London Restaurants | London Guide

The F Word is Back - Tell them Your Favourite Restaurant

Gordon Ramsay’s food magazine show The F Word is coming back and we're on the hunt for The F Word’s Best Local Restaurant.

We want you to tell us about the place where you love to eat. A well known hotspot or a hidden gem – anywhere you think deserves to be crowned F Word’s Best Local Restaurant. Plus, once you've nominated you'll be able to apply for a seat in The F Word restaurant

Please visit www.channel4.com/food/f-word/nominate now to give us your suggestion as soon as you can.

Nominations close at midnight on July 17th.

New London Restaurant Search Site Launches

Be sure to check out and create a list at www.LondonersList.com

www.LondonersList.com is a new kind of recommendation engine that combines search with social networking. There are three great ways to find new restaurants:

1. Find - Search by food type and area. With our unique algorithm we will return more accurate results than any other website

2. Share - Check out your friends' list of favourite restaurants and share your favourites so other people can benefit from your recommendations

3. Compare - Instantly compare your restaurant list to all the other lists in the database to help you find people with similar taste to your own

If you have a couple of minutes please can you register and create a list. The more lists we get the more effective the site becomes - so if you like it please can you also invite your friends. It would also be great to get any feedback and suggestions (and dare I say it, if you encounter any bugs please can you do a print screen and email to us at questions at londonerslist dot com).

Happy Eating!

Sadler's Wells Voucher - half price when you eat at Little Bay

Little Bay restaurants are giving their customers an exclusive half-price theatre ticket offer this summer.

Customers dining at any Little Bay restaurant in June or July will be presented with a 50% off voucher, redeemable against the best seats in the house at London’s prestigious Sadler’s Wells and its sister venue the Peacock Theatre.

Customers can use the vouchers to buy tickets for Latin Fever, the new show starring Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova from the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing which runs until 28 June and “Shall We Dance” starring Adam Cooper, a tribute to the music of Richard Rodgers, running from 23 July - 30 August 2009.

Peter Ilic, owner, Little Bay, said: “Fun and entertainment are at the heart of the Little Bay ethos. We hope our customers will not only enjoy a great value meal at Little Bay, but a wonderful dance performance at Sadler’s Wells theatre.”

There are four Little Bay restaurants throughout London: Belsize Road, Kilburn NW6; York Road, Battersea SW11; Selsdon Road, Croydon, CR2; and Farringdon Road EC1.
www.littlebay.co.uk

New Terrace at the National Geographic Store Café

The National Geographic Store Café is a truly unique place to spend your summer evenings, offering a continental culinary experience right in the heart of London’s Regent Street.

Make sure you pop in to enjoy a glass of La Vendimia Rioja and Grilled Tiger Prawn Pinchos at the National Geographic Store Café. Offering everything from organic wines to afternoon tea, and featuring some of the world’s finest cuisine, The Café which is located on London’s Regent Street has a fantastic Mediterranean inspired café to help you unwind after a hard day’s shopping.

While away the hours talking with friends over a glass of wine; or take in some spectacular photography whilst enjoying a coffee, all without leaving the centre of the city. And this year, to mark their first summer, why not come and experience the great new outdoor seating area in Swallow Street? Located in the heart of the West End the Store is perfectly placed for that post shopping treat; but with its unique continental feel it’ll seem a million miles away from the madding crowd.

The National Geographic Store takes its interest in world culture and exploration very seriously and so Pinchos, a tradition that originated in Spain, are served in Store. Consisting of miniature offerings of a range of fantastic, fresh and carefully sourced ingredients – they encourage food to be shared and offer a great alternative to the modern urban diet. Award-winning Spanish chef Miguel Espinosa has designed the menu to incorporate healthy ingredients with great flavours, and a Mediterranean tradition that will allow you to relax, savour the fantastic flavours and be transported on a culinary tour of the globe.

If you are looking for something to enjoy at home, why not try the fabulous Enric Rovira chocolate range which offers many exotic flavours in perfectly presented handmade truffles. Growing up surrounded by sweet things in his Father’s pastry shop in Barcelona, Enric first realised his passion for chocolate and after spending many years perfecting his art he opened his first shop in 1986. Barcelona is fast becoming famous for its wonderful boutique chocolate shops, and Enric Rovira is recognised as the most deluxe of these talented Chocolatiers. A work of art in their own right they make an ideal gift or an especially indulgent treat for one’s self. Enjoy Turkish delight, almond and violet flavour chocolates, or opt for the beautifully designed, solar system inspired chocolate selection. They really are out of this world.

