I’m cruising & dining on the thames, running circles around Maze, thinking about a burlesque show in a seedy venue and making five minute cakes in the microwave.

eating happenings here on London Eater

I go through phases. One day I wake up with a seed planted in my mind, could be an advert, could be catching a clip of john mayer on that slide guitar, could be a travel mag and then I think about it so much that I feel like I need to get out there and just immerse myself in it. Sometimes I wonder if anybody else is like that too….

…Anyway, this week I went abit obsessive with food photography. I invested in a couple of new lenses (£395 + £89 , ouch. ) and although they returned some nice results, photography is more about how you use the camera, rather than the camera doing the job for you. So I’ve been critiquing my own shots to death and I can see all these flaws in them that I just want to like make them better. Flipping through a few food mags, it just made me feel so inspired.. I want to get ‘the shot’ every single time. Snap, no , snap , no , snap , no.

See what I mean about being obsessive?

In between getting lost in the world of photography, I did manage to get four posts out this week:

1. Quickie wine guide part 5: Sommelier Jousting The week started off with part 5 of the quickie wine guide, with this one providing you a few tips for when you want to do abit of jousting with the sommelier when you’re out and about.
2. Gordon Ramsay, Jason Atherton and Maze I paid a visit to Maze with my 50mm primer and came away with a BLT sarnie in a cocktail glass and popcorn ice cream. It gave me mixed feelings…
3. The top ten most delicious food photography websites Food porn. If you love it, then read this.
4. Cruising and dining on the river thames This is why London’s great, cruising along the super scenic thames… and eating some great food, does it really get any better?

london happenings around the Smoke

How do you keep your radar up for the latest and greatest in london? If you don’t go beyond timeout, then maybe you need to check out some of these guys. Ok, I’m looking for a cool place to eat, somewhere nice to take Jennie for Christmas and a totally randomly cool thing to do because, well, I get bored.

1. Metrotwin this is cool, they do lists of stuff to do/places to see in London… and new york, hence the ‘twinning’ bit. I checked out this list about christmas afternoon tea and apparently the kew is transforming itself into a winter wonder land complete with ice skating rinks and all … ok that’s in my calendar for next month, any takers?
2. Spoonfed They have spooners. Spooners who go out and then come back to tell you what’s up and what’s hot. So I’m looking for cool and completely random … hey how about a burlesque show?  1910′s music at a ‘seedy’ but ‘sensational’ tea room / strip joint …. on a wednesday night ? Wow.
3. Trustedplaces I just came across this one a little while ago and it’s a restaurant/bar/cafe/pub review guide. Cool! Ok I want a nice place to eat out (and review) . Guys, how about Rochelle canteen? Its supposedly a converted bike shed, now fitted with glass doors and inside is divided into tables and on the otherside is an extensive kitchen? This sounds cool, you want a review?

reading happenings around the community

1. Healthy fast food … YES. I knew it! it exists!!! They’re offering tips on how to go healthy in burger king and McD’s! Oh admit it, you sneak off to your local kfc every now and again, read this already.
2. The ten best sarnies in America…. need I say more? I do? Ok let’s try fried oyster & shrimp po boy at Acme. Time for me to figure out how to split the atlantic.
3. No recipes I don’t know how I managed to miss this blog off my top ten food photo list , but marc deserves a mention here, the concept is very cool, his blog is cooking sans recipes because its a pro-inspiration website and just totally creative. Check out his no recipes round up here in which there’s a really delicious looking pork belly dashi recipes…very nice blog, I love it already!
4. Dirty kitchen secrets Hey i’m no chef, my skills in the kitchen aren’t anything to crow about, but here’s some nice red velvet cupcakes for you to try on a cold weekend.
5. Hungry mouse’s 5 minute cake Finally, I tried this one! But instead of using cocoa powder (i stupidly forgot to bring it into the office) I used coffee instead (in my line of work, the whole industry is run on filter coffee). If you’re going into work on monday morning and have 5 minutes in the office pantry and a microwave, and you want to distract your colleagues of the monday gloom .. then TRY THIS! It definitely works and taste abit like sponge cake. Use a few scoops of coffee powder (I used run of the mill nescafe) and LOTS of chocolate cookie chunks.

Next week is burger week

That’s right, my loosely connected series of burger posts are complete and over the course of the week, will be posting all about burgers, burgers and more burgers in london and beyond. Burger and wine. Burger lists. Burger pictures and more burgers in a sentence than you can shake a burger at it.

Ok apologies, i went abit overkill there… but come back tomorrow for that and then again in seven days for this eat&read. Till then, have a great end to the week and run out and buy John mayer’s where the light is – it’s that good.

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Eating giant pancakes, thinking about the christmas lights on Oxford street and surfing the london blogging community.

eating happenings here on London Eater

I’d like to think of this week as Obama week. Everywhere you turn, it’s just Obama Obama Obama, Obamamania has hit the world like a tidal wave. Of course, London Eater caught the Obamabug too, succumbing to a tea cake offering on the day of his election.

