Category: Food & Drink

Breathing Colour

Joining the swimming pool at Charing Cross Sports Club seems a bargain; £31 a month for off-peak, over 60 membership. Only £1 a day.

Manzanilla

When I was in Madrid in the 1980s I ordered Manzanilla. A pot of chamomile tea arrived. I was reminded of this reading an article by Jancis Robinson in the FT Weekend Magazine.

White Vin Man

  One of the pleasures of being in France is getting to know the region; its flora, fauna and vineyards. No sign of a hoopoe yet but plenty of vineyards.

Daylight Robbery

Walking to the Royal College of Music for a lunchtime concert the last stop for fuel is the Baglioni Hotel on Hyde Park Gate. I had a few minutes to spare and sat at the bar.

Counter Fodder

My favourite City restaurant in the 1970s was Turner’s Brasserie in Broad Street Station Arcade. If there were more than two of us we sat at a table with a red and white checked tablecloth attended by matronly waitresses.

Seduction by Numbers

A favourite teenage goddaughter gave me an unusual but practical birthday present – a seduction kit, the three components of which are gratifyingly high end.

Nesselrode Pie

A theme of the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis letters is R H-D’s prodigious appetite for reading and eating. Not surprisingly, he is writing around 1960, the best meals are abroad.

Bitters

I often ask for a Pink Gin in other people’s houses. Recently my host instantly flourished a new bottle of Angostura bitters but more often there is faffing around.

Bulgarian Caviar Mousse

At lunch on Sunday my host made a rather unusual starter. I am sorry that I didn’t think to take a picture as he served it in a big sapphire blue glass bowl and it looked spectacular.

Gozo Notes

Malta has two main indigenous grape varieties: Gellewza (red) and Ghirgentina (white). Not as catchy or easy to pronounce as chardonnay – remember that Oz ad campaign, “say g’day to a chardonnay” that implied Australians at the very least cleaned their teeth in the morning with the stuff.