Lapin, Bristol: ‘We’re not in Cafe Rouge now’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Peculiar, meta, slightly earnest, definitely deliciousThe French, at least at one stage in culinary history, would not have balked at eating the entire cast of Watership Down in a robust dijon sauce. The British, on the other hand, have always been rather less keen, so it was surprising to hear reports that Lapin, a new French restaurant in Bristol, had been struggling to keep fluffy bunnies on its classic, single-sheet menu due to supply reasons, apparently because its game dealer couldn’t shoot them quickly enough to meet Lapin’s demand. Instead, its diners had had to settle for confit duck leg, coarse sausage and deep-fried pig’s head.Lapin patently aims to offer actual French cooking, albeit stopping short of the likes of pungent andouillette, complete with its tubey innards escaping on to the plate. That said, I’d bet that chef Jack Briggs-Horan and restaurateur Dan O’Regan tinkered with the idea before accepting that serving something quite so smelly in a small, repurposed shipping container was probably one Gallic step too far

It’s sexy! It’s Swedish! It’s everywhere! How princess cake conquered America

This spring, something strange started happening at the Fillmore Bakery in San Francisco, which specializes in old-school European desserts.Excited customers kept asking the bakery’s co-owner, Elena Basegio, “Did you see about the princess cake online?”The dome-shaped Swedish layer cake, topped with a smooth layer of green marizipan, had suddenly gone viral, increasing sales of the bakery’s already-bestselling cake.After nearly a century of demure European popularity, “prinsesstårta” suddenly seemed to be everywhere: on menus at hip restaurants in Los Angeles and New York, trending on TikTok, even inspiring candle scents at boutique lifestyle brands.The Swedish consulate in San Francisco confirmed the phenomenon, telling the Guardian that the trend appears to be driven by innovative American pastry chefs such as Hannah Ziskin, whose Echo Park pizza parlor has offered up a sleek redesign of the palatial pastry, as well as by online food influencers, some of whom have offered American bakers more “accessible” versions of the elaborate dessert.The reinvention of one of Sweden’s most cherished desserts as a trendy indulgence might seem like just another retro fad, like the renewed popularity of martinis or caviar

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for passion fruit jaffa cakes | The sweet spot

I don’t buy jaffa cakes nearly as often as other biscuits, but when I do, I’m reminded how much I love them. They’re surprisingly easy to make from scratch, too. The base is an incredibly light genoise sponge that’s topped with a layer of jelly, and it’s this section that allows for some creativity. I chose to go down a summery route with passion fruit. Juicing enough passion fruit to get 200ml of liquid is tedious (and expensive), so by all means use a carton of juice instead

Born a star: the juicy history of the passion fruit martini

To many people, the expert combination of vanilla vodka, passion fruit puree, Passoã and champagne serves as a syrupy promise of a good night ahead. To me, however, even a whiff of a pornstar martini takes me right back to my waitressing days in the Midlands, and to sticky hands and broken glass after I dropped a tray of four of the damned things. I don’t need a drinks marketing report to tell me it was the most popular cocktail in 2018; I lived it.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for roast summer vegetable, herb and pearl barley salad | A kitchen in Rome

It is the time of year when the fruit syrups get moved to a more accessible shelf at our local supermarket. They have a range of eight to 10 flavours, but the two that dominate are mint and orzata, luminous green and cloudy white syrups respectively, that need diluting with fizzy water and maybe topping up with ice. I have mentioned orzata here before, how popular it is in Italy and how the name means a drink made from orzo (barley), and also how at some point the barley was replaced by almonds; then, at another point, the almonds were replaced by deacidified benzoin, which is a balsamic resin obtained from trees of the genus Styrax from south-east Asia. Deacidified benzoin is actually delicious and I become dependent on orzata at this time of year, and the sound of the ice clanking against the side of the glass as I walk my cold, cloudy drink back to my hot desk is the sound of summer.However, I have always wondered what orzata made with orzo is like

Australian supermarket chicken nuggets taste test: from ‘mushy’ to ‘super good’

Sarah Ayoub wrangles 10 kids under 10, plus older siblings and their parents, to find chicken nuggets with the best crispiness, even texture and taste of real chickenGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayWhat makes a good chicken nugget? Ahead of this taste test, I put a call-out on Instagram asking this question. Dozens of messages essentially said the same thing: real chicken flavour, evenly textured meat and a crisp exterior.Though a handful suggested I make my own, most understood the assignment: the appeal of a chicken nugget lies not in Nara Smith-ing it but in its convenience, especially during school holiday chaos. To that end, on the first day of winter break, I rounded up good friends, compliant siblings (including a 34-year-old nugget connoisseur-sister who still orders kids’ meals) and their respective children to rate frozen supermarket offerings for their overall appeal, texture and flavour.Nuggets were cooked in an oven according to their packet instructions, but the consensus was that almost all the nuggets needed longer cook times