A three course meal courtesy of Prince Charles, sort of.

You may remember that back in September 2009, Waitrose and Duchy Originals joined forces in a partnership deal which gave Waitrose exclusive rights to manufacture, distribute and sell Duchy Originals products. A year later, Duchy Originals from Waitrose has finally hit the shelves so Qin Xie got hold of a couple of products and tried to make an easy meal out of it.

Bel Canto

Intense. That is probably the best way to describe the experience at Bel Canto. You see, at Bel Canto, guests are served by waiters who perform opera at regular intervals. And in the relatively small room of the restaurant, that’s quite a lot of reverberations to take in.

The Witchery by the Castle, Edinburgh

There’s nothing like starting your evening with an escort. By this, I don’t mean a pre-prandial visit to a lady of the night but instead having a man beat a path through a crowd to ensure that you make your reservation on time.The necessity for this bustling though was down to the Witchery restaurant lying only a few yards from Edinburgh Castle.

Luke Mackay’s Slow Braised Oxtail

Oxtail is my favourite thing to slow braise. And I slow braise a LOT. Swedes have just come into season and are amazingly sweet but with a wonderful earthiness. This is my little homage to Fergus Henderson. Less is more. No wine or any of that French nonsense.