No Chinese restaurant does a world-beating fish and chips. Fact.
With the UK's largest restaurant due to open in Bristol tonight, we ask: is scale really such a good thing?
The Vatican in Rome - big. Impressive. Notably, not a restaurant.
Most days I'm inundated with news of exciting new restaurant openings, chefs starting and stopping their varied adventures along with food and drink news which may or may not be of much interest to the home cook - it really does vary with the breeze and it's an exciting part of what being interested in food is all about. One of the more interesting ones was from Peruvian crisp company Viva La Papa (now available at Selfridges) - well worth checking out if you seek out slightly more unusual potato crisps. But this morning's postbox included a real shocker. Read on to find out more.
Survey says bill dodgers wind you up most - but are we surprised?
Bill dodgers who don’t pay their fair share of the tab are the most irritating dinner companions for 53% of Brits, according to new research around dining habits. The poll also revealed that people who deliberately order expensive extras when they know the bill is being split evenly incur the wrath of 42% of you, while a miserly 5% never leave a tip, regardless of service. Modern Indian restaurants can be high-end affairs - but is that really what diners are after?
Your average high-street curry house does cheap and cheerful Indian and Pakistani food. We flock there in our droves for a casual meal at minimal expense and in return ignore the flock wallpaper, shabby carpets and high sauce-to-meat ratio. But in recent years 'high-end Indian' restaurants have been thrust on an unsuspecting public. Is that what the great British public really wants?
To find out, I recently tried a seven-course tasting menu where everything included chocolate.
Chocolate is great stuff - whether it's the high-end, high-cocoa content that will cost you an arm and a leg, or the cheap-as-chips blocks of chocolate which most Belgians argue isn't even chocolate, it's the stuff of dreams. But is it possible to have too much of a good thing? As National Chocolate Week drew to a close, after nothing less than a chocolate-fest of epic proportions, I decided to find out if it's possible to eat too much of the stuff.
We're very excited to launch the new MSN Food website and to welcome you to the site. Here is what you can expect...
From exclusive celebrity chef interviews to all-new recipes from leading chefs from around the world, video interviews with the stars, how-to's and techniques explained, MSN Food will ensure you have everything you need to get more from food and cooking. Whether you're putting midweek meals on the table for your family, splashing out on a creative meal for a loved one, or entertaining friends and family at the weekend. Not to mention revealing the UK's best restaurants, new or more established. Whatever your circumstances, we hope you'll find something here to entertain, delight and engage you.
Craig ButcherCraig has worked in food journalism for various publications both in print and online. He is currently content editor of MSN Food in the UK.
