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One of my pet hates is to have a cork-in-the-bottle disaster where the cork disintegrates and you end up with bits of cork in your wine and when somehow, a few little bits of cork always manage to avoid your most careful examination. A good bottle opener that overcomes this problem is always worthy of inclusion in your kitchen armory and these are just a few of my favourites, although I no longer have all of them and rely upon a couple of reliable types that I have around my home.

One of the easiest openers to use and which is the very same as most waiters carry about their person, i.e. the pen knife with a lever arrangement with a short blade to cut through the foil at the top of the bottle. Although it is quite a common bottle opener I don´t think it is necessarily the easiest to use.

I no longer wish to have a problem extracting a cork by trying to hold onto the bottle whilst a particularly stubborn specimen of a cork tries to resolutely maintain its position in the neck of the bottle, refusing to budge, in spite of my very best efforts. Thus, the traditional pull type of cork extractor that historically clutters the kitchen drawer has slowly died out and is used as a very last resort when your favourite cork screw has mysteriously hidden itself since the last dinner party. You will probably locate it later during a spring clean, hiding itself beneath a sofa trying to avoid detection. Read More…

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A warm and friendly restaurant,  providing delicious freshly prepared food, efficient service, and an inviting atmosphere.  It has an excellent wines list. The exciting and unusual menu offers a range of traditional and modern dishes, blending French cuisine with Eastern European specialities and flavours from the Far East.

Tel: 029 20707774. For those with a GPS 51°26′27.53″N  3°10′38.19″W

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Porters was first established to re-instate the English tradition of good wholesome food, without the lavish trappings of the school of Nouvelle Cuisine.  As a result Porters is a popular restaurant with people in the know and has a healthy and substantial regular clientele.  The wine list is impressive and varied and you can be confident that you will have an enjoyable time eating out.
Bookings Tel: 020 7836 6466

For those with a GPS 51·30´38.42″ N 0·07´26.43″ W

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One of the great joys of eating out and eating well in Spain is that wonderful place, the tapas bar.  Said to have been introduced by General Franco to curb the Spanish worker from suffering from the effects of a drink at lunch time, he is said to have ordered that each beer or cerveza served should be accompanied by a small amount of food and some bars started to vie with each other to see who could supply the best or most varied tapas in their bar.  Very quickly people were being selective not on the best beer, but rather who had the best tapas in town.  Although most bars do offer tapas, for some this is no more than a piece of cheese with one or two pieces of bread.  In others you have a wide range of tapas from beautiful fish dishes to enticing meat dishes that have been prepared on the premises.

A fabulous example of a tapas bar is to be found at La Linea on the Spanish/Gibraltar frontier, called Jimmy´s Bar.  This is a place recognised by all nationalities as a place to go and eat, and indeed people from Gibraltar regularly take the short drive to go and have an evening out at very little expense.  You will probably have to queue at the door before you can place your order, but believe me it is well worth the wait.  When you have finally made it to the bar you place your order from the raw food on the counter, and are served your beer or wine.  Whilst your fresh food is being cooked you need to try and locate a vacant table. You will be hard pressed to find any vacant seats, such is the popularity of the place, but if you stand next to someone who looks as though they might be finishing you will find that people are very obliging, and will quickly gesture you to take your place at the table.  This is definitely not a place that you can linger after you have eaten because other people will want to follow your example and enjoy the lovely food.  The message really is one of enjoy, then move on. Read More…

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