Lotte Duncan has two very good reasons to celebrate these coming weeks. Not only due to the arrival of the second printing of her wonderful debut book, Lotte’s Country Kitchen, but she will also be cracking open the champagne at the opening of her very own kitchen diner: Lotte’s Kitchen, no less!

Lotte’s Kitchen will be opening at 10am on Saturday 30th April. For those of you who follow her blog or Twitter feed (@lotteduncan and @LottesKitchen), you’ll be aware of just what a hugely exciting dream this has been for Lotte to fulfil. The Kitchen promises to be serving exactly the kind of food that has been winning her book so many kind words and reviews. We really do wish Lotte and the Kitchen every success.

* Lotte’s Kitchen can be found at 2 Keens Lane, Chinnor in Oxfordshire, OX39 4PF. Telephone 01844 355985.

* Lotte’s Country Kitchen will be available again from May 16th.

It was ten years ago that the wonderful Cinnamon Club restaurant in Westminster first opened its doors. A few things have changed since then, but chef Vivek Singh is still very much the heartbeat of the place and the restaurant continues to serve some of the very best and most innovative Indian cuisine in the UK, one which combines the very best of Indian food but doesn’t ignore Western tastes and sensibilities. In 2003, along with the restaurant’s founder, Iqbal Wahhab, Vivek wrote The Cinnamon Club Cookbook and a special leather-bound edition of this beautiful book is now available, exclusively from the restaurant, to celebrate its ten years. In 2006, he wrote The Cinnamon Club Seafood Cookbook, and in 2008 came Curry: Classic and Contemporary. By this time Vivek was not only an award-winning author, but also one of the most respected chefs in the UK, and one of the most recognisable faces of Indian cuisine on TV too. 2008 was also the year that a second restaurant, Cinnamon Kitchen, just off Liverpool Street in London, also opened its doors.

It was great, therefore, to see two articles featuring Vivek in this weekend’s press. The Times included a collection of fine recipes from Vivek to celebrate 10 years of the Cinnamon Club, and show just how very versatile Indian cuisine – in his hands – can be. And then, in Sunday’s Observer Food Monthly magazine, an article from Allan Jenkins following Vivek back home and a ‘food lover’s journey’ across northern India taking in a street curry masterclass and a spice shopping trip and again revealing some of the very best Indian recipes you could hope for.

Here’s wishing Vivek and the Cinnamon Club many more years. If you haven’t already taken a look at his books, do check the links above and read on: there’s much indeed to enjoy.

So, that’s London Book Fair done and dusted for another year. Always a very exciting time: exhibiting new books for the first time and taking in what everyone else in the publishing world is doing too. A big thank you to everyone who came to see us, especially for the enthusiastic response we received to the new books. We’ll be updating the site regularly with news and special previews for each of those new titles over the coming weeks and months. And if you haven’t already done so, be sure to download your copy of the catalogue from the homepage.

Gurpareet Bains will be cooking recipes from his Absolute Press cookery book, Indian Superfood at this year’s London Bookfair. He will be cooking at the Cook Book Corner location at Earl’s Court today at 1400hrs.

Monday 11th April marks the opening day of London International Bookfair. We’re at the fair for all three days, through to Wednesday. We’re at Stand T400 showing our full list and trumpeting all of our great new titles for this year. More news to come on each and every one of those soon.

Pascal Aussignac will be cooking recipes from his award-winning Absolute Press cookery book, ‘Cuisinier Gascon’ at this year’s London Bookfair. He will be cooking at the Cook Book Corner location At Earl’s Court on the 11th April at 1600hrs until 1645hrs.

Monday is the first day of London International Bookfair – one of the most exciting and busy times in the world of book publishing. We thought it would be an apposite time to show off not only our full list of new titles for 2011, but to do so via this new fully updated and new-look website and shop.

Do take the time to look around and let us know what you think. All of our new titles are here as well as our entire available backlist of books – a collection of some of the finest food, drink and gift publishing around. Enjoy your visit and feel free to stay as long (and come back as often) as you like. If you want a quick glance at all of our titles, you can download our full catalogue PDF from the homepage.

