eatmynels

Matapa

2012-02-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

As mentioned a while back on the Guludo FB page, Matapa, is a typical Mozambiquan dish made from the leaves of the cassava, bean or mandioca plant. The leaves are cooked down with tomatoes, spices and peanuts. The bitter, hardy leaves need a good preliminary boil to break down the bitterness before being cooked with the spices and other ingredients.

This spicy and very filling dish is made in many deferent ways all across Mozambique but this is how we do it at Guludo. You probably won’t be able to get cassava or bean leaves in the UK but savoy cabbage would work, as would chard and proper chunky spinach. Use any deep green, gnarly looking leaves that need a bit of boiling.

MATAPA - serves 4

Ingredients:

Large bunch of chosen leaves ideally cassava or bean approximately 300g

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 sliced onion

1/2 can of tomatoes

2 cloves of crushed garlic

1 red hot chilli or 1/2 a table spoon of chilli powder

1 tablespoon of curry powder

100g of unsalted peanuts, blitzed or pounded into crumbs.

Boil the leaves in unsalted water until they breakdown and loose any bitterness. Boiling to oblivion is OK is this instance, some leaves take up to 40 minutes. If using cabbage or chard, 15 minutes should be ample . Drain and let as much water evaporate as possible. Fry the onion in vegetable oil, when translucent add the curry powder, chilli and garlic. When fragrant add the tomato paste and allow the flavous to meld, then add the fresh tomatoes and leaves, mix well. Finally add the peanuts, let stand without mixing for 5 minutes.

Peanuts make all the difference here, lots is never enough. They give it a deeply savoury hit and an umami flurry. Cook for a further 15-20 minutes adding more water if it gets too dry. The matapa should be thick and almost sticky when ready. Season with lots of salt and pepper and serve with basmati or chapatis. Bom.

Latest Catch

2011-12-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a 13kg fish landed on the beach, known locally as a Jolway. Any help in identifying the fish would be most helpful - the flesh is white with large flakes and quite meaty.

The kitchen crew take some time out to pose

Cato butchers the Jolway in under 8 minutes

Angelica e polvo

Crab (caranguejo) from the mangroves

Juicy claws

Samuel and ananas

Dinner menu (click on the image for an enlarged view)

Lastly, thought you might want to see the staff longdrop

Salama Guludo

2011-12-06T00:18:00.000-08:00

Since leaving Pemba this time last week it’s been full on - new people, long hours, exceptional heat, amazing place. The four hour drive, some 50 kilometres along sandy tracks, takes you through a handful of Mozambiquan villages. Snapshots of people getting on with daily life show women washing, children filling buckets of water, people trying to balance far too many things on bicycles. Arriving at Guludo Beach Lodge (GBL) with its raked pathways and flowering shrubs is like breaking through to the other side. A haven on the East African coast, notwithstanding several ants and some malarial mosquitoes.

The restaurant

In work terms the days are long - the kitchen opens at 5.30 when the oven is lit for the breakfast loaves with shifts running between 6m and 2pm or 2pm until all guests have eaten dinner and we shut down the kitchen about 9.

The office

The kitchen team consists of 7 cooks, 3 on each shift with one taking a day off. This morning we have Awa and Izianna. Carlos is meant to be here too but is at his cousins funeral. Death and illness is large part of life for people in Guludo Village and absences from work due to deatha are an alarmingly regular occurrence.
The 4 other cooks include, Angelica, Cato, Gilli and Samuel. See proud Cato below striking a valiant pose, please note the American football boots, complete with studs. This team of 7 are very proficient cooks, some of them having worked at Guludo Lodge for 7 years. Whoever first trained these guys did an amazing job, elegant mango tarts, crab ravioli, chocolate muffins are all whipped up effortlessly without the use of a recipe or electric appliances. Cleaning and food storage could do with some work, especially since we only use gas powered chest fridges that quickly become overcrowded and disorderly. I introduced clingfilm which is still taking some getting used to.

Cato

Iziania
Carlos

Gilli

The lack of electricity and running water is a headache, but consequently we only use the bare minimum of water and gas for lighting, refrigeration and cooking is more than adequate. Amazingly, one large bucket (known in Portuguese as a 'baldi’) of water (50lt) will be enough for cooking and cleaning for one day, albeit during relatively low season.

Fish is available in abundance, local fisherman arrive on the beach with their catch. Squid known as 'lula' and crab is coming out of our ears. Roughly one good sized fish is bought in a day with some lobsters and huge prawns thrown in. Compared with the produce in Pemba, this wondrous seafood is a bargain. Squid costs 50mt a kilo (£1.20), Crab 30mt and any fish comes to £2.50 per kilo.

We are in the middle of kitchen renovations, working around builders had been dealt with without complaint and in a few days all works should be complete, the kitchen garden is also ready for planting. Fres herbs should grow well here with the onset if the rainy season. Dishes will love the addition of fragrant herbs. More on the food next time.

Shopping in Pemba

2011-11-28T04:28:00.000-08:00

This morning involved looking around the key shops and main market in Pemba. All supplies that can't be sourced from Guludo Village can be found in Pemba. Large supermarkets sell most dry store stapes as well as imported products. Soy sauce and pastas are available but they cost.

In fact, Pamba is an expensive. At the open air market fruit and veg was much more costly than expected. The current exchange rate of meticais to sterling sits at forty to the pound.

Water melon is about £1 a kilo, onions are£1.75/kg and cucumbers at £1.5/kg. Tomatoes have apparently just shot up to 100mt/kg, weighing in a whopping £2.5o/kg. The honey you can see in the 25cl water bottles costs 310mt, about £7.75. apparently it's like rocking horse shit - rare as hell, but much tastier.

Fortunately village prices are much cheaper. Tomatoes are half the price at 50mt/kg and a dozen eggs are 40mt compared with about 110mt in Pemba.

Off to the lodge at 9am tomorrow with two guests and Cassiano who will be driving...

Guludo Beach Lodge

2011-11-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

It's eight in the morning at Jomo Kenyatta International airport, flight KQ101 arrived from London Heathrow at 0610. I have nine hours to wait until flight TM4466 departs for Pemba, Mozambique, my new home for at least the next twelve months.

I will be working as Chef/Food and Beverage Manager at Guludo Beach Lodge in the Quirimbas National Park in Northern Mozambique. The lodge opened in 2002, set up by Amy and Neal Carter-James as a sustainable tourist destination and social enterprise. The lodge intends to have limited environmental impact and act as the key source of employment in the local area.

The Nema Foundation was set up alongside the lodge and receives 5% of all revenues to provide education, health initiatives and food programmes for 16 villages, currently reaching some 16,000 people.

Seafood from local fishermen and vegetables from farming co-operatives, set up by Nema, provide most of the supplies for Guludo's restaurant. Currently no mains water or electricity is available at the lodge, but last week we heard news that power had reached Guludo Village two kilometers away. Electricity should be up an running within the next six months.

In the meantime, its good-bye restaurant analyst office job and hello Guludo Beach Lodge. With any luck I'll have time for regular updates and eatmynels will become food blog and Guludo journal. Please like us on facebook and follow on twitter.

See you later London.

P.S. I love you.

Union Jacks: Oliver’s British Pizza

2011-09-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

The latest Jamie Oliver concept, Union Jacks, has gone live online. Www.unionjacksrestaurants.com is the first glimpse of Oliver’s new Anglo-Italian concept, where ‘wood-fired flatbreads meet great British flavours’. Intriguing, but not as confusing as the bra advert on the homepage.

An excerpt from the site says: ‘At Union Jacks, [we] want to take you on a journey of discovery through Britain and reintroduce you to familiar flavours, cooked and presented the Union Jacks way. Our incredible flatbreads and wood-fired cooking methods nod to traditions that are universally loved, and nearly all of the ingredients for the toppings are unabashedly local.’

The Union Jacks concept is an interesting symbiosis of British food trends combined with long term consumer demand for Italian cuisine. Using of the word ‘flatbreads’ rather than pizza enables the concept to straddle two cuisine types effectively without alienating one another.

Chris Bianco, founder of the renowned Pizzeria Bianco in the US, has been helping Oliver mastermind the ‘flatbread’ offering at Union Jacks and is a Director of the new Jamie Bianco Ltd. Biancio opened his first Pizzeria in 1987 and has since received wide acclaim for his ‘world class’ food. The presence of Bianco on these shores demonstrates Oliver’s aspiration to compete with the major pizza players in the UK, albeit with a British twist.

The roll-out of Franco Manca and the out of London expansion for Rossopomodoro are all clear signs that the UK pizza market is entering a more mature phase where multiple operators are concerned. It seems that Jamie wants a piece of the pie.

I am certainly looking forward to seeing how the concept hangs together. With such an experienced management team, led by Simon Blagden, its hard to see the restaurant ding badly, its more a question of how quickly the roll-out occurs.

Union Jacks: opening in November

Central St Giles
London WC1H 8AG

Meatballs at the Quality Chop House

2011-08-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Quality Chop House at the top of Farringdon Road is an age old landmark nestled among the gastro-hub surrounding Exmouth Market. It started out as a 'Progressive Working Class Caterers' serving the local manual labourers in the 1870s. The grade two listed building has remained relatively unchanged ever since, although the previous tenants had let conditions slip. A full interior renovation has the place back to its former glory with many of the original fixtures in shiny working order. A magnificent wooden refrigerator made to fit in a narrow gap between the internal staircase and kitchen has been put back to work (see above right).

The work done at the Chop House could not have been undertaken by some motley start-up crew - this sensitive restoration and application of a cunningly thought out concept is surely the work of a seasoned pro. It was my intention to get to the bottom of this NYC inspired meatball concept where a portion of 3 balls is a mere £3.95.

Meatballs is a neatly branded package; a choice of five balls made of all the major meats and a courgette version come in portions of three, but you can add an extra bonus ball for a quid. Here is the clever bit - Sliders. Stick any of the above into a cutesy brioche bun bang, it's fun for everyone. Chunky sides like pappardelle (£2.95) and parmesan cream sauce (an extra £1) or creamed spinach make this diner so amenable it hurts (note: no chips). Tailoring to taste has never been so easy.

So who's behind it all? Hugh Fowler is the man with the plan, and this is just the latest ruse from the casual dining veteran whose CV is as long as your arm. Hugh's restaurant career started in the mid 70s whilst working for the global chain Pizzaland; he then assisted on the first attempt to import the Wendy's brand into the UK. After running two businesses near Tower Bridge, one cafe and ice-cream parlour and a baked potato business, he opened Cafe Pasta in 1987 with his wife Shelly. Cafe Pasta was a huge success and ten years later Fowler sold the chain to Pizza Express for a tidy sum. In 2003 he started Hamburger Union then became MD of CG Restaurants who own Tutton's in Covent Garden and the Fire & Stone pizza brand. Fair to say that this is a man who has earned his stripes.

Meatballs at the Quality Chop House is pretty recession proof with cheap eats offered in a location that will surely have it packed from noon till night. Possibly ripe for a roll out but given the truly magnificent setting it's hard to see it working as well somewhere with less unique character.

