Acting as a home from home, where clients can be entertained in style – country club membership is a popular option. After all, where else can you wine and dine in privacy, enjoy a game of golf, try out a spa, undertake countless sports and enjoy a wide range ofContinue Reading
The Bordeaux region, with its historic vineyards, superb destination hotels and numerous gastronomic specialties is an unsurpassed (long) weekend destination for lovers of great food, scenery and drink, says James Lawrence. Bordeaux La Belle Au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty) scarcely sleeps at all in the 21st century. Its gloriously handsomeContinue Reading
The word resort can be interpreted in many ways; here in the UK it reminds me of hideous faux-independent hotels full of botox’d gym-goers nibbling salad, hen parties enjoying the on-site spa and cheap prosecco, and business men stalking the bar in the hope of some one-on-one extra-curricular fun. Or,Continue Reading
The Italians and Spanish would undoubtedly disagree, but in my experience nowhere matches the United Kingdom for the sheer quality and freshness of our seafood. Our coastline is a positive mecca for lovers of great fish and shellfish: Dorset and Cromer crab, oysters, scallops, and lobster from Devon, not toContinue Reading
In 2017, Guardian food critic Jay Rayner described his review of The Game Bird as “a love letter.” I disagree. I’d say it was a gargantuan effort to lavish the restaurant in oodles of cuddly-wuddly praise. But, after my inaugural visit last month, I can finally understand why. Yet myContinue Reading
There can be few people in the global restaurant business that haven’t heard of Michel Roux Jr, stalwart of MasterChef and member of the legendary cheffing dynasty. The Roux family oversees a sizable empire, including the two Michelin-starred restaurants and The Waterside Inn at Bray. In addition, Roux Jr hasContinue Reading
Please don’t mention this to your Spanish friends, but over the past few months I’ve eaten sublime Jamon de Bellota, delicious chickpeas with Morcilla (black pudding) and possibly the best cod croquetas of my life – all without setting foot on Spanish soil. For the simple truth is that inContinue Reading
“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change,” noted Heraclitus. Well, if anyone wants an example of how a restaurant can successfully manage change, they should look to Sartoria. In 2015, the much-loved stalwart of Saville Row closed for refurbishment, adding a new bar, cicchetti counter, two private dining roomsContinue Reading
Marcella restaurant review: Marcella Deptford is the sibling of the excellent Artusi in Peckham Rye, situated on the Bellenden Road. Due to the gentrification of the wider Peckham area since 2013, Artusi was well-placed to take advantage of what opportunistic estate agents rebranded as ‘Bellenden Village’ and the shopfronts, cafésContinue Reading