Ho Chi Minh City: Seafood And Caramel
I got an Air Mekong flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and then a taxi to the backpackers’ area in District One. An old woman led me down an…
Pho Bo: The Difficulties Of A National Dish
A tour of Ho Chi Minh City’s vibrant restaurant scene would not be complete without sampling Vietnam’s unofficial national dish, beef noodle soup (pho bo). And what better place to…
The Cafe That Changed The Vietnam War
It’s hard to imagine a restaurant the size of Pho Binh was used to house 160 people, let alone launch an attack on American-led forces only 100 yards from the…
Go Easy On The Ham Ramsay!
If Gordon Ramsay ever needed proof that he should get back into the kitchen and do what he’s good at, then he should take a long, hard look at his…
How Do You Cook A 7lb Monster Mushroom?
A giant mushroom big enough to feed 40 people has been found growing in an old brick kiln in southern Vietnam. Truong Anh Dao found the humongous fungus, standing 50cm…
AA Gill Pans ‘Food Blaggers’
I posted a link to a great article today, which sparked a bit of banter on Twitter, so I thought I’d write something about it. The piece was about the…
Vietnam: The Land Of Sandwiches
I used to know a lot about horse racing, but never quite enough to make any money at it. I studied the form, and threw bricks into the dewy turf…
Hawksmoor's Slating & Jailing Food Critics
For the second weekend in a row now AA Gill has managed to stir up a hornet’s nest among food bloggers by doing what he’s paid to do – putting…
Does AA Gill Eat Meat From A Gibbet?
The row about AA Gill giving London’s trendy Hawksmoor steak restaurant a mauling with a fleischklopfer has raised a couple of interesting questions, namely where does the overpaid napkin-tucker get…
Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho): A Breakfast For Champions
One thing that surprised me during the two months or so I spent in Vietnam was how dismissive many tourists were of the food. When I was in Thailand and…
The Hinds Head And Tales Of Olde Puddings
Guest post by Dom Bailey If the haggis is the great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race, the Hinds Head in the upmarket village of Bray, in Berkshire, has snagged a…
A Novel Way Of Catching Crickets
Cambodia is a hard place to work in as a journalist, but it’s still depressing to see the lack of news coming out of the country. Publications that take a…
An Existence Of Mud, Fish & Lake Water
I continued my journey through the floating villages on Tonle Sap, and the tin shacks and wooden houses became even more ramshackle, until there were families of 14 living in…
Can 17-Hour Days Ever Be An Excuse For Violence In The Kitchen?
You probably read the story in the papers this week about head chef Charlie McCubbin (arrowed above) punching a kitchen worker and throwing him down the stairs after food critic…
Cooking Rabbit & Getting Over The Guilt Of Eating Your Favourite Cartoon Characters
Guest post by Dom Bailey Rabbit was once a staple in the English diet. But having grown up with Myxomatosis and Watership Down, it was never that appealing as a…