fried goodies: suppli (£2), bocconcini (£2.50), artichoke a la Giudia (£5), and in the background, a fried courgette flower (£4) When I was at Bocca di Lupo a year ago , I had a lot of fun, but the service and food were a mixed bag. I left thinking that while I wouldn’t object to going again, I also wasn’t dying to revisit. However, not having been to Bocca di Lupo and being a lover of all things Italian, Jon has long wanted to go, and with the recent buzz around good-quality, low-to-mid-priced Italians opening in London, the time seemed right to revisit BdL. Which is how we found ourselves there for dinner last week
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Bocca di Lupo, Soho (revisited)
Here at Smith HQ, when we’re not living, breathing and loving boutique hotels, we’re drooling over delectable dinners in London , long lunches in Languedoc , superior coffee in the capital and wine-tasting events – even wedding cakes made of cheese . (We take our ‘tastemaker’ title quite seriously, you see.) Typing is mainly practised one-handed, to enable a non-stop snack stream to pass unhindered into our greedy (but still oh-so-selective) bellies. In short, we’ve decided to put more foodie posts on the blog menu, and resurrect our series of interviews with the food world’s Michelin-starred great and good (see our previous interviews with the awesome Alain Ducasse and mighty Michael Caines ).
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What’s cooking at 21212? Quickfire Q&A with chef Paul Kitching
Whether you come to Belgium for its delicacies or not, whether you even like chocolate or not, doesn’t matter once you set foot in Brussels : You will try some chocolate. As you will soon find out, chocolate vendors are everywhere in the main tourist areas of downtown Brussels
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How to Optimize Your Chocolate Experience in Brussels
I’m sure there are restaurants that have a straightforward, charitable reason for putting out 50% off deals on Toptable. I’m sure there are plenty of sadly overlooked but nevertheless lovely restaurants, serving fabulous food, which find themselves in a position to lay on a very generous discount, keeping regular clientele happy and drumming up a bit of extra interest from those on a slightly tighter budget
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Incognico, Covent Garden
This article has been quite hard to write as some of the most attractive things about Prague are rather more esoteric than a simple list allows. However, here are my top five and I would be interesting to hear what other people have on their list of top five things to see in Prague .
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Top 5 things not to miss in Prague
Italy’s southern region of Campania is rich in both history and beauty and one of the most breathtaking drives is La Costiera Amalfitana , The Amalfi Drive. There is so much to see along the way that I had initially planned to divide this series into three itineraries but will now expand it into four parts, if you’ll indulge me. So consider this Part III of IV
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Scenic Drives of Campania Part 3
Its uniquely carved displays on the windows are the best in the city. Shoppers passing by the store often stop in front of the building’s clock which chimes every hour and again at every 15 minutes, and just then the faces of Fortnum and Mason ..
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Fortnum and Mason ? London?s history relived | Starting Out London …
Photo: Chromata, Santorini Whether it’s a birthday, a hot date or an anniversary, we all want to impress when we take someone special out for dinner. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way! But first, do note that there is no sure way to bag the best table, as most restaurants try to treat all of their guests equally, and exactly which table is best depends on the individual person.
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How to Get The Best Table in a Restaurant
Walluc Bistro is an unassuming little place sitting on a not so attractive corner off of Shoreditch High Street with a front room barely big enough to accomodate its central rustic wooden dining table. A kitsch mix of alpine ski memorabilia, boxing gloves, random french vintage posters and mismatched furniture seemingly haemmorraged from a Tyrolean car boot sale make this one of the more random fondue places I’ve been to, but perhaps the most charming. I came on my birthday to indulge my love for all things fromage and was not disappointed, except perhaps at the portion sizes.
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Rather Fondue of Walluc Bistro
“The act of going to a restaurant when you know it’s going to be shit,” advised Robin Majumdar, one half of the Dos Hermanos blogging crew and someone with more than his fair share of shit restaurant meals behind him, “palls really quickly, believe me.” In all honesty, I could have predicted I wasn’t about to have the meal of my life at the Aberdeen Angus Steak House on Coventry Street on Friday. But my reasons for visiting the restaurant chain with the worst reputation amongst not just regular restaurant goers but Londoners in general, were slightly more complex.
