Food and Drink

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Forget cheap Easter eggs and overcooked lamb, here’s our roundup of the only things you need to be eating and drinking across the Bank Holiday weekend. Bar 8’s Easter Cocktail Ingredients For the glass Hay Easter egg Gold drinking straw For the Easter mix Dark chocolate (90%), 2kg Grand Marnier, 1 bottle Cointreau, 2 bottles Per cocktail Grand Marnier, 20ml Cointreau, 40ml Chocolate, 40ml Method Fill an Old Fashioned glass with hay. Place foil wrapped Easter...

Life-long vegetarian Jeremy Corbyn turned up to the fourth annual British Kebab Awards last night to present the award for Outstanding Contribution to the British kebab industry. Corby, who also doesn't drink, took to the podium to jokingly promote his takeaway of choice - "a good falafel". He said: “Vegetarian aficionado of kebab shops, I hope I’m still welcome. I’m always very pleased whenever I get to any kebab shop to enjoy a good falafel." Constituency with huge number of kebab...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Strength: 4.4% Brewed: Hackney, London Based in the heart of East London’s Hackney, Five Points Brewing Co. first started to become established in 2013, following the success of their brilliant pale ale. With five beers now making up their core range, it’s no surprise that Five Points have become one of London’s most popular independent breweries. Brewed using a blend of three different American hops – Citra, Centennial, and Amarillo, Five Points’ Pale is a particularly...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food In recent years, mostly thanks to a seemingly endless stream of single-menu restaurant openings – lobster has become extremely popular in London, and relatively accessible. Once reserved almost exclusively for flaunting wealth and ordering the most expensive single dish on a restaurant’s menu just in order to appear sophisticated and knowledgeable. Now it’s 2016 and there are countless establishments that offer whole, equitably sized lobsters for less than £20. The newfound availability is brilliant,...

A waffle recipe from chef Ollie Dabbous.

By James Walker I had a date – a rare occasion for a guy that looks like a bargain bucket Damian Lewis. How did I decide to impress her? By taking to her to a restaurant that happened to be renowned for its queues. I’m not opposed to queueing. I’ve queued for far less than the Taiwanese street food served at BAO: a Pizza Hut, train tickets and urinals. But I usually have the comfort of waiting indoors. We spent...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Discerning cocktail lovers and fans of Made in Chelsea are in for a treat on Tuesday March 22nd. Dirty Martini – one of London’s fastest growing bar groups, with seven venues spread across the capital – have teamed up with Made in Chelsea’s Mark Francis-Vandelli for a one off Martini etiquette masterclass at Dirty Martini’s Hanover Square outpost in Mayfair. Offering guests an exclusive opportunity to embrace their inner James Bond with one of...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food A gentle introduction for drinkers new to the whiskey category, The Wild Geese Honey Liqueur is the first and only premium honey liqueur produced in Ireland. Created and designed by Protégé International Limited, The Wild Geese Irish Liqueur joins the likes of the world’s first super premium Irish whiskey collection, a rum collection, an Irish vodka and an Irish gin, amongst other products from the brand. And having been highly rated with a ‘Very...

Private Members Club. Three words often translated as: inaccessible, aloof and affected. Add ‘in London’ and it’s as good as an outstretched hand held vertically in front of your face. So, when I was invited for lunch at Blacks - a PMC in Soho, no less - my first thought was to check the dress code online, assuming I’d need to visit a long-forgotten area of my wardrobe for suitably smart attire. But, aside from a well-buried, ambiguous mention of ‘an...