The Menu
Interviews with top chefs, food innovators, and producers. Discover ingredients, trends, and stories shaping the world of food and drink.
Latest Episodes
India’s drinks industry, Provençal pistachios and Wine of the Month
We meet the entrepreneurs taking Indian drinks beyond the country’s borders. Then: we taste some green jewels at a pistachio farm in the south of France and pick our Wine of the Month.
Food Neighbourhoods #432: Surry Hills, Sydney
City-nudging Surry Hills was once the industrial hub of Sydney’s rag trade but now it’s home to flotillas of cafés, restaurants, wine bars and hotels. Tamara Thiessen takes us on a tour.
Rebuilding LA’s hospitality industry, ‘McAtlas’ and Heckfield Place
The recovery of the culinary industry in LA, McDonald’s regional variations in ‘McAtlas’ and a slow approach to food at Heckfield Place.
Food Neighbourhoods #431: Colonia Roma, Mexico City
Originally a European-inspired enclave for the upper and middle classes, Mexico City’s tree-lined Colonia Roma district has survived earthquakes and been reinvented through artistic movements. Today it offers a diverse range of culinary experiences showcasing the best that the nation has to offer, from blue-corn quesadillas to specialist Mexican coffee. Verity de…
Chocolate special
It’s the beginning of the Easter weekend for those who celebrate, so what better time to indulge in an episode dedicated to chocolate. We speak to the founder of Knoops, the brand championing hot chocolate as an everyday drink. Then: Monocle’s Michael Booth meets award-winning Danish chocolatier Mikkel Friis-Holm. Plus:…
Food Neighbourhoods #430: Val d’Orcia, Italy
We’re heading to the rolling hills of southern Tuscany, where regenerative food and wine practices are flourishing among ancient landscapes. Monocle contributor Issabella Orlando takes us on a tour of Val d’Orcia, where heritage crops are cultivated with a deep respect for tradition, biodiversity and the land itself. Here, she…
Coffee
We meet Noma’s Carolyne Lane to hear about the Copenhagen institution’s new bean-roasting venture, Noma Kaffe. Then: we sit down with acclaimed barista Celeste Wong to find out why there are dozens of recipes to try when you’re after the perfect cup. Plus: we check in at Man Met Bril…
Food Neighbourhoods #429: Harlem, New York
We’re looking at a slice of history this week in the shape of Lee Lee’s Baked Goods, which has been serving New Yorkers for nearly 40 years. It’s the story of Alvin Lee Smalls, known as Lee Lee, and the changing face of the iconic Harlem neighbourhood. Lee Lee joins…
Bahraini cuisine, Finland’s heritage ale and are New York’s diners the community hub that they once were?
We sample a morsel of Bahrain’s mouthwatering cuisine with Noor Murad as we flick through her new book, ‘Lugma’. Also in the programme: Poppy Damon heads to the Little Purity diner in Brooklyn to unpack whether the spaces still hold the same community spirit. Plus: Monocle’s Petri Burtsoff sips on…
Food Neighbourhoods #428: Winemaking in Yunnan Province, China
China’s far southwestern province of Yunnan is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the country’s finest wine producers, though its winemaking history goes back more than a hundred years. Monocle’s Tom Webb visited the recently opened Songtsam Cizhong Lodge, where the region’s viticulture began, to find out how its…
