FOOD
REVIEWS
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Dine Online
www.limitless.co.uk/dine/welcome.htm
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This site sounds very grand - it's
described as the 'independent wining, dining
and international travel review'. You'll
find more than just restaurant reviews here,
it's also a great source of the latest
restaurant news and gossip on the big name
chefs. Of course restaurants are tested and
rated, and not just in the UK but
internationally. The reviews are well
written and detailed. The selection of
eating guides is also impressive, take your
pick from guides to dining out in London,
dining in the country, recommended
restaurants abroad, recommended Asian
restaurants, great pub food and child
friendly London restaurants.
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AA Restaurant Guide
www.theaa.co.uk
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Better known for patching up your car when
it breaks down, the Automobile Association
also do a nice sideline in listing places
where motorists can get a bite to eat. Based
on their renowned star rating system, you
get a clear and simple idea of what to
expect from a restaurant.
The downside is that restaurants pay for
their ratings, so don't expect everything to
be in there. With competition from other
ratings bodies, few places bother to be
rated by them all.
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The Curry House
www.curryhouse.co.uk
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This is the ultimate online magazine for
curry fans. As well as featuring numerous
curry recipes there's an excellent guide to
Indian restaurants around the UK. You'll
find links to Curry House web sites where
their available; unsurprisingly Bradford has
the longest list of Indian restaurants.
However it's only in the Oxford, Reading and
Central London areas that you'll find
independent reviews of Indian restaurants.
The good news is that these reviews are well
written, honest and comprehensive;
speciality dishes are recommended for each
restaurant.
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Restaurants
www.restaurants.co.uk
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This guide to UK restaurants is kept well
up to date and it covers the whole gamut of
culinary delights - from takeaway fish and
chips through to stylish French restaurants.
To find a suitable eating-place for your
night out you just search by geographical
area. Although you can add your own
restaurant reviews to the site the pages are
short on independent guides; you just get
the contact details and the genre of food
served and that's yer lot. The Sizzler tag
is attached to some of the restaurants and
that's meant to signify a quality restaurant
but even then the reviews are written by the
restaurants themselves and so are hardly
impartial.
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Edinburgh and Glasgow Dining Guide
www.royalmile.com/diningguide
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The design of this site is simple and clean
which makes it a doddle to select a suitable
restaurant. Within each city you can search
for all restaurants specialising in a
certain type of food or you could search for
those within a specific price range (for
example you could pull up all those
restaurants or cafes that serve food for
under a tenner a head). The listings are
hugely comprehensive and include cafes,
bars, delis and arts venues as well as
restaurants. The reviews are extensive and
you're given an idea of how much your meal
is likely to cost.
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Fodor's Restaurant Index
www.fodors.com/ri.cgi
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This is not a huge directory of restaurants
but the site does list all of those
eating-places around the world that meet
Fodor's exacting standards of quality,
service and value. You can search by
geographical area, by price or by style of
cuisine. The directory of restaurants is
small but perfect formed and you can trust
Fodor's recommendations. A useful resource
if you do a lot of travelling abroad.
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London Food
www.london-food.com
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Now London Food reckon that they 'tell it
like it is', so you can look forward to a
bit of honest restaurant reviewing here. The
design of the site can only be described as
grim but the content will win you over. The
listed restaurants are rated on everything
from the cleanliness of the loos through to
the quality of the food and service. The
readers' restaurant review section is also
worth a look if you want some no holds
barred comments.
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Traditional English Restaurants in
London
www.english-restaurants.com
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Before we get too far we have to say that
the creator of this site, the Earl of
Bradford, has a vested interest - he owns
the traditional English restaurant Porters.
However this classic site is an excellent
guide to the few good English restaurants in
the capital. Handily you can select your
restaurant by price or by geographic area.
The reviews are well written and you're told
the average cost per head; visitors to the
site are invited to add their own ratings to
the restaurants listed.
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RECIPES
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Before you start using these lovely recipes
you should order the food that michelin *
chefs do. Seriously Fine Food operate a
mail order service from headquarters in
Herefordshire. Yes it's a cheat's
delight...er...French Custard Powder actually,
technically creme patissiere powder, or the
griottines, little pitted cherries in booze
seldom seen in the UK. They also have verjus -
the latest thing as well as superb
stocks,vinegars,oils,caviar,cheese and much
much more. No wonder 4 of the restaurants they
supply locally have michelin stars.
