I Never Said I Loved You by Rhik Samadder

Rhik Samadder has written a remarkable book. What a lavishly talented writer he is, packing more hilarity and insight into a few sentences than many authors manage in an entire book. Those who are familiar with his journalism, and particularly his Guardian column reviewing kitchen gadgets, will know he has a talent for turning base metal into gold. We mistakenly assumed this was a fluke, a happy accident, that he should be so entertaining about such an unpromising subject. The reason that his piece on a device for cooking eggs went viral, however is that he is an astonishingly original writer, no matter what the topic. And we should all be grateful that he has now turned his attention to the serious matter of mental health.

It doesn’t seem quite right that a book so moving should also be so funny at the same time but this is the case with his memoir I Never Said I Loved You.

The best restaurants for a pre-Christmas meal with friends

Arranging a Christmas dinner with friends doesn’t have to mean settling for a crammed corner and dried-out turkey. Here’s our guide to the best restaurants for feasting.

Festive meals are not always the most relaxing. Whether you’re trying to avoid getting into an argument with your Uncle Geoffrey about the Irish backstop or tasked with finding a restaurant within budget for the office party, they don’t always spell fun times.

The one Christmas meal that has a fighting chance of being enjoyable is the one you have with your friends in early December, after 8,052 messages in the WhatsApp group chat. You’ve done the Doodle poll to find a date everyone can make, now here’s our pick of where to actually go. 

Mortimer House Kitchen

Mortimer House is a 2,900-square-metre members’ club in a seven-storey block on Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia and includes co-working spaces, bars and lounges for its lucky members. The restaurant is open to the public, though, and how inviting it is! The room is large, well-spaced and softly-lit. The design company AvroKO has even fitted acoustic panels in the ceiling so that you can have a quiet conversation in a busy room. The chef here is Lello Favuzzi, formerly of the acclaimed Shoreditch Italian restaurant L’Anima.

The most challenging thing might be working out which combination of which sized plates will leave you full. There are not just small plates here but medium and also large.

The Midult

I’ll be joining The Midults Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan on Thursday 31st January to discuss their new book: I’m Absolutely Fine! A Manual for Imperfect Women. They’ll be offering a wry, heartfelt and edgy look at what it is to be a grown-up woman  and will also answer all your questions. This event is now SOLD OUT but if you would like a signed copy of their book, please contact lovely Village Books, who are organising the event, via the link below.

The On-Trend Ingredients

Curious foodstuffs keep on coming, who knew we could eat them? And yet we will.

The Vegetable: snowbergine
Going against everything we’ve been taught about eating the rainbow, these days East London vegans have been fighting over white aubergines, or snowbergines. While Americans named the vegetable ‘eggplant’ due to its resemblance to a goose egg, most of us have never laid eyes on anything other than the purple version.

My Perfect Day: Sam and Sam Clark

The husband-and-wife team behind Moro love simple food, preferably eaten in working men’s cafés. For their fantasy day of eating they head to the Moorish lands that inspire their cooking...

First breakfast
We discovered a special ful cart when visiting friends in Cairo. Ful is made from dried broad beans, cooked overnight in a cylindrical pot, then served warm in a little bowl.