Food & drink

Food & drink

If you want to experience true sophistication, then may we suggest drinking in a hotel bar? Fancier than a London pub and classier than a cocktail bar, drinking in a hotel bar is much more than simply sipping a martini in a foyer. The city's best hotel bars are glamorous hideaways that offer elite drinking experiences. A new list by Forbes has ranked the very best hotel bars in the world with its inaugural Forbes Travel Guide Star Bars for 2025 .

For many Brits, a beer at the pub washed down with a salty snack is no doubt one of life's greatest pleasures. What's more uncertain, it seems, is where exactly these Great British delicacies come from. Experts at British Lion Eggs surveyed 2,000 British adults about their knowledge and opinions on nibbles commonly found behind the bar. Scotch eggs, pork scratchings and pork pies were found to be among the nation's favourites - but many were left scratching their heads over their origins.

There's a very big difference between a good pastrami sandwich and a great one, and much of that comes down to the meat. You know right away when you're eating a perfectly cooked piece of pastrami - it should be tender, juicy, and bursting with so much natural flavor that you shouldn't need any toppings to compliment it. But there is one other small step you need to take to build the ultimate deli-style pastrami sandwich, and that's toasting the bread.

Why you'll love this recipe! Indulgent - Forget everything you know about store-bought hot chocolate packets. My easy homemade hot chocolate is made with melted dark chocolate, cocoa powder, milk, and vanilla to make it irresistibly luxurious. Adult-friendly - A little bourbon in each sip brings the après ski vibes to any occasion. Need a kid-friendly drink? Just skip the booze! So simple - Just one pot, a handful of ingredients, and about 10 minutes on the stove.

Juicy apples - You get little bursts of juicy apples in every bite. Tart cranberry glaze - I dressed up the scones in a pink cranberry glaze to make them completely irresistible. Buttery and tender - Even though these scones are vegan-friendly, they're as buttery, tender, and flaky as traditional scones! Use up leftover cranberries - Got extra cranberries lying around after the holidays? Use them up in these scones, my cranberry white chocolate cookies, and these cranberry orange muffins!

Only to be met by a wall of people, relentless crowd surges and consumerist chaos at its peak. It's hard to imagine anyone actually enjoying it, yet clearly thousands do because there they all were. I've always loved the Christmas lights in London, but when you're sandwiched between strangers, all trying to get somewhere, I have to say they start to lose their appeal.

There are plenty of reasons Bojangles continues to expand, not least of which is how underrated its breakfast menu is. The chicken quality has lunch and dinner crowds convinced, but the incredible homemade buttermilk biscuits are the perfect size for a comforting breakfast. We sampled and ranked 7 Bojangles biscuit sandwiches according to taste, texture, freshness, and whether we'd buy them again. Surprisingly enough, chicken didn't factor into our favorite sandwich, as the classic trifecta of bacon, egg, and cheese was too good to ignore.

Steak is one of life's finer treats, and when you serve up a perfectly seared ribeye or sirloin steak, it will always be the star of the show. However, this highly coveted meaty meal option doesn't always have to be enjoyed as the main event; with just a little bit of knife work, you can transform steak into a mouthwatering starter or hors d'oeuvres.

Pickle fans know the joy of nabbing a fresh jar of any of the best pickle brands and enjoying the tasty snacking and sandwich-stacking possibilities. But there's a way to feel even better about your pickle purchase: reusing those jars. When you can repurpose a product's packaging, the benefits are plentiful. You're participating in an eco-friendly mission to reduce waste, and you're also putting the packaging to use for where you might have otherwise had to spend money to buy new.

A landmark Palm Springs restaurant is up for sale, and the buyer won't just be getting a California desert property: They'll be getting the recipes too. Billy Reed's, which opened in 1975, has been listed for $7.5 million as its current owner prepares to retire. When the restaurant debuted at 1800 N. Palm Canyon Drive, it quickly became known for its massive portions of American comfort food, pies baked in-house and homey interior design.

