Food and drink - ALadyofLeisure

Home / All hotel reviews

Food and drink (19 posts found)

Restaurant reviews and amazing food and drink experiences featured in luxury leisure reviews website ALadyofLeisure.com and written by travel journalist Sarah Bridge

view

Good taste in every sense at Adnams excellent Swan hotel in Southwold

by Sarah Bridge
added April 17, 2019

It does great food and excellent cocktails, it's got beautiful bedrooms, friendly staff and even has a brewery and distillery on site (it's owned by 147-year-old Suffolk brewer Adnams). Added to that, it's right in the heart of Southwold, one of Brit...

view

Curry, bagels, fish and chips and bacon butties on a food tour of London’s East End

by Sarah Bridge
added April 11, 2019

In just four hours I ate curry, fish and chips, stilton cheese, salt beef bagels, bread and butter pudding, salted caramel cheesecake and a bacon sandwich. With ketchup. Why? You might well ask. It was because I had decided to be a tourist in London ...

view

A memorable 48 hours on the Isle of Wight including blue cheese, garlic beer, beautiful beaches and charming B&Bs

by Sarah Bridge
added March 24, 2018

'We just fell in love with the Isle of Wight,' said owner David Barrett as he showed me around Haven Hall, one of the newest B&Bs on the Isle of Wight. 'It's exactly like England was, 40 or 50 years ago.' Now this could be a positive or a nega...

view

14 wines at dinner and a spa to recover in: a memorable stay at The Vineyard, Newbury

by Sarah Bridge
added March 20, 2018

Halfway through our meal at The Vineyard hotel and spa, Newbury, I was beginning to wonder if I knew as much about wine as I thought I did. Not only could I not guess what grape variety I was drinking or what country it came from, I couldn't even wor...

view

My epic food tour of Japan: sushi, sake, puffer fish and bullet trains

by Sarah Bridge
added January 19, 2018

Japanese food can be some of the most intricate food in the world but can also be some of the most simple. I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Japan to learn all about Japanese food from top chefs and restaurants, from Tokyo to Osaka and the fishin...

view

An unscheduled stay at former 18th century sugar house, Hotel du Vin Bristol

by Sarah Bridge
added November 28, 2017

With every cloud there comes a silver lining and the missing of our flight to Cape Verde meant an unexpected overnight stay in Bristol and my first experience of Hotel du Vin. I'd long been aware of the hotel chain founded by Gerard Basset and...

view

Noble Rot on Lamb’s Conduit Street, a welcome addition to memory lane

by Sarah Bridge
added May 18, 2016

It is hard not to start off a review of Noble Rot restaurant - as practically every other reviewer has done - with a nostalgic look back at days gone by, spent in the various pubs and wine bars of Lamb's Conduit Street. It seems that every journal...

view

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal review: food for thought

by Sarah Bridge
added April 6, 2016

Turning up to lunch at Dinner restaurant in Knightsbridge - the restaurant from top chef Heston Blumenthal - with a copy of the menu from The Fat Duck at Bray (also by Heston Blumenthal, where my dining companion Simon had eaten just the week before)...

view

Balans Soho Society restaurant Kensington- it’s smart, sexy and has its very own tree

by Sarah Bridge
added February 25, 2016

Returning to Balans Soho Society restaurant Kensington High Street was like visiting an old friend who had had a complete image change in the intervening years. My colleagues and I used to come here for a post-work glass of wine of two, sitting squas...

view

Sexy Fish: Mayfair’s slice of loud, brash, bling and fun

by Sarah Bridge
added December 8, 2015

Sexy Fish, the newly-opened £15 million restaurant from Richard Caring (The Ivy, Le Caprice, J Sheekey) doesn't actually look very sexy from the outside. It's rather plain and square and dull and looks not dissimilar from the NatWest bank it used to...

view

Drinking martinis at the best hotel bars in London

by Sarah Bridge
added July 24, 2015

'Don't worry, you won't get a hangover,' insisted Pleurat Shabani, the maker of Konik's Tail vodka and the host of our martini marathon. 'I've never had a hangover drinking martinis.' [Note: this review of drinking martinis at the best hotel bars ...