This week, I produced four posts, apologies for those awaiting part five of my quickie wine guide, it’s been yet another hectic week behind the scenes as I’ve been busy rethinking some of the concepts behind this blog:

• The first seventy five days I kicked off the week with by dissecting the last two months since London Eater went live. Once again, thank you for all your support and for visiting my site. Every time you visit my site, it gives me confidence and inspiration to continually strive to produce quality content. I’ve got some new ideas for this site and I hope you’ll enjoy it, so do keep coming back guys. I can’t promise greatness, but I can promise that I’ll do my very best.
• Heroic freshness at Sushi Hiro was one of the best sushi trips Ive ever been on. This place is tiny, but its super good. I shot the food with my brand new 50mm f/1.8 primer, which I’m absolutely in love with. I think it’s produced some great snaps, what do you think?
• A tribute to Obama and McCain They both fought to the bitter end and McCain was a worthy opponent indeed. But in the end, change had to come. Yes it did. So I decided to give them teacakes.
• Giant pancakes at My Old Dutch is one of my favorite spots for a nice chilled out sunday lunch and when I want something abit different on a shoestring. Do check this one out folks.

I’ve established myself on the blog networks app on facebook. So if you’re on facebook, then head over there now and join my blog network.

london happenings around the Smoke

November means two things to me, one: it gets dark by four, two: Jingle bells, jingle bells…

• The Oxford street christmas lights are coming online next wednesday. It’s become a pretty traditional event with all kinds of huge ornaments hanging from above the traffic. Apparently, the super diva Leona Lewis will be on hand this year to switch the lights on. Will take lots of pictures for the benefit of my readers from beyond the shores.
• The super 50 at Westfield Many will have visited the brand new super-mall in shepherd’s bush. I did pay a visit last weekend which was absolutely packed out. The atrium area features an open food hall with lots of vendors. For a moment while walking through the food hall, I felt as if I was in a mall in asia. Because there were so many people, there were huge queues so I didnt bother eating there. Expect me to do so in the coming days though. Oh yeah, and there were lots of shops and all too.
• Cinnamon Kitchen is opening on Nov 13 and it’s going to feature a tandoori bar & grill. Apparently the decor is marbles & pearls with an equally pretentious menu. Hmm, I suppose I need to pay a mandatory visit then?

reading.. London! happenings around the community

In this week’s edition, the spotlight shifts to London food blogs. Yes, these guys have been around much longer than me and all of these venerable names feature great content to which I can only aspire to.

• Food Snob argues that a ‘snob’ is not a sign of superiority, rather the proper definition suggests that a snob is one who admires greatness and thus in his own words, the food snob is one in search of great taste. He eats and writes his way through some of the more well-known michelin establishments such as Le Gavroche, do check him out if you’re searching for a special dinner.
• Londonelicious is the diary of an american girl who loves to eat but hates to cook and lives in London. Krista’s eaten most of London already and has put together a fine top 10 list. Have a look here.
• World Foodie Guide introduces you to the concept of traveleating, as this jet-setter tracks all her culinary conquests across the globe, from London to Hong Kong. She is not shackled by the confines of one city and is truly a world foodie guide. One of my favorites.
• An American in London is eating her way through the city (as we speak) with a slight focus obsession. She visits and re-visits some of her favourites and her reviews always have me salivating.
• Silverbrow on Food is Anthony Silverbrow’s ( its fabricated, but sounds so good! ) great blog which features his thoughts on food and the general industry in the UK. His writing is a breeze and makes for a great read. So pay him a visit.
• London review of breakfast is as advertised on the box and is one of the more unique blogs around. The writing is excellent as his description of the old eggs bacon and chips is the excellent way to work up an appetite in the mornings!
• Get stuffed in London Last but definitely not least, why not get stuffed in London? Helen enjoys getting stuffed and what better way to do it than in London! It’s set up as a personal guide to the best & the worst so you can make an informed decision. Have a look now.

London is so big that it’s nearly impossible for me to eat everything in my lifetime. But that’s the beauty of the blogosphere, there’s other dedicated foodies motivated by similar goals.This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s some more blogs for you to chew on this sunday, do enjoy.

Coming soon to an internet near you..

I’m going to put out part 5 of my quickie wine guide and I’ll also post my visit to Jason Atherton’s Maze. Have a great end to the week and see you back here in seven.

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Eating tapas, upping my twittering campaign and watching Daniel Craig brood his way into a quantum of solace.

eating happenings here on London Eater

This has been a relatively slow week and I got to say, most of you have forsaken me for your Halloween plans ( thanks for coming back to read this ) . Hope you guys had a great ( and spooky ) time. I went to see Quantum of Solace last night and I gotta say, Daniel Craig is probably my favourite bond right now. He’s not conventional, but he’s created a new kind of Bond who’s you know, edgy. I don’t know if it’s just me, I think Craig’s take on playing a Bond who’s still learning how to be ‘Bond’ but still can’t seem to grapple how the ‘half-monk half hit-man’ concept works, is subtle, but well done. Heaps of emotions happening beneath those man boobs. On the other hand, Olga Kurylenko… WOW. She is stunning. Go watch the new James Bond, it’s pretty good.

Over here at London Eater, I produced little more than three posts this week:

• Soho Tapas I went to Barrafina in soho which is a tapas bar in the truest sense, it’s a great little eatery and definitely a must-eat, read the review here.
• Gourmet Burgers I’m running a loose series of burger eats and my third outing is the crowd favourite Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Supersized burgers and shakes (oreo no less) , check the review here.
• Pairing wine with Food The quickie wine guide rolls on and is now in part four! In this edition, we talk about pairing food with wine, go have a look here.

