LEON

LEON makes us happy again, this time with curries

LEON makes us happy again, this time with curries

Between the ubiquitous Gordon Ramsey and ‶The Great British Baking Show″ on PBS, the long-battered reputation of British food is enjoying something of a rehabilitation. Moreover, the LEON restaurants, which launched in London in 2004, inoculated British cuisine with the idea that healthy eating and fast food were not necessarily mutually exclusive. The chain spread its gospel of ‶Naturally Fast Food″ to Washington, D.C., in 2018 and has started building more in the capital region. By our count, LEON Happy Curries (Octopus Publishing, London, $19.99) is the eighth cookbook in the LEON series showing how to replicate the restaurant's dishes and philosophy at home. But this book is a little different than the earlier ones. It represents the magnificent fusion of a homely European cuisine...Read More
LEON folks bring quick ease to satisfying baking

LEON folks bring quick ease to satisfying baking

We can't imagine how we missed out on the LEON phenomenon for all these years. The company launched its first restaurant in 2004 with a mission to give fish-and-chips-eating Londoners a taste of healthy fast food. We certainly have a penchant for fast food--and we don't mind if it's also good for us. We guess Londoners feel the same way. They certainly embraced LEON's Mediterranean Diet-inspired menu. Only a year after opening, the Observer Food Monthly named LEON the “Best New Restaurant in the UK.” More restaurants followed in London, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Oslo, and most recently in Washington, DC. (1724 L St. NW; (202) 813-3867; leon.com) Along with the restaurants, LEON has created a cottage industry of cookbooks. The latest, LEON Happy Baking (by Claire...Read More