Break the pattern with these wallpaper alternatives. The search for the next big thing in wall coverings continues apace. Patterned wallpapers are so ubiquitous they're getting boring, but there are alternatives out there. Take the Vynil, the ...
Whether it's a high-profile celebrity event or a relaxed affair, there's a host of different strategies for a successful launch party You're new in town and you want everyone to know about you. Can you really boost your profile by handing...
Who says wine is the only complement to quality cuisine? Time to wake up and smell the hops – beer belongs on the menu too Gone are the days when the only food associated with beer was a meat pie and a bag of pork scratchings. The country's .
What can I say? I've been asked to review a book by a chef from what is probably the best restaurant in Australia. The name Tetsuya Wakuda is one that young Australian chefs like myself have grown up with. His remarkable story is told from humble...
It's high time restaurants took a stand against low-slung furniture After what seems like an age of Japanese-influenced, Zen-style low-slung chairs, sofas and coffee tables, it comes as a relief that design is now reverting back to the vertical....
Neglected Victorian coach house in the heart of West Dulwich is brought back to life The locals of West Dulwich in South London who have been tightly crossing their fingers for East Dulwich's gentrification to spread a little bit of its magic ...
The spiel? ;Obika is, at the moment, the only mozzarella bar in the world. It combines the quality of Italian food with design which looks pretty Japanese,; says Stefano Potorti, Obika Managing Director. Which means? Italian ingredients, ...
From London's fashionable East End to the cultural hub of the South Bank, Canteen is flying the flag for British cuisine and style There could scarcely be a more appropriate site for the second branch of Canteen than at the Royal Festival Hall. ...
Envelope-pushing. It's not a discipline on the syllabus at any regular catering college, but judging by the activity in the culinary world it's part of a young chef's job description these days. Now, we know that many of you are ...
A new seafood restaurant will open at Stanwell House Hotel in Lymington, Hampshire, after it was taken over by the former General Manager of Rhinefield House Hotel in nearby Brockenhurst. Robert Milton, who was General Manager at Rhinefield for three...
Restaurateur Dominic Ford has opened an authentic Japanese ‘yakitori restaurant next door to his Tamesa brasserie at the Oxo Tower on Londons South Bank. Bincho Yakitori is on the second floor of the building, in the space previously ...
There may be some obscure cooking competitions here, but look at what the Venetians get up to… The most bizarre cooking competition I ever went to involved teams of blindfolded leather-clad dwarves on trampolines competing to see who could ...
BREAST IS BEST Anjou Pigeon with Melon, Feta, Mint and Chocolate This has been finetuned since it first appeared on the menu about three years ago, and is one of our most popular dishes. The Anjou pigeon, being soft and fleshy, unlike its leaner, ...
Who is he? Co-owner, with partner Steve Pilling, of The Victorian Chop House Company, the fi rst restaurant of which – Sam's in Manchester – opened in 2000. Since then another Sam's Chop House has opened in Leeds and there is also .
Who are you? I had this problem the other day when I got business cards printed. I'll tell you what I put: ‘journalist, broadcaster, performer, producer, presenter and glamour puss'. But you also like your food? Erm, yes. I grew up in ...
Creating an alfresco bar can be a summer moneyspinner, here's how to make the most of your outdoor drinking space How we Brits love a bit of sunshine. Which is why when the weather's fair – and predictions are that this summer could be ..
North-western restaurateur, Paul Heathcote, is opening three new restaurants and refurbishing his existing estate as part of a £3m expansion plan. The restaurants will all open under the umbrella of Heathcotes, taking the estate up to 15 ...
Who is he? Chairman of Davy's Wine Merchants, Wineshop and 37 Wine Bars and Dining Rooms. How did he get into the industry? He was born into it. James is the fi fth generation of Davys to run the family company, set up in 1870. Although he ...
The Maverick Grant Achatz and his trailblazing Alinea have helped Chicago challenge New York's standing as gastronomic capital of the USA The entrance to Alinea is down a long narrow corridor, a dimlylit windowless portal that gets narrower as ...
Few Brits had heard of a Caipirinha 10 years ago, now it's rapidly become one of the nation's most popular cocktails. Mocotó's bar manager Francisco Brasileiro, or Brazilian Frank (his real name, honestly), explains the art of ...
Despite the changeable weather, summer is well and truly upon us. The wine trade may think nothing happens from June until August, but many restaurateurs will be busy, not just with tourists, but regular customers who can't take three months off...
Look after your staff because healthy, happy staff are not only good for your soul but good for your business Wander around the back streets of any big city and you'll see shadowy figures in chefs' whites and waiters' get-ups, clutching...
The food revolution may have vamped up the UK's food offering but our customer service is still oceans apart from the United States, says Fay Maschler In 1917, a certain George M. Cohan wrote a song called Over There. The aim was to urge American...
Consumer demand for small food suppliers is high, but it takes organisation to manage the contracts Farmers markets in the UK are becoming more popular than ever before. Nearly 600 regular farmers markets across the country bring in a combined income...
The team behind Brighton's Pintxo People have taken the concept to Shoreditch in East London Bohemian Brighton is less than an hour's train ride from the Capital's vibrant restaurants, yet ‘London on Sea' can seem a culinary ...
