Presents for foodies 2

Image and recipe from here

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This platter

Photo: Sophie Davidson

I love, love, LOVE Ali Hewson’s work. I have this platter. It lives on the kitchen table and I use it every day. It is my absolute favourite dish - the shape, the weight, the glaze. It makes anything you serve on it look absolutely amazing. Also comes in a perfect off-white. She has a couple ready to ship but normally makes them to order (6 weeks).

This box of saffron

Grade 1 saffron, and Ocado have it, so you don’t even need to leave the house (also comes in charming 1g bottles).

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These biscuits

They’re called Toffolossus. Toffee, dates and chocolate. Who wouldn’t be pleased? Plus lovely Fortnum’s tin. The whole Fortnum’s biscuit offering is very present-forward. Or marrons glacés!

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A masala dabba from Dishoom

Eight spices that any Indian food enthusiast will use all the time, but the bigger draw is the four little tins of Dishoom’s own spice mixes, which are great.

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These tea towels

I love everything that Cambridge Imprint makes, from Christmas cards to notebooks and lampshades. These tea towels are made of really nice, weighty cotton.

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These red wine glasses

Zwiesel make optimally-shaped glasses for wine boffins and restaurants. There is a glass for every wine. These crystal ones (but ok in dishwasher) have a wider than usual bottom so you can do knowledgeable sniffing and make remarks. White wine version here.

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This salad bowl

The sort of salad bowl you’d keep forever. It would look nicer and nicer the older and more used it got. Olive wood. Not cheap, but so lovely. Lots of sizes.

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Hyper niche

Si vous êtes d’un certain age et si vous vous souvenez du livre La cuisine est un jeu d’enfants par Michel Oliver, le designer anglais Luke Edward Hall s’est inspiré de ses dessins et en a fait des torchons (et deux affiches) pour sa marque Chateau Orlando. Je serais très, très étonnée d’avoir des abonnés francophones, but you never know.

In English: Luke Edward Hall has made utterly beautiful tea towels (and two posters) inspired by the cookbook of my childhood, which my mother bought for me in the early 1970s when we lived in Brussels. I can’t express how much I loved that book, which was the thing that made me interested in cooking. The original had a spiral binding. Jean Cocteau wrote the preface - you didn’t get that in the Good Housekeeping children’s cookbook (also beloved). Look at the inside! Aside from the beauty and charm, they were proper recipes.