Monday, December 01, 2014

Best of London Food and Beverage 2014


Here is my list of best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2014.

Best Restaurant(s) in London : Hedone , Dinner , Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road , The Greenhouse and The Ledbury

Best Sourcing and Ingredients : Hedone

Best Restaurant Wine Lists : Pollen St Social , Chez Bruce , Tinello , L'Anima , The Greenhouse and Hedone

Best Argentinian : Zoilo

Best Italian Restaurant (Southern) : L'Anima , Quattro Passi

Best Italian Restaurant (Northern) :  Novikov , Locanda Locatelli

Best Pan Italian :  , River Café Tinello  and  Zafferano

Best Trattoria : Mele e Pere and Antico

Best Casual Indian : Roti Chai

Best Indian (Modern) : Benares and Rasoi

Best Pakistani : Shezan , Saloos and New Tayabbs

Best Chinese : Hunan , Kai , HKK and A Wong

Best Dim Sum :  A Wong  and Royal China (Baker St)

Best Thai :  Heron

Best Fusion : Apero , Novikov ,  Zuma and Moro

Best Japanese : Umu and Sake No Hana

Best Vietnamese : head to Paris or Vietnam

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia , Knightsbridge and Meza , Tooting

Best Greek : The Greek Larder

Best "Politiki Kouzina " Peckham Bazaar 

Best Turkish : Mangal Ocakbasi (Stoke Newington)

Best Sushi : Sushi Tetsu , Yashin Sushi

Best French : Hibiscus , Gauthier Soho , Club Gascon and The Greenhouse

Best Modern British/European : The Ledbury , Kitchen Table and The Clove Club

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio , Fino , Pizarro and Iberica

Best Tapas : Tendido Cedro , Barrafina and José

Best English : St John's , Aqua Shard , Gillrays

Best Fish/Seafood : One - O - One , Knightsbridge 

Best Gastro Pub : Harwood Arms , Anchor and Hope , Great Queen St

Best Service : Galvin's Windows , Goodman Maddox St , Hedone  , Bar Boulud and Cambio de Tercio

Best Sandwich : Kappacaseins Cheese Toastie

Best Pub : The Ship (Wandsworth)  and Black Friar

Best Selection of Craft Beer :  The Rake

Best Wine Bar : 40 Maltby St , Antidote Wine Bar , Sager and Wilde

Best Brasserie : Bob Bob Ricard , Brasserie Chavot 

Best Mavericks : Apero , Brunswick House Café , Dock Kitchen , Five Fields , and 40 Maltby St

Best French Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking : Brasserie Chavot , Racine , Bistro Bruno, Casse Croûte

 and Koffmann's

Best Burger :  Little Social ,   Elliot's

Best "joint" Burger :  Tommi's , Meat Market , Meat Liquor and Patty Bun

Best Chain Burger : Byron and  Honest Burgers

Best Steak : Gillrays and Goodman

Best Steak Restaurants : Gillrays, Hawksmoor , Sophie's and Goodman

Best Grill : The Dorchester Grill

Best Pizza :  Santa Maria

Best Pizza Chain : Franco Manca

Best Street Food : Mr Falafel ( Shepherds Bush )

Best Value for money Wine List : Bob Bob Ricard and Andrew Edmunds

Best Value for Money Restaurants : Koya , Sophie's ,   and Mangal Ocakbasi

Best Newcomers in London 2014 : Rex and Mariano , Little Water , L'Amorosa , Lyle's

Best Bakery/Bread :  Hedone

Best  Chocolatier : William Curley

Best Patisserie : La Pâtisserie des Rêves


Best Coffee : Prufork Coffee

Best Coffee Roaster : Square Mile , Monmouth and Caravan

Best Croissants : Little Bread Pedlar

Best Gelato :  Oddono's 

Best Fishmonger : The Chelsea Fishmonger (Rex Goldsmith), Chelsea Green

Best Greengrocer : Andreas Veg , Chelsea

Best Cheese Shops : La Fromagerie , Rippon , Neal's Yard , Paxton Whitfield and Beillevaire

Best Purveyor of French Charcuterie  : The Ham and Cheese Company

Best Purveyors of Italian Salumi : The Ham and Cheese Company and L'Emporio Fine Foods

Best Purveyor of British Chacuterie : Cannon and Cannon

Best Wine Merchants Retail : Lea and Sandeman, Philglas and Swiggot , Market Row Wines , Bottle Apostle , Hansen Hayes & Clark and Handford

Best Wine Merchants Wholesale : Liberty , Fortyfive 10  and Bibendum

Monday, August 25, 2014

Semplice: Real Italian Food : Ingredients and Recipes by Dino Joannides

Those of you that are kind enough to visit my blog will have noticed that over the last couple of years I have not posted as much as I used to.