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Aberdeen Angus Steak House, Piccadilly Circus
If you choose a hotel here, you will be downtown in the heart of the global financial market and low in London ‘s history. It also has the best shopping, nightlife and attractions. There are several areas of central London – the city ..
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Hotels in London – A guide to hotels in central London | Cheap …
The evening had hardly got off to an auspicious start. Forced to leave our cosy, dry table at the Mucky Pup (aptly named as it seemed home to every noisy dog in North London) in search of sustenance, we set out on the trail of somewhere called the Sultan Ahmet, reportedly one of the oldest Turkish restaurants in London and purveyors of top charcoal-grilled kebabs
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Zigni House, Islington
Brick lane has some great st food that is reasonably priced, however be warned of the touts outside the indian restaurants who prey unsuspecting tourists. On Sunday Brick lane has a whole indoor st food market where stallholders provide … Oh yes, I’m a fan of Brick Lane too, especially the hippy warehouse markets, especially so much interesting stuff on sale
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Londoner Tips for a Budget Trip | Wild Junket
So, we’ve done Zucca, we’ve done Trullo. Each, in their own way, brilliant crowd- (and critic-) pleasing local Italian restaurants that punch well above their weight for their price point and together form almost a statement of intent regarding the direction that Italian cuisine can, and should, take in the capital. But what of anywhere else
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Osteria dell’Angolo, Westminster
One of the great ethnic food styles of London, I’ve never had an ocakbasi (translating as far as I can tell as simply ‘charcoal grill’) that’s been anything less than decent, and they have the potential to be very good indeed. Yet bizarrely, they also seem to be one of the most overlooked cuisines in the capital, certainly next to Chinese or Vietnamese or Indian/Pakistani. At the risk of sounding patronising, I can’t help feeling they often only have themselves to blame – I’ve known many a very impressive ocakbasi grill (characterised by their huge extractor hoods) hiding towards the back of the restaurant, while pride of place in the shop window goes to two columns of sweaty doner meat and a tray of deep-fried chicken.
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Mangal 2, Dalston
Saturday 7 August, Rag&Bow ’s monthly women’s vintage sale at the Paradise By Way of Kensal Green is back (free entry; 12pm–5pm) says local West London blog, Park-Life.org . Visually engaging merchandising, continually on-trend stock and affordable prices have made this monthly vintage sale a welcome fixture on West London’s fashion calendar, with folks flocking from miles away to frock-hunt here. Stylish, eco and thrifty – we love Hazel Holtham’s spectacular selection of secondhand treasures.
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The Roaming Vintage Store
Ibiza lovers and eco warriors, it’s time to pledge your support to the Ibiza Preservation Fund . William Aitken and Serena Cook (of Deliciously Sorted ) have set up this eco-saving organisation with the support of Ben Goldsmith with the intention of boosting awareness of the environmental effects of tourism on this magical White Isle, and to raise funds to protect and preserve the island’s precious coastline and its marine life
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TLC for our beloved Ibiza
Because the drinking age in Britain is 18, most of the cafes and restaurants on university campuses serve alcohol at student rates. Had we wanted to spend the afternoon watching Wimbledon on one of the two flat-screen televisions, . …
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[Beat Alcoholism 101] letters keep working on economic growth
The Trafalgar in London ?s incredibly central along with wonderful links to transport, theatres and all of the first-class dining as well as vibrant entertainment London has to offer. … There are numerous exceptional restaurants positioned in close proximityfor foodies, including Le Gavroche, The Square and Princess Garden.
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Beautiful Top End United Kingdom Hotels | The Springfield Web Blog
For this month’s selection of summer sounds, our esteemed TuneSmith , Rob Wood, picks out a surprisingly uplifting medley of melancholia, and an album inspired by one of Smith’s top honeymoon hotels , the Maldivian paradise of Huvafen Fushi … ALBUM OF THE MONTH Boys Outside by Steve Mason When? You’ve exhausted Beta Band and Hot Chip Why
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Listen up: TuneSmith’s musical recommendations for August