London

Enjoy luxury food delivered to your door

Kitchen
Home brewing
No longer the preserve of your bearded uncle who kept stinking cauldrons of anonymous liquid in his shed, home brewing is now perfectly accessible for normal folk. With the right advice you can produce your own lip-smacking grog, with the added bonus that it (probably) won’t make you go blind. Charlie Papazian is the founder of the Association of Brewers in the USA, and is also, reassuringly, a former nuclear scientist. His book ‘The Complete Joy of Home Brewing’ will tell you everything you need to know to take on Fullers.
‘The Complete Joy of Home Brewing’ (Third Edition) is available from www.amazon.co.uk, current price £5.23. Feature continues

Food delivery
We’re talking proper luxury here – not a stuffed crust pizza. You can get all manner of top notch consumables shipped directly to you in the capital: luxury chocolate, rich cheese, the freshest fish, perfect steaks, speciality tea, or bumper hampers (courtesy of Fortnum and Mason). It’s worth putting a call in early – most of these companies take at least a day to deliver.
Abel and Cole (020 8944 3780/www.abel-cole.co.uk). The Chocolate Society (0845 230 8899/ www.chocolate.co.uk). Dragonfly (www.dragonflytea.com).The Fish Society (0800 279 3474/www.thefishsociety.co.uk). Fortnum and Mason (020 7734 8040/www.fortnumandmason.com). La Fromagerie ( 020 7359 7440/www.lafromagerie.co.uk).Neal’s Yard Dairy (020 7500 7653/www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk).Real Meat Co (0845 7626017/ www.realmeat.co.uk).

Drink
London offers a plethora of home delivery options for the lazy drinker. For your basic plonk, Majestic (www.majestic.co.uk) has a huge range and will deliver for free if you order 12 bottles or more. If you’re looking for a special bottle that would make a nice gift (even if it’s to yourself) try www.sparklingdirect.co.uk (a Campo Viejo Crianza 2003 in a posh wooden box costs £21.49). For something truly special try Vintage Wine Gifts (www.vintagewinegifts. co.uk), where a bottle of Barolo Riserva Speciale Cremosina 1967 Bersano will set you back £129.99. Independent wine merchants Laithwaites (www.laithwaites.co.uk) specialises in low-priced, high quality bin-ends, while if you’re looking for spirits head for The Drink Shop (www.thedrinkshop.com), where you’ll get a bottle of Henri Bardouin Absente L’Extreme d’Absinthe for £21.88. Alternatively, there’s the ever reliable Ocado (www.ocado.co.uk), Tesco (www.tesco.com) or Sainsbury’s (www.sainsburys.co.uk).

Kitchen sales
Is your kitchen looking a bit tired and emotional? Now’s the time of year to get a new one put in. Kitchen manufacturers have gone a little bit loopy with their price cutting, and there are genuine bargains to be had at the moment. KBBC (www.kbbc.co.uk), Kitchens Direct (www.kitchensdirect.co.uk), Vivaldi Kitchens (www.vivaldikitchens.co.uk) and Moben (www.moben.co.uk) are all offering 50 per cent off fitted kitchens until January 31 – prices are by quotation.

Meanwhile, Magnet (www.magnet.co.uk) is pushing half price granite worktops and fitted cabinets, and for fittings and appliances, you’ll get 15 to 50 per cent off selected fittings and appliances at B&Q (www.diy.com) throughout January – a Bosch freestanding washing machine will set you back just £299.