gethin

Thanks for the suggestions - I'll certainly check them out. Have you eaten at the Baltic Fleet ? The Easyjet mag also recommends Floor One @ the Baltic Fleet. Gethin

I'll be stuck in the Adelphi Hotel for 6 nights in April, though as I certainly don't plan to eat there I'm looking at eating 6 lunches and 6 dinners out , without breaking the bank . (As my employer are paying for the inedible food at the Adelphi I won't be able to claim the cost of meals out). I'll certainly be going to Carriageworks at least once but would really appreciate suggestions for cheaper places (i don't want to eat at the Everyman every day). Anyone know anything about Quynny's Quisine in Bold St ? Its recomended in the Easyjet In Flight mag- though that may be no recommendation. Its apparently unlicensed so you can take your own wine , which is an attractive proposition. Suggestions for decent bars , food shops, markets, wine merchants etc would also be much appreciated, as would suggestions for somewhere to get a decent cup of coffee close to the Adelphi - i'm fed up of running back and forth to the Costa Coffee in Lime St station which is the closest drinkable coffee to the Adelphi that I've yet found. Gethin

There is also the Fine Line on Kingsway - mare cafe bar than gastro pub but passable food and very decent beer. Gethin

Assuming this is the the Seven Stars in Carey St , (parallel to and just noth of Fleet St), its an Adnams pub - run by Roxy Beaujolais. She's also got a new place , The Bountiful Cow on Eagle St which is just south of Red Lion Sq much closer to Holborn. I think the Bountiful Cow is more of a gastro pub. There was also a pub just round the corner from there on Southampton way that was making a bit of an effort with its food - at one time Richard Cawley (Crawley ?), (ex fashion lecturer at St Martins who had a spell as a minor food celebrity after winning an early Masterchef, i think, then for a while had a place on Old Compton St) was cooking there. Not sure if he still is or what the foods like now though. Can't think of much else in the area, unless your happy to settle for a big selection of Dutch and Belgian beers, in which case there is the Lowlander , on Drury Lane, just north of the intersection with Great Queen St. The other option is to jump on a bus and head towards Euston and the Somerstown Coffee House (whch , despite the name, is a pub.) Gethin

MFK Fisher was clearly the biggest and the best in the world of American food writing, but she was far more than a food writer. She wrote a lot and she wrote nothing that's not worth reading , regularly. Calvin Trillin is fun. He is so enthusiastic about the the kind of food you would never dream of eating, that you really want to eat it. On my bedside table right now . I have MFK's Among Friends and Sister Age and Trillin's American Fried, which if it didn't quite persuade me that " The best resaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City" did at least make me think that it might be worth the journey to check this out for myself. He can certainly write. (even when he's wrong. which he must be - musn't he ?) gethin

Right now I'm drinking a kind of rhum agricole manhattan : 2 oz rhum coeur de chauffe from Distillerie Reimonen (Guadaloupe), 3/4 oz Vya sweet vermouth, 1/2 teaspoon Stones ginger wine, 1/2 teaspoon Fee Bros peach bitters. Seriously good. For research purposes only, Im going to make another one, using my German/Punjabi rhum agricole. Gethin

Any London based gin drinkers who want to do their own comparison might be interested to know that Harrods wine dept have some No 209 in stock. I believe it was part of their recent California promotion and won't be a regular stock item. At £30 it's slighly more than a bottle of the Blackwoods 60 and getting on for twice the price of the regular Blackwoods. Gethin

Is anyone familiar with a Punjabi spirit called Desi Sharab ? (Desi, I understand means "indigenous" or for North Indians away from home "from back home", Sharab is Arabic/Turkish and presumably also Punjabi for drink). The bottle I picked up in an Indian shop in Southall today was actually made in Germany but states "Desi Sharab is a popular spirit in North India. Made from Gurd (sugarcane) and herbs". It's a fairly decent rhum agricole with a slight and rather pleasant cardamom flavour. Does anyone know any more about it, who produces it etc ? Gethin

I am not sure about anything that is in that bottle, except for the lizards. I can see them, all bitched up, floating in liquid. There are lots of chinese symbols, but not a lick of english. Wish I knew more. I guess they sell the same stuff in Korea, and it has medicinal/recreational value. Beats me what for. I can't figure out how to post a pick, but I'll give it a shot if someone can tell me how.... Sean ← There are some notes on the medicinal qualities of chinese snake wine , baby rat wine etc here . Also a picture of the baby rat wine ! I guess your gecko wine is made by a similar method (macerating live geckos in rice wine). Gethin

