We have dozens of cookbooks collected over the years, but rarely open them these days. Instead we just Google recipes like Philistines. Still, I’d love to stop in at Books for Cooks the next time that I’m in London.

In 1983 Heidi Lascelles came up with a tasty concept for a bookshop with an in-store kitchen that could put cookbooks to the test. Each day a different cookbook would be selected and recipes from that book would be cooked and served for lunch to customers. Regular customer Eric Treuille frequented the shop hoping to get the attention of a staff member named Rosie and before he knew it, they would eventually take over running the store together. Eric has been in the business long enough to know what makes a book special. Having cooked hundreds of recipes from different cuisines, tell him what you’re looking for and he’ll be able to recommend the right book in a heartbeat.

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