To properly caramelize an onion, you need to have some patience. We have some tips to avoid common mistakes. Caramelized onions are not often used as a burger topping because they take time to prepare. However, you can speed up the process and have them ready in 20 to 30 minutes instead of as long as an hour. Cook them over low heat with butter and add some brown sugar and soy sauce.

I've never met a soul who doesn't appreciate a good cracker. The pantry staple is wildly versatile and, most likely, holds special meaning for each of us, whether you (like me) frequently feasted on Ritz and cream cheese in younger years, or regularly housed bowl after bowl of your favorite Goldfish flavor after getting home from school. Some are tasty enough to eat solo, while others beg to be placed on a fancy charcuterie board or used to top a crunchy casserole.

For those who live in Seattle or who may be visiting, the University of Washington Arboretum is home to wild salmonberry plants that grow along the creek and in other moist areas. They also grow along the 20-mile stretch of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Carkeek Park, the Discovery Park Loop Trail, and Ravenna Park are all places where the berries grow naturally. In general, salmonberries can be picked when they are ripe from May through July, typically in moist areas near ponds and streams.

In case you didn't know, a chocolate torte is a European cake made without flour. Instead, it's ground nuts, starches, or bread crumbs that give it a dense, soft structure. With Tasting Table's version, recipe developer Catherine Brookes opted for almond meal, which she described as adding "a nutty flavor and making the torte rich and moist." Obviously, other baking essentials, such as melted butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extracts, are still included. And we can't possibly go without the cake's heart and soul: cocoa powder and dark chocolate.

High-end French AOP cheeses, artisan pâtés or handmade chocolates make excellent Christmas gifts for non-vegan friends and relatives. However, a change in the UK's food hygiene rules means that travelling with this type of gift may be more complicated this year. Here's what you need to know. Can you bring French meat or cheese into the UK this Christmas? If you haven't crossed an international border for a few months, you might notice a few differences about travel this Christmas.

A viral video resurfaced this week, leading many citizens of the internet to ask the brave question: Should children be seen or heard in public? Reposted to X, the video (which was previously shared by both the New York Post and featured on A&E's "Customer Wars" in 2024) featured a woman confronting another group of patrons for having a baby with them, insisting that they were "idiots" for being there at a bar/restaurant in Austin, Texas.

A spicy sauce by any name may still taste as sweet (or, uh, as spicy?), but it won't be the same thing. Buffalo wing sauce and hot sauce are the crimson beauties of capsaicin-lovers' epicurean daydreams - indeed, they share a lot of the same applications - but they're different condiments entirely, and not able to be used interchangeably in recipes.

From Dutch apple tarts to Spanish seafood, Ukrainian sweet porridge and Turkish delights, Irish-based chefs from around the globe share what they will be serving up this Christmas

The tiny - and cheap - nutritional powerhouses are excellent sources of both plant-based protein and fiber (a cup of black beans, for example, contains around 15 grams of both). There's ample evidence to suggest eating them regularly can help with far more than just smooth digestion. In one 2025 study published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition, 72 participants with prediabetes were split into three groups

A charcuterie board is a hit at any party, and Sam's Club is selling one that goes beyond a basic board. Right now, you can find a festive, gift-worthy set that includes not only 11 gourmet offerings, but also an engraved, rotating lazy Susan to serve things on. It's a 2-in-1 gift that'll keep on giving, since recipients will be able to keep using the lazy Susan long after they finish the delicious bites featured in the set.

"I think the DNA of Snowflake is showing off the range of American Single Malt and how many directions you can take," Aden says. "The only preconceived notion I go in with is that I don't want it to taste too similar to the past few years. In 2023, I leaned heavily on mezcal and Islay casks. 2024 was heavily fortified wines. This year, I wanted to stay under the umbrella of fruit, but I was inspired to be much more tropical, bright, citrusy and floral."