A STYLISH restaurant with good food, attractively presented, served by charming, helpful waiters – and very affordable. What more could you ask? Add to those essential ingredients the spice that you are helping the training and development of the next generation of chefs and hospitality staff, and you have a recipe for customer satisfaction. The…
HARD to believe on an April day when the rain is lashing down, but summer isn’t far off – and what better way to celebrate in style on a hot sunny day than with an iced cocktail! That is the delicious idea of Crispin Shingler, a mixologist and former actor, who has brought the skills…
DORSET has the perfect climate and soil for growing vines – particularly to produce champagne-style sparkling wines. The success of a new local vineyard in the 2014 Judgement of Parsons Green underlines the growing importance of viticulture in the local food and drink industry. Langham Wine Estate, near Dorchester, took the top prize with its…
ALTHOUGH Tunworth looks just like a Camembert, it’s so much more. This bloomy white rinded cheese has earned the ultimate accolade of Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards on two occasions, in 2006 and again last year, 2013. Made by Stacey Hedges and Julie Cheyney at the family farm in Herriard, Hampshire, this artisan…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury has had a busy winter and early spring with visits to the Caribbean, Scotland and Switzerland where she was catering in a chalet at Verbier … Never having been a seasonaire (usually someone in their early 20s who spends their winter working in a chalet and off on…
DORSET winemakers Langham Estates have won the Judgement of Parsons Green IV, a competition to find the best English sparkling wines. Langham’s winemaker Liam Idzikowski was thrilled with the success of their Classic Cuvee 2010: “We are absolutely delighted to have done so well in the Judgement of Parsons Green – not only because of…
In Dublin’s fair city, there is something delicious for breakfast…. OUR favourite travelling chef, Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury, has been busy these past few weeks, including a short stay in Dublin where her healthy breakfast choices were a bit of a shock for her clients … So the conversation went a little like…
A WILD mushroom pie has taken a Bournemouth man into the finals of the Badger Ales national pie competition, which will be judged at the Hall & Woodhouse pub-restaurant in Bath on Thursday 6th March. Russell Clarke beat nearly 700 entries to reach the finals. He won the first round of the vegetarian category, impressing…
A BEAUTIFUL country house hotel, in one of the most perfect Wiltshire villages, Howards House Hotel has been named Britain’s Most Romantic Hotel in the Good Hotel Guide since 2010. The independent, family-run hotel, beside the Teff chalk stream which runs through Teffont Evias, in the south west corner of the county, is also renowned…
WHEN customers ask for this cheese, they pronounce it one of two ways: “Oh-gleshield” or “Ogg-leshield”. I spoke with Jamie Montgomery, who makes this fine cheese in North Cadbury, Somerset and he says it’s Oh-gleshield. That’s settled, then. Jamie’s celebrated unpasteurised cheddar, Montgomery, uses milk from his Friesian herds, while Ogleshield is made from the…