Eating ladies’ thighs
It’s been a while since I posted here, mainly because I was away on holiday for a couple of weeks, and then came back to an…
Dining in Hangzhou
There’s a piece of mine in the Financial Times Weekend today, about the wonderful restaurants of Hangzhou. And a mention of the paperback of ‘Shark’s Fin’…
Crazy menu translations
The photographer Ian Cumming was my partner-in-crime on one of my Xinjiang food research trips. It was a hilarious couple of weeks: we were trailed by…
Telegraph ex-pat book club
‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper’ has been chosen as the first book featured by the international ex-pat wing of the Daily Telegraph’s website. This is great,…
Barshu reopening
We seem to have an actual date for the reopening of Barshu, the London Sichuanese restaurant for whom I act as consultant: the evening of 30th…
A pearl in my tooth
On the Scottish island, a friend and I picked our way across slippery seaweed-strewn beaches, through bogs and heather bushes, and finally down a rocky cliff,…
Deep-fried jellyfish, anyone?
A bizarre story in the Guardian this week: apparently Chinese immigrants are surprising the people of Tuscany by gathering and eating jellyfish. Actually I always recommend…
US paperback out!
The official publication date of the US paperback version of ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper’ is 25th August, but it’s already available on Amazon.com…
Lady Mackerelbeth
The island holiday in Scotland turned into a wonderful adventure, and I caught my first mackerel! Two of them, in fact. (I was pretty impressed until I…
Fusion food in Shoreditch
Non-Chinese cooks often consider Chinese food as a complete world apart from other styles of food, but I find that Chinese cold dishes mix well with…