Food and Drink

By Jonathan Hatchman @JonHatchmn “Shrimp is the fruit of the sea,” once quoted Mykelti Williamson's character “Bubba Blue” in the Tom Hanks led academy-award winning 'Forrest Gump', unbelievably released a whole 20 years ago. And Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. - the latest addition to Central London's Trocadero centre, sandwiched right between tourist destinations Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, boasts a menu that, evidently, is bursting with a plethora of different shrimp-based dishes as well as many more American-inspired treats. Themed heavily...

By Ben Davidson, Total Diet Food Days are long and intense in the city, and food is for wimps. Too much to do and not enough time to do it, let alone take a break and look after yourself. But taking that break might actually make you even more productive, and could more than make up for the time lost. We’re hearing a lot of debate just now about whether it should be ok to powernap at your desk. The...

By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor  There’s something so appealing about Bloomsbury's latest take on the American diner; the American Graffiti and Grease - soundtracks and mood-boards for my childhood - immediately set the mood.  When I heard that VQ, which holds the honour of being high in Gordon Ramsay’s esteem when it comes to the fry-up, had opened a new 24 hour diner near Tottenham Court Road, I knew the 50s sock hopper in me had to go and try it out. Tucked away...

Nestled just behind Liverpool Street station and slightly away from the throngs of after work drinkers, Mrs TLE and I found the La Tagliata, an Italian brassiere on Sandy’s Row. We opted for the set menu, three courses (£29 a head) and just the one bottle of house white. Easier on the pocket…and on the head. Ok, we had a couple before we arrived, but don’t judge us! The A la carte menu looked interesting as well, with a wide...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  Brits tend to approach Subcontinent cuisine with a degree of apprehension. Unlike other food imports the number of variables at play when perusing the menu surpass the basic ‘will I have that with chips’ and thus render us completely dumbfounded. Will it be too hot? How will my innocent palate react to unfamiliar spices? This apprehension has led to a new, British Indian cuisine consisting of Korma, the Glaswegian Tikka Masala, Rogan...

"Never so say no to pleasure,” Thierry Tomasin, Owner and Director of 'Brasserie de Luxe' Angelus said as he welcomed us to his French corner of London. Mrs TLE rarely does, so no problem there. Angelus, named after the family bell which Tomasin’s mother used to signal mealtimes where he grew up in South West France, feels special from the moment you walk in. We started the evening with a glass of champagne in the lounge at the back of...

Mark Dredge The best pubs can pull you in like a warm hug, are comfortable like old sneakers and can captivate you like a good book. London is a city with some of the best boozers you can find, so here’s a mix of classic places to drink, some very old, some not, but each chosen because they have that intangibly wonderful feeling of being in a classic, quintessential pub. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese  Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is an...

Jack Peat meets Gavin Monery, Winemaker at urban winery London CRU Terroir is a hot topic in the wine world. Never has such an elusive concept caused such division amongst growers, experts and consumers of wine, but what’s the big deal? Well, in the parlance of Bill Shakespeare; nature or nurture, that is the question. Terroir comes from the French ‘terre’, or ‘land’, and is defined by the clever folk at Wikipedia as being a “set of special characteristics that the...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  The food system is broken, NFESH President, Founder and CEO Enid Borden told me in a brief email exchange in response to my article on food waste. Highlighting the origins of food and the way in which our supermarket shelves are stocked I attempted to bring to light some of the big issues discussed in Omnivore’s Dilemma which is as harrowing a read as anything Stephen King or Dean Koontz could muster up but unfortunately housed in...