Month: July 2008

Very English

Fish and chips, one of England’s original fast foods (along with that snack invented by the Earl of Sandwich). It’s tasty, and packed with protein and energy for growing children, though many adults have to limit the frequency with which they eat it, given a high fat content in...

Pita pockets

It’s an easy, tasty second breakfast or lunch. Split a pita round and toast lightly. Carefully insert a broad-bladed knife to separate the halves up to the edges, making a pocket. Then in goes light mayonnaise on both sides, chopped Romaine lettuce, halved Vittoria cherry vine tomatoes, and finally...

Pizza at Vapiano

I was visiting clients in Dresden, and had a couple of hours to look round the city and eat lunch. After visiting the opera house (Semperoper), the Zwinger and the superbly refurbished Frauenkirche (pictured), I started looking for a place to eat. I came across Vapiano on the St Petersburger...

Croque at Chez Gerard

In Covent Garden everywhere was crowded on a warm summer night.  Obviously we had to eat outdoors, but everyone else had the same thought.  Chez Gerard next to the Royal Opera House has an inviting side terrace upstairs, but the wait was ¨at least 20 minutes.¨  After pacing the...

Fishy wine?

This Aussie wine has a very cool label.  It’s called The Murray Fishing Club, and says it’s “great with barbecued redfin.¨  There’s not much else, though.  It’s an ’07 at 13 percent, and it’s white.  But it doesn’t say what grape it is, or how it was made. Fortunately,...

Good and bad at the Riviera

The Riviera at Gabriel’s Wharf on the South Bank started off good, in that we had a table on the upper deck with a superb Thames view. It went bad when there was only one WC, which someone monopolized for so long that I actually had to go out...

A week’s improvement

Among the 12 bottles of German pink that I bought, many were of Dornfelder rosé, Rheinhessen ’06 at 10 percent. I tried a glass and found it dreadfully sweet. Indeed, by my standards it was undrinkable so I didn’t drink it. I kept the rest of the bottle in...

Caramel – new and nice

I saw Caramel open in Wilton Road and wondered what it was like. I’ve checked out the menu from time to time, but have always chosen one of the nearby restaurants, which include several rather good ones. When I finally decided to try it I was surprised by how...

An Old Friend

The last time I tried this one was at the Freedom Week Barbecue, which I hosted last year. It was good then, of course, and this was definitely good now. It’s called Isla Negra and is a Merlot rosé, 13%. I drank a glass of it with a few...

Rosés all the way

The Times ran an article on rosé wines by Tony Turnbull. It basically pointed to their new popularity – 8 percent of UK sales, and outselling white wine in France. Unfortunately as I read through the article I kept coming across words like “sugary,” “syrupy,” and “uncomplicated.” It became...