Côte Allure

For all its rich history and idyllic landscapes, it may come as a surprise to read that Windsor has been the site of culinary landfill for many years. Surrendering to the town’s proximity to London and catering to tourists and day trippers with stale menus, it has been a sorry state of affairs with the imbalance between a world-famous setting and a poor food scene.

In recent years however, Windsor’s appetite for the je ne sais quoi has been met with a handful of new cafés, delis and hotels that appeal to discerning visitors and residents alike. The town’s latest culinary addition occupies one of the most sought after locations along the River Thames, previously home to a dated establishment of nil style and substance.

Côte Brasserie has reintroduced both the aesthetic character to the once-dilapidated waterfront property as well as a sense of pride for product and service that will be sure to overcome any memory of proprietors past. Located at one end of Eton Bridge, Côte greets visitors to the celebrated college enclave with its sophisticated Continental branding. Since opening its first restaurant in Wimbledon Village in 2007, it has been attracting the hungry and their tastes for good food and atmosphere with classic French cuisine in the informal setting of ticking stripes and plush bistro-style interiors. There are food chains and then there are food chains, and Côte firmly lies in the latter camp with a collection of outposts in prime locations throughout London, the Home Counties and across the country.

Authentic Parisian dishes with modern twists are found on the seasonal menu with just enough choice from starters through to dessert that will avoid any frustrating decision-making. After all, the French enjoy their food just as much as the spectacle – a bad table is hard to come by over the restaurant’s two floors that are styled with dining booths and spacious seating throughout. Its pièce de résistance is the light-filled gallery in the round to the property’s rear, which commands unrivalled views of the stunning backdrop that is Windsor Castle - venue-worthy for any special occasion. Alfresco dining may be enjoyed both on river-level and on the first floor terrace that will certainly strike food envy from river crews and pedestrians on the bridge.

For lunch and dinner start proceedings with a glass of Kir Royale and Charcuterie Board or Pissaladière - warm flatbread with caramelised onions and Reblochon cheese - to share. The Fougasse bread is delicious on its own with butter and sea salt, however be sure to order seconds if followed with Moules Marinières, swimming in flavoursome white wine sauce. Other fish dishes include Calamari, Tuna Niçoise and Salmon for starters and mains. Chargrilled Chicken, Roast Duck Breast, Pork Belly and seven- to ten-ounce Steaks cater for carnivores. Prices range from £4.50 to £7.25 for starters and £8.95 to £17.95, for a ten-ounce steak, for main dishes. These are padded out with a handful of vegetarian options that include Warm Roquefort Salad, Baked Crêpes and Risotto Vert. The popular Plats Rapides that have earned Côte a loyal following are priced at below £10.95 and offer healthy sized portions of Steak Frites, Cod Goujons, Poulet Grillé and the bistro classic Moules Marinières. With additional lunchtime, weekend and early evening specials - £9.95 for two courses and £11.95 for three courses - the menu satisfies all price points. A good selection of reasonably priced wine from a variety of vineyards and beer from France also feature. Dessert is a more standard offering, with in-house favourites such as Crème Brûlee, Crème Caramel and Chocolate Fondant.

The breakfast menu offers a host of French pastries and light options as well as cooked plates from a Full English at £7.50 to a full French at £7.95 of scrambled eggs, boudin noir, bacon and mushrooms served on toasted brioche; eggs à la Benedict, Florentine and Royale as a side or main, make for a delightful trio of choice hard to come by in the town for morning trade and lovers of brunch. 

Now a month into its soft launch in August, the charming and attentive waiting staff meets that of any from Côte’s more established network. Parents of Eton College boys will welcome this new arrival as an upgrade to the limited choice on offer along Eton's desolate High Street for the lucrative custom of post-sport games family time on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Being able to accommodate both small and large groups comfortably, tourists will appreciate a pit stop of good food and drink before exploring neighbouring cultural hotspots in the town and along the river. Côte provides quality food with an attention to style and substance that has been enjoyed by neighbouring areas around Windsor for sometime. Whether a breakfast date, a lunchtime meeting or a business dinner, the restaurant offers the ingredients of a well-tuned, affordable product in an impressive setting: diners in Windsor in search of the je ne sais quoi need look no further.

