While the country may have sworn in a new prime minister, the Southern Asian nation continues to grapple with a state of emergency. But it is also worth looking beyond images of protestors throwing flames and headlines that render Sri Lanka a “country in chaos” or in “meltdown” to remember why it holds the nickname “The Pearl of the Indian Ocean”. 

From Sri Lanka’s parade of Asian elephants to its pristine coastline and rolling surf, timeless ruins and diverse cuisine, it’s easy to see where it gets its charm, and it’s essential we don’t forget it.

So while a trip to see all the sights and bites of Sri Lanka may be off-the-cards for the time being, head to the bright lights of London’s Soho, where you will find a Sri Lankan restaurant that is a pocket full of paradise.

Dom Fernando opened his restaurant Paradise in 2019, intending to bring modern Sri Lankan ingredients, flavours, design and style to Rupert St — one of the main arteries of Soho. 

Born in North-West London to Sri Lankan parents, Fernando has always had a taste for the world of dining and hospitality. He grew up around tables of family and friends where rice and curry were always the centrepieces. “At the time, I didn’t enjoy constantly having the same thing when all my friends were out having burgers and chips,” says Fernando. “But as I grew older, I came to appreciate the act of always sitting down and realised how much I had learnt from my aunt and grandmother, who both were (and still are) phenomenal cooks.”

After studying at Edinburgh University, Fernando, by his own admission, “did what all good Asian sons do and became an accountant.” Eventually, he could no longer ignore the siren call of hospitality and left to join Intercontinental Hotels, where he worked worldwide. “It was during this time that I cemented my love of hospitality, food and restaurants,” he says. “I was based out in the Middle East and Asia, so I was lucky enough to see the different food cultures and the different customers, which would lead me to think up the idea for a restaurant like Paradise.”

Dom Fernando had always wanted to open a restaurant but faced the obstacle of inexperience when confronting fastidious landlords and agents in London. So to get over his amateur status, he began doing supper clubs with his first head chef in Balham to test the concept; it was an instant hit. 

In 2019, he decided it was either a “go hard or go home” moment, so he set his sights on Soho. “It’s just one of the food centres in London,” he says. “You have the likes of Palomar, Kiln and Hoppers, which are all small restaurants that really pushed London’s food scene forward. I wanted to do something unique that wasn’t commercial, that fitted in with my view of modern Sri Lanka, and that’s what eventually became Paradise.”

If you hadn’t already guessed by the dates of Paradise’s unveiling, the timing was not on Fernando’s side as he opened the restaurant three months before the pandemic hit in January 2020. “It was a very challenging few years,” he says frankly. “But we were fortunate to have Marina O’Loughlin review us, as well as William Sitwell, Tom Parker-Bowels, Tim Hayward and Ed Cummings.” 

After receiving glowing reviews from crème de la crème of restaurant critics, Paradise soon had queues around the block. Fast-forward two years and Paradise continues to be the victor of all the spoils. Inspired by the bistros of Colombo and Galle, Paradise has a menu of small and bigger plates that pays homage to Sri Lankan traditionality and modernity.  

The menu offers small bites such as their slow-braised middle-white pigs head cutlets with tamarind, apple and Indian onion. There are also small plates such as the Northern style turmeric dahl with mustard seed temper and fried long aubergine and jaggery moju. The main plates include dishes such as stir-fried devilled prawns with burnt lime and dry-fried-red-style minced chicken with roasted spices and a coconut veil. Not omitting their side offerings of a St Ewe’s hen egg hopper or lamb fat-infused roti to soak up all the juices.

 “The food at Paradise is ingredient-driven,” explains Fernando. “We bring a lot of our produce from Sri Lanka — which is particularly challenging given what’s going on — so that we can have the flavours in our dishes. At the heart of every dish on the menu is a medley of Sri Lankan flavours. 

 The food in the country has been influenced by its colonial influences — British, Dutch, South Indian and Malay — which has had a significant impact on the food. We also work seasonally with British producers like Natoor and Shrub Provisions to play with traditional Sri Lankan dishes and give it our own spin.”

Of all the plates, Fernando’s “favourite shortie” is the pig head cutlets. “It’s a croquette-like dish you find in Sri Lanka with either fish or mutton, but we wanted to use pig heads as it was a British take, and it has an amazing texture,” he says. “It’s spicy, sweet and sour, and those pickled Indian onions add zest and cut through all the flavours.” He also speaks highly of the aubergine moju, which came as a “revelation”, and the stir-devilled prawns due to their “in-your-face punch”. He adds, “that dish is true Sri Lankan flavour — you don’t mess around with the dish like that!”

The vibrancy and electricity of these dishes reverberate off the restaurant’s stripped-back and greyscale interiors. Dom Fernando took inspiration from the concept of tropical brutalism when designing Paradise, and it was important to him to have a space that reflected the use of concrete walls amongst Asia’s tropics. “I went for a minimal brutalist design as I wanted the flavour to come from the food,” he explains. “We wanted it to be sleek and modern and pay respect to the people we worked with.”

Fernando worked with British woodworker and designer Dan Preston, who also worked with revered restaurants such as KILN, Brat and The Smoking Goat. The concrete banquettes and leather cushioning come directly from his studio in Haggerston. The handmade clay tableware is sourced from Brixton-based husband and wife team Sofia Ceramics with organic stoneware by Jo Marland from her Shoreditch studio.

Stepping into Paradise from the hustle-and-bustle of Soho feels like you have entered a portal into another world. The 35-cover restaurant may be effortlessly cool, but it is also marvellously intimate. Up against the concrete, the light from the day and the flicker of candlelight at night illuminates satiated faces in its glow. The banquet of plates roll in and out of the kitchen like the tide and gloat colours and textures that transport you 5,411 miles away to the beating heart of Colombo.  

“In an ideal world, when people leave Paradise, I want them to think “this makes me want to book a flight to Sri Lanka,” concludes Fernando. “I want people to go WOW, that meal was so fantastic, I need to go and see for myself. As things stand, now may not be the best time to go, but I want people to see [through Paradise] just how great of a country it is.”

For Dom Fernando’s last ever supper, he picks a start of a fish tartare to tease the palette. For his main course, he picks a smorgasbord of Thai, Indonesian and Indian food and tiramisu with gelato for his dessert. To drink, an espresso martini.

Paradise’s recipe for Northern Turmeric Dhal Recipe – Serves 8

Ingredients for base

250 g(1¼ cups) red lentils, rinsed, drained 
1onion, finely chopped 
2garlic cloves, crushed 
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp Sri Lankan curry powder 
6fresh curry leaves 
1 long green chilli, sliced 
1cinnamon quill 
500 ml(2 cups) coconut milk 
60 ml(¼ cup) coconut cream 
coriander leaves to serve

Ingredients for the Temper topping

80 ml olive oil 
1 tsp mustard seeds 
1 cinnamon quill 
1 large onion, finely chopped 
4garlic cloves, sliced
5fresh curry leaves 
1 tsp dried chilli flakes

To make the Dhal

Place all the ingredients except the coconut cream in a saucepan with 250 ml water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender and broken down; add more water if necessary and season with salt.

To make the Temper Topping

To cook the temper for the dhal, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

Then add the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until onions are soft and browned. Remove from the heat and set aside until the lentils are ready.

Stir the temper into the lentils, then add the coconut cream, stirring to combine.

Top with fresh coriander and serve with rice.

The exoskeleton of the city feels as if it were a theatre set for you to make your debut appearance as its shining star. From the towering buildings that dwarf you to the winding fire escapes to swing on and the electric neon signs that leave you wide-eyed; it is as if New York’s canvas exists solely for you to go ahead and paint it red, white and blue.

Predictably, arriving in the city as a total newcomer left me champing at the bit. Growing up on a diet of films, books, and television shows that romanticised New York meant expectations were high, but in hindsight, they were surpassed. With 8.4 million inhabitants, each chunk of New York has its own intriguing cast and characters, whether it’s the trendy hipsters of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the overworked bankers in the Financial District or the real housewives of Madison Avenue.

In addition to exceptional people-watching, there are aeons of things to do and see in the big apple. From roaming Central Park to heading to the Time Out food market in Brooklyn to see the city’s food scene reflected under one roof, catching a comedy or Broadway show, getting a train from Grand Central Terminal, visiting world-class art at the MoMa and Metropolitan Museum of Art, marvelling at the national historic landmark of the Rockefeller Centre or even spotting over 6,000 species at the Bronx Zoo.

You may often feel overwhelmed and pushed for time, but as Simone de Beauvoir once posited: “There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.”

What to do

Explore Central Park 

Otherwise known as “New York’s backyard”, this bounteous 843-acre patch of nature in the heart of Manhattan offers an escape from the concrete jungle. From its rolling meadows to its sprawling waters, views of the city skyline and elm-lined walkways, Central Park is one of the city’s best attractions. Inside the park, you’ll find an outdoor theatre which stages open-air Shakespearean productions in Summer, an ice rink in Winter, a memorial to John Lennon, a playground dedicated to Diana Ross, a zoo, and a famous Alice in Wonderland statue. 

It is also worth booking a table at Tavern on the Green; an iconic NYC restaurant nestled in a bucolic Central Park setting that focuses on a hearty, rustic menu shaped by local and seasonal ingredients. 

Visit the world-class galleries and museums.

With more than 80 museums sprawled across the city, the art in New York is world-class. The oldest institutions are typically around Midtown Manhattan and the Upper East and West Side. In Midtown, you will find the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which has pioneered acquisitions of masterpieces in Postimpressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism such as The Persistence of Memory by Dalí, Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair by Frida Kahlo, Starry Night by Van Gogh to Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Picasso. 

A trip to the big apple would also not be complete without visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Spanning 6,000 years and the entire globe, the museum has everything from the insides of an Egyptian tomb, a complete set of Japanese armour, to Renaissance paintings. Make sure to see the museum’s collection of Vermeer’s, Asian and Islamic art, and one of America’s best-known images Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware.  

If you find yourself hankering for more of a cultural fix, make sure to visit the Neue Gallery to see its collection of Klimt and Schiele, the Frick Museum (temporarily relocated) to see masterpieces from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century and to the Whitney Museum, to see its collection of American art, including work by Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe.

Walk The High Line

If you’re still feeling exasperated by the hustle-and-bustle of the city and crave relief from museums, head to the High Line. Converted into an elevated walkway that rises above the West Side of Manhattan, The High Line used to be a 2.3km long-abandoned railway line. Opened to the public in 2009, this abundantly green pathway is now flanked by a diverse number of plant species, over half of which are native to the United States. In addition to plants, the 1.45-mile-long strip also features art installations, colourful murals, and viewing platforms to see marvellous panoramas of the Manhattan skyline and Hudson river. 

Where to eat

Time Out Market

Sandwiched between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge, this “upscale” food market on DUMBO features the city’s most revered chefs, hottest restaurants and the buzziest bars under one roof. The market is comprised of 21 restaurants over 24,000 square feet, from egg sandwiches and latke eggs Benedict to Clinton St. Baking Company, the hot honey chicken from Jacob’s Pickles, the miso ramen from Mr. Taka Ramen, noodle-wrapped meatballs from Wayla and not forgetting the fabled salmon and cream cheese bagel from Ess-a-Bagel. 

Chinatown 

While Cantonese fare and dim sum dominate Chinatown’s food scene, there are also plenty of other regional cuisines to find, including Shanghainese, Teochew, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Malaysian food. Expect hand-pulled noodles, pork buns, crispy wontons, duck pancakes, stir-fries, and soup dumplings. However, a visit to Nom Wah Tea Parlour is a must. The vintage dim sum parlous dates back to 1920 and has become a neighbourhood staple, offering gargantuan-sized dishes such as turnip cape with XO sauce, chicken siu mai, pan-fried shrimp and chive dumplings, scallion pancakes and fried sesame balls with lotus paste.

Cosme

Conceived by the inimitable Enrique Olvera, Cosme is a restaurant in NYC’s Flatiron District. Opened by Olvera in 2014, Cosme is now rated as one of the world’s 50 best restaurants and has won accolades for serving contemporary cuisine inspired and rooted in Mexican flavours while using local and seasonal ingredients from the Hudson Valley and surrounding regions. Choose from octopus tostada with chintextle and sorrell, scallops and bass with shasta tangerine aguachile and their chocolate flan with tonka bean and rhubarb tamal with lemongrass. Don’t forget to have an aperitif or night-cap mezcal cocktail from the bar at the front. 

Where to stay 

The Peninsula New York

If you want to be right in the midst of the action, The Peninsula hotel, just off Fifth Avenue, is your ticket to ride. The five-star hotel is not only opulent but incredibly convenient with its Midtown location. The neo-classical hotel is only four blocks to Central Park, Bergdorf Goodman is a stone’s throw for any keen shoppers, and the MoMa is a mere three-minute walk away. 