Most of you will not know that I’m actually on twitter too, although, I don’t twit enough. However, starting today, things are going to change. It’s part of my slow (but steady) progression into social networking, I think I’ve come to grips with stumbleupon, and now I’m moving to increase my presence on twitter. You can follow me here, make sure you friend me up so I can follow you too

london happenings around the Smoke

There’s actually quite alot of foodie related events coming up in the following weeks, here’s some where I plan to go to , if you’re interested in coming along, do let me know guys:

• The BBC Good food show Last week I blogged about this, which will be held at Olympia and is allegedly going to be the ultimate gourmet food show in London. I’m going on the 15th, it’s only about £16 general entry and I’m looking for people to drag with me. If you’re planning on attending too, do let me know, I’m excited about this, Heston Blumenthal will be there, Saturday morning kitchen James Martin is going to be there and luscious lips Nigella Lawson will be there too. Here for details.
• French wine growers fair is occurring on between 21st and 23rd November 08 in barbican and lets you meet wine growers and taste 500 wines all for a measley £10! I’m going on the saturday ( 22nd ) and will swallow more than spit. If you’re going, let me know too. Read here for more info.
• Westfield Shopping mall, Whitecity I somehow missed the grand opening on thursday which had Leona Lewis belting out in the atrium and Danielle Bux parading for La Senza. Well, I’m heading over there this afternoon do give us a shout if you’re planning to go too! Here for details.
• Hyde park Winter Wonderland I still find it unbelievable that it snowed for the first time in october for more than 70 years. I managed to miss this last year, so I will need to go this year. Apparently, it features an authentic german christmas market, complete with german sausages and christmas sweets. Starts November 22nd and lasts till early January. Read all about it here.

reading happenings around the community

• Italy in SF Who loves italian food? I know I do, Vanessa who runs the excellent Italy in SF is on a mission to find the best italian eateries in the bay area, in this post, she pays a visit to Pizzeria Delfina.. oh that picture of the Napoletana with the parma ham on top …. gosh you gotta read it.
• My last bite Foodbuzz is great for finding delicious foodie blogs. I found My last bite last night while stumbling along, in addition to an ultra clean design, she hates negative reviews and only writes about all the good stuff she eats, I cannot agree more with that concept. Read Jo’s latest super grouper dinner post here.
• World in a wok Found another new foodblog here called the world in a wok. Think it’s a cool blog name where a former expat brat writes about food and musings, from Thailand as, you’d guessed it, an expat.
• Zesty Cook I’m up for spaghetti! People are always blogging about the latest and greatest but sometimes, it’s nice to return to the basics. Cory whipped out a great one on spaghetti, check out the classic already.
• The Hungry Mouse Im going to try this five minute cake recipe at work tomorrow morning , Jessie over at the hungry mouse generously shared this recipe with us, 2 minutes to whip and 3 minutes in the nuke. Here’s hoping I don’t kill any of colleagues.

Finally..
There will be more eating next week, so expect more reviews from Maze, wild honey and a heroic sushi bar in ealing common. I also upgraded my lenses (for my camera) , so I’m hoping my pictures will turn out better, but you can be the judge of that. Have a great end to the week folks.

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Reflecting on my hat-tips, rethinking frog sashimi and covering the ultimate gourmet food show to hit London.

eating happenings here on London Eater

I’m glad to report that I have finally shook off my batman growl and returned to more fluent sounds. Phew. This week has been nothing but eventful as there were lots happening not just over here on London Eater, but also in my life.

First of all, this is the week where I’ve made the most number of posts, seven in total! Also interestingly this is post number fifty for me, so a mini yay. It’s rather strange because my parents were also in town this week for my brother’s graduation so I’d been quite the busy bee and miraculously found time to blog. I suppose the saying goes that your work expands to fill the time you have available, or in this case, unavailable. Here’s what went down this week:

• Borough market part one & part two I paid a visit to borough market and it took me a while to prepare this series of posts. I love markets and took lots of pictures while I was there. In part one, I particularly loved the dulce de luche and the olive sellers, while in part two, I’m still waiting for the girl in the accidental portrait to leave me a comment.
• Part three I finally put out part three of my quickie wine guide which is on buying & storing. I must say, I am glad that I’ve kept up with this series, its about at the half way point and I sincerely hope that people are finding this little guide useful so far.
• Spoonfeeding me I wrote a review of a great new startup site which is abit of a london guide to events/stuff to do in the city. It’s easy to use and their spooners passionately sift through the traffic to find the best things to do in the city. Do check it out here.
• A graduating post I went off the tangent with this one when I went along to my brother’s graduation ceremony earlier this week.
• Rewarding. I gotta say, I’m lost for words when I got a few pats on the back from my fellow bloggers. I’m so glad I started blogging because eversince, I have met so many wonderful people online. Go read this already, some of the very best foodblogs.
• Hauche Burgers Lastly, I rounded off the week with a visit to possibly the best burger bar in london. I’m a little bummed since they disallowed photographs, but they saved their blushed by serving me an excellent fish burger. Read here.

london happenings around the Smoke

• The BBC Good food show is going ahead in London between 14-16th November in Olympia, London and your friendly resident eater is thinking about covering this event. The organisers claim that this is going to be the capital’s ultimate gourmet festival… I cannot miss this! More details to follow as I find out how to sign up for this. Any london foodies interested in going as well, please do let me know,  ticket prices as follows:

2008 Ticket Prices
Ticket type	Advance price	On the door	Package
General Admission	£16.00	£18.50	Entrance + Show Guide
Dining Packages	£36.00	N/A	Entrance to the Show and Show Guides, show bag, wine glass and holder and £10 worth of dining currency.
Entry +seat in the Cookery Experience	£20.00 – £50.00	N/A	Food Icon Sessions for Heston Blumenthal or Nigella Lawson cost £50 including entry to the Show. James Martin session costs £20 including entry to the show.
VIP Package	£75.00 – £105.00	N/A	Entrance to the Show, seat in The Cookery Experience, goody bag, £15 worth of dining currency with access to VIP area, glass & holder, bag crèche, cloakroom and priority queuing for book signing. VIP package including Heston Blumenthal or Nigella Lawson cost £105

