A few weeks ago I tried some delicious vegetarian caviar. Beautiful - but expensive. I began to wonder how hard it would be to make my own flavour pearls. Well, all good experiments start by buying a beginners' kit. Before attempting basic "spherification", I decided to attempt something much more simple. Agar-Agar veggie strips. 400g Apple Juice 100g Caster Sugar 7g Agar-Agar Powder The Agar-Agar needs to reach around 90℃ in order to fully dissolve. So mix the ingredients together in a…
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If I were a despised broadsheet journalist, I'd probably write a really insensitive article about all the fab finds you can pick up for free at your local food bank. I'd write about how very jolly it is, top tips for bagging the best stuff, and promptly get a load of angry Twitter messages sent to me - along with a gazillion page views. I'm not that person. So here's my middle-class experience of a food bank (by proxy). Liz and I have recently moved to Oxford and - as part of the process of …
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tl;dr Buy fresh wasabi in the UK. It's amazing Fresh Wasabi? In The UK When I was at university, I moved into a shared student home with Liz (spoiler she became my wife several years later!). Liz was, and still is, quite the cook. However, her range of culinary equipment dumbfounded our house-mates. I once came in to the kitchen and witnessed a blazing row between her and someone who had the temerity to grate cheese in a nutmeg grater. I didn't even know nutmeg graters existed! I now…
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It was a stroke of marketing genius to declare that the national dish of Britain was Chicken Tikka Masala. A dish almost totally devoid of Indian origin - but exotic enough to make us seem comfortable with multiculturalism. I like a good curry. Damn. Even the word curry is a generic Britishism designed to cover any spicy food from lands afar. Every Indian restaurant in the UK offers "The Most Authentic Cuisine". I know what I like - but I've no way to judge its authenticity. One of our…
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The life of a vegetarian isn't always an easy one. I'm aware that I'm lucky enough to live in a society which is broadly accepting of my dietary preferences - which is what makes it all the more annoying when a company which should know better cocks up. Twice. This has been sent to Virgin Atlantic's complaints team. Dear Sir, I realise that it's a standing joke to complain about the quality of airline food - but I wish to convey my distress at the vegetarian meals provided on the last two…
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I first heard of Dans Le Noir? last year and have been itching to go ever since. Dans Le Noir? is a restaurant with a gimmick. You eat in the dark. I don't mean that the lights are dim; there are no lights. Mobile phones and watches with luminous dials are banned. There's not so much as the ethereal glow of LEDs from around the room. All is dark. You choose your meal in a dimly lit bar then, guided by your blind waiter, you are lead through a series of curtains until you are ensconced in total …
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I'm a huge fan of TasteLondon. Their card gives discounts in hundreds of restaurants around London. It's saved me quite a bit of money and I really recommend the service to anyone who likes eating out. TasteLondon Logo There is a small problem with it, though. The directory of restaurants it covers is a fairly heavy paperback book Rather inconvenient to carry around on the off chance that you fancy popping out for some dinner . They do have a rather good website - http:…
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Miracle Berry Tablets purchased from Miracle Fruit International. …
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