• Neil Sowerby
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I grow my own, brave the kitchen heat and know my woozy way around a wine list. Welcome to my post-lockdown world…

You may call it a blog if you must. It’s certainly a change of direction I’ve been putting off through years of journalistic hyper-activity. The lockdowns have made me reassess the food and drink I really care about. I feel refreshed and free of restraint. Even so. Please excuse the solipsistic sounding neilsowerby.co.uk. It’s not just about me. More the discoveries I want to share. Read more…

Clubland: ‘If that sink down the corridor were good enough for Shirley Bassey…’

Nigh on four decades of living in Pennine border town Todmorden and I’d never darkened the doors of Bridge End Working Men’s Club. Even though it sits just across the road from the primary school once attended by my daughters and granddaughter,…

Hi Timber! How an English sparkler became the essential high life accessory

Twenty years ago Le Mont restaurant opened at the top of Urbis. Aspirational dining in the Manchester building that most symbolised renewal in the aftermath of the IRA bombing. I was a beneficiary of this bright new dawn, accompanying chef…
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Omakase, Sentaku, Kaiseki – why Mike’s Musu looks the real Japanese deal

Chawanmushi is a passion of Mike Shaw’s. Sounds like a Japanese martial art? No, it’s a savoury custard, prepared with dashi and finished with an umami-rich topping. It was the amuse bouche during our epic 30 course tasting menu at Ynyshir.…
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Beowulf smashes it! Epic pizzas with an Anglo-Saxon spin at Dokes, Prestwich

New York, Chicago, Detroit, Rome, Naples naturally, they all blow the trumpet about their pizza dough being the best. Thin, deep-filled, crusts like craters, they clamour for your attention. And don’t get me started on toppings. The wagyu…
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Arizona dreaming… of a tricoleur potage in Winslow’s Turquoise Room

The present of some corn cobs “as corny as Kansas in August”, well super fresh off the stalk, was a Proustian madeleine moment, albeit my Memory Lane was Route 66 through another US state – Arizona – and my emblematic longing was for…
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A Tavola Gastronomia – Alessio’s sweet taste of Sicily in the High Peak

High summer in Sicily and the carefree boys will be leaping off the quayside at Cefalu,  location for Cinema Paradiso; in New Mills fewer, if any, will fancy a dive into the murky Peak Forest Canal or the River Goyt.  Taking…
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