The London Cookbook

This stylish new cookbook by Aleksandra Crapanzano is is a little bit travelogue, a little bit coffee table book and a great deal of edgy, modern recipes by top chefs and top restaurants in London.

This book works hard at compiling about 100 recipes that give a fresh take on some old British classics-- Welsh Rarebit, Eton Mess,  Fish and Chips and Potted Shrimp.  It works even harder on including other recipes that draw on the multicultural city that London has become--Scallops with Red Nam Yum,  Potato Chaat with Pomegranate, Mint and Rose Raita, and Cinnamon Scented Porcini Duck Ragu.

Ms. Crapanzano makes it clear that she polled her well connected chef/foodie friends to come up with the best of the best recipes-and that she tested each one several times.  The photography is stunning and the list of specialty ingredients needed to make many of the recipes is pocket book stinging.  She does include several more simple to prepare recipes--Chicken Marsala and Sea Bass with Paprika that a more novice cook could prepare.

Overall--it is a dreamy book, filled with recipes most folks will never prepare from restaurants that most will never visit.  It is a feast for your eyes--and your wishful tummy.

Blogging For Books provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.