WHAT do we need? Sunshine! When do we need it? Now! Most of us would give our eye-teeth for a few weeks of sunshine – frosty would be fine! So who can blame travelling chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury if she grabbed with both hands and the first available plane an invitation to go and…
THE award-winning Eastbury Hotel in Sherborne has a new head chef, Matt Street, who has been working at the hotel for six years and aims to continue its tradition of serving outstanding, locally sourced food in the beautiful conservatory restaurant. Matt, who is 29, reached the knock-out stages of MasterChef The Professionals in the quarter…
NORTH Dorset-based Japanese cook Teruko Chagrin has a warming traditional Japanese soup recipe for February, perfect for this raw cold winter. For 4 people Utensils: 4 small and shallow cups Colander Steamer (Chinese bamboo one is the best) Ingredients:: 2 cups (180ml x 2) Dashi stock • Dashi is Japanese sea stock made…
BIG hotel chains are not renowned for distinctive and original food. At their best, the dining can be fine indeed, but with only the merest nod to the local cuisine. International is the name of the game and you certainly don’t expect to know what farm your meat came from. But at the Bournemouth Marriott…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury is back in Scotland, cooking for a shooting party on the Cawdor Estate near Inverness, home to many game birds and beasts, wild salmon, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth (which inspired her to flights of verse and fancy but probably didn’t harm the food!) … The train journey up from…
WEST Country beef and lamb have been awarded protected status by the European Commission. Regional meat has been given Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status while another specialist regional product, Anglesey Sea Salt, has been given Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. The EU designations give the products similar protected status to 60 other UK foods,…
IT probably isn’t sunny all the time at Wrington – it just seems like that to us. On the two occasions that we have had lunch at The Ethicurean restaurant in the Barley Wood Walled Garden, despite cold and wet weather before and after our visits, the sun has been shining and the peaceful valley…
SHAFTESBURY-born private chef Philippa Davis will be back in the West Country for Christmas, but in the run-up to the festive season she has been cooking in the south of France … Chilled milky blue light rested over the Alpilles mountains as I drove towards my final pre Christmas job down in the south of…
JAPANESE-born cook Teruko Chagrin, who has lived in North Dorset for many years and used to write a column for the Blackmore Vale Magazine, now teaches Japanese cooking to small groups, and gives classes at Luke Stuart’s White Pepper Cookery School at Lytchett Matravers and for Christine McFadden at Little Bredy. In the first of…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis can find herself anywhere from Provence to the isle of Skye, from deer-stalking in the Highlands to the watery landscape of Chichester Harbour where she was catering for a shooting party … “There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats…….” so Ratty exclaimed to Mole…