Most of the grievances from the kibbitzers of Covent Garden boil down to Mishkin’s authenticity deficit. The latest theme restaurant to get the Russell Norman touch (think da Polpo, Polpetto, Spuntino) is less the great Jewish deli they wished it to be than the Jewish-themed cocktail diner the big cheese of small plates willed it to be. Forget gefilte fish: the most criminal oversight, given the concept, is a drinks menu with no borscht martini. [Read more...]
Is it Kosher for Mishkin’s Not To Be Kosher?
8 January 2012 By 5 Comments
The Artisan Bagel East London Is Waiting For
If you already found it next to hopeless to graze through all the must eats of London Fields on a single Saturday, from Banhmi11 Vietnamese baguettes at Broadway Market to Lucky Chip burgers and Home Slice Pizza at Netil Market, your life just got a lot more complicated: The not-to-be-missed bagels at e5 Bakehouse, Ben MacKinnon‘s exceptional bread bakery under the railway arches beside London Fields station, are only baked on Saturday afternoons. And good as those bagels are when carried home for toasting at the next day’s Sunday brunch, topped with a schmear of creamed cheese and draped with fat-glistening Scottish smoked salmon, they are at their pristine best when consumed plain and hot – not more than 5 minutes and 5 metres from the e5 Bakehouse’s ovens.
The name “e5″ may come from the bakery’s Hackney postcode but I take it to mean “eat within five”. [Read more...]
20 November 2011 By 1 Comment
My 15 Minutes with Macaron Maestro Pierre Hermé
Suspense was the flavour on my tongue as I approached the London Hilton at Park Lane for a short interview with Pierre Hermé. I knew I would have to broach – and therefore answer to – the tongue-in-cheek blog post I’d composed in July as an open letter to the pastry legend.
During my visit by invitation to his London boutique I’d taken issue with his UK area manager dictating what I could and couldn’t photograph. My letter to Hermé concluded with a statement of acquiescence: all content for my website would henceforth be subject to his approval.
Had Hermé read the blog post? If so, had this rendezvous been arranged in response to it? All I knew was that Hermé had travelled to London from Paris for Valrhona Chocolate to help promote its new book, Cooking with Chocolate. Andre Dang, the ace food PR who’d arranged this brief meeting (but not the July visit to the boutique), had said nothing about the letter to me – nor had I, to him. [Read more...]
15 November 2011 By 4 Comments
Alternative Views of a Deli Sandwich
In Beautiful Pastrami Spotted on London Pavement I wrote of having to photograph The Deli West One pastrami on the sidewalk after someone in charge at the new kosher deli stopped me from taking additional photos of its meats. He suggested I download and use photos posted on the deli’s website.
Two photos may offer visual clues as to, (A), why I might have been prevented from taking pics at The Deli West One and, (B), why I might have thought it a bad idea to use the deli’s own images.
15 November 2011 By 4 Comments
Beautiful Pastrami Spotted on London Pavement
The passing pedestrians on Blandford Street in Marylebone, an affluent area of central London, were all asking themselves various forms of the same question: What is that man doing taking photos of a pastrami sandwich left out on the pavement? [Read more...]
7 November 2011 By 5 Comments
What Do You Think is Wrong with the Dalston Superstore Burger?
The bacon cheeseburger at the Dalston Superstore in theultra- cool heart of East London sure is tall. Maybe the skyscraper burger is the bar’s idea of New York style.
Whatever.
I identified no fewer than eight serious problems with the one I ordered medium-rare. [Read more...]
31 October 2011 By 16 Comments
Gianluca Franzoni, Domori’s Smooth Operator, Leads Chocolate Tasting at Galleria Illy
The first thing I noticed about Gianluca Franzoni when I introduced myself to him just minutes before a tasting of Domori Cacao Culture at Gallery Illy in London was his suit.
There are artisan silk weavers in Lucca who dream of threading a fine scarf with the polish and delicacy of that blue pinstripe. There are custom glovemakers in Florence who fantasize about fitting your hands as flawlessly as those jacket and trousers traced Franzoni’s slender frame. And there is perhaps only one chocolate maker in Turin who’d dare to produce Napolitains, as individually wrapped squares of chocolate are known, as smooth as that fabric – would you mind showing us the label, Gianluca? – cut and stitched by the Naples sartoria Salvatore Fusco. [Read more...]
22 October 2011 By Leave a Comment
Top 10 Artworks at Frieze Art Fair
To prove to you there’s a lot more to young&foodish than burgers, spaghetti, pizza, sandwiches and coffee I decided to devote my newest top 10 to the Frieze Art Fair at London’s Regent’s Park. [Read more...]
14 October 2011 By 3 Comments
