All my life I have loved fashion. This does not mean shopping. Having to go out and find a dress for a particular occasion, or even far worse, idly trawling round clothes shops in the centre of London is not my idea of fun. However, having a tightly curated core wardrobe of beautiful clothes which …
Favourite cafes
Eating in and out in Paris
These days London is acknowledged to be a hot contender for food capital of the world, thanks to its diversity and the creativity of its concepts. And although we blasé Londoners may think that the bubbling cauldron has reached saturation point, foreign investors re still looking to join the party. The rate of enquiries in …
Baltic Bakehouse Liverpool
I have just spent a year in Liverpool off and on, dispersing and disposing of my late mother’s house and effects, and re-acquainting myself with the city. It is a place beguiling and infuriating in equal measures, and over the decades I have known it, prone to peaks and troughs which don’t necessarily chime with …
The Greek Larder
Theodore Kyriakou is an old hand, with great taste in spectacles. He was instrumental in 1999 in introducing Londoners to a world of Greek food away from the standard kebab, chips and salad formula, sensibly choosing bargain sites. The Real Greek opened in Hoxton Market when the area was edgy. Before this, Livebait in 1995 …
Babaji Istanbul Pide Salonu
Since Wagamama, Hakkasan and Yauatcha, Alan Yau seems to be making it increasingly tricky to pronounce the names of his enterprises. The last one, a Bangkok cafe called NaamYaa, maybe even suffered from this, although most seem now to have got their tongues round the Thai chain Busaba Eathai. Until we have the opening of …
Nordic Triangle
Scandanavian Kitchen/Nordic Bakery/Fabrique In the late 1960s my mother inherited an interior design business in Manchester. This was not quite the glamorous occupation it has now become. Much of her time was spent lugging colour cards and swatches of fabric across muddy building sites to fit out show houses for new estates which were then …
Princi – The Genius of Alan Yau
If you’re walking down Wardour Street in Soho from Oxford Street at any time of the day or evening, you can easily miss Princi. There is no A board on the pavement, nor hanging sign to stop you in your tracks. It is situated at the bottom of an interesting building, opposite Busaba Eathai, part …
La Fromagerie
It’s too long since I haven’t been (as the French say) to La Fromagerie in Marylebone. Patricia Michelson’s emporium of gastro delights has expanded into next door on Moxon Street to make a much more integrated space. The question of what to have for dinner tonight begins to be solved as you enter between crates …
Princi Pizzeria
Princi in Wardour Street has been evolving nicely over 4 years. It never needs to shout about itself in the press, as the hordes of switched on Italian tourists and media folk create buzz aplenty, against the continuous gentle chaos, day and night. The partnership of Alan Yau and the boutique Milanese baker Rocco Princi …
