FOOD & BOOZE NEWS
LE BOUCHON’S FESTIVE CHEESEBOARD
If you’re short of ideas of what to put alongside the stilton on the Christmas cheeseboard, help is at hand from Spitalifields’ Le Bouchon Breton. The French restaurant’s in-house cheese expert – or, um, “frommelier” – will be running a festive cheese masterclass on 23 December. Priced at £100 per head, it’ll include a four-course dinner paired with wine. Le Bouchon Breton, 8 Horner Square, Old Spitalfields Market, E1 6EW. www.lebouchon.co.uk, 0800 019 1704.
THE WORLD’S STRONGEST BEER
Festive hats off to anarchic Scots beer company BrewDog, which has launched what it claims is the strongest beer in the world. Tactical Nuclear Penguin – crazy name, crazy beer – is a stout with a 32 per cent alcohol content. To put that in perspective, Carlsberg’s Special Brew lager is just 9 per cent. But don’t expect to see anyone drowning their sorrows with BrewDog’s creation – a bottle will cost you £35, and should be drunk in small measures only – the brewers suggest treating it like a whisky. You’ll have to hunt hard to get your hands on this ultra-limited release of 500, however. www.brewdog.com.
BISTROTEQUE’S FESTIVE POP-UP
The team behind hip East London restaurant, Bistroteque, will be launching (and then closing) a blink-and-you-miss-it Christmas restaurant at the end of this week. Places will be limited at Patron Silver Reindeer, which will open from Friday to Sunday in a fashion photography studio near King’s Cross. Meals will apparently be “traditional period English dishes with a modern edge” – the modern edge, it seems, coming from the use of Patron Tequila as an ingredient. That’ll also be working its way into cocktails made by Bistroteque maestro David Waddington. Patron Silver Reindeer, Studio 1 Big Sky Studios, 29-31 Brewery Road, N7 9HQ, www.patronsilverreindeer.com, 020 8983 7900.
Timothy Barber