Hélène Darroze takes over Harrods Food Hall for Christmas

Harrods Food Hall’s festive takeover kicks off this week

Hélène Darroze is trading table cloths for takeaways, with a “Hélène at Home” menu launching at the Harrods Food Hall on 9 November, to be available through the end of December. Darroze is the latest in a run of two-month takeovers of the Food Hall that has previously seen menus from the likes of Tom Kerridge and Tom Kitchin. Inspired by “memories of Christmas,” (but not featuring dry, overcooked turkey, or family arguments over Scrabble), the Hélène at Home menu will range from canapés through desserts, with dishes like Duck sausage roll with black trompette mushrooms joined by more ambitious offerings such as Lobster, sweetbread and salsify vol-au-vent, and Pigeon Wellington with foie gras.

Pasta Evangelists x The Royal Exchange feat. Giles Coren

Not a 90s boy band supergroup: apparently November is pasta month at The Royal Exchange, with Pasta Evangelists running a series of events through the month, starting with a pasta-making masterclass on 17 November. Not to be outshone, Giles Coren — “official Pasta Evangelist” (does he get a badge?) — is hosting a pasta feast on 23 November that will take guests on a “gourmet journey around Italy” by focussing on only the most stereotypical of Italian foods. “Hero” dishes such as Open ravioli with red Sicilian prawn, black ink pasta, bell peppers and bisque, and Fregola with clams, bottarga, chilli, parsley, garlic and saffron broth are mere warm-ups for the dramatic (read: Instagram-friendly) serving of Cacio e Pepe from hollowed out wheels of Pecorino Romano, in an apparent homage to Twisted-style Facebook how-to videos.

Weino BIB open wine taproom in Dalston

After a run of pop-ups in recent years, BIB Taproom have finally locked down a permanent site for their eco-friendly wine slinging; Weino BIB will open on Dalston’s Balls Pond Road this month. Stepping up from their bag-in-box beginnings to a range of 20 natural and low-intervention wines on tap, Hot Dinners say customers will be encouraged to BYO bottle, or purchase a reusable vessel in store. There’ll be some space to drink in, too, and a range of snacks on offer, so they’ll be joining the likes of Brilliant Corners and Newcomer Wines in the growing Dalson wine-bar scene too — it all kicks off with a launch party on Thursday 16 November.

Mixed news for vegans today

It seems like nearly every day there’s a new vegan news piece, and now Yogesh Datta is said to be serving up an authentic and ethical vegan feast at his Chelsea restaurant The Painted Heron on November 17. At £28 per head it’s sure to be a hit; reservations can be made with the restaurant directly.

But it’s not all positive for the vegan crowd today — Buzzfeed The Telegraph (yes, seriously) have listed Vegans at #1 in their long-awaited list of 13 Types of People Who Should Really Shut Up, so if you’re planning on heading down to The Painted Heron next week, maybe just keep it to yourself.

But it’s Happy Days for the rest of the Alt-Dieters...

…As Isabel Mayfair launches its new Winter Breakfast menu, featuring “classic breakfast egg dishes on arepas.” Juan Santa Cruz, founder of Santa Cruz Co. — the company behind Isabel Mayfair — says arepas are “gluten, lactose and sugar free and full of antioxidants, a great alternative to bread and wheat in general,” so the restaurant is hoping its South American twist on eggs benedict, or is signature breakfast of poached eggs, avocado, almonds and cayenne on arepa will make a mark as much as their interior design has; the restaurant just won “Best Vibe” in the Tatler Restaurant Awards for 2018.