Category Archives: Reviews

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A treat of a meal in Manteca, London

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“The trouble with eating Italian is that 5 or 6 days later you’re hungry again.” George Miller

It was a windy, wet mid-week day when I stepped off the pavement into Manteca. Instantly all was warmth, and relaxed chat.

Our table was in a long row of tables for two. They were close together, but the restaurant so filled with activity that there was no chance to concentrate on anything other than our own meal and conversation. There was also no looking around for service as it seemed to appear out of nowhere to explain menus and choices, and then to deliver the results.

We were happy from start to finish – part of the theatre that swirled around us.

The open, stainless steel kitchen runs down the middle of the restaurant, with chefs in bright white chopping and preparing and plating up the bread and pasta, the meats and salads, while kitchen staff carry tubs of vegetables to and fro.

Our choices included chunks of foccacia alongisde puffy pork crackling, with a warming, rich ragu. Next came a bitter leaf salad with gorgonzola and pear, and then two pasta dishes, one with a crab sauce and another in a sauce of emerald green kale with chilli. They both tasted fresh and delicious.

We ended the meal with coffee and some salty fudge, then stepped back into the winter reality of London’s streets. Our immersion was over. Our escape was over. Our privileged two hours were over.

Was it worth it? Definitely. We had enjoyed attention, theatre, and food full of flavour, with a quietly professional kitchen right at the heart of our moment in time.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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We went to see a film: Fallen Leaves

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“The way I see it, the difference between a ‘movie’ and a ‘film’ is that one is scared to death of boring you for a second and the latter refuses to entertain you for a moment.” Alan Parker (Will Write and Direct for Food)

The first thing to say is that going on the Alan Parker definition Fallen Leaves felt like a film to me, not a movie.

The story is set in Helsinki, Finland, and follows the bleak prospects and lives of two lonely, low paid workers – Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) who have never met, but whose paths start to cross with increasing frequency as they fall in love, and in and out of jobs. Aki Kaurismäki is the director, and all dialogue is in Finnish, with subtitles.

It’s hard to describe how minimalist it all is. Not much talking. Not much smiling. Not much colour. No gunfights. No murders. No sex. Just day to day. Too much drink. Too much bad luck. Too much war on the radio. Not much hope. Then a dog comes along. And things change. Just enough.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. It kept me on the point of smiling, almost laughing, and hoping, all the way through. It is so pared back – such a quiet depiction of the odd luck of life, and of how love survives, despite never-ending corporate heartlessness, war and drink.

Should you go and see it? I would say a definite yes, provided you’re not craving fast-paced entertainment, crammed with sensual overload. This is gentle. It left us smiling and took only an hour and twenty minutes of our time.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Life at Full Tilt

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Edited by Ethel Crowley – Foreword by Colin Thubron ( Published by Eland)

“Few people, in any age, can have travelled a wider range of countries so arduously.” Colin Thubron, London 2023

The first book of Dervla Murphy’s that I read was her autobiography Wheels with Wheels. From the start I was gripped by her courage. An only child, born in 1931 in Lismore, Ireland, she had to leave school at the age of 14 to look after her invalid mother. She continued that duty until her mother died in 1962, and then she began to travel.

In this book Ethel Crowley has selected extracts from 24 of Dervla Murphy’s books, arranging them in decades dating from the 1930s to 2015, when she travelled to the Middle East.

Dervla Murphy went just about everywhere, and she never took the easy route anywhere, often preferring to travel by bicycle, or on foot, or with a mule. There was real hardship and there were unenviable lodgings. There were perilous crossings of mountains and rivers. There was danger and isolation, but somehow she just kept going, kept trusting that people would look after her and that all would be well.

“Attempts to control the future seem needlessly to limit its possibilities. If this view were general, anarchy would overtake the world. But one hopes there is room for a minority of non-planners.”

In an extract selected for this book from Wheels within Wheels by Dervla Murphy

Thankfully all was well, or became so, and despite suffering everything from attempted robberies and rapes, to many bone breaks, including a fractured pelvis, and any number of illnesses, she did return from her travels with her notebooks full of observations and conversations to then pass on through her books – the books and her body bearing witness to all that she did.

The privilege of reading Life at Full Tilt is that it selects extracts from each of her books. Until reading this selection I had no idea that Dervla Murphy had travelled to, and written about, places such as Northern Ireland, and Bradford and Birmingham, as well as Cameroon, and Cuba, Afghanistan, Siberia and beyond. I found it fascinating to hear her voice in each, and to see the places through her eyes.

For me, the other pleasure of Life at Full Tilt, are the pages at the beginning and end, all written by those who knew Dervla Murphy well. I loved hearing more about her life and who she was.

Now I have finished reading I am sad to have to put the book down. I shall miss being in the company of such a truly extraordinary traveller, researcher, writer, survivor and genuine voice. The good news is that all the books I have caught glimpses of are out there waiting to be read.

My thanks to Eland for sending me this copy of Life at Full Tilt.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023