Food and Drink

Literally meaning ‘my kitchen’, Meri Rasoi is an Indian cookery school run by food writer and cookery teacher Nidhi Verma. Having grown up in India, Nidhi Verma left a career in marketing to follow her passion for food by running cookery classes and publishing recipes on her website. Aiming to demystify Indian food with clear, detailed step-by-step recipes, Nidhi teaches from her home in South West London, with regular classes including ‘Classic Indian Home Cookery’ (sharing family recipes handed through generations) and ‘Simply...

Launched at Milan Fashion Week, CÎROC Vodka has collaborated with Italian fashion house Moschino on a new limited-edition bottle design, plus a global event series spearheaded by Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott. Alongside the event series in collaboration with fashion influencers including Golden Barbie (aka Jasmine Sanders), River Viiperi, Thando Thabethe, WizKid and Cassper Nyovest, Jeremy Scott’s new bottle design sees CÎROC’s signature blue, here in a pastel shade, wrapped in Moschino’s famous gold chain and dangling letters design. Available...

In 2006, the BBC premiered ‘In Search of Perfection’, a television series starring world-renowned chef Heston Blumenthal. Throughout the series, and the accompanying book, the world-renowned chef focussed on eight dishes, exploring their origins and (often outrageously) attempting to recreate the best possible versions of each dish, finely tuning each specific component. Of the eight included dishes, roast chicken with roast potatoes joined the likes of fish and chips, pizza and treacle tart. With this in mind, it’s perhaps unsurprising...

Following the success of the first restaurant in Balham, Brother Marcus opened a second, larger restaurant in Islington during the summer. Renowned for an award-winning brunch, the new restaurant – tucked away on Camden Passage near Angel tube station – also serves a new evening menu with a focus on traditional Cretan flavours. Set up by friends and founders, Alex, Arthur and Tasos, the new menu uses recipes passed down through generations, honouring Tasos’ Greek upbringing, merged with Brother Marcus’...

The world's most expensive mushrooms could be wiped out by 2050 - as they cannot last without water for more than three weeks

As we prepare to celebrate the ancient pagan festival of Saturnalia, to quote Sheldon Cooper, the time seems right to take a journey along the old Pilgrim’s Way to celebrate a fizzy contender to Champagne produced in the garden of England. Sat atop of the final stretch of the Pilgrim’s Way into Canterbury, Westwell vineyard is steeped in history. With just over nine acres planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – the Champagne grape varieties – it’s Pelegrim...

This week's beer tip comes straight from our back yard as the capital celebrates the first (and only) beer in the country to boast a genuine "London terroir". Borough Market’s new limited edition beer, an Earl Grey Saison, features hops grown on the market's glass fronted hall which were sustainably fertilised with a combination of recycled coffee grounds from traders and rain water harvested from the market’s roof. Curated by expert nomadic brewer, Daniel Tapper of The Beak brewery, the...

“At least this rain is very good for the grapes,” announces Olympia Rizzardi of Guerrieri Rizzardi, a historic wine house in Italy’s Veneto region. It’s a wet Saturday morning and I’m perched under an umbrella, sheltering from the torrential downpour while traipsing the vineyards overlooking Lake Garda. Adverse weather aside, the Veronese countryside remains perfectly picturesque. Sun bleached marogne dry-stone buildings dominate the landscape, joined by rolling hills, Cypresses and Persimmons. Here, the grape yield is used to produce the...

Who doesn't love pizza? The cheesy, saucy, and heavenly taste of pizza is something everyone couldn't get enough of. There's little wonder why you've become interested in building your own pizza business and share this piece of goodness with others. But you probably know how competitive this space is, with pizza chains and franchises dominating the national market. As a budding startup, how can you carve out your own space and make enough noise to capture the attention of loyal...