view

Las Vegas food festival Vegas Uncork’d: it’s an epic Vegas food party

by Sarah Bridge
added May 5, 2015

Note: my article about the Las Vegas food festival Vegas Uncork'd was first published in 2015 so some of the details might now be out of date Mention Las Vegas and most people would immediately think gambling, casinos, showgirls, Mariah Carey, the...

view

Pisco power! Getting into the spirit at London Peruvian restaurant Senor Ceviche

by Sarah Bridge
added April 14, 2015

As a late arrival to the cult of the Pisco sour cocktail I certainly plan to make up for lost time. I started and finished my evening at London Peruvian restaurant Senor Ceviche with a perfect Pisco Sour, the drink which has become one of my favourit...

view

Olivo restaurant in Victoria London: an Italian favourite revisited

by Sarah Bridge
added April 10, 2015

Olivo, the Italian restaurant in Victoria London, used to be a lunchtime favourite of mine but for some reason I haven't been back there for about ten years. However when I finally returned I was delighted to find it hadn't changed a bit, which isn'...

view

El Pirata Mayfair: the friendliest tapas in this part of London

by Sarah Bridge
added April 10, 2015

Tucked away behind the grey anonymity of Park Lane's high-rise hotel district which includes the Dorchester, the Intercontinental and the Athenaeum, El Pirata's tapas bar is a welcome sight. You might not think of tapas in Mayfair but in spite of ...

view

Aperitivo in the heart of (rather noisy) Kensington

by Sarah Bridge
added August 27, 2014

'Location is everything' so the saying goes - but when it comes to the afternoon drinks and Italian nibbles at the Baglioni hotel in Kensington, it seems location can be a double-edged sword. I was invited to come along and spend the evening in th...

view

A trip round the Beefeater gin distillery visitors centre

by Sarah Bridge
added July 8, 2014

Vauxhall in London is known for many things - the Oval cricket ground, a permanently traffic-snarled gyratory system, a disused gas works - but a pleasant afternoon drinking gin and tonics is not usually the first thing that springs to mind. Howev...

view

Hop pockets, scotch eggs and Shoreditch blonde: beer-tasting just for girls

by Sarah Bridge
added February 20, 2014

It isn't often that you see a man wearing a hessian sack telling a room of beer-drinking women they would make better brewers than men. But Monday's 'Give Boys the Chop - beer dinner for girls only' event organised by Rupert Ponsonby and his g...

view

Gordon Ramsay London House Battersea Square review

by Sarah Bridge
added February 3, 2014

Any business owner will tell you that it's vital to get the local residents on side right from the very beginning to ensure success. And Gordon Ramsay did just that with the newest restaurant in his empire, London House in Battersea Square. ...

view

Food and drink (19 posts found)

Good taste in every sense at Adnams excellent Swan hotel in Southwold

Curry, bagels, fish and chips and bacon butties on a food tour of London’s East End

A memorable 48 hours on the Isle of Wight including blue cheese, garlic beer, beautiful beaches and charming B&Bs

14 wines at dinner and a spa to recover in: a memorable stay at The Vineyard, Newbury

My epic food tour of Japan: sushi, sake, puffer fish and bullet trains

An unscheduled stay at former 18th century sugar house, Hotel du Vin Bristol

Noble Rot on Lamb’s Conduit Street, a welcome addition to memory lane

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal review: food for thought

Balans Soho Society restaurant Kensington- it’s smart, sexy and has its very own tree

Sexy Fish: Mayfair’s slice of loud, brash, bling and fun

Drinking martinis at the best hotel bars in London

Las Vegas food festival Vegas Uncork’d: it’s an epic Vegas food party

Pisco power! Getting into the spirit at London Peruvian restaurant Senor Ceviche

Olivo restaurant in Victoria London: an Italian favourite revisited

El Pirata Mayfair: the friendliest tapas in this part of London

Aperitivo in the heart of (rather noisy) Kensington

A trip round the Beefeater gin distillery visitors centre

Hop pockets, scotch eggs and Shoreditch blonde: beer-tasting just for girls

Gordon Ramsay London House Battersea Square review

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)