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House Classic: The Kentucky Manhattan

I’m a late comer to this cocktail – call it a lockdown revelation, but it’s currently my favourite tipple. Strong, warm and silky – the Manhattan is one of the dark spirit cocktails that effortlessly crosses the seasons.

Originating in…of course… Manhattan, sometime in the mid-late 1800’s, the original Manhattan was a mix of “American Whiskey, Italian Vermouth, and Angostura bitters”, and I guess my house classic doesn’t veer too far away from these original roots.

Glassware

I like to serve a Manhattan in coupe, a shallow, saucer shaped stemmed glass. My current favourite is the Riedel Bar Crystal Glass Nick & Nora set. At 140ml, they are slightly too small for the recipe below, but it means you can leave some in the cocktail shaker chilling while you drink the first glass.

I always put the glass in the freezer for 10 minutes before making the cocktail.

Ingredients

40ml of Starlino Italian sweet vermouth
80ml of Jack Daniels
Dash of orange bitters
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Starlino cherry + juice to garnish

I’ve tried different variations of Bourbon, Rye and Vermouth brands, but this one comes out on top for me. The Starlino is an Italian sweet Vermouth di Torino, aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels. It includes wormwood, cloves, vanilla, rhubarb, ginger, cinchona tincture, grape skin, raisins, bitter orange peel and other herbs and spices, and unlike some Vermouth, is not too bitter, so it balances well with the Kentucky-originating Jack.

Recipe

Take one round, golf-ball-sized ice cube and place in cocktail shaker (square ice cubes are also fine – but bigger the better)
Add the spirits and the bitters (you could also add cherry bitter here if you like)
Stir until it’s nicely chilled
Pour, either straight up or with the single ice cube, into a cocktail glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry and a tiny drizzle of cherry juice.

Sip and enjoy with a snack.

12th September 2021

Eat

Birthday lunch, English’s, Brighton

We celebrated Madge’s Birthday with Bloody Mary’s, Oysters, Prosecco and seafood. Just as it should be! His restaurant of choice was English’s in Brighton – always a favourite for us, especially sat at the bar.

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20th October 2016

Eat

Hix Farringdon

I’ve been wanting to go to Hix for ages. It must be the only restaurant in Farringdon I haven’t been too, which is crazy considering how long it’s been there. So when I got a chance to go out for dinner in the area with a good friend I didn’t hesitate in booking.

It didn’t disapoint – I loved the inside of the restaurant – great decor, and a lovely looking bar. While they specialise in fish, it isn’t the only thing on the menu and I thoroughly recommend their ‘Heaven and Earth’ starter, which is a little ball of black-puddingy delight. I followed the starter with a beef flank and ale pie – minus the optional oysters, and we shared a gold chocolate mousse and new forest trifle.

I loved all of the food, and I especially loved the cute martini – which came with extra martini. Smooth and strong – exactly how it should be.

PS – I’ve even been back once already – and it was just as good the second time 🙂

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17th October 2016

Eat

10 things you learn when you go out alone

Well, I had a lovely time on my evening out alone. First, hairdressers, followed by dinner at Foxlow then cocktails at The Gibson. I didn’t read much of my book (I blame the lighting) and it was pretty hard to keep off my phone/IPad but I did have a nice relaxing time. As well as learning a few things:

The rest of the world is really bloody noisy when you’re on your own in a restaurant. Made me realise what a braying bunch of noise mongerers me and my friends must be.
You notice the speed at which you drink (first one, fast) and feel much more self conscious asking for a second (and third) drink than you do when you’re with someone else.
Putting your phone down is way harder than you think. Which means it’s way harder to be completely out of communication with other people.
It didn’t feel uncomfortable AT ALL. The restaurant was busy and I felt a bit apologetic asking for a table for 1, but only a bit. It didn’t feel like anyone was bothered.
I really don’t know what wine to order. I only drink white and when the 3 or so I know I like were not on the menu I was a bit flumoxed. Turns out Resiling is nice.
I was having such a nice time I wished I’d invited some friends along to share it. Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
You have to eat a whole desert. Which, ya know, isn’t a problem because chocolate with salted caramel is awesome. How did I not know this?
When there is sticky toffee pudding on the menu, most of the men in the restaurant will order it.
The bill is so much cheaper. Obviously.
It’s a bit like being invisible, in a good way. Not a superpower-good-way, but a quite nice people watching way.

It is Clerkenwell Design Week this week, so the whole area was buzzy, with people taking advantage of the shows, viewings and drinks parties.

: Table for 1

: Salted caramel chocolate

: Lovely bar

: Vintage shakers

: A chocolate coin

: Steak and salad

: In on the act

: Hello lover

26th May 2016

Eat

Whitecross Street food market

When you are on a restricted diet, making sure you get plenty of variety is essential. If you are basically eating meat and veg and fish and veg then you’re going to get pretty bored pretty quickly if you don’t mix it up a bit.

I’m lucky to spend a lot of time in London, in the Clerkenwell/Barbican area so I get to go to Whitecross Street food market a few times a week. Many moons ago I nearly rented a flat in Whitecross Street and then it was a bit of a run down dingy street with a few average restaurants in. Now, it’s completely changed. It’s actually one of the oldest markets in London, dating back to the 17^th Century, and at one point was known as ‘Squalors Market’. After some investment and regeneration it’s now a must-visit for anyone working or living in the area.

