the salt & pepper diaries

Mystery Kentish Town Japanese

nick — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:43:57 +0000

So I’ve been hearing a few rumours for a while now about a supposedly great Japanese restaurant that’s opened in Kentish Town. The first was from a chef who said he’d heard other chef friends had been going and rated it highly. The point of his comment was that if chefs go, it must be [...]

Another hotel on Redchurch

nick — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:22:26 +0000

The Shoreditch House gang have begun works on their new hotel, due for launch this Christmas. The new 10,000 sq ft Hotel will be an addition to the Club and makes use of the derelict White Swan pub on the corner of Ebor Street and Bethnal Green Road. It’s going to be a large-scale job judging [...]

Great crackling, but pricey ketchup

nick — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:27:49 +0000

So Terrence Conran’s new place has opened to a high level of acclaim, praise and general back-slapping. Time Out have already placed it in their Top 50 list, it had a rave 4-star review from Guy Dimond in the same mag a couple of weeks ago and there is generally a buzz of favourable commentary [...]

London’s Top 50

nick — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:46:48 +0000

Feeling a little sheepish posting this - the first post since September 2008 and it’s a cheap sign-post to someone else’s work - Time Out’s. However, this is the Time Out London Top 50 - an annual feature which should set you up for the year. The tip is to book ahead and then forget about the [...]

Coren blog frenzy…

nick — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:39:05 +0000

Giles Coren is causing a bit of a stir. First of all he takes some stick from a few regarding his views on the great British Fry-Up and a bogus MySpace profile. We now find him slogging it out with the editorial team at The Times. This is well worth the read and I really want to [...]

28 Days later….

nick — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:13:04 +0000

Someone has been lucky enough to dedicate 28 days of their life to eat their way around New York - then report back and the experience. Jennifer, I think, at EatDrinkTalk, was the person to take on the challenge and the article she’s now posted on her blog is invaluable.

St.JOHN is open again, but now Bread & Wine is closed.

nick — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:49:42 +0000

St.JOHN is just re-opened after refurbishment work for the summer. However, just as the doors swing wide and the crowds pour back and wonder how they had filled the time away, St.JOHN Bread & Wine closes. However, only for a few days we’re told and will be there for the bank holiday. Also, if you fancy [...]

An Ottolenghi day out.

nick — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:30:56 +0000

We’ve just launched the new web site for Ottolenghi and as part of the ‘deal’, our team were offered a day’s cookery course with Yotam and the gang at Leiths School of Food and Wine. We’re all huge fans of the Ottolenghi approach to cooking and were spoilt last year when the provided all the food [...]

Recommendation shake up

nick — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:17:43 +0000

Urban Spoon has just released a great new i-Phone application. Simply select your country, then city, cuisine type and price bracket and a single restaurant recommendation is presented, along with all details, link to web site and a diner rating. The neat part though is the ‘shake’ feature. i-Phones have a clever technology feature called the [...]

Fair Tips, Fair Pay.

nick — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:15:28 +0000

So momentum is accelerating for the case to stop restaurateurs abusing the tipping system and using the ‘service charge’ to top up wages, and in some cases, cover total salary costs, instead of providing these extras as a genuine reward for good service. To give a little background, ten or so years ago, the then Department [...]

Waterhouse, 10 Orsman Road, London N1 5QJ.

nick — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:30:42 +0000

I’ve had a couple of meals now at this canal side, eco-friendly eatery, one dinner and a lunch and on both occasions I haven’t been disappointed. photo | G Travels First of all, the earth-loving principles are very much a simple acceptance of the fact that this is the only responsible manner to run a food business, [...]

Smith’s NYC, 79 MacDougal Street, NY 10012.

nick — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:49:32 +0000

I’ve developed quite a routine for each visit to New York. First an email goes out a few days prior to leaving to a few people, requesting any hot-tips, the feedback is cross-referenced against the usual sites (mainly Frank Bruni’s latest thoughts) and then the week is planned around how to make sure I get [...]

Bubby’s Pie Co. 120 Hudson Street in Tribeca, NY.

nick — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:35:37 +0000

So, I’ve been very, very lazy and this is the first post for over a month. Bad form, but fortunately I haven’t gone hungry in that time and have quite a backlog of places to talk about. photo | bubbyspieco (their own Flickr site!) The most recent however is a unique place called Bubby’s Pie Company deep [...]

Spring deals at St.Germain.

nick — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:56:31 +0000

I know it looks like I’ve been hit by a bunch of PR’s recently, what with this promo for St. Germain and the last shout for the newly opened Grand Union, but it’s not true. I just picked up this email from the St.G team this morning offering 50% off on a Monday night and [...]

A very lazy post to announce the re-opening of the Grand Union in Camden.

nick — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:36:52 +0000

Apologies to all reading this - not for the content, but for simply lifting straight from a press release announcing the re-opening of the much loved Grand Union Camden sent to me last week. I haven’t yet been down to see the new bar, but when I do, I’ll post my thoughts. So in the mean [...]