The Steeple Times

Tag: tipple

  • Not Such A Lucky Strike

    Not Such A Lucky Strike

    Coronavirus has proved a double blow to restaurateur Keith McNally: First he got the virus himself and now his original restaurant has closed permanently due to it

    Currently recovering from coronavirus himself, restaurateur Keith McNally sadly will not be able to fulfill a wish he made in November 2019 of having his last meal at his oldest restaurant, Lucky Strike. He’s just shut it for the final time and blamed the global pandemic for the French-American bistro’s demise.

     

    Of why the “Soho staple” at 59 Grand Street, near West Broadway in New York – which opened in 1989 – has closed permanently, McNally told Eater:

     

    “Due to the COVID-19 crisis, I was unable to find a way to make Lucky Strike work financially. This decision was particularly difficult since many of Lucky Strike’s wonderful staff have worked for me for over 20 years, and some of the customers have been coming since the day we opened: 31 years ago.”

     

    In the same interview last year where he talked about having one last “steak au poivre medium rare” before going to meet his Maker, McNally waxed lyrical about Lucky Strike more generally and in conversation with Food & Wine’s Regina Schrambling commented:

     

    “When I opened Lucky Strike, it was far easier to build a restaurant than nowadays. There weren’t these absurdly strict health rules that are designed as much to rake in money for the city as to make eating in restaurants safer.”

     

    In spite of McNally openly sharing knowledge that Lucky Strike didn’t make a profit as long ago as 2016, he was honest about why he kept it open. “I like the staff…I am fond of all of them,” he stated, but now, sadly, for these pour souls, they’ve only got left GoFundMe left as a means of survival. Meanwhile, on Instagram, of why Lucky Meal had served its last meal, the “Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown’ concluded: “Greedy landlord during lockdown syndrome.”

     

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  • Churchillian Boisdale

    Churchillian Boisdale

    Boisdale prepares for celebration of ‘Victory Over CV19’ with the launch of fourteen ‘war bonds’ to be redeemed when gastronomes can again gather  

    With outposts in Belgravia, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf and Mayfair, Boisdale is a London institution where the late, great Baroness Trumpington – a legend known best for once sticking her fingers up in Churchillian fashion at a fellow peer in the House of Lords when she took umbrage at some nonsense he was spouting – was given a prize for writing an article titled: “If I ruled the world” in 2015.

     

    Churchillian Boisdale – Restaurant launches ‘Victory Over CV19’ bonds – Boisdale prepares for celebration of ‘Victory Over CV19’ with the launch of fourteen ‘war bonds’ to be redeemed when gastronomes can again gather.
    Baroness Trumpington and Sir Winston Churchill both enjoyed sticking their fingers up at things they did not like; they’d both have given the finger to COVID-19.

    Now, like all restaurants throughout the land, Boisdale is sadly temporarily shut, but its affable and somewhat eccentric proprietor Ranald Macdonald has decided to prepare his customers for the better days that will be with us soon.

     

    Presented as ‘war bonds’ and featuring imagery of Churchill, the celebratory ‘Victory Over CV19’ vouchers on offer include everything from two whole lobster thermidors or a 20oz Scottish chateaubriand for two with four side dishes for just £75 (usually £120) to a private victory party with food and wine to the value of £2,000 for just £1,500.

     

    Those wanting a real steal can opt for a £295 ‘Belvedere and caviar’ bond with 200g grams of Russian Oscietra caviar and a whole bottle of vodka to wash it down with (normally £695), but sadly the only thing Macdonald cannot provide is Churchill’s very own presence. When coronavirus is banished, the greatest ever wartime leader would have most definitely have reused the remark: “In victory I deserve it. In defeat I need it” as the very first champagne cork goes pop.

     

    To buy Boisdale ‘Victory Over CV19 War Bonds’ click here.

     

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  • Positivity From Pleurat

    Positivity From Pleurat

    Refugee turned “one-man vodka band” Pleurat Shabani shares a message of positivity (and a reminder that we’ll all be having a martini or three together again soon)

    Having escaped the civil war in Croatia, Kosovo born Pleurat Shabani headed to London in 1994. He, unlike Dick Whittington, did not find streets paved with gold but ended up working as a lavatory cleaner and kitchen porter.

     

    Later, forced onto the streets after losing his job at Soho House, Shabani “hit rock bottom” but did not give up. He found a job as a glass washer at Oliver Peyton’s Atlantic Bar & Grill – which ironically was later ‘sunk’ by Marco Pierre White’s Titanic restaurant – and after being promoted to a role as a bartender, began a journey that ultimately resulted in the creation of his own vodka, Konik’s Tail.

