The Long Table – Friday Night Market

Reading Tweets from the queue on the opening night was how I first heard about the Long Table. I was sat in Lahore Kebabhouse, a much warmer environment from which to ogle at the bizarreness of London’s food scene. We’re people really queuing up, in the cold, on a Friday night to get into a market? Fast forward a couple of weeks and the Missus declares that her birthday gathering is taking place at the same market. Despite my best efforts to get the earliest train up to London, I find myself queuing a warehouse in Dalston, with the hipsters and the foodies, in the cold, on a Friday night.

Breakfast at the Hawksmoor

Thirty five quid for a fry-up. OK, that is for two, but still that’s a lorra money for a cooked breakfast. But when it comes with the Hawksmoor’s meaty seal of approval it gives you confidence that you’ll be in for a treat.

Get Your Mo On Bro!

I bet you didn’t know that eating burgers can help beat cancer? You won’t find any medical journals covering this remarkable breakthrough but it’s true because London based hamburger chain Byron is once again taking part in the annual Movember charity fund-raiser. Movember is a moustache-growing charity event held every November which raises funds and awareness for men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. Originating in Australia, it’s spreading across the global and growing in popularity here in the UK.

An Ode to Byron’s Uncle Sam

Back at the beginning of September I had the great pleasure to attend a gathering at London based Byron Hamburger chain to sample their new guest burger – the Uncle Sam. Byron founder Tom Byng hosted what can only be described as thoroughly excellent, beef-laden evening.

The Burger Mat Show with Fred Smith

As I write this criminally overdue post on my last Burger outing, I’ve slipped away from the office early and am winging my way up to the capital for the consumption of more Burgers. For someone who hadn’t really given much thought to the humble Burger I suddenly seem to be eating some excellent burgers with alarming regularity. But I’ll have to tell you about this evening’s jaunt another time.

Some Favourite Food Haunts

A few weeks ago my Saturday turned out to be a bit of a sprawling adventure, that took in just a few of my favourite food haunts…

It started innocently enough with a quick Jedi mission down to the Kernel Brewery on Maltby Street. It was Jedi in that it was supposed to be the sort of easy-in, easy-out operation that has you imagining Obi Wan slipping effortlessly into Bermondsey, before gliding home with the goods quicker than you can say ‘these are not the doughnuts you’re looking for’.

BurgerMonday with Lionel Lévy

There’s a whole lot of Burger goodness going on in London at the moment, much of this beefiness has been wafting its way to me through twitter and I’ve been keener than mustard to get my teeth into some of it. But experiencing any of this in the flesh has been a bit elusive. My drought came to an end when I attended my first BurgerMonday. Daniel’s chosen chef for this outing of his foodie social gathering was to be michelin starred chef Lionel Lévy, flown in specially from Marseille for one night only. Already I sensed I was in for a treat.

CoffeeSaturday Speculoos Pop Up

I love a bit of baking, it has always been one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen. It’s usually my friends and family that have the onerous duty of consuming the fruits of my dabblings, but this weekend I was baking biscuits for over seventy-five coffee-loving Londoners. I had the great pleasure of taking part in a bake-off organised by Daniel Young. The New York-born food critic, resides in London, and with his pop-up events he’s on a mission to bring people together over a love of great dining while showcasing some of the capital’s finest food destintations.

Ice Cream Alchemy in Camden

One of the highlights of this weekend has to be the trip to Chin Chin Labs where I got to experience the unusual and innovative ice cream that they’ve been serving to growing crowds of ice cream lovers. You wouldn’t ordinarily associate the bustling markets of Camden with the high brow world of Molecular Gastronomy, so it may come as a surprise that in a small shop in the midst of street food stalls and blasting trance music lies Chin Chin Labs, Europe’s first Nitro ice cream parlour.

Best Meal of 2010

Whilst I’ve been procrastinating about this blog, I have been taking photos of my meals out and making enough mental notes for me to do my highlights of 2010. I thought about doing my Food Awards, but it seems a bit over-the-top for what amounts to an excuse to string together some photos and a few words about some of my meal highlights from last year. So without further ado, this is my best meal of 2010, a sort of fantasy Degustation menu made up of the dishes I’d most like to eat again in a single sitting.