Step inside a grand two-storey foyer where dual staircases lead you to the main restaurant and reception. Expect five-star service, luxuriously big rooms for a notoriously stacked city, an indoor swimming pool, fitness centre, and world-class spa offering body wraps, massages, reflexology and other treatments. Guests can even book a private chauffeur or Mini Cooper S Clubman who will whisk you and your entourage around the city to wherever you so desire.

If money is no object, book dinner at their signature restaurant Clement on the hotel mezzanine, where highlights include the lobster Bisque with a side of caviar, tuna crudo, and slow-braised wagyu beef bourguignon. Finish off the evening on the 23rd floor of the hotel at their 1930s Shanghai-inspired Salon de Ning for a cocktail with views of the illustrious cityscape. 

Running Up That Hill has made history as the song with the longest journey to No. 1, achieving the accolade 37 years after it was originally released in 1985. In doing so, Bush has usurped previous holders Wham!, who saw Last Christmas top the Official Singles Chart in 2021, 36 years after it was initially released. 

What’s more, at 63, Bush has become the oldest female artist to score a UK number one, prompting a public congratulations from the previous record-holder, Cher, for her part in fighting through “the testosterone curtain.”

Running Up That Hill has broken back into the mainstream as a result of the award-winning Netflix series Stranger Things, where it is used as a plot motif for the character Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) as she grieves her brother’s death and tries to escape the evil crutches of the villainous Vecna. “It’s such a great series, and I thought that the track would get some attention. But I just never imagined anything like this,” said Bush earlier this morning.

She went on to commend the way Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers used the song as a form of musical escapism for Max: “I thought, what a lovely way for the song to be used in such a positive way. You know, as a kind of talisman almost really for Max. And yeah, I think it’s very touching, actually.”

The song has also claimed the number one spot in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland since the show aired and achieved a new peak in the US charts at number four. 

In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush smashed barriers for female musicians in pop as she topped the UK Singles Chart for a month with her debut single Wuthering Heights. Her pioneering method of ethereal storytelling, experimental sound and lyrical structure transformed the English singer-songwriter into a trailblazer who would inspire talents such as Tori Amos, St. Vincent, Perfume Genius and Mitski. 

Now, at 63, Bush prefers to spend her days gardening rather than gallivanting in a red dress and tries to avoid the limelight where possible, making today’s interview a surprising delight.

Speaking to Barnett, Bush expressed how she was “overwhelmed by the scale of affection and support” from newfound fans as a result of the song. 

“What’s really wonderful, I think, is this is a whole new audience who, in a lot of cases, have never heard of me and I love that. The thought of all these really young people hearing the song for the first time and discovering it is….well, I think it’s very special.”

Hedda (after Ibsen) starring David Hoyle

Soho Theatre, available now

The undisputable icon of the avant-garde David Hoyle stars in this one-person cinematic, theatrical reimagining of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. Created, written and directed by Jen Heyes, Hedda (after Ibsen) is set in a Lynchesque inspired world of dream imagery, bespoke sound design, music and chanteuse style singing; with an original composition by Tom Parkinson.

Hacks Season Two

Amazon Prime, available now

After becoming one of the best new TV shows of 2021, Hacks is back for its encore. Viewers can watch Hacks season 2 and expect more of Deborah (Jean Smart in an Emmy-winning performance) and Ava’s (the Emmy-nominated Hannah Einbinder) dysfunctional and magnificent relationship. In Season Two, Hacks hits the road, but Deborah and Aca remain very much at home with each other in a sterling sophomore season that finds novel ways to deepen the central pair’s lovable friendship.

Chris Jackson on Elizabeth II: A Queen for Our Time

V&A Online Talk, Monday 13 June at 7 pm

For the last 20 years, Chris Jackson, as Getty’s royal photographer, has had privileged access to HM The Queen and the royal family. Illustrated by his favourite photographs, Chris will be in conversation with journalist Sarah Hewson about two decades of photographing the royal family and being behind the scenes at some of the critical moments of history. This talk will be held on Zoom, and all ticketholders will receive a link to view the morning of the event.

Sherwood, Episode One

BBC One and iPlayer, Monday 13 June at 9 pm

Award-winning writer James Graham (Quiz, Brexit: An Uncivil War) has drawn on his own experiences growing up in post-industrial Nottinghamshire for a brand new crime drama that is arguably his most personal project. Inspired in part by real events, Sherwood boasts an all-star cast including David Morrisey, Lesley Manville and Joanne Froggatt. In Episode One, DCS Ian St Clair is called to investigate a tragic and unexpected murder in an ex-mining town as news of the crime threatens to inflame historic tensions.

Queen’s Tennis

BBC Two, Monday 13 June at 1 pm

Watch the live action from the prestigious Queen’s Club grasscourt tournament, where the first round of the traditional warm-up tournament to Wimbledon will see the world’s leading male tennis players taking to the courts of Queen’s.

The Wrath of God

Netflix, Wednesday 15 June

Based on the Novel written by Guillerk O Martinez, the Spanish Netflix film The Wrath of God traces a string of mysterious deaths in which Luciana’s family begin to close in on her and her sister Valentina. While Luciana’s boss, an enigmatic writer, is there for her, he may also have something to hide. In a race against time to find the truth, Luciana finds herself at a crossroads between reason and death.

Make sure to keep an eye on our books section where we will be reviewing some of the books mentioned below and much more every weekend.

The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment edited by Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton University Press, £18.49)

The Presidency of Donald J. Trump presents the first historical assessment of one of the world’s most divisive presidencies. Acclaimed political historian Julian Zelizer brings together many of today’s top scholars — from Kathleen Belew to Gregory Downs —  to provide balanced and original perspectives on the major issues that defined and shaped the Trump presidency, from his war on feminism to his response to Covid-19 and tensions with China.

Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris (Little Brown, £16.05)

The American humorist and “champion storyteller” David Sedaris has written another wryly perceptive collection of personal essays to entertain and enlighten. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, Sedaris is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. Then, the pandemic hits. As the world settles into a new reality, Sedaris also finds himself changed. Sedaris once more captures the unexpected, hilarious and poignant about these recent upheavals — personal and public — and expresses the misanthropy and desire for connection that drives us all.

Too Big to Jail: Inside HSBC, the Mexican drug cartels and the greatest banking scandal of the century by Chris Blackhurst (Pan Macmillan, £16.59)

Too Big to Jail is a remarkable story told by former editor of The Independent and Reaction columnist Chris Blackhurst. It is a story that starts in Hong Kong and travels across London, Washington, The Cayman Islands and Mexico, where HSBC saw the chance to become the largest bank in the world and El Chapo seized the moment to fuel his murderous empire by laundering his drug proceeds through the bank. The book brings together an extraordinary cast of politicians, bankers, drug dealers, FBI officers, and whistle-blowers, and asks what price does greed have? Whose job is it to police global finance? And why did not a single person go to prison for facilitating the murderous expansion of a global drug empire?

Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey by Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC (Transworld Publishers, £15.95)

High-profile murder cases all too often make for clickbait media headlines that grip public attention. Unlike most of us, however, a judge doesn’t get to turn the page and move on. Nor does the defendant, the family of the victim or the many people who populate the courtroom. While most only have a rough idea of the mechanics of a Crown Court, anyone could end up in the witness box or even the dock. In Unlawful Killings, Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC describes how cases unfold and illustrates exactly what it is like to be a murder trial judge and a witness to the extremes of humanity’s good and evil.

The Bewitching by Jill Dawson (Hodder & Stoughton, £16.59)

Set in the 16^th century, The Bewitching by Jill Dawson is a chilling tale of the notorious witch trial in the village of Warboys in Cambridgeshire. Based on a true story, the book begins with a local woman and herbalist Alice Samuels being invited to visit her new neighbours the Throckmorton family. Elizabeth Throckmorton is the new mistress of Warboys manor house, her husband Robert has been appointed Squire and they have five daughters. When Jane, one of the younger children, starts to behave strangely and appears to suffer from fits, she points the finger at Alice Samuels as the behaviour spreads to her sisters. The Bewitching is a vivid recreation of 16th-century life in The Fens and a powerfully moving tale about cruelty, persecution and power.

The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st century by Jamie Susskind (Bloomsbury Publishing, £19.45)

Only a short while ago, the technology industry was widely admired, and the internet was seen as a tonic for freedom and democracy. Not anymore. Every day, the headlines are ablaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks, and social media platforms festering with falsehood and hate. In The Digital Republic, the acclaimed author Jamie Susskind argues that these problems are not the fault of a few bad apples at the top of the industry but they are the result of our failure to govern technology properly. The Digital Republic charts a new course, with new legal standards, new public bodies and institutions, new duties on platforms, new rights and regulators and new codes of conduct for people in the tech industry. The book envisions a different type of society: a digital republic in which human and technological flourishing go hand in hand.

Takeaway: Stories from a childhood behind the counter by Angela Hui (Orion Publishing, £13.75)

Takeaway is an eye-opening memoir charting the stories behind living in and running a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales by Angela Hui. Growing up in a takeaway, Hui was made aware from a young age just how different she and her East Asian family were regarded by her local community. From attacks on the shopfront to verbal abuse from customers and confrontations that ended with her dad wielding the meat cleaver, life growing up in a takeaway was far from peaceful. But alongside the strife, there was also beauty and joy to be found in the rhythm of life in the takeaway and being surrounded by the cuisine of her home culture. This beguiling memoir by the award-winning writer, who now works as a food and drink writer at Time Out, brings readers along on the journey from Hui’s earliest memories to her family closing the shop after 30 years in the business, complete with recipes at the end of each chapter.

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Epic Siege at the Heart of WWII’s Greatest Battle by Iain MacGregor (Little Brown, £19.45)

In time for the 80^th anniversary of the beginning of the battle of Stalingrad, The Lighthouse of Stalingrad depicts the historic battle through the prism of the men who fought one another over five months and the officers who commanded them. This riveting account will also draw on unseen documents from German and Russian archives, digging out unpublished memoirs and eyewitness testimonies from veterans and civilians alike. Painting a truer picture of the battle, and focusing on a frontline building codenamed The Lighthouse, MacGregor shows how the Great Patriotic War troops surrounding the battle perpetuate in Putin’s Russia and even reveals that it was a Ukrainian who took the final German surrender. 

Trust by Hernan Diaz (Pan Macmillan, £13.75)

In 1937 a novel was published that soon became essential reading for the entirety of New York. Bonds told the story of Benjamin and Helen Rask, the legendary Wall Street tycoon and the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they rose to the top of a world of seemingly endless wealth — all as a decade of excess drew to an end. But at what cost did they acquire their immense fortune? Hernan Diaz’s Trust builds on the famous novel, collating these competing narratives into conversation with one another — creating a story within a story. At once an immersive story and literacy puzzle, Trust engages the reader in a quest for the truth while confronting the deceptions that often live at the heart of personal relationships, the reality-warping force of capital, and the ease with which power can manipulate facts.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline Publishing, £19.45)

Set during the Italian Renaissance in Florence, The Marriage Portrait tells the story of Lucrezia, the third daughter of Cosimo de Medici. When her older sister dies on the eve of her marriage to Alfonso d’Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight. Having hardly left girlhood behind, Lucrezia now must navigate her way in a troubled court and fulfil her duty of providing an heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance. With the same drama and verve used in the award-winning Hamnet, O’Farrell now brings the world of Renaissance Italy to life and offers a distinct portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for survival.

More than a million people are estimated to have Covid-19, or what Pyongyang is labelling a “fever”. It’s feared that 56 people have died, but it is unclear how many of those suspected cases have tested positive due to North Korea’s limited testing capacity.

 On Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the rapidly developing Covid-19 outbreak the “greatest turmoil” to fall on the nation since its founding and has since enforced a national lockdown. Jong-un has even publicly criticised his own government’s health officials over what he interpreted as a botched pandemic response, saying that supplies were not being distributed to pharmacies in time because of their “irresponsible work attitude” and lack of organisation. 

As it stands, Covid-19 continues to spread rapidly throughout a population of 26 million in North Korea where it is understood that there are low vaccination rates, no in-built immunity, and no apparent antivirals. Against the backdrop of a shoddy medical infrastructure and widespread malnutrition, the world’s most secretive state is cooking up a recipe for disaster.

Here is what you need to know.

When did this outbreak begin, and how many Covid-19 cases have been reported?

 The fortress-like country is grappling with its first acknowledged Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic emerged more than two-and-a-half years ago. North Korea announced last Thursday that an unspecified number of people in Pyongyang had tested positive for the Omicron variant.

