Fish Cafe on Hampstead high street is part of the NW3 based Villa Bianca group. It sprang up a year or so ago and since then I've spent several happy afternoons on the pavement next to Waterstones scarfing a platter of oysters and too much white wine. Like this glorious day: Imagine my disappointment then on my latest visit whereby the menu had been drastically slashed. Before there were things like Smoked Haddock Rarebit (really rich and lovely) and I recall a nice gratin of

Ah, sangria. Let me count the ways I love thee, Spanish wine based punch. A: a lot. For me, a sangria can take various forms; I basically chuck whatever I've got in the fridge in along with a bottle of white wine, bottle of red, some brandy and some OJ mixed with lemonade. Once in Lanzarote, my mum and I shared a very pleasant jug of Cava sangria for breakfast after a long walk on the coast, and that is always the one my sangrias aspire to these days. It was kind of orangey,

This weekend sees six of Italy's finest gelato masters descend on London for three days of pure indulgence in Old Spitalfields Market - I'm just a little bit excited as a) I love gelato, and b) I'm going to be a judge there, YES. I'm going to be trying them all as the Italian big boys battle it out to find the ultimate gelato master. Gelato is serious business for the Italians and its a completely different beast to standard ice cream as we know it. If you'd like to know more

These genius little things are along the same lines as my Mushroom Proscuitto Egg Cups, Smoked Salmon Asparagus Egg Cups and the like, but this time I'm calling them boats. Pinterest is full of this kind of thing, so I cannot take credit for the idea but it is a very good one. It hardly warrants telling, but carefully crack an egg into the hollow of a ripe avocado - small eggs are best - and bake in the oven until set. I put a few slices of spring onion on mine then finished

I wrote this recipe for a piece I did for The Debrief on how to make your Sunday roast chicken last for seven meals, but it's a great dish in its own right so I'm sharing it today. (You can read my piece here) As ever, with most of my Indian recipes, this is a Mrs Parmar special. Being vegetarian, she would obviously not put chicken in hers, but I appreciate that lots of you would like to! Prawns would also be good to use - basically anything that doesn't need very much cooki

Shuck - great name btw - is a temporary pop up of 'Oysters, Beer & Booze' from shellfish heavyweights Wright Brothers currently occupying one of the railway arches off Borough Market. I'm a long term fan of all things Wright Bros (remember I went to their amazing Oyster Masterclass recently) and was lucky enough to be invited along to the press night of Shuck, which they're calling their 'naughty little brother'. Basically, Shuck allows them to get away with all the things th

This time last week saw me in Borough Market having a lovely time eating all sorts of delicious things and quaffing lovely Monmouth coffee just before the crowds hit. It was thirsty work, so come 11am my friend Julia and I decided that refreshment was definitely in order. Luckily the Borough Bar was on hand to provide us with this yummy Prosecco Spritzer. It's so refreshing and (probably) low in alcohol that it's practically a breakfast drink anyway. Make a big jug of it at h

Last week I needed somewhere chilled for lunch with friends in Marylebone - also had to be buggy friendly - and with Spanish / tapas our cuisine of choice, Iberica was the obvious solution. It was my first time at any of the three Ibericas and I'd heard good things, so was pretty excited. It's a lovely light room with lots of tables and ours was tucked away in a little alcove which was ideal. Not so ideal when 25 minutes later we were still to have our drinks order taken and

Just a quickie today from me; I've wanted to do something on arancini for a while and I made them for some friends the other day so it seems like a good time. Arancini are those excellent little fried risotto balls - they can come in almost any flavour - and are usually filled with mozzarella, although there can just as easily be a ragu centre or a basic pomodoro sauce even. Saffron risotto is a good start, or a simple bianca with white wine, parmesan and stock. These are Arr

When we were in Thailand we got quite heavily into a vegetable that's called Morning Glory (!) over there. I mean, we had it every day by choice and sometimes I'd have had it for breakfast too in one of their tasty omelette things. It's kind of like big robust spinach but more crispy and crunchy when stir fried, with straw-like stems and a sweet, green flavour. It's indiginous to Thailand, but there are other Chinese varieties that are similar. I've been searching for it high