The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| 5-month-old eatery named one of UK’s best restaurants Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:43 AM PDT  The 2012 edition of The Good Food Guide, which lists the top 50 restaurants across the UK, will be available in September. — AFP/Relaxnews pic While celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal's restaurant The Fat Duck took the top spot for the fourth consecutive year in a row in the 2012 edition of The Good Food Guide, it's newcomer Pollen Street Social that made an audacious debut in the eighth-place spot. Chef Jason Atherton, formerly head chef of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant Maze, opened the London restaurant in April to much fanfare. Time Out magazine gave the eatery five out of five stars and waxed poetic about a dish of cauliflower and squid with clear roasted squid juice for GBP10.50 (RM51.33). "This first dish set the tone for dishes which are daring, pretty, at times overworked and not invariably successful, but which are always a delightful surprise," wrote Guy Dimond. The same dish was also praised in restaurant critic Giles Coren's review for The Times Magazine, a dish he lauded for having "El Bulli-inventiveness" — not surprising given Atherton was the first British chef to complete an internship at the now-shuttered eatery in Spain, long considered the best in the world. While praising the food, Dimond also issued a warning to readers saying the dishes may sound rich, but "all the portion sizes are tiny." The 40-seat bar serves a tapas menu with items like hand-carved Ibérico ham, clams a la plancha with olive oil and bacon, and salt and pepper chipirones. The à la carte menu includes mains like roasted halibut, Catalan paella, sprouting broccoli and pork-ham fat, and one-kilogram cote de boeuf for sharing at GBP65. The paragon of fine dining in the UK, however, continues to be The Fat Duck, which received a 10 out of 10 rating — the only eatery to achieve this mark in the guide. As of next month, the 14-course tasting menu at the Michelin-starred restaurant will increase from GBP160 to GBP180. Courses boast whimsical names like "Sound of the Sea" and "Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop." Here are the top 10 restaurants in the UK according to the guide, as announced August 10: 1. The Fat Duck, Berkshire2. L'Enclume, Cumbria 3. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottinghamshire 4. Gordon Ramsay, Royal Hospital Road, London 5. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall 6. Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Oxfordshire 7. Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, London 8. Pollen Street Social, London 9. Hibiscus, London 10. The Square, London — AFP/Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Report shows rise in world restrictions on religion Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:04 AM PDT  The Pew Centre's review said Christians and Muslims were harassed in the most countries. — mormonsoprano.com pic The Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life said government restrictions and public hostility involving religion grew in some of the most populous countries from mid-2006 to mid-2009. "During the three-year period covered by the study, the extent of violence and abuse related to religion increased in more places than it decreased," according to the report "Rising Restrictions on Religion." Only about one per cent of the world lives in countries that saw more religious tolerance during those years, it said. The Pew Centre review of 198 countries found those deemed restrictive or hostile in the previous report were growing even more so, while the opposite was found for those with more religious tolerance. A substantial rise in public hostility towards religious groups was seen in China, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam and Britain, while government restrictions rose substantially in Egypt and France. The Pew Centre looked at laws or other government policies aimed to ban particular faiths, limit preaching, give preference to particular religions or prohibit conversions. To measure hostility, it looked at sectarian violence, harassment over religious attire and other types of intimidation. The countries most restrictive or hostile towards certain religions included India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Iran, China, Myanmar, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, Nigeria and Bangladesh — although most of these did not show much change in the three years. People were killed, physically abused, detained, imprisoned, displaced from their homes, or had their property destroyed for religious reasons by governments in 101 countries in the year ending mid-2009, compared to 91 a year earlier, the report said. Such violence rose in more countries than it declined over the three years. Mob violence involving religion occurred in 52 countries as of mid-2009, compared to 38 a year earlier. Religious hatred or bias led to violence by private citizens groups in 142 countries, nearly three-quarters of the 198 included in the study, and about the same as of mid-2008. "Religion-related terrorist groups were active in 74 countries," and violence was seen in half of these, in the year through mid-2009, the Pew Centre said. Christians and Muslims, the world's two largest religious groups, were harassed in the most countries. Other religions also saw harassment, but Jews, who make up less than one per cent of the world's population, saw restrictions or harassment in 75 countries. In five European countries — Britain, Denmark, Russia, Sweden and Bulgaria — religious tension focused on the rapidly growing Muslim population, but there was some rising anti-Semitism and antagonism towards minorities such as Jehovah's Witnesses. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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