Category: restaurants

Ultimate London Restaurant List

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Brett Graham of The Ledbury, London’s top restaurant. Photo credit: All In London.

The Ledbury has been named London’s top restaurant in All In London’s All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List, 2012. 

Online London portal All In London first compiled the list of London’s Top 100 restaurants last year.

The goal of the Ultimate Restaurant List was to unify and normalize dining awards and ratings into one easy, definitive index. Local, national and global awards, accolades and industry momentum are weighed and assessed in the ranking of the London restaurants.

The Ledbury is a two Michelin-starred restaurant which opened in Notting Hill in 2005. Brett Graham is the Head Chef and his team includes Sous Chef Greg Austin and Restaurant Manager Stephen Quinn.

Last year, the All In London’s All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List, 2011
winner was Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley.

Here is the All In One: Ultimate Restaurant List 2012, Top 10:

  1. The Ledbury
  2. Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley
  3. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
  4. Le Gavroche
  5. The Square
  6. Pollen Street Social
  7. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
  8. Hibiscus
  9. Pied à Terre
  10. Hedone

Back In 5 Minutes In London

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Back in 5 Minutes, a London restaurant and private dining room. Photo credit: Disappearing Dining Club.

London’s Disappearing Dining Club has opened Back in 5 Minutes, a city restaurant and private dining room.

Back in 5 Minutes seats up to 30 guests at its location hidden away behind a designer clothes shop on Brick Lane.  The restaurant and dining room offers food, drinks, weekly dining experiences, private lunches, dinners and drinks parties.

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Back in 5 Minutes. Photo credit: Disappearing Dining Club.

At Back in 5 Minutes, the 12 bottle wine list changes constantly as per its ‘one case only’ wine policy. Cocktails are created by Abdul Kpekawa and Tom Soden, formerly of Experimental Cocktail Club and Trailer Happiness in Notting Hill.

Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening, and every Sunday lunch, Back in 5 Minutes takes regular restaurant bookings.

On Wednesday’s, the Dinner Club dinner is a three-course, family-style sharing menu served at 7.30pm.  The menu may include dishes such as Shoreditch Smoked Salmon & Asparagus, or Curried Dorset Crab Salad, followed by Roast Rump of Spring Lamb, or Grilled Fillet of Sea Trout, with Orange & Black Pepper Panna Cotta or Elderflower Eton Mess for dessert.

On Friday & Saturday, the restaurant is open for regular bookings and drop-in diners for dinners of 2 or 3 courses with a menu of 3 starters, 3 mains, and 3 desserts.

At Sunday Lunch, Back in 5 Minutes serves two traditional Sunday dinner meats with big salads.  The starters Potted Meats and Fish, with pickles, chutneys & bread from St John’s are followed by Sirloin and Slow Roast Pork Shoulder and a choice of salads (Jersey Royals, Asparagus, Lemon & Caper, Giant Couscous, Citrus & Olive, Green Bean & Truffle or Tomato & Onion with Rocket Pesto).

Back in 5 Minutes

224 Brick Lane,

London E1 6SA

Website: www.disappearingdiningclub.co.uk

A Montreal Food App

LTCMontrealNatGeo A Montreal Food App

F Bar in Montreal.  Photo credit: National Geographic Traveler.

Montreal is one of the most exciting cities in Canada to live, travel and eat.

If you’re an iPhone or iPad traveler heading to this cool Canadian city, you have another travel resource at your finger tips.

A Taste of Montreal is an iPhone and iPad app from the editors of National Geographic Traveler magazine. “Food is the key to unlocking Montreal’s rich history and culture,” say the editors.

A Taste of Montreal explores the diverse flavors, savory foods and iconic dishes that make the Canadian city a world-class culinary destination.”

Perfect for culinary travelers and foodies alike, this food guide app to Montreal’s features storytelling, photography, video, 360-degree panoramic views and insider tips.

These travel editors have covered the city’s top restaurants to local lunch counters in five sections: restaurants; markets; hangouts; iconic food; and My Montreal expert tips from locals. They have also created city photo galleries which highlight “Montreal’s many hidden gems.”

The app also includes recipes from Montreal’s top chefs including:

  • Iron Chef Chuck Hughes and his potatoes with lobster and
  • Chef Carlos Ferreira of F Bar and Ferreira Café and his Stilton cake with blueberries and port dessert.

If you’re interested in A Taste of Montreal, you can download it for free from the App Store here.

Top Places To Find A Dinner In London

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London on a plate app, a London restaurant guide for iPhone. Photo credit: London on a plate.

On a Sunday afternoon, there’s nothing quite like sitting down to a traditional roast dinner.

If you’re heading to London, you’ll have plenty of choices of places to indulge in this quintessential British meal.

So, you’ve booked a hotel in London for a weekend and want to know where to go for the best Sunday roast. We’ve got a few suggestions to help you on your way to finding a plate full of meat, roast potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire puddings.

The Jam Tree

541 Kings Road, Chelsea

This trendy eatery is a top place to go for a Sunday roast. Among the mains you can choose between are a slow-roasted belly of pork, braised lamb shank or roast rib of beef all served with full trimmings, including Yorkshire puddings, duck fat roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables. There is also an impressive list of starters and the puddings are a mixture of old favorites (jam roly poly) and slightly more unusual options (strawberry jam and peanut butter cheesecake).