Meatballs at The Quality Chop House
92-94 Farringdon Road
London. EC1R 3EA
T: 020 3490 6228
www.meatballs.co.uk

Go to map

Opening Friday 26 August 2011

Some swell shots of the food on Sarah Kemp's blog here

Gusta - Supperclub Web Platform

2011-07-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

An exciting new platform has been launched that can help discover less traditional eating out experiences. Gusta is a website that presents supper-clubs, home restaurants and underground dining across the world. Currently operating in 16 cities including New York, Buenos Aires, London, Barcelona, Singapore, Berlin, Copenhagen and Paris residents and visitors can easily access the world of alternative dining.

While the site is very much in its infancy, with only 40 underground restaurants so far, Gusta is destined for big things. High quality images taken by professional photographers free of charge highlight the restaurant descriptions and diner reviews. Fully facebook integrated, with recommendation and sharing capabilities, Gusta will surely go some way towards the mass popularisation of underground dining worldwide.

I asked Carly Chamberlain, Founder of Gusta, if making the underground dining scene so accessible might it not detract from the appeal and excitement of more illicit eating out experiences, she the commented that: "Every underground dining experience is unique and mysterious, the act of getting there doesn't have to be. We intend to bring new and international audiences to the supper clubs on Gusta with a strong emphasis on SEO and online marketing at scale that would not be feasible for an individual club."

Cash generated through bookings via the site is the main revenue source for owners Carly and Chris. The aim is to provide a meeting place for both cooks and diners where everyone wins also meaning that the supperclub is here to stay. Explore Gusta at www.gusta.com

The Capability at Syon House

2011-07-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

In the 1760s The Duke of Northumberland commissioned architect Robert Adam and and landscape designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to redesign the house and gardens of his London residence. Syon Park sits opposite Kew Gardens on the North side of the river Thames sprawling over 200 acres of elegant parkland and is still occupied by The Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy.

Modernisation has inevitably come in to play at Syon, with the most significant change being the building of a new state-of-the-art hotel in the parkland. The Waldorf Astoria group's latest hotel hides behind Syon House in stark contrast to the 18th Century pile. The new hotel has a box fresh feel, with dark building materials and long horizontal lines reminding of traditional Japanese architecture, miles away from the neo-classic 'Adam Style' of the estate.

As is fitting for a new hotel, five restaurants and bars have been created, all with quirky USPs intended to confirm the 'destination' status. Named after the landscape architect who sculpted Syon Park back in 1762 The Capability is the hotel's fine dining option and is headed up by Chef Lee Streeton.

It's all about the produce at The Capability; Chef Streeton has made impressive use of the grounds and its purpose built growing areas to gather the best ingredients. He says that "Every chef dreams about a restaurant with the facility to grow their own ingredients; I even have a trout lake, meat and fish smoker, not to mention five beehives to work with.” Lee says he is dedicated to using as much produce as possible from the hotel’s own orchard, herb and kitchen gardens. He will grow 24 different types of vegetables picked daily, and what he can't use will be pickled and preserved. In an inspired setting, the Chef's Table is in the greenhouse where tomatoes, peppers, melons and a variety of other fruits are cultivated.

Lee cooked us a tasting menu that showcased some of the parks produce and dishes that explain the ideology behind The Capability.

Starters included a chilled watercress soup. This was followed by Dorset snails with black pudding, wild boar bacon and garlic butter. The flavour was full-on but texturally not 100% accessible to all.

The ‘Waldorf Salad’ of celery, apple and pickled walnuts was a casual take on the mayo heavy kitsch number letting the freshness of the fuit and veg ring out.

A Heritage tomato salad was my favourite dish of all, effortless. acidic and honest.

Streeton’s smoked salmon with shaved fennel was extremely oaky and thick cut. Two wines were paired along side the starters; a Sauvignon Blanc Domaine du Pont de Livier 2010 went with all the dishes except the snails, and a Spy Valley Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 held up against the boar bacon and black pudding.

The mains were Cornish silver mullet with mussels and samphire. Aberdeenshire sirloin and pigeon with chargrilled marrow and zesty gooseberries - an Alamos Malbec 2010 was lined up for this. The meat had been deftly lain on the broiler and had the smoky char of a grown up piece of meat.

Puddings were Bakewell tart then a selection of British cheeses with Meantime beer syrup along side a Maury Grenat 2007.

Being just seven miles from central London, Chef Lee Streeton is lucky enough to have unbridled access to fresh home-grown produce; I hope that he is able to continue to take full advantage.

The Capability
Syon Park,
 Brentford,
Middlesex ,
TW8 8JF   

Trends and Forcasting

2011-06-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Recessionary behavior, increasingly sophisticated technology, advanced urban dwelling and savvy consumerism are among the factors affecting the the way we run our lives but what affect do these have on food and restaurants? See below for a few top tips on whats hot and what we can expect to see coming our way:

On Food & Cooking:

Urban farming and its associated produce will be seen on menus
New and alternative cooking methods – sous vide, oil-less frying, char-broiling, smoking
Healthfulness – free-from ranges (gluten free, lactose free, veganism)
Hand-held foods – greater innovation in Grab-and-Go formats for on-the-go lifestyles
Food by post – subscription based food delivery especially in the workplace
Ice – frozen items will rise in popularity from iced desserts to carved ice balls in drinks
Popcorn in a variety of weird and wonderful flavours to become the new super-snack
Bugs – snacking on insects will become commonplace as a sustainable and protein rich food
Tea time – a boom in tea drinking spurred on by new exotic and interesting types and origins, not least Bubble Tea
Modern meat – ultimate transparency and traceability in meat production, supply and preparation
Artisan Pizza, cost effective, simple and authentic
Proper BBQ – low and slow

Tech:

Cashless payments – contactless, Smart phone payment, Paypal apps, QR scanners, POS touch screens, Square, Google wallet
Smartphone apps will become increasingly more sophisticated, restaurant locations, food ordering, deals etc.

Marketing and Innovation:

Use of the ‘embedded story’ to add authenticity to restaurant concepts
Personalisation – greater connectivity with the ‘individual’ via social media
Micro dining – smaller more cost effective outlets (including pop-ups and mobile units) and smaller portion sizes as people eat less but more often
Generosity and Gifting – operators will attract custom and loyalty by creating a perception of kindliness, even greater attention paid to reputation, not least with a heightening of green credentials and corporate responsibility
Usefulness – multifunctional operations, E.G. coffee shop/diner/roastery or cafe/bike shop, endless permutations Location, location, location – despite the proliferation of big brands they will work harder to be site specific and unique by location, creating uniqueness within wide coverage

Intangibles:

Planned spontaneity – greater variety of dining options at lower prices allows for more spontaneous and flexible choices
Fun – the importance of eating out as entertainment will be taken further

Sources: www.trendwatching.com, www.lostincatering.com, www.morgainegaye.com

Q&A With Sefano Ispani CEO of Ponti's Group

2011-06-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

New Beginnings for Ponti's with the re-launch of their Italian Kitchen, I talk to Stefano Ispani about food, family and salame felino.

Ponti's has been around since the early 1960s, why is now the time for a revamped Ponti's Italian Kitchen?  

My father, with the help of his uncle “Zio” Johnny, opened the first caffe in 1963 at a time when London was experiencing an invasion of Italian culture, with many Italians coming to the city to open cafés and restaurants. Ponti's rode the wave and did well, however, we realised by the mid 90’s that the old counter concept was becoming tired and outmoded.

Sadly in September 2001 my Father passed away and a new MD took over. In 2007, understanding that customers wanted a very different experience to what the old tray style operation was able to offer, we decided to make more radical changes. The previous MD left and I took charge. With a re-invigorated team we started the process of reclaiming the brand, focusing our efforts on what we were good at rather than trying to compete within an already crowded market. Food was the first thing we knew we could do well – so we concentrated on the brilliant produce and culinary heritage of Emilia Romagna, the region of Italy where my family comes from. The idea is to celebrate the family heritage of the business through the provenance of the food. Secondly, we knew that we had to offer a remarkable service at a level our customers would not be able to find anywhere else. We really hope that these core values shine through at Ponti's Italian Kitchen.  

Ponti's Italian Kitchen is all about a more premium offering, what makes it special?  
I've already mentioned the attention we pay to the provenance of the food we serve. Produce from Emilia Romagna is exceptional; we don't serve Grana Padana parmesan but a superior Parmigiano Reggiano and the Salame Fellino comes from a particular producer near to where the family originates in Piacenza (the hometown of Giorgio Armani!). Our Tortelli Piacentini are also individually hand-made in Piacenza. This makes all the difference, as the local water, eggs and flour that go into the pasta are totally distinctive and not something you can replicate here in the UK.

We have close ties to one of the most respected restaurants in the area, called “Il Falco di Riva Alta” with whom we exchange recipes and swap ideas - Sabrina, their head chef comes over to help with new recipes. We are creating new dishes too, new generation twists on the classics - our Italian Kitchen Burger uses award winning beef but comes with provolone cheese and Pancetta on a handmade roll specially imported for us from Italy. All our desserts and cakes are either hand-made on the premises by our chefs or by one of London’s top bakeries to our own special recipes and delivered daily. We really feel that there is no other upper mid-market Italian eatery providing the same quality of food at the prices we offer.   

Tell me what else is on the menu?  

Obviously we have great Pizza; the toppings are limited to classic and authentic choices. Our Antipasti comes on olive wood boards with mixed meats like salame felino, mortadella, coppa, prosciutto crudo all from Emilia Romagna of course and carefully chosen. We have kept things simple and hope that the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves. We have tried to offer something for everyone. I know that Italian food can be carb heavy so we have lighter salads, soups and some freshly made sandwiches. We recognise that to be successful we have to get as much trade out of each day as possible so we serve breakfasts. You can get Italian style pancakes, our take on more classic full cooked choices, fresh pastries etc…  

Ponti's Italian Kitchen isn't just a restaurant, what else is available for customers?  

There is the open kitchen with its wood-stone oven and all the produce we use on display. We also sell lots of ingredients and products that are not available from supermarkets - cheese, wine, meat and olive oil can all be bought here. Sales have far surpassed our original expectations. Our Lavazza Tierra coffee bar is also a great feature, we do take-away coffee all day. We really are a multi-functional outfit, that can be used by customers for whatever purpose. If you want a full service dining experience of the highest quality with wine and a Grappa to finish, great, but equally, we want to serve those who want a cappuccino and pastry in the morning. Our ‘Scuola Pizza’ is very exciting, we run sessions teaching people how to make pizza our way and they get hands-on with the dough and toppings.  

What's next for Ponti's, can we expect a roll-out of Ponti's Italian Kitchens?  

We are focusing very much on the now with what we have here, rolling out an idea doesn't always work in every location, we are taking it one step at a time. The old style Ponti's will be getting a makeover, we have launched the new style Caffe Italia branding that will be gradually upgrading the old stock. But ultimately it’s the customers who decide whether we rise or fall, they are the people we want to impress with the quality of what's on offer. We hope that what we have done with Ponti's Italian Kitchen will provide customers with that genuine Italian experience and make us the place to go for exceptional food from the food heart of Italy, Emilia Romagna.