If you go down to Whitecross Street any weekday lunchtime you’ll find some of the best takeaway food vendors in London. You can eat your way round the world with curries and tikka boxes, burrito’s, Thai, sushi, Italian, Turkish and everything in between. A walk down the street is a mouthwatering delight and the hardest thing is to decide what to have. There up to 50 stalls on a Thursday and Friday, but there is a pretty good selection all week, from 10 – 4pm.

Everyone knows about Borough Market, but in my mind Whitecross certainly gives it a run for its money on takeaway, and prices are still reasonable for London. This week I’ve had a fantastic tikka box and a bun-less burger with salad, and I’ve got my eye on the Brazillian chicken skewers for later in the week.

The Market opening times are 10-4pm Monday to Friday , with many more food stalls on a Thursday and Friday.

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20th January 2016

Eat

Brighton Lunches

I’ve been lucky to go out for lunch in Brighton twice this week, and to two of my favourite restaurants.

Lots of new restaurants and eateries are opening up in Brighton, with some really fab looking places. When I first moved to Brighton about 6 years ago there was a lot less choice. There were a few good restaurants and loads of touristy rubbish, but the foodie revolution appears to have finally made it’s way down from London and we’re starting to get spoilt for choice. Brighton even has it’s own food festival.

So last week, for Madge’s Birthday we decided on a family lunch at The Bistro at the Hotel du Vin. There are much newer and funkier places popping up, but the Hotel du Vin can always be relied on for classic French bistro favourites and the bar does (arguably) the best grown-up cocktails in town.

I ordered the chicken liver parfait, followed by the Gloucester Old Spot pork belly with mousseline potatoes. Both were lovely and very filling. The boys ordered burgers and Madge enjoyed the French onion soup and the cassoulet. All washed down with some lovely bubbly prosecco. I was too full for desert, but the cheese and the enormous profiterole enjoyed by the boys looked great.

All the food was lovely, everyone enjoyed what they had ordered and the service was good too. Always a good, solid choice for a nice lunch or family occasion.

Yesterday we went to English’s, Brighton’s oldest (and best) seafood restaurant. Tucked away in The Laines, there has been an English’s there for 150 years, so it’s quite a Brighton institution.

The small restaurant downstairs was full when we arrived, so we happily opted to eat at the small bar. The upstairs restaurant doesn’t have the same cosy feel, and we don’t mind sitting at a bar watching what’s going on. The menu looked amazing – it was a hard choice, as there were plenty of things I could have ordered. Madge doesn’t like oysters, and they always feel like something to share to me, so we agreed on the mixed starter platter, which had lobster croquettes, sole goujons, wrapped prawns, potted shrimps – and the star of the show, home smoked salmon with dill and goat cheese panacotta. Absolutely scrumptious.

I followed up with salmon en croute, and himself had a whole dressed crab. They serve prosecco on tap, so we made sure our carafe was filled regularly! I have to make a special mention for the staff, who were absolutely superb. Fully attentive, interesting and they seem to know all the regulars’ names and details. Properly special.

It’s been ages since I’ve been to English’s – it’s easy to forget about the more established restaurants with all the new kids on the block, but I definitely won’t be leaving it so long until the next time.

We were having such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures, so the images of the Hotel du Vin are taken from their website and the image of English’s is of the home page of their site.

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6th November 2015

Eat

Cottage pie day

Sunday the first of November was cottage pie day. I always call it shepherds pie, but I think technically it has to be lamb to be a shepherds pie. Anyway, we made a huge pie and did nothing all day but eat it and chill out in front of the tv watching series 5 of Downton Abbey. Bliss.

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1st November 2015

Eat

Chambers of Flavour

Last week we went on the most amazing ‘multi dimensional dining experience’ – the Chambers of Flavour, run by Gingerline.

I was really looking forward to it, even though the whole premise of the concept is secrecy, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’d been told it was ‘Secret Cinema for dining’, and looked at the website, which doesn’t give much away!

So, once the booking is made, you have to wait until 4pm on the day of the booking to find out where the venue is. You know it is going to be somewhere on the Overground, but that’s it. At 4pm the text arrived and we were told where to head, and to be there for 5.30pm.

On arrival we were given a welcome drink and our entrance tickets and waited for our turn to go through.

Because the whole concept relies on secrecy I can’t say anything about the experience itself, other than the fact is was amazing. An absolutely fantastic night out, with good food and great company. I have not laughed so much in ages and the minute I came out I wanted to do it again!

If you can get tickets for this or any of the Gingerline events do – I’d definitely go again.

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7th October 2015

Eat

Dinner at Foxlow, Clerkenwell

We stayed in London on Wednesday night and decided to try Foxlow in St John Street. I didn’t know anything about it other than its owned by the same people that own Hawksmoor, and was attracted by the fact they serve cocktails!

We had a quick drink at the bar (disappointingly stand-up only) while we waited for a table and were soon seated at a high bench, which felt a bit bar-like, so that was good.

The restaurant feels really comfortable, with a bustle-y atomosphere and an open kitchen, bare wood tables and white tiles. It was busy and pretty lively and there was a lot on the menu to tempt us.

I chose the beef short-rib, with a side of oh-so-bad-it’s-good macaroni cheese and @madgie had fried chicken with chicken salt fries. The fries were astonishingly good – apparently the chicken ‘salt’ is crushed chicken skin. All washed down with a few Cosmopolitans. Somewhere to go if you want something substantial to eat – though you have to order all side dishes separately.

I’d go back, though wouldn’t necessarily rush and if you drink cocktails all night it can get a bit pricey. It’s such a shame I don’t drink beer ☺

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30th July 2015

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