The Manor Arms, Streatham, London

Maybe I’m being biased toward my own manor, but the Manor Arms is just what Streatham needs. We have wide-open spaces, we have large houses, our streets are prettily decorated with Tyskie tins and now we have somewhere to eat that isn’t Subway. If the kitchen could speed up, and the waitresses not forget things, it could be a real winner innit?

Asda makes a Mother’s Day treat

As we all know flowers and chocolates are the obvious Mother’s Day gift idea and we all rely on them year after year. But this year Asda have combined both of these traditional fall back options many of us buy for our mums into one product, their three dimensional Chocolate Flower Pot Cake.

Imli cookery classes add spice in the kitchen

At Imli, an Indian tapas-style restaurant in Soho, executive chef Samir Sadekar has launched a cookery class to help the uncertain get to grips with cooking Indian food, including using Indian spices. So I Joanna Biddolph whizzed up Wardour Street with a spring in her step on what was an unusually lovely morning, keen to test her taste buds.

Imli’s potato and pea cakes with tamarind chutney

Here is one of the recipes from the new Saturday morning cookery classes at Imli, the Indian street food style tapas restaurant on Wardour Street. Led by Imli’s executive chef Samir Sadekar, classes are for small groups (maximum eight) and are just as much fun for novice cooks as for more experienced home cooks.

Red, white or green with your meal?

If Chile is still keeping the best wines for themselves, they must be very good indeed because Cono Sur are making some remarkable bottles at a sensible price point. For the money the ones we tried trashed same price wines from other New World producers.

Butchery in the city

With news of the fourth National Butcher’s Week (13-20th March) arriving in Qin Xie’s Inbox, she had an epiphany. She should, and need to, learn about those cuts of meat by exploring some of the best butchery classes right on her doorstep. After one or two train/tube/bus rides, that is.