Food and Drink

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Strength: 7.2% Brewed: Southfields, London Set up by a small group of friends in the summer of 2012, Rocky Head Brewery is heavily inspired by the American craft beer scene, operating as a microbrewery from a site in South West London. Although a somewhat ramshackle organisation, using equipment sourced from various sources, the brewery is becoming known to produce some of London’s finest beer, having even collaborated with the likes of Selfridges in order to brew the department...

Light pours in through a wall of windows; whirring fans sway - suspended from a high ceiling; banquettes and chairs are upholstered in olive green velvet and leather; fine glassware sparkles on marble tables; designer lamps and distressed mirrors adorn the walls. Doors open onto an elegant, awning-covered terrace. This is French-colonial Hanoi, recreated in a four storey townhouse in the heart of Fitzrovia - an unlikely location for a Vietnamese restaurant, and all the more fascinating for it. House...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food To tie in with National Margarita Day back in February, Patrón tequila launched a competition in the search of the Margarita of the Year. Taking the unique recipes from seven top bartenders across the United States and Mexico and encouraging fans of the drinks brand to vote, with the winner having been announced just in time for the Mexican Cinco de Mayo holiday. Eventually, the Rosa Picante Margarita from Jordan Corney of Bohanan’s Bar...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Located mere feet away from Piccadilly Circus, the restaurant space at The Criterion has become one of the city’s most historically significant since being built in the late 1800s by architect Thomas Verity. With its cavernous ceilings tiled with intricate mosaics, a bar area that stretches down into the main dining space and a focus on real gold leaf and marble furnishings, the restaurant space at The Criterion is truly breathtaking: offering an air of...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Set to take over Regent’s Park for four days between 15th-19th June, restaurant festival Taste of London will return with an impressive line-up of some of the UK’s best chefs and over 40 of London’s restaurants. What’s more, a number of live cooking demonstrations will be taking place across the event, with some interactive culinary features and master classes also taking place. This year, the likes of Michelin-starred Nathan Outlaw, and Monica Galleti will...

Glasgow's Paisley Road could be the the most dangerous place in Britain to get a takeaway after 17 fast food joints were hit with food hygiene warnings. Environmental health chiefs have swooped on a series of Indian, Italian, Chinese and Turkish takeaways on the three- and-a-half mile stretch of road, which is now in the running for the dubious honour of most risky place in Britain to buy a bag of chips. A dozen of the takeaways were slapped with “improvement required”...

Strength: 5% Brewed: Albourne, West Sussex Based on a farm near Brighton, Bedlam Brewery prides itself not only on its quality ingredients used throughout the brewing process of their core range, but also on the environment. All of the energy that’s required for brewing comes from onsite solar panels, the brewery plant and harvest their own hops, and they also supply local farmers with free hops and spent grain in order to feed their cattle. As for the beer, all six expressions...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With regards to eating out, the area surrounding the Greenwich Peninsula was, until last year, still very much a plot of inoperable, muddy wasteland. First popularised by the primarily pointless erection of a colossal tent stylised as The Millennium Dome, opening its doors in 2000 before eventually closing down just one year later, North Greenwich is now famously home to The O2 Arena, one of the world’s most popular live music venues. And alongside...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food 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. Cielo Blanco – Exmouth Market First opened in Leeds, Mexican restaurant Cielo Blanco is set to join the likes of Dirty Burger and Pizza Pilgrims in Exmouth Market as of this month. Launching as the restaurant’s first London outpost, Cielo Blanco is inspired by the Barbacoa markets of Oaxaca and although the new...