Journal

19th October, 2012

Lecture room at Sketch

My first memory of Sketch was when it had newly opened and I ended up doing a brief stint in the Gallery kitchen. I had no clue who Pierre Gangaire was, but that he was some big shot French chef who had teamed up with Mourad Mazouz of Momo to open an uber-luxe, decadent space […]

02nd October, 2012

Hélène Darroze at the Connaught

My first memory of the Connaught was of wheeling a very noisy trolley full of ice cream and sorbet mixes from the Claridges to the Connaught to be churned at 4am. I was working the night shift at Gordon Ramsay Claridges and our ice cream machine had broken down, and the closest ally was Angela […]

24th August, 2012

L’Atelier Saint-Germain de Joel Robuchon, Paris

Titan, legend, godfather, celebrity…just a few titles that adorn the legacy of Joel Robuchon, a chef who really needs no introduction and who’s empire extends from Las Vegas to Tokyo with a total collection of 28 Michelin stars (4 restaurants having 3) . Needless to say, the man knows what he’s doing and has done […]

21st August, 2012

L’Enclume, Cartmel

Ah, the Lake District, once the home of Beatrix Potter and her family of rabbits, ducks and other beloved immortals. Anyone who’s seen her biopic with Rene Zellweger and Ewan McGregor would no doubt have been smitten by the landscape of Cumbria. After 5 days of camping at WOMAD music festival, it was time for […]

03rd July, 2012

Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago

Charlie Trotter: the man’s been a legend for 25 years having run one of the first fine dining restaurants to champion local produce and developing cross cultural cooking to a level that hadn’t been done before. Charlie Trotter’s Desserts was the first cookbook I ever bought, having left college to go work at Gordon Ramsay […]

03rd October, 2011

Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons

Driving through the lush Oxfordshire countryside on an incredibly hot and sunny day is nothing short of beautiful. The fact that our destination was not only a great restaurant run by one of the country’s most renowned chefs, but also a fabulous property dating back to Tudor times set in acres of beautifully landscaped gardens […]

16th September, 2011

Mugaritz, San Sebastian

There are many places, both manmade and natural, that one journeys to, often wondering where the long and narrow road was led and if we’d ever get there, and then suddenly, you turn a corner and the only sound that rushes through your ears is the sound of your heart beating, the sound of wonder […]

02nd September, 2011

The MET Restaurant, Venice

There’s a certain sense of style and panache in arriving by boat for your dinner, even if that is the only mode of transport available. For us terra firmers, a few days spent on boats is magical. Add to that  a serendipitous city where there are no roads, no cars and there’ s only one […]

21st June, 2011

Hibiscus

As a child, I used to always love spending time in my mother’s garden – surrounded by a myriad of colours with bees, butterflies and birds happily going about their work. Whilst most of the flowers would be regularly changed, one in particular, hibiscus, was a permanent resident all through my child and even adulthood. […]

13th June, 2011

Pied a Terre

One always gets asked the million dollar question: ‘What makes a two or three star restaurant?’ It’s a tough call. Gone are the days when France, and even more specifically, Paris was the epitome of gastronomy, the temple of food. The very guide that dictated the hierarchy of restaurants has since decided that Tokyo is […]