Ponti's Italian Kitchen 
54 Duke Street  
London W1K 6JN 
Tel: 020 7629 3174 

Ponti's Italian Kitchen
 5-7 John Princes Street
Oxford Circus
London
W1G 0JN 
Tel: 020 3230 3018 

www.p-i-k.co.uk

Pho

2011-05-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Food service is a shitty term with horrid connotations. I live within spitting distance of most major fast-food chain restaurants and some days the combined smell is enough to turn my stomach. But a surprising number of chain operators exist that buck the trend of producing unhealthy pallid scrot. Home-grown concepts that are lovingly attended and produce food that is affordable, healthy and properly cooked. Pho (pronounced 'fer' FYI), the brainchild of Stephen and Juliette Wall, is one such emerging brand.

Always an admirer of going out on a limb and risking it all, I was impressed to hear that in 2004 the couple resigned from their jobs, stuck everything in storage, rented out their flat and left the country to go traveling around South East Asia with the simple plan of researching a new restaurant concept.

Stephen told me that they weren't certain what cuisine they had in mind so set out to discover whatever was out there. Falling in love with the national dish of Vietnam confirmed their choice. He explained to me that: 'we had to choose pho because of its utter addictiveness, as well as being the soul of the nation and a source of national pride; it's so much more than just a dish'.

Pho is a noodle soup that comes piping hot in a generously sized bowl. Most commonly pho contains beef or chicken and rice noodles in a delicious broth. Accompaniments like basil, bean sprouts and limes come with the dish and are added by the diner. Pho is said to have originated from Vietnamese, French and Chinese origins, one theory being that the classic French pot-au-feu was a European precursor.

I asked Stephen how he feels their concept fits into the UK market with such a strong representation of Vietnamese restaurants run by a large Vietnamese community and whether there is much lost in translation when adapting a traditional cuisine to western palettes. In reply he made it clear that Pho does 'not want to compete with the likes of those on the pho mile (Kingsland Road) but instead occupy the mass market, sitting alongside the Wahacas, Busabas and Wagamamas. We see Pho as a concise operation with a specialised menu that appeals to a wide audience. The only adaptation we have had to make for western tastes is improve the quality of the meat we use. On the street in Hanoi its not unusual to get big lumps of unidentifiable meat in your bowl of pho and we have had to tweak this.'

The Menu at Pho is short and to the point, they concentrate on a few things and do them well. The starters are mainly spring and summer rolls, pork and lemongrass meatballs and Bahn Xeo, a traditional Vietnamese crepe. Mains consist of Gio, a hearty crunchy salad in a variety of flavours and Pho Xao, wok fried flat noodles served with a choice of three toppings - beef, prawn and chicken or tofu and mushroom. Pho, the main event, can be ordered in a variety of combinations and with a load of additional extras, lime, chilli, basil etc. to tweak and customise the pho according to preference. Another noodle dish called Bun Noodles, is a deep filled bowl that comes with fresh herbs, crunchy carrot, mooli and a choice of hot toppings, garnished with roasted peanuts, fried shallots and a veggie spring roll. The last on the list of main courses is a mild and creamy Cari or curry that comes with chicken, prawn or tofu. Prices of all mains are around the £7-9 mark and are ample in size.

The first Pho outpost opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005 but it was not until regulars, Tom and Ed Martin, gastro-pub gurus joined Pho as investors in April 2007 having heard of the Wall's planned roll-out. Their investment enabled the opening of the second site at Great Titchfield Street. Pho now have 5 outlets, with one in Brighton and 2 more units planned to open by the end of the 2011. If Mr and Mrs Wall stick to the original vision and maintain standards there is no reason why Pho can't become a household name with food that is not at all reminiscent of the bilious toot evoked by the sound of food service.

www.phocafe.co.uk

Spelt

2011-05-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Spelt is not, as I first thought, gluten free and therefore not suitable for coeliacs but can be eaten by those with a more mild sensitivity to wheat. It is a subspecies of the closely related common wheat and has become popular and widely available in the past few years. Sharpham Park in Somerset have been working to recover the popularity of the age old grain. Spelt is their main crop where is is organically farmed and stone ground on-site.

This was the first time anyone had sent me flours so I was understandably delighted. Adhering to the organic and wholesome nature of the harvest I selected the 'Artisan Flour' with which to bake the first loaf. Since the days of Robin's I've become a bit of dough-nut, especially having been versed in the bakery bible that is 'The Bread Bakers Apprentice'. This rather nerdy tome is a must for anyone who fancies getting to grips with flour based products and their production. Peter Reinhart's fetishistic approach to bread making is infectious and the writing style is patient and easy to follow.

I half took into consideration the recipe on the side of the packed and half tried to remember what Pete said. For one smallish loaf I used:

250g Sharpham Park Artisan Flour
1 Heaped teaspoon of fast action yeast
1 Teaspoon of salt
1 Table spoon of some crazy-ass honey I stole from my Mum's cupboard
200ml of lukewarm water

Empty all the ingredients into a mixing bowl at once, mix to combine and let sit for five minutes. This gets the yeast going and helps to warm through the flour that will help to ease in the fermentation phase. The dough was very sticky so I made sure to balance this out with a little extra flour and a healthily dusted surface. Kneading by hand takes about 10 minutes of hard graft keeping the dough moving to free up the tightly coiled mass of protein and gluten molecules. You'll know when its ready because the dough will pass what is know as the 'Windowpane Test.

The dough is pliable enough to stretch out until you can see through it. On a molecular level this means that the previously tangled gluten molecules have been straightened out into a smooth and stretchy (H.McGee 'On Food and Cooking', Harper Collins, 1991). The dough temperature should also be between 25C and 27.2C, Whoops.

At this stage I must mention timings, bread can be made from scratch and baked after an hours proofing, shaping and re-rising, but the point of proofing or fermentation is to get the culture working within the dough. The natural sugars in the flour act as food for the yeast and the aim is to extract as much flavor from the rather special flour that we are using. The length of fermentation time is therefore important as is temperature. Bakeries have special proving cabinets which are set to automatically change temperature at certain times to get the perfect time-temperature equilibrium in order to get the best results from the dough. What Mr. Reinhart suggests is, in a domestic setting, to use the fridge and rest the dough overnight, while it is a long ferment the cool temperature 'retards' the bacterial action allowing for a full flavor at the same time fitting into a normal lifestyle.

So into a lightly oiled bowl covered and into the fridge over night. I actually left mine until I came home from work the following evening then shaped it onto a baking tray lined with parchment and left for another 3 hours to get to room temperature and start the second ferment.

Having scored it, which aids any extra expansion that happens once it hits the heat, it goes into an oven at 200C for about 40 minutes.

Having spent fifteen minutes with floury hands on Thursday night I was able to enjoy this loaf all weekend. While it was slightly flatter than I had hoped the loaf had a fragrant nutty aroma and dense and chewy crumb.

Thanks to Sharpham Park for the flour.

Brewed Boy Coffee

2011-05-07T06:09:00.001-07:00

Brewed Boy's coffee cart arrives at seven every morning at one of the last remaining seedy corners of Soho. Twilight's, Little Amsterdam and a miscellaneous latex-wear shop not yet open for business line the quiet cobbled street as Rob Lockyear (AKA Brewed Boy) sets up his stall ready for the morning rush.

I came across Rob quite by accident on a sunny morning while out on errands; needing a caffeine fix I got chatting to the extremely personable and well-spoken Rob whilst enjoying the best flat white (read Aussie Cappuccino) I'd ever had.

Coffee is huge business these days. Corporate giants make millions; chain operators are inescapable on every high street, train station and airport. Costa Coffee concessions are found in gyms, pubs, hostels and the list goes on. This wouldn't be a problem if the coffee was tasty and keenly priced. Unfortunately as a population we have become accustomed to towering Grandes of milky pond-water that gives little change in exchange for a fiver. The Coffee served by Brewed Boy on the other-hand is something totally different. He describes it as an 'affordable daily luxury', micro-foam milk heated with a deft touch, poured over an oily and aromatic shot of mahogany coffee. Smooth and sweet, with hints of wood and hay hit the nose before the silky slick is swallowed down. Not only does this morning fix hit the spot like no other high street jolt it costs the same but made will care and attention and a personal edge. In terms of value for money this product is second to none.

Rob Lockyear became a Barista having spent time in the new-wave coffee centre of the world, Australia. Barista's in Australia are held in extremely high regard, trainees are often not even allowed to touch the hallowed machines for up to three months after starting work in a cafe. Intensive training is important to the education of a proper Barista. This is in stark contrast to the one-day training programme your average coffee shop employee undergoes whilst being taught how to use the one-button-push bean-to-cup super-auto machines designed specifically to dehumanise the coffee making process.

Good training is not the only secret to Brewed Boy's process, he remarks that "I talk to the same people every day who come down buy their coffee from me, it's almost as if the coffee is secondary. People love it when you know them by name and can remember their order. I have a list of regulars who I see every day, I hardly ever make money from tourists."

The human aspect of Rob's vocation seems to be so important. Each weekday morning starts with the wheeling of the coffee cart from the lock-up 100 meters from the Rupert Street site. As no plumbing exists for the mobile unit, Rob has made fiends with local businesses who give him water to fill the boiler of the machine. He says that: "At first the guys were quite suspicious, thinking I was up to something but as soon as they get to know your face they really start to help you out. This goes for letting me use their toilets too."

After an initial set up and half an hour waiting for the machine's water boiler to heat up the cart is set for action. Between 9 and 10 am is the 'power hour' when Rob really shifts his product; recently he has even taken on another pair of hands to help out with this manic session.

Rob sometimes complains of the early starts in the depths of winter with the driving rain and harsh cold, "sometimes I think what am I doing? Especially when you've got drunks and drug dealers always trying to rip you off or get money out of you, sometimes the Police come down and make arrests right in front of the cart, I just wish it would all go away, but there are the great days and I wouldn't change it for the world."

With a keen eye on the future Rob can see a general heightened awareness of those who care much more about what they eat and drink. Increasing demand for higher quality and specialisation of products is a trend that will continue to move forward at pace. When asked where he envisages himself in a few years time Rob answers: "I'd like to move off the street into somewhere more permanent and become more established. A café bar where we serve simple but really high quality food and drink. A place where people can come and hang out. The offering will the limited but amazing, I want to push things forward”.

Rob Lockyear
m: 07552591125

e: rob.lockyear@gmail.com

t: twitter.com/brewedboy

The London Coffee Festival

2011-04-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

Would you like to attend the first ever London Coffee Festival? Join in and celebrate London’s vibrant coffee and food culture on 8 -10 April 2011 at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane E1.

The festival will feature the best the UK coffee scene has to offer, including guest visits from world class baristas, all the great coffee you could possibly drink, interactive coffee making and roasting demonstrations, delicious artisan food and talks from leading experts about a variety of topics such as ethical coffee, the latest brewing methods and sustainable initiatives.

