Books For Cooks

anaD

Thu, 6 Jan 2011 10:11:16 GMT

One of the most exciting things to do when I will visit London again!!!! Me and my hubby we are big food lovers/cooks and we collect cooking books from every place we visit.. wish I knew about this shop when we "ve been in London!

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:35:06 GMT

Yes it is always a nice place to visit!

Jess

Wed, 7 Jul 2010 17:03:23 GMT

Only recently discovered this place after reading about it in EatMe magazine (www.eatmemagazine.com) where they had an interview with the manager. Went in there the other week and the place is amazing, such a diverse collection of books and the food is incredible, and so cheap (�5 for two courses)

fx

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 18:42:34 GMT

cuchillero

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 18:25:05 GMT

I can get lost in a place like this, indeed. Thanks for the discovery! It has been set in my agenda for my next visit to London. Hope my wife will forgive me! I"ll let you know.
Kind regards

fx

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:47:41 GMT

Yes, those google ads really add a little spice, don"t they!

Meramarina

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:43:00 GMT

Actually, I thought you were indulging in some clever wordplay here with the word "litterate," as you were writing about an anti-littering sign! And, "illiterate" is spelled perfectly; it would be very odd to misspell one word and not the other.

I love these bits of wit scattered within your articles and I am sure you have plenty of linguistic fun planned for us on video as well!

Unfortunately, however, Google advertising detected the wording of the last answer, and a huge, ugly ad for Phillips" Colon Health probiotic laxative has been posted into your article, twice!

I just about died laughing! I wish Google could be more literate!

fx

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:03:53 GMT

Anonymous English Elf, we must speak by the card, lest equivocation will undo us. How about sending me by email a list of the typos needing correction instead of pooping all over my blog?

English Elf

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:45:07 GMT

Sorry to bother you again, but would the author count himself as a "litterate tourist"?

The English tend to spell literate with one t if they are.

Another fascinating post, well done!

Elfin

fx

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:57:38 GMT

Dan I think I have passed it many times but never bothered to enter. The reason is I am very particular about my chilis and get them from Mexico, and have never found really serious chilis here in Europe. I find spices shops gimmicky and geared towards people who buy curry powders thinking this is good cooking, hoping that a magic powder will bring up their cookery, and am always rather disappointed. But no worry, I will visit this one shop next time and mention you - I will be glad to be proved wrong in my prejudice!

Dan

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:42:50 GMT

I can"t believe you"ve been to this shop, and not only once and you never checked out The Spice Shop accross the street (that said, I"ve been to the spice shop quite a few times but I"ve never been to the bookshop. But this is because it was closed.) Now, what the Spice shop has, is simply excellent spice from all over the world. They buy it from farmers in Asia and Africa and I don"t know from where else and they are really good. They have everything you can possibly want. And they carry an impressive assortment of chillies. And curries. And you name it. You owe it to yourself to pay them a visit next time you are in london. And if you do, ask for Birgit and tell her that the guy from Romania who wanted to open a Spice Shop in Bucharest says hi.

fx

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:54:23 GMT

You should see me strolling through the alleys of gourmet shops then!

Ariadna

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:32:54 GMT

You look so happy among the books. Thanks for sharing!

fx

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:31:25 GMT

Well, I don"t read only cookbooks - most of these other bookstores are non food!

Stephen

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:46:23 GMT

Wonderful to see you back in the groove of still photo posts!! Please will you be share your other 19 favourite bookstores in the world with us if only in a list?

fx

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:52:01 GMT

They are really pretty!

Diayne

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:56:32 GMT

To a book lover as I, this is a step to heaven. Thanks!!!

fx

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:03:44 GMT

Louise thanks for visiting! What a labor of love your bookshop must have been, we used to have one here in Switzerland but the owner had to retire because of ailing health. He had me in his home to buy from the stock that remained him though. I like your piece about potato chips, a discipline where the Americans rule!

fx

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 08:53:27 GMT

Yes, but not all websites are as good as a good cookbook!

theodora

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:21:55 GMT

I wonder if the web will overtake books. As we know it is so easy to look up a recipe online.
After all this is how I discovered you- happy day!
Nothing beats a beautiful colorful grease stained cook book- or a pristine one....
as always many thanks for your artful commentary.

Louise

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:23:44 GMT

What culinary delight you share with us today, FX. I once had a small cookbook store in a quaint Victorian town in central Pennsylvania. It was a sad day when I had to close for family health issues:( Thank you so much for sharing this gem with us. I may never get to see it in real life but it certainly looks like I could curl up in a corner for ages. My favorite cookbook stores here in New York are, Kitchen Arts & Lettersand Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Thanks for sharing...

P.S. I just did a post on Mrs. Beeton"s of Household Management fame that you may find interesting...

fx

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:35:54 GMT

So, FX"s Cucina Povera?

Meramarina

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:15:37 GMT

Yes, certainly you must write this cookbook or face the Wrath of the Blog Readers.

Not sure that a Swiss theme would be much of an enticement here in America; you"d need to explain first that, no, Switzerland is not part of Germany, and no, it"s not Sweden (I only say that because I have had do this!), and the only books about your country to be found here are generic travel guides. I just got a baker"s guide to European pastry with an entire chapter on Switzerland, though, so Swiss cuisine isn"t entirely unheard of over here.

You might do well to take advantage of the grim economic zeitgeist and present a witty, pictorial guide to budget luxury cooking, with extraordinary results from simple but high-quality ingredients (more or less what you"re doing already). I read somewhere recently that although books generally are selling very badly now, cookbooks are still doing well.

