Food is often symbolic in Chinese culture: noodles represents longevity (don’t ever cut them, just slurp them up whole) and dumplings look like little coin purses to attract prosperity. Add a splash of red chilli for good fortune and golden pan-fried deliciousness for power and you can eat your way to health, wealth and happiness. […]
I love cheese in all its milky goodness: soft and hard, goat and cow (sheep and buffalo too), mild and pungent, mouldy and crumbly, blue and white. I love it in salads, souffles, fondue, scraped off a wheel of raclette onto boiled potatoes, or just a perfectly ripe chunk on a piece of excellent […]
The spice-rich food of the Indian subcontinent (from Pakistan to Sri Lanka) has long been a takeaway mainstay. While repetitive menus of samosas, butter chicken and beef vindaloo haven’t done this rich cuisine any favours, authentic ‘cheap & cheerful’ restaurants in suburbs with large Indian populations (such as Harris Park) set the record straight, as […]
I love Malaysian food – earthy curries, flaky roti, chewy noodles, rich coconut milk, great ways with seafood, chicken and beef … and that’s before we even start talking about pork trotters, durian and other things not quite to my taste, but which my husband, Franz, adores! It’s the original multi-cultural cooking, with its blend […]
Some of my best times have been sharing a meal with friends tucked away in a private dining room in one of my favourite restaurants. There’s something special about gathering in a space away from everyone else, you can laugh a little louder, eat and drink with more abandon, and carry on almost as you […]
I love food – and I love wine. But best of all I love it when the two come together in a marriage that is greater than the sum of its parts … when each lifts the other to new heights. And I love eating in restaurants where the staff know their stuff well enough […]
Before the days of “super” markets, people all over the world bought their food from local producers gathered together in a collection of dismountable stalls. Some operated daily in dedicated halls, others weekly, often in the town square, place or piazza. In large cities these markets grew into warrens of cobbled streets that were almost […]
Remember when you first started dating your partner? Going out of your way to think of special things to do together that would surprise and delight the other? I used to think ‘date night’ was a great idea for couples busy with kids, who needed to set time aside for each other – and so […]
I like a bit of theatre with my food – and it doesn’t get much more theatrical than gueridon, the art of finishing and plating dishes tableside! Crêpes Suzette and steak Diane come immediately to mind, but there are many other possibilities as these restaurants show. I’m pleased to see a bit of a gueridon […]
Top 5 Scottish Breakfasts My favourite meal in Scotland is undoubtedly breakfast. Although I’ve had some fine lunches and dinners in my father’s homeland, what always stands out for me is the quality (and often quantity) of Scottish breakfasts. Perhaps because of the cold climate, they are inevitably hearty affairs of smoked fish, porridge and […]