• I read about this website called moviesanddates.com in the paper a few days ago which allows you to put up a very simple profile ( just tell them your favourite movie and which actor you mostly look like, i said brad pitt…) and then they set you up with a blind date where you both meet in a cinema to watch a movie together. Seriously, this just sounds completely random…. if you don’t see a post about this after the 20th of November, assume the worst has happened. The things I do in search for a great blogpost.

reading happenings around the community

• LIVE frog sashimi. This is not one for the squemish. The sushi master skins a live frog ( he looked so cute ) and served up a beating heart. Bu-bub. Er, I do enjoy raw fish… but I am not having a frog’s head in my bowl while it looks up at me as I eat it’s flesh. Watch the video below at your peril:

• The Hungry Mouse’s awesome home-made maple syrup whisky drink really blew me away. Jessie is a great foodie pal of mine and her blog is fantastic… so what are you waiting for? I’ve just endorsed it so go read it now.
• Foong over at the food site wrote about a few foods which help prevent cancer. I think it’s a great post especially since most of us foodies like to indulge in alittle too much sometimes, so its nice to see that at least somebody is being sensible, read it here now, it might just save your life.
• Savory.tv has been quietly creeping up my blog-o-radar. It’s a food video blog with which their main goal is to demystify gourmet cooking by having pro chefs show you how easily it can be recreated in the comfort from your own kitchen. Go check it out here, I think it’s a pretty cool concept – and a clean blog design too.

To boldly go where no eater has gone before…
It’s been a hell of a week, thanks again Jessie, Jo, April, Heidi & the Bentoist for the awards, you guys rock! There’s part four of my wine guide next week, a visit to a quaint dutch pancake place and depending on how quick I work, a visit to yet another food market – this time along King’s Road. Have a great end to the week ladies and gents and see you back here in seven.

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Reflecting on McCain’s eccentricity, mulling over ice skating and thinking about over-frosting cakes… all from the comfort of my brand new macbook.

eating happenings here on London Eater

If this was a video blog, it would have been very embarrassing for me because I sound like a horse. Since I fell victim to the autumn flu bug, I’m glad that the worse has passed, but I lost my voice and now I would really like to have my voice back again. It just occurred to me, I sound like Batman.

“Tell me where the Joker is!” “Rarr!”

Can I please go back to being Bruce Wayne?

“Rarr.”

This week has been rather hectic for myself. I missed part 3 of my quickie wine guide series, apologies if you were waiting for it, it will be back next tuesday, so do come back for that. However I did manage three posts this week:

• Started off with a visit to one of London’s coolest wine shops in Berry Bros & Rudd. Chock full of history, the shop floor is almost like a museum. Read it here.
• I paid a visit to Launceston place in Kensington to check out their £18 three course lunch. It was a pretty good meal that turned into a semi five courser instead. Highlights included a really interesting clotted cream tea pudding which consists of a tea ice cream and lovely scones with lots of icing sugar on top. Check it out here.
• Finally, I released a write-up on London’s oldest wine bar situation in the very tourisy part of London by the Thames in embankment. The space is literally like an underground cave. Some people have said that it might be abit claustrophobic, but you can be the judge of that here.

Some of you will know that, being a lover of all things edible, I am also a fan of all things meat. Recently at work, I’ve been trying to get my colleagues together for meat-nights. On the inaugural night, we went to this brazillian grill in notting hill gate called Rodicio Rico, which does all-you-can-eat meat for £25 per head. The waiters pretty much bring all kinds of meat on huge skewers and carve the meat on your table, all night long. There’s everything here including beef, lamb, chicken, pork and even chicken heart. Being stuffed after the meal was a major understatement.

Anyway, to follow-up on it, the sequel to meat-night is going to be a meat-lunch at gaucho grill. Who are they? Well, only the finest purveyors of grilled red meats in the city. I can’t wait, I think I’ve managed to convince about 10 of my colleagues so far, obviously the more the merrier. If all goes well, you will see a large group of meat lovers on the prowl for meat down regent’s street come the 31st of October.

london happenings around the Smoke

• Rinkin’

Winter is approaching hard and fast, that means ice rinks are coming back again! They are usually ones which spring up in marble arch and another in the natural history museum, but I think the one to definitely check out is at somerset house. I’ve not been myself before, so its about time I do it this year.

• Fawkesing’

So where are you getting your firework kicks come Nov 5th? Apparently the wimbledon one features a true Guy Fawkes bonfire with lots of music & foodstalls and stuff. We’ll see, I think I may just pop down to Battersea park again.

• Saatchi-in’

I went to see the new ‘Revolution’ exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in Kings Road last weekend and it was great. I really like this gallery. It’s pretty much a showcase of modern art from some very talented artists from China. The rooms are all very clean, pristine white walls and perfectly lit, great for taking photos. Check out their website… they had 71 million hits in the last 24 hours.

That’s a-lot.

Go have a look guys, its free too.

• Vinopolisin’

I am still yet to do a grapvine tour at vinopolis. It’s based around Waterloo and they’re doing the grapevine tour a tenner on mondays. Wine tour on a monday evening? Hmm, I don’t know.

reading happenings around the community

• Food photography tips

Over at over the hill and on a roll, Danny foodie musings & recipes are always spot-on, but what really catches my eye everytime are his great photographs. In this post, he’s presenting a few tips to get that shot. I couldnt agree more with getting light and placing food on simple plates, but yeah light is so very important to getting the right colours and the right exposures.

