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 …
Reviews
The 10 Cases
A recession throws up all sorts of hubris, and for some reason, in spite of the well documented riskiness, a plethora of restaurant start ups. In London, there have been so many new openings in the last 3 years, it is indigestion-inducing just to keep up visiting them all. Why should this be? And is …
Italian Spring Cooking with Silvana de Soissons at the Vegetarian Cookery School, Bath
It was a perfect excuse for a bit of mother-and-daughter bonding. I had met Silvana de Soissons, a charismatic Italian foodie chef a few weeks ago at Thyme at Southrop, at the launch of her Foodie Bugle lecture series. Her warmth and energy had made that a special day, and so what could be more …
Italian Spring Cooking with Silvana de Soissons at the Vegetarian Cookery School, BathRead More
Morito
There are many plus points about living a short walk from Exmouth Market, and the proximity of Morito is surely one of them. The husband and wife team Sam and Sam Clarke who have run the successful restaurant Moro for 15 years opened a baby sibling next door nearly two years ago. It espouses the …
The Espresso Room
It is clear that the “Friends” style of drinking large mugs of tasteless milky coffee drinks in spacious lounges is passé. For one thing, the business model does not stack up. How can one person on a sofa, tapping away for 30 mins at a laptop, and spending perhaps only £3 justify that kind of …
Beauty in the Making
This subject is a bit off piste for this blog, but there is a connection as I will explain later. Yesterday, I was searching for Ben Townsend to take a picture of him for a piece on the Espresso Room in Bloomsbury (coming next). I found him in the basement of Victoria House the running …
Coutume Cafe – Paris
In London the influence of Melbourne on the café scene has been strong and prolific for a good five years now. There are enough independent coffee bars with serious guys (it seems to be a mostly male activity) operating Marzocco espresso machines to warrant a guide book, and indeed one has just been published by …
Foodie Bugle at Thyme at Southrop
This title may seem a mouthful and baffling to some, but to those of us who were there last Friday it makes more than sense. The Foodie Bugle is an online platform set up last March by the energetic and colourful Silvana de Soissons. Silvana has foodieness hardwired into her genes, having been raised in …
Dafna’s Cheesecake Factory
You can find cupcakes with complex flavour combinations in abundance at farmers’ markets, and as elaborate showpieces in shop windows in sophisticated cafés, with prices to match, but what about the good old fashioned homemade cake shop? Anne Lev is one of a dying breed. She has manned her business, Dafna’s Cheese Cake Factory, for …