That store sure looks like fun! And as for dieting, the only advice worth paying any attention to comes from Mark Twain: "eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."

fx

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:38:41 GMT

Harry, thanks for visiting and agreeing with my caustic portrayal of this market. I think London is a very smartly run city in that you guys find ways to direct the hordes of barbaric tourists who visit in a few selected areas. Everybody is free to roam about but most of that crowd goes to only a handful of places, keeping the rest of the city blissfully free!

fx

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:33:07 GMT

James I will visit it next time for sure! Here in Switzerland we get our spices from http://www.poivre.ch/magasin/index.php, they have a really astonishing selection. Some things I need to buy abroad like pure vanillin crystals.

fx

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:24:59 GMT

Happy reading!

fx

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:15:08 GMT

Thanks Vasilis, glad you enjoyed the piece and more is to come soon!

Vasilis TZAFERIS, GREECE

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:34:55 GMT

I have been ejoying your articles, as well as your recepies lately, thank you!!!
I will visit the store on my next visit to London.. leaving my friends on Portobello st.

Melit

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:40:16 GMT

Great article!!! Yesterday I feel like I was in Switzerland...now London....thanks for sharing..I have
about 200 more articles of yours to read!!!

james

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:54:24 GMT

Books for Cooks is an amazing shop, so many great books, a nice comfy sofa and such helpful staff, but across the road the Spice shop absolutely rocks!

if you can"t find the spice (and heavens knows what else besides) you"re after there, you won"t find it anywhere. Run by a lovely lady.

Never seen so many different varieties of dried chillies and they sell many of their products online.

Anon

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:59:14 GMT

Can I just say that your metaphor of Portobello Road as a sewage drain of tourists to keep them away from notting hill area as whole is very apt. Inspired almost. I work for the local council there and portobello road is my area. I will visit that bookshops next time i am there. Many thanks for opening my eyes to the function of that area.

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:18:02 GMT

Visit as soon as possible, just don"t fall in the Portobello gutter! Have fun.

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:17:25 GMT

By all means do visit!

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:14:55 GMT

Carolina thank you for visiting! From my recollection of Calcutta, you might add no macadam and a rotting mule carcass that made quite an impression on me! But lovely people the Bengalis, no question.

Carolina

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:53:52 GMT

I would love to visit this bookstore, it is like a dream vacation to me. I would be forced to spend entire days there in order to not miss anything. As an aside, your shot of Portobella Road reminds me of a street scene in Calcutta. All that"s missing is the tangled masses of rotting electric wires hanging over all. (And,of course, the fact that Indians would not be bundled up in heavy clothing) I really love your site. Thanks for sharing it all.

Rosa

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:19:42 GMT

I"d love to visit that place! Thanks for the article!

cheers,

Rosa

TheFatBanker

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:04:34 GMT

What a great post - thanks very much, I absolutely love it when someone points out somewhere in my home town to visit, that has previously slipped under my radar. I will plan in a trip!

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:50:46 GMT

Yes I know, I have those books and then some, there are tons out there. But it would have been silly, a Swiss man visiting a London bookstore and complaining of the lack of books about Swiss cuisine! So I just laughed and bought books about cheese instead.

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:49:35 GMT

Homemade maple syrup sounds like a great project!

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:45:02 GMT

Do you often visit this store? I buy most of my spices online, what special spices does Spice Shop carry?

Joanna

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:29:36 GMT

It"s a very good place for a food bloggers" meet - delicious food, no-one objects when everyone gets out their camera, and loads of books to buy afterwards, before staggering over the road to the Spice Shop, truly the best spices in London

Don"t much like the sound of kipper soup, though, fond as I am of kippers

Joanna

KelliSue Kolz

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:50:10 GMT

I enjoyed your visit to the book store. I shall have to see if I may find a recipe for kipper soup. We too enjoy kippers, being of British descent. Well, at least three of us are, the rest are at least 1/2 Polish.

It"s maple sugaring season in Upstate NY. It"s a lovely diversion from our every other day goat cheese making (cheddar and colby, not chevre), and supplements our home grown diet. It"s day 2 of my blog, but I think you"ll enjoy our attempts at self-sufficiency, foodie-style.

narjis

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:00:17 GMT

my dear Mom sent me, her daughter in Texas, two cookbooks:

"Aechti Schwiizer Chuchi" Hallwag Verlag, gesammelt von Marianne Kaltenbach
and
"A Taste of Switzerland" by Sue Style, Bergli Books

I am shocked the store didn"t have any swiss cook books!
gotta change that!

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:15:54 GMT

Perhaps one picture per article, each article on two pages? Would there need to be a thematic unity (i.e. the life and times of a wandering deep-fried enthusiast)?

Ty

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:37:11 GMT

"FX CUISINE: COLLECTED READINGS" It seems you have already written your own cookbook from a Swiss perspective. I am curious as to how many pages one could fill if one were to distill this website into print.

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:18:25 GMT

Yes, this is a timeless place I think!

fx

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:17:40 GMT

I would have loved to visit the shop when Clarissa Dickson Wright was on deck, that would have made quite an impression!

Patrick, Hong Kong

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:59:05 GMT

This was one of my all time favourite places when I was working and training in London, my very first restaurant was just around the corner and I used to go there in my break and spend hours there.In those days the place was run by Clarissa Dickson Wright, of Two Fat Ladies fame and Her knowledge was amazing, you could go in there with the vaguest of desriptions and she knew exactly what it was you wanted. Great shop.

Just Cook It

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:48:19 GMT

I used to work very close to Portobello Rd so have spent many happy hours in Books for Cooks. Good to see it again!