Exciting Hunan food adventures at Fiery Flavours in London’s Surrey Quays! More details on my Instagram page

My second Scribehound Food piece is now online. It’s on my favourite subject: texture in Chinese food, and specifically on the challenges of writing about slithery foods in an appetising way in English! Link here: shorturl.at/NnVdR

My second Scribehound Food piece is published today. It’s on my favourite subject: texture and mouthfeel in Chinese food, and specifically on the challenges of writing about slithery foods in an appetising way in English! shorturl.at/NnVdR

The complexities of translating Chinese food names! Interesting piece on CNN (with contributions from me) amp.cnn.com/cnn/travel/c...

Dim sum at Royal China Club 😍😋

Excellent piece on the rise of Asian supermarkets in the U.K. www.thegrocer.co.uk/analysis-and...

Playing around with the idea of Chinese steamed eggs for Easter breakfast! Somehow I managed to let the wok boil dry and the eggs ended up flavoured with smoked bamboo: unintended but marvellously delicious! Anyway, Easter or springtime greetings from my kitchen in London.🐣🐣🐣

Lovely dim sum at Gouqi in London

Fun evening listening to Dame Prue Leith talking to Jimi Famurewa at the opening event of the British Library Food Season!

A heartening (and interesting) story about fishmongers! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A sugar painter at work in a village in Yunnan, painting a toffee dragonfly for me. My first piece for Scribehound Food, released today, is about the theatrics of Chinese food, on the streets and at the table. shorturl.at/NnVdR

Kitchen colours. #chinesefood #chinesecooking

Breakfast noodles! Spicily Sichuanese with fried egg, pak choy and olive vegetable 😋 #chinesefood #sichuanfood #noodles #breakfast

The prelude to a scrumptious Sichuanese dinner at Taste of Chongqing in London’s Woburn Place 😋

Another U.K. fish to avoid because of careless, profligate fishing. *sigh* www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Sometimes, the byproducts of recipe testing are heavenly! And, as the Famous Five always said, food tastes so much better out of doors 😋🌞 #chinesefood #noodles

That’s stage of recipe testing when the table is covered in lovely food but I don’t feel like eating anything!

The first tiny green shoots have appeared on the Sichuan pepper tree, recently arrived in its new home! It must be spring! 🌞🌞🌞🎉🎉🎉🍃🍃🍃

Perfect breakfast, English edition and Chinese edition! Marmite and butter on toast vs. soy sauce (Yuan’s imperial soy sauce from Hong Kong, no less). Which do you prefer? 😋😋😋

Just a reminder that @scribehoundfood will be launching at the beginning of April. My first piece is about the theatre of Chinese dining, including dramatic cutting with a giant dragon knife… shorturl.at/NnVdR

A very good radio listen, this! On BBC Sounds…

Cumin beef with egg fried rice. Cribbing off the brilliant @fuchsiadunlop.bsky.social for the beef and J. Kenji López-Alt for the rice. Really great mouthfeel and depth of flavour from the cumin and chilli flakes. 🍽️🍜

The SOAS China in Context podcast - Writing Shanghai - a Tribute to Lynn Pan - soas-china-institute.buzzsprout.com/1669327/epis...

I’m going to be writing (and recording!) a monthly column as part of the new Scribehound Food collective of food writers, alongside some of my great friends and hugely admired colleagues! For more info please link here bit.ly/4iguqcO (see also my Instagram/Facebook)

I’m going to be writing (and recording!) a monthly column as part of the new Scribehound Food collective of food writers, alongside some of my great friends and hugely admired colleagues! For more info please link here bit.ly/4iguqcO (see also my Instagram/Facebook)

Sichuan-style fish in chilli bean sauce and some lovely vegetables. #chinesefood #chinesecooking

A brilliant feast at Chef Tong Chee Hwee’s Gouqi restaurant by Trafalgar Square in London (details on my Instagram!) 😋

This coming Sunday we’ll be celebrating the life and work of the Shanghai historian and writer Lynn Pan at the Fringe Club as part of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival with readings, tributes and memories…https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/talk-tribute-to-lynn-pan-tickets-1235480418189

A friend made scrumptious goulash with DUMPLINGS of the European sort, which reminded me of how bizarre it is that the English word ‘dumpling’ came to be applied to every kind of Chinese wrapped food from jiaozi to wonton to xiaolongbao…) #westernfood #austrohungarianfood #winterfood

My Swedish food writer friend @lisaforare.bsky.social has been eating mapo tofu pastries in Tallinn!

Cantonese roast duck and cha siu extravaganza in Chinatown! (Four Seasons)😋😋😋

Found in London Chinatown: packets of seasoning to make the Shanghainese version of borscht, known in Chinese as ‘Russian soup’ (luosongtang 罗宋汤), that I wrote about in my article about Shanghainese western food for FT Weekend magazine a few weeks ago. You need to add potatoes, beef, onions etc.

This March it's Hong Kong International Literary Festival time - March 1-8 is a feast for the reader in Hong Kong... and I'll be there along with Jake Adelstein (Tokyo Vice), Bernadine Evaristo (Mr Loverman) & many, many others.... open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...

Just came across this old video of me cooking (vegetarian) mapo tofu ! www.wsj.com/video/the-ad...

Steamed fish, spicy prawns and stir-fried spinach 😋

What a fascinating read! kitchenbee.bsky.social reviews Nicola Twilley’s new book on refrigeration, one of those subjects that is far more profound that it might at first seem… (here’s the actual link!) 😊 www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

What a fascinating read! kitchenbee.bsky.social reviews Nicola Twilley’s new book on refrigeration, one of those subjects that is far more profound that it might at first seem…

I made some lovely squidgy 汤圆 tangyuan, also known as 元宵 yuanxiao (sticky riceballs with a sweet stuffing) to wish everyone a very happy Lantern Festival 元宵节 and fulfilling Year of the Snake! 😋

Late night roast duck noodles at that Lanzhou noodle bar in Cranbourn Street near Leicester Square station 😋

Vegetarian mapo tofu and spinach. #chinesefood #sichuanfood #vegetarian #vegan 😋😋😋

Happy to see my book #invitationtoabanquet displayed so prominently in one of my favourite bookshops, @dauntbooks.bsky.social in Marylebone! Incidentally, Daunts have a FABULOUS selection of China books on display, including many of my favourites and others that I want to read.

Bit of a banquet, Peking, 1981

Quick brunch of dan dan noodles and fried eggs. #sichuanfood #chinesefood #noodles

A second simply incredible dinner at Planque in east London. Details on my Instagram and Facebook pages!

Welcome supper for visiting friends: spicy radish salad; tofu with avocado; chicken braised with chestnuts (recipe from Every Grain of Rice); bak choy with dried shrimps; rice with wind-dried pork. Healthy and delicious. 😋😋 #chinesefood #chinesecooking

I spoke to the New Yorker about some China books that have particularly moved me and lodged in my mind (and heart) link.newyorker.com/view/5ef781a...

A dim sum feast at Royal China Club to celebrate Chinese New Year 😋🥟

On the back of a lorry, somewhere in Tibet, 1993!

Extremely delicious Thai supper at Kolae, Borough Market 😋