London food

London food

There's a certain kind of salon visit where you go in holding your phone out with a bunch of reference images and come out looking vaguely in the right direction. And then there's STIL. You leave looking like the picture. The actual picture. Well, maybe not the model's face, but the hair style at least...

Mriya, or 'dream' as it translates in English, opened on Chelsea's Brompton Road in August 2022 - just six months after Russia launched a invasion of the country. Its mission was to provide culinary and emotional sustenance for homesick Ukrainians, as well as to keep the struggles of the conflict in Ukraine on the agenda.

It really is exceptional, because of its range of stalls, personalities and demos, and because you also get a glimpse into the world of the ever-inspiring Allen family (I desperately want an outbuilding purely for fermenting and making sourdough, a la Darina). Weekends such as this are becoming more and more popular, and they're undoubtedly a fun and great way to try a range of cuisines, but you don't have to go to a food festival to enjoy decent festival food.

The cut in VAT, from 20% to 5%, will run from 25th June through to 1st September and applies across the UK. The cut will apply to admission tickets for families to a range of attractions, including the cost of children's meals at the venues, but only applies to venues and events where children are included in the tickets. So parents/carers can take children and get a discount, but adults without children will pay the full rate.

Floden is thought to be an early type of Ashkenazi Jewish pie linked to the German word Fladen, meaning flatbread or pie. Related recipes appear in Jewish food traditions from the early Middle Ages, often using simple fillings such as fruit, cheese or honey.

Bournemouth beach is also favoured for being one of the warmest and most swimmable patches of coastline in the UK. At this classic British seaside, you will find a promenade and footpath that takes you to Hengistbury Head to the east and Sandbanks to the south, arcades, ice-creams, and everything else you want at a beach. Underneath its famous cliffs, the spot is undeniably popular in the summer months, but, as the Blue Flag notes, it is very clean and well-managed.

We loved walking around the island and eating oysters, even if we did nearly get stranded on a broken bridge, had to wade through the sea to the other side, and then make a mad dash back to the car before the high tide swallowed the only road off the island.

Empire Empire, a 'disco-themed' Indian restaurant in Notting Hill, is eyeing up a second location. The All Saints Road joint, which opened in 2023 and specialises in Punjabi cuisine, was awarded a Bib Gourmand - Michelin's accolade for affordable fine dining. Judges praised the restaurant's butter chicken, adding: 'You'd be a fool to overlook the terrific King Prawns Kadhai Masala - a prime demonstration of the kitchen's skill with flavours.'

Next weekend, we have the joy of celebrating First Communion in the Parish. The First Communion Mass will be celebrated in Poulfur at 11.30am on Saturday 2rd May and the Mass of Thanksgiving takes place the next day, Sunday 24th May in Templetown at 11.30am. Refreshments will be served after the Mass of Thanksgiving in Templetown Church. Thanks to the Parish Pastoral Committee in organising this. Please keep the girls and boys in your prayers.

After five years of having their warehouse on site, the pair are moving it to a new location, freeing up a load of space to expand their retail offering - and that's exactly what they plan to do with Etc.Paper.

CCTV footage showed him lying across the car while his friends took photos. He then began eating his takeaway from the bonnet before kicking the vehicle twice and ripping off a wing mirror, leaving it unusable for five days.

Koya is one of our fave Japanese restaurants in London; besides being one of the best places in town for udon, we keep coming back for its donburi, tempura and Japanese pickles. And now we're teaming up with Koya City to help you create your own Japanese pickles like a pro.

Any meeter greeter who says: "Please sit anywhere you like," rather than the oft herding of two women to a tiny table beside a toilet, kitchen or screaming baby, is on to a winner with me. And, as I keep on saying, a smile, a bit of charm (even smarm), adds a considerable sweetener to the pot. Happily, we were in receipt of both on our visit to La Vespa, a new Italian restaurant in Castle Market - an atmospheric almost plaza-like cut-through between South William and Drury Street, leading on to the Victorian George's Street Arcade and ultimately South Great George's Street.

