Whole Foods is opening in London next month. The store will be Whole Foods' first in the U.K. In recent years, all the top chains have relaunched their organic lines in response to consumer demand. It'll be interesting to see how the store is received by Londoners, and if the nickname "Whole Paycheck" will make the Atlantic crossing.... More
Remember all the drama that ensued from Frank Bruni of the New York Times giving restauranteur Jeffrey Chodorow's steakhouse Kobe Club a zero-star, start-to-finish smackdown back in February? Well, Chodorow's latest venture is in London—Suka, which serves Malaysian fusion cuisine created by the New York-based Zak Pelaccio of 5 Ninth and Fatty Crab—and this Sunday it received a review from the Observer's Jay Rayner that begins thusly: "It takes a special kind of incompetence to create a restaurant with dysfunctional tables. At Suka, a new hipper-than-thou joint in London's Sanderson Hotel, which does to the noble culinary traditions of Malaysia what the Romans did to the Sabine women, they have managed it." Ouch. Still no response on chod-o-blog, but maybe... More
London has gotten frighteningly expensive, so it was good to see New York Times London correspondent Jane Perlez's guide to budget restaurants there. Here's the list. Tendido Cero: Tapas featuring fresh green asparagus fried in olive oil and garlic, $30 a person. 174 Old Brompton Road, SW 5; 44-20-7370-3685Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese: Oldline British food featuring fish and chips and cheap beer (About 2 bucks for a half pint of bitter ale), $25 a person. 145 Fleet Street, EC4A; 44-20-7353-6170Bar Shu: Sichuan food freaturing dry fried green beans cooked with minced pork and mustard greens, $50 a person (that's not cheap for Chinese food! Maybe it's a misprint). 28 Frith Street, WID, 44-20-7287-8822E&O: Pan-Asian featuring black cod tempura with... More
Jason Perlow visited the famous Harrods Food Halls on a recent trip to London and says, "The food halls are quite magnificent in sheer size, let alone their opulence. [The photo at left] is just one of the several ballroom-sized areas where you can buy any kind of gourmet foodstuffs your heart desires, including places where you can sit down and eat prepared dishes." My favorite photo is the one titled "Land of Bacon" but the one of his $30 Jamon Iberico sandwich is pretty killer.... More
"Britain is now as cuisine-obsessed as anywhere. Chefs are big stars. Food has become a facet of fashionable style in England. So where does this leave the traditional Indian restaurant, with its menu of rich, variously colored curries that come in mild, medium and hot, usually with a film of oil swimming on top, and its clientele that swells after 11 p.m. when the pubs close?" Henry Shukman of the NY Times visits five of London's best high-end Indian restaurants, three of which have Michelin stars.... More
Time Out London presents their Cheap Eats Guide 2007: "The average cost of a meal out in London is nearly £40 per head, but if you've only got 20 quid, don't despair. Our critics have hand picked 70 of the capital's best budget venues."... More
Seattle's got its latte artists at Caffe Vita, while the Londoners that jam Monmouth Coffee like their coffees understated. The coffees in Perth belong to another category altogether, thanks to "cappuccino Michelangelo" Simon Law. For other latte art, check out the pics at Google Images.... More
Farmer's markets all over the place--at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, in the Twin Cities, at the Greenmarket in New York City, and at Borough Market in London--are suffering from wintertime blues. Yeah, January's not the best time to be a locavore! But at the Ethicurean, Spanky Horowitz manages to have himself a good time at the market in Montreal anyway.... More
