A London-based food & travel blog by Gemma Lucy Press
I’ve been to Amsterdam a couple of times and I’ve stayed in accommodation that spans the spectrum – including a hotel with glass walls around the shower and full view of the toilet from the bed! – so it is with great confidence that I recommend my most recent home away from home in the […]
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It’s not all about London, y’all… A couple of weekends ago, we took a trip to Leamington Spa to see some friends (hi, Mike!). We had a fab time playing games – girls are infinitely better at Articulate, it turns out – drinking lots of wine, and stuffing our faces. There were several face-stuffing sessions, but […]
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I fell in love with Smokestak’s smoky, meaty tendencies quite some time ago at Dinearama, one of my favourite pop-up foodie fests in London. In the summer, we went almost weekly, and every time without fail, I’d have to sample the signature pork ribs or beef brisket. So, I was pretty gutted when I found out […]
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A much underrated evening in the calendar, Burns Night is a Scottish celebration, which marks the birthday of great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (he’s the guy who wrote Auld Lang Syne!). He died in 1796, and his friends would gather to drink and recite his poetry in his memory every year after that – thus […]
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My list of places to eat in New York far outweighed my list of places to see. But I have been before, so I felt it was only fair that I move my attention away from viewing decks and shopping malls and on to buffets and brunches… Top of my must-visit roster was a vegan […]
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If you’re a fan of wine, novelty, and shabby chic furniture and happen to have an afternoon spare in Winchester, a trip to The Black Bottle is the perfect way to fill it… In a cute country house, all lead-paned windows and creaky doors, you’ll find The Black Bottle. A ‘pub slash wine cellar slash […]
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South London is a treasure trove of independent eateries, and in particular, great curry houses. You know the sort, living room-esque setups with big windows on the front. Mismatched chairs and stools you can just about fit one cheek on. Hustley and bustley, low lighting, elbows knocking, waiters shouting. Traditional Pakistani restaurant, Masala Wala Cafe […]
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How amazing is Dishoom’s bacon and egg naan? I mean, Indian for breakfast – what’s not to like (but also, who’d have thunk it!?). Usually, I have breakfast at home because well, I’m never up in time to head out for it and even at the weekend the London-based eatery stops serving that delicious bacon […]
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The eating scene in Winchester is pretty darn good, and the sweet cobbled city is easy to get to from London (57 minutes from Waterloo, to be exact), offering a more tranquil but no-less-delicious alternative to eating out in the Big Smoke. I’m a big fan of The Black Rat (read my review of The […]
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If it’s good enough for Jay Rayner… Silk Road is a Chinese restaurant in Camberwell, which is a short bus ride up the road from my little home in Forest Hill, (I do love an easy meal out in South London!). It’s a very casual set up with just a few tables, mostly geared up […]
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In honour of National Burger Day yesterday, which I celebrated in gluttonous style at Street Feast‘s fab event, here are five burgers you should most definitely try in this here London. Dip & Flip I am so new to this place (see: I tried my first one yesterday at Hawker House), but I may well […]
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If you like your Michelin-star restaurants with a healthy dose of drama and more attention to detail (and to you) than you’ve ever experienced before, go to Dinner by Heston. It’s the real deal. To celebrate 7 (long, hard) years together, Alex and I booked a table at Dinner by Heston, which is situated in […]
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Roll up, roll up (quite literally!)… If you scoff at artistic flowers arranged atop your food, if pea puree smears really get your goat and if piddly portion sizes have you swallowing down cries of “RIP OFF!”, you’ll love these Big Girl (and Boy) dishes. From Indian banquets to meaty breakfasts and filling foodie market […]
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Just an hour from London Waterloo lies Winchester, a cute cobbled town in Hampshire. It’s actually a city, with its very own cathedral, but the sweet market-lined high street (singular) and proper country pubs tell a different story. One of those pubs is The Black Boy, and nearby, in Chesil Street, is The Black Rat, […]
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2016 is my year of going places, so just a few weeks after this fab adventure in Ljubljana, I hopped on a plane back to that part of the world, this time landing in Croatia. I’ve wanted to go to Croatia for a while, with Hvar, Split and Dubrovnik high on my list ever since […]
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Say hello to your new sweet obsession, pastéis de nata. I didn’t quite believe the hype at first either – a Portuguese custard tart, and a mini one at that, dubbed as better than chocolate and other more carnal pursuits, I don’t think so – but believe it you should. My love affair with nata […]
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The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana (loo-bl-anna) is one of Europe’s lesser-known cities and is just a 2 hour flight from London. It’s a pretty beautiful flight too, with the Swiss Alps and Slovenia’s pine-lined lakes visible through the fluffy white clouds. Surrounded by places like Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Switzerland and Italy, it’s a smorgesboard of […]
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I’m writing this the morning after the night before. The night before being the evening we visited Little Social, one of chef and serial-restaurant-opener, Jason Atherton’s places in Mayfair. It was one of those restaurants that you find yourself thinking about way before you get there – not least in our case, because Jason had […]
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The Sunday Roast. It’s a British Institute and one I’m keen to uphold in my two-person home – but there’s rarely the time, patience, mouths to feed or available work space. It’s such an effort for just us and it more often than not results in a war over who gets the top oven rack, […]
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Easy, peasy, orange squeezy! Consider your Thursday night tea sorted. My chicken, chorizo and sweet potato tray bake with a healthy helping of orange, is perfect for busy people and it’s great for tea one night, leftover lunch the next day. Hearty, wholesome and zingy, it’s a taste sensation. It’s not too pricey either. Basically, […]
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Valentine’s Day is not a favourite date to dine in public for me. Squeaky foil balloons (heart-shaped, of course), musicians, roses (your partner asked us to give this to you, Madam – yeah right, Gaston!), and worst of all, the overpriced set menu. Alex and I are not against celebrating V-Day, we’re really not against […]
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In no particular order (just the order that things came to me on one hungry December commute home from work..), here are my favourite dishes from 2015. Some are from restaurants, many in London, some further afield and some are from pop-ups and food stands and one is even from Dominos. Some aren’t even edible, […]
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Have you heard about The Lodge? I heard about it last year, soon after moving to the Big Smoke; it’s a ski-style cabin of a restaurant serving warm cocktails and cheese fondue, basically. Such was the popularity of Jimmy Garcia’s pop-up, I didn’t manage to bag a booking. But this year, oh this year was […]
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We’ve been waiting for a space to come up at Duck and Waffle since we moved to London, nearly a year ago. We haven’t been entirely dedicated but every couple of weeks we’ve looked and it’s been impossible to book a table for two at normal eating hours. But since the infamous 40-floors-up-making-it-the-highest-restaurant-in-the-UK dining venue […]
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We visited Cafe Murano on the third night of its launch week for two reasons. Firstly, our extremely talented friend works in the kitchen. Secondly, I’m a huge fan of Angela. I remember watching her on one of Gordon Ramsay’s TV shows way back when. He was training some chef-y wannabes to do what he does […]
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