The Spectator
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Nothing Vong at Jean-Georges
20th April 2011
I doubt that Jean-Georges Vongerichten would lay claim to being the progenitor, precursor or prime mover of fusion cooking – he seems far too modest for that sort of thing – but the first time I came across it (in the form of Oriental…
Sugar daddy
7th April 2011
Rum is a relatively young drink – 15th century – and still under-appreciated, but at its best can match any whisky or brandy for complexity and sophistication. Peter Grogan enters the darkness
Rage Against the Tagine: Cocktail and bull
4th December 2010
It has always seemed to me that the bar — if you’ll forgive me — is set very low indeed for those wishing to call themselves ‘mixologists’.
Rather as with…
Because We Can
21st October 2010
Last month I completed twenty-five years as an inhabitant of the great and glorious wen that is our capital city. As I am only forty-nine and three-quarters, this means I…
Holy Mole
12th October 2010
I wonder if Sarah-Jane Evans is thinking of celebrating the recent publication of her ground-breaking choccypedia, Chocolate Unwrapped (Pavillion, £14.99), by indulging in the six-course, chozza-themed menu offered by Clos…
The Furtive Flavour
29th September 2010
Alan Davidson’s monumental Oxford Companion to Food — 20 years in the writing — doesn’t mention it. And Davidson writes as authoritatively about the cooking of a capybara (care is…
Bubbly Bounty
17th September 2010
Of all the demographics – or even “groups of people” – likely to know what the term “Growers’ Champagne” means, the readers of this blog are likely to have the…
Chariots of Chow
16th April 2010
As the grotesque, green-backed Godzilla that is the 25-Dollar Martini stomps towards the streets of Manhattan ($23.95 at The Algonquin already smashes its fist through that wall with tippage, but…
Wine Metropolis
16th December 2009
We all know that restaurants make a substantial proportion of their profit from the mark-up on wine, don’t we? We resent this to such an…
The Michelin man
3rd December 2009
When SpectatorScoff! issued me the challenge of eating lunch in London’s Michelin-starred restaurants every day for a working week on a total budget of £200 — and ‘total’ meant total,…
Wine Union
30th November 2009
Believe it or not, there are vineyards in every state in the Union (and yep, that does include Alaska and Hawaii) but so long is…
Rapper’s delight
19th November 2009
Brandy seems to travel these days with a certain amount of baggage. Any exercise in word-association involving the name ‘cognac’ is likely to reference quite an acreage of oak panelling,…
Champagne Sauce
9th September 2009
Marinating myself in Louis Roederer’s luxuriant Brut Premier on Monday evening at their annual Wine Writer’s Awards (the stupendous venue for which was the glass domed-thing at the very tip…
Italian Lessons
5th September 2009
Grignolino d’Asti, Lagrein, Lacrima di Morro d’Alba, Falanghina di Sannio, Refosco (not your common or garden Refosco from any old bit of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, though – I’d prefer a Refosco…
Never – Unless I’m Thirsty
12th August 2009
I love writing about Champagne because it’s all so deeply crazy. On the few occasions I’ve tasted Krug Clos de Mesnil I’ve thought that; a) it’s very good (and can…
Stags’ Leap In Steamboat Springs
6th August 2009
Wine is made in all 50 of these United States and I’m crap on 45-and-a-half of them. Forgetting California – for obvious reasons – I’ve had world-class wines from the…
A Wide Place in the Road
24th July 2009
In the States: Bristol, Colorado. The flatlands, not the Rockies. “A wide place in the road,” Mrs G calls it. Her mom and pop live here. Most of the time,…
Anyone For Pimm’s?
13th July 2009
Has a fortnight really passed since the Speccie’s summer party? I was made to drink Pol Roger on an empty stomach until I was sick. Not really, but I do…
Outstanding in their field
2nd July 2009
Donkeys’ years ago I went with a chum who was writing for the Sun newspaper to Millwall Football Club as part of a Saturday sweep of England’s football grounds to…
In The Drink
1st July 2009
An interesting weekend of boats, booze and bibulous dilemmas. Friday afternoon saw us on Cowes’ Royal Yacht Squadron start line for the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Morgan Cup race to…
Oops, I Sipped It Again…
25th June 2009
Just back from Brittany and finally getting used to saying that name without thinking I should be saying “Britney” – but still not over the shock that that should be…
Swingers’ Guide To South Africa
18th June 2009
My fellow blogstress, Violet Hatfields, alluded in this space the other week to the recent opening of a South African restaurant on the Thames by St.Paul’s. It was purely by…
The future is three for a fiver
1st June 2009
Two entirely unrelated events in the world of wine have set me to cogitating on the likely future shape of the drinking habits of UK Man (and, increasingly, Woman). Apart…
British Superwine Selection
19th May 2009
‘Crisis? What crisis?’
If you wanted to find a group of people who might be able to ask that question with a straight face then I dare say the attendees…
World Wine-Scoring Federation smackdown
13th May 2009
I have no intention of saying anything more about Bordeaux – except that I always know spring will soon turn into summer when the annual spat between the English wine…
Hunt for the wine value sweet-spot
30th April 2009
I do think (indeed I do blog) about things other than Bordeaux. I really do. I’m just choosing not to right now – OK? Fact is, I find myself tempted.…
From Sangria To St Emilion
22nd April 2009
Back from Bordeaux much the wiser (mostly). Thirty-five years of wine-drinking and I wouldn’t have expected that the first glass of the stuff I would ever drink in its alma…
A trip to Bordeaux
15th April 2009
Off to Bordeaux tomorrow. Quite how I’ve managed to masquerade as a wine writer for this long without actually setting foot in the place is a mystery. Because, whichever way…
In the bag
26th March 2009
It’s well known that some Chablis — the posher ones, mainly — can have a slight tinge of green; less well known is that so can some really old tawny…
Wine guys are the wise guys
30th September 2008
Funny how things change. Traditionally, young Sicilian men faced the stark choice between a back-breaking life of agricultural toil or of throwing in their lot with the wise guys.
Now…
Winter warmer finds its perfect match
1st December 2006
Out in the wilds of the Languedoc, you’d want your winemaker to be somewhat wild of hair, with features sun-burned to copper and a handshake like a blacksmith’s. The ones…
Seriously on the case
30th June 2006
My problem with Kiwi winemakers is that they’re just too darned on-the-case and focused for befuddled British wine hacks to be able to keep up with them. I had happily…
Autumn leaves a taste for Alsace
30th April 2005
I’m not quite sure why it is that Alsace wines put me in mind of autumn – and vice versa – but it must be something to do with their…
The complex, moreish spirit of Christmas
1st November 2004
Picture the scene — a crackling log fire in the holly-decked hearth, the shining faces of turkey-filled loved ones about the table weighing up the option of just one wafer-thin…
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