I’ve long held that fast food can be a serious gastronomic experience. Yet, as my previous ramen experience had been little more than Bachelor’s Super Noodles as a spotty youth, I was quite unprepared for the pulsing brilliance of Tonkatsu Ramen at Tsuru Sushi Bishopsgate. Consider my mind blown and a new avenue of pleasure [...]
Hotel restaurants have a bit of a bad reputation in England. Food at The Grill in London’s Montcalm Hotel is so totally brilliant it not only shows they can be great for guests but also deeply desirable destinations for native noshers. Editor Daniel and I ate an outstanding meal at the restaurant and you should [...]
In Woolwich I was in a constant state of terror in case I had to leave the flat. Here in Winchester I eagerly await each trip from the flat, not least because it will almost always involve stopping at Reeve the baker. My love for their bread and cakes, and the friendly, charming people who [...]
During our lives we have to keep discovering new avenues of pleasure. As a very recent convert to the whole ‘morning’ idea I’m chuffed as punch that the best breakfast in Winchester, at the Westgate Hotel, is 2 minutes and 40 seconds away from my front door. There is no reason why all meals should [...]
Were it not for the obscenely high quality of the produce itself, one of the greatest pleasures of the meat from Beechcroft farm would be that it is grown half an hour’s walk from my front door. As a long-time big city dweller, having seriously good food grown within walking distance seems a real treat. [...]
Last Friday was ‘Mad Friday’, when drink-fuelled chaos and perturbation would roam the land, at least according to BBC News. It struck me that the only thing affecting the moods of people I saw was the healthy happiness of enjoying company of people they like. This was particularly true for Editor Daniel and me as [...]
I often find myself thinking that some committed organic farmers should be. However, Hyden Farm Organics demonstrate that the practises of treating animals carefully and allowing them space and time to grow clearly result in meat of impressively superior quality. Organic farming is becoming an increasingly used set of methods. Despite this, some don’t have [...]
“The first bite is with the eye” is a phrase that often springs to mind when I am dining in an unfortunate restaurant. Duck gesier (gizzard) salad may look like a pile of goat droppings on a heap of rotting vegetation but it is a fast, easy and cheap dish to prepare for lunch. The [...]
Editor Daniel has commented that Winchester is so nice it could be abroad. Certainly every time I go out my love for the place only increases. As we sallied forth to find breakfast this morning we noticed the farmers’ market was running and, whilst it resulted in a return of knackered heel agony, ambling around [...]
One of the corking things about living in Winchester is that so many of the buildings feature engravings of pigs – a pig being the Hampshire county logo. Pigs are just great: mate and meat. Another champion thing is that, compared to London, business costs are far lower and the locals’ reluctance to spend money [...]
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