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Henry's Pick of the Best RESTAURANT |
Restaurants
The AA: Restaurants
This is a pretty comprehensive database of UK restaurants, included on the AA site. Click on the "all restaurants" option under Food Quality to browse the entries. The reviews are factual and a rosette rating is your guide to quality. Also available is a search for the best seafood pubs in Britain.The Curry House
A great site for all things curried. Its own curry guide isn't that extensive (unless you're from Oxford/Reading, like the webmaster), but there are plenty of links to other curry guides throughout the UK. The site is better for its extensive recipe section, and the opportunity to buy those hard-to-come-by spices from Chilli Willie (ouch).
Curry Pages
Online directory of just about every curry house in Britain. Good, sensible search interface, user reviews, glossaries and links.
Lastminute.com
The London restaurant guide at lastminute.com is in its infancy, but it already provides a reasonable service for those who like their choices made for them. If it becomes more comprehensive, it could be hard to beat.
Restaurants.co.uk
This is a nationwide directory of restaurants that's a little short on content, but makes up for it with a range of local partners. Suffers a little from attempting to satisfy both customer and restaurateur alike, but a good utility nonetheless.
TimeOut: London: Eating & drinking
Time Out's online restaurant database is not huge and not particularly well presented - and the inclusion of pubs and bars doesn't improve coherence. However, given the difficulty of finding good reviews on the net, it's a useful resource for Londoners.
zagat.com
Zagat is mostly a US restaurant guide, but it also covers London extensively. Restaurants are rated by decor, service and food, and registration is free.
Food and drink
You'd think food and computers were a recipe for disaster - my last Apple Mac certainly never seemed the same after I spilt mayo on the space bar. But even non-foodies will find satisfaction in searching for recipes on the net and there are an awful lot of good sites. Just don't surf when you're hungry. Chocolate Lovers' Page
Represents the ultimate in chocoholism - a chocolate search engine featuring a database of 697 websites. Enough to satisfy Willy Wonka.
Covent Garden Soup Company
This lovely online ad for the company also serves up a few handy recipes, including its Thai spinach soup and pesto ciabatta croutons. Yumm. Worth bookmarking as recipes are updated fairly regularly.
Curry Pages
Online directory of just about every curry house in Britain. Good, sensible search interface, user reviews, glossaries and links.
Epicurious
A thoroughly filling food portal from Condé Nast. There's a lot of good stuff on restaurants and eating out generally, but this site is really targeted at the amateur gourmet as it is full of useful tips, conversion tables and recipes. A good reason to have a computer in the kitchen.
Fromages.com
A site dedicated to French cheese which is full of reviews, information and opportunities to buy. Great site, if a little proud of itself at times - just don't be put off by the pictures of cows and goats that adorn most pages.
Recipe Xchange
Part of ParenthoodWeb, this site contains thousands of recipes of all types and ethnic origin. You can also choose calorific content through searching by "tummy rating". Extensive links and the opportunity to purchase recipe books are also available.
Restaurants.co.uk
This is a nationwide directory of restaurants that's a little short on content but makes up for it with a range of local partners. Suffers a little from attempting to satisfy both customer and restaurateur alike, but a good utility nonetheless.
Simply Food
A wide-reaching food portal from the Carlton Food Network. Includes a notable organic food directory, pontifications from Anthony Worral Thompson and buckets of tips on healthy eating. Plus, it's not "simply food" at all - this site has pages and pages of very good information on wine too.
VegSource
Probably the largest vegetarian and vegan website in the world. Aimed mostly at the family, Vegsource gives advice on how to develop a healthy vegetarian diet, and houses individual websites from several American doctors. Very detailed, although occasionally more than a little po-faced.
Whisky World
A surprisingly classy site that allows you to search for your favourite whiskies, swap information with other drunks - sorry, connoisseurs - and buy online. Good for gifts.
Food
AllRecipes.com
Here you can find literally thousands of recipes under the separate domain names - cakerecipe, souprecipe, chocolatepretzelrecipe, the works. There are seasonal features, top tens and cooking hints as well as the chance to buy specialist equipment to serve all your cooking needs. Ethnic recipes are a bit thin on the ground, though, and tricky to find as they are scattered throughout the network.Chocolate Lovers' Page
Represents the ultimate in chocoholism - a chocolate search engine featuring a database of 697 websites. Enough to satisfy Willy Wonka.