 Three days later, the state media reported a total of 42 deaths and 820,620 suspected cases, with 324,550 people under medical care. Today, KCNA reported 269,510 more people with “feverish symptoms”, at least 663, 910 people in quarantine and another six deaths. It is reported that 1.48 million people are “feverish.”

 Why is North Korea particularly vulnerable?

 For a country heavily reliant on human labour in agriculture and lacking industrial and medical infrastructure, a Covid-19 crisis could exacerbate its already dire food situation. The country suffered a brutal famine in the 1990s, and today the World Food Programme estimates that 11 million of the country’s 25 million people are undernourished. 

 According to analysts, lockdown restrictions would only hinder ongoing anti-drought efforts and the mobilisation of labour, which is crucial for the country’s economy. “In North Korea, economic activity requires a lot of people’s movements, and you can’t expect trade or large aid from China,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea. “But now farming activity could be scaled back and distribution of fertilisers, raw materials and equipment would become difficult,” he further added.”

 What’s more, the virus could spread rapidly owing to North Korea’s poor health infrastructure. The country has had almost no access to the Covid-19 vaccine nor do they have enough testing kits to confirm infections in the masses, and many are chronically malnourished, leaving them with compromised immune systems. 

 But it still remains tricky to gauge the scope and the scale of the humanitarian situation in North Korea as virtually all international aid providers pulled out of the country amid extended border shutdowns. 

 What is being done to tackle the Covid-19 wave?

 Kim Jong-un has imposed “maximum emergency” virus controls, including lockdowns and gathering restrictions in workplaces. State media said last week that factory labourers and even office workers and government officials have been dispatched to help improve farming facilities and secure water resources across the country. 

 Health experts say that the urgent priority is importing antiviral drugs into the country to treat people with symptoms. But for this to happen, North Korea has to ask for help and let people into the country to distribute and administer aid and medical care. Unsurprisingly, for a country so hellbent on insularity, it has yet to ask for a helping hand.  

 South Korea has offered unlimited aid to the North if requested but has received no response.  Jean Mackenzie, the BBC’s correspondent in Seoul, reports that the North is unlikely to accept any help from their neighbour. “It’ll be far more palatable if the offer comes from an international organisation such as the United Nations,” said Mackenzie, “even if that means South Korea’s supplies need to be redirected and packaged up in this way.”

 Despite offers of aid from multiple countries, Dr Leonid Petrov, a leading expert on North Korea from the International College of Management in Sydney, says that the country may never accept vaccines or outside help. 

He said: “They have this dilemma: to either accept the vaccine and be like everybody else or not accept it and still be claiming victory over Covid without vaccines, claiming that they are the ‘purest race’ and have the magic kinship.”

Jens Stoltenberg,  director-general of NATO, announced yesterday that the security bloc would fast-track the membership of Sweden and Finland. In applying for membership, Finland and Sweden are reversing their traditional and longstanding policies of military non-alignment to expand the alliance’s maritime and aerial surveillance coverage of the region.

Not surprisingly, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov ,said today that Finland and Sweden’s application to join NATO is a “grave mistake”, and they should be under no “illusion” that Moscow will simply accept the decision. According to a report from Russian news agency Interfax, Ryabkov threatened that this “mistake” would have “far-reaching consequences.”

Russia moves nuclear missiles to the Finnish border

A video posted on Russian social media today reveals that President Putin may have started moving nuclear-capable missiles to Finland’s border, just a day after Finland and Sweden announced formal plans to apply for NATO membership. The video shows trucks carrying seven Iskander ballistic missiles – capable of firing nuclear warheads up to 300 miles – moving through the country, reportedly on a highway to Vyborg, on the Finnish border.  

Russia may have lost a third of its invasion force

According to the U.K. Defence Ministry’s latest assessment, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Russian military may have lost a third of its forces, and its offensive in the Donbas region has “lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule.” 

The British defence ministry said on Twitter: “Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month while sustaining consistently high levels of attrition.” 

The MoD further said the offensive was being hindered by the loss of “critical enablers” such as bridging equipment and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance drones. 

“Russian forces are increasingly constrained by degraded enabling capabilities, continued low morale and reduce combat effectiveness,” the MoD stated. “Under the current conditions, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.”

What’s more, according to the Institute for the Study of War, Russia is predicted to have run out of combat-ready reservists, forcing it to integrate forces from private military companies and proxy militias with its regular army. The Institute for the Study of War further added that the Russian military is covertly mobilising units of untrained men – including conscripts from Luhansk and Donetsk. 

Baltic states push for reinforcement

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which share borders with Russia, are pushing for further security guarantees such as a permanent U.S. military base and aircraft to improve their defences along its eastern flank. Speaking at an informal meeting of NATO ministers in Berlin, Latvia’s foreign minister said that the “existential” threat posed by Russia is here to stay. He  added: “A more robust presence of NATO allied forces is needed in each of the Baltic States, which would include reinforcement with anti-aircraft and missile defence systems and other capabilities critically lacking in the region.”

Operation Hedgehog is underway in Estonia 

More than 15,000 troops from ten countries, including from Britain, the U.S, Finland and Sweden, will participate in a three-week-long military exercise in the Baltic dubbed “Siil” or “Hedgehog.” Occurring just 40 miles from the nearest Russian base in Estonia, the military drill will be one of the largest exercises to take place since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. 

A NATO spokesperson said: “Exercises like these show that NATO stands strong and ready to protect our nations and defend against any threat.”

The 98-page initial draft of the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, suggests that five of the nine judges on the bench privately voted to strike down the 1973 Roe v Wade case, which is the 49-year old ruling that makes abortion legal at a national level. 

In the document dated 10 February, Justice Samuel Alito wrote: “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start”, before stating that the decision on whether to ban it or not should be returned to individual states.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement saying that if the report was accurate, the “Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years”.

What does this mean for the right to abortion in the US? Here’s what you need to know.

What is Roe v Wade?

A landmark court decision in 1973 granted Americans the right to get an abortion in the United States. It came after a Texan mother who went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe” sued for her right to terminate a pregnancy in 1970. “Wade” was the defendant Henry Wade, the Dallas County district attorney at the time.

After years of legal challenges and appeals supported by the US women’s rights movement, Roe’s case was eventually heard by the Supreme Court. The judges ruled by a 7-2 majority in 1973 that the Texas law was unconstitutional. The Court struck down laws that made abortion illegal in several states and ruled that abortion would be allowed up to the point of foetal viability, which is the time after which a foetus can survive outside of the womb. 

What is the Mississippi case, and why is it important?

The Supreme Court has been reviewing a case – Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation – which is challenging a law passed in the US state of Mississippi in 2018, banning abortion after 15 weeks. 

The document obtained by Politico was labelled “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” and was reportedly about the Dobbs case. The report said that a court majority was inclined to uphold Mississippi’s abortion ban and that there could be five justices in favour of overturning Roe.

Abortion rights activists say the ruling violates the rights ushered in by Roe v Wade, which does not cut off abortion access until a foetus becomes viable at 24 weeks. At present,  Roe v Wade guarantees abortion in the first two trimesters of pregnancy before this viability and then states can choose whether or not to extend that access .

They have further warned that this case would be significant because conservative judges hold a 6-3 super-majority on the Supreme Court. More progressive judges held a slim majority in the Court until Donald Trump cherry-picked three new “pro-life” justices after becoming president in 2017.

What does the leaked document reveal? 

A decision on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation was not expected to be announced before the Court’s current session ends in June. However, according to Politico, based on Alito’s opinion, the Court would find the Roe v Wade decision that allows abortions performed before a foetus would be viable outside the womb – between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly decided because the US Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.

After stating that Roe was “egregiously wrong” and that it was time to return the issue to the “people’s elected representatives”, Justice Alito held that both Roe and “Casey” – another landmark abortion judgement of the Court from 1992 that reaffirmed the right to terminate pregnancies up to the point of foetal viability – “must be overruled.”

In the leaked document, Alito wrote: “Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion [….] The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.”

While the document is only a draft that reflects the opinion of Justice Alito, Politico reported that four other judges on the bench – Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – have also voted in favour.

What will it mean if Roe v Wade is overturned?

If few or no amendments are made to Justice Alito’s draft, then the effect on abortion access in the US will be swift.

Already, 22 states have laws or constitutional amendments in place in the vent that Roe v Wade is overturned. According to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, more than half of US states would “likely or almost certainly” ban abortions. While abortion is likely to remain legal in liberal states, if the top US court strikes down the ruling, “trigger laws” could instantly make abortion illegal in states such as Arkansas. Similarly, Kentucky, Louisiana and South Carolina would ban terminations six weeks into pregnancy. 

Depending on how the Court words its final judgement, legal abortion access could “effectively end for those living in much of the American South and Midwest, especially those who are poor,” according to the New York Times.

Abortion activists say there will be “seismic” changes in American society if Roe is overturned. “The first line in the draft is that this is a moral issue,” said Annie McDonnell, a 19-year-old student at George Washington University. “If it’s a moral issue, you shouldn’t be depriving us of our choice.”

It remains unclear whether there have been subsequent changes to the leaked draft, and the Court’s ruling will not be final until it is published, which is likely to be within the next two months.

Billed as a “reimagining” of Trocca’s flagship Buenos Aires restaurant, Soho’s Sucre aims to reflect a story that is a “conversation of Latin American and Spanish, Italian and other European influences” with a menu that charts the story of Trocca’s immigrant background as well as that of the European adventurers who crossed the Atlantic to make their way to his native Argentina. 

Born in 1966, Trocca is somewhat of a culinary celebrity in his native country and is instantly recognisable due to his statement look of a bushy beard, coiffed hair, and chunky black-rimmed glasses — an avant-garde hipster if you ever did spot one.

“Growing up in Argentina was beautiful,” Trocca says of his childhood, “I loved living in the city, enjoying time with my friends and family. It was here that I inherited the passion for food from my maternal grandmother Serafina who very much instilled the love of cooking and gastronomy in me.” 

Trocca began his career in the restaurants of Buenos Aires in the mid-80s, where he honed his craft in the kitchens of renowned chefs such as Francis Malmann and Gato Dumas. He would continue his training in Italy, France, Spain and the US, and it was here that he fine-tuned his style of Argentine-European cooking. “Being able to travel to Europe and the United States was one of the most important things I did in my career,” he says, “it influenced me as a cook, and as a person.”

In 2001, he opened Sucre in Buenos Aires. Timing-wise, it seemed reckless and irresponsible. It was only a month before the financial crisis of 2002, but the restauranter refused to let poor timing dictate Sucre’s fortune. “We never knew what was coming, we only knew it was another bad economic moment for Argentina,” he tells me. “It was a real blow when it happened, but curiously, before all the bad forecasts, Sucre was, and still is, a complete success.” If Trocca were a betting man, he’d be on the money as Sucre became an instantaneous hit and has since been regularly featured on the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Two decades later, Trocca and Tato decided to package Sucre up and ship it first-class to London. “It was, and continues to be, a great challenge,” he says when reflecting on the decision, “but I think the most important thing is to take things seriously and professionally. Trust in what you do, what you like, and go for it.”

A worthy feat, as you can’t help but feel stupefied as you are ushered into the palatial restaurant. With 123 covers, Sucre is poised gracefully in what was once the College’s high-ceilinged concert hall. Designed by Noriyoshi Muramatsu (also responsible for ROKA Dubai, Zuma Boston, and Hutong Miami), the Japanese architect has skilfully paid homage to the building’s faded history as a concert hall but has also included industrial features for a contemporary feel.

But it is his introduction of a series of bespoke chandeliers, comprised of over a thousand cut glass decanters, that creates a wondrous corridor of light in Sucre and makes dining in the restaurant an eye-popping spectacle.

The pièce de résistance of Sucre is the orchestra-like open kitchen that the restaurant has been built around. Fitted with an open fire pit or “parilla” and a wood oven, dishes are cooked over charcoal, using embers rather than live flames. Depending on when you’re sat, you can sometimes feel the wafts of heat from the culinary concerto as the chefs sharpen their knives and frizzle up ingredients behind. Here, “old world flavours” are married with “modern ideas” through the wondrous art of Latin American open-fire cooking.

As for the menu, expect satchels of oozy aged cheddar and onion empanadas, stone bass tostada with soy and lime, saffron risotto with veal ossobuco, cod with onion in a shellfish sauce, wild mushroom fideua with wild garlic, lamb shoulder with spring peas and salsa verde and, of course, an Argentine-inspired menu wouldn’t be complete without an 800g bone-in ribeye to share with chimichurri and fries. Don’t forget to indulge in the last act of pudding, where their dulce de leche fondant will leave you groaning in bliss.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. You can head downstairs for a nightcap at Abajo — the idea of Trocca’s close friend, the award-winning Argentinan bartender and bar owner Tato Giovannoni. The bar interiors and the menu is inspired by the “colour and rebellion” of Buenos Aires in 1983 and all the colour, culture and music that followed a dismal period of military rule.

