Author Archives: Toast & Butter
Bao, London
If you’ve been watching ‘Simply Nigella’ on TV, you might have noticed that she and her team have their fingers firmly on the pulse of all that is new and ‘au courant’ in food trends. Goji berries, avocadoes, chia seeds, coconut oil – TICK TICK. A couple of episodes ago, we saw Nigella breeze into […]
Make a ‘Frozen’ cake and stay sane!
In the beginning of my journey into Parenthood, I tried to keep Disney cartoons out of my daughter’s life. I had all these lofty ideals that she wasn’t going to get sucked in by the big commercial things, driven by this vague notion that it was just too inane. What the hell did I know? […]
Cyprus: amazing food on both sides of the line
I just got back from Cyprus where I had my mind blown by this unique and electrifying country. I felt like a proper ignoramus when we booked our flights, thinking we were going to the furthermost part of the Greek islands. Not quite. (I caveat my extreme ignorance: I didn’t do history GCSE, and have […]
Crystal Palace Park Cafe
UPDATE March 2018: This cafe has now finally been knocked down and is being rebuilt. It will be run by local cafe maestros Brown & Green. Crystal Palace Park Cafe in SE London, unlovely in concrete, is being knocked down at the end of February 2016 to make way for a new two-storey events centre […]
Restaurant Chez Marie The
Have you ever wanted to have lunch alongside a bunch of French farmers? Rub shoulders at the buffet with some ruddy-faced tractor drivers? The restaurant Chez Marie Thé, in the small village of Ploerdut, Southern Brittany, is just the place to do it. It’s a fascinating eye opener into just how seriously the French take […]
Dishoom King’s Cross
Nothing like a posh soiree out in a glamourous and theatrical setting to quicken the blood, is there? Especially when most of my week is spent chest-deep in chaos dealing with disorderly small family members. I recently had the task of organising one of my dearest pals N’s hen dinner, and thought immediately of having […]
West Norwood Feast
It’s amazing isn’t it, the ability to live up just up the road from something quite fun and amazing and NEVER visit it. Us Londoners are skilled at this – we have all these museums and theatres and parks and statues in our wonderful capital and never bother our arses to explore even a tenth of […]
Peach upside-down almond cake
I just want to salute my friend B, who has recently met a real-life man in a real-life situation – i.e. in a bar. She didn’t have to resort to using hideous app software a la Tinder or a dating site etc to get together with him. He just wandered up, they got chatting using their […]
Chocolate and coconut paradise bars
Public announcement: these are not called Paradise Bars for nothing. They are like a Bounty Bar with added HORN. My wonderful friend N made a tin of these for my birthday earlier this year (YOO HOO my dear!) and I think it was one of the best gifts I have EVER received. Paradise Bars are […]
Dreamy strawberry ice cream
It’s absolutely roasting hot in the UK. A bit like walking about in an oven. Us Brits are quite unused to such heat, so we get in a bit of a frenzy and start getting really drunk very quickly, going lobster red in the sun. All around there are men sporting ‘farmer tans’ – […]
Toast & Butter 