Here we go once again. This month, the famous Ms Marmite Lover finally enters the fray, Lizzie Mabbot dethrones Chris Pople to go top and the highest climber is The Graphic Foodie to number 13, up by 12. Congratulations to all. Isn’t it more exciting watching the list change leaders now that the all powerful WOM (it is still all powerful, and no list is going to change that right?) has vacated the top spot

….And we take another sneak peek at this month’s movers and shakers (as according to the good people of Wikio) in the world of virtual food media. Right at the top, Chris has set up camp at the summit…. and Jeanne’s Cook Sister! arrives all guns blazing as a new entry to this list at a whopping 5th place! Su-Lin at Tamarind and Thyme is the biggest mover jumping 28 places to 11th. The full update to the rankings will be published on Saturday

And here is a preview for May 2010. Wikio informed me that Guardian WOM were removed from this listing for it being too ‘Newsy’. The biggest movers are TomEatJenCooks jumping a whopping 53 spots to sixth!

And here we go again peeps, a sneak into this month’s Wikio rankings. 1 The Guardian – Word of Mouth (=) 2 Eat like a girl (=) 3 Food Stories (+1) 4 DOS HERMANOS (+7) 5 Hollow Legs (=) 6 Cheese and Biscuits (-3) 7 Thring for Your Supper (=) 8 London Eater (-2) 9 Gastronomy Domine (=) 10 A rather unusual chinaman (+2) 11 Thecattylife (+4) 12 Essex Eating (+7) 13 Tinned Tomatoes (+3) 14 Intoxicating Prose (-4) 15 Culinary Travels Of A Kitchen Goddess (+22) 16 London Chow -Where to eat in London (+39) 17 The London Foodie (+23) 18 The Foodie List (-4) 19 Spittoonextra (-6) 20 Cherrapeno (+12) Ranking by Wikio Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not subscribe to my feed updates for free. Alternatively, You can subscribe via email

And here we are, the first sneak preview into the Wikio UK gastronomy blogs rankings list in 2010. I’ll be receiving these every month from now on as the chaps over at Wikio have installed me as their latest gastronomy blogs ‘expert’… it just basically means I get to publish these sneak lists or hand over to someone who’d like to host them. The rankings are updated monthly and are compiled based on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs, taking into account, links found in the RSS feed, while blogrolls links are not accounted for. Also the weight of any given link increases according to how recently it was published. Alright so without further ado&#

Merry Christmas all and hope you are all now gearing up for New Year celebrations! So I trust everybody had a healthy and hearty Christmas dinner and got everything you wanted in the morning? Myself, I indulged in a very lovingly whole roasted, waitrose bought chicken, made with Lambrusco, I kid you not. I didn’t take pictures cos you know, I’m on ‘holiday’. As for Christmas presents, Santa was very kind and gifted me two pairs of my favourite trainers which I have wanted since I was 16. It took Nike about 10 years to re-release the Air Jordan spacejams, they eventually did on wednesday… and I’m happy. Take a look at them here. On my extended absence from food writing, I have been beavering away at my latest online property and I’d like to formally introduce it to you guys now. It’s called Kang : Photographer at kangphoto.com. So what is kangphoto.com ? it’s my online portfolio, it’s a fullscreen website powered by wordpress, I’ve selected my best food shots over the years, in addition to restaurant shots, some street photography and of course, some of my black & white stuff too. Like all my work, it’s about as close and dear as it gets. I have poured my heart & soul into it, and I will continue to pour my all into my online projects. Consider this a

I have two things to announce, both of which are related to my sponsors. Firstly it is to introduce iStarvin.com which is the latest UK based national restaurant recommendation website and who have recently taken up virtual residence on my sidebar (look right). Secondly is to upload the third and last of the Douwe Egberts videos. iStarvin launched in October 2009, and is only just gathering steam and slowly working their way to connecting with the general foodie community. The website is a hub/directory for restaurants goers where you can find places to eat & drink (around the country, including London). It’s all of course free, users can register and like many social community sites around, a point system is in place which rewards user who leave their opinion on places they’ve been to. The site also features a blog and currently the fantastic Oliver Thring is featuring a weekly round-up of national critic reviews

I have a few things to share with you today, first of all – who wants to see me make a right tit of myself on stage? Alright, an exaggeration, but I am both very proud and flattered to have been invited by my favourite Brighton foodie Beth to speak at her event – the inagural Food Bloggers Connect. This event is basically a big party for food bloggers everywhere AND also anyone who has a vested interest in Food Blogging to network, share ideas and generally to have a good meal (yup food is obviously involved). The event will take place this Saturday 28th Nov 2009 at Levant Restaurant in London. I have been asked to do two presentations and I just want to give you a little sneak sneak of what I intend to say… also keep reading for the competition regarding the tickets to Amsterdam

Hi guys, just a quick word from my sponsors Douwe Egberts and the chance to enter two competitions to win some pretty cool prizes, please keep reading for the details

…and we interrupt the eating news with a word from my sponsors. This is Absolut Vodka’s advertising campaign centered around ‘doing things different’. Enjoy folks

