Papa Jules, the man behind London’s best-loved tiki bar Mahiki, has discovered an excellent reason (/cooked up a shameless excuse) to drink guilty pleasure cocktail, the Pina Colada. Apparently, the classic was invented on 16 August 1954, so is celebrating its birthday. Well, it would be rude not to join in. Here’s Papa’s recipe. (Cocktail umbrellas and monkey swizzle sticks optional.) (more…)
August 16th, 2010
Food & Drink, Wine for the weekend
Everything about this boutique wine brand appeals, from the slick pewter label on the outside of the bottle to the strictly limited production of wine on the inside. Resolutely Kiwi (and proud) Little Beauty is made in Marlborough, New Zealand’s most famous viticulture area, in the Waihopai Valley. (more…)
August 13th, 2010
George Best’s old boozer, The Phene, has changed a bit. Since the doors reopened earlier this summer, it’s got a deli in the back, towering vases of lilies on the bar, a women’s fashion label upstairs. There’s even a heated terrace. But frivolous décor aside, it’s actually still a top place for a pint and some weekend sport-watching (though it’s styled as a gastropub, it’s without pretension: there are ample large flat-screen TVs). (more…)
August 13th, 2010
You know the feeling. Head like a soggy pork scratching, face tight as a chimp’s scrotum and a stomach like a bag of golf balls. We’ve all been there. Thankfully, the latest internet innovation to cross our digital path offers the ultimate solution to the Saturday morning hangover. (more…)
August 6th, 2010
For a country that spends half its life drenched in rain, covered in cloud and in a general state of meteorological malaise, it comes as a surprise that frozen desserts are the latest culinary craze to take hold. (more…)
August 3rd, 2010
When the words “gin and tonic” roll off the tongue so easily, and indeed into each other so well, it is easy to forget the finer points of what goes into the well-loved drink. Rather than just a clear, colourless liquid that hides behind a glug of tonic and a squeeze of lime, gin has a history that goes back way beyond bathtubs and “mother’s ruin” (the story actually kicks off in Holland, though we’ll save that for another time). (more…)
July 29th, 2010
Food & Drink, Wine for the weekend
White Rioja doesn’t all taste stale and dusty – take for example, this fresh and fruity little number from Viña Ijalba. Made from organic grapes (we are still researching whether this means a less-tedious hangover), this refreshing wine will cut through a muggy British summer evening to give a delicious, citrus-filled, grassy glass-full which matches perfectly with tapas-style food such as manchego cheese, prawns or calamari. For under a tenner, it’s a smart buy. £7.50, from www.vintageroots.co.uk
July 23rd, 2010
Though he’d protest otherwise, Guy Ritchie’s pub The Punch Bowl is as far from your back alley boozer as you’re likely to get. Set down a picturesque Mayfair side street within a 260-year-old building, the sleb-favourite is this summer usurping warm larger and scratchings with fish & chips and champagne. (more…)
July 22nd, 2010