An array of live music and entertainment will feature wicked acts, including the unveiling of ‘Coffee’ the song produced especially for UK Coffee Week.

If you have not already reserved your place at the festival, please BOOK NOW to avoid missing out.

Please use my Promo Code: CNVIP1 to get money off.

100% of all ticket cash goes to charity!!

Tapas Revolution

2011-02-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

Tapas bars have been a part of the UK dining scene for a couple of decades. Tapas chains have seen a certain degree of success and there are many high-end Spanish operations that are held in high regard. On the whole Brits are getting good at eating Tapas. As an increasingly food fascinated population tapas works perfectly with the overall move towards eating less but more often. Grazing and sharing is a brilliant way to eat – more variety, less chance of food envy and a greater flexibility where the bill is concerned. Bring on the tapas.

Last year Omar Allibhoy embarked on a T-shaped road trip cross the UK to promote tapas. Everywhere he visited he cooked up a storm and invited people to get involved and learn more about tapas. He has now set up the first of his Tapas Revolution bars at the Westfield shopping centre. This may seem an odd place to start but in fact it only goes to confirm that people in the UK are really pro-tapas.

Omar’s bar, with dangling jamon, high black swivel stools and swish pewter top, sits opposite and slightly apart from the main food court as if it’s turning an arrogant shoulder. The food tastes homely, earthy and individual. The pigs cheeks in Pedro Ximenez were a reminder of a sticky winter stew, the croquetas were plump with smooth hammy béchamel centres. Boquerones or anchovies marinated in garlic and parsley were tangy and fresh served in glass jars that are topped up with extra virgin and shaken to serve.

Five years ago the concept of a bar in a shopping centre where you snack on padron peppers and sip a tumbler of Manzanilla would have been almost laughable, even more so that it would be busy… viva la revolución!

Absenteeism

2011-02-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

Excuse the absence, I've recently shifted employment. Three years at Square Meal came to end and 2011 is time for a new direction in the world of restaurants. I’m now at a company that deals with food service intelligence, a strategic consultancy company for big business and the coffee industry. I’m looking after this subscription based website called the Restaurant Brand Portal. It’s a natty hub of intelligence for industry bods who want to know anything there is about key players in the market. We’ve got about 100 restaurant profiles up with everything you wanted to know about them, menus, trends, news, who's who etc. Did you know that one of the investors behind the acclaimed Hawksmoor is a bloke called Paul Campbell the co-founder of Clapham House. Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Real Greek are operated by Clapham House who were bought last year by Nando's. Fascinating stuff, I’m just beginning to scratch beneath the surface. More news soon...

Otto - Cornmeal crust pizza

2010-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Tom and Rich quit their jobs, flew to the US, hired a VW camper and set off on a three month road trip. In Portland, Oregan they were taken to a Pizzeria which would change their lives forever. This particular Pizzeria, Dove Vivi, was notable for its cornmeal crust and so enamoured by this revelation the chaps saw an opportunity back in London. With the help of the pizzaiolos at Dovevivi Tom and Rich have since set up shop in Notting Hill.

Unlike conventional flour dough these crusts lend themselves to an altogether different pizza experience. Due the the qualities of cornmeal and the double baking the bases can be shaped into a kind of casing not unlike a quiche or tart. A lip of a centimeter or so enables the boys at Otto to fill rather than top their pizzas. Instead of relying on the dough to do the talking as with more traditional pizzas here it is the fillings that rule, heavily laden and bold seems the be the Otto mantra. 'House made fennel sausage, caramelised onion, marinated green pepper, tomato sauce and parmesan' is their best seller. Diners can even order the 'Taster' with six different flavor combos on one 12" crust. Currently the most wacky offering is a Cranberry sauce, mozzarella, sauteed kale and butternut squash bonanza. Shy they are not!

With the extra deep filled pizza pies at 12" most would be hard pushed to cram it all in; while they are most certainly not a light meal sharing is caring and this also means you get to sample more of the constantly changing seasonal specials. A small selection full bodied wines and US caft beers have been chose to partner Otto's oozy pies. With little else on the menu save for a few choice salads and some puds Tom and Rich are keeping things simple and their eye firmly on the ball.

Otto can be found just off Westbourne Grove, a well-to-do patch that lends itself to foot fall. The cornmeal crust is a novel extension of our beloved pizza pie and with such a new venture we will be keen to see how things pan out. Take away is available and the prices are reasonable so you've no excuse not to check it out.

6 Chepstow Road, London, W2 5BH
Email: feedback@ottopizza.co.uk
Tel: 0207 792 4088
www.ottopizza.co.uk

2010-11-21T10:12:00.001-08:00

Spotted in Waitrose, Heston's vanilla mayo has jumped from the three starred dish pictured below (Salmon poached in liquorice gel with artichokes & vanilla mayonnaise) to our supermarket shelves. It will be interesting to see if the rolling out of product lines from 'haute' to the mass produced gathers pace. BOGOF's on tins of mock turtle soup anyone?

York & Albany

2010-11-14T04:35:00.001-08:00

Those well aquainted with Blackadder the Third will know that The Prince Regent was not blessed with political prowess. Instead he was more of an extravagant dandy dedicated to a lavish lifestyle resulting in life-threatening obesity and a nasty laudanum habit. Fortunately for us though some pretty spectacular architecture & aesthetic follies survive from his indulgent reign. including a coaching inn overlooking Regents Park that now houses York & Albany.

I think the porky prince would have approved of this Ramsay restaurant with rooms headed up by Angela Hartnett and head chef Colin Buchan. This multifaceted operation includes three dining areas; a bar, slightly beige main area and a cosy downstairs with a view of the pass and open kitchen. Rooms are available upstairs and a deli is open next door during the day, all adding to the self appointed ‘lifestyle experience’ that is popular with a range of customers from preened waggies to business men and more casual Camden types.

We ordered the quail breast ravioli with spinach, truffle and shallot along with grilled ox tongue with macadamia, carrot and pickled mushrooms. Mains might include cannon of lamb, onion purée, rainbow chard, confit potatoes & green olives or roasted pollock on toast, cauliflower purée, pine nut cream & caper beurre noisette. These dishes aren’t shy but self-assured with the main ingredient sitting proud. Clever portion sizing means that the richness doesn’t overwhelm and there is room for pud. Location and splendid surroundings do come at a price don’t forget, with starters at around the £10 mark and mains more like £20.

Attention to detail makes all the difference. An aversion to wheat was expertly accommodated and gluten free bread was bought out. Wine by the carafe and a list organised by flavour is a real help and knowledgeable unfaltering staff bolstered the experience.

York & Albany

127-129 Parkway

London

NW1 7PS

Tel: 020 7388 3344

Aces and Eights

2010-11-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

Brits tend not to combine binge drinking with food all that well and there are three very scientific reasons why. Eating wastes valuable boozing time before the last orders bell tolls, legend has it that solids ‘absorb’ alcohol thus preventing maximum pissedness and lastly money spent on unnecessary solids dent the beery budget too much. All these factors considered its very easy to understand why many eschew a tasty bite whilst getting silly with their friends of an evening out.

Rock, Liquor, Pizza is the strapline above the door of the Tufnell Park bar Aces & Eights and at this Yankee dive bar there is no excuse not to line your stomach with Pizzas made on-site by the crew from Il Bacio. With a cocktail list centered firmly around bourbon and some popular US beers the brothers behind Islington's Slim Jim’s Liquor Store are on to something hot. Compared with the hassle and expense of installing a kitchen, creating a food menu and paying staff, this solution is a stroke of genius: find an existing pizza company with a good reputation and offer them your back room…

Morat the pizzaiolo resides behind his topping counter with his pin ball machine for company. Food is ordered directly from the chef and served by him, all the bar staff have to do is collect the wooden serving boards and for this small gesture they are plied with complementary pizza – Its win win for everybody. While Il Bacio concentrate on pizza Aces & Eights do the rock thing.

The extended yet classic pizza menu takes after the other Il Bacio outposts, delicious Sardinian sausage, pecorino & jalapeno is a champion choice. Odder options include the Passione d’Amore with avocado, capers, mint & aubergine. Fortunately the toppings are concise & balanced & rule over thin & crispy bases. 12" and 16" pizzas are available at £7.95 & £15.95 sit in or take away, either way no reason not to enjoy a lovingly mixed Old Fashioned while your there. If your a north Londoner its definitely worth checking out.

156-158 Fortess Road
London NW5 2HP

Hakkasan

2010-11-09T08:57:00.001-08:00

With the new Mayfair branch opening next week I made the overdue visit to Alan Yau's flagship on Hanway Place. I tried not to get my expectations up too much, nothing is more bitter than a high-end celebrity studded hang out failing to live up to expectations, getting by on exorbitant prices and reputation alone. Hakkasan, now nearly ten year old, is a mecca for glitzy types after westernised Chinese or 'oriental inspired' fine dining. Almost weekly the tabloid spreads and lifestyle mags show images of tarted up 'slebs spilling out of the discreet side street portal. But what about all those diners who travel far and spend their hard earned on the celebration of the year, for such an expensive and well regarded restaurant they had to be able to offer something for those not on the corporate account or loaded enough not to care - especially in a time of apparent economic austerity.

The atmospheric interior feels like an erotic gaol, an underground hanger has been cunningly compartmentalised in to more intimate spaces by intricately carved wooden divides. Just enough of the restaurant and other diners can be seen through the screens to make the the place feel energised but also covert and exotic. A long but narrow bar runs down the back wall serving equally long and 'feminine' cocktails. Less time spent at the bar with the less than cognizant bartenders and more table time is advisable.

Large groups are made to pre-order food when booking which, irritating as it sounds, (seemingly only benefiting the well-oiled Hakkatron) is actually quite a good thing due to the sharing sized plates and the mass of offerings and we were able supplement our pre-decided dishes on the night. Some up-selling on the wine front can be outmaneuvered Christine Parkinson's recently shortlisted list does offer some cheaper bins for the less moneyed.

To start:

Salt and pepper squid

Dim sum platter scallop shumai, har gau, Chinese chive dumpling and shimeji dumpling

Duck salad

Tea smoked ribs

soft shell crab

Mains:

Stir-fry black pepper rib-eye beef with merlot

silver cod with champagne and Chinese honey sauce

Duck

Spicy prawns

greens

Dessert:

Jivara hazelnut bomb milk chocolate and hazelnut ice cream parfait, hot chocolate sauce

As a group on ten we are able to try lots of dishes; the stand out ones being the dim sum, ribs, beef and cod. Amazing precision had gone into the dim sum and on these alone I would go back for the mores extensive day time dim sum. The ribs had a wonderful tea smoked dimension and attention to the beef was on a par, spectacularly smokey and subtle. The cod came with a smile inducing sauce of champagne and Chinese honey - zesty, silky and rich. The fish was so perfectly cooked and elegant that any preconception hyped of elitist dining went out the window and left me feeling a little bit bad about having cast Hakkasan into the style over substance trough.

Sadly a dining experience like this does come at a cost, a big one. A fifty percent discount on the total bill was available through a long serving employee and friend of mine that made the evening, which included a cocktail and half a bottle of wine, very good value at £54 including service. Had I paid the full £100+ whack it would have to have been a petty important occasion.

