Category: Food & Drink

Basilica of Saint-Denis

If you watch rugby you will have heard of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. It was built for the 1998 football World Cup. I went to Saint-Denis, three stops north of Gard du Nord on the RER, on Monday morning to see an older building.

Brasseries and Books

Why are the Eurostar terminals at St Pancras and Gard du Nord always so crowded and, if a train is delayed or cancelled, overcrowded?

The River Cafe

When I was a waiter at Mullaghfin (Co Meath) in my university holidays I may have had some sort of gauche charm but I entirely lacked professionalism.

The Devonshire

I thought I was going to write about the stock market but knew few would want to read so didn’t bother and went out to lunch.

A Spot of Lunch

On Friday I had a perfect luncheon at Bellamy’s – smoked eel mousse sealed with a thin layer of aspic and served with melba toast, filets of Dover sole with mashed potato, and île flottante. I still have my teeth but I really enjoy food that doesn’t need mastication – nursery food for grown-ups, a… Continue reading A Spot of Lunch

Cathedral

These are the pieces for a simple board game for two players. Not the sort of TV game like Traitors, a spectator game that goes on for weeks, or Diplomacy; another long, brutal game that takes ages too and may end in tears.

Pot Luck

I never met Quentin Crewe, I wish I had; journalist, author, restaurateur and adventurer, all done with the significant disadvantage of being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a child.

Top Hat

I cannot remember the Festival of Britain, I wasn’t quite born, but it has a lot to answer for.