TWINKLING lights around the ancient farmyard, glittering Christmas trees and a menu packed with festive favourites – it would be hard to imagine a more magical setting for a pre-Christmas dinner than Symondsbury Kitchen. On the evening we went, it was cold, properly frosty cold, so you wanted to be inside, looking out at the…
AS I write the rain is cascading down the conservatory window outside our office, so it seems like a good time to picture sun-baked, white painted Greek villages and the warm and mouthwatering flavours of the Mediterranean, evoked by Philippa Davis after two weeks working on the Greek island of Paros … When most families…
I WILL admit I go through obsessional phases with certain foods. Looking through my October menus, despite there being a broad range of occasions – think Jewish New Year to partridge shoot suppers – there has definitely been a leaning towards one particular ingredient. Pomegranates, anchovies, star anise, honey, caraway, venison are some of the…
ONCE in a blue moon, private chef Philippa Davis travels for pleasure rather than work. She has just had a few days in Venice, the location for the brilliant thriller Don’t Look Now, based on a Daphne du Maurier short story, and starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Fortunately Philippa’s visit involved delicious food adventures…
PHILIPPA Davis has recently returned from her first visit to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia … Sardinia meant a new destination and new client for me so it was very exciting. The initial introductions were done over the phone and it all seemed that it would work out very nicely until … “Oh yes, we…
Philippa Davis finds there is more to Ibiza than drinking and clubbing I felt like a real party pooper as I sat soberly on the plane heading from Edinburgh to Ibiza. It was around midday and the rest of passengers were clearly well on their way to tipsy land. Amusingly as soon as the seatbelt…
UTAH, the 45th state, is known for various things – the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, copper, gold and silver mining, the 2002 Winter Olympics, a staggering collection of dinosaur bone finds, Jell-O, particularly of the green variety and our destination (Sundance) and the talented Robert Redford. When we arrived at the airport at…
CORN not only grows tall, as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Curly sings in Oklahoma!, it is also big business in the USA. Private chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury has been working on the millionaires’ summer resort of the Hamptons, north of New York and learning about this multi-billion dollar staple of American food and farming ……
AFTERNOON Tea Week, this year from 8th to 14th August, is an excuse to indulge in cake, and scones and cream, and wonderful jam and, well, cake! And you get them all at The Queens Arms at Corton Denham. The award-winning pub will be serving afternoon teas brimming with berries, Battenberg and bubbles, offering an…
by Simone Sekers CAN you judge the standard of food at a place by what the chef is wearing? And if there isn’t a chef, then who will give you the clues you seek? You can give a good sniff around the area of the extractor fans and give the place a wide berth if…