The boil-in-the-bag dinner party

Financial Times | 22 May 2005

Online food delivery services are expanding into ‘gourmet’ ready-made meals, with mixed results, writes Caroline Phillips.

• Food

Ever the trendsetters

Financial Times | 27 Mar 2004

Mattia Bonetti and David Gillare are preparing to show a new collection of furniture in New York and London. Caroline Phillips takes a peek.

• Homes, Interiors & Property

From humble radiator to hot work of art

Financial Times | 10 Feb 2004

In 1982, the late Geoffrey Ward had a plumbing installation company. Camden Council insisted that he could not run his business from retail premises – without a window display, he could no longer be classified as a shop and would have to close.

Mr Ward had a zany designer radiator that he had imported for fun. He put it into the window of his Kilburn premises. People started asking to buy it – those were the days of the ubiquitous white panel radiator – so Mr. Ward decided to change jobs. He started to import sculptural radiators.

• Homes, Interiors & Property

Heston Blumenthal: The big cheese of the Fat Duck

Financial Times | 31 Jan 2004

The former debt collector has some extraordinary kit in his kitchen. A rotavapor machine that distills natural essences, a water and oil bath, a canister containing liquid nitrogen and a gleaming machine that turns purees into edible shaving foam. There’s a desiccator and pump to suck moisture out of chips, test tubes, overhead stirrers, mini filtration units and magnetic mixers. And now he falls delightedly upon Fishers laboratory catalogue. “Heat pads! You put them in a beaker of water with magnets underneath and it keeps it stirred. Can you see the vortex it’s creating?” he asks ecstatically.

• Food

I like to go against the grain

Financial Times | 17 Jan 2004

Top chef Rowley Leigh starts his FT cookery column this week and tells Caroline Phillips about his robust, refined style.

• Food,
• Interviews

Sandwich man has an appetite for spreading

Financial Times | 6 Jan 2004

Niall MacArthur, the founder of Eat, tells Caroline Phillips about his ambitions to expand his 26-strong chain beyond its base in London.

• Food

The big cheese of the Fat Duck

Financial Times | 1 Jan 2004

Caroline Phillips meets Heston Blumenthal, the Willy Wonka of modern British cooking, and samples his distinctive brand of innovative and investigative cuisine.

• Food