Breakfast is served from 8am to noon, Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on weekends. Opening hours are from 8am to 11pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 11pm on Saturday and 1030pm on Sunday – for reservations visit Côte.

 

Côte Brasserie

71-72 High Street

Eton, Windsor

Berkshire

SL4 6AA

Special Delivery: It's A Prince

Congratulations to Their Royal Highnesses 

The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge 

on the birth of their son 

from Studio Velardi

Fitzroy & Bailey

Few towns can claim inspiration for one of the world’s most famous families of which they adopted its namesake. Windsor, the jewel of the Home Counties in South East England and home to the British Monarchy, welcomes more than seven million visitors each year to enjoy the historic town and surrounding Royal parks. I have featured my hometown on several occasions, reporting on culture and curiosity from within the castle walls and beyond. Like many of its residents, I take great pride in its global recognition, watching the influx of tourists from all corners of the world roam and snapshot our charming idyll on the periphery of London.

However all is not quite what it seems in arcadia. A missing link in Windsor’s taste buds for many years, I have always found the subject of food difficult to digest. Unfortunately tourism and day-trippers have left the town with a parade of high street food chains and below par cafés that no sooner stand to attention, close up shop and take their marching orders as well as their greasy creations with them. With two train stations serving the town to both London Paddington and Waterloo, thanks to Queen Victoria, and the M4 to shoot down to SW7 I am guilty of heading into the capital for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unless I confine visiting friends to the walls of my kitchen with my own fine dining, I will literally make them walk for their lunch up the Long Walk to Leith’s at The Savill Garden – a hunger-inducing three miles to and back – for standard country walk grub or to The Two Brewers, a seventeenth-century Windsor-classic, full of character and British pub fare adjacent to the castle. Having only two options leaves me with somewhat of a dilemma. An extreme case of food snobbery I hear you ask? Perhaps, however I know good food and I certainly know Windsor deserves a lot better than the mass-produced menus charged at premiums that cater for tourists above local custom.

I was therefore understandably overexcited about culinary newcomers Fitzroy & Bailey. Anticipating the renovation of their High Street premises throughout the Autumn, ever since their attractive signage and shopfront were unveiled last November I have had the pleasure of getting to know owners, Lee and Kara, as they seduce the town with their daily window display of freshly made produce à la Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. A few minutes walk from the public entrance to the castle on one side and the Long Walk on the other, this café, deli and foodstore overlooks the Parish Church of St John the Baptist as well as the Guildhall designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The shop’s interior styling is an inviting, contemporary take on a country kitchen with a monochrome marble floor, brickwork tiling, wooden tops, dressers and multi-coloured utensils. There is an international flair amidst the Beanberry coffee aroma; Havana cigar boxes pack juicy fruit cake slices to go, Japanese writing is found on food placards and Asian ingredients share shelf space with Italian cooking staples.

Fitzroy & Bailey neighbours The Guildhall in central Windsor

Last week, over a bowl of green curry chicken, I met with Lee and Kara to find out more about the Fitzroy & Bailey brand. First things first: the name. While Fitzroy and Bailey add a dash of pomp that so befits its location, it was inspired by The Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio – where Lee and Kara’s paths originally crossed - and named after Sir Admiral Fitzroy, founder of the Met Office in 1853 and the waters of Bailey above Scotland. Windsor may be approximately 50 miles away from the nearest shore, however Lee tells me she cannot live without listening to the daily broadcast – it’s necessity to the shipping industry is an aspect the owners wish to mirror as a port of call for all types of culinary requirements: something that has fast depleted on the British high street.

