Owner: Intoxicating Prose URL:http://www.intoxicatingprose.co.uk Join Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2008 06:33:47 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Wine Evaporation & Fencing with Cutlery Site statistics:Click here
Rhyme and Riesling 2008-07-31 03:00:00 Pictured: vintage graffiti at the Orangery, Kensington Palace.I discovered a particularly beautiful wine whilst working within this arcade, which evokes a set from La Dolce Vita. Egon Müller's Scharzhofberger Kabinett Riesling '02 was audibly, quite a tongue-twister but palatably, effortlessly drinkable and deliciously rewarding. As far as the wine trade is concerned, if you like Riesling, you Read more:Rhyme
What Credit Crunch? 2008-07-29 03:00:00 EVERY FLOOR of John Torode’s Farringdon meat mall convulsed with commerce last Tuesday. Its predominantly male, pinstriped contents poured (and roared) onto the pavement. Seven sommeliers cut to the terrace at the top via a padded red lift. We were armed with a wheeled case containing splendid bottles, and an appetite to sample the charmless Australian’s fabled protein. From evening to night, Read more:Crunch
Making Fat Fashionable 2008-07-25 01:00:00 'If you're going to kill the animal, it seems only polite to use the whole thing...'
[Fergus Henderson MBE]‘Fat is friendly’ according to Fergus Henderson, co-founder of Smithfield’s St. JOHN. Formerly a dilapidated smokehouse and Marxism Today HQ, San Pellegrino now consider the venue worthy of its 16th best restaurant slot. I went there in search of Braised Squirrel a couple of years ago o Read more:Fashionable
Proof Be Needed? 2008-07-24 12:23:00 'Anger can make a man verbose...' [Giles Coren]-Read why HERE. Read more:Proof
"*****" Insulation 2008-07-21 03:00:00 LEGEND HAS it that Barbara Cartland kept a table at Claridge's for over fifty years, fawning over such staples as Dover Sole Meunière. Having dined under dinkily beaded, oversized shades which resemble upturned wedding cakes, I can certainly visualise the grand old Dame barking commands amidst the fray. With floral splays, a sinkingly deep, swirly patterned carpet and dense, dampening drapes, the
Cafe Formica 2008-07-18 03:00:00 DEPENDING ON your cultural appetite, the capital's classic formica cafes are persistently greasy, sad souvenirs from the 50's, or bacon, egg (and bubble) bastions battling it against Starbuck St.For many these often retrospectively beautiful caffeine cabins garner great affection whilst serving cheap, ample portions. I proposed a series of shorts to Channel 4 a few years ago, looking at a handful
My Oyster Card 2008-07-16 03:00:00 Recently discovered, a stunningly successful wine and food pairing: fractured coconut shards with a copita of cream sherry. Delgado Zuleta’s sumptuous figgy qualities softly wrapped the slightly tart, refreshing segements seamlessly.*What would be my dessert island food? –Conveniently, oysters. Rarely do I end a week without at least half a dozen on the half shell. I generally oscillate betwee
Massage Me Like a Wagyu 2008-07-14 03:00:00 ‘Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage...’
[Woody Allen]MY MEAL at Gordon Ramsay Holdings’ latest opening was ‘a-maze-ing’; ‘grilliant’ even. In anticipation of a substantial lunch, I advised my brother in law, accompanying, to wear slacks with an elasticised waistband. He explained that owing to previous bouts of decade Read more:Massage
Mirroring Minerals 2008-07-11 03:00:00 Pictured: an audacious, amusing marketing ploy by Australian producer, McGuigan, the 'City Vineyard' just behind Liverpool Street station. Overlooking 50+ year-old vines, visitors can sample Australian liquid sunshine under the torrential British version...
Another Australian: Grosset Clare Valley Watervale Riesling. A vivid, screwcapped '01, green-tinged, with kerosene, key lime and melted wax Read more:Minerals
'Weightless in Water...' 2008-07-09 03:01:00 Pictured at Henley Royal Regatta, Sunday: damp pleasures...
I found a really well-researched profile of long-serving restaurant critic, Faye Maschler HERE. What service of service. Incidentally, Gordon Ramsay's nickname for her is Maggie Thatcher… My review of Maze Grill is coming, Monday.
