Boxing clever: the new Land Rover January 24, 2012 Right now Land Rover’s design team is halfway through a programme to redesign the world’s most famous 4×4, the Land Rover Defender. The goal is to take the key elements of the iconic car and create a cool, new and modern version of a design that has remained mostly unchanged since 1948. For the time [...]
CAR TALK January 24, 2012 NEW SLK 55 AMG TO SET YOU BACK UNDER £55,000 Mercedes–Benz has announced prices for its powerful SLK 55 AMG. The top of the line AMG model has a new 5.5-litre V8 engine good for 421bhp which can propel the car from 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds. The car produces 30 per cent less emissions and [...]
There is more to Rioja than wine (although that would be plenty) January 24, 2012 PRINCE Charles surely wouldn’t approve. In the dell of Villabuena de Alava, a sleepy, sloping village squatting among the vineyards of Spain’s Rioja Alavesa region, sits the jagged, unruly modernism of Hotel Viura. It is one of those “impossible” buildings, an optical illusion that seems to squeeze in more angles, surfaces and textures than logic [...]
UK house sales down 11 per cent January 24, 2012 UK house sales were down 11 per cent at 869,000, according to figures from HM Revenue and Customs. Unemployment and the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage have hit the number of sales, currently at half the volumes recorded before the financial crisis. Transactions peaked at 1,671,000 in 2006 before plummeting to a record low of [...]
The best places to dine to ensure a first degree Burns January 23, 2012 Almost 215 years since the death of Scotland’s most famous poet, Burns night has become an established part of the London culinary calendar, with its popularity growing every year. We look at some of the best places to get the most from you haggis this year – and a few places to cut loose once [...]
Get the haggis right at your Burns supper January 23, 2012 If you’re thinking of hosting your own Burns night, the haggis should be the star of the show. Contrary to the belief of many south of the border, a well cooked haggis is far more than a bag of offal. Quality haggis contains an aromatic blend of spices and oatmeal, with meat as high quality [...]
EXPERT VIEW: WHISKY January 23, 2012 HEAD OF DISTILLING AND WHISKY CREATION AT GLENMORANGIE An exceptional malt whisky is an essential part of Burns Night celebrations to toast the life writings of Scotland’s best-known poet and to pair with traditional Burns Night supper dishes. Whisky is often enjoyed throughout the meal to toast the haggis, the memory of Robert Burns and [...]
More cruise liner than chic January 23, 2012 Kitchen Joël Antunès 29 Old Burlington Street, London, W1S 3AN T: 020 7494 5660 FOOD * SERVICE ** ATMOSPHERE * Cost per person without wine: £65 Legends aren’t what they used to be. Almost anyone can be one. You have to do something pretty heinous to be both famous and dead and not be called [...]
Lobster and burgers, folks… that’s it January 23, 2012 THE vogue for culinary simplicity has been around for a while. The shorter the menu, the better – after all, asks the modern diner, how can caviar, steak, chicken, risotto and a thousand other dishes from one kitchen and one staff be fresh, made with the best of the day’s ingredients? Well, the guys behind [...]
A lesson learned on Canada’s wine January 23, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT As is typical in the London restaurant scene, we have a very international team at Lutyens. My assistant Andres is from Canada and, as he went home for Christmas, he brought in some Canadian wine for us to try. There is comparatively little Canadian wine in the UK [...]