The roast options start from £14, but there are also some non-roast dishes on the mains list – such as Jamaican chicken curry and cod and prawn fishcakes – that are a bit cheaper, priced at around £10.

Paradise By Way of Kensal Green

19 Kilburn Lane, Kensal Green

This place excels when it comes to Sunday roasts, offering classic meats like beef, lamb, pork and chicken alongside a decent vegetarian option – butternut squash nut roast with puy lentils. You’ll get all the trimmings when you order one of the mains, and the potatoes have the perfect crunchy exterior and fluffy centre. Prices vary depending on what meat you choose – the nut loaf comes in at £12.50, while the trough of Bowland beef is the most expensive at £17.50.

If you think you’ll have room for a starter or dessert (or both!), you won’t be disappointed by the choice. Kick off with something basic like a mushroom soup or be a bit more adventurous and try the oyster cocktail. Round off your dinner with a classic dessert like blackberry and apple crumble or sticky toffee pudding.

The Duke of Wellington

94a Crawford Street, Marylebone

The Duke of Wellington sources much of its meat from the Rhug Estate, an organic farm that sells its goods at the Borough Farm Market each week. Tuck into a slow-roasted shoulder of pork, a roast leg of salt marsh lamb or the roast sirloin of beef with trimmings like potatoes roasted in duck fat, various vegetables and gravy, as well as the appropriate sauce for the meat you choose.

Again the mains are around the £16-£18 mark and, if you have room in your budget (and your stomach), you can splash out on one of the scrumptious desserts like champagne rhubarb and apple crumble or banoffee pie with a chocolate-coated peanut butter cup.

LA Restaurant Week

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Los Angeles, California. Photo credit: The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

dineLA Restaurant Week will again showcase Los Angeles as a dining destination, January 22-27 and January 29-February 3, 2012.

The culinary event, presented by LA INC. and American Express, is designed to introduce new customers to restaurants throughout LA County.

From Manhattan Beach to Pasadena, some 300+ local eateries will participate in this “eat, drink, and dineLA” event including  Mercato di Vetro, Malibu & Vine, il Covo, Sushi Roku, Lawry’s the Prime Rib and Chinois on Main.

Says Mark Liberman, president and CEO of LA INC:

“Over the five years that the dineLA program has been in place, Los Angeles’ culinary expansion has positioned the city as one of the world’s leading dining centers…dineLA Restaurant Week continues to provide the opportunity to explore unknown neighborhoods and experience new foods at an unbeatable value.”

dineLA Restaurant Week offers three dining categories: Deluxe ($16-$26); Premier ($22-$34): and Fine Dining ($28-$44).

Specially priced three-course meals for lunch and/or dinner are served at top restaurants. For each course, diners can choose from three options including appetizer, entrée, and dessert course.

For more details, visit dineLA Restaurant Week.

 

 

Coffee In Sydney

SydneyCoffee1 1024x681 Coffee In SydneyToby’s Estate, 80 Bay, in Sydney. Photo credit: Toby’s Estate.

Toby’s Estate has opened its newest Sydney café, 80 Bay, at 80 Bay St, Ultimo.

It’s the fifth café in Sydney, the original home of Toby’s Estate, which founder Toby Smith began in a Woolloomooloo garage in 1998.

The company now has six cafes across Sydney and Melbourne and hundreds of cafes serving Toby’s Estate coffee beans.

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Photo credit: Toby’s Estate.

This latest Toby’s Estate has an art deco café style with wood paneling, floorboards and marble benches.

The coffee bar has an area dedicated to different brewing techniques including syphon and chemex coffee.

Toby Smith travels the globe looking for the best coffee beans.  He says Toby’s Estate coffee is sustainably sourced direct from the farmer.

This month, his first book Coffee Trails, part travel book, part coffee guide, will also be published.

The book covers a 11-country journey from Ethiopia to Yemen and growing coffee regions of the world including Indonesia, Brazil and Costa Rica.

Toby’s Estate, 80 Bay St, Ultimo, Sydney

Website: www.tobysestate.com.au

 

Bread Street Kitchen

GordonRamsayRestaurant1 1024x724 Bread Street KitchenRestaurant and bar Bread Street Kitchen. Photo credit: Bread Street Kitchen.

Love dining at Gordon Ramsay restaurants? If you’re in London, you might fancy Bread Street Kitchen at One New Change, London, the latest offering of the team at Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Bread Street Kitchen, a warehouse-style restaurant and bar, is a relaxed dining experience that’s inspired by its East London surroundings.

GordonRamsayRestaurant2 1024x725 Bread Street KitchenPhoto credit: Bread Street Kitchen.

Designer Russell Sage gave Bread Street Kitchen site “a contemporary yet cozy feel” with reclaimed furniture, vintage armchairs, leather banquettes and lighting displays.

An informal approach to dining, the restaurant bar is a place guests can meet, eat and drink from early morning to late night.

The menu includes dishes from a raw bar, a wood-burning oven and an open kitchen.

GordonRamsayRestaurant3 1024x580 Bread Street KitchenPhoto credit: Bread Street Kitchen.

At Bread Street Kitchen, a seasonal menu is accompanied by an extensive wine and cocktail list.

Some of the menu offerings are stone bass carpaccio with avocado, horseradish, ginger, honey and wakame (lunch) and king crab cocktail and Bread Street short rib burger (dinner).

Bread Street Kitchen, 10 Bread Street, LONDON EC4M 9AB

Website: www.breadstreetkitchen.com

Images courtesy of GordonRamsay.com.