Hakkasan
8 Hanway Place
London
W1T 1HD

Beer & Pork Scratchings

2010-11-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

The hairy bar snack is a strange and delicious thing. Skin from a pigs leg fried in its own lard with a bunch of seasoning is enough to make some balk but for the wise and initiated the porky crunch and salty fat is a filling treat, best consumed with moderation over some good beer and convivial pubby cheer.

Beer Genie have taken the scratchings and beer concept pretty far and developed a six course tasting menu. Suffers of high cholesterol need not apply.

We ate:

Five Scratchings
(Clockwise from top of plate) Once cooked, twice cooked, curry, p0rk crunch & leaf Bank's Mild, Harvey's Sussex Best, Sol, Carslberg Export, Captain Smith Strong Ale

Pork terrine with scratchings
St. Austell Clouded Yellow

Ram's Horn & Crunch Scratchings with guacamole
Oakham JHB

Ram's Horn & Crunch Scratchings with gooseberry dip
Blanche de Bruxelles

Fish pie with gratin pork scratching top with parsnip and green beans
Goose Island 312

Pork chipolates & vanilla ice cream
Mackeson Milk stout

The tasting plate to start included the familiar 'once' and 'twice' cooked scratching, the 'curry' (a hideous angry Monster Munch like mess in the mouth) the 'crunch', a delicious porky Quaver and the 'leaf ' that was described by our host Rupert as 'something ones dog would turn down'. So a mixed bag but it was very interesting to compare them with the five beers alongside. Some worked well and other less so. Bank's Mild was well matched with the salty puffy skin on the twice cooked the Harvey's bitter was mellow and allied with the bulky once cooked horn-like scratch. Oddly the curry found favour with the Mexican Sol. Carlsberg was brilliant with almost all, the strength of the lager held up well against the salt and the full bodied sweetness of the Strong ale was good with the traditional once and twice cooked.

For the rest of this fat fest more cultivated beers were matched. The terrine studded with scratchings made for some exciting textures and the St. Austell Clouded Yellow was light and summery with vanilla mixing going well with yet more pork. Inspired by Thomasina Miers the third course of scratchings and guacamole was the least interesting although the spice was nicely beaten down by the zingy Oakham English ale. As with pork and apple the gooseberry dip was a revelation with the once cooked scratching and the sweet fragrant bananary Belgian wheat beer. With stomach space rapidly diminishing the fish pie with scratching gratin was not all that welcome but room was made for the bacony topping that was lifted by the zesty lightness of the US brewed Goose Island 312 a real champion ale that will gain popularity fast in the UK. In fact this Chicago brewed wheat beer was a recent gift from President Obama to David Cameron as the result of a World Cup bet. Those of us who had made it this far were really challenged by the zany dessert of chocolate dipped scratchings with Mackleson Milk Stout. Wowzers - what a combo! Salty chocolate is good, Reese's and chocolate pretzels for example, but add some pig and this is a properly pimped out snack. Fortunately the sweet vanilla ice cream was on site to cut though the intensity when one needed to take time out. The Milk Stout's chocolaty tones was a good but not entirely essential pairing.

I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to guzzle that many deep fried curly ones again any time soon but to have had the opportunity to do so has opened my mind and much as it closed the arteries. Some pretty fine beers were showcased alongside a unique Midlands treasure. This was one tasting session that was definitely out of the box. Thanks to Beer Genie, R&R Teamwork and The White Horse for hosing.

Meals From Scratch

2010-11-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ready meals have a pretty bad reputation, sodium filled, vac packed dishes for loners who simply can't be arsed - easy options for those to busy to cook or the only option for those who can't. It easy to see why supermarket chiller isles team with a boggling array of pre-packed dinner decisions. There is an ever growing populous who want to cook, love food but find it tricky to plan ahead in order to eat healthy freshly prepared food at home.

Enter Scratch; set up by an young entrepreneurial trio to combat the ready meal dilemma who produce pre-prepared ingredients for you to cook at home. 'We do the hard bits, you do the fun bits' is their tag line, these packages offer healthy fresh and cost effective meals. I caught up with the founder Phil who explained that 'it's ridiculous to go out and buy every single ingredient for an entire recipe', so Scratch put all these together for you.You get a box with all the chopped, washed and weighed ingredients as well as the instructions to cook your meal from scratch. The meals are for one and cook in around 15 minutes with one or two pans. Armed with a willing test cook who only owns two saucepans we put Scratch to the test.

We cooked two out of the four menu options, a moroccan chicken tagine and a chorizo jambalaya:

Instructions are concise and accurate

Even a butter portion is provided to add to the cous cous

The tagine

The jambalaya

Left to her own devices the erstwhile sous sauteed, browned, stirred and reduced; in a little over the recommended time allowance the two dishes were ready for tasting. Having been cooked both dishes were more sizable than we had been expecting and are just generous enough to sate. The tagine was the less bold of the two but the sweetness of the currants chimed in nicely and the amount of sauce soaked into the cous cous. The lemons and limes provided with both was a great lift that you never see in more traditional one box meals. The jambalaya was the definite winner of the two in terms of flavour and appearance, brave heat levels may be too much for some fairies but we loved the intensity. Smoky chorizo and peppers really hit the spot and I would have been more than happy if I had knocked it up myself.

The other two meals available are a vegetable red thai curry and a crayfish, tomato and feta pasta all at a fiver a pop. Good value if you consider how much a lunchtime visit to Pret can cost and certainly much less than the price of all the ingredients combined when cooked for one. While you don't have complete creative control in the kitchen and the satisfaction of adding just the right amount of this and that has been removed you do have a tasty, healthy dish cooked yourself using fresh and well sourced ingredients. This until now had been a gaping hole in the market and it makes you wonder how the world of convenience food is heading and so great that a group of young food lovers have got this going on - not just the man trying to make us spend more!

You can get their meals from the website . Alternatively find them in Wholefoods on Kensington High Street, in Sourced Market Kings Cross St Pancras station, Budgens in Islington, the Grocery in Shoreditch, Kennards in Bloomsbury and Couture Food Hall in Woolwich Arsenal.

www.mealsfromscratch.co.uk

Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria

2010-10-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

I called the Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria early on Sunday to ensure I got table, all booked up all day... But being bloody minded and only marginally irritated I went down there anyway and was offered the best table for two on the amazing covered deck out front. Surrounded by Nottinghill billies, extremely well maintained Italians and a smattering of well behaved children with the sun beating down one could easily be excused for forgetting that this was early October in west London.

This Place feels more like a relatively up-market Italian restaurant given the location and the clientele, the kitchen also pumps out amazing smelling Spaghetti Vongole , sead food linguine and popular classics while still maintinaing that Pizza is their central theme.

They serve "Pizzametro, literally meaning ‘pizza-metre’, [that] was born in Vico Equense, a small town on the Sorrentinian Coast, 40 years ago, as a way for the whole family to share a pizza. Since then it became a symbol of conviviality, a way of bringing people together. It has to be shared. Cooked in a wood burning oven and served on a wooden chopping board, the pizza is covered with strips of different ingredients to meet everyone’s taste. [They] can make pizzas from ½ a metre to 1 whole metre pizzas.'

Excellent to the last, a thin and crisp base with a puffy chewy crust cooked in a stately forno oven at blistering temperatures given the char on the top. Great balls of mozzarella with a brownish tinge to their outsides had been imported from Italy to be used sparing on our rectangular slices. The mininal toppings let the bases do the dancing, the Romana (Mozzarella tomato sauce, anchovies, oregano, chilli, black olives, garlic, and capers at £9.50) and the Margherita at £7.95 did absolute justice to their Neapolitan heritage.

Not only does the Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria serve some of the most delicious Pizza I have had in London you can sit in gorgeous surroundings (helped by fine weather) with slick service sipping cold Falanghina in a reataurant that feels slighly out of ones comfort zone price-wise all for £15. I would go back tomorrow if I had the day off and it was sunny....

Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria 

7 Ladbroke Road , London,  W11 3PA

0207 2211373

New Covent Garden Market

2010-09-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Back in the day my old Grandad ran a modest apple farm out in the Essex countryside. After each harvest the fruit, picked by the traveling community, was taken to London and sold at the original Covent garden market. He was one of a tonne of tiny producers who sold their yield at Covent Garden. These days New Covent Garden market sit on a purpous built 50 acre site on Nine Elms Lane. I went down there at the crack of dawn to check it out.

Above you can see the 'buyers walk' where one can stroll down and see all the of the fruit an veg on offer.

yellow beets

salsify, perfect zuccini tondo, squashes and girolles

baby pineapples

a huge variety of micro herbs, lost of which i'd never heard of

The 'Shroom Room'

enormous & lush kaffir leaves

courgette flowers (still available?)

dunno

a mixed box of french toms

fresh dates - this was a first for me, they are delicous and so much bater than the claggy box of dried 'eat me's' that my Mum insists on buying for Chrimbo

Romanesco broccoli, or Roman cauliflower

So much of this produce gets sold directly to restaurants and is never seen by the general public in its raw state. Why? I want to buy a crazy box of mixed tomatoes, enormous yellow beets or exotic mushrooms by the handful much more easily than I can now. I know certain grocers that stock some of this stuff but why don't we see more on the street? With increased interest in sourcing, sustainability, organics, healthy living and what we eat in general lets call for a democratisation of funky veg. More startlingly good fruit and veg for all! We want it and we want it now.

www.newcoventgardenmarket.com
Address: New Covent Garden Market, London, SW8 5BH

Summer of Robin

2010-08-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

We have been busy since our trading début back in June at Gottwood. Rather than beg or borrow lots of the gear needed to vend we decided that getting our own stuff was key. Jack Dash's 'heap of crap' provided a curious afternoon resulting in a new lightweight sink and rolling table.

Skilled draughtsmanship was necessary in the planning of our new bar.

Next stop was the Underhill Festival down Dorset way. This is a prime example of misleading marketing, the website was slick the concept niche, we were stoked. However we have now learned that you really have to pick and choose your events carefully. Visitor numbers were not what the organisers had made out and while extremely helpful sparky, Trevor, did all he could to help the tiny generator was not up to powering the mighty Roberta's 5Kw needs. With fuel running out every hour or so and a funnel fabricated out of an old coke bottle we struggled to get the old girl up to heat and trading was slow.

Some charming yet hammered punters made the evening hilarious and we did manage to shift a hundred odd of Robins' finest. The young Irish gentleman below was more carted than Oliver Reed on his birthday and lacking pounds sterling offered us €50 for a pizza, being the honest types we are (but at the same time generally accepting only legal UK tender) brokered a deal that we would exchange 3 pizzas and £25 cashback. Our celtic chum took his cashback and wandered off with only one pizza. So whilst selling our most expensive pizza to date we are more than happy to offer a refund.

Some Qypers were next in-line for some Robiny action at the Guru event organised by tireless freelance journo Jo Webber. Fifteen qypes turned up for free Pizza; we did some dough rolling, all got a bit floury and everyone had a go at making their own bespoke versions. Cheers to those who reviewed the evening and thanks a bunch to those who didn't.