The bar menu of colourful highballs focuses on Latin American spirits and old-school, lesser-known ingredients. Expect illuminated cocktails such as Something Blue, a mix of gin with mezcal, blue spirulina and tonic or Something Red, a play on Argentina’s iconic Amaro and Cola featuring amaro, Maraschino liqueur, cherries and pink grapefruit soda.

“We want people to leave Sucre and Abajo thinking that they had a great night,” says Trocca, “that they ate well, listened to good music, were well attended and catered for, and of course want to come back!”

In that case, job done.

Fernando Trocca’s recipe for wild mushroom fideua

Serves 4

Ingredients

600g angel hair noodles (pre-toasted in olive oil)
1 tbsp onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red pepper, diced
2 tbsp tomato pulp
Vegetable broth as needed
200g wild mushroom mix 

Method

Sauté the onion, garlic and pepper for 10 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes on a very low heat.

In a separate pan, sauté the mushrooms with a dash of olive oil for 7 minutes.

Now mix it all together in one pan and cover with the vegetable broth. 

Simmer until the pasta is cooked (approx. 7-8 minutes)

Suddenly, a packet of penne became about as valuable as a gold bullion as we trembled at the thought of surviving the pandemic without the arsenal for a creamy carbonara, spaghetti bolognese or a tastily-tiered lasagne. 

We are a nation that lives, breathes and worships the durum wheat-based dough in its myriad of shapes, sizes, bow-ties, stars and cylinders. According to a YouGov poll, an astonishing 68 per cent of Brits eat pasta at least once a week, with 42 per cent enjoying a bowl multiple times a week. Is it then, of any surprise at all, that the company Pasta Evangelists enjoyed a meteoric rise in sales where demand quadruped, amid the pandemic?

The company, which delivers fresh pasta meals and sauces in letterbox-sized parcels nationwide, is the brainchild of the Italian-British businessman Alessandro Savelli. Investors include the likes of food critic William Sitwell, Guinness Asset Management and The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith.

Savelli recently reportedly sold a majority stake in the business for a stonking £40 million to Barilla Group, the 143-year-old Italian multinational that is the world’s largest pasta producer. “It was a very big milestone,” says Savelli, who remains as Pasta Evangelists’ chief executive and shareholder.

The Italian-British entrepreneur was born in 1980 in Genoa, Italy, to an English mother and Italian father. His childhood was spent in and amongst a big and bustling family that gathered, somewhat ceremonially, around the dining table to revel in the rich flavours of the north-western Italian coast. “In Italy, food is engrained in the culture,” explains Savelli, “and the climate produces fruit and vegetables with a phenomenal taste. The concept of “family” in Italy is also potentially more intimate than in other countries, so eating together and spending time around the table is naturally incredibly important.”

Savelli then studied at Exeter University and Columbia Business School in New York before pursuing a career in investment banking. During these years, Savelli honed in the “art of selling” and created his first start-up business called Savelli, which sold luxury smartphones designed and marketed as luxury jewellery specifically for women. Long story short, the business was a flop and cost investors millions. But, soon enough, the savvy entrepreneur got back on his feet and started mixing the ingredients for an idea that would take him sky-high. 

“Well, I have always been interested in food and beverage,” Savelli says. “I had experience in commercial business, I’m Italian, I like to sell things, and I like artisan goods. Adding all those things together, I had the idea to create a pasta business. Let’s be honest, it was never going to be a BioNTech company.”

In 2015, Savelli launched Pasta Evangelists from his flat, where he started delivering portions of Gnocchi with Pesto Alla Genovese to his friends and family. In 2018, on track for a £700,00 turnover, he was invited to BBC2’s notorious Dragon’s Den, where the panel turned down his pitch for £75,000 in exchange for 2.5 per cent of the company, memorably calling Savelli’s idea “pasta le disaster.”

But this was far from a blip; Savelli saw his debut in the den as a roaring success. “It was free marketing!” he exclaims, “someone may as well have handed me a £200,000 cheque. My partners were against the idea, but we thought, it was a great chance to go and make some good television and not have to give away a chunk of a company.”

Now based near King’s Cross in London, Pasta Evangelists offers 18 fresh pasta dishes to help people enjoy a “5* trattoria experience from their homes”, and is also available in Harrods and M&S. Day-to-day, from 7 am up until 4 pm, and the pasta is made by hand, cooked, and packed along with garnishes and sauces, overseen by Roberta, the official sfoglina (pasta artisan). Using tomatoes from growers around Mount Vesuvius, toasted hazelnuts from Piedmont and black truffles from Umbria, Pasta Evangelists harness the best of both Italian and UK provenance. 

The dishes not only shift with the seasons but also reflect all twenty regions of Italy. Past recipes have included a traditional Roman Cacio e Pepe and a Rigatoni with fennel sausage sauce from Sicily. Currently available dishes include the Salt Cod Ravioli with Tarragon Butter & Fresh Samphire, a “Carbonara of Dreams”, Mac and Cheese with Black Truffle & Fresh Marjoram, and their signature dish of a Tuscan Wild Boar Ragù with Fresh Pappardelle. 

“Pasta dishes in Italy don’t just differ from region-to-region, but also from town-to-town,” says Savelli. “For example, the Ragù in Genoa is quite watery and dense, in Napoli, it is heavily tomato-based, and in Bologna, it’s very meaty. Even the sauces, fillings and shapes hugely differ. Pesto in Genoa is made with basil, and in Sicily, it uses almonds instead of pine nuts, and is finished with fresh tomatoes. That is what is so exciting about Pasta Evangelists, we get to give a voice to all of the regions and the way they do things.”

Pasta Evangelists are also constantly adapting the pasta dishes to not only reflect Italian traditionality and diversity but that also reflect changing consumer demands, such as the rise of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan dining. From Baked Zucchini, Kale & Spinach with Ricotta and Lemon Zest to a Gluten-Free Conghiglie with Sicily’s Pistachio Pesto & Fresh Basil, no one needs to be excluded from indulging in a bowl of piping hot pasta.

At the core of the Pasta Evangelists business is an emphasis on sustainability. The mission is not only to deliver a trattoria experience through a letterbox, but to do so in a way that minimises waste. Through its pre-order model, predictive technology and pre-portioned products, Pasta Evangelists is currently aiming to be a 100 per cent zero-waste business by 2025. “For me, sustainability is about diminishing the amount of packaging,” says Savelli, “I want the packaging to be smaller and have less of an impact. I am always thinking: how can I make this pasta delicious with as little waste as possible?”

Pasta Evangelists also provide thousands of meals to The Felix Project, delivering surplus food to charities and schools in London. For every box of food sold, they also donate £5 to Age UK, and have already raised more than £25,000 — pasta alla philanthropy. 

For Savelli’s last supper, he picks a buffet with a smorgasbord of spaghetti. “I’m a bit of a glutton,” he confesses before envisaging a scenario where he could have bottomless plates of pasta with a different sauce each time. To drink? Champagne. 

In fairness, it is a banquet fit for a pied piper of pasta who needs all the carb-laden energy he can get to continue bestowing bowls of glee to homes up-and-down the country — gods speed.

Try Pasta Evangelists’ recipe for Sardinian Lamb Ragù

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 – 2 hours
Calories per serving: 500

Ingredients

2 x 400 g cans of diced tomato
600 g lamb diced into 1 – 2 inch pieces
500 ml of lamb stock (use chicken stock if you can’t get your hands on lamb)
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 celery stalks, diced
a generous splash of red wine
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp mint, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp of sugar
1 sprig of rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme 
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until shimmering then add your lamb and quickly brown the outside

Remove the lamb and add the onions and cook until soft. Then add the garlic and cook until fragrant. 

Add the carrots, celery, and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. If the mixture starts to get dry, start slowly adding the lamb stock.

Deglaze the pan with your red wine and then add the lamb stock (if you haven’t already).

Add the lamb back in, followed by sugar, mint, rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme.

Cook for 1-2 hours, or until the mixture has thickened and the lamb is very tender. 

Taste the sauce and season with salt and black pepper. 

Or you can just buy it here.

At the helm of the Hackney Coterie is the flame-haired chef Dominic Auger, who rose to notability after working in restaurants such as HIDE under Ollie Dabbous and as a sous chef at Scully St James’s. It was never Auger’s intention to pursue gastronomy as a career path. In fact, he studied medical engineering at Durham University and planned on joining the army and going to Sandhurst, but a knee injury put these plans on ice.

To keep busy, Auger got a job at his local pub near Windsor before working at The Oxford Blue, a gastropub nearby. Under the stewardship of chef-patron Steven Ellis – a protégé of Gordon Ramsay and Clare Smyth – he spent two years working across different sections of the gastropub, learning how to perfect the art of British cooking that Ellis was renowned for.

Soon enough, Dominic Auger began to clock the similarities between army training and working in a professional kitchen, even more so when he took up a post as sous chef at Ramael Scully’s Asian-Fusion restaurant in St James’. “It was a massive change in tone and a totally different working environment from the country to the city,” Auger says. “Working at Scully’s for those three years was very regimental, it was all about getting the job done efficiently.”

When lockdown hit, Auger and his partner retreated back to the country and he went from running a “million miles an hour” to utter stillness, leaving him chomping at the bit for stuff to do. “It’s important for chefs to be busy,” he says, “I can’t just sit around and watch television, I need to be occupied.” Auger noticed a gap in the market for deliverable fine dining in his local area and set up his company, Mirepoix, whilst operating out of his home kitchen.

“I took a lot of influence from Asian cuisine as no takeaways were doing anything interesting,” he says. “We weren’t just delivering food but high-quality ingredients prepped so that it would be interactive – we wanted to coach people the process behind it.”

During this liminal period, Auger harnessed his skills of resourcefulness and innovation to teach his students to make everything from pig head croquettes with parsnip jelly, mushrooms on toast with caramelised yoghurt and soy sauce gel, sourdough croutons cooked on a barbeque, to cured salmon with kiwi and XO sauce salad.

After a brief stint working at HIDE, Dominic Auger was approached by Ramael Scully who told him that Anthony Lyon – the owner of Lyon’s Seafood & Wine Bar – was on the hunt for a head chef. Initially, Auger rejected the offer, but spent some time mulling the proposition over and decided to accept the role as head chef at Hackney Coterie.

At the core of Auger’s menu at Hackney Coterie is an emphasis on maximum taste, minimum waste. To do so, the chef stresses he creates “menus” not “dishes”. He elaborates, “there are a lot of things that don’t interact well. For example, in a duck dish where you just use the breast and then offal, the legs will typically go in the bin. Creating dishes ends up with waste, so instead, I devise a menu where I take one dish, think about the waste or by-product of it, and connect it all together.”

Take Hackney Coterie’s vegetarian main course, a cauliflower dish, for example: “We use the two hearts to make a cauliflower steak. We then ferment the stem and smoke and dehydrate it so it can become essentially a veggie version of Benito flakes that will last forever,” Auger says. “We strip the leaves and make kimchi, and once that’s fermented we blitz it up to fold through our olives, and we dehydrate some to put on our potato skins. Then, with the trim from the cauliflower, we smoke it and use it on our duck dish as a puree. Of that whole cauliflower, the only thing that goes in the bin is a little bit of peel.”

You won’t have to look very far to see a restaurant vowing “seasonality” and “sustainability” as part of their ethos but at Hackney Coterie, it truly is; only around 10 per cent of the food bin is full by the end of a long shift, mainly consisting of scraps and leftover staff food. “The problem,” Auger tells me, “is that these words have become incredibly trendy. But I know for a fact, that some of these restaurants (who shall not be named) are chucking away kilos of food every day.”

“A massive shift is needed and the driving force is the consumer. Consumers are almost groomed to think that the stuff on the menu is the only stuff available, they need to realise that having a fillet of beef is not a sustainable choice. From just one cow, there are two fillets. I do appreciate the restaurants who use the whole of that animal as it’s important to cycle through the cuts but there are tons that don’t despite saying they do.”

The low-waste menu at the Hackney Coterie is a revolving door of flavour. Guests choose a six-course tasting menu with complementary wines, and it can be meat-led, fish-led or vegetarian. Upon arrival to the trendy bolthole, my guest and I opted for the Pescatarian menu and whetted our appetites with hefty chunks of their charred barbequed sourdough, lathering it in miso butter in an eruption of umami.

This was followed by the scale-speckled fish crackling with a smoked tofu dip, a Jenga-like stack of thousand-layered Szechuan potatoes with black tea mayo, delicately thin slithers of charred leeks with horseradish and garlic mutter milk, spiced mangal monkfish with dashi custard. To finish, a fermented celeriac barbara with malted cream, and smoked porter syrup. It was a masterful execution of innovation, seasonality and ingenuity.

