Hardware Société

I have one morning alone in Melbourne to eat a delicious breakfast and a friend has recommended Hardware Société. If it has her stamp of approval then it is bound to be good, so I don’t need to be told twice. The Hardware St location is down a side street and up a few stairs….

Stopping time at Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles

On a sunny jubilee weekend, I went to Cambridge for the day. It’s a lovely university town, full of history. Old college buildings, the punting tradition – pushing yourself on a boat around the river with big, long stick. There are picturesque meadows with cows that appear to belong to no one ambling past and…

Home cooking, quarantine style

Isolation – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Weeks on end stuck at home, unable to delight in my favourite marmite, schlossenberg and spring onion pastry from Pophams, accompanied by a posh coffee. No ramen from Tonkotsu, or hunting down new places to find fresh pasta. No languid Sunday…

Five gauges of success – El Ganso

I’ve been learning lately about the relative perceptions of success. Six year old me thought that ‘making it’ was being prima ballerina Margot Fontaine. When I was in high school it was getting grades as good as my sister. After finishing university with a fashion degree I saw it as becoming head designer at Dior….

Cakes at the Caumont centre d’art, and an unwanted Turner exhibition.

On our second last day in Aix en Provence, we accidentally went to a Turner exhibition. ‘Accidentally’ is overstating it. We intentionally walked there, and obediently bought our tickets at the entrance. Happily walked through the lovely rooms full of elegant furniture. Took an obligatory mirror selfie. And wound our way up and down a…

Le Bouillon Chartier

We cross the lights on Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre in the 9th arrondissement, and Bouillon Chartier rises up to greet us. A monolith from another time and place. I’m only in the courtyard but I feel like I might be whisked away from the entrance in a ’20s style Rolls Royce a la Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’…

Mildred’s Vegetarian Soho – A flavourful taste sensation

I once spent six months as a vegetarian. It was a reaction to working in the kibbutz kitchen when I lived in Israel. My job, especially on a Friday before the Sabbath, was to lop the limp, dangly necks off a few hundred chickens, and stuff a mixture of potatoes, herbs and spices up their…

Gaby’s Deli – A delicious capsule within time’s changing landscape.

1971 was the year that decimal currency was launched, the first Mr Men books were published, one of my favourite TV crushes Damien ‘he’ll always be Soames to me’ Lewis was born  and a fresh pound of turkey (apparently!) cost fourty pence. It was also the year that Gaby opened his eponymous deli on Charing Cross road,…

Bibigo Soho – Where the chefs are behind glass in a chef’s-bowl

Monday was just delightful. One of those rare summer days on London where you can lounge in the park until nine and not even realize the time. Until you get hungry. Then it’s time. To ‘forage’, and find. Try new things. “It’s too hot” my friend says “but I really feel like Korean. Let’s go to…

How to order a kebab

Knowing how to order a kebab sounds like something that should be easy. You decide what you want, you ask for it. Simple. Apparently not. I went to buy a kebab the other night. It had been a rather boozy evening and I hadn’t had time for dinner. Kebab shops are funny places. They are the…