The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is almost here. For Queen Elizabeth, it means a monumental milestone; for us, it means a four-day weekend. So, smiles all around. Stuck on what to do to celebrate? From corgis to gold leaf desserts, we’ve got a few suggestions.
Nick Nairn was one of the first chefs to turn himself into a ‘celebrity’, and did so via the BBC’s then wildly popular show Ready Steady Cook. But Nairn was a star in the kitchen as well as on the screen. He opened his first restaurant, Braeval Old Mill, near Aberfoyle in 1986, and went on to open the acclaimed Nairn’s in Glasgow in ‘98. Not bad for a chef who lacked formal training... and once described himself as ‘a self-taught cook who couldn’t boil an egg ten years ago’.
The largest of the Channel Islands is a self-governing bailiwick off the northwest coast of France. On a clear day, from one of its many fortified eminences, where the old cannon have fallen silent and the defensive towers turned into bijou residences, you can see Normandy. Hydrangeas festoon large in private gardens, while summer sees outbreaks of startling, purple-headed agapanthus line the verges. There is a local language – a reconstructed Norman tongue called Jèrriais – which around three per cent of the inhabitants still use.
Named The Good Food Guide’s newcomer of the year in 1988, Tessa Bramley has featured in every edition since (with a Michelin star awarded in 1998) and is considered a bit of a legend. A country cook rooted in tradition, time has been powerless to dim her diligence or enthusiasm in offering fiercely seasonal cooking that still feels current and fresh.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? A food hall or a market hall? Indoor street stalls, micro-restaurants or a posse of static food trucks lined up like a covered caravan park? Takeaways that are not-takeaways. Eating in or eating out, food vendors or food shops, boundaries and definitions are increasingly blurred. Whatever you call it, this hybrid way of grazing-cum-eating (and shopping) has become increasingly familiar in cities such as Manchester. Clarissa Hyman enjoys a tour of the best Manchester has to offer.