For Auger, the stand-out dish on the current menu is the fish skins. “They have been eaten by people for thousands of centuries in southeast Asia,” he says. “These skins would have otherwise gone in the bin but if you want to be sustainable, you need to clean up your production line. It comes down to using these obscure cuts and finding out what people are throwing in the bin and working around that.”

For Dominic Auger’s last ever supper, he picks a menu of “carbs on carbs”, starting with dressed crab on an English muffin, a main of a Cornish pastie, and a dessert of syrup pudding. To drink, “a lot of IPA.”

What does he want guests to feel when leaving Hackney Coterie? “I want them to have left trying something they thought they wouldn’t have typically liked,” says Auger. “It’s about people going in with no concept of zero-waste and who walk away, saying either the vegetables were the best part of it or that it turns out they can eat cuts like fish skins. I want the consumers to start asking the butchers or fishmongers for these dodgy cuts because if we all start thinking like this, we can start a cultural shift.”

Dominic Auger’s recipe for Aged salmon tails, with sambal salad and burnt lime

Ingredients

1 salmon tail (400g (approx), or a couple of Salmon steaks on the bone)
½ a Lime

Marinade

20g soy sauce
15g fish sauce
1g salt
4g sugar
2g white ground pepper

Sambal Salad

1 shallot thinly sliced into ice water
4 spring onions thinly sliced into ice water
1 red chilli deseeded and thinly sliced on an angle
6 mint leave finely cut

Method

1. The day before you wish to cook the salmon, you’ll need to make the marinade and prep the fish. Begin by checking the fish for any scales. Remove any by scraping the fish with a small knife, taking care not to damage the skin.
   

2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Amend quantities if needed according to your taste. Place the fish into the marinade and coat it well. Then transfer the fish and marinade in an airtight container and leave in the fridge for at least 8 hours, but ideally overnight.
   

3. On the day of cooking, remove the salmon from the marinade and transfer onto a plate or rack. Leave the salmon in the fridge and leave it to dry uncovered in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
   

4. Before cooking the fish, make the sambal by taking the ingredients out of the ice water and patting dry with a kitchen towel. Mix all the ingredients together.
   

5. Before cooking the tail, remove it from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature. This should take roughly 40 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
   

6. To cook the fish, place the tail onto a very hot bbq or heavy based pan with a little oil. Sear on both sides until the skin becomes crispy and starts to detach from the flesh (roughly 4 minutes on each side).
   

7. Remove from the heat and place into a warm oven to rest (max 60C) for 15 minutes max.
   

8. While the fish is resting, place the lime half onto the BBQ or pan and char its front.
   

9. Check your salmon by inserting a metal skewer, or cake tester into the centre of the fish. Remove and feel the temperature. It should be hot to touch but bearable. We are aiming for a fish that is crispy and cooked on the outside but slightly pink and still falls off the bone in the centre.
   

10. Once cooked, remove and place into the middle of a large sharing plate. Add your sambal salad and your lime half.
    

11. Serve in the middle of the table, squeeze over the lime and enjoy!

Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says: “The warning of the long tail of mental ill-health caused by the pandemic has not been heeded. Many thousands of people will be left waiting far too long for the treatment they need unless the government wakes up to the crisis that is engulfing the country.”

Mental health services received a record 4.3 million referrals last year – the highest number to date – according to NHS data reviewed by the Royal College of Physiatrists. The analysis revealed there were another 3.3 million referrals to adult services and 1.025 million referrals of under-18s in England between January and December 2021. When the Omicron variant of Covid-19 arrived in December, a record one million people received specialist treatment for anxiety, depression, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

There are 1.6 million people on the waiting list for specialised mental health treatment, with a further 8 million unable to join the waiting list but would still benefit from support, according to the NHS Confederation. There are worrying projections suggesting that 10 million people, including 1.5 million children and teenagers, will need new or additional support for their mental health over the next three to five years. The Confederation has pleaded for the government to publish a comprehensive recovery plan to deal with this “second pandemic” of mental health issues, where millions of patients are facing life-threatening waits for treatment.

Rather than twiddling thumbs and waiting for the government to deliver a concrete plan, many of those suffering from mental issues have resorted to downloading mental health applications – also known as “mHealth” – for help. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns saw a 200 per cent rise in the use of mental health apps, and they continue to grow at an average rate of 55 per cent, according to the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA).

“Every day 5 million people will download a health app and that’s increasing all the time,” said Liz Ashall-Payne, the founding CEO of ORCHA. Her organisation saw a 25 per cent increase in the downloads of health apps from pre-pandemic up until now. 

An ORCHA 2021 report, which shed light on the nation’s collective mental health during lockdown, disclosed that searches for apps for critical mental health problems rose exponentially. Searches for depression rose by 156 per cent, OCD by 422 per cent, anxiety by 422 per cent, and stress by 113 per cent. The most searched apps were those relating to mindfulness and relaxation, which rose by 2438 per cent, and 437 per cent, respectively. 

In a statement on ORCHA’s website, Ashall-Payne, said: “High quality mental health apps have more than proved their worth during the pandemic and beyond. Studies, including one in The Lancet, have shown that e-therapy can actually be more effective than face-to-face therapy – and less costly. Clinicians are increasingly looking at patients holistically and including mental health support as wider care pathways supporting stroke recovery or weight management, for example. Health apps are a perfect way to provide this extra support.”

There seems to be an app for every minutia of your daily routine, and this applies to mental health, where mHealth apps can be a cost-effective and scalable solution. There are now around 20,000 mental health, with the two most popular being downloaded are Calm and Headspace, which focus on mindfulness and meditation. While some applications like Talkspace and Betterhelp connect you with a licensed therapist, a substantial portion of the market is humanless; where chatbots offer cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), there are automated mood trackers and apps designed to help PTSD through exercises such as deep breathing.

The market for these apps is vast; nearly 800 million people worldwide, or 11 per cent of the global population, live with a mental health condition. Deloitte Global predicts that global spending on mobile mental health apps will reach close to US $500 million in 2022, assuming an annual growth rate of 20 per cent. 

ORCHA saw a 6,500 per cent increase in healthcare professionals recommending technologies to their patients throughout the pandemic, and more NHS Foundation Trusts are supplementing mental health provisions with mental health app libraries. As these apps are being prescribed to supplement treatment and help patients self-manage their mental health, it begs the question: how legitimate and effective are these mHealth apps?

A growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of digital-first interventions, even for those with diagnosed mental health conditions from depression to body dysmorphia. Meta-analyses of trials covering more than 20 mobile apps found that using them alleviated and reduced symptoms. A similar analysis of anxiety treatment apps found that users had a reduction in symptoms after use, with the greatest reduction when the apps were paired with face-to-face therapy. 

Though apps might have significant potential to address the shortage of psychiatrists and lack of mental health care, especially in rural regions, their efficacy remains contested. Research looking at randomised controlled trials of mobile app interventions with almost 50,000 patients did not find “convincing evidence” that any mobile app intervention greatly improved outcomes related to people’s anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, or feelings of well-being. Similarly, another UK study by the National Library of Medicine studied the effects of the most popular computerised CBT programmes (Beating the Blues and MoodGYM) and found that app-based CBT did not substantially improve depression outcomes compared with regular GP care. 

There is also a risk of downloading an unapproved, non-recommended and a potentially unsafe app. No regulatory body actively vets mental health apps, leaving users to navigate a myriad of options that range from expert-recommended to potentially harmful in what has been deemed the “wild west of therapy.”

Evidence is also mounting that there are significant privacy risks where users’ “emotional data” can be hacked, as many apps are not transparent about their security features, and less than half of mobile apps for depression have a privacy policy. Talkspace, for example, which offers mental health treatment online, allegedly data-mined anonymised patient-therapist transcripts, with the goal of identifying keywords it could use to better market its product. Talkspace denies these allegations.

More recently, Crisis Text Line, a non-profit that “provides free, 24/7 mental health support via text message” to help people cope with traumas such as self-harm, emotional abuse and suicidal thoughts, was lambasted for sharing anonymised data from its users’ text conversations with Loris.ai, a company that makes customer service software. 

This is highly problematic given the rise in demand for such apps due to the mental health crisis. Nicole Martinez-Martin, an assistant professor at the Stanford Centre for Biomedical Ethics, told TechRadar Pro that the Crisis Text Line case “exemplifies the power imbalances and potential harms that exist in the larger system” of digital mental health. She pointed to “regulation, as well as additional guidance at a few different levels, for developers and for clinicians using these types of technologies” as steps we can take to tackle these risks. 

While the pandemic opened minds to the vast potential of technology and the accessibility of digital health, it has also exposed cracks in the system regarding security, privacy and efficacy issues. Of course, apps are an easy-to-access, affordable, convenient option for those seeking treatment. They can also provide avenues for anxious adolescents afraid to voice their concerns, for those afraid of the stigma, and for busy parents who don’t have time in their schedule to fit in face-to-face treatment. 

It’s hard to deny that mHealth apps have vast potential in symptom improvement, but only if this works in tandem with therapy – rather than replacing it. While it may be a more efficient way to get help quick, having a safe and secure place to voice your anxieties and seeing your concerns validated in the eyes of a licensed professional is a pivotal part of successful treatment. By itself, an app will not mimic the human element of this relationship, but it can be a key ingredient in treatment, working as a symptom tracker, daily reminder, or a means to set goals and share progress. 

If the appificiation of mental health is to continue at the pace it is and we are to tackle this “second pandemic” of a spectrum of mental health issues, these apps need to be scrutinised more closely, and seen as a tool but not a treatment in itself. If this happens alongside a fully-funded and long-term plan to reduce treatment waiting times, expand mental health services and staff, we will have a chance to turn the tide on this new pandemic.  

Here are our top art exhibitions to see this spring.

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast

Where: The Royal Academy
When: Until the 17th of April, book here.

“Francis Bacon: Man and Beast” is an exhibition not for the faint-hearted. The queasily-irresistible exhibition on the Irish-born artist spans his 50-year career, where the collection of works focuses on Bacon’s fascination with animals. Brought up as the son of a racehorse trainer in Ireland, Bacon, regarded as “Britain’s most important post-war painter”, has always had a life-long fascination with the animal/human dichotomy, now laid bare in all its nausea-inducing beauty.

Throughout his colourful life, Bacon observed the uninhibited behaviour of animals to better understand human nature and capture “the unvarnished reality of our human condition.” The exhibition is the first to explore the theme of how Bacon’s interest in animals at once shaped and warped his approach to painting the human body. The show strings together 40 works carefully curated throughout his career, from his early haunting works like Crucifix (1933) to human-like works of animals like Study for Chimpanzee (1957) right through to his final work Study of a Bull (1991), an eerie depiction of a bull evaporating into the canvas, produced just a year before his death. 

The highlight of “Francis Bacon: Man and Beast” is a triptych of bullfight paintings Study for Bullfight (1969), which uses a visual allegory of a bullfight to portray the unalterable condition of human struggle. It is the first time all three have been exhibited in tandem, and it truly is a remarkable sight to behold.

Van Gogh: Self-Portraits 

Where: The Courtauld Gallery 
When: Until the 8th of May, book here.

Instantly recognisable with his green-tinged face and flame-orange hair, there are 16 self-portraits where you can stare into the soul of the legendary painter Van Gogh at this intimate exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. The exhibition, which reunites works that haven’t been together since they occupied his studio, traces the artist’s evolutionary style. From Self-Portrait with a Dark Felt Hat (1886), Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear (1889) right up until Self-Portrait with a Palette (1889), painted at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a year before he took his life.

Used as a form of self-expression, as an avenue for exploring new techniques and as a method of introspection, Van Gogh’s portraits offer us insight into his creative process and troubled mind. The exhibition’s curator, Karen Serres, was keen to disrupt the notion that Van Gogh’s self-portraits are displays of raw emotion. Instead, she believes, they are demonstrations of techniques as much as they are of mood. 

A Century of the Artists’s Studio: 1920-2020

Where: Whitechapel Gallery
When: Until the 5th of June, book here. 

From Frida Kahlo’s sickbed to Cindy Sherman’s Manhattan loft, the Whitechapel Gallery presents a 100-year survey of the studio through the work of artists and image-makers worldwide. In this multi-media exhibition, visitors step through a portal and into the mind of artists like Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Egon Schiele to modern figures like Walead Beshty and Lisa Brice. 

The exhibition unfolds corresponding to two themes: The Public Studio — Artists Together, examines how artists have embraced the studio as a factory, exhibition space, arena, a collective space or classroom; and The Private Studio — Artists Alone, explores how the studio can be a place of refuge, comfort, or site of political resistance. 