01/10/2009 UPDATE Me and We are Social have decided to give Becky (comment 15) and her foodie Mum the chance to have a positively gastrolicious holiday in Lille. Thank you all for participating, sorry can’t offer everyone tickets, if I could I really would. Congratulations Becky, do have a great time in Lillle. Eurostar (and their PR bods We are Social by extension) who put together the foodblogger trip to Lille a couple of weeks ago are now offering readers (that’s You) the chance to win two FREE eurostar tickets to Lille. You might have already seen the same competition up on other blogs such as World Foodie Guide and at the Greedy Gourmet. Ok so here’s how to enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment to this post by answering this question: Tell us why you’d love a little break to Lille. Hey guys, you know me – make your comment interesting, witty and really have fun with it! The most interesting one will be picked by We Are Social and you will be notified via email (so do remember to leave your email address when you comment). I’ll keep the competition open until Friday 25th September 2009. Oh and here are the Terms of the competition: Available to UK participants only, travelling from London to Lille only. Entrants must be able to make their own way to St Pancras. The

Yeah so starting from 16th – 25th September, the entire St. Pancras station is going to turn into an indoor food market. This is to celebrate the launch of Source Market inside the station and lots of overly famous celebrity chefs (Corrigan, Kochhar) will be flogging themselves too. This actually looks like it might be fun, lots of free demonstrations and stuff like that. I’ve promised the organisers that I would show up on Friday the 18th to have a look see, and maybe grab an autograph or two, even though I’m not the biggest fan of the Benares brand, but oh well, can’t say no to a food fest. See you there perhaps? All the details on the official site. Like this blog? Why not subscribe to the email newsletter ; alternatively you can subcribe to the RSS feed

And LondonEater is officially one year old today. My first post seems so long ago and since, I have written a further 230 posts, approved 1.8k comments and received 200k page views. It is both rewarding and daunting looking back at what a bloody long journey it has been. Highlights, low blows, great and appalingly awful eats, barrels upon barrels of laughs, it’s a rollercoaster and most things were delicious. Today, I’m happy to see LondonEater continuing to attract new readership. A special shout out goes out particularly to my super loyal RSS/Newsletter subscribers who are sharing this little gastro adventure with me every step of the way. We’re a small bunch, but we’re a hungry one. I continue to write because you keep coming back for more and I can only hope that my opinion has been helpful in your endeavour towards satisfying culinary curiosities. Oh, and I just want to say thank you for reading too. Yes, there’s more hot air, keep reading

Hey guys, here’s a treat for ya! The Toast Festival event organisers are giving LondonEater readers 50 pairs of tickets (usually £25 each) to the UK’s largest southern hemisphere themed festival. There’s lotsa food (John Torode is gonna be there to cook for guests), wine tasting, polo matches, live music and cultural performances. It’s all taking place in Clapham Common on the weekend of 26-28th June 2009. It looks like alot of fun, so if you’re interested (and live in the area perhaps), then here’s your free pass to the event! All you need to do is send an email (subject: LondonEater offer) to rsvp@goaheadevents.com with your full name and state which Toast you’d like to attend (South Africa – Friday, New Zealand – Saturday, Australia – Sunday) and you’ll receive an e-ticket in return. It’s for the first 50 emails they receive, so get emailing now. Offical website at www.toastfestivals.co.uk 

Ok guys, here’s another chance to get on a cooking show. The premise: with the advent of secret/underground restaurants, the producers are looking to create a tv show that revolves around the idea of people opening up their homes for one night only as a restaurant and serve members of the public who then pay what they think the meal is worth. The idea is that each week 2 couples will each be given the same budget to create this restaurant and the one that is the most successful will win a prize. They will be in charge of everything from the décor to the cooking and menus. So if you’ve been an ace at organising dinner parties, or are thinking about opening a home restaurant, then here’s your chance to showcase your skills to the rest of the nation. They are currently casting for couples to take part in this so if you fancy yourself as the next TV sensation to sweep the nation, please email restaurant@rainmedia.co.uk or call 0203 384 2544 stating your daytime phone number, hometown, and tell the producers why people would love to dine out at yours!

Guys, Rachel Khoo is BACK. You’ll remember a while back when I put out a post about the latest secret restaurant that is being run out of the Private dining club called The Loft, belonging to Chef Nuno Mendes. Well, Rachel is now back to put together another dinner event called a mash-up which will blend and incorporate various media formats into a dinner event. I know some of you were keen to try a dinner out at Nuno’s private kitchen and here is your chance to apply again. The event will take place on Wednesday 24th June 2009, 7.30pm and it will be a five course menu plus wine at £65pp. If you are interested, all you need to do is RSVP with Rachel by email to mashuplondon@gmail.com. . Places are of course, extremely limited so reserve your seat on the table now. Oh, and I’ll be tagging along for this one as event photographer, so if you’ve always been curious about secret restaurants, there ain’t a better chance than this one. As usual, I’ve included the full press release to this post (keep reading..) and read this post about how it went down the last time. Hope to see you there guys!

I am really excited to introduce my newest online venture… NOIR. Its a food photoblog that doubles as my online photo portfolio. The aim is really simple: to present the best things to eat in the city in really really nice light; think LondonEater with no words and the visuals taken to the max. Noir is an extension of the whole restaurant blogging shebang and its also a way for me to sink my teeth into photography – I really want to learn more about it, and I suppose the best way to do it, is to really do it. SO, please go and visit Noir at http://photography.londoneater.com . If you love food, visit Noir, if you love London, visit Noir, if you love photography visit Noir. Visit Noir and leave some comments on any of the photos. Finally tell all your mates about Noir and do spread the linklove to Noir