The problem has appeared on the progress screen, which charts an order's progress from inception to greasy nirvana. Something is trying to escape the kitchen, but luckily, Windows Defender Firewall is there to save the day. Sadly, there's no way for the waiting customers to clear the message, but it's unlikely to interfere too much with the fryers or griddles. Instead, it's just something new on the screen (and arguably better than the maddening sight of a telephone order leapfrogging your place in the line).

My most exulted sighting came as I drove out of upper Dovedale when, from the corner of my eye, I caught a blanket of gold running over the slope. The flowers held the foreground before the eye travelled onwards to Sheen Hill in Staffordshire. We overuse the word carpet, but in this instance it was appropriate. Each bloom was about the same height as all its neighbours, and if you eliminated gaps in colour by getting down face to face with the flower heads, then the whole land was turned into a single glorious sunshine hue.

When Nancy's opens in London Bridge in June, a 'Lady Luck' negroni cart will be roaming the room, allowing anyone who puts their faith in fate to choose their drink with a roll of the dice. Fortunately, whether you roll a six or a one, there are no losers in this game (as long as you're a negroni lover, that is). Selected serves range from a classic negroni to one with a chocolate twist served with a Terry's Chocolate Orange slice, as well as 'The Rosé', made using mezcal, sloe gin and a touch of absinthe.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, widely regarded as the most prestigious of Britain's flower shows, is now under way in London. Held in the grounds of Royal Hospital Chelsea, this year's event features cutting-edge garden design, large-scale floral displays and innovative planting schemes inspired by sustainability, wellbeing and climate resilience.

Rocco Mastrangelo Jr. is the co-owner of Cafe Diplomatico, which has been a Little Italy staple since 1968 and was founded by his father Rocco Mastrangelo Sr. Mastrangelo said his father also used to own the Royal back when it was called the Pylon and focused on Italian cinema. "He actually owned seven Italian cinemas in the city of Toronto between the late 1960's and the mid 1980's, and the Royal was one of his cinemas," he said.

A photo exhibition of portraits and landscapes has opened in one of the newly finished railway arches at the Bankside development near the Tate Modern. The works are all by Andy Earl, who mixes wide-angle landscapes with more commercial celebrity photography, mainly of musicians. So you've got a mix of photos of streets and architecture interspersed with photos of Annie Lennox, Prince and REM.

A Jewish man in his 20s is being treated in hospital for injuries to his face and back after being attacked by a number of men in north London. The Metropolitan Police said its officers arrived at the scene within six minutes and said they were treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime.

On a Wednesday night just three weeks after it opened, we snuck into Auguste at 6pm and the place was entirely mobbed. It was as if the old Papi crowd had simply carried on making pilgrimage here, like worker ants not quite realising that their queen's chamber had moved. That night, the arrosticini came in three varie

At the entrance, a shelf displays ceramics made by local craftspeople, each piece accompanied by an introduction to the creative who made it. It feels more like a crafts exhibition than a hotel front entrance-and that's precisely the point.

The newly appointed head chef at The Sea Rooms at Kelly's Resort in Rosslare believes that in his world, it is the farmers and fishmongers who do all the hard work before he merely presents the produce properly.

Over the past few years, we have done everything in our power to navigate an increasingly challenging environment. A combination of sustained cost increases, the lasting effects of COVID-19, Brexit, and ongoing global instability, has fundamentally reshaped the landscape for restaurants in central London.

Pedn Vounder-roughly translating to 'end of the lane' from Cornish-is a hidden beach located on the rugged Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall near Porthcurno. Famous for its turquoise water, white sand, and dramatic granite cliffs, it's easy to see why it's often compared to the pristine beaches of Indonesia or the Caribbean.

The mystery-comedy features an all-star cast (Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston) and follows... a flock of sheep who investigate the murder of their shepherd. Set outside the small English village of Denbrook, shepherd George Hardy (Jackson) reads mystery thrillers to his flock every night. But suddenly, fiction becomes reality when the sheep find him dead with blue and green dye on his hands.