“A Century of the Artist’s Studio” braids together more than 100 works by over 80 artists and collectives from Africa, South Asia, China, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and North and South America. Expect spellbinding reconstructions of actual studios such as Matisse’s bedroom in the south of France and Kurt Schwitters’s Dada studio. 

The World of Stonehenge 

Where: British Museum 
When: Until 17th of July, book here.

The prehistoric landmark of Stonehenge is perhaps the world’s most breathtaking stone circle. Shrouded in layers of speculation and folklore, the monument has charged myths and legends that persist today. In “The World of Stonehenge”, the British Museum reveals the secrets of the landmark, shedding light on its purpose, cultural power and the people that created it.

Tracing the story of Britain and Europe from 4000 to 1000 BC, the exhibit tells us of the restless and highly connected age of Stonehenge — as told through a variety of objects. Among these treasures are 430 objects from ancient Europe; stone axes from the North Italian Alps to examples of early metalwork including the Nebra Sky Disc — the world’s oldest surviving map of the stars. Together, these objects offer clues about the beliefs and rituals of the Neolithic people, helping us build a picture of what life was like for Europe’s earliest ancestors. 

Surrealism Beyond Borders

Where: Tate Modern 
When: Until 29th of August, book here.

While critics trace the origins of surrealism to Dalí, Miró and Picasso rubbing shoulders and exchanging ideas in 1920s Paris, it was a phenomenon that featured around the globe. “Surrealism Beyond Borders” looks beyond Europe to show how artists worldwide have been inspired by surrealism for over half a century.

Co-produced by Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the exhibition blows traditional understandings of surrealism out the water and showcases artists from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, North Africa, Australia and Latin America who became inspired by the movement’s subversion of reality. 

The exhibition at the Tate Modern plays host to everything from painting and sculpture to film, photography and radio broadcasts. Expect to see Salvador Dalí’s Lobster Telephone (1938), Harue Koga’s collage painting The Sea (1929), Leonora Carrington’s Self Portrait, Inn of the Dawn Horse (1938), and Hans Bellmer’s fetishistic The Doll (1936).  The rooms at the Tate Modern sprawl with a cacophony of surrealists’ nightmares, fantasies and juxtapositions — prepare for a sensory overload.

Lubiana Himid

Where: Tate Modern 
When: Until the 2nd of October 2022, book here.

Born in Zanzibar in 1954, Lubaina Himid is known for dedicating her thirty-year-long career to unravelling marginalised and silenced histories, figures and cultural moments through paintings, prints, drawings and installations. Himid’s work addresses her heritage and is driven by two recurrent aspirations: to develop and sustain a conversation with an audience and to valorise, “the contribution black people have made to cultural life in Europe for the past several hundred years.”

This large-scale exhibition debuts the Turner Prize-winning artists’ recent work and includes selected highlights from her career. Taking inspiration from her interest in theatre, the exhibition unravels in a sequence of scenes designed to place onlookers centre-stage and backstage. From jelly moulds covered in African fabric patterns and Black faces, a wagon painted with fish, a wave represented by planks of wood: it’s Himid stage, and we, merely players. 

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature

Where: V&A Museum
When: Until 8th January 2023 

Famed for her timeless tales and animal characters like Peter Rabbit and Jemina Puddle-Duck, “Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” is an exhibition that explores the watercolour world of the beloved children’s author-illustrator. The V&A exhibition, co-curated with the National Trust, offers an intimate journey into the artist’s life from her childhood in Kensington, where she had private art lessons, to her travels in Scotland and settling down in the Lake District.

Always a keen observer of nature and animals, Potter harnessed her astuteness to develop her own natural world outside of the dreariness of the big smoke. Taking inspiration from holidays in Wales and Hertfordshire, Potter began to find her way toward financial independence as a middle-class Victorian single woman selling cards and short stories. 

Expect to see original illustrations, personal diaries, letters and photographs which map Beatrix Potter’s life as not only a storyteller but also as a savvy businesswoman. 

Yayoi Kusama 

Where: Tate Modern 
When: Extended to June 2023 

Due to overwhelming public demand, the Tate Modern announced a one-year extension last week of “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms”. One of the most celebrated artists working today, the exhibition features two of Yayoi Kusama’s major installations: Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life is one of her largest installations to date and is shown alongside Chandelier of Grief, a room that creates the illusion of a boundless universe of rotating crystal chandeliers. As well as this, there is early documentation of Kusama’s experimental performances and a recently sculptural work continuing her limitless interest in infinite space.

Since Covid-19 first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China has suppressed large-scale outbreaks through its whack-a-mole “zero-Covid” strategy, primarily involving lockdowns that confine swathes of the population to their homes.  

The National Health Commission reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, more than double the previous day’s tally and the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic.

Nearly 90 per cent of the mainland’s confirmed new symptomatic cases on Monday were detected in Jilin province in China’s northeast, accounting for more than 3,000 cases. The entire province of 24 million people has now been locked down and shut off from the rest of the country, where people who want to leave must have permission from the police. 

Although China claims to have only recorded 4,636 Covid deaths in a population of 1.4bn, health experts believe the increase in daily infections over the next few weeks will be critical in determining whether this fortress-like method of containment effectively tackles the spread of variants.

Here’s what you need to know.

Which Chinese cities have been locked down?

At least 11 cities and counties nationwide have been locked down because of this latest surge. The southern tech hub of Shenzhen, which has a population of 17 million and is home to headquarters of tech giants like Tencent Holdings Ltd, Huawei Technologies and Apple Inc supplier Foxconn, has told companies to halt all non-essential business activity or have employees work from home.

The north-eastern industrial centre of Changchun – a city of around nine million people, which accounted for about 11 per cent of China’s total annual car output in 2020 – has also entered a lockdown, which has forced Toyota and Volkswagen to suspend production. 

In the financial hub of Shanghai, authorities have cordoned off individual apartment buildings, closed schools, tested all residents and told residents not to leave the city unless necessary in a bid to stop the spread of the disease. China’s aviation regulator has said that 106 international flights scheduled to arrive in Shanghai will be diverted to other cities from 21 March to 1 May due to the rise in cases. 

While China’s caseload remains low by the metric of global standards (and less than a tenth of the UK’s current total), it’s the most in China since March of 2020, and the trajectory and geographic spread is cause for concern. 

What impact is this having on supply chains?

Manufacturers of everything from flash drives to glass for Apple iPhone screens are warning of shipment delays as they comply with the Chinese controls to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

Some of China’s preventative measures have been applied in the key manufacturing hubs of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Changchun, and the Chinese financial centre of Shanghai, home to the world’s most active container port. 

Lens Technology, which supplies lenses and glass material to customers like Apple, said yesterday that the production and delivery of some products would be impacted after it suspended work at its Dongguan plant. Netac Technology, which makes portable hard drives and USB flash drives, similarly warned of shipment delays as its factory Shenzhen had to stop work.

Fabien Gaussorgues, who provides contract manufacturing services from a factory in Dongguan, said he was struggling to procure the parts needed for electric scooters, warehouse robots, and electric toys due to the lockdowns. “It’s not critical yet, but it’s getting more difficult every day,” he told Reuters. “Suppliers in Shenzhen cannot produce, so they’re not delivering goods. So next week we don’t have material for production.”

Other companies which have warned that Covid-19 restrictions are impacting their products include the Chinese automaker BYD, KFC operator Yum China, iPhone assembler Foxconn, Toyota and Volkswagen. 

What are the wider economic costs of zero-Covid?

The increase in cases and a zero-tolerance policy has fueled concern over China’s growth prospects, with its stock market slumping to its lowest level since 2020 this week as more provinces impose lockdowns. The rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over Ukraine are also hitting China’s stocks.

The lockdowns in multiple wealth-generating cities, such as Shenzhen, could affect half of the country’s gross domestic product. 

According to economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, as cases jump elsewhere, half of China’s GDP and population will be impacted by the latest outbreak. “More cities may follow the practice of Shenzhen,” said Raymound Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at ANZ. “If the lockdown is extended, China’s economic growth will be significantly affected.” While Yeung said ANZ is not revising its forecast for 2022, it is “wary” of further restrictions. 

Nomura Holdings Inc. said that the economic costs of China’s zero-covid approach are too high, and market participants may be too optimistic about this year’s growth outlook. The bank expects a GDP expansion of 4.3 per cent, well below economists’ consensus forecast of 5.2 per cent.

In search of a better life for him and his family, Imad decided to flee his war-torn homeland four years later to embark on a treacherous route to Europe. “It’s not easy to travel as a Syrian,” he says to me over the phone, “I know highly skilled friends who have been trying to fly out of Syria to find places to work, and they have been unsuccessful — that’s why I stayed for four years. In 2015, I realised I had had enough and decided to do whatever it took to keep my family safe even if it meant a dangerous journey.”

For three perilous months, Imad was smuggled in lorries from Damascus to Lebanon and then onto Turkey before taking a jam-packed boat crossing to Greece. “I remember reading on the boat that there was supposed to be nine onboard, and I counted, and we were 56. The coastguards kept pushing more-and-more people on, from elderly people to very young children — it was terrifying.”

Imad would then travel via Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Germany before ending up in Calais, France, where he stayed for 64 days — sometimes sleeping on the steps of a church and surviving off Snicker’s bars for sustenance. During his time at Calais, he picked back up his culinary skills to cook for fellow refugees — up to 400 of them a time — with just a picnic stove, bowl and a knife.

In October, Imad finally arrived in the UK with only £12 in his pocket — just enough for a bus far up to Doncaster where his sister lived. During this time, he worked as a car washer and car salesman to support his family but kept thinking about how much he missed hospitality. “I started inviting people to dinner to ask their opinion about Syrian cuisine,” he recalls, “what’s good and bad for the market. I was surprised by the response and wanted to launch a pop-up before an actual business.”

Through working with the refugee charity Choose Love, Imad launched his first pop-up on Columbia Road, Bethnal Green, in March 2017. “It was such a proud moment for me,” he says. “You know when you’ve been working on something for such a long time, and then it finally happens, you somehow forget about everything else that happened before.”

Choose Love helped raise enough money through crowdfunding so that Imad could have his own permanent restaurant in London: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. Opening a restaurant during the pandemic was never going to be an easy feat, but if anyone could survive another obstacle, it would be the resilient Imad. In May 2021, they finally opened their doors.

When I visited Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, perched at the top of Kingly Court in Soho, Imad greeted me with a hug so warm it felt as if we were long-lost friends. My guest and I were then ushered to the table and sandwiched between people forking away at vibrant plates of baba ghanoush and hummus, adorned with chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, sumac and drizzled with unsparing amounts of oil. After ordering our fair share of mezze, we were longing to try Imad’s saucer-shaped falafel — one of his signature dishes.

More often than not and especially when store-bought, you come across falafels that taste like mouthfuls of sawdust. But, Imad’s were a thing a beauty — perfectly crispy on the outside, softly tender within. He tells me they are made by a simple recipe involving chickpeas seasoned with cumin and coriander, shaped into a flattish circle with a hole in the middle, studded with sesame seeds, fried and crowned with slithers of red onion and sumac — a streetfood staple to sink your teeth into.

Other crowd-pleasing dishes on the small menu are the za’atar salad made with halloumi noodles, watermelon and rocket, the “Sharihat Ghanam” of lamb fillet, sun-dried tomatoes and pitta bread, and the “Shish Tawook”, grilled chicken strips with paprika crisps and tomato mayo.

“We wanted to keep the menu very simple and small,” says Imad. “We change it often as I want our regulars to come back and see something new and experience different flavours but we also like keeping tradition. For example, the falafel is made in a shape very traditional in Damascus and remains the original recipe. After all, if you have something good, why would you bother changing it?”

The same applies to their Syrian Ice Cream, which they offer as part of the dessert menu in the kitchen. When the ice cream lands on our table, it feels as if Imad had personally plucked a bit out of a cloud, churned it, rolled it in pistachio nuts, frozen it and crowned with angel-hair candyfloss.  

“It is the only ice cream we have in Damascus; even the other cities don’t really know about it,” he tells me. “We don’t even use machines, we do it all by hand, and the secret to its stickiness is the mastic gum, a sap-like substance that comes from a Grecian tree — it’s very delicate to deal with, but it makes it taste great.”

Eating at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen feels like you have been granted exclusive access to someone’s home abode. The restaurant is an intimate, white-washed room that could easily pass for a blue-kissed taverna by the Aegean Sea. Dotted around the walls are also a series of photographs recalling moments, places and events that brought Imad to where he is today — from pictures from birthdays spent in London to a picture of a doorknocker from his parent’s house in Damascus — which only elevate the venue’s homely feel. 

