Pierre Gagnaire

In the week before the 2008 Michelin guide was published in the UK, Jan met Pierre Gagnaire at Sketch to talk about life, restaurant guides and why he would be a terrible critic himself. This article was first published in the Financial Times. ... read more

Alain Ducasse

Alain Ducasse sits at the Table Lumiere in his new London restaurant at the Dorchester hotel. Inside this gourmet grotto, a curtain of fibre optic lights shimmer in a circle around him, while a glass vasselier at his side groans with a booty of Saint-Louis crystal goblets, delectable Hermès china and Puiforcat silver. Later these precious items will be laid on this table, a private space for six where dishes such as Ducasse’s chestnut veloute with foie gras and whipped cream; oeufs mollet wrapped in silver leaf; and roasted pigeon with Tuscan crostini will be served. At the moment, there is nothing on the bare linen tablecloth in front of Monsieur Ducasse except a small cup of espresso and a copy of a restaurant review. This is a difficult moment for me. For it is my review of his newly opened London restaurant he is reading and it was not, shall we say, an entirely positive one. From across the table I can see that some of my sentences have been highlighted with yellow fluorescent pen and inky annotations have been made in the margins. For a restaurant critic, this is like having your homework checked by God. Ducasse taps his finger on the table and begins. ... read more

The Carluccios - a truffle too far?

To understand Antonio Carluccio, you've got to understand his wife, Priscilla, and to understand Priscilla, you need to know that she is Terence Conran's little sister. We know that the Conrans are born retailers, good at shops and design in the way that the Hiltons were good at hotels. You can hardly take three steps in any British city without a Conran trying to sell you a dress or a pie or a sofa; or a cup of coffee, a coffee table and the coffee table book to go on it. They've got everything covered, in a tasteful cotton check that's wipe-clean and washable, available at a shop near you today. ... read more

Clarissa Dickson Wright

We drive south-east from Edinburgh under a cloudless sky and luminous autumn sunshine. There is no heat in the rays, but they bathe the countryside with a cold, milky shimmer that is unmistakably, alluringly Scottish. Once past the sturdy, neat villages of Haddington and Gifford, the scenery changes abruptly as the woodlands and fields give way to a bleaker and more beautiful prospect: the rolling heather moors of the border country. ... read more

Joanne Harris

High on a hill, above the mills and factories of the old wool town of Huddersfield, stands the house that chocolate built. Grand and handsome, it has a solid, York stone carapace, tall chimneys and huge, dark windows that shine like liquorice. Inside, cliffs of mahogany panelling cast shadows on the walls and strange symbols have been etched and stained upon panes of glass. There is no broomstick in the hall, or bubbling cauldron in the eerily cold kitchen, yet it is exactly the kind of house a witch would choose to live in. ... read more

Sam & Eddie Hart

There comes a point in every young man's life when he must look in the mirror and think to himself: hmm, pig or twig? Hero or zero? Especially if he works in a restaurant and is surrounded by freshly sourced, beautifully cooked food every day, with no threat of washing-up to do afterwards. ... read more

Spilling The Beans On Starbucks

Chris Jordan holds a silver spoon to his mouth and closes his eyes. ... read more

Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Screen

Not so very long ago, chefs and cooks knew their place, which was below stairs stirring the soup. Every now and again, someone such as Delia Smith would make a timid dash for immortality, with a series about egg cookery filmed in a Norfolk gazebo or a seasonal special on how to cook through Christmas with only limited supplies of tranquilisers, but that was about it. ... read more

Delia Smith

AFTER a quarter of a century spent beating egg whites into snowy peaks and piping cream onto perfect trifles, Delia Smith has strong wrists and powerful forearms, physical attributes which have come in very useful over the past few days. On the night we met, when she was the star attraction at a Sainsbury's Cookery Roadshow in Manchester, she had autographed 'thousands and thousands' of copies of her new Winter Collection, which has followed all her other recipe books straight onto the best seller lists. ... read more

Anthony Bourdain

THE chef Anthony Bourdain has travelled the world in search of the perfect meal, which he defines as mind-blowingly delicious food garnished with a dash of danger and novelty. To this end, he ate a roasted lamb testicle with the Tuareg tribesmen in Morocco and deemed it sensational. "It was crispy and veiny but tender, even fluffy," he says. In his new book, A Cook's Tour, Bourdain wonders if he could call it pave d'agneau maroc and serve it to his unknowing Manhattan customers. It's not yet on the menu at Les Halles, the Park Avenue brasserie where he is executive chef but, if I were a regular there, I'd keep my eyes and onions peeled. Just in case. ... read more