Down in the plaza by Royal Festival Hall, a cluster of white tents offered up Southbank's first chocolate festival this weekend. Although clearly located near Easter, the event itself was remarkably Easter-free, focusing instead on good things that can be made with chocolate, primarily edible. Under clear, cool blue skies, the crowds swarmed for ( Read more... )

The Taste Company (or whatever they're called) organized one of my favorite yearly events: Taste of London. This year, they've branched out into their first Taste of Christmas at Excel, a direct competitor to the BBC Good Food Show. I went on Saturday with fjm and C., through a hall of artificial, falling snow, to explore it ( Read more... )

One of the most impressive traits I have encountered in front-end staff in a large handful of high-end restaurants is a good memory for faces. I know it helps that I have the hair, but it's still true. The second time (a year later) that I was back at Anthony's, the man-at-the-door recognized me. By the third or fourth time I'd been to Splendido ( ( Read more... )

It's that time of year again, when my very favorite* charity raffle occurs. The cause is good, the price is good, and best of all are the prizes! Chez Pim's Menu for Hope is a huge international undertaking, with prizes donated by foodie bloggers, chefs, cooking schools, and others working in and around the world of food. The beneficiary is the UN ( Read more... )

In southern England? Like chocolate? Next week is Chocolate Week, an annual event featuring loads of chocolate-themed events, free samples, demos, and tours. Most of them are free. Some involve signing up. If you're interested in signing up, do so as soon as possible, as some of the more unusual events are already full. There's all sorts of things ( Read more... )

Happy fourth of July to everyone! Even if you don't celebrate it as a holiday, I hope it was a very fine day of the month.

I joined a slew of Americans, Canadians, and Brits for a picnic in Hyde Park this evening in celebration, thanks to the organizationally-gifted easterbunny. It was a lovely evening, the worst of the day's heat ebbed by the bout of ( Read more... )

I followed the pretty people from Oxford Circus through three changes of underground and train to Henley-on-Thames. The women were dressed in gauzy, strappy sundresses with heels and Ascot-worthy hats. The men were all in loafers, khakis, yellow ties, blue blazers, and straw hat. In lieu of the traditional picnic basket, most of them carried M&S ( Read more... )

The first thing I did after arriving at the show, stowing my luggage, and investing in an overpriced and unnecessary program, was to head over to the ticket booth for the "Birmingham Bites" tasting theatre, starring top B'ham chefs. Tickets, only available at the show, cost all of UKP 3.50. There were only 30 seats available per show, and only ( Read more... )

A week ago today, I hopped on a morning train to Birmingham for my first expedition to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), an enormous conference center with its own train stop in the outskirts of a UK city I'd never had reason to visit before. (Although I've eyed the prospect of a visit to Cadbury World...) Although Britain's biggest food ( Read more... )

billyabbott posts about Sunday's pie-off, and, even more excitingly, posts a selection of photos of the event!

Meanwhile, for thirty seconds of entertainment or usefulness, go fill out kashmera's short poll on spelling. She especially needs more data from Canadians and Americans.