Giovanni’s on The Hayes, Cardiff: ‘The smell of wine and hot tomatoes’ – restaurant review

The actor and writer returns to a childhood favourite for a large slice of family nostalgiaGiovanni’s on The Hayes, 38 The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1AJ (029 2022 0077;giovanniscardiff.co.uk). Starters from £4.55; pizza from £12

‘Skyrocketing’ demand for matcha raises fears of shortage in Japan

The appearance of the vivid-green powder elicits smiles and appreciative sounds, and anticipation among dozens of tea lovers. Their hand-milled batches now ready for whisking with hot water, they will soon be rewarded for their patience.The foreign tourists attending a matcha-making experience in Uji, near Kyoto in western Japan, are united in their love of the powdered, bitter form of green tea the Japanese have been drinking for centuries, and which is now at the centre of a global boom.Made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and originally served, in highly stylised fashion, at formal tea ceremonies by masters of sado – the way of tea – matcha is the flavour profile of the times, the must-have ingredient in everything from lattes and chocolates to ice-cream and boiled sweets.After the lean years of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses in Uji, a town known for deep historical ties to the matcha trade, are cashing in

‘Too sticky. Too saucy. Too weird’: could I persuade my son to eat the food of my heritage?

My family takes food very seriously. So seriously that when my mother’s family left Iraq in 1971, limited to 20kg of luggage each, they found room for not one but two rolling pins. The truth is that, having used the rolling pins, I think they were right. Born in England, I grew up on my father’s stories, too, of going to a Baghdad street stall to buy hot samoon, Iraqi bread shaped like a teardrop, with a puffy middle and a crunchy crust, with amba (mango pickle) oozing out of it. But he left Baghdad even earlier, in 1951, in a mass airlift along with most of Iraq’s Jews

How to turn excess egg yolks into an umami-packed flavouring – recipe | Waste not

Salt-cured egg yolks are incredibly simple to make and a great way to use up leftovers when you’ve used the whites in another dish. They are intensely savoury, umami-rich and a vibrant, golden colour, much like bottarga, or Italian-style cured fish roe. Once dried, they take on a firm, grateable consistency, and are ideal for giving dishes a final punch of flavour – I often use them instead of cheese: try grating over pasta, risotto or steamed greens.Salt-cured egg yolks are a fine project that I’ve been meaning to take on for a while. These golden orbs of deliciousness add an incredible burst of flavour to any dish that could benefit from a whack of umami

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for double chocolate brownie tart | The sweet spot

This is one for the chocolate lovers (myself included). It’s rich and indulgent, which is why I love it. I can be a bit of a brownie purist – no nuts, ever! – but here I make an exception. The biscuit base stays nice and crunchy, while the tangy, salted creme fraiche topping cuts through some of the richness. You can serve this while it’s still warm for something a little more gooey, but it’s much easier to slice if you let it cool completely

Voyage with Adam Simmonds, London NW1: ‘A bit like eating at a weight-loss camp’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

It takes thousands of hours in a hot kitchen to cook like thisKing’s Cross in London is a place where a million voyages begin and end, each and every week. Which may explain why so much cash has been thrown at the area around the station to turn it into “an aspirational lifestyle destination”, rather than somewhere to stomp through grumpily while dragging a suitcase.By and large, however, this proposed glow-up has failed – the Euston Road will always be an unlovable, multi-laned traffic snarl-up – although now, if you creep into the Megaro hotel, you’ll find a minimalist Scandi restaurant, Voyage with Adam Simmonds. This plain, dark brown, oak-panelled room sits rather incongruously inside the recently restyled Megaro, which now has a Britpop, Austin Powers-esque, rock’n’roll theme and suites boasting names such as Groove Britannia and Pop Diva; Backstage Britannia comes complete with acid smiley face pillows.If the Megaro is a celebration of the 1990s London party scene, however, Voyage is a post-party detox in Gällivare, Sweden