By Anya Cooklin-Lofting
The thrill of revisiting old haunts for ‘the usual’ or discovering new places to wine and dine is still tangible after months of seemingly unending captivity. For me, it’s the snippets of conversations collected like appetisers as you weave through busy tables, the fragrance from the kitchen as a waiter guides you towards your table. It’s the sumptuous seats and the low, romantic lighting, the anticipation of each course and the decadence of physical (and cerebral) fullness.
In celebration of the simple pleasure of dining anywhere other than your own dining table, here is a round-up of some of the most exciting new restaurants on the UK’s booming scene.
Panton Yokocho
New from the Japan Centre Group is the second in its Yokocho chain, located on Panton Street, a bustling nook in London’s West End. Its name translates to the English ‘alleyway’ and references Japan’s famously narrow streets furnished with lively izakayas. Yokocho serves traditional Japanese regional ramen cuisine, which originates from Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s islands, to Kyushu in the south.
Mallow
Vegetarian pillar of the vegetarian and vegan restauranteur community, Mildreds, has just opened Mallow, a brand new outpost marking its 25 year anniversary. Installed at the iconic foodie scene, Borough Market, a spokesperson has told visitors to expect an “extension of the market” with a mix of small and large plates of global inspiration, from cauliflower chaat to banana blossom tacos and truffle croquettes.
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
This year, Syrian Chef and restauranteur, Imad Alarban opened the doors to his eponymous Kingly Court restaurant to share the tastes and fragrances of Damascus. His journey to success on the London scene begins with his three restaurants, several juice bars and cafes in his home country’s capital which were destroyed within six days in the war. As he travelled across Europe in 2015, he cooked for groups of up to 400 refugees at a time. Arriving in Europe, his charity events have raised thousands for the Choose Love charity in aid of refugees, and the new restaurant will follow suit with donations of £1 from every bill.
Eleanore
Moving away from the churn of Carnaby and the restlessness of Soho, Edinburgh’s restaurant scene is positively blossoming. Roberta Hall-McCarron, the owner and chef at The Little Chartroom, a restaurant inspired by Hall-McCarron’s childhood, is set to open the doors to its latest outpost, Eleanore, a restaurant and wine bar for an informal, counter-culture approach to excellent Scottish cuisine.
Sessions Arts Club
Sessions Arts Club is a hub for lovers of the arts and great food in a beautiful setting in Clerkenwell. The setting is Old Sessions House, fully restored with its Grade II listing intact. The venue’s concept is grounded in the use of the space as a studio, acting as a restaurant under Florence Knight, a bar and a performance space.
Burnt Orange Brighton
A stone’s throw from the entrancing passages of The Lanes, Razak Helalat’s latest venture, Burnt Orange, is the place to wrap up your day trip to the UK’s most popular coastal town. Helalat is the restauranteur behind The Salt Room and The Coal Shed, two hugely popular settings for refined and formal dining experiences. With Burnt Orange, guests can enjoy Helalat’s more casual approach as he mixes the artful food for which he has become known with DJ sets from Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim.
Hampers & Champers – Your Festive Gift Guide
By Jenna Jones
When it comes to Christmas gifting, food and wine will never go out of style. It’s the universal gift that oozes Christmas spirit and is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of that special someone. Therefore, all that’s left to do is order in time for the big day and that’s where we come in. As our gift to you this season we’ve rounded up a classic selection of hampers and champers including all important order deadlines for a stress-free Christmas shopping experience…
Harrods
Allow Harrods to take the hard work out of gift giving this season with one of their delectable festive hampers. Filled to the brim with sweet treats, preserves and a bottle of their finest Champagne, the Knightsbridge Christmas Hamper is a failsafe festive feast just waiting to be shared. Or delight the little people in your life with the Winnie-The-Pooh Once There Was a Bear Hamper, a suitably sweet celebration of Britain’s best loved bear, complete with delicious gingerbread, hot chocolate and an iconic Edward teddy.
Order deadline: UK: 21ST December, international: 15th December, US & Hong Kong: 17th December. Plus, free UK delivery on orders of £100 or more.
The BIB Wine Company
Featured as ‘the first ever luxury Bag-in-Box wine’ by Adrian Smith of the Independent, the BIB Wine Company has put Bag-in-Box wine on the map for all the right reasons. BIB are changing the face of quality wine in the UK, creating a sustainable future for the wine landscape, one recyclable box at a time. For the festive season we recommend their Château Couronneau ‘Cuvée Clair de Lune’ Bordeaux, a full-bodied, spicy merlot that pairs perfectly with roasted meats and cheese. Or opt for the Taster Box, complete with a recorded online tasting session as the perfect stocking filler. Bring people together this Christmas with BIB wines – a true tonic for the soul and a treat for the tastebuds.
Order deadline: UK: 23rd December (midday)
Fortnum & Mason
For the holy grail in hampers, it must be an iconic handwoven wicker delight from Fortnum & Mason. Head to their website and lift the lid on an unrivalled festive array of hampers to suit, well quite frankly, any Christmas occasion. The vegan-friendly, Yuletide Hamper, offers a delicious selection of luxurious free-from delights while the extravagant Christmas Feast Hamper is enough to keep a family full well into the new year!