The frosting forecast

Marilyn at Simmer till done is a ‘giver of dessert happiness’. This post really caught my eye because she’s got like 3 inches of frosting sitting on a minute cupcake. Hmm… it’s like my childhood fantasy, somehow I have this idea in my head that you can’t ‘break’ the rules about how much frosting one can have on a cupcake, it must have been me mum stopping me from eating too much sweets when I was a kid, anyway this frosting moutain is like the highlight of my websurfing this week

• What is McCain doing?

I have to get my two pennies in.

My vote is for Barack, I think everyone knows that he’s a great orator but McCain is just a goof-ball. If anybody caught the final debate this week, you would have heard about Joe the Plumber, and here I thought the two men who would be in the running would be intellectual enough to talk about wider topics in their debate, but nope, it was all about how much Joe was going to lose out if he voted for Barack. So just what is McCain doing here?

• Butternutsquash heaven

That’s great word to say don’t you think. Butternutsqaush.

This here is a recipe on a butternutsquash and caramelized onion galette over at grumpy’s honeybunch. She claims it’s pure heaven.

I agree.

Sartirizing advertising

Stumbling along in stumbleupon, I came across this video entitled ‘Truth in Advertising’. It’s basically a ‘mini documentary’ showing the entire advertising process and explaining all the different roles and stakeholders involved in the process…. except its just so funny! Its got lots of expletives, so a mini warning if you are one who would be offended, otherwise, check it out here, it’s a little cynical, but I think it’s quite well done.

What’s in store next week?

Im going to split my borough market trip post into two parts, release part 3 of my quickie wine guide and do a write-up on this really interesting dutch pancake place in chelsea. I’m thinking about doing a burger-week, One burger per day for seven days a week and then crown a ‘winner’ of the best London burger. I’m so going to shave five years off my life; to quote Austin Powers ” I like to live dangerously. ”

It’s abit cloudy and cold today, so get lots of hot drinks and wrap up like a michelin-man.

Have a good end to the week folks.

A  look back at the past week of the eating blind,  summer revival and….

eating happenings here on London Eater

Just as I bid farewell to summer just seven days ago, she came back to me. Oh man, you know, we shared a whirlwind romance, at times me and british summer were at odds with each other. When I wanted to take her out on a picnic, she decided to rain down on me, when I felt like settling for a movie at home, she tempts me with those rays of sunshine. I was heartbroken when she decided to say goodbye, but this week she’s back.

Woah.

It’s beautiful weather this weekend here in the big smoke. 18 C all day long and that sun, it was unreal. I’m glad. Although, this week I was feeling alittle under the weather, I managed to catch the autumn bug early this year, a mild fever and I did lose my voice. After much warm honey drinks and gurgling apple cider, I’m glad to recover just in time to enjoy the weekend. 

I set myself up for a big week, but didn’t deliver on a couple of posts (sorry guys), particularly, my wine review continues to elude. However, I did manage to get five posts out, so that’s alright:

• I started the search for the London burger at burger shack, I think quality is great here, but they face stiff competition from GBK. Comparisons abound, what do you prefer folks?
• Part two of my quickie wine guide. This was a monster post and focuses on the basics of wine tasting, as well as a breakdown of wine labels. Check it out here.
• I’m still calling out to all foodbloggers in the UK for a meetup (eat-up), Meaghan, have you signed up as a foodbuzz feature publisher yet? If not do so now, I need to choose a restaurant and it’s likely going to be around november. Any suggestions guys? Do let me know.
• Have you ever eating in total darkness? Yes, you read that correctly and you can read it here.
• Finally, the gargantuan seven course write-up at L’Autre Pied, timeout’s best new restaurant 2008 is done. Read here! 

london happenings around the Smoke

• Cheryl, you are the perfect woman

X-factor is the UK version of american idol. It used to be all about Simon’s frankness, but everyone is just desensitised now. So the producers made a great move, they brought in Cheryl Cole. She’s sweet (shedding a tear as she feels for every passionate wannabe, or that guy who’s doing it for his dear wife who passed on..) and she’s a tough little cookie as she takes no prisoners, especially standing up to Simon. Valerie is a great song and this guy did a good job:

Probably the wrong forum for this, just watch the video guys, she’s got the warmest smile (i’m just shamelessly in love now). Cheryl if you are reading this, oh who am I kidding, like Cheryl Cole is going to be reading me.  

• Market markets, marquees

I just want to announce that there are nice markets going on at the moment. If you are in west london, stop by bute street in south kensington, there’s a small farmers’ market which is very nice. For something a little more upmarket, try sloane’s square and head towards saatchi gallery in kings road. they are doing a really nice food market. Finally, I just have to mention borough market.  

• Hello halloween

What are your plans this year? How about a medieval style banquet dinner and eat while you watch jousting knights and dancing wenches. It’s near tower bridge and yes, jousting knights complete with cheesy scripted dialogue and 14th century armor. Check it out here.

reading happenings around the community

I havent been doing that much reading up this week, spending much of my time nursing my fever in bed. Zzzz. But I did manage some stuff that caught my eye:

• The haphazard gourmet girls

Im still trying to figure them out, really intriguing blog which is “A Delish Stew of Hi/Lo Culture Through The Lens of Food, With Commentary, Recipes & A Relentless Jones For Food Safety. Local, Organic, Incorrigible.” They closed the comments because they get too many, they are cool, and quintessentially what blogging is all about. Check em out already.

