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Guide to luxury London on a budget

My husband Peter is a wonder when it comes to finding luxury bargains as he hops around the globe.

This weekend, London was our destination, and there’s no better place to spend Halloween. The recession is still going strong in Britain, so it is also a good time to take advantage of the multitude of deals to be had.

Hotel

Photo courtesy of MyHotel.

We usually prefer classic English-style hotels, because the English really do know how to let you feel part of what is the best in the British lifestyle, but this time, Peter selected a boutique hotel, MyHotel Bloomsbury on Bayley Street just off Bedford Square.

MyHotel is entirely Feng Shui, minimalist and has a wonderful fitness center. The rooms are quiet and impeccably clean, the staff is pleasant and efficient and they speak very good English (which one cannot count on in London), it does indeed have a good feel about it, and the location is remarkably central.

Unfortunately, the hotel is the victim of British regulations regarding fire doors, so despite all the effort they had made to make it Feng Shui and calming, the fire doors ruined it all. Even the bathroom door slammed loudly. The clientele was extremely civilized, despite the fact that it was Halloween weekend, and the management was so conscious of maintaining the calm atmosphere, that they closed the bar on Halloween night.

Restaurants

In the UK, Top Table is an excellent site for booking fine restaurants at a nice price. With the credit crunch still alive and kicking, there is an abundance of choices, many offering forty and fifty percent off menu prices. Please note that the discounts do not usually apply to wine, supplements and service charge, and are sometimes limited to a limited number of people, but it can still significantly reduce the price of a meal.

Dining room of The Landau, photo courtesy of Top Table.

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For classic cake and dessert recipes: Joy of Baking

Stephanie Jaworski is a master baker.

Her recipes are designed for use in North America, so the measurements may have to be adapted to your taste and the raw ingredients to what is available in the Lake Geneva region. For one thing, North Americans tend to put more sugar in their recipes. My rule of thumb is to cut the amount of sugar in half, but I have every kind of tooth but a sweet one, so three-quarters the amount would probably work for those who do.

I’m dying to try her pumpkin cheesecake recipe, but the graham crackers would have to be substituted by some other sort of whole-grain, slightly sweet biscuit or cookie. I think spelt and sesame Wasa or whole-wheat Krisprolls mixed with a spoon of brown sugar/cassonade could also give somewhat the same texture.

Cookbooks: Mathilde’s Cuisine

Photo courtesy of Mathilde's Cuisine blog.

Mathilde Delville’s food blog is great for foodies like myself who have lived in a French-speaking country long enough to not know whether we’re more French, Swiss or Anglo. She rambles about all sorts of food-related topics, in both French and English.

I particularly like her post about cookbooks.

Gourmet recipes you can do at home: Citron et Vanille

Silvia is of Italian origin, grew up in Nancy, France, and has lived in the US for thirteen years now. She is a personal chef, and adds contemporary, gourmet recipes to her site almost daily.

Photo courtesy of Citron et Vanille.

She has the right origins (Italian and French) to know about good food and she is living in San Francisco, certainly one of the food capitals of the US, thanks to all the high-quality ingredients available year round.

Fusion, sugar-free and low-carb recipes: Café Nilson

Photo courtesy of Café Nilson.

The Virtual Chef, whose real name we don’t know, runs an on-line “café” consisting of recipes that people donate, to which she adds her own highly creative recipes. She leans toward light, healthy fusion cuisine, and offers two interesting categories we don’t often see: sugar-free and low-carb.

We still have strawberries in the Lake Geneva region, and they are extra-sweet right now, so I am strongly tempted by her Sugar-free Strawberry Soufflé recipe.

The annual La Semaine du Goût started today in Switzerland, and runs until 27 September 2009.

Each canton offers an uncanny variety of activities for adults and children alike. From tasting workshops and cooking classes, to biodynamic growing techniques and wine making and tasting and even markets: there is truly something for everyone. Just click on the link above to see what is going on in your canton or area.

Every year, the main activities are focused on a “star” town or city. This year it is Delémont in canton Valais, where for CHF 50, 13 gastronomic restaurants will be offering a 4-course meal accompanied by the 4 Etoile d’Or wines that win the organization Les Vins du Valais‘s wine competition, which is headed this year by Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, Switzerland’s star female wine maker, whose vineyards are located in Fully in canton Valais.

Les Vins du Valais also offers special taste initiation events for young people between the ages of 16 and 25, allowing them to taste the award-winning wines and start training their tastebuds. Tasting events have also been organized in schools (ask at your child’s school for more detailed information; informational brochures are available for teachers on the sites listed above, under “Ecoles“).

The annual Swiss tasting week promotes local and Swiss products of all types: sausages, wine, herbs, fruit, vegetables, cheese, etc.

Marie-Thérèse Chappaz in her vineyard in Fully in canton Valais.

Erratum:

Every year, Association pour la Promotion du Goût, the Swiss association for promoting taste, chooses a Ville du Goût, or city of taste. This year it is indeed Delémont, as stated in our Swiss tasting week: La Semaine du Goût post of 19 September 2009, but Delémont is located in canton Jura, instead of in canton Valais. More about the gastronomic events in Delémont can be found on their website.

This includes tasting classes for children the week of 21 to 25 September. Please consult the site for more information.

The downtown Geneva location of the Ecole-Club Migros will be giving a gourmet cooking class in English on 24 October 2009. They plan to add more classes during the year, in both the Balexert and downtown Geneva locations.

The class starts at 14 H (2 p.m.) and lasts until 17 H (5 p.m.).

Students will prepare a 3-course gourmet meal, learning both traditional and modern cooking methods.

You can sign up in their offices, by phone or on the Internet.

NOTE: Lausanne is offering classes in Italian and Spanish, but is considering classes in English if they have enough requests. So if you are interested, give them a call and express your interest.

Ecole-Club Migros:
Genève-centre (downtown), Rue du Prince 5, 1204 Geneva, tel. 022 319 61 61, offices open 8:30 H to 20:30 H Monday through Thursday, 8:30 to 17 H on Fridays, and from 9:00 H to 12:30 on Saturday.

Website: www.ecole-club.ch

The 2008-2009 program for the Ecole-Club Migros in Geneva and Nyon has just come out, and they are offering two cooking classes in English. Both classes are held in the downtown Geneva building, located at 5 rue du Prince, 1204 Geneva.

Both the “Gourmet cooking” and “Swiss gourmet” classes consist of three 2-hour periods. The Swiss cooking class covers traditional dishes from all regions of Switzerland.