Victoria Stewart

What was once the preserve of the keen amateur has now been adopted by top chefs across the country. So why are pop-ups/guest events now so popular in the wider industry? Read this article, originally published in Restaurant Magazine

One chef’s kitchen trimmings are another’s useful ingredients as the root-to-stem dining trend grows in popularity. Words by Victoria Stewart. Illustration by Paul Blow. Originally published in Square Meal Magazine (digital version here p.64-65), Spring 2016

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]