Evolution, not Revolution
Founded in the mid-1800s by Clemente Santi, a pharmaceutical graduate from Pisa University, the Biondi Santi family lineage of wine production and curation dates back to the middle ages.
Food & Drink
Ashling Park Gin
Notes of candied lemon, delicate undertones of soft apples and pears and softer notes of honey and floral chamomile.
Secret Speyside
Longmorn, Caperdonich, Glen Keith, Braes of Glenlivet, four artisan producers from some of Speyside’s revered distilleries. Perhaps if the family had been sporting a measure from the Secret Speyside collection, I might have come into the fold a little sooner.
Ashling Park
Ashling Park’s 2014 Rosé is a confident number amongst its peers. Made from 80% Pinot Noir grapes and 20% Pinot Meunier on the family’s 50-acre estate in the hamlet of West Ashling in the South Downs.
The Benjamin Ichinose Collection
“It was perfection,” wrote the late Michael Broadbent MW. The legendary wine critic and author, not to mention the man who launched Christie’s wine auctions more than 50 years ago, was describing the equally-legendary private cellar of Dr. Benjamin Ichinose at his home in Hillsborough, California. The cellar was, he insisted, “Absolutely perfect in every sort of way.”
The Hollow Bottom
The Morgan raced on down the lane as the late October rain pelted the demure metal figure of British engineering. The storm had been battering my small enclave of the British Isles for some time. So much water had risen, I was beginning to forget a time before the flood.
Sexy Fish
Considering how prime its position on the square is, the exterior is rather understated. Though the interior decor is about as dramatic as anything I have ever seen. The floors are made of rare esmeralda onyx marble imported from Iran. There’s a large shoal of Frank Gehry fish lamps above the red stone bar that are guarded by some rather buxom bronze mermaids from Damien Hirst. Interior designer Martin Brudnizki has curated the interiors with Art Deco light fixtures, coral-coloured leather banquettes and a sizeable ceiling mural that covers the 190-seat restaurant.
Kaspars at The Savoy – WC2
For the longest time, The Savoy has eluded me. I’ve passed its decorated facade on many occasions, but for some reason, its heavily recessed entrance has never drawn me in.
The Curtain Hotel & Members Club
From the outset, it commands attention; a behemoth of a complex in a street of otherwise uninspiring architecture.
Angelina
It was last November when I first received word that a new Japanese-Italian restaurant was opening in Dalston, East London.