This from the introduction to our new 2011 catalogue: a précis of what this year’s new titles have in store (Download a copy of our 2011 catalogue)

2011 sees Absolute Press continuing to release strikingly original and significant books across many genres of food and drink.

Two of the most eagerly anticipated come from three of the most talented chefs working in Britain today. Two of those chefs are the Galvin brothers, Jeff and Chris, who have finally distilled the wonders of their take on French bistrot cooking into Galvin: Cookbook de Luxe, due for September. Linked by Michelin stars, culinary passion and prowess, Phil Howard is also finally set to reveal the secrets of his meticulous and extraordinary craft, when the exquisitely illustrated and monumental work that is The Square Cookbook lands in November.

Reiko Hashimoto’s debut book is here in October; Hashi: A Japanese Cookery Course is intended to demystify and celebrate the wonders of Japanese food like no other book before it. Two classic Absolute Press books are revamped for May. Anissa Helou’s Offal: The Fifth Quarter is reissued in a new edition with beautiful photography and new recipes and will reassert itself as the benchmark book on the subject, at a time when nose-to-tail eating is more fashionable and necessary than ever. Similarly, Fiona Beckett’s The Frugal Cook, first published at a time when credit was being crunched, is now more vital than ever. In these austerity-driven times this newly formatted, fully illustrated, purse-friendly edition is a timely release. Stew! is the follow-up title to the huge bestseller, Mince!: it is another book of practical and hearty food that we all love. It includes traditional favourites but also many new twists and turns on a food that is truly back in vogue. Melt is a book where sublime talents have combined to produce something of genuine beauty and originality. The most gorgeous book on chocolate it most surely is, courtesy of head chocolatier Chikako Watanabe and the magic of photographer Jean Cazals, but it is also one of the most exciting collections of chocolate recipes around. Years in creation, it is due in September. Staying on a sweet theme, Babycakes Covers the Classics is here for October, where more wonderful sugar- and gluten-free vegan delights will be on display from Erin McKenna.

Cook with Kids is a book that we are very proud to be releasing in September. It is a collection of mouthwatering recipes to be shared and cooked with children. This brightest and cheeriest of cookbooks is being sold to raise awareness and support for the School at Great Ormond Street Hospital to which all royalties will be donated.

And also this year, three gift-gilded gems as follows. Berger & Wyse, which is a collection of the ingeniously funny cartoons that have adorned the pages of the Guardian for the last few years: a real foodie treat. Foodie treat too in the form of Everything But The Oink!, a quiz book which is the perfect present for the trivia-loving gastronaut. And finally, The Marvellous Miniature Marmite Cookbook seeks to emulate the astonishing success of its big-brother predecessor, The Marmite Cookbook. Its small format and keen cover price belie a whole host of ingenious ideas for enhancing and rescuing everyday meals, snacks and treats.

Jon Croft
Publisher, Absolute Press

Anissa Helou’s classic work, The Fifth Quarter, first published in 2004, is now re-issued as Offal, updated and expanded with the addition of striking colour food photography. This is the only book currently in print in the English language dedicated exclusively to the subject of offal – a subject currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity and fashion – in all its many and surprising forms. From foie gras to cod’s roe and from sheep’s head to testicles, Offal draws on recipes and traditions from all over the world.

Praise for the original edition:

‘A must for any true offal enthusiast, and a fascinating reference work.’
The Independent

‘Some cooks are monomaniacs, which is why Anissa Helou’s The Fifth Quarter, an offal cookbook will be a hit.’
The Guardian

‘Adventurous palates will relish the cooking phenomenon of nose-to-tail.’
Wallpaper

‘[This] elegantly designed book on offal and off-cuts of meat is uncompromising in its approach. Some of her recipes are not for the squeamish, but there are more approachable ones too.’
The Spectator

‘Anyone with even the slightest taste for offal should rush out and buy The Fifth Quarter. This wonderful book takes in everything from foie gras and chicken wings to fish tripe soup, abalone and goose feet.
Tom Parker Bowles, Mail on Sunday