Category: Cuisine

Gordon Ramsay at Bread Street Kitchen

Trying to find an ad-hoc table in the evening around Christmas time in the City of London is rather laborious due to the extreme amount of parties (most of the banks and insurance companies book out whole bars), we decided to go up-market. After getting turned away from Barbecoa we...

Honey roasted Ham this Christmas

  This Christmas was full of the usual treats, Turkey, Mince Pies and family arguments but on boxing day i love to cook a Gammon joint with honey. It’s important to get a piece of Gammon with the rind intact. You start by scoring the rind in a diamond...

Goose for Christmas

I bought a fresh 5 kg goose from Waitrose (about 11 lb). I pricked the skin, rubbed oil over it and rubbed in sea-salt. It took about 3 hours to cook in a 170 fan oven, lightly covered in foil, and basted occasionally. No stuffing. I par-boiled the potatoes...

Lamb and onion pie with English vegetables

It could be diced lamb, but this time I chose minced lamb. I pre-cooked it on the hob until it was brown, then spooned off the fatty liquid. I fried the chopped red onions in a separate pan, then added them to the mince with a little water, powdered...

Thai Tapas at the Thaikhun in Cambridge

I often eat lightly at the Thaikhun in Cambridge, preferring a selection of starter dishes. In this case I ordered the spring rolls, pork & prawn dumplings and chicken skewers with satay sauce. Sometimes I have the deep fried prawns, and sometimes the Thai fishcakes. It’s quite enough to...

Christmas?…Nuts!

Christmas is a time for nuts, specifically nuts in shells. We eat shelled ones such as peanuts and cashews all year round, but at Christmas it’s good to sit by the fire to roast chestnuts and shell walnuts, hazel nuts and Brazil nuts. I had to import the last...

Duck at the Varsity in Cambridge

The Varsity restaurant is the Cambridge twin of Trinity restaurant, and it came first. I began with chicken liver paté with walnut bread and shallot jam, and went on to pan-fried duck breast with pommes croquettes, parsnip and roasted red chicory. The duck serving was huge, thick and nicely...

Tapas at All Bar One – Victoria Street

All Bar One in Victoria Street offer a good selection of “small dishes” – i.e. tapas.  This time I ordered Iberico ham croquettes, chorizo and halloumi skewers, and fried calamari. It was quite a varied selection, but a filling one. I chose a Sandbox Chenin blanc to accompany it....

Royal Dragon dumplings – Gerrard Street, London

Very often when eating a Chinese meal I will start off either with fragrant crispy duck and pancakes, or with dim sum dumplings. At the Royal Dragon in Soho’s Gerrard Street they offer a nice set of 8 dumplings with a sweet chilli sauce, good for two people, and...

Quick pumpkin soup

I had one jar left of the pumpkin purée I’d made and frozen. I defrosted it and poured it into a pan with about half a pint of chicken stock. I added about half a cupful of evaporated milk, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg,...