Chris Bodker, founder of Image Restaurants, sells the group to D&D D&D London has bought Image Restaurants, which is made up of Kensington Place, The Avenue, Launceston Place and The Fish Shop, all in South West London, for a figure believed ...
New air-conditioning legislation designed to help reduce global warming comes into force this month A new piece of environmental legislation will come into force on July 4 which will affect all restaurants with air conditioning. The new F-gas ...
A brilliant dinner, good night's sleep and fantastic walk is ;all they do;, say the modest owners of Lakeland Gilpin Lodge The Cunliffes of Gilpin Lodge in Windermere call themselves hoteliers, not restaurateurs. From setting up their ...
Who are you? I am Charita Jones, known as Momma Cherri, originally from a town on the outskirts of Philadelphia, called Wayne, Pennsylvania. I came over to London in '78 as Stage Manager for a gospel musical. When the show closed I sang in a band...
QUARTER CHICKEN COMBO This is always on all three of our menus (in Soho, Clapham and Fulham). It's got spare ribs, smoked chicken (bone-in) and pulled pork so it gives people a chance to try three of the most popular things on the menu. The ribs...
Martel Smith, of No 3 York Place restaurant in Leeds, has bought The Dawnay Arms in Newton on Ouse near York for £500,000. Smith bought the pub with his partner, Kerry Ward, from auction. It dates back to 1772 and was a pub with rooms until two .
Antony Worrall Thompson is to open a restaurant in Windsor at the beginning of September, making it his sixth restaurant under the AWT Restaurants banner. The Windsor Bar & Grill will open in the former Bar Meze site. Antony Worrall Thompson ...
Nobody wants to bar a customer, but if you feel there really isn't any choice, here are some ways of doing it right. Barring customers is an uncomfortable thing for most restaurateurs, and getting anyone to acknowledge that it happens is very ...
The 1950s retro-styled flagship restaurant at the heart of the Royal Festival Hall's £91m refurbishment Surely the measure of a successful ‘restaurant with a view' is when it has you gazing out only intermittently at the river/ ...
SEASIDE SPECIAL - Spiced Whitby Crab, Seaweed, Sesame and Sea Salt Crackers Obviously this uses local produce with the crab. We get the white meat then blitz the brown with spices, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, celery salt, chopped tomatoes and a ...
Iced coffee is a great summer drink with adult appeal, but there's only one way to make this refreshing classic Coffee-chains churn out gallons of the stuff during the hot weather. In fact, during the summer months, the major coffeehouses serve ...
Fine dining Nottingham favourite picks up top prize again World Service in Nottingham has reclaimed the title of Nottingham Restaurant of the Year in the 2007 awards. The restaurant, in Nottingham's Lace Market, won the award in three consecutive...
After a trip to Malawi, Alex Renton ponders whether sub-Saharan food could really be the Next Big Thing I was just back from Malawi – an impoverished former British colony that's located, unhelpfully, between the even worseoff Zambia and ...
The Bell at Skenfrith Six years ago Janet and William Hutchings, wanting ;To create somewhere we would like to go; converted The Bell at Skenfrith in Monmouthshire – originally a 17th century coaching inn – into a restaurant ...
BigHospitality discovers that offering free wireless coverage on your premises is no longer a luxury – it's a necessity if you want to keep your customers happy
The traditional hawker centres of Singapore are the inspiration behind several of the city's new eating out concepts A lasting memory to many visitors to Malaysia and Singapore, particularly those of a foodie persuasion, is the hawker centre. ...
Alan Bacon, who is he? Partner, with Nick Hill, of the five-strong steak house company, Black & Blue, modelled on American steak houses but using British ingredients. Bacon and Hill also set up the Tootsies burger chain in 1973. They ran it until...
WHO? - Financial director Suzanne Eske (ex Gruppo) and partner Toby Gawin introduce British restaurant, Stanza, to the Teatro site. Head chef is Stuart Tattersall, formerly of the Match Group and Brasserie 44 in Leeds. Members' club Teatro ...
With his restaurant holding three Michelin stars and a listing in The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, Sergio Herman of Oud Sluis in Holland is not just another chef. And Sergio is not just another cookery book. Think White Heat meets ...
The biggest single charge that a restaurateur has to pay is usually the rent, and with most leases specifying five yearly rent reviews (although there are some that have them every three or four years), it's worth getting to grips with how they ...
The spiel? ;It's a seasonal Italian influenced menu and we source quite a lot of products from Italy. Obviously our house speciality is ravioli with a choice of fillings and sauces all of which are served in a relaxed environment,; says ...
Peter Banks, who is he? Co-owner of Sutherland House, a modern British restaurant in Southwold, Suffolk which has the USP of including food miles alongside dishes on the menu. Banks and his wife Anna bought the property for £100,000 in ...
Novice restaurateur Sophie Murray, with less than a month to go before her first venture the East Beach Cafe opens, paces up and down, mobile phone clamped to her ear, doing some last minute, serious-sounding negotiations with a supplier. It's a...
In the spirit of optimism that informs the British attitude to the weather, this Spring's fine conditions lead me to expect a hot summer. As I write, we are told that the oak tree budding before the ash means a dry summer – so the ...
Daniel Garratt, formerly of the Savoy Group in London, has bought The Brioche Restaurant in Totnes, South Devon, which he plans to open in the evenings as well as the customary lunchtimes. Garratt's wife Traci is from nearby Harbertonford. The ...