Food & Drink

It’s the word often heard in houses across the country, uttered several times a day and the dread of every parent. “Snack!”

I’ve been to a Fat Cat before, but not any other pub named for our feline friends, although there are plenty of them (in the country there’s an Old Cat, Black Cat, Cheshire Cat, even a Rampant Cat).

A restaurant with every table booked at 7.30pm on a Tuesday night sounds like a mirage but I can confirm the actual sight of it just last week. Heritage is bold in name and in nature and quite frankly, remains the hottest ticket in this part of town, currently.

We are constantly reminded to take at least 10,000 steps each day to maintain general good health. But even before we are up and out, our breakfast has already travelled millions of steps to reach us. A sustainability expert has revealed that British breakfast favourites avocado on toast and a traditional English fry up travel the most miles to reach our plates.

Back in 1970, Tracklements founder William Tullberg made the first British wholegrain mustard. Fast forward 51 years, his son carries on the company’s legacy of an innovative product range, with its special edition, Hot Banana Chutney.

Last week was National Cask Ale week and what better place to go to sample the delights of brewing, than the site of the old Ram brewery in Wandsworth, where beer has been made for 500 years.

When Thela joined Boxpark Croydon recently, it arrived with an explosion of colour. Easily one of the most eye-catching units, it brings the sights and tastes of Karachi’s street food dishes, lesser-known in London. Thela simply means ‘stall’ in Urdu, and they are common place in modern-day Pakistan.

I think it was the lights that originally put me off. As a self-confessed traditionalist, I saw the blue-neon illuminated ‘POW’ above the Prince of Wales in Clapham and immediately concluded it was too trendy (somehow the appearance of the customers sitting outside bears this out).

Sustainability in all things, that’s the message coming over loudly and clearly. Sweet relief therefore that drinking rum, while keeping an eye on a greener plant is actually possible.

Growing up, Sidcup was the last place one would describe as a beery oasis but in the intervening years no fewer than four micropubs have sprung up, creating its own little ecosystem of ale.

Children can take things literally, so when we arrived at 400 Rabbits my daughter asked, with a sigh: “Where are all the rabbits?” She looked around and couldn’t find even one.