It is Christmas Eve in Hanoi, darkness has settled, and the city’s famous nighttime economy is starting up. Leaving behind couples hugging each other in secret around a glistening lake, I take off down a side street where a group of ten or so men […]
Journalism
I spent 11 years as a food journalist, researching food and drinks trends, interviewing food and drinks entrepreneurs about their innovations and writing stories about people’s adventures in hospitality.
I’ve been food editor at the Evening Standard and written stories for The Times, The Guardian, Stylus, Restaurant and Eater.
Here’s a selection of the work I produced – hover over the menu above to find a relevant category (e.g. Profiles or Producers or Features).
Meet the makers: behind Britain’s love of Peruvian superfood quinoa (Foodism Magazine)
We meet the British farmer working with Pret A Manger to fly the flag for homegrown quinoa. Here’s an unusual quiz question. What do daikon, wasabi and quinoa have in common? The obvious answer is that they are all grown traditionally in either parts of […]
Jamie Oliver on his new cookery school (Evening Standard)
One cookery school, two new books and a fifth child on the way – Jamie Oliver has his hands full. Victoria Stewart hears how he does it. Jamie Oliver is making a Thai green curry and things are heating up. He’s showing me how to […]
Chiltern Firehouse chef Nuno Mendes: ‘It seems like there are people who had an agenda to come in and knock us’ (ES Magazine)
Chiltern Firehouse is London’s hottest dining destination. Now its Michelin-starred head chef is branching out, opening up his own restaurant on the other side of town — and it couldn’t be more different. So what’s eating Nuno Mendes, asks Victoria Stewart. Never in London’s history […]
BarChick: meet the new SMS service that’s helping Londoners to find their perfect bar (Evening Standard)
Can a new bespoke SMS service hook Londoners up with the perfect bar? Victoria Stewart phones in some fun (Image: Daniel Hambury) Here’s a snippet from my recent texting conversation. Me: “Just been to awful restaurant in Soho — can you recommend somewhere for a nice quiet […]
Silo, Brighton, restaurant review: ‘Designed with the bin in mind… but in a good way’ (The Telegraph)
Fun as food trends often are, they do tend to have short shelf lives: before you can say the words “coconut” and “oil” the foodies have moved on to the next thing. Occasionally, though, you’ll get one that sticks around, because it doesn’t have a […]
Switzerland: the peak of perfection (Elite Traveler Magazine)
It has more Michelin stars per head than any other country and hosts a fancy fine dining festival. So how exactly did Switzerland become the restaurant capital of the world? Mid-afternoon on a chilly Saturday and more than 60 bowls are lined up on a […]
The butcher, the baker and the donut-maker – London’s best street food revealed (Skyscanner blog)
London’s booming market staples, like Borough Market, are still an excellent place to spend time – and there is plenty of good hot food to take away, too – but it’s often nicer to focus on the smaller ones to ensure that more of your […]
On the table: Lurra (Berry Bros & Rudd)
With the constant flurry of new openings, it can be hard to make it back to restaurants past. This month food writer Victoria Stewart seeks the value of second helpings, returning to Marylebone’s Lurra. Twenty-sixteen, I’ve decided, is to be my year of repeat restaurant visits. Regular […]
Local flavour: Hoi An eating (Escapism Magazine)
Hoi An may be small – but this ancient Vietnamese trading port punches well above its weight on the culinary front. Victoria Stewart tries her hand at rustling up a few dishes. (Image: Victoria Stewart) Read this article, originally published in Escapism Magazine
For the love of laksa (Evening Standard)
The founder of Malaysian street food enterprise Sambal Shiok, Mandy Yin, talks to Victoria Stewart about growing up on this soul-nourishing dish (Pic: Clerkenwell Boy) After being introduced to laksa in Singapore by a friend who grew up eating it there, I’ve since realised that there […]
Beyond food: the London charity fighting homelessness with jobs in food (Evening Standard)
Victoria Stewart meets Shelby Davis, the 23-year-old Londoner who left a life at Centre Point for one in the kitchen (Image: Agnieszka Orzel) In the centre of a kitchen in Battersea stands a young woman dressed in a black chef’s uniform and apron, her head bent over […]
London borough restaurant guides (London Design Guide)
In 2015 I was asked by Max Fraser, editor of a beautiful book called the London Design Guide, to write restaurant guides for 11 of London’s boroughs; an interview with chef and restaurateur Jason Atherton; and an essay looking at the reasons behind the London restaurant boom. […]
Why you should try an Airbnb sabbatical (Evening Standard)
If you want a break from feckless flatmates and lazy landlords why not try an Airbnb sabbatical? Victoria Stewart gets out of the rent race and crashes with strangers. (Image: Alex Lentati) Standing in the kitchen one Monday night I’m picking bits of aubergine off […]
A taste of Tokyo (Evening Standard)
With the volume of new Japanese restaurants opening in London and a major Japanese cultural expo on in the capital this weekend, foodie Victoria Stewart was inspired to head to the source (Image: Victoria Stewart) For a while, conversations among foodies in London were about […]
Alpine adventures in Chamonix (Evening Standard)
(Image originally published on Standard.co.uk) It is the classic childhood scene: child climbs up tree full of enthusiasm, gets stuck at the top and panics. “If you got up there you can get down again,” our parents would say, unhelpfully. And, somehow, you always made it […]