Cooking Indian Fish & Chips with Vivek Singh

As part of the build-up to London Restaurant Festival, which I'll be working at over the next couple of weeks, I was recently invited to try my hand at an Indian take on fish & chips at Cinnamon Kitchen with chef Vivek Singh.

The dish will be served as part of a special London Restaurant Festival menu this coming weekend at sister restaurant Cinnamon Club. Don’t worry. It will be chef Vivek Singh cooking yours, not me.

If you think you’re up to it, check out the recipe below to try it for yourself. And do look out for me looking gormless with a potato in my hand. Oh yes.

The World's Hottest Cocktail. Done.

A spot of bravado here, in the form of me consuming what is reputedly the world's hottest cocktail. That's in terms of chilli, not degrees. I fearlessly (sort of) devour the fiery Illiana cocktail at Zenna bar in Soho.

Named after a mythological Indian golden dragon, the rum-based cocktail comes topped up with a bespoke chilli sauce and requires the signing of a waiver form before consumption. It's also thoughtfully paired with a 'fire extinguisher' filled with Gin Fizz to help tame the inevitable burn.

Thanks to fabulous food blogger and general wino about town Lucy Shaw for filming and providing commentary. And, of course, for persuading me to drink it in the first place. Follow Lucy @lucylondon and read her gastronomic tales at http://finewineandthecity.blogspot.com/.

Flair Bartending Gets Messy

At Blue Tomato, we like to keep ourselves on our toes. Here's video evidence of that in the form of us trying our hands at some flair bartending.

I have a feeling that my colleague may be slightly better than me here. But I'm not the one who gets hit on the head with a cocktail shaker. Who's winning? Sorry, Dave...

Thanks to the guys at TGI Fridays for allowing us to trash your bar.