“I didn’t want to do another Middle Eastern restaurant where there are lots of decorations hanging around the place,” states Imad. “I wanted to present by family house in Syria — white, with a touch of blue, real wood. I’m not only welcoming my customers in, I consider them all my friends. The restaurant is me, and I want them to be able to feel welcome within that.”

For Imad’s last ever supper, he picks a starter of baba ghanoush and pitta, a main course of Sharihat Ghanam, a pudding of baklava, and to drink a “Bolo” (a traditional Syrian drink made with lemon and mint). 

To date, Imad has raised more than £200,00 for Choose Love and has pledged a pound from every bill at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen will be donated to the organisation, which supports refugees and displaced people across Europe. 

At a time when the world is facing the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War owing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we could all do with hearing more stories like Imad’s and just how important a safe passage of journey, a place to reside and a chance to begin again means to people who have been displaced so abruptly by war.   

“Since I lost my business and home, I started to appreciate every small thing,” reflects Imad. “Sometimes you take it all for granted, you’ll only appreciate your bed when you have slept on a sofa for months or you’ll only appreciate food when you have gone for days without it. I was given a second chance and I was very grateful — everyone deserves that.”

Imad Alarnab’s recipe for Syrian Falafel

Ingredients

500g dried chickpeas
1 medium white onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbs dried coriander
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs salt
4 tbs white sesame
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight, change the water once, and rinse when ready in the morning

Add the chickpeas to a mincer if available, if not, a food processor will do and blend. Be careful to ensure the consistency is thick.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix together well. 

Shape them, and deep fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Park Row is the first venture from the WRG, spearheaded by James Bulmer, formerly of Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray. Growing up, Bulmer was always fascinated by the world of hospitality. His father, a former editor of the Michelin guide, immersed him in the world of gastronomy from a young age.

At the dawn of the millennium, Bulmer started his first company and ended up working at Disney before becoming CEO of the Fat Duck group where he honed the craft of storytelling with fine dining. He then approached Warner Bros with a canny idea: What if food and drink were the main actors on stage? What if consumers felt as if they could step over the threshold into the story as a lead protagonist?

“They [Warner Bros] very much understood the plan to execute a restaurant with exceptional taste and flavour that also offered moments of wonderment at a high level,” says Bulmer, “I very much wanted to stay clear of serving a burger with a bat sign on it.”

Bulmer, who has yet to “grow up”, has always been a comic-obsessive and is, predictably, chomping at the bit to see the new Batman film. The Peter Pan-like entrepreneur now relishes in a role that allows him the chance to tell the story in his own way. “As a frustrated writer, Park Row lets me execute my own version of Gotham City and the characters,” says Bulmer. “The city and characters are so complex, it is not as simple as labelling them a “hero” or “villain” – there’s so much more to them.”

Although my own DC-Comic knowledge is scarce, to say the least, a chance to visit the dumbfounding wonders of Park Row was an invitation I couldn’t resist. So after descending down the theatrically-spiralled staircase on a grizzly Sunday evening, the doors flung open and my guest and I were welcomed into the storybook world of Gotham City.

The former ballroom, and site of Marco Pierre-White’s daringly-named restaurant “Titanic”, is divvied up into four bars and dining spaces. Fans will recognise Pennyworth’s Bar — inspired by Alfred, the long-serving butler to the Wayne family, the Iceberg Lounge — the centrepiece bar themed after Oswald Cobblebot’s The Penguin casino, and the Rogues Gallery — an exhibition designed to represent Selina Kyle’s (Catwoman) acquisitions, including Blue Boy by Gainsborough.

And then, there is the belle of the ball, The Monarch Theatre. A 20-seat private dining room experience with an 11-course tasting menu that promises to take you on a “multi-sensory immersive journey through the heroes and villains of Gotham City.”

Before you are ushered into the clinically white theatre, you are taken to a limbo-like room and affronted, much to my clown-phobic horror, with Chuckles the Clown. Once you insert a “Gotham Dollar”, Chuckles stares past your aortic valve and into your soul to decide if you are “light” or “dark,” which decides the fate of your welcome drink.

Luckily, my “dark” soul meant I got to enjoy a sharply-sweet cocktail of mezcal coffee, café liqueur and vanilla and cocoa bitters whereas my guests’ “light” soul resulted in a bouji pina-colada. To accompany our drinks, we were given a small bowl of sizzling nitrogen popcorn made by one of our hosts in a frothing cauldron; it not only fizzed on your tongue but also gave you the power to breathe like an enraged dragon (or chronic vaper).

It easily could’ve been enough amusement for a Sunday evening but little did I know, the fun had only just begun. The ten-course extravaganza at the Monarch Theatre is an obstacle course for your palate. From the first course of two popsicles of ox tongue and horseradish and prawn and wasabi served on a black-and-gold Grecian bust, to the following course of a delicately-placed scallop with white chocolate — chichi enough to make you feel like a party -funding Russian oligarch.

The showstopper was the third-course, where smoke subdued the room and dived you into darkness as you are served a mini-greenhouse with a “poisonous” mushroom inside; but think less Novichok paté, and more parfait, port and brioche. The other standout dish was the “duck martini” inspired by Harley Quinn, which totally befuddles your tastebuds as you expect to taste a distinct flavour of vermouth, but it slips down like a beef consommé. For my guest, it was the slab of black Angus with a rock of truffle potato and smoked onion inspired by Bruce Wayne as well as the octopus, black cod and yuzu (also Bulmer’s favourite) that were the stars of the show.

Bulmer worked side-by-side with executive Chef Karl O’Dell to create the aforementioned menu. “For some courses, we started with the emotion,” says Bulmer, “we would then link it to the character — hero or villain — and choose certain ideas. So really I tend to write the narrative of the menu and Karl then makes it taste sensational.”

“Or Karl would come to me with ideas. For example, he came up with the scallop, white chocolate and caviar dish and to me, it was perfect. It represented greed, and there’s a gold leaf which makes it super indulgent.”

For James Bulmer’s last every meal, he, inevitably, opts for a cinematic theme. For his starter, he picks the Turkish delight from Narnia’s Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For his main course, Joey from Friends special of two pizzas and for dessert, Willy Wonka’s three-course chewing gum meal (tomato soup, roast beef and blueberry). To drink, the five-dollar shake from Pulp Fiction.

At Park Row, the devil is truly in the detail. Whether it’s a levitating sorbet at the Monarch Theatre, a liquid molecule floating in space (yes, truly), a painting that pours you a cocktail from its frame, or an edible helium balloon, for Bulmer, the experience is all about entertainment “What I hope people get at Park Row are those little treasured moments of shared experiences,” he explains. “The story is, of course, important but we just want to make sure guests leave the venue smiling.”

Job done in that case. My smile was as wide as the Cheshire cats as my guest and I rollicked about the streets of Soho, unpacking our experience which felt as if we had been chucked outside of a space-time continuum and thrown head-first into the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

Make sure to keep an eye on our books section where we will be reviewing some of the books mentioned below and much more every weekend.

Queen of Our Times: The Life of Queen Elizabeth II by Robert Hardman (Pan Macmillan), £16.15.

Bestselling author Robert Hardman explores the extraordinary life of the longest-reigning monarch in this authoritative yet intimate biography. From her accession at the age of just 25 in 1952 to a slew of royal scandals and living in the age of Covid-19, HRH has proved herself to be an astute and quietly determined figure, leading her subjects through 70 years of transformational change. From constitutional crises, threats against her life, meeting a stream of prime ministers and world leaders to the Commonwealth, the Queen has steered herself and her family through a lifetime in the public eye. Queen of Our Times is a  “must-read study of dynastic survival and renewal” that spans abdication, war, romance, danger and tragedy. 

Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal by Lucy Cooke (Transworld Publishers), £15.45.

What does it mean to be female? From the role of mother, daughter, ruler to a provider – the female species has always been scrutinized or politicised. As we search to define our gender, combat prejudice and misogyny, and celebrate the myriad of femininity, Lucy Cooke looks to the animal kingdom to see what it can teach us about feminity’s true nature. Cooke ventures far-and-wide; from the island of Madagascar, where she discovers that female lemurs, our most ancient primate cousins, dominated males physically and politically to the beaches of Hawaii, where she encounters a long-term female albatross couples that defy notions of a traditional nuclear family. Meeting a new breed of scientists who are rewriting our patriarchal view of evolution, Cooke paints a “fresh, diverse, timely and important” portrait of the female species.

Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker (Vintage Publishing), £15.45.

When the singer Jarvis Cocker starts clearing out his loft, he stumbles across a jumble of objects that lead him to question who he really is. From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a packet of Wrigley’s Extra, Jarvis uses the objects to pen an unfiltered memoir of his life. The star reflects on his time in Pulp and 20th-century pop culture; the good times and the bad. This accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals the creative process — his writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft: “It is not a life story. It’s a loft story.”

The Sister by Sung Yoon Li, Macmillan (Pan Macmillan), £16.15.

Cruel but charming, demure and dangerous, the rise of Kim Yo Jong — sister of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un — has been markedly extraordinary. As the regime’s chief propagandist, internal administrator and foreign policymaker, she is now undoubtedly the most powerful woman in North Korea. A princess by birth with great ideas for her kingdom, Yo Jong was brought up to believe it is her mission to reunite North Korea with the South, or die trying. The Sister, written by Sung-Yoon Lee, a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies and a specialist on North Korea, is an authoritative and gripping account of this closed world of North Korea, its ruling dynasty and its probable successor. 

In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom (Granta Books), £12.79.

When Amy Bloom began to notice drastic changes in the behaviour of her husband, Brian, she had a sinking feeling something was wrong. He had retired from a new job he loved, withdrawn from close friendships and was constantly nostalgic about the past. Amy felt as if a glass wall had been installed between them, and then, an MRI confirmed her worst fears: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease. Written by the New York Times bestselling author Amy Bloom, In Love is a heartbreaking portrait of a marriage of two people whose love and shared life has led them to find a courageous way to part – and of a woman’s struggle to move on in the face of loss.

The War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason by Douglas Murray (HarperCollins), £16.15.

If the history of humankind is a history of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it? The international best-selling author Douglas Murray posits this question in his latest book The War on the West as he explains how it has become acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. “A blistering and important polemic” the book methodically shows how far political discourse has strayed in Europe and America from its stated goals of justice and equality. Spearheaded by an incisive deconstruction of inconsistent arguments and activism, towards a clarion call for the defence of enlightenment values. The War on the West has been labelled as “one of the most important books for a generation, cementing Murray as one of the world’s foremost political writers.”

Polling UnPacked: The History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls by Mark Pack (Reaktion Books), £11.79.

Opinion polls dominate media coverage of politics, especially elections, but how do they work? How can you tell the good from the bad? And in light of recent polling disasters, can we even trust them? Polling UnPacked gives the full story, from the first rudimentary polls in the nineteenth century, through to attempts but politicians to ban polling in the 20th century, up to the very latest techniques and controversies. Written by the Lib Dem President Mark Pack who has extensive experience in conducting, commissioning and analysing political opinion polls, PollingUnPacked will reveal which opinion polls to trust, which to ignore and which to, frankly, laugh at.  

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (West Virginia University Press), £17.95.

The nine stories in The Secret Lives of Church Ladies feature four generations of Black women and girls grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught between the church’s double standards and their own needs of passions. The portraits of these characters in the book are beautifully nuanced, from fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on a preacher’s wife to forty-two-year-old Lyra, who realises that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new one love. With their secret longings, forbidden affairs and budding romances, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.

For the gourmands amongst you readers, Santiago Lastra may need no introduction. He rose to stardom after launching Noma’s — the “gastronomical mecca” and perhaps the best-known restaurant in the world — in Tulum. He then went on to finesse his reputation at Carousel – the award-winning creative hub home to a revolving door of guest chef collaborations.

Lastra now sharpens his knives in his coveted restaurant KOL in Marylebone, London. The two-storey restaurant aims to reflect the “intricacies, innovation and diversity” of Mexican cuisine through championing the best of British ingredients. Recently awarded a Michelin-star, KOL appears to be the hottest ticket in town and securing a seat there feels as strenuous as an Olympic-style feat.

Born an hour outside of Mexico City in Cuernavaca, Lastra first cut his teeth at a local Italian restaurant where he spent his after-school hours. To start with, he couldn’t help but feel a “sensory overload” where the kitchen was clouded with smoke and steam from the pasta, fused with the warm, yeasty smells of fresh bread and pizza. “Weeks spent in the kitchen turned into months,” explains Lastra, “and I soon realised I wanted this to be my profession.”