• Dinner in the sky

Ok this is just cool, what they do is suspend a dinner table at a height of 50 metres from the ground. Unfortunately, they are not doing this in the UK just yet, but its something I really wouldn’t mind doing. Although I’m not sure it’ll do well in the british rain & wind & cold and all the swaying…. sway soup, sway soup… ok that’s just fun.

• Off the broiler

Jason Perlow at off the broiler is food writer and a food lover. I love his writing and he exudes this warmth in his words. He’s someone I really aspire to, you know, good writing can be so uplifting. In this monster of a post, he’s doing an in-depth look at Porterhouse new york. Lots of juicy pictures and a great sunday read. Check it out already guys.

• Emily the Chicago dining examiner

Speaking of inspired food writing, Emily is showing bacon love in her latest post. I always enjoy really her posts, its just good writing you know and somehow always manages to bring a smile everytime I read her work. The pacing is great and its like holding a great conversation and being led on a literal adventure at the same time. 

On and ahead into the future

Next week, there’a a write-up on London’s oldest wine bar, a dutch pancake visit in London and one of the best tapas bars in Soho. Not forgetting part 3 of my quicke wine guide (expect it on tuesday night), you keep coming back, I’ll keep working hard for you.

Grey’s back on tv and Izzie had a crash victim where her memory resets every 30 seconds. Everytime it does, she had to tell her that her husband died from the surgery, every 30 seconds, it was a despairing moment. So in the end, she decides life’s too short for sadness, so she finally says to her ‘everything is going to be alright, your husband is coming to see you now..’ 

And she smiles. 

Have a good end to the week folks and see you back here in seven.

A  look back at the past week of Jamie’s ministry of food, the return of the British autumn (winter ?), what’s cooking and who’s eating.

eating happenings here on London Eater

Summer has finally left us ladies and gentlemen. All the beautiful colours, the short sleeves and the mini skirts. There was one last hurrah last weekend when the sun came out but today, the rain has pulled me right back in to reality: enter the infamous British weather. Oh yes, it really is horrible. Its also strange how the seasons here seem to change very sharply, and always on a Monday. Oh well, time to get my woolly clothes out and look like a Michelin man. Puff!

On the otherhand, I continue to churn out new content, and I think I’ve kind of achieved some sort of consistency with one post per day. Though, I must say, I still have yet to deliver my first wine review as yet. I guess you’ll just have to keep coming back for it. On London Eater this week:

• Part one of my quickie wine guide was released on monday and it starts things off by giving you a run down of the major grape varietals used in most wines.
• Most people would have heard about Baozi inn, lots of reviews flying about it, so instead of giving you a full blown review, I wrote about the three essential dishes you need to order when you go there.
• Ok I love sushi, I think everybody knows that by now. Last weekend I checked out Genji Express at Wholefoods in High Street Kensington and consequently did a photo essay on the unagi market combo. More unagi than you can shake a stick at. Came in at a hefty 23quid but boy, it lasted me the whole day. Lots of pics, check it out.
• A couple of announcements, I’m a feature publisher on foodbuzz! And I’m a contributing editor on metrotwin. Both sites rock, foodbuzz is by foodies, for foodies, while metrotwin is this super-cool, super-fresh website that ‘twins’ the brightest lights in the world, New York and London. The big apple and the big smoke. Woof! I’m so happy to be associated with both sites, lots of exciting content promised!
• Finally, a last hurrah to spaghetti and fried eggs ice creamin’ in the city at Ciao in Leicester Square. I’m going to miss you summer (all 3 days of you this year) . See you in nine months.

I bought a new ‘blogging’ chair from Argos. Got it for 50 quid. Its pretty comfy and the cream colour fits the colour of the walls. I’m already a button-masher at work, now I’m a button-masher 24/7. Damn. 

london happenings around the Smoke

Last week, I was talking about Jamie Oliver’s new show ministry of food on tv, well I managed to catch the show, and it was pretty cool. He basically went to Rotherham, assumed everyone in the town ate kebabs for breakkie/lunch/dinner and proceeded to open a shop in the middle of town to campaign for healthy food and teach people how to cook healthy. Its not difficult to see how this act can divide opinion, but in my view, it’s a good thing you know. Unless you’re a keen foodie (like we are), you’re really not that bothered about what you eat. But if you have a media circus like Jamie Oliver rolling into your town and telling you about it, its like a jolt to the system. Now Jamie, when are you going to show up in Gloucester road and cook for me?

• Gary Rhodes crunches it

The credit crunch has hit the average joe. It’s pretty scary, I mean 700 billion bucks, thats 2 grand per american, staggering. If Gordie Brown took 1000 quid from my bank account I’d be like damn, Gordon you twat! Its nice to hear of chefs like Gary Rhodes adjusting to changing wallet sizes. In addition to fleeting footwork like a feisty spatchcock on strictly come dancing, he also gave an interview on the sunday times and he talked about introducing set menus which are more ‘competitive’ in price at his Michelin starred restaurants. That’s pretty cool, maybe its time I pay a visit to a Rhodes’ run restaurant. For those of you oblivious to his talents, Rhodes is a superb chef. Methodical and emphasis on cooking to perfection. I’m a fan. He also mentioned that he only rakes in six figures per year. Wow. I was expecting him to earn millions every year, what with his street cred, his books, tv work… times are indeed very hard.

• The changing times on the Tube

How many of you have seen the Times new adverts on the underground? It features a blown up picture of Obama’s head, sandwiched between the words ‘the times’ and, wait for this, No.10 (Downing Street) behind him. Its such a cool advert.

