Month: July 2016

Travel Diaries: Budapest

- Michael 5 Comments

Danube Sunset Cruise

I was sat sipping on a glass of wine, atop a boat sauntering down the Danube, my tour guide headphones discarded as they’d kept changing to Spanish, when I realised our decision to make the trip to Hungary was the right one. The clouds that had been lingering cruelly since we landed had finally parted and played their part in creating one of those sunsets you see on Pinterest or Tumblr, but a lot more real, and a lot less photoshopped. By this time we’d already feasted on a disgustingly cheap but hearty meal in the courtyard at Mazel Tov (Shakshukah Mergeuz for me, Falafel Wrap for her) and meandered around the Jewish District, where our stylish AirBnB was located. The first night of a 4 day trip to Hungary’s capital wound to a close with a few drinks in one of the cities many ruin bars before having an early night (and some chilli cheese bites from Burger King because hey, I’m on holiday) so we could get up early the next day.

Budapest - Buildings
Read more

Earl Grey Iced Tea

- Michael 2 Comments

Earl Grey Iced Tea

We are well into the few days of summer the UK gets each year. It’s been sweltering, so I know that people probably aren’t going to be inside reading my rambles. As my last post, an open letter about just how good the London food scene is, was pretty lengthy and as my next is going to be something just as long about our trip to Budapest, I thought it’d be a good time to crack out a nice short post on a simple summer recipe. So here’s a quick and easy recipe for Iced Earl Grey Tea with Mint and Lemon. I have talked about my love for Earl Grey at length, and my most recent recipe, Earl Grey & Raspberry Loaves, is one of those times.
Read more

We Need To Talk About London’s Food

- Michael 4 Comments

Transatlantic Tables Grain Store

On Tuesday night last week, Open Table kindly invited a number of London food enthusiasts, including myself, along to Grain Store in Kings Cross to partake in their Transatlantic Tables evening. At the same time they invited a selection of New York’s similarly inclined addicts to dinner across the pond, connecting us through our love for our city’s food. After an evening spent eating Chef Loubet’s specially prepared menu we were challenged to write an open letter to New York, and those who love its food, detailing why we love our own city’s food so damn much, all for a chance to win a trip over there to sample its own delights.

Alright New York,

Your food is pretty good; I’ve had the pleasure of trying a small handful of places when I visited your city back in November of 2013. I got to walk around the East Village eating Lobster Rolls from Luke’s Lobster, experience the secrecy and unique hotdogs of Please Don’t Tell and the burgers from Black Iron Burger. I filled my face with a salt beef reuben from Katz Deli and even found somewhere to give me a chicken waffle grilled cheese sandwich. Brooklyn gave me the delights of buying BBQ by the pound at Fette Sau, which remains some of the best BBQ food I’ve eaten, and a night sat in the Brooklyn Brewery followed by a trip to the Meatball Shop to hungrily (and drunkenly) devour a plate of meatballs. I’m not even going to touch on all those fancy Michelin Starred restaurants you’ve got, because that’s just not my cup of tea.

Read more

Earl Grey & Raspberry Loaves

- Michael 4 Comments

Raspberry & Earl Grey Loaves

We’re well into British Summer Time and every now and then, between the heavy rainstorms, the sun has been showing itself. This means I want fresher, less rich bakes. With more fruity and floral flavours. Last year I made an Earl Grey and Poppy Seed loaf for the people across at Realm & Empire, and I wanted to do something similar this year. Raspberry & Earl Grey aren’t necessarily the first things you’d match together, but they complement each other perfectly and with a little lemon rind mixed through you get that fresh but floral taste I’d been craving.
Read more

Travel Diaries: Recent Adventures

- Michael Leave a comment

Dawlish - Devon

As well as trips to Paris and Glasgow/The Isle of Mull I’ve had a couple of other small trips. Before I inundate the blog and my social feeds with photos of my recent trip to Budapest I thought I’d share a number of the photos from recent trips we’ve taken to both Devon and Edinburgh. These photos will be shared simply with a clarification of where they were taken.
Read more