Please wait, the site is loading...

Food

My week: Gatsby cocktails, Jamie Oliver and Chocolat

by Sarah Randell

Ever since my trip to Copenhagen last year I have a passion for cardamom buns and have found the closest match at Fabrique in Hoxton. Made to a Swedish recipe, the buns (and bread) are so good it's impossible to make it home without eating at least one on the journey.

this-week---gatsby-cocktail.jpg

We've dusted down our satin flapper dresses and velvet cloche hats and are in The Great Gatsby swing of things. We started our Gatsby season at The Milestone Hotel where we sipped their two special cocktails, The Gatsby and The Daisy (£14.50 each), served by the charming waiter Dickson. You can tuck into a flapper platter, too, which includes a few 1920s favourites – crab-stuffed mushrooms, Waldorf salad and Rinkum Diddy (£20).

this-week---gnh-bar.jpg

Another new favourite is the bar at London's revamped Great Northern Hotel. As a frequent train traveller to Yorkshire, a happening pit stop at Kings Cross station just a five-minute run from the platforms is a good thing. Order the King's Garden (£8) – a refreshing mix of gin, apple juice, mint, cucumber and lemongrass – and a plate of mini crab cakes with spicy tartare (£7).

this-week---jamies.jpg

Jamie has relaunched Fifteen, London, and, with head chef Jon Rotheram (previously at St John) at the helm, the focus has switched from Italian to best of British. There's a selection of tempting bar snacks to enjoy with a cocktail before reaching your table; we tucked into crispy quail and sipped gingernuts (gin, gingerbread syrup and lemon) while chatting to the man himself. 'It's 10 years since I opened the doors at Fifteen; we've learnt a lot and made a few mistakes along the way, and I'm really excited about this next stage,' he told us. 'The dishes are now mostly smaller plates to order and share, but there are more substantial mains, too, if you prefer a traditional starter, main and pud.' We ate stuffed pasta with nettles (£10), Pink Fir potatoes with Lincolnshire poacher cheese and wild garlic (£8) and Braised lamb with monk's beard, broad beans and anchovy (£20). On the side, we crunched our way through a gorgeous spring salad (leaves, courgette flowers, herbs and sweet baby carrots, £6). A scoop of olive-oil ice cream was a sweet soothing finish.

this-week---eric-chocolat.jpg

We're big fans of Eric Lanlard's new book Chocolat, which had its launch at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel where Eric's afternoon tea menu is served daily in the opulent Chinoiserie. The book is a drool-over collection of more than 100 decadent recipes. The double-baked chocolate meringue brownie is top of my list to make.

Have you discovered any special foodie places this week? Tell us in the comments box below.

Don`t miss

We value your privacy

We use cookies to help give you the best experience on our site and to allow us and third parties to customise the marketing content you see across websites and social media. For more information see our cookie policy.

Cookie Preference Centre

Learn more about what each cookie category does and choose your settings (toggle right to opt in or left to opt out). Cookie policy


Strictly Necessary

These technologies are needed to enable our websites and apps to run and to keep it secure.

Sainsbury's Magazine

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
PHPSESSID Until the browsing session ends
device_view 1 month
viewedRecipes 1 year
subscription-{popup-version-date}-PopupClosed 12 days

Vimeo

Enables Vimeo videos on the site

Cookie name Duration
_derived_epik 1 year

Constant Commerce

Enables shopping tools for recipe ingredients

Cookie name Duration
cc_a_h 10 years
cc_a_s Until the browsing session ends

DoubleClick

DoubleClick Digital Marketing (DDM) is an integrated ad-technology platform that enables us to more effectively create, manage and grow high-impact digital marketing campaigns.

Cookie name Duration
DSID 10 days
IDE 1 year
RUL 11 months

Performance/Analytics

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Google

Google Analytics tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
__gads 13 months
gadsTest Until the browsing session ends
_ga 28 months
_gat 1 minute
_gid 1 day
1P_JAR 1 month
ANID 10 days
CONSENT 18 years
NID 6 months
__Secure-3PAPISID 2 years
__Secure-3PSID 2 years
__Secure-3PSIDCC 1 year

Marketing/Targeting

These technologies help us decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you. We use this data to customise the marketing content you see on websites, apps and social media. They also help us understand the performance of our marketing activities. These cookies are set by us or our carefully-selected third parties.

Pinterest

Pinterest conversion tracking gathers conversion insights and builds audiences to target based on actions our visitors have taken on the site.

Cookie name Duration
_pinterest_ct_rt 1 year
_pinterest_ct_ua 1 year
_pin_unauth 1 year

Outbrain

These technologies tell us how customers use our sites and apps and provide information to help us improve the website, apps and your browsing experience.

Cookie name Duration
outbrain_cid_fetch 5 minutes
adrl 5 weeks
apnxs 6 weeks
criteo 2 months
obuid 6 months

Twitter

Twitter conversion tracking enables us to measure our return on ad spend by tracking the actions people take after viewing or engaging with our ads on Twitter.

Cookie name Duration
personalization_id 2 years
muc 2 years
ads_prefs 5 years
auth_token 5 years
dnt 5 years
guest_id 2 years
twid 5 years