     

    Shabini, without the big money backing most spirits brands garnered in the early-to-mid 2000s, is a surprising success story. We reported on it back in 2014 and in spite of his shoestring budget – and the fact he literally had to glue his own footwear together (he considers them “ part of his journey”) – Konik’s Tail is now stocked in everywhere from Dukes Hotel to Waitrose.

     

    Now, at this time of lockdown, the notoriously shy luddite Shabani has taken to social media and on Instagram, a place he’s only posted once before, shared a message of positivity that we should all heed. It follows in full below:

     

    “First of all, I hope this finds you well in these increasingly challenging times of disruption and enormous changes to the daily lives of all of us. Together, we have learnt that passion, optimism and community will help us all come out stronger.”

     

    “The pride of who we are as a community is not part of our past, it defines our present and our future. You have inspired me. Your presence has inspired me. Your friendship has inspired me. And, your stories have inspired me.”

     

    “Together we will succeed and that success will belong to everyone of us. Better days will return. Stools behind the bar might be empty, no late nights, no last calls, but this – you are not forgotten. Our hearts are full of love until we are reunited again. I know we will be with our friends again, with our families again and I know we will share a Konik’s Tail martini again.”

     

    “Spread the love and positive energy, help a friend, even a stranger. Until we meet again, be well, be safe and love each other. My warmest wishes to you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

     

    Konik’s Tail Vodka is available from Waitrose for £38 for a 70cl bottle. Thankfully they can still deliver it – so have your chilled martini glasses at the ready.

     

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  • Dumb Daniel

    Dumb Daniel

    Matthew Steeples calls out Daniel Hannan for ludicrously not wanting to encourage British people to consume locally produced food

    Daniel Hannan claims to support localism. He wants to end Value Added Tax and replace it with a local sales tax, set by local councils. The ex-MEP is also obsessed with national sovereignty and whilst often bizarrely banging on about trading with Ethiopia also, today basically said he wishes to discourage British farmers to produce more on their own land.

    Dumb Daniel – Daniel Hannan does not want locally produced food – Matthew Steeples calls out Daniel Hannan for ludicrously not wanting to encourage British people to consume locally produced food. “Even if we could grow all our own food, doing so would only make us poorer” article in ‘The Telegraph,’ Sunday 5th April 2020.
    Arch-Brexiteer Daniel Hannan has been mocked recently for his ludicrous analysis of how coronavirus will change our lives. In a column for ‘The Telegraph’ he bizarrely announced: “If coronavirus has one silver lining it should be the return of the bow and curtsy”. He elaborated: “A handshake can be an awkward thing – a clumsy, clammy grapple. But a woman breathes something of herself into her curtsy. She can make the gesture demure or haughty, coy or brazen… She can swish her skirts alluringly or bob coldly. The same is true, mutatis mutandis, for men. A bow allows you to convey precisely the degree of respect or affection you consider appropriate.”
    Dumb Daniel – Daniel Hannan does not want locally produced food – Matthew Steeples calls out Daniel Hannan for ludicrously not wanting to encourage British people to consume locally produced food. “Even if we could grow all our own food, doing so would only make us poorer” article in ‘The Telegraph,’ Sunday 5th April 2020.
    Yesterday, at a local pub, I was able to fill this empty 750ml gin bottle with locally produced beer for just £2. Daniel Hannan: “What’s wrong with that?”

    In an article for The Telegraph, this fan of Enoch Powell claimed “COVID-19 is pushing us to protectionism” and added that: “The idea that growing your own food makes you more secure sounds plausible, but turns out to be nonsense… If you think about it, national food self-sufficiency makes no more sense than village food self-sufficiency.”

     

    Whilst rightly Hannan admits “we have one of the most innovative agri-food sectors on the planet,” wrongly he doesn’t want to encourage it. Here, in my self-imposed isolation in East Anglia, I’ve seen exactly to the contrary. Walking in the local countryside, I pass farms with roadside stalls. They sell locally produced eggs, locally produced fruit and veg and even offer locally grown flowers as well. The village pub – turned into a community shop due to it being unable to sell booze in its normal manner – now sells locally produced pies and locally made ale even (at a most reasonable just £2 to fill a bring-your-own bottle) to takeaway and frankly, it’s all for the good. People are eating more healthily here now and surprisingly these goods are being sold at a lower cost than they’re retailed for by the greedy middlemen – AKA the supermarkets – in normal times.

     

    Growing local is good for the local economy and buying local is even better. Supporting your local food and drink producers is a jolly good thing and Daniel Hannan is dumb to say otherwise.

     

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  • Riccardo’s Responds

    Riccardo’s Responds

    Riccardo’s restaurant in Chelsea leads the way in showing community mindedness during the coronavirus outbreak

    Across the land small businesses are doing their bit for their communities and a case in point in Chelsea comes in the form of Riccardo’s, the popular Tuscan style Italian restaurant on Fulham Road.

