Food and Drink
Water Source: A Vital Ingredient or Romantic Novelty?
Anyone who has been on any tour tour of any brewery or distillery will know that the “water source” is what separates that brand from any other. It’s the same old codswallop every time. They regale notions of terroir, locality and the illusion that their patch of land on God’s green earth was their divine calling to create a spirit so worthy that even the angles take a share. It usually goes something like this: “Only the purest spring water...
Vegan Food Sales Up By 1,500% in Past Year
Vegan food sales are up by a whopping 1,500 per cent in the past year, according to new figures released to coincide with World Vegan Day. More than half a million people in the UK now say they follow the vegan lifestyle, which is up by 260 per cent in the last ten years, and a third of the population identifies as 'flexitarian', which simply means they are cutting down on their meat consumption. There is a lot of people switching...
London’s Best New Restaurant Openings – November 2016
With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, here’s our pick of the best new restaurants arriving in London over the coming month. Sakagura - Mayfair Joining the likes of Momo and Gordon Ramsay’s Heddon Street Kitchen, just behind Regent Street, Sakagura is the latest restaurant opening from The Japan Centre Group. Opening in collaboration with the team behind two Michelin-starred The Araki, the restaurant will have a Southern Japanese focus and will mainly serve ‘Washoku’ and Hakata Yakitori skewers....
Brits Eat Twice As Many International Dishes Over Their Lifetime
Brits will consume a whopping 14,175 international dishes between the ages of 18 - 81 compared to just 7,812 traditional British meals, according to new research. According to a new study it's out with the roast beef and in with the lasagne, with Italian topping the list of the most popular dishes. We tuck away 3,276 Italian meals across a lifetime, as well as 1,701 Chinese meals and 1,890 Indian feasts. We're also keen on American dishes, Mexixan and French dishes. Alex Meyer from Giraffe World...
The Weekly Cocktail Recipe – Harry’s Bar’s ‘Bats Blood’
With plenty of Halloween celebrations taking place across the weekend, this week’s themed cocktail recipe is from Harry’s Bar in Edinburgh. Having teamed up with R&B Distillers, the bar has crafted a cocktail inspired by the colony of rare Brown Long Eared Bats living on the Isle of Raasay, the site of R&B's first distillery. A rich blend of crème de cacao brun, Chambord, plum bitters and R&B Distillers’ single malt ‘While We Wait’, the cocktail is garnished with a bat...
Queen of Hoxton Opens Viking Themed Winter Rooftop
A Viking themed winter rooftop has opened above the Queen of Hoxton complete with a long boat, feasting hall inside a WigWam, fire pits, driftwood sculptures and a plenty of drinking horns. The bar offers the opportunity to escape modern life and join her band of noble savages celebrating a victorious battle. Raise a skål to Skye and enjoy Nordic nights filled with flowing mead, foraged cocktails, crackling fires and decadent feasting. The cocktail menu includes Freyja’s Nettle Love Elixir, a mix of Stinging Nettle...
Magic Roundabout – Review
I won’t lie TLE writers have spent a LOT of the summer drinking in the Magic Roundabout, literally on right top on Old Street station, the gateway to the East End. Yes that’s the same Old Street station that used to smell of urine, depression and the fact that you knew you would end up walking the wrong way out of one of the numerous exits, no matter how times you have been. Well no more of that now, you...
Beer of the Week – Brooklyn Brewery’s American Ale
Brewed: Brooklyn, New York Strength: 4.5% ABV Brooklyn Brewery are one of the very few craft beer giants that deliver consistency when brewing is concerned. Their flagship lager is, somehow, nothing like the over-sweetened, over-carbonated lagers that we’re used to in the UK and is all the better for it. Their American brown ale is classic, yet well executed; a slightly spiced autumnal seasonal featuring pumpkin is an ideal companion for the cooler months; and the East India Pale Ale is...
Restaurant Review – Walkers of Whitehall
The great British pub is almost dead and I, for one, am unhappy. A few weeks ago, I visited Avebury’s The Red Lion Inn – the only pub within an ancient stone circle, built during the 1600s. Ten years ago, it was impossible to leave without having been filled with great cask ale, honest pub grub and scintillating conversation with nomads, druids, vagabonds, spiritualists and hikers. Now, having been taken over by Old English Inns, the pub’s décor has about...