Welcome to the Gastrodome

As a self-confessed foodie and booze lover, I couldn’t wait for the road-trip we’d planned to Normandy and Burgundy, famous for producing apples and grapes and their respective tipples of cider and wine. And that’s before you even get me started on the cheese board….. Just a hop across the channel, Normandy boasts an extensive…
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Method and Madness – Midleton’s New Whiskey Range

As Scotch whisky reinvents itself, Japan struggles to keep up with demand and the American whiskey scene is like a joyous Spaghetti Western–with strangers and unexpected heroes taking pot shots at the Sheriffs, breaking all the rules and generally having a rootin’ tootin’ time–‘whisky vision’ is suddenly less myopic.  Somewhat less restrained than the Scots…
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Bacchus of the Net – Metaxa 12 Stars Edition

In 1971 Captain George Trikiriotis left the Greek island of Samos to join the merchant navy. After years tackling the tumult of the Irish Sea, he retired. Still proudly toting a mariner’s hat, his days are now spent tending to his family vineyard on the mountainside of Ampelos, at the north of the island. I’m…
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Mumm Grand Cordon Unveiled at the Paris ePrix

You cannot launch a boat, get married, have a child or celebrate without champagne. Not properly, anyway. And so it seems that you can’t race a car – or win a race – without a good hearty bottle of the proper stuff. And that extends also to Formula E. The auto racing of the future…
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Whisky Mystery – The Glenlivet Cipher

If you read about whisky anywhere close to half as much as you drink it, you’ll have noticed not one but several brouhahas recently. A notable one is the rise of ‘non-age statement single malts’: i.e. non-blended whiskies that eschew the tradition of specifying a year, instead choosing to name their expressions after monosyllabic natural occurrences, elements…
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Wolfgang Puck – Snake River Farms

“See the marbling? That’s what makes it so intense…” The steak in question is some of the finest wagyu available anywhere in the world. “Wagyu is graded with a system of lets and numbers,” explains David McIntyre, the executive chef at CUT at 45 Park Lane. It’s a complex system – of letters and numbers,…
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Win a Bottle of Highland Park 18 Year Old Single Malt Whisky

Orkney based distiller Highland Park is giving one Lusso reader the chance to win a bottle of their 18 Year Old single malt whisky. Considered by many whisky writers across the globe as the ‘industry’s favourite whisky’, Highland Park 18 Year Old is a masterclass of balance, complexity and refinement. Lingering layers of sweet honeyed malt, meet…
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Sweet Temptation At The Savoy

The most famous grand hotel ever is probably The Savoy. The most famous chef ever is probably Auguste Escoffier. His most famous dish ever is probably the Peach Melba, created in The Savoy – as it so happens – where it was initially rolled out on a swan made out of ice.   So, for The Savoy’s…
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Win The BAFTA Nominee Gift Bag

If like us, your BAFTA invitation got lost again in the post this year, then fear not as you can still fool your friends into thinking you were there. As the Official Champagne and Wine Partners to BAFTA, Champagne Taittinger and Villa Maria wines from New Zealand continue their love affair with film and are offering one…
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New Whisky Resolutions

The onset of Winter chill thinly veils an excuse to seek out new whiskies, although in all honesty I’d have to be set on fire before considering turning down a wee dram.   A crisp Winter morning and aboard the 90 year old Thames barge ‘Will’, I eye up the coal fire both warily and…
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