Ok, I’m fascinated with advertisements. Sometimes, it’s just plain cool and very sticky, other times its just so bad and so cheesy (complete with cheesy music) that its so memorable. So bad that its good. I still think the cadbury gorilla beating the drums to Phil Collins is like the coolest advert, ever. If you’ve never seen it, see it below:

Anyway, the Barack Obama head on the times is a really slick advert. I follow the latest politics around the world, but this one made me go ‘hmm, what the hell is that about?’. It certainly provoked all kinds of opinions like Rick lamb here. Its done its job to hook attention, whether positive or negative, its got people talking about it. Brilliant copy. He’s already got my vote. Oh hang on, he’s running for the democrats and not new labour…. right? 

reading happenings around the community

• Bentoism

Bentos are Japanese lunch boxes. I used to have one… then I lost it. I also used to have an ex who made these stunning gourmet sandwiches, with sausages, brie, spinach, sun dried tomatoes and then toasted. Yum, yum yum. I lost her too.

If you guys have never visited Bentoism, go check it out, this post is about a recipe on Gyudon Beef Rice Burger. Easily one of my favourite blogs.

• Eat Show Tell

My good friends from down under wrote a great review about eating at selah… oh super drool that lamb and polenta looks to die for. Last time i was there, I really enjoyed it, the fish in particular, is so fresh and you can have Aussie wagyu for pretty reasonable prices. Food heaven as far as im concerned.

• Shooting food in RAW

I’m still such an amateur when it comes to my camera. Though I’m still learning, like everyday. The best book ever for dSLR beginners is the digital photography book by Scott Kelby. The best blogs for beginners is Digital photography school, as well the superbly excellent digital slr guide. Though this week I started shooting in RAW mode, because, well, its just difficult to deal with white balance issues while I’m shooting in poorly lit restaurants. So I came across this post here about the basics of cleaning up RAW photos. What would I do without helpful blogs I wonder.

• Traditional Japanese flavours

I discovered this blog last week. It’s maintained by Carol Yamaguchi who is a food and travel writer. It’s good, all about japanese food. Super yums.

• Berry Bros & Rudd – the BLOG

They are the coolest wine shop in London, except for maybe the Sampler. But next to the Sampler, this is by far my favourite wine shop. It’s like shopping for wine in a museum. I’m in the midst of finishing up the write-up for it, so expect it sometime next week. They maintain a very informative blog. In this post here, they deliver the latest news from the burgundian front. Ok, I’m a huge burgundy fan (as you know). And 2005 was a great year, one of the best, if not the best year! Great news. I need to get myself some excellent examples to put away soon.  

• KFC noodles at tamarind trees

Maintained by Tom Aarons who lived in Cambodia for a good few years, he writes about his culinary experiments infused with Cambodian inspirations. This post really caught my eye, He cooked up a bowl of noodles, and topped it with KFC chicken. Ohh… noodles.  

• Timeless Gourmet….. and the New England Lobster roll

This is why I love foodblogs so much. Timeless gourmet featuring a full post, complete with lots of pictures of the creation process of the Lobster roll. drool.. drool.. drool..  

• Grumpy ‘s toasted meatball sub

Ok here is another post about another great toasted roll. This one is the meatball sub. Drool..drool..drool…

Coming next week..

Turn up the heating and have more hearty dishes. As usual, there’s lots more interesting stuff coming next week, apologies about my wine review delays as well as my review on L’autre Pied, I’m working on it and promise it’s coming soon. Come back on tuesday for Part 2 on my quickie wine guide, I have some surprises about dining in complete darkness, I also paid a visit to Borough market and Barrafina. Look for the reviews here, soon.

That’s it for this edition of eating&reading, hope you enjoyed it, have a great end to the week and see you back here again in seven!

Weekly round-up of yummi-news from around london and the blogosphere. Now released every Sunday and brought to you by a london eater

Yup thats official, a look back at the past week of latest news, offers, updates, what’s cooking and who’s eating.

eating happenings here on London Eater

I managed to make five posts this week, yay. I put out two reviews of pretty interesting places to eat.

• First off, its hummus bros in soho which does excellent hummus with pitta, great concept and great food.
• Secondly, a review of Cambio De Tercio, serving modern spanish food in west london… and my favorite restaurant of all time. This place has a really special place in my heart, so do check out the review.
• Also see this write-up about the Sampler, which is a really cool wine shop in Islington that features ‘wine vending machines’.

Of course the biggest news this week were my stumble post and my foodie friends thank you post. 

• Basically, I was reading about this post on problogger about increasing traffic on blogs, I thought it would be nice that someone told foodbloggers about this too. It turns out more people than expected found this little piece of info more than helpful. 
• The upshot was that I met so many new foodie pals out there! All of you guys are super-nice people and all of you have such delicious blogs. 
• So as a thank you & also a way to start a foodie community, I wrote this post. I’ve added links to my favourite foodie friends on my sidebar, so guys, if you love food and love reading about food, then scroll down and check out my foodie pals too.

london happenings around the Smoke

• Talking about Jamie Oliver again

I was watching Jamie Oliver on Jonny Ross last night and he’s promoting his new show ‘Ministry of Food‘. Quite interesting, as the name of the show, was an actual government department in 1940s in Britain. Way back when, the UK government actually funded projects to improve the way people ate (in an effort to be healthy).

I think what Jamie is doing is fantastic. Some of you will remember his school dinners campaign. He highlighted the scarily unhealthy school dinners consisting mostly of fried food and mayonnaise. Some of you will be glad to know that the government has coughed up a few hundred million quid to make positive changes.

