Author: Joanne Jenkins

Rev JW Simpson Spirited Sermons: Best of British Gin

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What A night of gin tasting and cocktail making with Tarquin’s gin of North Cornwall Where Reverend JW Simpson, 32 Goodge Street, W1T 2QJ Experience Tonight was a special night because it was the first time I had seen Sarah (Food for Think leader) since she left us for a much sunnier Australian climate, almost a year and a half ago! And what better way to celebrate her returning exactly the same shade of pale as when she left, than by drinking loads of straight Cornish gin. We got to Rev JW Simpson, a super stylish basement bar on Goodge Street (and one of my favourites), at around 7pm and were greeted by very affable staff who seated us in a cosy corner and walked us through the itinerary for the evening. Southwestern distillery, made famous by Tarquin’s gin and pastis, had pitched up to allow a group of gin enthusiasts to indulge in an array of cocktails, attempt some mixology and learn about the history of what is undoubtedly one of the more intriguing alcohol …

The Art of Japanese Whisky with Suntory Whisky

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What A night of Japanese whisky tasting and ice carving Where The Hollywood Arms in Chelsea Experience  The prospect of trying some Japanese whiskies on top of learning some traditional ice carving skills was too much for me to pass over. What a party trick! I imagined that this would be an absolute game changer for my social life. We turned up at the Hollywood Arms a bit late as I’d had to take Joe to the pub next door for some warm up drinks. He hates whisky so needed a few beers before he could even consider drinking it straight. He was purely in it for the ice carving and, I suspect, has dreams of us going pro. The tasting was held in the upstairs room, where our host was ready and waiting with a couple of high balls and a Power Point. Just my kind of thing. Our charming teacher explained, and demonstrated with pictures, how, in 1923, the founder of the Suntory distillery began his journey to create a Japanese whisky that, …

Diciannove

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What Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar near Blackfriars. Experience Diciannove is an Italian restaurant situated on the ground floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel in Blackfriars. Formerly known as Refetorrio, the restaurant has reopened with a refurb and the addition of a new deli and so I went along to try it out. This was my first time eating around Blackfriars and I have to say that I was slightly dubious about what I could expect from a hotel restaurant. Unsurprisingly, the place has a very international feel and was littered with business suits and hotel guests but we were settled in to our own cosy corner by the lovely waitress and left to look over the extensive all-Italian wine menu. This made us feel right at home. During the evening there is a 3-course menu and our selections included the spaghettini all’ astice (fresh lobster, Pigato thyme and fresh tomato), filatto di manzo (beef fillet, potatoes tortino, sautéed leeks and veal sauce) and mozzarella di bufala (Buffalo mozzarella, roasted balsamic beetroot, mixed leaves and beetroot …

Cocktails in the City: Mayfair

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What All you cocktail swiggers out there will be pleased to know that Cocktails in the City are back for another three day cocktail party from 10th-12th March in one of Mayfair’s’ most beautiful Grade II listed buildings. Twenty pop up bars will be spread over four floors, and this year that includes an international floor with guest mixologists from Amsterdam and Paris. Don’t miss your chance to lap up some of London’s tastiest tipples all under one roof. Another exciting edition for this year are the bespoke cocktail master classes that will be taking place on Thursday and Friday. They all look pretty impressive. I’ve added “What if Tequila were British?” with Oxo Tower and Patron Tequila, as well as “Tales of the Sazera” with Hawksmoor Spitalfields Bar and Rittenhouse Rye/Maxime Trijol to my Filofax. I’m heading down ASAP on the Thursday, so can expect another tragic weekday hangover on Friday. Why wait?! Where One Mayfair Cost Tickets are £15 and can be found here: http://cocktailsinthecity.designmynight.com/cocktails-in-the-city-london

Capish? at The Hat and Tun

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What Launch of Italian-American style street food Capish? at The Hat and Tun for two weeks in February. They will be serving their 3 most popular dishes from Wed 17th – Fri 19th and Wed 24th – Fri 26th between 5.30pm and 9pm. Where Hat and Tun, Hatton Wall, Farringdon Experience After watching the final episode of Sopranos last week, I was bewildered and ratty, and felt, suddenly, very alone. So when I received the invite to try the new Italian-American pop up menu at Hat and Tun, I figured that this was just the event I needed to stop me from comfort eating chorizo and to ease me back into some sort of a normal life. Capish?, a street food company based in Hackney, have been trading their take on Italian-American classics on Roman Road market since 2012. They use locally sourced, sustainable ingredients to create what Londonist declared to be, the “best meatballs in London”.  Oh marone! I really like the Hat and Tun as it’s cosy and they sell good beer, so …