‘TASTE OF 50 YEARS’ MENU ARRIVES AT RICK STEIN BARNES
It’s been 50 years since Rick and Jill Stein first stepped into the world of hospitality and opened The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow Harbour in 1975. Now, Londoners can get a taste of some of the iconic dishes that shaped the last five decades with a celebratory four-course dinner for £70 at Rick Stein Barnes, available Friday to Sunday until October.
Take a seat overlooking the River Thames and enjoy a nostalgic Cornish-inspired feast inspired by Rick’s signature style – simple, confident cooking using the finest seasonal ingredients – and developed in collaboration with his son, chef director Jack Stein, and head of food Jason Wass.
Taste your way through 50 years with a story behind each plate. Starters include fresh Dorset oysters or Maryland crab cakes followed by the likes of brill with truffle sauce, or lemon sole with shrimp and brown butter. For mains, classic favourites include Rick’s legendary Indonesian seafood curry and roast rump of lamb with broad beans and peas. End the experience with Rick’s personal favourite, a rich chocolate fondant, or a vanilla rice pudding, brûléed on top and served with Szechuan-spiced pineapple.
Jack Stein, chef director at Rick Stein Restaurants, comments: “I loved putting this 50th menu together with Dad. It was a real walk down memory lane choosing our best dishes from five decades of serving up the very best seafood. I’m delighted to bring this menu up from Padstow to Barnes.”
Celebrate five decades of unforgettable seafood and book your table here: https://rickstein.com/restaurants/rick-stein-barnes/.
Pavyllon unveils new Wine Dinner series
Ok, this is an expensive one, but for those that love fine wine and fine food, I think it has to be worth considering, as Pavyllon London, the modern French restaurant from the world’s most Michelin-decorated chef, Yannick Alléno, at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, invites guests to take a front row seat for the inaugural Wine Dinner Series. Seated at the dynamic kitchen counter, just 30 guests will experience the theatre of a Michelin-starred kitchen alongside exceptional wines, paired with seasonal tasting menus crafted to complement each bottle.
On Thursday, 9th October the series opens on quite a high, partnering with celebrated Sicilian winery Donnafugata, a famous family estate known for its expressive wines that blend tradition with sustainability. Head Chef Benjamin Ferra Y Castell has crafted a six-course tasting menu to showcase the journey through Sicily’s diverse terroirs,from the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna to the sun-soaked shores of Pantelleria, with each dish thoughtfully designed to showcase the unique character and refined elegance of its pairing.
The evening begins with a sparkling wine welcome, drawn directly from Donnafugata’s private cellars – a rare release unavailable anywhere else in the UK, followed by expertly paired menu and then the following menu:
- Main menu:
- Gillardeau No. 2 oyster in green apple and kombu jelly | Etna Bianco DOC, Sul Vulcano 2022
- Red mullet carpaccio with fresh shiso, foie gras, and confit celeriac | Sicilia DOC Bianco, Vigna di Gabri 2023
- Aged chicken cooked on the crown with champagne and yeast emulsion | Terre Siciliane IGT, Tancredi, Donnafugata & Dolce & Gabbana 2020 – a collaboration of two icons of Sicilian culture
- Pigeon from Anjou with blackcurrant gel, dill condiment and liver pâté | Sicilia DOC Rosso, Mille e una Notte 2020
- Roasted apricot marmalade with rosemary, lavender essence and apricot sorbet | Passito di Pantelleria DOC, Ben Ryé 2022
With the chefs at work just a few feet away, each pairing becomes a moment of dialogue between plate and glass. Tickets are £195 per person, book HERE.
The Wine Dinner Series continues on Thursday 13th November and Thursday 4th December with further wine partners, with the December edition promising a festive flourish to close the year in style.
Pavyllon London, Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, Hamilton Place, London, W1J 7DR
https://www.pavyllonlondon.com/ | 020 7319 5200
COYA City launches bottomless menu
COYA City has launched a new bottomless menu every Friday which has combined their famous mix of Japanese and Peruvian cuisine with free flowing drinks, perfect for the end of the week and the start of the weekend.
COYA has kicked off it’s free flowing offering at the City venue, with 90 minutes of cocktails and Veuve Clicquot champagne, accompanied with canapes and snacks, before a three-course dinner.
This is all set to live saxophone performances throughout the evening, as well as a live DJ, the new offering sounds like a great way to kick off the weekend.
Guests are invited to visit COYA at 7pm to begin their bottomless Friday, ready to enjoy such food as COYA’s signature Guacamole Dip, Sea Bream Ceviche, Whipped Feta Quinoa and the King Bream Tiradito, before choosing a main from such choices as the Chilean Sea bass withAji amarillo pickled peppers and fennel, the Udon Noodles with bok choy and smoked shiitake, or more.
Date: Every Friday 29th June from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM or 10:00 PM
COYA City, 31-33 Throgmorton St, London EC2N 2AT – Coya City
Finch Spreads its Wings with New Wine and Beer Festivals for Brixton
This September, Finch, the Brixton Village wine bar, is a key player in the inaugural Brixton Beer and Wine Festival – a month-long celebration of local wine, music, and community spirit. Running from 2nd-28th September, the festival is a collaboration between Fables & Company and Brixton Village, designed to bring the joy of wine beyond the market and into the heart of Brixton.
