Rosé Wine Special | Wine Reviews

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

Villa Maria Private Bin Rose 2013, RRP £9.99, Tesco, Majestic, Bargain Booze, Wine Rack, Village Wines (Amersham), www.NZhouseofwine.com

This is a gorgeous dry rosé. It has aromas of ripe berry fruits. It is a very refreshing and drinkable wine.

Lourensford River Garden Rose 2013, RRP £8.20, Cheers Wines Merchants, BJR Hanby, Luvians, The Leamington Wine Company, Beaconsfield Wine Cellars,www.winedirect.co.uk

This rose is as interesting as it is delicious. It has fresh red berry and strawberry flavour and a unique and wonderful touch of spice greatly enhances the wine. Yummy.

Grant Burge GB11 Rose 2013, RRP £8.99, Nidderdale Fine Wines, The Wine Shop, www.thedrinkshop.com, Cheers Wine Merchants, Famous Wines

This is a brilliant light, fresh wine. It is a beautiful crimson red and has a wonderful, but not overpowering, sweetness to it. Has aromas of ripe strawberry, spices and candy. Goes very well with salmon. Delicious.

Cune Rosado 2012, RRP £9.49, Majestic, Dunedin Wines, Refreshers, Elies Cellars, Hailsham Cellars, Fountainhall Wines, www.winedirect.co.uk

This rose is a dark, clear red. Full of dark summer fruit aromas. This raspberry coloured wine also has floral notes. Light and refreshing. Stunning.

Les Pins Couches Rose 2013, RRP £9.99, Fresh and Wild, Les Caves du Patron, Luvians, Noble Green Wines, Bacchus et Al, Clifton Cellars, Kingsgate Wines, The Whalley Wine Shop, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Partridges of Sloane Street, Wine Rack, Wimbledon Wine Cellars

Light in colour. A dry rose with subtle fruit flavours in abundance. Has notes of herbs, black olives and fresh fruit. A brilliant French wine that encapsulates what the Mediterranean coast would taste like if it was a glass of rosé. Has spices and freshness all in one. Is a blend of syrah and mourvédre. Elegant and wonderful.

Joseph Mellot Sancerre Le Rabault Rosé 2013, RRP £16.99, Famous Wines, Eagle Wines, The Leamington Wine Company, Kingsgate Wines.

This wine was a big hit at a cheese and wine night I had in my apartment. Is a nice salmon colour. Is very fresh and fruity and highly drinkable. Good stuff.

Frost are doing a wine awards. Wine makers please enter by sending bottles to Frost HQ and readers please email frost magazine@gmail.com with wine suggestions. Thank you.

Olive It! The Essential Olive Recipe Book Review

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

I love this book, I really do. I love olives and will eat them in anything. Unfortunately when it comes to cooking I don’t have much of an imagination. Luckily for me this amazing book has olive recipes a plenty, along with a history of olives, the healthy facts on olives, information on the Olive It! campaign and lots of other great stuff.

My mouth was watering all the way through reading this book. The recipes are also amazing, some are also very unique. I highly recommend this book for olive obsessives like myself.

A delicious ensemble of olive marinades, tapenades, tapas feasting tips and recipes that will spark your imagination.

Designed to inspire you, this beautiful recipe book will take you on a journey of true discovery. Combining tradition with a contemporary twist, the Olive it! recipe book has a dish for everyone and every season, from innovative marinades to tantalising tapas and tapenades.

Join celebrated Spanish chefs José Pizarro and Omar Allibhoy as they share the joy of olives and family-trusted recipes that have passed down generations. Having both grown up surrounded by olive trees and immersed in the Mediterranean diet and culture, their love of olives is deep rooted and evident in these inspired olive dishes. With over 40 recipes that will spark your imagination and awaken new taste sensations, explore unique yet delicious combinations, such as green olives with figs, orange and bay to more adventurous combinations such as black olives with wasabi, ginger and smoked salmon and green olives with manchengo, chorizo and melon.

“Cooking with olives can be fun and exciting, and we hope this book will inspire you in the kitchen and encourage you to create these quick, easy and delicious recipes at home for your loved ones.’

“Olives on their own are great as a tasty snack but when seasoned with new and inventive combinations of ingredients they can produce a true explosion of taste.”

– Omar Allibhoy

Taste The Difference Côtes de Provence Rosé 2013 Wine Review

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Côtes de Provence Rosé 2013 is a light, elegant and amber-toned rosé. Made from 40% Grenache, 40% Cinsault and 20% Syrah. It is from the Provence region of Southern France.

I am a fan of rosé and this is a good one. It is not too sweet and has delicate flavours of strawberry and cherry. It is light, dry and crisp. A perfect rosé for summer. Recommended.

Benecos Makeup Review

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Sarah Bacchus

This brand is a new one to me and its really lovely with simple packaging and the look of clean lines. This natural young brand is all about affordable high quality products that deliver essentials to all women.

This young label was founded in Germany at the end of 2008 and the name Benecos stands for good cosmetics.

