Food & Drink

Scroll for the tastiest food and drink from across Milton Keynes and North Bucks

08th Mar 2017

Local Independent Businesses Invited to Join intu’s Artisan Market

intu Milton Keynes is hosting its first ever Artisan Market between Saturday 27 May and Sunday 4 June, offering local businesses the chance showcase themselves in the busy city centre.  The shopping centre has already lined up 20 local companies to fill the nine-day event but there are still has spaces available. Event organiser, Louise Layton from intu Milton Keynes said: “whether you’d like to be in the centre for a day or the whole eight days, we’re open to making this event as simple and beneficial to companies as possible. Spaces are filling up very quickly so we would advise getting in touch sooner than later.”  The companies confirmed so far range from apparel to homemade sauces & pottery to speciality vodka, all of which will be selling their locally made produce.  Shelley Peppard, general manager at intu Milton Keynes said: “The Artisan Market is about giving local businesses..

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01st Mar 2017

MK pub company joins The Sunday Times Top 100 2017

The Peach Pub Company, which runs The Swan at Salford and The Black Horse in Woburn has been named one of the best places to work in the country by The Sunday Times in the newspaper's annual survey of great employers.  Peach shot into the Top 100 Best Companies to Work For at number 45, with a Two Star accreditation.  Now in its 17th year, The Sunday Times Top 100 is an annual ranking and survey of the best of Britain's employers. Its publication each year is a highly anticipated event in the UK’s business calendar.   Ben Paul, Peach Partner said, "When we started Peach fifteen years ago we set out to open one, really great pub. Now, to be recognised as one of the best companies to work for in the whole of the UK is a dream come true.  "We're a great team of like-minded individuals serving fantastic..

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01st Mar 2017

Bedfordshire children turn food critics to help create local pub’s exciting new children’s menu

Local children deliberated, cogitated and digested when they were invited to become food critics and decide what dishes should feature on the healthier new childrens’ menu at a Bedfordshire pub. Twenty-four children from Aspley Guise Lower School, Eversholt Lower School and Husborne Crawley Lower School, took part in the after-school menu tasting session at The Anchor at Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire. The tiny tasters sampled around 14 dishes during the tasting session with the pub’s head chef Stefano Boi and nutrition advisor Catherine Turner-Perrott of Dotty’s Kitchin, who is helping create the nutritious new menu. The children decided what dishes should earn a place on the exciting new menu which is to launch in the middle of March. The Anchor’s head chef Stefano Boi says: “We thought it was really important to bring the local schools and local community together and ask the children what they want to eat. We had..

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13th Feb 2017

Bake your way through Half term boredom

As we bounce into half term, Comic Relief has a magic ingredient to put the icing on the cake of a fun filled week. Keep the whole family busy during cold and rainy afternoons and help change lives at the same time by baking up some tasty treats in preparation for a Red Nose Day Bake Sale. There are a whole host of delicious Maltesers® baking recipes online at rednoseday.com/recipes to help inspire you and the family. All of the recipes are affordable and fuss free, guaranteed to keep the most energetic budding bakers busy weighing, mixing and decorating. Why not share your treats with friends and family for a small fee at your very own bake sale and raise some cash for Red Nose Day at the same time, to help change lives both here at home in the UK and across Africa. For all your bake sale needs,..

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05th Feb 2017

Show me the love: Bedfordshire pub appeals for epic love stories

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching the team at the Knife & Cleaver in Houghton Conquest are celebrating the best stories of love and romance in Bedfordshire and want to hear from couples with epic love stories. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the pub is offering the couple who impresses the judges most with their love story, a romantic three-course dinner for two, an overnight stay in one of its fantastic bedrooms and a delicious breakfast the next day. So if you have an interesting story about the lengths it took for you to first get together with your partner, the challenges and obstacles your relationship has had to overcome, a marriage proposal with a difference or maybe you have been together for an epic length of time, then the Knife & Cleaver team want to hear from you. Amy Smith, The Knife & Cleaver’s general manager says: “Valentine’s day is the..

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24th Jan 2017

Snack attack: Local pub chef named as finalist in national sausage roll contest

A chef from newly reopened gastropub the Knife & Cleaver in Houghton Conquest has been shortlisted as a competitor in the Great British Sausage Roll Off 2017. Jon Leyton, who is sous chef at the Bedfordshire gastropub, is among 20 talented chefs from around the UK who have been selected to compete in this prestigious cook-off contest which is taking place this week on Wednesday, 25th January. Finalists will bake their own take on a sausage roll for the competition, which recognises chefs who add care, quality, expertise and that little ‘je ne sais quois’ to the most British of bar snacks. Jon is hoping to impress the judging panel, which includes top chef Pierre Koffmann and Mark Poynton chef/patron, of the Michelin-starred Restaurant Alimentum in Cambridge, with his delicious game sausage roll. He is creating a Pere David's Woburn Estate venison, girolles and apricot sausage roll served with a..

