As an unashamedly greedy foodie this is one of my most favourite occasions and this year’s festival was better than ever. No where else do you have such an incredible opportunity to try out the leaders and influencers of the capital’s restaurant industry in one place at one time. With 50% more new restaurants including notably…
Read MoreSNEAK PREVIEW – THE GALLERY AT SKETCH, W1
At the weekend I was sold a new car with a ‘black pack’ which would be £2,500 more on than the standard but very much the same kit – I think it just meant I got a black grill on the front of the car, but it looked pretty so I was happy. I would…
Read More10 Best Restaurants for Vegetarians for Vegetarian Week 2014
As chosen by our office team to celebrate National Vegetarian Week 2014. We have snuck in a ‘non-vegetarian’ restaurant at the end – but we think they are worthy to appear in this list! We’d love to hear your own suggestions so please feel free to comment with links! 1. Mildreds, Soho, London Soho institution,…
Read MoreWhat House Wines Are Served By Michelin Star Restaurants?
It stands to reason that the house wine or recommended wine of a Michelin star establishment is going to be pretty good. These wines are carefully chosen by experienced sommeliers who are going to care deeply whether the wine they serve at the top of the wine menu is reflective of the quality of the…
Read MoreRestaurant Review – The Tudor Room, Great Fosters, Egham
Before I start this review I have to caveat it by saying that I’m afraid when it comes to Glorious Great Fosters I am a little bias. You see Mr R and I were married here so it is our special place. Now that could mean I am mercilessly critical of any changes they make…
Read MoreRestaurant Review: The Burger Blog, Fork at The Royal Berkshire Hotel
Now this post should really be titled ‘Applegate’ but unless you know the context (which you will by the time you’ve read the post) you may skim past it – which is why it remains titled as it does. Suffice to say an incident did occur but more of that later. We reviewed the rather…
Read MoreShowcase: The London Eye and Barracuda
Team DR were invited to experience the delights of The London Eye and Barracuda last week. The iconic Eye is the UK’s most popular paid tourist attraction. When it was first erected it collected the title of the world’s tallest Ferris wheel (now surpassed by Star of Nanchang and Singapore Flyer) and is still the…
Read MoreSneak Preview: Marcus, Marcus Wareing’s new restaurant at The Berkeley
Food connoisseurs and London jet set take note; Marcus Wareing’s renamed two Michelin starred restaurant at The Berkeley, Marcus launches on Monday 24th March following an extensive eight-week revamp of its interiors creating a dining room, Chef’s table and Salon. We had a gastronomic sneak preview last night to give you a taste of what…
Read More10 Best Restaurants to Eat Heathily in During January
It seems to be de rigueur these days to detox in January – i’ts just something now hard wired into our psychy. Regardless of whether we are doing it to lose weight, break the booze and sugar cycle, or simply because we just feel bleeeaauu after all that indulgence, so many of us now choose…
Read MoreRESTAURANT REVIEW – The Bybrook at The Manor House Hotel Castle Combe
There is some confusion as to when Christmas officially ends. The Church of England insist Twelfth night is Jan 5th and therefore ended yesterday, but many people believe Twelfth night falls on the Jan 6th, at the end of the 12th day of Christmas and so will be keeping their decorations up until the end…
Read MoreDesign Restaurants Review of 2013
2013 was always going to struggle to compete for news after 2012, the year of the London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We rose to the challenge however and did still manage a Royal Baby and a Wimbledon win at last. The Brits love affair with all things foodie also continued to march unabated.…
Read MoreRESTAURANT REVIEW Andre Garrett at Cliveden House Hotel
“1963 – That Was Year That Was” is a current series being aired on BBC Radio Two celebrating the 50th anniversary of the highs and lows of a year that shaped the modern world for years to come. Three particular events from that year have caught the public imagination here in the UK. It was…
Read MoreTen Best Hot Alcoholic Drinks
Our recent post about the rise of Japanese cuisine prompted comments from our members about how much they love Sake, but how little they knew about it. We are doing some research therefore as our own knowledge is pretty limited of what is good and what isn’t in the complex world of rice wine so…
Read MoreRESTAURANT REVIEW – The Garden by Simon Radley at OddFellows Chester
I was delighted to find myself with a Friday lunchtime slot this half-term having finished up a meeting in the wonderful Roman City of Chester. Being the holidays I had brought Mr R and the little Roblets up for the trip. Unfortunately the weather was pretty grim so the The Roblets had been despatched with…
Read MoreHotels with (tenuous) links to Halloween
Halloween has become the biggest grossing commercial holiday event after Christmas and is now much anticipated in the UK. Celebrating the Christian holiday of All Hallows Eve (followed by All Saints Day on November 1st) it derives from an ancient pagan festival celebrated by Celtic people over 2,000 years ago. We’ve undertaken a little bit of…
Read MoreFine Dining in Northwest England
In our other posts in this series we looked at Fine Dining in Berkshire and Fine Dining in Scotland. As your reviewer is going to be spending half-term week in Cheshire I was curious as to what was available to me in the region so decided it was time to explore fine dining in the…
Read MoreREVIEW: ‘ Street Food of India’ Cookery School at Lucknam Park Hotel
There aren’t many things that will get me out of bed at 5.30am apart from an early morning flight or the promise of a luxurious pamper day but I made an exception last Friday when Ms S and I were invited down to the exquisite Lucknam Park Hotel in Wiltshire to celebrate the year’s anniversary…
Read MoreRESTAURANT REVIEW – FORK at Royal Berkshire Hotel
The major contingent of team DR Surrey descended last week onto Berkshire with one mission – to try all the dishes on offer at FORK – the very latest brasserie to hit Ascot in the hallowed grounds of the up and coming Royal Berkshire Hotel. A hearty mission, but there were seven of us. Firstly…
Read MoreHorsey Couture Dining – The Barn at Coworth Park
You may find this a tenuous connection to dining but nevertheless here at DR we feel it our responsibility to explore the ultimate in casual dining with a fine dollop of working up the old appetite. With this mission in mind Ms S and Mrs P enthusiastically volunteered (while under the influence?) for a polo…
Read MoreRestaurant Review plus Win Lunch for 2 – Phil Yeomans at The Avenue, Lainston House, Winchester
The wisteria waved us up the impressive drive to lovely Lainston House one sunny/showery day last week, lulling us into an immediate state of bucolic bliss, even though we’d been playing the “sunglasses on, sun glasses off” game all the way down from Surrey. Ms S and I arrived for lunch to experience the new tasting menu…
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