They believe in minimal packaging and instead of outrageous and highly expensive advertising Benecos uses word of mouth marketing. The brand have produced all the products to the BDIH standard and it has a touch of real luxury about it. The highlighter that I tested was so delicate and beautiful, it was silky to the touch and it was so subtle it could be used all over the face for that perfect fresh glow. Not overpowering like a few brands if you are a little heavy handed. This looked stunning applied to the top of the cheeks and along the bridge of the nose. Add a little under the arch of the brow to give a stunning life to the eyes. Give your shoulders a touch of sheer dewiness and add some along your collar bone for a fresh and sculpted look. Even a swirl added to a large makeup brush and applied to the centre of the legs will give you a fine elegant and pretty finish.

Every face is different but a general rule you’ll want to pay especially close attention to where the light hits your face, so look for the highest points if you are in any doubt. Just make sure you don’t go overboard otherwise you may look a little too shiny. I doubt you could make any mistakes with this product as its not really a shimmer, its more of a lift. It creates the ultimate and oh so soft dimensions for natural looking makeup. Very done but in an undone way. Almost like you have a little secret in your cosmetic purse!
This is perfect for the simple makeup looks hitting the runways for this next season. Great for quick touch ups throughout the day and it won’t break the bank either. All Benecos products are organic and at around the £5-7 you can indulge as much as you like.

Pop me a little Tweet @sarahbacchus to let me know if you have tried this brand before! You can purchase the range here. Go and say hi over at Twitter @BenecosUK

Sainsbury’s Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne Review

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

We have been reviewing a lot of champagne here at Frost Magazine. It is a pretty awesome job made even better when you get a bottle of really good stuff to review. Enter Sainsbury’s Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne. A crisp, dry, delicious, delicate and floral champagne made solely from the chardonnay grape. It comes from family producer Duval-Leroy. It is an excellent champagne, with good breadth, freshness and a dry finish. It is also very well balanced.

This bottle may be Sainsbury’s own brand but it is just as good as the expensive brands. Really stunning.

All champagne comes from the champagne region in France because it creates the best sparkling wines in the world. It is blessed with a unique combinations of conditions. If it comes from somewhere else, it isn’t champagne. Prosecco comes from Italy, Cava from Spain. You probably already knew that, but worth noting.

£22.50 from Sainsbury’s.

The Pretty One Film Review

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

The Pretty One has a lot going for it. A unique storyline, dazzling performances from all of the actors, a banging script and the two wonderful leads, Zoe Kazan and Jake Johnson. Jake has slowly been building up a stellar career, moving from bit parts to New Girl, he is having a career peak at the moment. Zoe Kazan is something to behold. She is just perfect in this film. Oh, and adorable. Both her and her character. She plays both twin sisters, Laurel and Audrey. Laurel is shy and stayed with their father after the death of their mother, looking after him and painting with him. She even wears her mothers old clothes. A lot of people think she is strange. Audrey is confident, ballsy, the woman everyone is in love with.

After Audrey dies in a head-on collision whilst driving with her sister, just after they switch seats, Laurel doesn’t realise who she is straight away. And when she does it seems that people don’t really care that much, her step-mother even says it was a good thing Laurel died as she would not have coped with losing her sister. Devastated, Laurel decides to become her sister and live her life. As the consequences mount, and the lie becomes bigger she has to decide whether to come clean or continue living the lie. What will she do?

The Pretty One is a truly wonderful, uplifting film, despite its moments of tragedy. I loved it and so did the people I watched it with. It is newly out on DVD and I highly recommend it. It is surely set to become a classic. It is funny and warm, tragic and sad all rolled into one perfect ball of a film. The DVD also has a great, delightful, visual effects featurette.

The Pretty One is available here.

Directed by Jenée LaMarque. With Jake Johnson, Zoe Kazan, Ron Livingston, Frances Shaw.

Cinnamon Soho Restaurant Review

Posted on June 23, 2014 by James Yardley

Cinnamon Soho is a stylish and contemporary restaurant which has just recently opened, following on from the extremely successful Cinnamon Kitchen and Cinnamon Club. First impressions of the restaurant were excellent. The interior looked great and clearly no expense had been spared.

The bottle of house wine we started with was excellent. It was a very good white wine. Very refreshing and drinkable. For a starter we tried the steamed chickpea cake with coconut chutney and the grilled asparagus, sesame and garlic yoghurt.

The chickpea cake was astonishing. It’s soft spongy delicate texture was indeed cake like but it did not feel out of place as a starter. The flavours were brilliant, the coconut chutney combined brilliantly with the chikpea and the raw red onion and cucumber brought freshness to the dish. The dash of spice was beautifully balanced. A truly original and exciting dish.

Our asparagus was also very good. It was beautifully cooked and very well seasoned with coriander and cumin. The sauces it came with were all beautifully balanced with excellent flavours.