An Afternoon with Duffy 2008-07-07 03:00:00 POPPY 'DUFFY' from Nefyn (Llŷn Peninsula) gleaned fame from her arietta about Warwick Avenue. ‘When I get to Warwick Avenue’ she advises ‘I'll tell you baby, that we're through’. It strikes me that considerable thought must have gone into her dumping ground. Better then a remote SMS, the elegant, filmic Warwick Avenue area would offer Duffy’s victim plenty of rest and recuperation. The Read more:Afternoon
Non-Racist Champagne 2008-07-04 03:01:00 Pictured: Armand de Brignac’s Rosé Champagne
. RRP: around £300. I helped introduce various movers and shakers to the range, Wednesday evening. The venue: Automat’s private rooms near Green Park. The white tiled walls were lined with burnished bottles reflecting candles. I was in charge of a key table. It included Jean-Jacques, owner of Cattier, producer of this hand polished, gold plated, pe Read more:Racist
Eel in My Glass 2008-07-02 03:00:00 AS PART of East London’s Tapas Fantasticas festival, I wormed my way into a talk by Olly Smith, scriptwriter turned television wine guide (credits include Saturday Kitchen and Richard & Judy’s Wine Club). Robert McIntosh of the Wine Conversation (and current member of the Temperance Society) describes him as: ‘…one of the most genuinely entertaining and funny people in the wine trade Read more:Glass
Credit Crunch Munch Bunch 2008-06-30 03:00:00 ‘I am going to my room to masturbate before I have a light lunch, if you would like to come and watch…’[Salvador Dali]I HAVE been told that the descriptions I penned for a recent wine list are ‘too erotic’. Quite an achievement…Anyway, I remember working at an event at ANdAZ last November. Formerly The Great Eastern, the louche new moniker referenced a change of ownership. Lord Conran Read more:Bunch
, Credit Crunch
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'Shrooms' 2008-06-27 04:36:00 Oh, the hilarity in curiously shaped vegetables...
Lagrein at Lords 2008-06-26 09:42:00 ‘…eleven homicidal, bat-wielding robots proceed to blow up Lords Cricket Ground…’[Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]I AM walking with a slight limp. I have never been an exercise fanatic. Sweat is awful. Whilst walking is all very well (especially to the car) I cannot admit to elation from excess physical activity. Organised sport equates to homoeroticism in my book. And gyms
Wedgewood Parmesan 2008-06-23 03:00:00 'You needn't tell me that a man who doesn't love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed...'[Hector Hugh Munro, author]I AM in awe of Theo Randall. I had one of the most flavoursome dishes this year in his eponymous restaurant, a sullen Mayfair crypt, late Friday. After bruschetta which almost Read more:Parmesan
Soft Globes 2008-06-21 03:00:00 YESTERDAY I swallowed superlative Martinis in unusual surroundings. The Dirty version, tear-saltily kissed by olive brine, was irresistibly sippable: poised and voluptuous. It flew in moments. My initial thirst quenched: a leisurely sequel. My Appletini had a moreish, beautifully blended malic tartness. The setting, Obika Mozzarella Bar, flanked by fashion franchises in 'Women's Superbrands', Read more:Globes
Chop, Chap, Chippage 2008-06-18 03:00:00 PICTURED, SUSHI, Green Park, Saturday. This selection came from the clean, crowded, relatively cheap Japan Centre nearby where a muzacal version of The Carpenter's greatest hits tinkled. The highlight: moist beetroot and moss coloured Seaweed Salad (Hiyashi Wakame) which in parts verged on being translucent. As blue sky silvered we took refuge in a Piccadily basement. However this was no dank pit
Room Without a View 2008-06-15 03:00:00 COURTESY OF Krista, author of Londonelicious, I found myself in the midst of the very rich and rather beautiful at the Hyde Park Hotel’s candlelit bar. Awaiting her entrance, I ordered a flute of Moët’s NV Rosé from a waitress in a super-sleek sexier version of an air stewardess’s outfit. The oval topped glass, which suckered the mandarin coloured, comma shaped coaster, was hard to drink f
