff with the celebrity chef, who had been filming his ABC show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” at West Adams Preparatory High School in South Los Angeles for the last two weeks. This week the district denied Oliver’s license to film at another school, Manual Arts Senior High School, which, like West Adams, is operated by MLA Partners Schools, an organization that runs schools in South L.A. under a performance contract with LAUSD. A person close to the production said that district Supt. Ramon Cortines would approve the permit for Oliver’s show only if he could guarantee that he knew everything about the production and that it would paint the district in a positive light.”
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Restaurant review: Devonshire Brasserie

Found by on Sunday, 6th February 2011
Jay Rayner, The Observer
» Jay Rayner, The Observer
A self-styled “hip” urban restaurant brings a dissonant note to the quiet majesty of the Yorkshire Dales
“When I phoned the Devonshire Brasserie at Bolton Abbey to book a table I was told that, while the full menu would be available, they would be serving in the bar rather than the dining room. Having seen the dining room I can only describe that as a blessing. It is a square box, the wallpaper fluttering with kitsch butterflies. I’d describe it as the kind of room in which you’d give the kids their high tea at the sort of hotel frequented by the fading English gentry who don’t much like their own children ? were it not for the chairs: blood red and chromium studded, as if they were bought in a fire sale from a brothel. You would have to pay me to sit in there. Actually, to be fair, in this job, I would have been paid to sit in there, but you get my point. It is a master class in the finer points of wrong.
”
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