Over lunch on Carnaby Street, Douglas Blyde resolves an online spat with Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Leon restaurants.
The Greek Food Lover
East Londoner, Elisavet Sotiriadou provides an authentic taster of Greek cuisine through hands-on cookery classes.
It’s his little place – we talk to Santino Busciglio, chef patron at Mennula
The restaurant is little by some standards but he loves it.”I always wanted a place like this. I’ve been offered a few places in the past, some were interesting business propositions, but I always felt it was important to only go with the right person and in the right location and at the end of the day this is a chef’s dream, a 40-50 cover restaurant, W1 location in London? It doesn’t get much better,” says Santino Busciglio.
Peter Avis, Babylon’s Restaurant Manager – leading a winning team
Peter Avis, Restaurant Manager of Babylon Restaurant, at the Roof Gardens, talks to Alan King about winning two awards in 2009 from the Academy of Food and Wine: UK Restaurant Manager of the Year in June, sponsored by Open Table and The Dalmore Award of Excellence in September. All this on top of Babylon winning Best Restaurant in London at the BT Visit London awards in November 2008.
Virtual Venison, Computerised Coffee and Pixellated Pâté
Douglas Blyde speaks to Kilburn resident, Marcus Carter, founder of the ‘first 3D virtual farmers market’ launched 1st January.
Tea Total
Amidst service bells and cake carousels, we share a brew with The Lanesborough Hotel’s ‘Tea Sommelier’, Karl Kessab.
Passion and soul – we talk to Francesco Mazzei at L’Anima
Francesco Mazzei is chef owner of L’Anima in the City, an Italian restaurant (natch) that’s said to be one of the best, if not the best, in London. Never afraid to eat a bowl of pasta Sabrina Ghayour went to meet the man and be the first to hear his exciting news about his new restaurant, as well as watch him cook up her supper pronto.
Market Trader – Denise Tang is chic in Camden
Denise Tang,the creative powerhouse behind Market, Camden’s restaurant du jour, has single handedly transformed the way that diners think about the borough. Before Tang and her cohorts opened up in 2007 Camden’s culinary scene was divided between its vast array of inexpensive fodder and the theatrical extravagance of Gilgamesh. Thomas Henry trades words with her.
Still woking hard. Ken Hom
Ken Hom is a Chef. The grand master of Oriental cookery. Despite being a household name, with 23 cook books under his belt and over 7 million Ken Hom woks sold, meaning that 1 in 8 Britons own one, Ken Hom manages to remain a humble man who evokes warmth and has the ability to ‘soothe’ you with her calm manner, whilst making you laugh with his sense of humour and wit
Woman of the year –
Responsible for introducing Pesto to our nation’s supermarket shelves, Managing Director of Sacla UK Clare Blampied has built Sacla UK into a £30 million plus business empire.Sabrina Ghayour manages to steal a little chunk of time with one of the most remarkable women in the UK food industry and we find out what motivates and makes her tick… (apart from Pesto, of course)