Lee hails from good culinary stock; armed with old family recipes from Asia and a fast-paced Hong Kong sensibility before working at Chiswick's Mortimer & Bennet deli as well as the Conran Group in London. Wanting to run a food emporium of her own, Lee and Kara set out to find a location. After exploring several areas and tasting their way through independent, chain and celebrity-endorsed foodstores, they understood something was missing in the Windsor market. We all agreed how the town was sadly somewhere ‘alright’ food was tolerated due to its default tourism and proximity to the capital. I described it as iceberg country – where iceberg lettuce decorates or fills out a plate, customary at preying tourist traps. More of an arugula, radicchio, spinach or anything-but-iceberg man myself, surprise surprise, I can certify Fitzroy & Bailey cater for snobs and everyone else who simply enjoy good quality, honest food. Lee enthusiastically explains her intentions of creating ‘a neighbourhood social hub’, feeding the community ‘just about anytime of the day’ and turning Windsor into a destination for food - the final string to its bow. 

With Kara’s Japanese influence into the mixing bowl, familiar offerings of artisanal scotch-eggs and pork pies feature alongside Japanese korroke croquettes (my new snack obsession), tonkatsu breaded pork and a very popular kimchi. Mornings begin with coconut pancakes filled with sweetcorn and toasted peanuts while watching the soldiers march by in Changing the Guard; a pulled pork and apple sauce sourdough toastie for lunch, through to an erbazzone spinach, pinenut and ricotta tart at dinner. Then there are hearty soups and a fresh array of sides that include artichokes, beetroots and grilled aubergine. Takeaway customers are also catered for with a selection of meat and vegetarian mains such as braised short ribs in red wine and doria baked rice with béchamel respectively. The owners continue to describe how the deli and foodstore will expand in time with an even greater offering of sweet and savory homemade options for busy families and business commuters.

Lunchtime gets the international treatment of hot and cold delicacies

The deli sources over thirty cheeses from around the country as well as from the Continent. The charcuterie stocks cured meats from the Pyrénées, Tuscany, Basque and Dorset and makes for a great partnership with delicious breads from De Gustibus as well as an in house soda loaf. The foodstore to the rear of the shop stocks everyday essentials for baking and cooking with a few specialty surprises such as Japanese mayonnaise. Look out for a new range of homemade pickles Kara is currently working on, favoured in Japan as an alternative seasoning.

 

Global food evenings launched earlier this year with weekly informal Saturday Ramen Nights and set menu tastings curated around exotic cultures such as a 'Rijsttafel' (Rice Table) that originates from Dutch colonial Indonesia. Monthly cooking classes are hosted by Kara to master the art of Japanese sushi, ramen, udon and oyakodon, popular with children, in a small and intimate setting where ingredients are simply taken from the shelves and all that is needed is an open mind and an empty stomach.

Passion and food have been uttered together so liberally in recent years, so much so the UK and Europe now find themselves deep in a meat scandal. The subject of food sourcing may have hit an iceberg however I have no doubt Fitzroy & Bailey will be avoiding any such icebergs - of the salad variety or otherwise - and are forecast for titanic success if, as are their intentions, the community support their genuine passion for seasonality, products with clear provenance and are willing to discover that Lee and Kara’s gusto for quality food will be to their gusto too.

Visit Fitzroy & Bailey seven days at week at 14 High Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1LD. Find out more about their special nights, cooking classes and catering for home and office here.

Warhol At Windsor

The King of Pop Art, Andy Warhol said, “I want to be as famous as The Queen of England". Since the American artist’s death in 1987, countless retrospectives and iconic auctions of his trademark technicolour screen prints have travelled around the world, entering the public and private collections of the most powerful and popular personalities in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Contemporary culture continues to not only reference Warhol’s trademark aesthetic but also his intuitive prediction of the phenomenon that is celebrity today, coining the 'fifteen minutes of fame' expression in 1968,

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes".

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Edition 'R' - Andy Warhol, 1985

If there is anyone who is to defy fifteen minutes, or fame for that matter, it is The Queen of England. Presidents, dictators and actors have come and gone, however it has been Queen Elizabeth II who has surpassed Warhol’s eclectic global subjects: way beyond fifteen minutes, eighty six years and counting, of which sixty have been to serve her country. In an era when it has been possible for artists, namely Damien Hirst, to become as wealthy as The Queen, it is the untouchable allure of Monarchy that transcends time and remains an inspiration for artists throughout history past, present and most likely future. Hirst is regularly likened to Warhol in practice and panache. Should Warhol have been alive today, Hirst would undoubtedly have some competition on both art and rich list charts, but more importantly he would realize he had achieved the levels of fame akin to the British Monarch. One thing that he may not have predicted was that the person he wanted to be as famous as would one day also be his collector.