Last Saturday night saw our first private party, a hundred or so guests were being generously entertained in a lovely house in Kingston and we were there to provide the booze absorbing sustenance. I hope one day that I will attend a party with a pizza bar knocking out its melty wares, I can't think of a single food stuff that I would rather idly munch on whilst slurping on someone else's stash. An excellent choice by the party organisers if I say so myself. If you or know of anyone having a party or organising an event we would be more than happy to be there!

In other less good news we have sadly had to pull out of the Thames festival. It was with great regret that we made this decision. The Thames festival will be a huge affair and we worked out that to make a real go of it we would have had to be kneading for about eight hours a day to produce enough dough to keep up with projected demand. We are currently working towards accumulating enough capital in order to afford a mechanical mixer. This is the next step in Robin's adventure and we aim to have this sorted in time for festival season 2011, if anyone can help find us a nice second hand at a bargain price you will be awarded with free pizza for life!

We will be holding an underground takeaway very soon, with all proceeds going towards the mixer fund (details TBA) and please follow us on Twitter @RobinsPizza and check out all our photos on our Facebook page.

See you all soon!

(Images by A.A Coe & Cleo Leng)

Robin's Pizza - Dates Ahead

2010-07-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Upcoming summer events where you'll be able to find us:

Underhill Festival - 30th July - 31st July
Qype Guru event - 3rd August - SOLD OUT
Thames Festival - 11th & 12th September

Comida Divertida #2

2010-06-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

The next fiesta will be next saturday 3rd July, hope to see you there!

Robin's Artisan Pizza Co. - the story so far

2010-06-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

It was about time that I hop back into food production for real, so back in April and with inspiration from the Pizza Hacker I decided that I was going to take the plunge and get my own project up and running. Having worked at street level with Chocstar and Luardos as a good honest trader I knew I had in me to go it alone. Serving quality food direct to people who care has always given me a real buzz and I had never seen really good pizzas being hawked in markets or at festivals before, being a fan this was my plan.

The first step was to work out how to cook 'em. The Pizza Hackers wood fired BBQ adaptation is a great idea but to churn out volume would mean getting through so much wood over a three day stint at a festival and to maintain the temperatures necessary would have been tricky. Through eBay I found Pedro (pictured above testing the oven most dangerously by sticking wires directly into the mains) who sold me my oven for £200 (RRP £1200) a veritable bargain.

With cooking facilities dealt with I needed a dough recipe I knew I could up scale to deal with the volume I needed to cover costs. Much testing, recording and constantly cocking it up came next but after about a month of tests and talking with bakers and aficionados I finally worked it out.

Mamma Roma on Holloway road became my wholesaler, they deal in imported Italian produce and a real experience to visit, left relatively unchanged since their establishment in in mid 1970's, it's a proper family enterprise.

I met Bridget from Franco Manca and Wild Caper from whom I got the flour that they use for their wonderful sourdough pizzas, if its good enough for them its good enough for me.

Now I needed an outlet, somewhere to sling my product. Fortunately some mates of my brothers were organising a festival on Anglesey. Gottwood festival came at exactly the right time and as a small 1000 capacity festival in their first year it was the ideal platform to launch from. A few phone calls later and a sticky moment when I was asked what name we traded under, to which I answered stutteringly and fully unprepared, Robin's Artisan Pizza Co. was born.

Gottwood was in a glorious spot just round the coast from Holyhead and we were getting close to trading time and I was getting nervous. The environmental health officer for Anglesey had been on the phone and on my back, risk assessment charts had be be written up, electrical safety tests for Roberta the oven had to be obtained, temperature probes had to be got amongst all the other bits and pieces that were begged, borrowed, blagged or bought. This was real and what had previously been just a pipe dream was causing me serious angst. So much could go wrong and all the time and money that I had invested would all be blown in one decision from the Health and Safety guys or a power failure that would renter Roberta defunct. With huge support from my wonder team Ali and Ed and all the well wishers along the way we muscled through and setup camp.

The set up

Roberta and Ali fully safety tested and ready for action

open for business

"The Wonder Team"
Ed (left) chief topper peel slinger and Ali (right) the brains to remember the list of customer orders and head cashier

Day one, Thursday, as the ravers arrived we had prepped the dough and were ready for business

We kept the menu simple, four options:

Simple Margarita - £5
Robins Margarita - fresh mozzarella and basil - £6
Pepperoni - £6
Napoli - fresh white anchovy fillets, capers and olives - £6

Ed, topping in action

Ali, peel slinging in action

Robin's Margarita

By early afternoon on the third and final day of trading is was clear that we were getting low on supplies and by 5pm we had totally sold out. Dough gone, cheese gone, sauce gone! This was good and bad in equal measures. We had been full throttle for the last five hours, and after an eighteen hour day previously we all needed break, on the other hand the demand was still there and jaded revelers were missing out on Pizza, not to mention the extra sales that would have been a bonus.

We learned so much from the first event, and still have a long way to go. I took two weeks off work to concentrate on RAPC and it was close to as much work as in Michelin kitchens but infinitely more satisfying. Taking a project from conception to completion was tough and stressful but I'm so proud of what we achieved and its not stopping here, more events have been booked for later in the summer and we are looking for more so please get in touch if you can help out. I can't thank everybody enough who has been generous, helpful and supportive thus far; especially Ed and Ali who really made Robin's work! Big shout out to Petra too who sorted me out with so much of her festival kit.

Be ready to catch a Robin's Pizza somewhere near you soon!

Peace, love and Pizza...

Quality images by Alex Welensky

Comida #1

2010-05-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Some HDR images and others my friend George kindly took of the inaugural Comida Divertida. It is pretty tricky to remember to snap your food while trying to send it out, so apologies for the lack of them.

More dates announced soon, hopefully early June. If anyone has any good venue ideas they would be gratefully received. I hope to see more of you down there next time.

(Images courtesy of G.Beasley)

Comida divertida

2010-04-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

The first of hopefully many dinners fully booked up.

The Fat Duck, Bray

2010-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Time spent honing my knife skills back in '07 at the Fat Duck was a six week stint I wont forget in a hurry. Unpaid yet willing, us stagiers produced for the chefs whatever the prep list told us to. 1oo grams of joselito jullienne, 50 ml of red cabbage juice - you got it! Hours spent in the prep kitchen chopping the prefect cubes for ten hours a day doesn't seem like a lot of fun but when your doing in a kitchen in Bray, the UK's gastro-mecca, it somehow takes the edge off.

Three years down the line a had the opportunity to be on the other side of the pass. The bill was massive but I don't mind, this was a meal that I've always wanted & having been one of the cogs in the machine it was all the more meaningful.

Nitro Green Tea - lime vodka infused egg whites are cooked in nitrous oxide - the anti meringue

The taster menu has taken criticism for being a little stagnant and it certainly bears much resemblance to the one printed up ten years ago but the chefs in Bray haven't been slacking . Dishes I got to know well have been polished, pared down and presented in better ways. Smaller portions, updated table ware with some new dishes and ideas ensure that Blumenthal's tiny restaurant really deserves its three stars.

Pommery mustard ice cream on tiny diced cucumber awaits the red cabbage gazpacho

Theatre, excitement and joy mixed with precision service and a series of a meticulously planned events all perch comfortably on a stanchion of utterly delicious food.

See below:

The cup hides a sneaky stack of diced turnip, vivid pea puree, quail consomme, crayfish cream topped with a chicken liver parfait and a lindi tuille. A musky truffle toast on the left.

An oak moss topped box billows out dry ice activated by watering the moss...

Snail porridge is a pearl barley risotto finished with a intense parsley butter, jabugo ham shaved fennel and snails

Roasted foie gras, rhubarb puree and crab crisp

Mock turtle soup - stacked smoked ham and lardo among other mushroom preparations

The consomme to pour over the arrangement above disguised as a pocket watch obviously (as seen on Heston's Feasts)

Sound of the Sea - edible sand, yellow fin, halibut & mackerel, elvers, sea foam and more

Salmon in licorice, vanilla mayo, artichoke, grapefruit juice sacks and roe

Powdered anjou pigion, navets, pigeon quavers, hearts (umbels) and blood pudding

Off menu pork belly on spelt barley and savoy cabbage with chunky black truffles - classic but never beaten

hot and cold tea - half was hot half was cold, vertically

Rhubarb in four ways, stewed, jellied, dried and iced with coconut

Taffety tart - apple, fennel, candied lemon blackcurrant sorbet

Nitro cooked anti scrambled egg on candied bacon and pain perdu

Black forest gateaux, kirsch ice cream & edible bark served with a kirsch spray

Geographically specific whisk(e)y gums

A bag of sweets included Fact Duck baccy, edible playing cards & apple sweets with edible wrappers

Give it another three years and I'm going back.

HOLYFOOD - The Tasting

2010-03-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

I left Amrik armed with seven pots of produce; unable to taste them all in one setting without inducing excess intake related nausea I called upon a willing helper.

We had in front of us:

Gosht ke Kofte (lamb meatballs)
Jinga Masala (prawn masala)
Masoor Dal (red lentil dal)
Bibi ka Saag (greens)
Kadi chawal (a yogurt and potato preparation)
Gajjar Salad (carrot salad)
Mattar Pilau (pilau rice with peas)
Cucumber raita

First up were the meatballs, we didn't get the overwhelming smack of intensity that we expected, the balls were almost confusingly light in flavor and texture, almost airy, whereas the sauce was slick and velvety with out all the oil.

The Prawn Masala that I had stuck a spoon into and sampled the day before was a revolutionary balance of bitter tang and creaminess. The tails on the prawns, large shards of cinnamon bark, cardamoms and cloves were flavorsome hurdles stopping us fork huge steaming mouthfulls in. The coconut undertones gave the masala a buttery feel without the richness of a dairy alternative.

The Red Lentil Dal was completely overshadowd by the first two dishes. We thought that it was underseasoned and a bit bland. In its defense though, dal is meant as an everyday healthy dish meant to be simple and light.

The Saag or Mother's Greens as Holyfood have dubbed it was a triumph. As I mentioned in the first Holyfood post Saag is not purely a spinach based dish and here we see savoy cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kale, spinach all being used. This is heady mix with the strength of the sprouts shining though and the first dish that had a really distinctive warmth of spice that builds.

Holyfood's carrot salad is like nothing else i have ever tried. Without reading the ingredient list i thought that it was perhaps some sort of ground cashew mix. The finely grated carrot, lemon juice and spices blend into a sweet and savory accompaniment that is tangy fresh and unmistakably pure.

We thought the Kadi chawal was one of the best dishes. An unfamiliar mixture of yogurt thickened with flour and added spices presented a light, sour lemony sauce with perfectly textured potatoes. Despite being an initial shock to the palate kadi was a real hit and along with the greens a dish that I will definitely investigate further.

The rice was as tasty as can have been expected, the addition of peas, caramalised onions and cumin seeds was an added bonus but with the advent of inexpensive domestic rice cookers I would never buy pre-prepared rice and neither should you.