Thrill from the Grill 2008-06-12 19:01:00 PICTURED: MANGAL 1, a seemingly unprepossessing Turkish in Dalston. I discovered it whilst editing a documentary around the corner in Shacklewell Lane. Peter, my Executive Producer led me there via a strange series of well-trodden twists; a short cut wove past a synagogue reborn as a mosque, and a very dubious looking mechanics.Bags of charcoal were backed up against the wall, fodder for the Read more:Grill
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Idyllic Eating 2008-06-11 03:00:00 ‘When I married my husband, my dowry consisted of a labrador and an apocalyptic vision of British farming. I come from a farming background in Mississippi and had seen what happened in America. My gloomy vision was only lightened by various plans for diversifying the farm. Because I know about, and love wine, we planted a seven-acre vineyard on our south-facing slope. The vineyard has thrived’ Read more:Idyllic
Normal Appetite will be Resumed Shortly 2008-06-06 05:18:00 OCCASIONALLY THE pounds spent in restaurants are echoed around my waist. Being benevolent with details of my gustatory roaming, I will share the most effective diet to date: go to Poland. Whilst I am a fan of the White Eagle, a week away from temptation cured me; a month would turn Eamon Holmes into a jockey. Apparently Fern Britton disappeared entirely during her last visit. Traditional chunky Read more:Normal
No title 2008-06-04 04:38:00 'Read it and chuck...'[Critic Jay Rayner reviews my blog on Opinionated About]PICTURED IN Poland, a slightly menacing cutlery chandelier. I will write more about my recent experience in Eastern Europe when I have a moment.
Curing a Vegetarian 2008-06-02 04:00:00 IT IS VIRTUALLY impossible to stumble across Camino (Spanish for path). You reach it by putting footsteps of faith down a Dickensian alleyway which punctuates a pacifistically themed bookshop and a currently boarded unit. I thought this was the restaurant, already R.I.P. since I made my booking 18 hours earlier. My mild panic stemmed from the jagged urban geography: this path to lunch lies within Read more:Curing
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Mapping Tapas 2008-08-15 03:00:00 'A beber y a tragar, que el mundo se va a acabar....'
(Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die...)TO ME, ‘tapas’ is a way of eating. Plentiful appetising plates shared; a celebration of colour, texture and even temperature. In that sense, Dim Sum follows the same formula. Craving variety, even in conventional restaurants, I often explore more of a venue’s menu by sharing an extra dish o Read more:Mapping
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Rex Relish 2008-08-11 03:00:00 ‘…the young Whistler was accepted at the Royal Academy but disliked the regime there and was "sacked for incompetence".’ I SUPPOSE I should take some solace from the fact the experience cost me nothing financially. Away from the dining room, a conversation with a surprisingly obliging, thoughtful and apologetic manager remedied that.But before I go on, I want to clarify something: Read more:Relish
Mobile Monger 2008-08-08 03:00:00 ‘I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap...’[Spanish Proverb]I INDULGED in a little cheese for breakfast. The supplier on show: Premier Cheese who operate a fleet of van shops pinballing between London's better restaurants (including Claridge's and Le Gavroche). I sampled a dozen, predominantly unpasteurised French segments...From the Languedoc, St. Nicolas (goats) was Read more:Mobile
Getting to the Pont 2008-08-05 03:00:00 'There is no such passion in human nature, as the passion for gravy among commercial gentlemen...'
[Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit]IN THE early ‘90’s, arbiter of taste Sir Terence Conran brought aspirational dining with inspirational views to a dilapidated dive. Shad Thames was once London’s busiest warehouse complex, heaving with whores and alluded to by Dickens’ as Bill Sikes’ den.
Sheen’s Merrett 2008-09-08 03:01:00 EAST SHEEN's top (only?) gastropub recently relaunched its dining room without a Scotch egg in sight. Paul Merrett leads, one of the few chefs awarded a Michelin star in a venture which had already closed its reservations book. That was the clumsily titled ‘Interlude’, Charlotte Street, a restaurant annulled by new owners and evidently shipped to Australia (at least, that's what I fancy). He
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