Windsor Castle in Berkshire - the world's oldest inhabited working castle

In the year that marks her Diamond Jubilee, in September The Royal Collection acquired a series of four screen prints of The Queen by Warhol. The four portraits on paper - edition 14 of 30 from Warhol's Royal Edition - were reworked from The Queen’s official Silver Jubilee photograph in 1977 by Peter Grugeon and form part of the portfolio Reining Queens, which include Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi laTfwala of Swaziland. Executed with a spectrum of colourways and sprinkled with fine particles of cut glass, known as ‘diamond dust’, the glittering purchase of Warhol’s work for The Royal Collection - property of the Monarch as Sovereign, held in trust for the British nation – signifies the conscious acceptance of the adage that has been synonymous of late with the House of Windsor: changing times. Joining the exclusive and spectacular roll call of artists from Holbein to van Dyck, da Vinci and Rubens, Lady Jane Roberts, Royal Librarian at The Royal Collection explains,

“The Warhol prints are in many ways the most important popular image of the queen to be created by an artist print maker over the last few decades.”

Opening today, the new works are on exhibit for the first time since their acquisition alongside select images by Beaton, Freud, Rankin and Leibovitz as well as a host of society photographers and international portrait artists as part of the exhibition, The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch, at Windsor Castle to commemorate the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation next year. Charting the very first photograph of The Queen after her accession, taken by Dorothy Wilding, to subsequent official and Jubilee portraits commissioned by state and institution, the exhibition consists of works from different Royal residences and presents the image of a woman – a fact society seems to forget when erratic waves of feminist absence stir - whose face and expression has been captured in various sittings and moments in time; for canvas, coins, bank notes and postage stamps.

 The Print Room in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle

The addition of Warhol to the collection in this landmark year for Monarchy makes for quite the fairytale: a Queen-to-be and the son of Slovak American-dreamers, born within two years of each other, both conscious of one another in the public eye and yet leading polar opposite lives across the Atlantic, now come to share the exceptional historical status in both word and image. The conceptual process of repeat that the artist pioneered in the mid-fifties now resides under the Wyatville-designed ceiling of a woman whose very own face has been the most repeated image to date.

Pop Art’s message is often lost by its unashamedly superficial surface and familiarity with the language of advertising, however it is a movement that manipulates and exposes the everyday to new narratives for social reflection and its inherent nature of colour and repetition remains a potent product in demand across creative markets. As an admirer of Warhol and Pop Art, I have been fortunate to view his prolific body of work on my travels over the years and I was very excited today to be able to merely walk up the road and come face to face with his works in my hometown of Windsor, Berkshire. The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch is a refreshing display in contrast to the more traditional exhibitions that are sourced from the collection’s vast archives for the gothic gallery space at Windsor Castle. Consisting of a variety of mediums and expressions, each with their own individual story, the exhibition complements The Royal Collection’s permanent installation in the State Apartments and reminds visitors that the story of British culture and identity is living and breathing - beyond fifteen minutes, years, decades and centuries.

I’m sure The Andy Warhol Foundation – whose original collection is currently being auctioned to fund future expansion for the Visual Arts across America – feel a sense of pride that their founder’s dream posthumously came true.

The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch is part of a visit to Windsor Castle and runs from 23rd November 2012 to 9th June 2013. Click here for further visitor information about Windsor Castle and the exhibits on display.

Visit Christie’s for more details on forthcoming auctions from The Andy Warhol Foundation.  