The furnace-like kitchen would soon become a place of solace for Lastra after his grandfather, grandmother and father tragically passed away in the same month. “I would bring over leftover ingredients and wine from the restaurant, and that’s when I clocked the positive impact food can have and how it can filter through homes,” he says. “I thought if I can achieve this for my family, it’s something I want everyone to feel.”

After moving to the bustling streets of Mexico City for a stint in a restaurant that coalesced Asian and Mexican flavours, Lastra globetrotted from one country to another, working in top-rate kitchens all over the world. In ten years alone, the unashamed nomad had added 27 different countries to his roster. But in 2017, he finally returned to Mexico when, in an epoch-making moment, he was asked to help launch Noma Mexico in Tulum.

“Initially, I felt pretty underprepared and overwhelmed as there was so much that needed to be done,” he says .“I remember when I first met Rosio Sanchez (Noma’s former pastry chef) and Rene Redzepi (the chef and co-owner of Noma) I felt like an outsider as I didn’t have any operational experience. But I had the will, and I think Rene saw that in me.”

Redzepi framed the experience as an opportunity to explore the compendium of flavours all over Mexico. So for months, Lastra travelled far and wide and met with individuals and communities to discover just that. “The whole experience went by so quickly, and by the end,” he states, “I was excited and proud to be Mexican and to have discovered so much about my country.”

Lastra then moved to London, and after a “life-changing” experience at Carousel, he thought to himself that one day he’d like to open his own restaurant. After years spent watching how restaurants like Noma harnessed local ingredients to reflect another cuisine, he thought why couldn’t he do the same with Mexican food?

To shake up Western misconceptions that Mexican food comes in the form of store-bought guacamole, tex-mex, or Old El Paso tortillas, Lastra sketched plans for a restaurant that not just promoted the idea of Mexican culture and cuisine, but that showed you could use a whole library of ingredients to emulate it.

Ever since, Lastra’s “Mexican-British” fusion at KOL has been an instant success and winning a Michelin star has only solidified the chef-patron’s reputation as a savvy and innovative restaurateur.

“At KOL, we want to share pieces of our travels and personal memories of Mexico, crafting moments through flavours and techniques,” says Lastra. “We have a list of Mexican ingredients that we break down based on flavours and build them back up again using replacement ingredients.”

“We use sea arrow grass which is like coriander but better, bell peppers with elderflower and Kombucha to create mango. Instead of avocado, we use pistachio that we blend with roasted garlic. Instead of banana leaves, we use chestnut leaves to make tamales. All fresh produce is sourced within the UK. The crab and halibut are from Cornwall; the caviar is British, the beetroot, rhubarb, and gooseberries are from Oxfordshire. We take all of these ingredients and dress them up as if they were Mexican.”

This approach to Mexican food is what Lastra labels “adaptation”, which focuses on flavour profiles as supposed to “fusion.” He explains further: “Take a mango; it’s fleshy, juicy and floral. Then break it down and consider how to achieve the colour and flavour experience without using a mango itself. For the floral notes, we would take elderflower, add a little vinegar for tartness and cook down some yellow bell pepper with butter for sweetness so that altogether, it creates a pulp which we use as if it were mango and create a sorbet or a sauce to add to things. This is just one example of how we represent and embrace a specific ingredient we want to make more Mexican at KOL.”

Designed by London-based studio A-nrd, the terracotta-walled interiors of KOL harvest influence from Yucatán, Oaxaca and Mexico City. The colourful architecture of Mexican architect Luis Barragán is said to have influenced the ground-floor dining room, where walls are awash with burnt-orange, pink and yellow stucco.

In the beating heart of the room is an open kitchen with oakwood islands and in-built ovens, stoves and shelves. Toward the back, a fire pit and a comal – a type of grill used throughout Mexico and South America to toast spices, sear meat or make tortillas.

“We see the restaurant as a Mexican house in the middle of London with crafts from different collectors such as Raiz and Artefakto,” explains Lastra. “The interiors are balanced with contemporary accents and terracotta walls which textures similar to traditional Haciendas in Yucatan. Ultimately, we want people to leave happy with a richer understanding of Mexico.”

Head downstairs, and there is the Oaxaca-style Chef’s Table dining room which sits up to 22 guests. From lobster wrapped in tortillas with sourdough, lobster coral and fermented plum salsa to Carnitas (pork belly cooked for hours with crisp crackling, gooseberry and onion salsa and a bean puree), guests can watch Lastra’s thought-process uncoil in front of their hungry eyes.

Adjacent to the dining room is KOL’s in-house Mezcaleria, a beachier room with rattan headlights and cane seats, where diners can head for a smoky tequila before or after their meal. “Mezcal is a big part of Mexico. In Oaxaca, most meals are enjoyed alongside Mezcal, and it’s acceptable at any mealtime. We have a belief that for everything wrong you drink mezcal. It is thought that it has medicinal properties as it makes you feel uplifted. At the Mezcaleria, we want guests to feel like they are in Mexico and to have fun. It’s a completely separate entity that comes after KOL. In other words, when KOL ends, the Mezcaleria begins.”

For his last ever supper, Santiago Lastra picks “lobster tacos from Baja California” for his starter, “they would be freshly caught and fried in pork fat, with a fresh tortilla and a bit of rice and beans – eaten on the beach.” For his main, “a whole turbot. I love turbot and halibut, but there is one interpretation of turbot served in the Basque region with parsley and garlic sauce — it melts in the mouth, and I love it.” For dessert, a “pistachio ice cream from Italy” and for his drink, unsurprisingly, “mezcal”.

“I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done with KOL,” concludes Lastra. “Before globalisation, people relied on what they had to hand and brought with them inspiring ideas and memories from their travels, bringing culture to a local area. Mexican food is meant to be made from scratch using fresh ingredients, not just Tex Mex or cheap burritos. It’s about raising the bar and creating a fine dining experience that sets these previous interpretations right.”

Mextlapique (serves 10)

Ingredients

600 g Turbot clean in portions of 60g each
10 units Tomato thick slices
200 g Fennel slices
300 g Red onion slices
300 ml  White wine (skin contact if possible)
50 g Fine Salt
30 g Sea salt
300 g Corn Husks (60 pieces)

Method

Step 1

Brine the halibut in a water solution of 5% salt for 30 minutes, rinse and put to one side for later and soak the corn husks in warm water and reserve.

Step 2 – Mextlapique (1 per portion)

Line up 2 leaves of corn husk and put two slices of tomato in the centre, followed by 10g of fennel slices and one portion of fish on top of this, finish with 10g of onion slices and dress with 10ml of oil and 15 ml of wine, season with salt (be careful not over season as the fish will have been brined already). Wrap with 2 more corn husks, covering the fish, fennel and tomato completely, the corn husk should serve a similar function to paper in a papillote. To tighten the corn husk wrap using thin slices of corn husk leaves and put to one side for later.

Green pumpkin seed Pipian (300 g)

Ingredients

40g Pumpkin seeds (toasted)
100g Fennel root (cut in quarters)
50g Green gooseberries
40g White Onion (cut in quarters with skin)
12g Garlic cloves (with skin)
6g  Sorrel
6g Chervil 
20g  Parsley 
3g Tarragon
315g Water 
3g Fine Salt

Method

Step 1

On medium-low heat roast onion, gooseberries, fennel and garlic on a plancha without any oil until they are slightly charred on the outside and sweet and cooked on the inside. Peel the onion and garlic and blend all the roasted ingredients with the blanched herbs, toasted pumpkin seeds with the water. Freeze in airtight containers in the freezer and blend while frozen. defrost the mixture and pass through a fine strainer, season with salt and reserve for later.

Roasted Beach Plants (300g)

Ingredients

Step 1

50g Chervil 
40g Ice plant 
40g Samphire
40g Rock samphire
40g Pumpkin seeds
20g Mussel powder
8g Thai chili slices
15g Rapeseed oil
7g Sea salt 

Method

Step 1

Pick all the herbs and in a hot pan roast the chili, rock samphire and samphire with the oil. Remove from the heat and put the mixture in a bowl, mix with the other herbs, the mussel powder and the seeds (season with sea salt only if needed), reserve.

Platting Method

10 units Mextlapique
300 gr Green pumpkin seed Pipian
300 gr  Roasted beach herbs

Cook the fish straight on the grill for 10 min with the tomato side in the bottom, (otherwise the fish will burn) turn and cook another 4 min on the other side. check that the inside temperature of the fish is around 40C, rest for 5 min and serve openly in the centre with the hot pumpkin seed sauce on top and dress with the spicy beach herb mix.

The Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) was notified of the positive test result on 8 February and suspended Valieva, but she successfully appealed, and the ban was lifted. The court of arbitration (CAS) rejected appeals by the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union to reinstate the suspension and in the early hours of this morning (Beijing time), Valieva was given the green light by CAS to compete in the games owing to “exceptional circumstances.” She will now compete in the women’s individual figure skating competition on Tuesday, where she is a favourite to win gold. 

The Valieva verdict raises important questions about whether she could be a victim of child doping, and whether Russia is continuing to assist its athletes through illegal drugs. Russia is already serving an international ban for widespread state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, and undoubtedly, this latest furore will further chip away at Russia’s reputation in the international playing field.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is Trimetazidine, and why is it banned in sports? 

Trimetazidine (TMZ) is a drug used to treat angina and other heart-related conditions. By increasing blood flow to the heart, it limits rapid swings in blood pressure. TMZ has been on the WADA list of prohibited substances since 2014 where it is categorised as a “hormone and metabolic modulator”, which is illegal for athletes to use both in and out-of-competition. 

It is believed that the drug can improve physical efficiency, especially in the case of endurance sports, although opinions differ on how long-lasting the effects can be. It can also be used to reduce symptoms of vertigo, tinnitus and blurred vision. The increased blood flow to the muscles can make athletes perform better, which is why the substance is banned by the WADA. 

“If you’re in a highly exertional sport, where you’re using a lot of energy, and you’re putting your heart under significant stress, it certainly could help your heart function better theoretically,” explained Dr Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a medical toxicology physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to Reuters. 

It’s far from the first time the drug has appeared in sport. The most high-profile case was in 2014, which involved the Chinese star swimmer and Olympic gold medallist Sun Yang. The three-time Olympic champion was banned for three years after testing positive for the drug. And then, in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva was disqualified two days before her race after testing positive for TMZ and served an eight-month ban.

Over the weekend, The Mail on Sunday, also revealed that the banned performance-enhancing drug was routinely administered to Russian athletes during the height of the nation’s state-sponsored doping years. Grigory Rodchenkov, the Moscow laboratory boss and whistle-blower whose testimony led to the exposure of the Russian doping scandal, said he covered up positive drug tests by Russian athletes for TMZ in the lead-up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, where Russia topped the medals table. 

What was behind the court’s decision?

CAS cited “exceptional circumstances” for its decision, including Valieva’s status as a “protected person” which CAS defines as an athlete who has not yet turned 16 at the time of a doping violation. 

The three-person panel ruled that the World Anti-Doping Code was unclear regarding suspended “protected persons” under 16 years of age and said that a 44-day delay in reporting Valieva’s positive test for TMZ had affected her ability to mount a defence. 

Matthieu Reeb, secretary-general for CAS said the delay of Valieva being tested in Russia on Christmas Day and her sample being reported by a laboratory in Sweden on 8 February was “extremely unfortunate as it affects not only the athlete but the organisers of the Olympic Games.” 

He told the world’s press that the panel was “concerned” that if a permanent suspension was imposed and she was later cleared or given a low sanction, it would cause “serious damage.” He concluded, “The panel considered that preventing the athlete from competing at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in these circumstances.” 

What has the international reaction been to the ruling?

Critics worldwide have questioned why an athlete who has failed a drugs test is still being allowed to compete and what consequences this will have for sporting legitimacy. WADA said it was “disappointed” by the ruling, saying it “appears that the CAS panel decided not to apply the terms of the Code, which does not allow for specific exceptions to be made in relation to mandatory provisional suspensions for ‘protected persons’, including minors.” 

Sarah Hirshland, the president of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said she was also “disappointed” by the ruling. “It is the collective responsibility of the entire Olympic community to protect the integrity of sport and to hold our athletes, coaches and all involved to the highest of standards,” she said. “Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field. Unfortunately, today that right is being denied.

“This appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia. We know this case is not yet closed, and we call on everyone in the Olympic Movement [an IOC-affiliated group promoting Olympian values] to continue to fight for clean sport on behalf of athletes around the world.”

The American 1998 Olympic champion figure skater Tara Lipinski has said the ruling will “leave a permanent scar on our sport.” In a tweet, she wrote: 

“I strongly disagree with this decision. At the end of the day, there was a positive test and there is no question in my mind that she should not be allowed to compete. Regardless of age or timing of the test/results. I believe this will leave a permanent scar on our sport.”