Posts Tagged ‘London’
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
As those of you who read Hand To Mouth regularly will know, I don’t really ‘do’ restaurant reviews. Blogging about the latest ‘hot’ places has never really been what this blog is about. But what I do like to do is big up my favourite places to eat, be they a small old school cafe or a successful enterprise like this Local Hero, The Anchor & Hope.
Around the Autumn of 2003, when The Anchor & Hope opened, I think it’s safe to say there was a wave of gastropub fatigue in London. A slew of Eagle imitators had sprung up, and quite a lot of them were falling pretty far off the mark. Then The Anchor & Hope opened and changed the game, and at the same time kind of became a blueprint for what I look for in a restaurant these days.
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Tags: Anchor & Hope, Beef Rump, Custard, Gastropub, London, Octopus, parkin, Rhubarb, Salad, Sharing, Sunday Lunch, Waterloo
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Saturday, March 19th, 2011
I FINALLY made it down to The Meateasy earlier in the week, and whilst it was fantastic, I’ve decided not to do a review for a couple reasons. Firstly, because I reviewed The Meatwagon a while ago, and secondly because it’s already had loads of blogger covereage and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t add anthing different.
That being said, I took some (not very good) pictures, and because it’s been such a phenomenon, I thought that it definitely warranted a post. (more…)
Tags: Buffalo Wings, Burger, Chilli Cheese Fries, Chips, London, Meateasy, Meatwagon, New Cross, Onion Rings, Pub
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, March 14th, 2011
I realised the other day that I hadn’t done a ‘Local Hero’ for AGES, and by chance I happened to pass The Market Coffee House the very same day. Serendipity in the truest sense.
When I was thinking about the whole ‘Local Hero’ side to this blog, The Market Coffee House was exactly the kind of place that I had in mind. Special, but unpretentious, and quietly plugging away at doing what they do best without all the bluster, PR and twitter noise that’s become so common.
I first started going to The Market Coffee House when I worked around the corner in Spitalfields what now seems like ages ago. Before the days of the Aussie and Kiwi coffee shops, the MCH was my go to place for a decent cup of coffee. Back then, it was the only café I can remember that had proper Baristas who took great care and attention over each and every cup. They also sold their coffees in the smaller cups that have now become more familiar. Quality over quantity before it was fashionable.
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Tags: Bagel, Barista, Cake, Coffee, Fan, Food, Local Hero, London, Market Coffee House, Spitalfields, Tasty
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
This is a ‘Big Dog’ from Big Apple Hot Dogs on Old Street. It’s big and it’s tasty. If you’re in the area, go and get one. You won’t regret it.
My buddy Tom over at Nation has been working with Abiye, the man behind the dogs, on a new website, branding and all that jazz for his enterprise, and I’ve been helping him out with some well chosen words and some (hopefully welcome) thoughts on food branding.
There’s nothing to show you yet, but I’ve got to say, it’s a real joy when work and hobbies collide. I’ll be doing a proper post once the new look and feel is live, so until then, keep it locked.
Tags: Abiye, Big Apple, Hot Dogs, London, New York, Old Street, Sausages
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
Well that’s Christmas and all that goes with it over for another year. How was it for you?
The festive period is definitely the glutton’s natural season, and as always I ate more than my fair share. But I also did a fair amount of cooking.
I rustled up a couple of meals to take the heat of my mum whilst down in Cornwall, and then we hosted a New Year’s dinner for a couple of our close friends, pulling off a pretty authentic four course French Bistro menu (inspired in no small part by Stéphane Reynaud’s Ripalles which I got for Christmas).
I’ll be posting some recipes of the above over the next few days, before sinking my teeth into the new year properly.
I have a feeling in my waters that it’s going to be an interesting year.
See you round like a rissole.
Tags: Christmas, Cooking, Cornwall, French Bistro, Happy New Year, London, New Years Eve, Ripalles, Stéphane Reynaud
Posted in Opinion | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
The Great British Fry Up is a thing of beauty when done right, and probably one of the most disappointing food experiences when it’s cocked up. These days the classic fry up at a ‘greasy spoon’ has increasingly been replaced by the ‘posh’, expensive version served in gastro pubs and the like, and many of the old school cafés have gone with it. Earlier in the year, an old favourite caff of mine, Rossi’s in Spitalfields, closed its doors after 50 plus years of serving happy punters. A sad day.
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Tags: Bacon, Bubble & Squeak, Cafe, Egg, Fry Up, London, Pimlico, Regency, Sausage, Victotia
Posted in Breakfast, Reading, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
I Tweeted about these bad boys a few weeks ago when I discovered that they’d been re-stocked by my lovely Scandinavian friends down the road from work, but such is my love for the Peanott Kubbe that I thought they deserved a post all of their own.
I rarely get evangelical or geeky about chocolate bars, but having discovered the Peanott Kubbe last year I can make an exception. Hailing from Norway, and roughly translated as ‘Peanut Log’, it’s a chocolate, peanut and toffee bar with a difference.
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Tags: Great Titchfield Street, Kitchen, Kubbe, London, Peanott, Peanut, Scandinavian, Stump
Posted in Opinion | No Comments »
Monday, February 8th, 2010
It’s no understatement to say that that I’m a BIG fan of pizza.There’s something genius in it’s simplicity. Bread. Good. Tomato sauce. Good. Cheese. Good. Some kind of meaty topping. Goooooood. And when I’m talking about the kind of pizza that I love, I’m talking about the traditional Italian kind, not the whole farmyard on a base that you get delivered at 3am after a session on the wife beater.
I’ve been lucky enough to work around Soho, central London, for most of my career, and that also happens to be the location of what must be one of the best pizza joints in the UK. Situated in a little side road between Berwick and Wardour Streets, Malletti has been knocking out amazing pizza to a small army of adoring and loyal fans for at least as long as I’ve working in the area. The queue that snakes out of the door most lunchtimes is testament to this.
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Tags: London, Malletti, Pasta, Pizza, Ragu, Restaurant, Salami, Soho, Spicy, Wild Boar
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | No Comments »