Images courtesy of Royal Collection Trust

Thank You Cards

The curtains are beginning to be drawn on another year and with the chorus of Christmas now very much in the air, I thought it timely to share a personal seasonal message of my own before the clock strikes festive-mayhem and panic in a few weeks. I have been looking forward to the end of this year for some time and I may finally share with you, after a year in the making, news of the launch of my latest design collaboration with the charity, Thames Hospicecare.

Thames Hospicecare provides a palliative care service to those suffering from a terminal or life-limiting illness in my hometown of Windsor and Ascot in the Royal county of Berkshire. In 2009 my Mother, Lilli received the specialist care and support at the Hospice towards the end of her life after battling cancer for several years. I was guilty of projecting the stereotypes that many formulate around hospice care; it was not until my family had to access the support of the Hospice that I realised the overwhelming compassion and treatment that was received by all and how I am now deeply fortunate to hold what is a painful memory in a positive light.

I am eternally grateful to the Hospice's dedicated team of doctors and nurses as well as the bereavement support I received in the wake of my loss and at the realisation I no longer had family in Britain. I will never forget this time in my life and after much brainstorming on what I could do to say thank you, I approached Thames Hospicecare last year offering my design services. It therefore brings me great pleasure to announce a series of fundraising Christmas cards now available at Thames Hospicecare sites, shops across Berkshire and online. 

Fall In © 2012 - PURCHASE

Inspired by local and iconic scenes in this special year of both the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as the Hospice's very own twenty-fifth anniversary, three contemporary designs depict Windsor Castle, the Copper Horse in Windsor Great Park and the serving soldiers that are synonymous with the town. I hope residents of Windsor and beyond will support Thames Hospicecare's invaluable work and ability to provide palliative care in East Berkshire through my exclusive designs during what is a vital source of income for the charity over the Christmas period. 

 Windsor Castle Christmas Presents & Let It Snow © 2012 (Twin Pack) - PURCHASE

If you have been bitten by the British bug this year, please look to independent charities this Holiday season such as Thames Hospicecare by visiting their Christmas catalogue - 100% proceeds from sales go directly to the Hospice.
  

View the Press Release for more on the collaboration and my personal story with Thames Hospicecare. 

Thank you very much for your support. 

Studio Velardi Joins Tumblr

Studio Velardi has officially joined the visual realm of Tumblr! As many of my readers will know I launched Studio Velardi - the commercial arm of my practice - earlier this year to offer a digital, traditional and bespoke creative design service (Introducing… March 2012). To mark my first leap into commercial product design, I created an exclusive collection of environmentally friendly stationery that explored British stereotype and illustrative paraphernalia that has been well received in Windsor, where the enterprise is based, in the heart of Royal Berkshire.

Complementing the enterprise’s online activity in both word and image, studiovelardi.tumblr.com will present a visual archive of product, projects and events as well as a comprehensive online portfolio of both identity and inspiration of an emerging brand; focusing on accessible, high quality design production that employs local manufacturers in the Royal county wherever possible and is resolutely made in England.

This weekend Studio Velardi returns to the Windsor Emporium on Sunday 7th October at The Guildhall, Windsor.

Visit studiovelardi.tumblr.com and follow @studiovelardi on Twitter for the latest news and updates on my whereabouts over the coming festive season. 

Travel Light

Day 53 of the Olympic Torch Relay

Red, white, blue and an optimistic gold were the colours of the day in my home turf of Windsor yesterday. Marking T-minus sixteen days to the opening of the London Olympic Games, it was Day 53 of the Olympic Torch Relay which has travelled across the United Kingdom and is now beginning it’s descent around the home counties of the South East before it’s final destination of London on 27th July. Dedicated to travel within an hour’s journey time of ninety-five percent of people in the UK, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey over seventy days, its route has been coordinated with precision to involve local communities and inspirational individuals to carry the Olympic flame and represent their respective towns and cities in what is the ultimate event in the international sporting calendar. 

This year’s games are not just about sport - the launch of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad in 2008 has been committed to involve the arts through nationwide events and performances. Made in Britain obviously plays an important role during such a unique opportunity for a host nation, so when the Olympic Torch was due to pass only a few hundred yards from my doorstep I had to see it with my own eyes.