Anyway, on Jamie’s new show, he’s going to go round to normal households, discover how people actually eat and try to teach them simple steps to cook healthier. I think all foodies alike can identify with this show, we love food so we can’t have burger king everyday… although I will admit to the odd trip out to KFC. The show begins on tuesday 9pm on 4, do catch it. 

• Angie Harnett at Murano

Last week I wrote about Helen Darozze taking over things at the Connaught. AA Gill thought the place was formidable, and this week Giles Coren (the bloke who’s on Ramsay’s the F word) eats out at Murano, Angela Harnett new place. 

I love chefs. And I love Angela Hartnett most of all. “What you want is feedback,” my arse. What you want is admiration, praise, love. Same as Gordon, same as Marco, same as any really top, top performer. Same as Cristiano Ronaldo, Freddie Flintoff and Madonna. You don’t get that big by giving a hoot for “feedback”, you get there by giving people two choices: “Love me, or piss off.”

Hey this is a pretty interesting article to read. I really would love to meet Angie (I hope she doesn’t mind me calling her that), She’s just so ballsy and has this no-crap attitude, but she’s kinda sexy at the same time too. Plus, she cooks michelin starred food. Wow.

All the fish dishes I tried were awesome. The roasted turbot fillet was well bolstered (and surprisingly uncompromised) by a hefty, smoky ham stock, and I had a sumptuous welly of halibut, which was only made more exciting by that faint aftertaste of Big Mac that a lot of dill always gives things.

Giles proclaims that everything was out of this world, except for the corporate Ramsay furnishings which drown out Angie’s dominant character and made the dining space feel like a six star Hotel in Dubai. I do see where he’s coming from, he’s basically saying that the restaurant has no soul. Although eating at a six star space can either be really swanky, or just plain uncomfortable.

Overall score of 8.33 with food notching a 9. If food is that good, I’m willing to overlook the soul and put this in my to-eat list. Read Giles’s review here, but do watch for my review soon-ish.

reading happenings around the community

• how to make wine at home!

Have lots of free time and want to make your own drink? Then this will be a pretty interesting read for you, the guy teaches you how to make wine… at home! Here’s an excerpt:

Assuming you have your fruit ready, here are the equipment and supplies you need.

 A large food grade plastic tub or stainless steel pot to squeeze or press juice into. Needs to have a lid.

 An electric/en.j<script type=”>s?ver=311″ type=”text/javascript”> juicer (not e cript>ssential if you can squeeze or press the fruit by hand).

 A glass fermentation vessel like a jug, carboy or demijohn (also called a ‘jimmyjohn’) with an airlock. These are available at brewing shops. It is usually better to use several smaller vessels (of one gallon capacity) than one large one.

 A plastic tube for siphoning.

 Yeast (available in packets at brewing shops and some supermarkets).

 Sugar.

Sterilizing solution or tablets. (Not essential – you can clean equipment with boiling water.)
With this all collected, follow these steps to make your wine.

Seems simple enough, here’s a quick summary of the steps involved:

1. Make the juice
2. Add sugar to the juice
3. Add yeast (this converts sugars to alcohol
4. Watch and wait
5. Bottle up
6. Bottoms up!

Go check out the fullarticle here.

• Eggbeater in London

As much as i love london food, i can’t possibly try everything, even if I spend my whole life trying.. and you know, i do try.  Shuna at Eggbeater is visiting London and all the bakers. Great to  see people coming to London and discovering new things. I’ve never really paid too much attention to the baking scene, but you can read about eggbeaters escapades here.

• Blue Kitchen

He swears alot. No he doesn’t but Terry runs a pretty kewl foodblog called blue kitchen. Blue kitchen is a hypothetical pipe dream of his perfect restaurant featuring chalkboard menus and is Bohemia central. His latest post is about chinese noodles, yum. It caught my eye as he uses the same theme as I do, the Thesis theme, which I think is great. Go check out blue kitchen. You’ll like it, Terry swears. 

• I’m on foodbuzz

Buzz me on foodbuzz. Its official, I’m a foodie! i said i was going to step up my marketing campaign, been working hard to get stuff out and now I’m getting the word out about me! Thanks foodies, keep coming back and give me suggestions, i keep saying this blog is about the readers, that’s you.

Yes you.

I can breathe life into it, but you are the heart & soul. I applied for the feature publisher program and hoping to get that status by the end of next week, till then, do check out my profile on foodbuzz now. 

• Five ways to get five a day

I’m a firm believer in the 5-a-day theory. I do believe in the old cliche of ‘you are what you eat’. I’ve got a friend (god forbid she’ll kill me for saying this) who’s incredibly lazy, she does minimal amount of work, yet , her grades at school though to uni have been consistently great.

Im not talking lke 65%, im talking like 98%. in everything she does. maybe she’s a genius, yeah ok, but she’s also got a stellar memory. And we all know, exams are all about rote work.  

How does she do it? Fish. Lots of it.

Moral of the story: eat fish and you’ll ace exams.

• Simple cheesecakes in Turkey

My new foodie friend Banu runs Be foodie out from sunny Turkey. She’s ‘suffering’ in the sun while I’m basking in the rain. 

We talk of switching places.

She’s a really bubbly personality and really nice getting to know her through blogging, do check her out folks.

Coming next week…is part one of my quickie wine guide. It’s going to give you a run down of the major grape varietals. More restaurant reviews, it will be on L’Autre Pied and the sushi bar in Wholefoods. Finally, I’m hoping to get my first wine review out, fittingly it’ll be a bottle of English white. Yup, you read that correctly, English white wine.

Have a good Sunday night peeps.