Overall we agreed that Holyfood had achieved their aim of producing clean, healthy and everyday Indian convenience food. We put away more food than is advisable and certainly more that is possible in a ghee heavy, cream ridden curry house. This is certainly testimony to Holyfood's healthfulness and with no over-spicing it is the type of food that I could eat day in day out if it were not for the cost issue.

I know full well the cost of good food and Holyfood is undeniably expensive, while the large price tags should instill in the (affluent) customer a huge sense of quality lets just hope that demand continues and we see Holyfood on shelves well into the future. After all it is worth saving for.

Expect to find HOLYFOOD in your local premium food store soon!!

The Company Shed

2010-03-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

Mersea Island is a wind swept marshy lump sticking out into the Blackwater estuary an half hour drive off the A12, the spine of East Anglia. Save for the waterside pubs serving frothy pints IPA and the sailing clubs dotted along the water front West Mersea doesn't offer the casual explorer much. This however is only true if you don't know about the Company Shed.

The unassuming shed has about seven long tables, a chiller counter and a rudimentary kitchen. Seafood platters are the main focus at £9.50 per person with ancillary items on the short menu. Oysters are a main sideline, where gigas or Natives can be bought for about £1 and £1.50 respectively. Whole dressed crabs, fished out from tanks stacked at the rear of the shed, smoked cods roe, mussels, and a few other warm shell fish dishes can be bought inexpensively.

Recently the Shed have started selling a few bottles of wine but customers are entitled and encouraged to bring their own bread and preferred tipple. We made some aioli, shallots in sherry vinegar and an extra oily gremolata to go with our late lunch.

Make sure you get there early especially in summer, we arrived at one thirty and got on the waiting list by the skin our teeth, the one hour wait was well worth it.

The Platter

Scallops with bacon and token leaves

Steamed mussels

Smoked cod's roe smacked a real umami hit

Half a dozen gigas

nearly finished

'If you love fish, this is paradise'

129 Coast Road, West Mersea, Essex. Tel 01206 382700

HOLYFOOD

2010-03-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

Amrik and Ron met in a Notting Hill cafe. Amrik had the clear vision that he wanted to create a modern brand producing clean healthy Indian food, they put their heads together and Holyfood was born.

Amrik was concerned that pukka indian food was in regression and was afraid that by the time his children were grown up its roots would be gone. Using saag as an example I understood what he meant by this meant; saag in northern India is a dish using mustard leaf, spinach and other greens cooked slowly along with spices, now what we take to be saag is purely spinach based. Generic norms become widely accepted and the origins disappear.

Sauce based curries that we are overly familiar with is one such example of this normalisation. Your run-of-the-mill curry house serves boiled meat in generic sauces pepped up with various other elements & spice combos. Kris Dhillon wrote a fascinating book 'The Curry Secret: Indian Restaurant Cooking at Home' (Elliot Right Way Books, April 2002) it unveils the secrets of the basic curry sauce. While most of us, myself included, find this approach to Indian cooking delicious it is not what Holyfood are about. They aim to revert this practise and look back to a slower more home-grown way of doing things.

Amrik and Ron do not come from a food background and to them this is a godsend, instead of bounding about the kitchen in a cheffy manner they enlist the help of seasoned professionals to come in with the ultimate recipies, this is then tried, tested and tested again until it hits the spot. The team of six (soon to be nine) cooks then learn the dishes from scratch; while this may not be a standard approach the aim of it is to turn out food that sticks closely to the brand without external dilution.

I adore this apparently honest approach and admire their enthusiasm but how does it stand up to the taste test? Find out in the next post…

Une Oeuf Is Never En Oeuf (food debate script)

2010-03-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

By definition an Egg is a roughly spheroid object produced by the female of the species that contains the germ of a new individual.

Eggs are a pretty massive subject, clearly the supreme contender of foodstuffs. So great that for hundreds if not thousands of animals it is the first life giving food.

  Given the culinary classification of Eggs, those of Hens only, I will only concentrate on one type of egg. To call upon all eggs would just be plain unfair on everyone else who has turned up for the debate.   Historically eggs have been an incredibly important source of energy for human beings and have been eaten worldwide for ever.  

Eggs come wonderfully pre-packaged; the membrane beneath the shell is an awesomely effective barrier against bacteria. They can keep for up a month having been laid. The shell is a wonder of nature, push at either end of a healthy egg and it is nigh on uncrackable.   

In terms of harvesting & yield nothing comes close to the egg. Hens are among many birds that lay cumulatively until they have enough eggs in their nest, remove the eggs and clucky will keep on pushing them out.

  I haven’t even started on how essential they are to our culinary culture. They are the most versatile ingredients we have. A prime ingredient in pasta, custards, emulsions, batters, doughs, cake mixes…. I won’t bore you with going on and on.

  They have the strength of character to stand alone in utterly delicious dishes yet are noble enough to sit in the background as building blocks for mighty recipes.  Without them we most certainly wouldn’t be the people we are today, nations are built on eggs. The Italians with their pasta, the French croissant the full in English, the Spanish tortilla, the oh so on trend Scotch egg, Ben and Jerry would be screwed with out eggs. I certainly would be able to tell you who Anna Pavlova was if it wasn’t for the egg and I haven’t even look to the Far East yet.  

Harold McGee’s book ‘On Food and Cooking’, the bible of the science in the kitchen gives a full 27 pages to eggs alone. This is more than double given to any other ingredient being fought for. If that isn’t testimony enough to the supremacy of the egg an ingredient.

Let’s just look at the stunts it can do in the kitchen. We can all agree that the egg on its own is a tremendous thing to eat, boiled, fried, scrambled or baked. But what qualities lay beyond this?   Eggs are the bed rocks for much of kitchen chemistry. Mayonnaise should never be bought, in three minutes and emulsified yolk with one or two supporting acts can be turned the world’s best condiment. It goes even deeper then this, mayonnaise can then be used as an ingredient in its own right; we are talking about the pure foundations.

Another example of this is their ability to clarify. Stocks and wine are both clarified by egg, the impurities get bound up with the whites’ protein. Eggs are am important in wine production! That’s pretty massive! So flexible is the egg that there use goes beyond detection as a central ingredient.

Eggs have the uncanny ability to thicken liquids in to solids, make light and foamy textures, they can stabilize mixtures…This is alchemy people!  Light delicate meringues and soufflés work because the proteins stands unfurl when beaten and can support air bubbles. And the heating up of this foam sets it into a solid.   We need to respect the egg above all other ingredients as it can always be your friend, but is can also be a tricky bugger, one wrong move and its all over.

I've split sauces, curdled custards, broken yolks, over cooked them….. so respect eggs above all else that they will be good to you!  

Eggs is Eggs...

Vintage Sardines

2010-02-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

On a visit to Le Colombier restaurant the genial proprietor provided me with this tin of vintage sardines to take home. So impressed was he with the quality of said sardine they instantly made it onto his a la carte menu.

Sardines La Quiberonnaise Millésime 2007-Vintage 2007 Sardines, Lemon, Onion and Toasted Poilane Bread £9.80

A hefty levy I thought for a dish that reminds me of having lunch with my culinary incompitant Dad in the early 1990's. I do however often call upon this drystore staple during leaner times and always bemoan the knobbly vertebrae and pungent waft. These are altogether a diffrent beast, silky, refined and completely moreish; a premium product. I found them and others similar (here) online for a vastly reduced price.

Laid down like good wine the tins are turned regularly to enusre an even ageing process, the flavour of the fish is said to develop and mature, the attention to detail really shows in the classic packaging.

Eat with your ideal bread, salty butter, black pepper and thinly sliced red onion anytime any place!

The Altenburg Kitchen

2010-02-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

Last Friday the Altenburg Kitchen hosted a belated Burns night dinner. Haggis, Bagpipes and lots of whisky! We were over a week late, but who cares?

I have had some really amazing Haggis and some really shit Haggis. I used to work in this café in Scotland where for £3.50 you could get a hydroponically grown baked tatty the size of a baby with pail of molten Haggis poured over it. I used to nuke the haggis in the microwave, adding a slosh tap water for moisture and slosh it over the reheated baker. I still remember the stench of the putrid ashen log under fire in the nukebox, retch I did. Not fun!

I've had amazing Haggis in lots of different forms, most recently this Burns Night proper (see Cheese and Biscuits for the breakdown). I wanted to give it a shot of my own, this simple, primitive but delicious plate of heaped mush needed a closer inspection, especially if people were going to pay for it.

Some research later I came across the Haggis Millefuille, ideal for the Altenburg kithcen. Late burns night, preposterous usage of vocablulary, perfect, now I’ve just got to come up with two other courses.

Here is how the so-called Millfuille turned out. Millefuille is a bit of a misnoma, 'Haggis five heaps' is perhaps a bit more appropriate. Nevertheless all really simple elements; the sauce was a whisky & onion cream made by sweating tonnes of onions till sticky, adding equal parts good chicken stock, cream and milk, reduce, blitz, pass, season and add whisky to taste. It works so well with the spiced Haggis and the Rosti adds the essential texture that is always missing from the Hag, neeps & tatties trio. The tomatoes were candied but really not worth the effort.

We served salmon ceviche to start, with lots of lime and coriander accompanied with a fennel salad doused in mandarin oil. This doesn’t really smack of February in the highlands but we are in a stunning basement flat in Battersea and we had missed the 25th by eleven days, plus it worked well as a precursor to the heavy Haggis to come.

For pud we put together some shortbread, whisky ice-cream with deep fried marsbars (read celebrations) and an Irn Bru reduction. You’ve got to make your own ice cream, simple custard with loads of sugar and vanilla and whatever else you feel like, so so good it takes you back to childhood holidays when ice-cream was a real treat. Reducing Irn Bru is advised but only if you if your a curious one, utterly weird is the answer if you don’t think you’ll get round to actually doing it. Looks nice and bright and zinged-up the peviously beige ensemble.

The evening was rounded of by two other moments of note. Firstly the pre dinner whisky sours, punchy, tart and super cold! Secondly, the highlight, was Jock on the pipes this made the evening for me, very loud and quite thumping for a traditional war instrument. Bring on Februaty 12^th 2011 & thanks to Lucy and Camilla residents of Altenburg Gardens.

(Images courtesty of Rosie, Camilla & McSweens)

Brixton Markets - Plantains, Tripe and Dub

2010-01-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

The markets in Brixton are places that I don’t go enough. Every time I do go I’m astounded by the massiveness, the buzz, hubbub and energy. Everything you can think of is sprawled out under ragged tarpaulins and ramshackle shop fronts displaying mass of produce. On a hot day when the sun is out one can temporarily escape London life and imagine you are somewhere markedly more exotic. Fishmongers, butchers, dub vendors and grocers line the narrow avenues hustling for custom. Vivid colours, thumping sounds and throngs of people make for an overwhelming assault on the senses. You can get almost anything you want and its not specific to any particular part of the globe, Portuguese delis, Afro barbers, Asian grocers and halal butchers make the melee what is it.

(tripe anyone?)

