Category Archives: Wine and Food

A Different Market Tavern

Posted on 13/10/2016 by dccrossley

In England at least, a market tavern tends to be a noisy pub selling warm beer with generous amounts slopping onto a sticky floor. Old Spitalfields Market has Taberna do Mercado, a very different proposition, and as we are not blessed … Continue reading →

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A Sporting Chance

Posted on 30/07/2016 by dccrossley

When a friend suggested a group of us wander down to Seasalter for the Tasting Menu lunch at The Sportsman it was impossible to refuse. Not only has Stephen Harris created a menu which the Daily Telegraph described as “no … Continue reading →

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Keeping My Chinato Up

Posted on 23/07/2016 by dccrossley

I have a mate called Warren. Some of you may know him. He’s the guy who organises the occasional Spice Oddities spin-off we have at the India Club on The Strand, and the Fish ‘n Fino lunches at Masters’ near … Continue reading →

Posted in Dining, Italian Wine, Piemonte, Wine, Wine and Food, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

More Than Just Cordial

Posted on 06/07/2016 by dccrossley

I enjoyed a tasting event at Elderflower Restaurant a few weekends ago (see here), but until Saturday night I hadn’t dined there. That was soon put right, four of us enjoying a meal of a standard high enough that I … Continue reading →

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Chop Chop – Post Haisma/Le Grappin Lunch

Posted on 22/01/2016 by dccrossley

Nine winoholics, or at least that’s how one sometimes feels in failing to follow the “Dry January” dictat,  had a table booked at Quality Chop House on Farringdon Road for a post-Vinoteca tasting lunch (it is work, you know). As … Continue reading →

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New Glasses – Should’ve Gone to Spec Savers

Posted on 07/01/2016 by dccrossley

You’d have thought that the readers of the Daily Telegraph were as au fait as anyone with the appropriate stemware for Champagne. In an article on 27 December written by Camilla Turner, the author recommended flutes over the bad old coupe. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Wine, Wine and Food, Wine Glasses, Wine Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

How the Other Half Leflaives

Posted on 10/11/2015 by dccrossley

If one only drank the kind of wines which I do much of the time, the ones most normal people think a bit odd, then I would be like those wine makers who only drink their own wines. The palate … Continue reading →

Posted in Fine Wine, Sherry, Wine, Wine and Food | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Spice Up Your Life

Posted on 07/11/2015 by dccrossley

That seems so long ago, doesn’t it! My life needed spicing up yesterday, one of those mornings, thankfully not coming along too often, when Friday 13th seemed to have arrived a week early. It was our last “curry” lunch before … Continue reading →

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SHOddities – Reaching Perfection in Food and Wine

Posted on 17/10/2015 by dccrossley

Whilst Oddities, our tasting lunches at Rochelle Canteen, have previously elicited a random selection of wines in terms of geography, we decided to focus this one on the Southern Hemisphere (hence the “SH”). The wines were as far from “shoddy” … Continue reading →

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Fourth & Church, New Wine Venue in Hove

Posted on 16/10/2015 by dccrossley

I was invited to the launch party of Fourth & Church last night, a new venue with a strong wine focus in Hove. To call it a wine bar is a bit of a misnomer, because the focus will be on food … Continue reading →

Posted in Wine, Wine and Food, Wine Tastings | 2 Comments