Many thanks to everyone for these suggestions. I was planning to direct him to Pegu Club anyway, mainly because its where I'd be heading as soon as I got there. The other suggestions are really helpful too, theres a few items in the chiilies and peppers section on the Kalustyans website that I'll be trying to get him to bring back. The Sherry Lehman site reminded me that if he can't find the 209 or the Sariticious, I can ask him to bring me Bombay Original instead (impossible to get here, unlike the ubiquitous Bombay Saphire). Its not too difficult to get Fee Bros Orange Bitters or Peach Bitters here in London and I've found one source of Peychauds, but for some strange reason I cant get Fee Bros Old Fashiopned bitters anywhere. (I don't mind not being able to get the mint one !). I've been badgering the three best liquor stores in London to get on to Buffalo Trace and get some of the Regan's bitters sorted out, now I have a name for them to contact I'll give it another go. Thanks again to everyone. Gethin

A Turkish Cypriot friend recently prepared me a vegetable he calls "hostes", which he believes is mainly eaten by Turkish Cypriots (but not by Greek Cypriots or mainland Turks) and in Lebanon. It apparently grows wild in upland areas, is harvested in February/March, looks something between a beet/chard leaf and a cardoon/thistle leaf. The edible bit is the base of the spine, which is peeled before use (staining your hands black as you do it). When cooked the sections of hostes looked a bit like dwarf beans cooked in a tomato infused broth and was served with meatballs , yoghurt and radish. The hostess was quite sharp in taste but also "earthy" and a very mild celery/fenel taste. Anyone able to identify this vegetable ? Gethin

Could anyone in New York recommend a store where one could buy a bottle of Sarticious Gin (and /or a bottle of No209) and bottles of Regan's Orange bitters and Fee Bros Old Fashioned bitters ? My business partner will be in New York next week (staying in Chelsea) and I want to give him a small shopping list of stuff I can't get in London. He's unlikely to put as much effort into tracking stuff down as I would , so any suggestions as to places he could get these three items together would be much appreciated. Gethin

The Blackwood's 60 is particularly good. Try it neat, as an after dinner alternative to a brandy or an eau de vie or as a "trou" . Gethin

Theobalds (on Theobalds Rd) is pretty good, especially for game. There's also a useful butchers on Green Lanes (called Baldwins ?) Neither of them are particularly into rare breed, organic stuff but they are certainly a few steps up from your supermarket meat counter. Gethin ps - I guess the picture out in the sticks varies , out in my particular stick (Lampeter in West Wales) getting local, properly hung and butchered meat is not a problem, we have a good butcher in Lampeter itself and a really excellent butcher in Tregaron.

I'm not a great fan of cocktails that contain much in the way of non alcoholic ingredients (other than a splash of lemon or lime juice) so I'd get the celery taste from an eau de vie de celeri (Distillerie Biercee do a good one) rather than celery juice. Cucumber flavoured vodka, dry sherry and perhaps Sputnik's Horseradish flavoured vodka could work well with this. Garnish with a tiny baby squid. Gethin

Has anyone come accross Schweppes "African Tonic Water" ? I've only seen it in France so far, I think it's just been launched there. Its flavoured with hibiscus flowers, is much sweeter than normal tonic water , only a slight quinine flavour and a nice pink colour (if you like that sort of thing). I find it too sweet by far, but my 99 yr old grandmother likes it. She particularly liked it with calvados (about 50/50) , but also in her gin and tonic (to which she also adds a good dash of Pernod, which given the quality of French supermarket gin is probably a good idea). Gethin

Ahhh -- Gin's lovely and I'm never without a bottle or three, but THAT's closer to what I had in mind. Love the little independant distilleries. ← You might find this book of interest: James Crowden: Cider – The Forgotten Miracle: Cyder Press 2, Somerton, Somerset, 1999: ISBN 0-9537103-0-0: 120 pp., b/w illus., notes, bibliog., p/b. £12.95. Reviewed in PPC 64 - " James Crowden is the laureate of cider, and of Common Ground, the charity concerned with orchards and locality. Before that, he was a shepherd. This is a wonderful book. It has several lodes of hard information. There is something about the art of home-distilling; there is an account of the early days of the Somerset Cider Brandy Company; ...... " As far as gin goes, I don't know if you would have been able to get it in the US , but if not you really should try Blackwoods 60 while you're in London. Its produced in the Shetland Isles in pretty small quantities (22,000 bottles per year, each individually numbered) and is extremely good. Their standard 40 % alcohol product is pretty good too. Gethin

