What We’re Reading

Folkestone’s Nepalese Cuisine

Writer, restaurateur and Folkestone local Zeren Wilson delves into Folkestone’s astonishing collection of Nepalese restaurants which goes back to 2000 when the Royal Gurkha Rifles based moved to the Kent seaside town from Aldershot. Wilson finds “the kind of homestyle cooking that would otherwise require a flight to Kathmandu.” The Good Food Guide

In Conversation: Jenny Lau and Cynthia Shanmugalingam

A fascinating conversation, moderated by writer Simran Hans, between Jenny Lau (one of CODE’s Women of the Year 2025) and Cynthia Shanmugalingam (CODE’s Women of the Year 2023). Lau (AKA @celestialpeach) is a writer, event curator and community; while Shanmugalingam (@cynthia.uma) is a food writer and founder of Sri Lankan restaurant Rambutan. The pair found much to discuss including authenticity, self-expression and cooking for diaspora communities. CODE

Isaac McHale on a Plate: A Culinary Life in Five Dishes

Food writer Andy Lynes devotes time and space to his chef interviews and the results speak for themselves. This Smashed Special with Isaac McHale follows the Clove Club chef’s journey from being rejected from Junior MasterChef, to eating turbot heads with a reluctant Japanese chef mentor in Glasgow, and making grouse sausage rolls in the early days of The Young Turks. Smashed Substack

Crisp Pizza, London’s social media sensation, heads to Mayfair

Ajesh Patalay in the Financial Times’ HTSI gets the scoop on Crisp Pizza’s move from Hammersmith to Mayfair. Founder Carl McCluskey reveals he first visited the Mayfair site “as a joke” but with the support of The Devonshire team, he’s created an unlikely Mayfair venue where Guinness, sport, and pizza collide. “That’s not a thing in Mayfair,” he observes, “but watching the football makes it somewhere I want to be”. HTSI