     

    Riccardo’s Responds – Riccardo’s in Chelsea helps during coronavirus – Riccardo’s Italian restaurant in Chelsea leads the way in showing community mindedness during the coronavirus outbreak. 126 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 6HU.

    Owner Riccardo Mariti, having had to close for seated lunch and dinner service, has most helpfully turned his premises into a deli and is offering a delivery service also. Not only is the restaurant selling standard items such as pizza and organic chicken from the Rhug Estate in North Wales, but they also offer lavatory roll at £2 per pack (limited to one per order), fresh milk, mixed fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and wine also. Food and other items can either be delivered or collected.

     

    Whilst many others are providing such, Riccardo’s is going one stage further and is also offering use of their maintenance crew to help with shopping and emergency repairs in the locality as well. Here, indeed, is a fine example of selflessness and here is a business that deserves to be saluted. If you’re nearby, here’s a far better solution than facing the queues at Sainsbury’s.

     

    Riccardo’s, 126 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 6HU. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7370 6656. To see what is available and order, click here.

     

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  • A Tale of Two Lukes

    A Tale of Two Lukes

    Luke Johnson is wrong to urge consumers to embrace alcohol free spirits whilst Luke Jones was right to urge them to love martinis

    Under Luke Johnson’s reign Patisserie Valerie collapsed. He claimed the experience of masterminding the destruction of a business that employed 3,000 people “shattered [his] self-belief.” Oh diddums for the poor lamb.

     

    After not so modestly admitting he was “arrogant at times,” Johnson announced: “I still have a contribution to make” and in the last edition of The Sunday Times, he decided to patronizingly lecture the British public about the con that is alcohol free spirits.

     

    Lauding the Emperor’s New Clothes of the drinks sector – given that their manufacturers charge the same price for them as for their heavily taxed alcoholic counterparts (and thus make vastly more in profit) – Johnson claimed “entrepreneurs will quench that thirst” and should “embrace” appalling tasting products such as Seedlip.

     

    Frankly, another columnist for The Times named Luke made more sense the following day. In a one page feature, Luke Jones spoke of being “tired of hearing friends boasting of their abstinence” and shared his experiences of drinking martinis every day during January. We say an almighty cheers to that.

     

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  • Draconian Drinking

    Draconian Drinking

    Brexit bore Tim Martin, chairman of Wetherspoons yet again shows himself to be a draconian drip; what will this nutty nuisance ban next?

    On Monday, the deranged dimwit Tim Martin, chairman of the J. D. Wetherspoon pub company, announced: “Many of our customers are keen to celebrate Brexit.” Speaking of tariffs, the nutty know-all added: “Consumers hold the whip hand in these negotiations, not governments.”

     

    Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Mirror published news that staff at the 900 branch chain are to be given body cameras because of a “shocking rise in physical and sexual attacks on workers.” Frankly, given Mr Martin’s aggressive stance on many issues – including banning dogs because the staff “are sick of picking up poop,” prohibiting the use of social media in his outlets and not allowing European alcohol brands to be served –  is anyone surprised?

     

    Elsewhere last week, it was reported that Wetherspoons are now draconianly limiting customers with children to just two alcoholic drinks each. In response, Rupert Murray pointed out in The Telegraph yesterday: “Here’s a new business idea for you: hanging around in Wetherspoons loos selling moonshine to thirsty parents. Thirsty parents who have already downed their allotted two pints. They’ve probably smashed their glasses over a nearby skull and trashed the joint. Mothers and fathers are, after all, Begbie from Trainspotting in sheep’s clothing. This is the only possible explanation for why Wetherspoons has banned anyone looking after children from being served anything more than a brace of beverages.”

     

    Alternatively, just follow our lead and join those boycotting this ghastly chain frequented by “boozed up mums” who actually leave their kids at home and staffed by supposed racists. Who on earth would want to drink a “Brexit Bomb” (Martin’s new alternative to Jägermeister) anyway?

     

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  • TIGing a Drunken Duchess

    TIGing a Drunken Duchess

    The boozy bird the Duchess of Sussex and the newly formed The Independent Group have something in common; this “TIG moment” lover should become their leader

     

    The former Meghan Markle – a bizarre woman who ludicrously  likes to create “spaces to share” and “breeding grounds for ideas and excitement” – once had a blog called ‘The Tig.’ It was supposedly about matters “lifestyle” and on it she created “a hub for the discerning palate – those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion [and] beauty.”