I don't know why the "run your own pub diet" has never caught on. Its far more effective than Atkins or whatever. The day I bought my pub , i had to go and buy some trousers because all my clothes and other posessions were in boxes stacked up in the shed (where, 2 years later on, they mostly still are) . 4 weeks later I had to go out and buy new trousers (and a new belt) because my waist measurement had dropped by 4 inches. I think its something to do with working 20 hours a day and living off just the occasional packet of peanuts. Gethin

I don't know why the "run your own pub diet" has never caught on. Its far more effective than Atkins or whatever. The day I bought my pub , i had to go and buy some trousers because all my clothes and other posessions were in boxes stacked up in the shed (where, 2 years later on, they mostly still are) . 4 weeks later I had to go out and buy new trousers (and a new belt) because my waist measurement had dropped by 4 inches. I think its something to do with working 20 hours a day and living off just the occasional packet of peanuts. Gethin

unfortunately not. gethin

You need to shake really vigorously to get the egg to release its contents. Also advise straining twice to remove all traces of the shell. Gethin

and peppers can be eaten raw, it just misses the whole point of the thing to do so ! Gethin

You can of course put mixed spice in your Welsh cakes and I'm sure there are plenty of recipes that include it. However your Welsh cakes will be far nicer if you don't ! The recipe at this link looks perfectly serviceable (though it would be improved by ommiting both the mixed spice and the egg!) , but it has nothing to do with Teisen Lap, which a baked (not cooked on a griddle) cake flavoured with nutmeg. I think the writer is probably getting confused with Teisen Gri (which is what Welsh cakes are called in some parts of South West Wales ). Teisen Lap means Moist Cake , not plate cake. The individual who posted the recipe admits to eating Welshcakes without butter and even suggests they can be eaten cold - s/he is clearly at least a little unbalanced and not to be trusted on anything as important as Welsh Cake recipe. This is more like a proper Welsh cake though the dimensions are a bit mean. The buttermilk is probably more traditional than whole milk. Gethin

Half butter, half lard ! Mixed spice has no place in a Welsh Cake! Sultanas are better than currants ! They need to be a decent size, 5 " diameter, not the tiny little things u get in South Wales . Serve hot, with plenty of butter. Apple or gooseberries can be used instead of dried fruit. Gethin

Here in the UK, NUS Services Ltd (which negotiates purchasing arrangements for around 180 Students Unions) have alternated between Coke and Pepsi depending on who offers the best deal. My perception is that most students don't care much either way. At the moment we can only buy post mix from Coca Cola, but individual Union's can make their own choices as to what cans or bottles they stock. This deal is up for renewal next April and a small number of Union's are arguing for a ban on Coke products. There are serious issues behind this. The murder of eight trade unionists at the Coke bottling plant in Carepa, and the allegations about the over extraction of ground water in Kerala aren't (or shouldn't be) "tempests in a teacup". NUSSL have so far followed a policy of constructive engagement and my feeling is that this is working. In March 2004, Coca Cola launched a set of standards on ethical and environmental issues for bottlers (Project Citizenship), in March 2005 they committed themselves to regular meetings with the International Union of Foodworkers and to meeting a a set of minimum conmmitments agreed with the IUF, they have abandoned plans to reopen their plant in Kerala till the water issue is resolved and the Coca Cola Foundation donated $10 million to the Columbian Foundation for Education and Opportunity. All of these were in part a response to pressure from NUS Services. The only real alternative to Coca Cola for us at least is Pepsi Co, whose bottlers face similar allegations in relation to the over extraction of groundwater in India, similar allegations of undermining trade unions (again in India) and allegations of extensive sexual abuse of female workers at a Pepsi plant in Poland. Student activists who raise these issues are doing something really worthwhile in making us think seriously about the wider consequences of our choices; about who we do business with and what products we buy. I'm not convinced bans and boycotts are the best way forward at the moment, but to the extent that progress is being made , I'm sure that its partially driven by those threats. On a personal level, I think the only Coca Cola owned brand I'd miss at all would be Roses's Lime Juice. Gethin