Awards

• Winner of Gourmand Awards 2025 2025

Overview

In 1990, Britain was mocked for its bland food and over-boiled veg but by 2000, the country was on its way to being one of the world’s most exciting culinary hotspots.   Former Good Food Guide editor Andrew Turvil was there, tasting Marco Pierre White’s three Michelin starred food, clocking Jamie Oliver’s first TV take, and fielding volcanic phone calls from irate chefs. In sparkling prose and a veritable feast of 1990s food, Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears charts the wild ride from the cigarette-fueled ‘SAS of kitchens’ to Hakkasan’s velvet-dark glamour via the £5 recession lunch and the arrival of conveyor-belt sushi.  What you’ll find inside:  •    First-hand stories from Marco Pierre White, Paul Heathcote, Vineet Bhatia, Heston Blumenthal, and more. •    The 1990s trends that shaped today - coffee outlets rose 847% and monthly eating-out nearly tripled by 2015, while organic sales doubled. •    A tasting tour of 33 iconic dishes that still shape restaurant menus now, from Black Cod Miso to Triple-Cooked Chips. •    Insight into how the 1990s forged the careers of current headline chefs and set the template for Britain’s modern, multicultural food identity Fast-paced, funny and meticulously researched, this is a love-letter to restaurants—and the people who bled to make them great. If you’ve ever yelled “Yes, chef!” at a TV, queued for ramen, or Instagrammed a marrow bone, this is your origin story. This is the ultimate feast of 90s nostalgia. 

Full Product Details

9781783969111

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘A fabulous book - a page-turning in-depth delve into our world of food, hospitality and the characters within’ Sally Clarke, chef and restaurateur ‘It felt like I had been transported by Tardis back into the kitchen of the nineties: a cauldron of excitement, beauty and the sheer graft of a movement that changed British food for ever.’ Paul Heathcote MBE ‘A fine read ... gives fascinating insight into a pivotal time for food and restaurants’ Shaun Hill, chef

‘A fabulous book - a page-turning in-depth delve into our world of food, hospitality and the characters within’ Sally Clarke, chef and restaurateur ‘It felt like I had been transported by Tardis back into the kitchen of the nineties: a cauldron of excitement, beauty and the sheer graft of a movement that changed British food for ever.’ Paul Heathcote MBE ‘A fine read ... gives fascinating insight into a pivotal time for food and restaurants’ Shaun Hill, chef ‘A valuable historical contribution. More importantly... a delightful read.’ The Sunday Times ‘Interesting reading for any foodie … Ever wondered how triple cooked chips, black miso cod and good coffee came to be staples of the last 10 years? Then this is the book for you.’ The Scotsman ‘Mr Turvil does an excellent job of etching out the context that allowed the 1990s restaurant revolution to flourish … this is a well-paced account of an oft-forgotten turning point in British culture, written with infectious zeal.’ Country Life ‘Mouthwatering... a whistlestop tour through the eateries that changed Britain … Turvil has compiled a fascinating foray into our country's restaurants and shown that while we might be a small nation, we have always had a huge appetite.’ The Mail on Sunday ‘Andrew Turvil’s book gives a fast-paced and fascinating insight into the 1990s restaurant revolution’ Restaurant

‘A much jollier approach to the food part of restaurants is offered by Blood, Sweat and Asparagus Spears by former Good Food Guide editor Andrew Turvil … an extremely efficient romp through the postwar decades, one dish at a time, from a prawn cocktail in the 1970s at the Berni Inn, one of the first British attempts at an American-style restaurant chain, via Marco Pierre White’s tagliatelle of oysters and caviar at Harvey’s in the ’80s, through the steak sandwich at The Eagle, the original gastropub to, yes, shepherd’s pie at The Ivy in the ’90s. It’s a reminder of something important. Restaurants are indeed third spaces. Historically they have been places where art movements were born, revolutions plotted, ideas shared. So no, the food is rarely the most important thing. But it does actually help if they serve something nice to eat.’ Jay Rayner, Financial Times ‘A fabulous book - a page-turning in-depth delve into our world of food, hospitality and the characters within’ Sally Clarke, chef and restaurateur ‘It felt like I had been transported by Tardis back into the kitchen of the nineties: a cauldron of excitement, beauty and the sheer graft of a movement that changed British food for ever.’ Paul Heathcote MBE ‘A fine read ... gives fascinating insight into a pivotal time for food and restaurants’ Shaun Hill, chef ‘A valuable historical contribution. More importantly... a delightful read.’ The Sunday Times ‘Interesting reading for any foodie … Ever wondered how triple cooked chips, black miso cod and good coffee came to be staples of the last 10 years? Then this is the book for you.’ The Scotsman ‘Mr Turvil does an excellent job of etching out the context that allowed the 1990s restaurant revolution to flourish … this is a well-paced account of an oft-forgotten turning point in British culture, written with infectious zeal.’ Country Life ‘Mouthwatering... a whistlestop tour through the eateries that changed Britain … Turvil has compiled a fascinating foray into our country's restaurants and shown that while we might be a small nation, we have always had a huge appetite.’ The Mail on Sunday ‘Andrew Turvil’s book gives a fast-paced and fascinating insight into the 1990s restaurant revolution’ Restaurant ‘Former Good Food Guide editor Andrew Turvil has written a nostalgic but useful account of how the 1990s transformed the UK’s restaurant scene. The story is told via chapters dedicated to 33 varied dishes that shaped it, including the River Cafe’s chocolate nemesis cake, Nobu’s black cod with miso . . . and spag bol at Spaghetti House.’ Financial Times, Best Books of 2025

‘A fabulous book - a page-turning in-depth delve into our world of food, hospitality and the characters within’ Sally Clarke, chef and restaurateur ‘It felt like I had been transported by Tardis back into the kitchen of the nineties: a cauldron of excitement, beauty and the sheer graft of a movement that changed British food for ever.’ Paul Heathcote MBE ‘A fine read ... gives fascinating insight into a pivotal time for food and restaurants’ Shaun Hill, chef ‘A valuable historical contribution. More importantly... a delightful read.’ The Sunday Times

‘A fabulous book - a page-turning in-depth delve into our world of food, hospitality and the characters within’ Sally Clarke, chef and restaurateur ‘It felt like I had been transported by Tardis back into the kitchen of the nineties: a cauldron of excitement, beauty and the sheer graft of a movement that changed British food for ever.’ Paul Heathcote MBE ‘A fine read ... gives fascinating insight into a pivotal time for food and restaurants’ Shaun Hill, chef ‘A valuable historical contribution. More importantly... a delightful read.’ The Sunday Times ‘Interesting reading for any foodie … Ever wondered how triple cooked chips, black miso cod and good coffee came to be staples of the last 10 years? Then this is the book for you.’ The Scotsman ‘Mr Turvil does an excellent job of etching out the context that allowed the 1990s restaurant revolution to flourish … this is a well-paced account of an oft-forgotten turning point in British culture, written with infectious zeal.’ Country Life

Author Information

Described by The Independent as one of the UK’s ‘arbiters of taste’, Andrew Turvil is the former editor of The Good Food Guide, AA Restaurant Guide and Which? Pub Guide. As a freelance restaurant critic, writer, and editor, he has spent his career writing about pubs and restaurants, and, undeterred, bought a pub in 2015 and ran it for 10 years. Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears is his first book. 

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