     

    On this oracle of wisdom the busybody ‘Murky Mucky’ shared information that the world simply shouldn’t be without. On the now defunct site’s ‘About’ section, she bizarrely stated:

     

    “Several years ago I had a sip of wine called Tignanello (pronounced “teen-ya-nello“). But let’s be real – in the states most people said “tig-na-nello“…or just plain old “Tig.” The Italiano of it all gets a little tricky, so the bartender kept it simple; it was a glass of “Tig.“ So there I am, with very minimal wine knowledge and I take a sip of this wine. It wasn’t just red or white – suddenly I understood what people meant by the body, legs, structure of wine. It was an ah-ha moment at its finest. For me, it became a “Tig” moment – a moment of getting it.”

     

    “From that point on, any new awareness, any new discovery or “ohhhhh, I get it!” moment was a “Tig” moment. At New York Fashion Week understanding that clothes aren’t just pieces of fabric, but that they can be art. So Tig. Traveling off the beaten track and hand diving for sea urchin in Jamaica – understanding that travel is adventure and discovery, culture and surprise. A Tig moment, indeed. And the same could be said for my love of cooking & dining, for cultivating friendships that inspire you, for the idea of “beauty” and what that means to us. An understanding that comes with living your life to the fullest so that it bursts at the seams. An unbridled joy. An insatiable curiosity. That’s what Tig means to me.”

     

    We won’t bore you with the rest of this right royal pest’s drivel but yesterday, in Westminster, seven now ex-Labour MPs quit their party. They formed a group called ‘The Independent Group’ or more simply ‘TIG.’ Perhaps it might be appropriate that their fellow ‘Tigger’ The Duchess of Sussex become their leader.

     

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    TIGing a Drunken Duchess – Meghan Markle should go into politics – The boozy bird the Duchess of Sussex and the newly formed The Independent Group have something in common; this “TIG moment” lover should become their leader
    The Independent Group announced their creation in Westminster yesterday; they came across as a bunch of attention seekers.

    TIGing a Drunken Duchess – Meghan Markle should go into politics – The boozy bird the Duchess of Sussex and the newly formed The Independent Group have something in common; this “TIG moment” lover should become their leader
    Meanwhile, elsewhere, in New York, ‘The Modern Day Mrs Simpson’ couldn’t help but don the look of an extra from ‘Last Of The Summer Wine’ in wearing a flat cap. Here indeed was a right royal embarrassment.

  • Fishwife Ferne

    Fishwife Ferne

    Reality television ‘star’ and ex-girlfriend of acid thrower Ferne McCann caught hurling drinks at National Television Awards

     

    Ferne McCann and chucking things seem to go together. First, the father of her child was deservedly jailed after attacking 22 innocent people with acid and now it has been revealed that this Brentwood born broad chucked wine at a fellow guest at the National Television Awards at the O2 Arena on the 22nd January.

     

    During the attack, Ms McCann – a tawdry fishwife-like woman whose ‘fame’ stems from stints on such drivel as TOWIE, Loose Women and This Morning –  also supposedly shoved a plastic cup containing the liquid in the face of her victim, Love Island participant Adam Collard.

     

    Here is a woman who also tastelessly promoted lip plumping primer on the day her evil ex, “despicable liar” Arthur Collins, was sent down and here also is someone happy to pose with the creepy Christian crooner Cliff Richard. Ferne McCann – who was questioned by police over the drink throwing incident – is as common as muck and plainly also deserves to be sent to anger management classes.

     

    #NameAndShame #ShameOnFerneMcCann

     

    Pictured above: Adam Collard (who is threatening to release CCTV footage of the incident) and Ferne McCann (who named her child Sunday in spite of its father carrying out his vile assault on a Sunday).

     

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    Fishwife Ferne – Ferne McCann in drink throwing incident – Reality television ‘star’ and ex-girlfriend of acid thrower Ferne McCann caught hurling drinks at National Television Awards.
    Ms McCann took to Twitter to tell her 827,000 followers about the incident but tried to justify her actions rather than properly apologise.

  • Awarding a Pun

    Awarding a Pun

    Rat-like party crasher David Pun puts in an appearance at the ‘Mayfair Times’ Awards at Claridge’s

     

    Last night, at Claridge’s, blagger and ligger David Pun put in appearance for the Mayfair Times Awards 2019.

     

    No doubt pretending to be a director of Harvey Nichols, Peninsula Hotels and an architect also, Pun sported his signature bow tie and reportedly ate and drank more than anyone in sight.

     

    Awarding a Pun – Party crasher David Pun remerges like a rat – Rat-like party crasher David Pun puts in an appearance at the ‘Mayfair Times’ Awards at Claridge’s – Business card of David Pun and business card of Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.
    The ludicrous business cards of London’s leading liggers David Pun and Marie-Claire, ‘Baroness’ von Alvensleben

     

    With a New Year upon us, event hosts should be reminded of the menace of this degenerate. This rat-like creature should not be welcomed by polite society but instead relegated back to the bus shelter in Hammersmith where he belongs.

     

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