Expectations were very high for our mains after the superb starters and they didn’t disappoint. I had the Orissa style chicken curry. My chicken was gorgeous, it was succulent, moist and perfectly cooked. The tomato lentil based sauce was a delight. Everything was beautifully spiced and seasoned without being overpowering. This was high class Indian cooking of a type I am not usually used to. It was very clear the chef had an excellent palate. As a side we had some superb peshwari naan. I love Peshwari naan but this was particularly good and had clearly been freshly made.

The other main we had was seared plaice with tomato lemon sauce and a lentil salad. Again, a beautifully cooked piece of fish with a delicate and exciting sauce with subtle spice and flavors. The portion sizes were perfect.

Our puddings did not disappoint either. The sticky ginger toffee pudding with banana ice cream was delicious. The banana ice cream was a delight and the pudding was light and tasty. The second dish of yoghurt and lime cheese cake with tamarind glazed strawberries was even better. An original dish with a wonderful creamy texture and refreshing taste. Perfect for a pudding at the end of a meal.

Overall Cinnamon Soho was a delight. The food was exquisite and the service which I have forgotten to mention until now was also excellent. Even more astonishing was the price. Our meal which came from the lunch menu was just £11.75 each for three courses! (excluding wine) or £9.75 for two courses. Frankly it was incredible value for food of this quality. Definitely the best value restaurant Frost has been to this year. We will certainly be going back soon and I highly recommend you give it a visit in the near future.

5 Kingly Street, London, W1B 5PF

Tel: 020 7437 1664, www.cinnamonsoho.com

facebook.com/cinnamonsoho

@cinnamonsoho

The Noodle House London Restaurant Review

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

I love Asian food so was absolutely delighted when we were invited to review the newly opened Southeast Asian restaurant The Noodle House on Shaftesbury Avenue. The decor looks great and it is busy. It may be newly opened but it already has found plenty of customers. It is not a tourist trap however, it has enough calm to be an enjoyable experience. We start off with some cocktails. We have the Moonshadow: vodka, lillet blanc, chrysanthemum, jasmine tea syrup and a Hit The Rojak: tequila, kamm & sons, star fruit juice, apple juice, Rojak syrup and lime. Both cocktails are great. Delicious and unique.

For starters I have the Crispy Calamari: Crispy fried calamari seasoned with sea salt and Szechuan pepper served with chilli dipping sauce and my colleague had the Si Racha Prawns: Tempura style prawns served with our signature spicy mayo. The crispy calamari is delicious and comes with a great sauce. The prawns are amazing, very generous in size and the sauce is great. It has a bit of a kick to it. Both starters are great and the portion size is generous. The waiter is good at recommending food and really knows his stuff. Although he didn’t realise what a wimp I am when it comes to spice!

For our mains we have the Javanese Nasi Goreng: Wok-fried rice with prawns, chilli, spring onions and Sambal Belachan, topped with a fried egg, served with two chicken satay skewers and prawn crackers and the Bakmi Goreng: Udon noodles with chicken, prawns, bean sprouts, cabbage, pak choi, eggs and a sweet chilli ginger sauce, garnished with spring onions and fried banana shallots. For our sides we have the Broccoli: Tenderstem broccoli with oyster sauce and Fried Jasmine Rice: Wok-fried jasmine rice with chicken, prawns, bean sprouts, eggs, chilli and Thai basil.

The Javanese Nasi Goreng is something to behold. It has absolutely everything in it and a fried egg on top. The chicken satay skewers are tasty, as are the prawn crackers, the fried egg, the whole shebang. This is also spicy although there are plenty of things you can order at the Noodle House which are not spicy. The Bakmi Goreng is a great noodle dish which also has a generous amount of ingredients. It is amazing. Really great.

I also loved the Fried Jasmine Rice we have for our side and the broccoli is also good. If we thought the starters were a decent size, the mains and the sides were even more generous. We could just have had those and nothing else. We end up taking what we don’t eat away in a doggy bag.

We order more cocktails. The amazing Bayside Bellini: Kamm & sons, spiced Asian pear, orgeat & prosecco. and Spice Island Iced Tea: Gin, spiced tea gin, lemon, abbots bitters & ginger ale. The Bayside Bellini is absolutely brilliant. All you need to know is that it is a champagne cocktail with an Asian twist. Wonderful.

For dessert we have the Sweet Sharing Plate: a sample of the Lime & Ginger Cheescake, mango coconut pudding and banana spring rolls. Each one is amazing and unique. Just incredibly good and comes with a brilliant ice-cream.

We then finished with some tea. Fruity Fresh Hibiscus: an infusion made from a blend of Hibiscus, orange flowers, rosehip, sea buckthorn berries & lemon verbena. A pink brew that is sweet, fresh and hydrating. A mix of flowers and fruit. This is great tea, I could drink it everyday. Downstairs there is more seating and a bar and you can see all of the Noodle House’s amazing tea in large jars.

The Noodle House is a great restaurant. The service is amazing, the waiters are friendly and knowledgeable, the food is amazing and unique as is their cocktails and tea. Prices are reasonable, from low to high. I highly recommend The Noodle House and will be going back.

The Noodle House, 117 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8AD / 0203 725 5777

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