Electric Night at Launch of City's New Hotel, Bar & Restaurant

It was an event not to be missed, a rare moment of glamour in a city, that sadly, all too often, lacks pizazz. The Hilton Doubletree overlooking the Brayford had it's official launch party on Friday night.  

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

The new venture, which opened its doors at the tail-end of last year, has been causing quite a stir on Lincoln's increasingly impressive restaurant and bar scene. Boasting a wide selection of champagnes (at notable reasonable prices), wines and an excellent selection of Cocktails, expertly mixed by well-trained staff, the bar is made all the more desirable by it's impressive location on the fifth floor of the hotel, overlooking the Brayford marina and university campus. Ingeniously accessed via an express elevator from the ground floor, one feels transported to a metropolis like London or New York. 

Through the double doors and you enter the restaurant. Which has a truly magnificent view up to the Cathedral and Castle.  As great as the view is it is the food which excels. The restaurant matching Reform, at the Castle Hotel and The Jews House on the Strait is superb.

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

Head Chef, Mr. Alec Maxfield, has previously worked at Michelin-starred restaurants, and his team can be seen cooking in the kitchen through a large viewing gallery. Restaurant Manager, Mr. Daniel Ralley, said:

“Since we opened, we've received some fantastic feedback from visitors who’ve been blown away by Alec’s innovative style of cooking. 

“Even the ride up to the fifth floor in the express panoramic glass elevator is a unique and memorable experience and gives people a taste of what we have to offer. It’s certainly been a talking point among guests!” 

In these times of austerity the Electric Bar & Restaurant is the place to head during the week. With a introductory menu reasonably priced at £20 per head, for three courses including half a bottle of house wine (and usually including a couple of amuse boosh), such a package is genuinely hard to resist. Mr. Alec Maxfield said:

“Our aim has always been to raise the bar for the quality of service and provision in Lincoln and we’ve done that literally by locating The Electric Bar & Restaurant on the top floor of the hotel.”  

© 2012 Adam Rhoades Photography

The evening was certainly not without glamour. Mr. Gethin Jones, former Blue Peter presenter and Strictly Come Dancing star, attended the event and along with the other local business owners held a toast for the new venue. 

Upon arrival, the strictly by invite only, guests were welcomed onto the red carpet surrounded by a number of glamorous sports cars and offered a glass of champagne. An array of entertainments, including: Dancers, Musicians and Magicians provided amusements throughout the evening  and an open bar, and a seemingly endless stream of delicious morsels emerging from the kitchen help to keep the party going late into the night.

The Electric Bar & Restaurant at the Hilton Doubletree has firmly arrived in Lincoln and promises a bright experience for its patrons.

Champagne Socialists Disgrace Labour Party

The Mail on Sunday reports on what can only be described as the very definition of champagne socialism.

Two Labour parliamentarians took part in a champagne drinking contest on an official Commons junket to Paris, which led to one of them being violently ill.

Mr. Bill Etherington MP, Labour (Sunderland North) consumed so much champagn that a doctor was called as it was feared the parliamentarian might die after he defeated fellow parliamentarian Ms Geraldine Smith MP, Labour (Morecambe & Lunesdale), in an expenses-fuelled boozing competition.

Mr. Paul Flynn MP, Labour (Newport West), who was also attending the Council of Europe dinner is reported to have said that the meetings were a ‘pretext for shameless alcohol-fuelled jaunts’.


Read the full article in the Mail on Sunday here.

Breakfast Wines

Champagne, historically, is the only alcoholic beverage you can drink for breakfast and people won't look sideways at you.

Does this mean that all other wines – and for that matter spirits – are forbidden before lunch?

A few weeks ago now I enjoyed plum bread, lightly toasted, with marcarpone, maple cure bacon and maple syrup and a Matusalem chaser for my breakfast.

Why should we not be able to enjoy a refreshing glass of Beaujolais to complement the bacon and eggs? Or a little Banyuls with the croissant and strawberry jam?

I am not suggesting that you need a belt of Bourbon (my favourite is Woodford Reserve) to kick-start the morning, but a little alcohol with breakfast can be a restoring and invigorating experience. In the Cognac region, home to some of France's longest-lived citizens, a farmer's breakfast will start with a glass of orange juice mixed with cognac. And the Italians, known for their zest for life is the envy of other nations, correct their morning espresso with grappa.

The champagne breakfast is an established gastronomic tradition - and a personal favourite - although a their are those who believe that champagne by itself is breakfast enough. They probably subscribe to the sentiments of Alain de Vogüé, a former director of Veuve Clicquot. Who was once asked when was the best time to drink champagne. His reply: 'Before, during and after.'

To my mind only the British truely understand breakfast, first of all, breakfast has to be cooked. It has to be substantial to set you up for the rigours of the day. Now, the pH of wine is about the same as the pH of our stomach acid, which should mean that wine aids in your digesting process. So my view would be that if you believe in a hearty breakfast, think about serving some wine to help ward off indigestion.

In my opinion nothing starts the day more properly than smoked salmon, savoy eggs, a wholemeal english muffin followed by pancakes with maple syrup and bacon served with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut.

Personally, I think it is a sin to mix champagne with orange juice or anything else – a blasphemy for which perpetrators will have to face the wrath of Dionysus on the day of judgement. However, if you are foolhardy enough to transgress in this direction you might try grapefruit juice instead of orange juice or peach juice. But a warning: don't brush your teeth before you have champagne for breakfast. Colgate does nothing for Krug.

For those who are concerned about alcohol in the morning I have this advice: go for German Riesling from the Mosel. These wines can be as low as seven and a half percent alcohol and they will wake up your taste buds like nothing else.

Alternatively you can use wine in preparing your breakfast. Heating wine or spirits drives off the alcohol and you're left with the flavour. The Burgundians make a dish of eggs poached in Beaujolais. Once you got past the colour they are delicious and perhaps as a Chritmas treat why not have French toast made using egg nog instead of eggs and milk?

Other possibilities could include: Silvaner with ham quiche, dry Muscat with fresh fruit, Gewurztraminer with bagels and lox, Pinot Blanc with a cheese omelet.

Leave your options open. You never know what might work.