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30th Dec 2016

Sea bream with thyme butter and leek & potato mash

Preparation time:10 minutes Cooking time:15 minutes Total time:25 minutes Serves: 2 Ingredients 40g Président Unsalted Butter, plus extra for greasing 2 large white potatoes, peeled and cubed 75g frozen peas 4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme 1 small clove garlic, crushed 2 sea bream fillets 2 slices lemon 2 leeks, very thinly sliced Method 1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Lightly butter a small ovenproof dish. Cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling water for 10 minutes until almost tender. Add the peas to the potatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes until both are tender. Drain well, return to the pan and mash roughly. 2. Meanwhile, strip the leaves from 2 of the thyme sprigs and mash with 25g butter and the garlic. Lay the fish in the dish and dot over the herb butter. Lay a lemon slice and a sprig of thyme on each..

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29th Dec 2016

Students Cook up a Special Delivery for the Local Community

Duke of Edinburgh Students at Slated Row School in Wolverton are going the extra mile for their Volunteering  strand by running a Meals on Wheels project for members of the local community. Each week, pupils cook and deliver hot meals to a group of elderly residents living near the Special Needs School. “More usually, it is our students who the beneficiaries of volunteer projects so this is a wonderful opportunity for them to make a valuable contribution to the local community” says Sarah Garratt, D of E manager at the school. As well as using their lunch break to deliver the meals, the students prepare a variety of dishes from Boeuf Bourguignon to a full Christmas dinner so they are able to polish up their cooking skills at the same time as meeting one of the four elements of the Bronze Award. The school used their links to the local..

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29th Dec 2016

A Foolproof Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder Dish

One of the ‘trends’ I am noticing with restaurants is towards really small sites opening up. These places, which can take a maximum of 20 people, are more intimate for customers and are much less unwieldy for owners and chefs to run. They require less staff and often feel more like eating in someone’s front room, rather than in a restaurant. I think one of the forerunners of this kind of restaurant was ‘Marianne’ in London, which was opened by Masterchef The Professionals runner-up Marianne Lumb three years ago. Within my patch of Beds, Herts and Bucks, Crockers in Potten End recently opened its doors. Run by a lovely chef called Luke Garnsworthy, he only has 10 seats around his fine-dining chef’s table. But Luke also loves the kind of simple recipes he makes on my Weekend Kitchen programme, like this foolproof slow-cooker pork shoulder dish. Meltingly tender, full of..

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29th Dec 2016

Milton Keynes represented at British Curry Awards

It’s one of the glitziest awards of the year in the restaurant industry, the British Curry Awards, and Maaya Indian Kitchen & Bar proudly represented Milton Keynes at the internationally celebrated event. Broadcast live in over 200 countries, the event, held at the glamourous Battersea Evolution, was attended by over 1,600 restauranteurs and guests including, The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, Chef Heston Bulmenthal, Dancing on Ice star Frankie Poultney and Arsenal legend David Seaman. Compered by comedian Alistair McGowan, guests were also greeted by a video message from the Prime Minister, Theresa May. Maaya, which opened earlier this year in The Hub, was shortlisted for the best Newcomer award amongst 14 others from across the country and chosen from 218,000 overall entries. The Indian restaurant didn’t win the overall title, which was presented to Darbaar in London, but the owners were incredibly proud to have made it to the..

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29th Dec 2016

Five Guys opens at intu Milton Keynes

Christmas has come early as intu Milton Keynes opens its latest food retailer, the phenomenally popular American burger chain, Five Guys. Opening its doors at 11am, customers were queuing to be among the first to sample the burgers, fries and drinks offer. With as many different toppings as you like, the chain’s custom-built burgers have developed a cult-like following despite only launching in the UK in 2013. Not forgetting the Coca-Cola® freestyle machine too, giving 125+ drinks choices! From Orange Coke® to Raspberry Sprite®. The freshness of Five Guys is one of its unique selling points, the chain doesn’t have freezers on-site because they don't use frozen ingredients. At Five Guys, everything's cooked fresh from scratch. The potatoes are hand-cut daily and there is always a sign to tell the customer where they’re grown from – for the opening in intu Milton Keynes, they were from Nottinghamshire. More interesting facts..

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12th Dec 2016

Kale, Squash & Chickpea Tagine

Ingredients 2 red onions, cut into wedges 385g pack Waitrose Sliced Butternut Squash 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 400g can essential Waitrose Chickpeas, drained and rinsed 250g bag essential Waitrose Kale 350g pouch Cooks’ Ingredients Tagine Stew Base 100ml hot vegetable stock Couscous and coriander leaves, to serve Method 1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Place the red onion and squash in a large roasting tin, drizzle with oil and sprinkle over the cumin seeds. Roast for 25 minutes until tender and golden. 2. Stir in the chickpeas and kale. Mix together the tagine base and hot vegetable stock and pour over. Cover with foil and return to the oven for 15 minutes until the kale has wilted and the tagine is piping hot. 3. Divide between shallow bowls and serve with couscous and a sprinkling of coriander leaves. Transfer to a wire rack..

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