Driven by a shared vision to make wine more accessible to everyone, Fables & Company has partnered with Brixton Village to extend a sense of community to the entire neighbourhood, not just the market, through this month-long celebration.
Festival-goers can grab a Festival Pack for just £3 at any participating venue. Not only does this unlock exclusive discounts, but 50p from each pack goes directly to Wild’s Club, a local charity supporting Kitchen and living gardens in schools around the UK; funds raided during the Brixton Festival will go to Brixton schools – the perfect way to make wine drinking feel more worthy.
Those with a festival pack can enjoy 25% off all wines by the glass at Finch. Other participating venues include Laundry, Vining Street, Guzzl, Courtesan, and Cavavin, each offering their own unique festival specials.
Every Sunday, Brixton Village will transform into a wine lover’s haven with free-to-attend mini wine fairs. The first three Sundays will be hosted in the Brixton Village Courtyard, culminating in a bigger event on 28th September that spans Market Row and the Courtyard.
You can expect tastings, discounted glasses and bottles, and a chance to meet producers on the following dates: 7th Sept: Henners; 14th Sept: London Cru; 21st Sept: Graft; and 28th Sept: London Cru, Loxwood, Henners, Knightor, Gusbourne, Renegade, Balfour, Hambledon, Roebuck, Bolle – more to be announced.
And beer lovers will be next with the Brixton Beer Festival due to run from 1st October – 2nd November with participating venues including Finch Hideaway, Kraft, The Laundry, Craft, Guzzl, Harlem, Supercute, The Joint, and Henge.
Finch Wine Bar, 89 Granville Arcade, Brixton SW9 8PS – Finch
Milk Beach launches TOAST AUSTRALIA series
The renowned and Sydney-inspired all-day restaurant Milk Beach is hosting a series of Australia-centric evenings pairing their sharing plates with exceptional wines from the mother continent. Each month there is a separate event held on their stunning under-cover terrace, each presented by renowned sommelier Wilem Powell alongside an ambassador for each winery.
Each intimate dinner will feature a three-course meal by Milk Beach’s Executive Chef Leonard Swan, curated to match with the wine flight from each winery. The menu for each event has been designed with the wineries’ best picks in mind, with those specialising in whites accompanied with the best fish and white meat, and those with full-bodied red wine accompanied by the best red meats to delight guests. Tickets range from £135-£215 per person depending upon the guest winery.
One of our writers recently attended an evening that featured some of the finest wines of Mornington Peninsula and Tasmania, courtesy of the winery ‘Handpicked’, paired with a bespoke three-course sharing menu from Head Chef Alex Busca, and it was truly wonderful. They were sat supper-club style on long tables and the conversations flowed as easily as the wine. He reported that a star turn was their Sparkling Cuvée from Tasmania though in fairness there were no losers, and the food was elegant, light and delicious.
To see details of upcoming events in the Toast Australia series go to: www.milkbeach.com/whatson
Finally, a limited edition whisky release from the most exciting new distillery in Scotland
Leading new wave distillery Isle of Raasay have announced the launch of their first ever Marsala Cask Single Malt whisky, matured exclusively in rare Marsala Vergine casks sourced from the historic Frazzitta winery in Sicily. Bottled at 50.7% ABV and limited to just 12,300 bottles worldwide, this limited release also introduces a new look packaging, adding distinctiveness and clear identity to the distillery’s growing portfolio.
Offering a unique meeting of two coastal terroirs: Sicily and Raasay, what sets this release apart is not just the cask type, but the provenance and pedigree of the wood itself. The casks used are Marsala Vergine DOC barrels from Frazzitta, one of Sicily’s oldest Marsala producers, known for aging their wines for decades in traditional oxidative environments. Marsala Vergine wines are known for their nutty, dry, and deeply oxidative profile, much like a dry sherry.
Master Distiller Alasdair Day explains, “Marsala Vergine casks, particularly from a historic producer like Frazzitta, are rare in the whisky industry, and the cask characteristics have brought an exceptional depth of flavour to our Raasay spirit. The casks we’ve used to mature our whisky have been seasoned with the bone dry Marsala wine for up to 30 years. This adds beautiful layers of dried fruit, toasted nuts, and an oxidative depth. The result is a whisky that is rich and complex, with baked apples and maple syrup on the palate, balanced with dried pear, apricots, and a balsamic sweetness that all lingers into a long smoky finish with echoes of roasted coffee. It’s one of the most distinctive cask maturations we’ve ever released, elegant and assertive all at once.”
The Marsala Cask Limited Release also features a new addition to the distillery’s packaging portfolio. The colour scheme is inspired by the island’s geology where the cool slate grey tones are reflective of the rugged volcanic landscape of Raasay, as well as the indentations of fossils which can be found on the bottle itself.
As with all releases from Raasay, the whisky was distilled and matured entirely on the island. The distillery’s spirit and distinctive lightly peated character is achieved by the combination of using peated and unpeated barley in the distillation process and maturing separately before being married together.
The Marsala Cask Limited Release offers whisky lovers an experience of Sicilian and Scottish heritage in a single dram. It will be available at independent retailers across the UK and is available to buy on their website now
RRP: £75 – Link for purchase: https://raasaydistillery.com/product/marsala-cask