It's not that there's nothing going on, it's just sometimes we like to give you a breather, move away from the rants for a while and just give you some nuggets (organic, free-range only) of foodie news and information for you to digest with a cup of coffee or - if you're making like food dude Fergus Henderson - a mid-morning Madeira. Go on, have a wagon wheel while you're at it...
You'll all no doubt be falling over yourselves to rush out and get a copy of Alain Ducasse's latest oeuvre, J'aime London. For the snatch-your-hand-off price of £35 you too can - and we quote - "sneak into his own universe" (like ninjas, like stealthy, sword-wielding ninjas) and discover where Al likes to hang. Apparently our capital city is chocka with bistros and taverns (taverns?) that have caught his eye, and he's even included a section on Places to Be, which unfortunately, mostly being pop-ups and of-the-zeitgeist venues, will mostly be closed by the time you make your destination trip. Never mind, it'll make a nice coffee table book for when you've realised you can get more up-to-date information online FOR FREE!!!
It was the much-celebrated-for-no-particular-reason Restaurant Magazine's Top 50 Awards earlier this month. Noma in Denmark once again took back its first place spot, El Celler de Can Roca slipped to second and Osteria Francescana held onto third place again. The UK has two triumphs: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal came in at number 5, which is a success story for Ashley Palmer-Watts, the head chef; and The Ledbury came in at number 10, another solid performance. It's just a shame that it's a bit more of a publicity stunt than a real deal. Harsh maybe, but true (we've not had our coffee yet, we're not feeling the love).
The crazy world of the EU continues - Harry Potter-esque - to impinge in completely fantastical ways on daily life. This time they're banning all imports of the glorious Alphonso mango, a fabulous and brief early summer treat that we are not going to be able to get our sticky hands on until at least December 2015. The reason: There was a pest problem, or at least there might have been, but the growers took action and made the pest problem go away, but the fact remain these are non-EU-sanctioned pests and therefore they cannot be allowed to not be anywhere near the mangoes. Or something. (COFFEE!!!)
Last up, have you heard (God, finally, coffee's arrived. Are you sitting comfortably?) about the boycott of the Dorchester Collection hotels across the globe? Owned by the Sultan of Brunei, they are coming in for a beating because of his introduction of Sharia law into his own country. You might call it karma. Even Richard Branson has banned all Virgin staff from staying there (How much is he paying them?) and various travel magazines and companies have joined in. It's not looking good for the collection - or human rights in Brunei.
