The ObserverFoodFarewell to all thatAfter 26 years at the Connaught, head chef Michel Bourdin is retiring. But will the departure of this legendary master of first-class traditional cuisine mark the end of the grand hotel style in British cooking?Walking into the Connaught Hotel in London is like taking a step back in time, retreating to some safer, cosier era when ladies wore hats, gentlemen wore suits and the likes of me were too busy polishing the floors and clambering up chimneys to cause any trouble. Read More...
A fine pickle … perfect growing conditions make Spreewald’s gherkins connoisseurs’ favourites. Photograph: AlamyA fine pickle … perfect growing conditions make Spreewald’s gherkins connoisseurs’ favourites. Photograph: AlamyThe foodie travellerGermany holidaysThis famous export from the forests of Brandenburg state, south-east of Berlin, is a legend among pickles
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, almost all of East Germany’s communist-era products disappeared into obscurity. One that did manage to survive is the legendary Spreewald gherkin. Read More...
FictionObituaryKhushwant Singh obituaryProlific novelist and short-story writer whose newspaper columns often infuriated the Indian establishmentThe author and journalist Khushwant Singh, who has died aged 99, held a particular place in Indian life as a critic of the establishment and a challenger of hypocrisy. His ability to view matters from an outsider's perspective came out of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947: he belonged to a Sikh family, with roots in what became Pakistan, and the division into two countries led to his abandoning law and diplomacy for writing, as well as providing the subject-matter of his best-known novel, Train to Pakistan (1956). Read More...