Alternatively, stop by for afternoon tea and choose from an extensive selection sourced from all around the world – Japanese Matcha and Chinese Pu Erh Red tea are just two of the exotic selection. All the teas are organic, and are picked, processed and packed in 24 hours with manufacturing methods that ensure the very freshest leaves. With a daily range of delicious cakes and pastries it will be really hard to resist the temptation to lose a whole afternoon in the Store.

If you really take a fancy to the Store, then there is always the opportunity to take your table and chair home with you, as the cafe furniture like all the items in Store, are for sale. The furniture available is sourced across five continents, and features many completely unique pieces such as the wonderful light fittings, which were made by a Lebanese craftsman (prices start from around £340). These beautiful and individual pieces will help you recreate that Continental look and feel at home whether the sun shines or not this summer. 

New charcuterie range completes a flavour of Spain

Flavours of Spain has reinforced its reputation as the UK’s leading supplier of artisan produce from Galicia and Northern Spain, with the introduction of an exceptional selection of charcuterie.

The new range features delicious dry cured and smoked meats from Iberia and Galicia, including superior hand-sliced lomo iberico bellota, jamon iberico bellota and chorizo iberico bellota sourced from Iberian producer Sierra de Monesterio. Based in the southern region of Extremadura, this area is home to centuries-old oak trees that yield some of the world’s sweetest acorns, giving the meat of the traditionally raised, acorn-fed Iberian pigs its distinct texture and full flavour.

Master craftsmen trim, massage, fillet and salt the hams, using time-honoured techniques in preparation for their entry into natural drying rooms. Each ham spends 3 years under the care and supervision of the master craftsmen to enable the curing process to take place before being individually hand-sliced.

Perfectly complementing their existing range of Galician produce, Flavours of Spain now offers a number of exclusive charcuterie products from Xamons A Paradanta – a small producer located at the foot of the A Paradanta Mountains in Galicia. The region is synonymous with traditional ham production, with producers working closely with local people who possess lifelong experience in creating the finest hams and sausages.

The Atlantic mountain climate – hot, dry summers and cold winters – combined with the cutting-edge technology the company has developed to enhance traditional production methods without diminishing quality, is ideal for curing pork products. As such, Xamons A Paradanta is rightly revered for its hams and sausages throughout the Galicia region.

Teresa Homes, director of Flavours of Spain, said: “Our new charcuterie selection is a wonderful addition to our existing range of Spanish produce; including unique seaweeds and seafood preserves, limited production wines and award-winning extra virgin olive oils.

“We embarked upon numerous comparative blind tastings to ensure the taste, texture and quality of our cured meats is second to none, reassuring our customers that they need look no further than our website when purchasing artisan Spanish produce – we’re a one-stop shop!.”

Flavours of Spain’s new charcuterie range is available via the website: www.flavoursofspain.co.uk.

Prices:

Chorizo Iberico bellota 100g (£4.45)
Lomo Iberico bellota 100g (£7.80)
Jamon Iberico bellota 100g (£13.50)
Galician chorizo – mild (£4.80)
Galician chorizo – picante (£4.80)
Galician cooking chorizo (£5.30)
Galician onion chorizo (£4.20)

 

About Flavours of Spain

Flavours of Spain was founded three years ago by a UK-based Spanish/English team who are passionate about the many undiscovered and delicious artisan products Spain has to offer, primarily from Galicia and Northern Spain.

The company’s exciting artisan range includes organic figs in chocolate, olive oils, vinegars, olives, nuts, salts and seasonings, limited production wines (including organic and biodynamic), seaweeds and gourmet fish and seafood preserves, such as sea urchin caviar.

All products are made using the highest quality, freshest seasonal ingredients with an emphasis on those produced by small, family run businesses through organic and sustainable farming.  Flavours of Spain has been the proud winner of five gold awards at the Great Taste Awards 2007, winning the Best Spanish Speciality category overall.  Since September 2008 the company has held a regular stall at London’s Borough Market.

Sit back and be Spoonfed

 Us Londoners are a rare breed. We've got a city on our doorstep offering more entertainment than pretty much any other city in the world, yet we hardly ever make it past our local boozer.

One of the problems is that there is so much to see and do, we get dazzled, boggled and generally sozzled in the process of thinking about going to see or do something but never doing it.

The chaps at Spoonfed have hit upon a very interesting idea around events in London, twinned with all the usual social media elements.  The site looks great and whilst still a little light on content, they only launched last November so I'm sure the community will grow.

Will Spoonfed get to know the events I like and provide me with a simple, cut down version of the best that London has to offer?  I certainly hope so!

www.spoonfed.co.uk