Friday 18 June 2010

Wilton Way Cafe - De Beauvoir Town (aka London Fields!)





When community fails and highstreets die London becomes a fractured place; still the greatest but a little harder to live in. With this in mind I suggest everybody in London visits Wilton Way Cafe today; if you can't visit just send a cheque - because what they are doing is to be applauded. 

Not only is the Wilton way cafe a cafe with intimacy at it's core and great coffee it's mandate it's also got a community radio station built into the servery. Yes the 'Wiltons' believe so much in re-invigorating the local community they've set up a station to get the community talking, listening, communicating. Such a wonderful thing. I'm once again in love.
With the already lovely Violet Cupcakes and the perfectly formed Wilton Way Cafe  this could be a street to watch. What comes next? A grocery store, a haberdashers or a butcher might be nice. Go spend some money. Invest in London's collective future. Or just chill out a little in a truely lovely cafe. Either way you'll leave feeling better.

Tuesday 15 June 2010

The Anthropologist - The City



What may seem a good idea on an architects mood board can be let down in reality by lack of staff. The restaurant and bar had a great vibe about them yet the attached grocery store was utterly devoid of staff and silent. Fairly nice selection of lines that should be warmly received by the local suits if the bosses give the grocery the rotas it merits.



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Monday 14 June 2010

Villandry - Fitzrovia



Villandry seems to having an identity crisis.

As Villandry continues it's expansion plans they should perhaps have a little break and think about how things are going. At the moment it seems they need to concentrate again on what they once did so so well - being a great food shop. The restaurant was as good today as it's even been but I walked through the shop without stopping and a little confused as to where I was!

Its always tempting to up the offer of gift items, they take up lots of space, generate great GP and never go out of date, but if I want a book or a cuddly toy, a candle or a cheap barbecue I'll go elsewhere. At the moment a visit to Villandry is like a visit to a suburban market gardeners, stuff everywhere and nothing to buy. If i want gifts I'll go to Liberty's, if I want food I'll go to La Fromagerie.

Maybe next time Villandry, maybe ...

Bompas & Parr - The Complete History of Food


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I don't often get involved in the left field of the food world. I love simple food cooked simply and bought locally. But the 'The Complete History of Food' evening hosted by the spectacular Bompas and Parr looks quite incredible and relatively cheap too.


It's set to be a journey on foot through the history of revolutionary food. Taste a little Victorian anarchy then some sixties revolution and maybe a soupcon of Tudor blood lustre. Sounds very intriguing. And only £25 per head. Considering they worked with Heston on his 'Feasts..' series and gained so much press for there Jelly Sculptures it should be worth going.  


If this sounds a bit too much then why not try a little of the Bompass and Par 'Occult Jam' first. Its a free event at the Barbican (Jams later available in the shop too) Flavours range  from 'Absinthe and pineapple with sand from the Great Pyramids' to 'Plum and Oak with wood from Nelson's ship The Victory'.  Royalists should maybe avoid the 'Milk Jam infused with a speck of Princess Diana's hair' flavour at all costs though!














Friday 11 June 2010

Sea Shell - Lisson Grove



It's a long time since I've had fish & chips for lunch but food this good can't be missed out on. It's reputation as the number one chip shop in london precedes it and the queue out the door of thirty people, on a hot summers day too, suggests excellence. Yet being a hit with tourists normally suggests a place past it's best. Sea Shell is not. Sea Shell is at the top of it's game, with batter so crisp and light I now understand the throng of excited Japanese tourists - they're not on a crappy guided tour but a pilgrimage.

Sunday 6 June 2010

Mary, Queen of Shops - BBC2

A while ago I was asked to help out on the next series of Mary, Queen of Shops. In this new series Mary was to visit independent food shops and help them recover, rebuild, reboot. The episode I worked on, in a consulting role to help with sourcing and merchandising, is on tomorrow night - June 7th, BBC2, 9pm.

And my good God it's great TV.

In all the years of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and other extreme makeover shows I've never seen a finale as good as this. You think I'm exaggerating? ........Trust me I'm a shopkeeper.

Mrs Paisleys Lashings - Richmond

For a home to be both magical and infamous took some doing, but with one half of the feted marriage a Rolling Stone and the other the ethereal and still delicious Miss Jo Wood, Holmwood house is both and more. For this home to have a garden restaurant in it's midst for a few weeks with Arthur Potts Dawson in the kitchen to boot is quite simply exciting.
Every part of an evenings dining at Mrs Paisley's Lashings is joyful. From the 'Lads of Richmond' cocktail (served in suitably eco / retro jam jars) offered on arrival into the conservatory, the stunning sourced with love meal (the lobster risotto the highlight) all the way through to dancing with truly global movie stars in the subterranean in-house disco!

The highlight amongst many many highlights however was Mr John Davey. Simply one of the worlds best maitre d's. A man with such grace and genuine hospitality he'd give Elena a run for her money. He made every guest feel like an invitee at a house party; and in a room of no more than fifty diners, most of whom were nervous of camera phones, this was remarkable and appreciated.

If you manage to get a table at this so much more than just a pop-up pop-up get there on time ... a moment missed would be a moment regretted.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

The Honey Bank - Festival Gardens



On a recent day trip to Paris I bought a pot of Honey from a bookshop at the always worth a visit
Parc de Villettes; mainly to support the growing French 'Concrete Honey' movement and secondly to see how the French fair when compared to London's Urban Beekeepers. 



Well it stands up very well indeed and when coupled with the fact that the phrase 'Concrete Honey' is just so dam sexy I wanted to see if a could get some more closer to home. 

Amazingly the French artistic co-operative 'Parti Poetique is bringing  
'The Honey bank' project to London. Mixing Art Architecture and Beekeeping to stunning effect, this could turn out to bee the most fascinating part of the City of London Festival.















On June 22 I'd suggest a day out to the bottom of the Festival Gardens for a little further investigation. Here you'll find a Honey Feast.  Maybe wear long trousers and bring a queen. 



For those of you who are already tuned in to the idea of doing your own beekeeping I'd suggest signing up for the one-day 'bee keeping taster' course held in Battersea, by Brian, founder of UrbanBees.co.uk . I went a few months back now and have been searching demonically ever since in my local nooks and crannies for a place to start.