On the rare occasions that I did post the subject matter tended to be about Italian Food or ingredients.

The main reason for the above is that I have been working on a book about Italian Food and I am pleased to tell you that it will be published on October 2nd by Random House.

Semplice: Real Italian Food : Ingredients and Recipes  is now available for pre order from all the usual online ,  and bricks and mortar book shops.





For those in the UK you can pre order here , in North America here in other parts of the world it should also be available online and in good book shops.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it !





Tuesday, March 04, 2014

My top 100 Italian Wines


For me it is very difficult to contemplate Italian food without thinking of wine and specifically Italian wines. Naturally in a country where regional and local food is so important there are also in most cases wonderful wines being made that can suit most budgets and tastes.

Italy has been one of the top 2 wine producers by volume for many years but within that volume there is both exceptional quality and value to suit all budgets.

I would argue that with the possible exception of France, Italy provides the biggest choice in terms of winemaking styles made with indigenous and international grape varieties. These wines not only match regional and local cuisines but also can compliment cuisines raging from Chinese, Thai, and Persian to that of the Indian subcontinent.

I am often asked to recommend Italian wines and have even helped restaurateurs with their wine lists. In 2010 I put together a list of over 300 wines from around 100 winemakers for a food and wine shop that I co founded in London. We ran many wine events featuring the winemakers themselves who we either specifically invited or happened to be passing through London to visit distributors or participate in large wine events.

The general feedback was very positive, many customers were not aware of the variety of truly excellent wines available ranging in price from £8 to £900 plus per bottle. The reputation of Italian wines has improved to such an extent over the last forty years that they now produce some of the very best wines in the world.

I am often asked to recommend Italian wines and or winemakers producing wines in Italy. Below is a list of some of my personal favourite winemakers or estates covering most of Italy. The vast majority of these wines are available all over the world and most certainly in the UK, most of Europe and the USA




Abruzzo

Gran Sasso
Cantina Frentana
Emidio Pepe

Apulia

Tormaresca
A Mano
Alberto Longo

Basilicata

Tenuta del Portale
Cantine de Notaio
Elena Fucci

Calabria

Odoardi
Librandi
Statti

Campania

Fattoria Galardi
Mastroberardino
Benito Ferrara



Friuli Venezia Giulia

Livio Felluga
Miani
Le Vigne di Zamò
Princic Dario
Marco Felluga


Emilia-Romagna

Fattoria Zerbina
Podere La Berta


Lazio

Falesco
Trappolini
Marco Carpineti

Liguria

Lunae
Terrebianche
Azineda Agricola Maria Donata Bianchi

Lombardy

Ca ‘ del Bosco
Nino Negri


Marche

Fulvia Tombolini
Umani Ronchi
Fattoria San Lorenzo
Andrea Felici
Il Pollenza

Molise

Di Majo Lorante


Piedmont

Castello di Nievi
Ceretto
Damilano
Angelo Gaja
Poderi Aldo Conterno
Braida
Bruno Rocca
G.D Vajra
La Spinetta
Vietti
Prunotto
Pecchenino
Paolo Scavino
Michele Chiarlo


Sicily

Donafugata
Cos
Fazio




Sardinia

Agricola Punica
Cantina Mesa
Alberto Loi
AA Panevino
Tenuta Masone Manu


Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol

Tenuta San Leonardo
Tenuta J.  Hofstätter
Mezzacorona





Tuscany

Castello di Bolgheri
Casanova di Neri
Cabreo
Cecchi
Biondi Santi
Fontodi
Le Pupille
Le Macchiole
Tua Rita Suvereto
Tenuta San Guido
Tenuta dell ‘ Ornellaia
Tenuta Guado al Tasso ( Antinori)
Tenuta Sette Ponti
Valdicava
Isole e Olena
Argentiera


Umbria

Arnaldo Caprai
Castello della Sala ( Antinori)
Falesco
Paolo Bea

Valle d'Aosta

Les Crêtes
La Cave de Morgex

Veneto

Pieropan
Allegrini
Giuseppe Quintarelli
Inama
Tedeschi