Food and Drink

A unique collaboration between The Beak, Tap East and Borough Market, Love Borough Chocolate and Coffee Porter launches this month, with profits going towards the Borough Market trader support fund – aiming to help ease the financial losses suffered following this year’s terrorist attack. A beer with true London terroir, the Porter was brewed with English Fuggles hops grown in the heart of the market, flavoured with coffee and chocolate from two of the market’s best-known suppliers. St Lucian chocolate...

London's craft brewing industry continues to get gobbled up by mega business after Heineken took a minority stake in Brixton Brewery. The move follows similar investment in the market by the world's biggest players. SABMiller and, subsequently, Asahi now own Meantime Brewing, while ZX Ventures, the venture capital arm of AB-InBev, own Camden Town Brewery. Earlier this year, Carlsberg, in partnership with Brooklyn Brewery, acquired London Fields Brewery in a deal reportedly worth £4 million ($5.3M). Brixton Brewery said it...

Garlic could ward off hospital superbugs, a new study revealed. Ajoene, an active sulphurous compound found in the pungent vegetable, when combined with antibiotics helps break down a bacteria's defences. Scientists hope the breakthrough could fight incurable cystic fibrosis and chronic wounds in diabetics as well as tackling MRSA and common hospital infection P. aeruginosa. University of Copenhagen researchers found ajoene destroys the biofilm of resistant bacteria and make antibiotics work again. It does not kill the bacteria but disrupts...

Classic British cooking is having a moment. For every ill-contrived Modern-British foam, ‘essence’ or poncey restaurant ‘concept’, there’s a smoked fish trolley, tableside flambé station, or dedicated ‘pie room’ commanding respect in some sprauncy corner of central London. And so they should. British food has a dreadful reputation, at best, but when overlooking bland roast dinners and the unspeakable things our grandparents did with offal, there’s something endearing about the undiluted glamour that engulfs restaurants such as Scott’s, Bentley’s, relative...

According to recent research from OnePoll, 71 per-cent of Brits claim that a roast dinner is “too complicated and time consuming” to cook at home. On top of that, more than a third of adults aged 18-45 believe roast dinner to be so difficult to prepare at home, they simply don’t bother. A meal that’s long been synonymous with British culture (for better, or for worse), home-cooked Sunday roasts could become a thing of the past, with 38 per-cent of...

Drinking green tea has its health benefits, of course, but so many insoluble nutrients actually come from the tea leaves, which are wastefully discarded. Matcha – the world’s most potent green tea – however, is a powder of ground green tea leaves, whisked into hot water to brew tea. It’s also a superfood. Buddhist monks are said to have used Matcha for centuries, in order to stay alert and focused through mediation. Samurai warriors, on the other hand, would use...

Just a couple of weeks after its official launch, The Sunday Times published an article declaring the Sunday roast at The Coal Shed in London to be one of the city’s best. Part of the upscale new One Tower Bridge development, which also homes Tom Simmons Tower Bridge and a new offshoot of The Ivy, The Coal Shed is the London counterpart of its sister restaurant of the same name, and The Salt Room, each operating in Brighton. Restaurateur Razak...

With the rise in popularity of ‘craft’ spirits, independent rum brand Elements Eight have launched Elements Eight Republica. A premium, aged blend of two rums from Cuba and Panama, the blend is produced from 100 per-cent traditional column stills, rather than a combination of pot and column distillations. Naturally sweet in character, the Elements Eight Republica is non-chill filtered and aged in Bourbon casks, imparting further natural vanilla aromas and flavours. An Elements Eight ‘signature cocktail’, using Republica – ‘Old...

By Elena Orde, The Vegan Society With an increasing rise in plant-based diets, more people than ever will be eating vegan over the festive period this year. That means more people than ever hosting a vegan. If that thought fills you with dread – don't worry, we've got a few tips to ensure your Christmas dining is all plain sailing. The food Let’s face it – the trick to a good Christmas is to make things as easy for yourself as...