Interactively .Coming on line soon. Call or
send for their catalogue
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Cooking for Kids
www.learnfree.co.uk/cookingforkids/html/index.asp
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This UK-based site looks great and gives you
lots of recipes and healthy eating tips for
kids on the go. The recipes are fun and it's
the kind of stuff kids will want to eat. The
recipes are split into three main sections -
breakfast, lunchboxes and recipes that kids
can make themselves. The step by step
instructions mean the recipes are all easy to
follow and the accompanying photos will make
your mouth water. Some of the recipes are
particularly clever such as the Hidden
Vegetable pasta, you hide the veg under the
pasta and before you know it your kids are
eating healthily.
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All Recipes
www.allrecipes.com
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You would not believe how many recipes there
are on this site. Sub sections of the site
deal with all manner of cooking from cakes and
bread through to soup and pies - just take a
browse through the A to Z recipe guide to get
an indication of the size of this fabulous
resource for foodies. Recipes are contributed
by visitors to the site and the All Recipes
editors pick out a recipe of the day. You can
even print out the recipes on card so you can
refer to them easily when you're in the midst
of creating a gorgeous meal.
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Betty Crocker
www.bettycrocker.com
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Betty writes a column on cookery that's
syndicated in newspapers around the States and
she's the woman behind this wholesome,
all-American recipe site. The site is well
organised - you choose recipes suitable to
your style of cooking. For example if you're
in a hurry you'd check out the meals in the
Express section, if you've got to keep the
family happy you'd plump for the Kids option,
while gourmets might head straight for the
Love to Cook or Adventure areas. Betty gives
you a whole week's worth of recipes, which is
a blessed relief when it comes to planning
family dinners. The What's On Hand section of
the site is highly recommended - you just tell
Betty what ingredients you've got in your
kitchen and she comes up with a list of
suitable recipes using those products.
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World Wide Recipes
wwrecipes.com
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Sign up with this service and you'll get new
recipes delivered direct to your email inbox
every morning. By the end of the week these
recipes will have built up into a gourmet
menu. The recipes are not for the
unadventurous or the cooking beginner - they
assume a certain level of cookery expertise.
All the recipes have an international flavour
and range from classics served in the world's
finest restaurants to more unusual ideas.
Check out the example menu on the site to see
if it's worth signing up.
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Cooking.com
www.cooking.com
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This site looks mouth wateringly good and is
a very professional endeavour. It is a
commercial site, so you'll find you can buy
cooking utensils direct from the pages - the
only problem is you'll have to get them
shipped from the US. Thankfully the site is
also home to lots of tasty recipes; you just
choose the course, do you want a yummy
appetizer or a gooey pudding and all the
relevant recipes pop up. The cooking
instructions are clear and the recipes are
accompanied by some inspiring photos. If a
particular recipe takes your fancy you can
even email it direct to a friend - a nice
touch. Anybody who's concerned about healthy
eating will be glad to see you're given a
calorie and cholesterol breakdown for each
recipe.
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Meals for you
www.mealsforyou.com
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Another massive collection of recipes, this
site can take all the stress out of cooking
and shopping. If you have a big dinner party
approaching, choose your recipe from the
thousands on display here and add it to your
personalised list of favourites. Once you have
your entire meal, you can print off a shopping
list of everything you need - very handy for
planning purposes.
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Veggie Heaven
www.veggieheaven.com
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Veggie Heaven is home to over 200 vegetarian
and vegan recipes as well as a handy guide to
vegetarian restaurants in the UK. The site is
the work of the vegetarian cookery writer
Rosamond Richardson and is simple and fast but
low on glossy photos. However the recipes are
all easy to follow and you get handy tips on
various cooking techniques.
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YumYum's Kitchen
www.yumyumskitchen.com
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Children love to cook nice things almost as
much as they love to eat them. YumYum's
Kitchen is full of fun things to cook and eat
that are still quite good for them. There's
nothing too complicated either, though some
age guidelines for different recipes might
have been nice - you'll have to decide how
much help your children are likely to need
depending on how skilled they are in the
kitchen.
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