Epicurious
A thoroughly filling food portal from Condé Nast. There's a lot of good stuff on restaurants and eating out generally, but this site is really targeted at the amateur gourmet as it is full of useful tips, conversion tables and recipes. A good reason to have a computer in the kitchen.
foodndrink
What foodndrink lacks in size, it makes up for in quality and personality. Its London restaurant guide is discriminating, its recipes look fantastic, and the wine guide is entertaining -- even though all are a bit limited in scope. Good links and members' offers help plug the gaps.
Meals.com
A giant US recipe database. What makes this one stand out from the crowd is the facility to specify the number of people each recipe is for -- the site then calculates the correct quantities for you, so there's no excuse for getting your sums wrong mid-create.
Meat Matters
British Meat tries to beef up consumer confidence with this website dedicated to the delights of a nice bit of meat. The recipes are good but there aren't many.
Recipe Xchange
Part of ParenthoodWeb, this site contains thousands of recipes of all types and ethnic origin. You can also choose calorific content through searching by tummy rating. Extensive links and the opportunity to purchase recipe books are also available.
Simply Food
A wide-reaching food portal from the Carlton Food Network. Includes a notable organic food directory, pontifications from Anthony Worrel Thomson and buckets of tips on healthy eating. Oh, and it's not "simply food" at all - this site has pages and pages of very good information on wine too.
www.cookerybooks.com
A fairly sober site which mainly tries to sell you cookery books. Nevertheless, you will be able to find the most obscure and exotic of culinary styles in the extensive catalogue - and since the recipe database is compiled from this, it is similarly comprehensive. Use the "what's in the fridge" feature to see what you can make out of catfood, trainers and chilli sauce.
Food companies on the net
Covent Garden Soup Company
This lovely online ad for the company also serves up a few handy recipes, including its Thai spinach soup and pesto ciabatta croutons. Yumm. Worth bookmarking as recipes are updated fairly regularly.Fromages.com
A site dedicated to French cheese which is full of reviews, information and opportunities to buy. Great site, if a little proud of itself at times - just don't be put off by the pictures of cows and goats that adorn most pages.
Nutrition
Fast Food Facts
Ever wanted to know the nutritional value of your burger? Now you can and - though the site is US-based and includes a lot of names you won't have heard of - it might be enough to wean you off the take-aways once and for all.mynutrition
The perfect site for health freaks - sorry, people concerned about maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Contains articles and dietary/lifestyle advice on conditions ranging from acne to breast cancer. A detailed online consultation is also available, after which a pricey programme of supplements is recommended.
Thinkfast
This Health Education Authority website offers tips to encourage healthier eating among the younger population. But the slightly patronising tone, lack of recipes or detailed information probably won't cause a revolution just yet.
Organic
Friends of the Earth: real food
The FoE's "real food" campaign is an ambitious and wide-ranging one, broadly opposing the use of pesticides, antibiotics and genetically modified ingredients in food production. But the site is clearly organised, and there's simple advice on how to support the campaign or buy organic.Soil Association
Not about getting muddy, but the website of the leading UK organic food and farming certification body. Here you can browse articles on all aspects of food safety, find out where to buy organic food and how to get certification, and get involved in campaigns. A useful site for food producers and consumers alike.
Vegetarian and vegan
The Vegan Society
Make an informed choice about going vegan with the help of the extensive health and nutrition factsheets contained on this site. Also of interest are articles relating to the treatment of farmed animals, recipes and information on vegan products. A comprehensive gateway to the vegan world.The Vegetarian Society
A great resource for well-presented vegetarian recipes and detailed articles on animal rights, environmental and food scare issues in the UK. Also provides clear and reassuring information on how to become - and stay - veggie.
VegSource
Probably the largest vegetarian and vegan website in the world. Aimed mostly at the family, Vegsource gives advice on how to develop a healthy vegetarian diet, and houses individual websites from several American doctors. Very detailed, although occasionally more than a little po-faced.
