Restaurant Reviews

A la Colthard: Mediterra, Portslade

You need a good excuse to go Portslade, a light industrial place adjacent to Hove, a place of car dealerships and secondary shopping. The reason I took the Number “1” bus from Whitehawk to Portslade was to check out this Turkish restaurant of which I had heard good reports. The lunch [...]

November 8, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/The Black Horse Amberley

Yesterday I met an old friend from my travel journo days for lunch near his home in Petworth. My friend acquired – and built up – a highly-successful internet “bucket shop” website which at its peak attracted 3 million hits monthly. We meet every 3 months of so for lunch in [...]

October 28, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Reform club

Recently Bob Tickler held a dinner at the Reform Club for me, his p/a Polly and her best friend Grania. Bob is most excited about joining the Reform Club. Although he was once a member of the adjoining RAC, he does not regard himself as a conventional St James club man. The Reform with its [...]

August 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/foodie travelogues

Cooking and television have a productive relationship. Before Big Brother, Peter Bazalgette made his name and the start of his fame and fortune with Ready Steady Chef. This launched the celebrity chefs like Pierre Marco White , Jamie Oliver and Keith Floyd. The phase has now moved onto travelogues [...]

August 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Eating out in Chichester.

Chichester is renowned for its cathedral, theatre and art gallery – but not its restaurants. I accompanied Alice (Mansfield) on Tuesday to the Pallant Gallery. I enjoyed the Gwen John exhibition and particularly her draughtmanship. Can one use that word now or should it be [...]

August 3, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/something old, something new, something different

We restaurant critics are not always the best in recommending places to eat on the hoof but for many that is exactly what is required. Last week I was in London and my first port of call was the Brass Rail at Selfridges for a tongue accompanied by a salt beef half sandwich. It’s the best salt [...]

July 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/much sense from Tim Hayward

Tim Hayward is a restaurateur and the food critic of the Financial Times. In yesterday’s weekend edition – instead of reviewing a restaurant – he composed a much-needed piece on the expense of London restaurants, having paid during the week £200 per head at a not especially [...]

June 12, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Boccaccio and la Colombe d’Or

The past few days I have visited two of my favourite restaurants: Boccacio in the centre of Nice (rue Masséna) and la Colombe d’or in St. Paul de Vence, a 30 minute drive outside Nice. I walked straight past Boccacio because – as I remembered it – it never had an open air street [...]

April 14, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: Nice food & drink

We have only visited 2 restaurants so far so I’m going to concentrate here more on the food and drink of Nice. Every morning we send Bob off to his beloved market le Cours Saleya and he returns with an abundance of fruit and vegetables of the highest quality. We have our breakfast of croissants, [...]

April 9, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: a Spanish Day in London

Yesterday I went with Alice Mansfield to the Royal Academy to see the Spain and Hispanic World collection of Archer M Huntington, the son of a railroad magnate and avid collector around the turn of the twentieth century of Spanish paintings and artefacts. Alice considered Spanish art underrated [...]

February 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

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Terry Venables

November 28, 2023 // 0 Comments

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Terry Venables . He was more than an acquaintance less than a friend. As in lifetime, opinion is divided on his merits and [...]
Frans Hals at the National Gallery

November 25, 2023 // 0 Comments

Yesterday I went to the National Gallery to see the Frans Hals exhibition – his first retrospective in 30 years- and enjoyed it immensely. You might think that [...]
Art of Film/Comedy/Sky Arts

November 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

Last night Ian Nathan presented the latest in the series on comedy. It’s obviously hard to cover this vast topic in an hour but nonetheless I was disappointed by the [...]
More worries at Sussex CCC

November 23, 2023 // 0 Comments

The decision of young Ali Orr – Sussex Sharks wicketkeeper – to reject a new contract and sign for Hampshire has sent shock waves through the club. In the past [...]
Napoleon

November 23, 2023 // 0 Comments

My heart dropped when in the opening sequence of Napoleon Joaquin Phoenix opened his mouth and a broad Brooklyn accent emerged. In films like Spartacus Kirk Douglas and [...]