Order deadline: UK: pre-order and choose a delivery slot up until 23rd December. F&M hampers sell out fast, so our advice is to get your order in asap to avoid disappointment!
Bespoke Wine Collection
As the name suggests, a gift from the Bespoke Wine Collection is a far cry from your generic bottle of vino. Give the ‘Perfect Gift of Experience’ this season with their beautifully presented, hand-picked selection of 3 fine wines. Each bespoke case of three includes a wine passport featuring the history of each estate, tasting notes, gastronomic pairing, serving suggestions and potential for further ageing. There’s also the option to tailor your case by specific wine, favourite region or to even celebrate a particular vintage year of significance. From treasured friends to trusted clients it’s the ultimate curated gift that’s guaranteed to impress.
Order deadline: UK: 10th December, international: 6th December
Selfridges
If a more personal touch is what you’re seeking this Christmas contact Selfridges where the team will be more than happy to build a unique hamper or gift box from their range of delectable gastronomic delights, complete with a personalised gift message. Choose from the finest yuletide festive favourites including Christmas spiced orange hot chocolate, indulgent cheese selections and a host of celebratory tipples.
Order deadline: UK: dependent on stock availability. Stock is reserved once payment has been made. Sell through is fast this year so order sooner rather than later.
The Magnum Company
Nothing says Christmas quite like a celebratory magnum shared with loved ones and no one does it quite like The Magnum Company. Firmly believing that quality and quantity should not be mutually exclusive concepts, The Magnum Company seeks to ensure that wine enthusiasts enjoy the latest and greatest the market has to offer on an extravagant scale! Champagne will always be first to mind with the mention of a magnum, but The Magnum Company offers so much more with Crémant, Port, Sherry, Rosé and Red all available in the impressive 1.5L offering.
Order deadline: UK: 21ST December
A Long Weekend in Budapest
By Anya Cooklin-Lofting
When one visits Budapest, one is greeted by two very distinct yet equally charming plains. I’m not talking about the city’s divided origins as Buda and Pest, but about the two most prominent ways of seeing it. Its first apparition as the Pearl of the Danube is the hodge-podge of Gothic, Renaissance, Romanesque and Baroque Revival architecture. The city throbs with the heft and weight of collonades, domes, spires and sculptures; an immersive map of its complicated history and cultural idiosyncrasies. The second is its doppelganger, shimmering and vivid in the reflections of its famous river and steaming baths. Once your attentions are drawn, there they will inescapably remain, noting the way the steeples warp in the ripples and the sunsets are somehow augmented in the wavelets.
To embark on a visit to Budapest ought to be a commitment to total submersion in Hungarian heritage. A city break in the country’s capital offers an abundance of cultural and historic sites, well-making, stress-busting steeps in its mineral-rich waters and unforgettable dining experiences. Read on for some tried-and-tested suggestions for a long weekend in ‘the Paris of the East.’
Eat & Drink
Budapest’s dining offering is exemplary but narrow. Most restaurants have a rather traditional leaning, although some, including Zeya Restaurant and Laurel Budapest, experiment on the common theme. For a more lively, relaxed brunch, lunch or dinner, the Jewish Quarter is home to some of the most beautiful and welcoming bistros and cafe-style restaurants. With its rich and resilient history, the district is a hugely vibrant and dynamic corner of the city and its eateries are flanked by gorgeous shops, clubs and of course, exquisite Synagogues.
Macesz Bistro is a popular haunt, and while it’s currently closed in the wake of the pandemic, your visit will be worth the wait. Its contemporary twists on Hungarian Jewish classics are available a la carte or as curated tasting menus with delicious wine pairings. For a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds, you could also try MAZEL TOV, a biophilic atrium of a restaurant, strung with festoon lights and furnished with simple, wooden tables, which unsurprisingly, are hard to come by. Its Israeli-inspired dishes are served with warm, fluffy pitta bread, garnished with fresh herbs and bejewelled with pomegranate seeds.
For those with a taste for European nightlife, be sure to visit the Ruin Bars and Szimpla Kert in particular. The bars can be found in the Jewish Quarter in the ruins of abandoned buildings after the neighbourhood was left after the Second World War, hence their memorable name.
See & Do
Without mentioning the architecture again (oops!), Budapest has a wealth of cultural must-sees. Buda Castle, for example, is a fairytale-like 13th-century palace seemingly conjured from the stone of Castle Hill. There is also Fisherman’s Bastion, a similarly spectacular fortification in the Romanesque Revival style, which features lots of 19th-century look-out points for sweeping views of the city.
One of the most impressive feats of bricks and mortar is the Hungarian Parliament Building, which sits on the eastern bank of the Danube. It is the largest and most spectacular building in Hungary and will celebrate its 120th anniversary in 2022. You’ll get the best view of the sprawling Seat of the National Assembly of Hungary from the Buda side of the river, and many agree the best time to see it is at night.
A trip to Budapest is simply not complete without a therapeutic dip in one of its spring water pools, and one of its most popular is the famous Art Nouveau thermal Gellért Spa, part of Hotel Gellért. There are 10 pools of various temperatures and scales, each of which is open to all every day of the year. More than anything, the pools prove to be a remarkable source of solace from the bustle of the city – a real treat for weary legs.