Winning design by BarberOsgerby

Winning London-based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby of BarberOsgerby created the contemporary triangular torch from recyclable aluminum alloy. The simple perforated form is light to hold – for the varied ages and abilities of its eight thousand bearers – and represents, more golden future than golden age of British engineering and technical production. Crucially, the torch must be recognizable not just amongst crowds of spectators but when the weather can change from sunny skies to dark showers, which it did yesterday. Even through the canopy of umbrellas, the golden torch had a distinguished presence and bobbed through the thousands that welcomed the flame to Windsor Castle to meet Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. As the flames ‘kissed’ (changed hands) between Gina Macgregor and Phillip Wells before it made its way down the Long Walk, it was also a symbolic kissing of a contemporary and traditional brand GB with the world's oldest working castle for its backdrop. 

Britishness is already a global brand in itself – add the rich narrative of monarchy and the House of Windsor throughout the centuries as well as its claim to the creation of brand identity as we know it today (Brand AD, November 2011) this is a unique formula very few nations are able to offer in their culturel credentials. The drive for a contemporary and dare I say try-hard alternative Britain through neon, off-kilter graphics that are being used for the Olympics may be a design-detour too far especially with talk from Artistic Director, Danny Boyle of green and pleasant lands for the opening ceremony. Britain does juxtaposition very well. It has done so for centuries but fails when it forgets what it has to begin with. The eyes of the world will view our one-shot showcase on 27th July – my eyes will be on the Royal Box, looking at how organizers will be installing the Royal Coat of Arms next to London 2012’s asymmetrical neon pink ‘creation’: sounds like a case for a pre-show jug of juxtaposition on Boyle’s lawns to calm the nerves.

Here are few photos from yesterday’s Olympic Torch Relay through Windsor…

The Olympic Torch enters Windsor Castle 

Spectators line the Long Walk as the flame continues to Ascot

For the latest on the Olympic Torch Relay click here.

Diamond Jubilee X Studio Velardi

The countdown to The Queen's Diamond Jubilee has officially begun across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and it's no different here in Windsor at Studio Velardi. In what is the same year I conceived the creative design enterprise, Studio Velardi marks Queen Elizabeth II's sixty year reign in 2012 with a new red, white and blue Twitter background and witty homepage design that goes live from today and for the duration of the Jubilee celebrations. 

This weekend Studio Velardi will be at a special Jubilee Windsor Emporium with my exclusive collection of environmentally friendly stationery on Sunday 3rd June at The Guildhall, Windsor - visit Windsor Emporium for more details and follow twitter.com/studiovelardi for the latest news on my whereabouts around Windsor and Berkshire. 

Connect the dots with the new homepage design at studiovelardi.com

All rights reserved © studiovelardi 2012

Introducing... Jonathan Velardi X Studio Velardi

Dear readers, Winter in Britain is firmly behind us and I think the saying ‘coming out of hibernation’ is rather appropriate given the recent Spring heat here on the Isles as well as the fact I have neglected my trusty blog of late. But I assure you there is good reason and I am therefore very excited to announce the redesign of my website jonathanvelardi.com  where all my online activity may now be found in one place. Art, Culture & Lifestyle Writing, Contemporary Art and my #highlife and #lowlife Blog and Twitter accounts are all represented in a new and fresh homepage design.

In addition, I have been working very hard over the last few months in setting up my own creative design enterprise under my personal direction. I have wanted to create a commercial arm of my professional practice for some time and I am very proud to introduce you all to this new line of design-based production that will evolve from commercial and private commissions and projects to merchandise and limited edition product under STUDIO VELARDI.

New logo for a new brand: Studio Velardi

A collection of environmentally friendly stationery will inaugurate the launch of Studio Velardi and will hopefully be available at a stockist near you in 2012. While it is too early to divulge details, I am particularly happy to say Studio Velardi is working on several projects later in the year and I look forward to sharing this news in the near future. So until then, please join the mailing list and follow @studiovelardi on Twitter for the latest updates or get in touch for all enquiries about my design services and products at info@studiovelardi.com