Jerk BBQ

Dried Fish Heads

Over the past few years a more artisanal vein has crept into the market with small traders and new business opening up, offering a more boutiquey range of products. The exalted organic Neapolitan sourdough pizzeria Franco Manca, Rosie’s Deli, Cornercopia, and Wild Caper are some of the finer examples. Last week I bought a hefty wedge of pork pie from Cornercopia, this overly generous slice had a bright yellow opaque mustard jelly sealing in meat filling, are total joy compared with underwhelming pap that lesser pies irritatingly contain. The couple who run the joint refitted the shop for under £100 with love and attention. I picked up a recipe for plantain chutney that they had printed out for customers to take away. It’s a simple and delicious recipe that forced me to get to grips with tamarind and plantain, two ingredients I’d never used and wanted to familiarise myself with:

Ingredients (I used approx. 1/4 of the quantities stated, the list below will make about 4-5 jars worth)
4 ripe plantains diced into 1 cm cubes
2 Onions 150g soft brown sugar
200 ml tam
arind water (1/4 of a seedless tamarind block boiled in water and passed through a sieve)
1tsp cumin 1tsp fenugreek 1tsp brown mustard seeds 1tsp yellow mustard seeds
½ tsp all spice ½ tsp ground coriander ½ tsp ground cinnamon 3 cloves
juice of a lime
seasoning to taste

Method:
Sweat onion in oil with the mustard seeds, add the spices, when fragrant add the sugar. Add the tamarind liquid when the sugar had melted and the onions have caramelised, simmer till thickened. Add plantains and lime juice simmer for 5 minutes. Finally pack into some sterilised jars.... bingo. One thing to look out for is the ripeness of the plantains, make sure they really are ripe, mine were a bit too firm and took rather longer to soften meaning that I didn't get quite the zingy effect I was after. This is a great base with so much potential for experimentation, loads of different veg could be added as well as dried and fresh fruits extra chillies etc.

I can also recommend these accompanying tunes, on a dub tip, Click Here for a rather motley mix I made a while back.

Monkfish and Beet Tartare at the Blaggers' Banquet

2009-11-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Blaggers Banquet I clambered into the whites rolled out the knifes and pushed on to get the starter done. In collaboration with the Scandelicious Signe we decided that I would make monkfish and beet tartare and for this we managed to scoop the best monk tails available on this island.

Paul Trudgeon from Fish for Thought, based in Cornwall, heroically drove all the way London on a Sunday to make sure we had the freshest possible produce to give the banquet diners. He arrived at 2 pm with more than 4 kilos of gleaming fish. The recipe I was using (based heavily on this one) recommended that the fish marinades for 8 hours before the fish is sliced and diced; time I didn’t have. Having prepped the tomato, walnut oil and, sherry vinegar marinade in the morning I had no choice but to dice the fish and combine the two and leave it for as long a possible before plating.

I decided to ‘autumn-up’ the dish with the addition of a beetroot disk under the tartare stack and dress the plate with a zingier concasse than the recipe suggests, capers lemon juice helped here. This dish isn’t a molecular masterpice but the flavours are quite subtle and can’t be messed with too much, the freshest of fish is essential. It would have been improved had the fish been marinated whole overnight as the tails would have taken on more flavour and a drier mix would have produced a dish slicker in appearance.

A massive thank you to Fish for Thought who not only made the ten hour round trip to deliver the star ingredient for my starter but they also donated a £50 voucher for the auction. The night was a great success, lots of money was made for Action Against Aunger and it was a huge honour to be able to cook for fifty discerning paying guests. Hats of to everyone who helped out front and in the kitchen, but especially Signe and Niamh! more images of the BB available here

All Photographs by Mark N - www.foodbymark.com -

more images of the BB available here

The Coach & Horses (pub grub proper)

2009-11-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

The word gastropub no longer guarantees that the boozer in question will have a strong line of good beers, a relaxing environment in which to enjoy the delicious and fairly priced food. This is place that should cost less than the white tablecloth crew but a more than the ‘fry the lot’ standardised brewery pub.

More and more we see the so-called ‘gastro’ charging full-on restaurant prices coupled with a lacklustre booze list in an environment that is neither pub nor dining room. Pimping the menu seems like a good answer to a pub in a bad economic situation. Rebrand yourself as a gastro pub, crank up the food prices with an identikit menu, put jugs of Bloody Mary on the bar on a Sunday and hope the more affluent buggy brigade fill you to the rafters every weekend. But is it a pub? Is it a restaurant with ale on tap and a pubby vibe? What is going on? Sadly there are so many schizophrenic restopubs out there the outlook is often bleak.

I went to a restopub last week where the ‘business development manager’ had pompously told me that:

‘[he] came in got rid of all the old shit, changed the menu completely retrained the staff, redesigned the kitchen and just concentrated on simple, well sourced ingredients served with out messing them about’ and was ‘just trying to keep things honest’.

After I had puked my bland lamb cutlets all over his natty brown brogues, I remembered that I had actually been in there a year before and it seemed what he was telling me was the opposite of what had happened. It had been a charming local boozer that made lovely food that cost between ten and fourteen quid a main not the £16 plus; provenance justified ‘well hung’ hunk of meat served on a piece of reclaimed driftwood nor the Brakes Bro’s out the freezer into the fryer fayre.

One proper gastro pub that is getting it totally right is the Coach and Horses in Farringdon. The lack of gloss and pretence at the Coach and Horses makes it seem like boozer that has remained unchanged for years, certainly before the dawn of the gastropub. This place really gets a bulls eye every time; its cosy but big enough to be private and you feel like it’s a pub with really good food, this is definitely a gastropub.

Genial owner Giles explains that ‘he wants food to be fun, not sculpture on a plate, nothing silly, just fun’. Every few week they get in half a pig, butcher it, brine it, smoke it, hang it, press it, and slice it into something that you can really relish. Scotch eggs, that have been dubbed the best in London, sit along side pints of prawns, duck hearts, charcuterie platters (all home cured), perfectly cooked whole quails, and interesting cheeses intended to be mixed and matched. Ranging between £2-6 a plate you can get a bite for under a tenner or you can have a proper slap-up for more.

This is a proper pub with proper pints and wicked food that had been made great by care and attention and I’m going back… a lot!

The Coach & Horses
26-28 Ray Street
London

The Blaggers’ Banquet 2009

2009-11-11T04:36:00.000-08:00

So the Blaggers' Banquet this Sunday promises to be something quite special. In aid of Action Against Hunger an aggressive posse of seasoned blaggers have got their hustling on and managed to get hold of a mountain of tasty ingredients for the dinner, that will take place this Sunday 15^th at Hawksmoor in the city.

We will be using prime ingredients ranging from buffalo steaks, wagyu beef, iberico jamon, organic fruit and veg, top grade chocolates, stunning biodynamic wine and loads of beer. The dinner will be gargantuan in scale, and with a tonne of booze it will be a great night. There will also be some really heavy goodie bags to take home, so many organisations, food producers, farms and publishers had given so much to the event. Another exciting part of the proceedings will be the auction, there are so many great things to get hold of such as a Kitchen aids, dinner at some of London best restaurants, unique opportunities to meet the greatest chefs in their kitchens, signed cookery books, wine, spirits and lots of other edible treats.

Ticket are on sale via this link, be sure not to miss out. It’s all for charity and you will not be disappointed with what we have to offer! Don’t be shy show us your pie…..

Come Dine Round Mine part II

2009-09-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

We would all like to write our own reviews in an ideal world. Can you imagine the stained laminated boastings of the greasiest of spoons declaring their deep fried mix grill to be the 'best in town' a 'culinary triumph' a 'well balanced interpretation of an old classic'. It may make for a more level playing field; everyone could have a crack at the RP whip and it could be a case of 'who dares wins' - sadly there is never enough space for all the food outlets to get a fair percentage of the market and the better places are sure to reign.

I am rambling far from the point of the this post which is to outline the menu for Come Dine Round Mine part II (CDRM). In relation to the inane sentences above i am not going to shake my adjectives and get down with the similes as it would be most innapropiate and with any luck we will have a diner review coming soon.

The menu (partially pictorially illustrated):

Olives and sweet paprika almonds

***

Spanish duck rillettes (pepped up with loads of cumin seed, fennel and thyme) with purple radishes and crusty bread

***

Sea bream with a vierge sauce (olive oil, lemon, chilli, mint, cherry tomatoes & spring onion) blanched fennel and a beet smash

***

Poached peaches and a Cava granizado - the mulling liquid is reduced further frozen and stirred until a sweet boozy slush is achieved.... works so well and is refreshing enough to leave room for cheese.

***

Cheese - Gorgonzola dolce, Stilton, Comte,

Independent diner review to come....

Morgan M

2009-09-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

Morgan M’s Paradise Park location contrasts with its interior of green serenity. Stiff but slick dickey-bowed waitrons bow and nod when necessary and leave you just enough alone. The rather odd tribal wall hangings that also adorn Morgan’s business cards serve as a motif that seems to depart from the rather classic theme; nevertheless we were there for the food and décor caused little distraction.

Chef patron Morgan Meunier has been cooking this side of the channel for a while, he aided Alex Bentley in achieving his star and headed up the brigade in the Admiralty Restaurant at Somerset House. In 2003 he headed to Highbury and has been flexing his modern French cooking that tends to nod in an occasional easterly direction.

The summer tasting menu has six courses, three of which have two options. First up was slightly chilled gazpacho with an olive oil and tomato sorbet and a wafer tuille. On first gulp I noticed a distinct lack of chill but when the sorbet and its sliky partner got together out came the perfect temperature.

An exact terrine foie gras came next supported by confit of cherry and perfectly pickled chanterelles. Rather than detracting from the flavour and feel of the liver the terrine upheld maintained the deluxe ingredient which one has to look upon as a great treat.

Seared fillet of Red Mullet, a poêlée of razor clam with braised fennel and a saffron broth was definitely the most attractive plate out of the six. Elegantly sliced razor clam and tomato hammocked in the razor shell crossing the red blaze below. As perfectly cooked at the mullet was there seemed no hustling in the dish for first place. All three major elements sat together with out any agro as is the case with dishes that promote three distinct main players.

The monumental portion of lamb came two ways; the shoulder confit and a rolled more refined cut accompanied by a barigoule source, a time-consumingly prepared artichoke and the most stunning Israeli couscous. Not only was this dish massive in tasting menu terms there was so much there that I kept on forgetting what was going on as to heap it all on to one forkful would have been to detract from the separate elements. The couscous deserves a special mention; its pearl like appearance was at odds with the creamy smooth texture that surprised the mouth with a citrus zing and just anough of a savoury bite to balance the heavy intensity of the lamb. Chef Meunier’s generosity here was only matched by his presence at our table, a real treat that to my embarrassment was not awarded to any of the other diners.

I would have liked to have suck my spoon in to another portion of the couscous from the previous course rather than the rice pudding that came as a pre-pud. It wasn’t that the rise pudding wasn’t up to scratch or in anyway unappetizing I have never been a lover of the starchy delight so oft coveted. Still its appearance wasn’t out of sync with the chef’s elegant but practical skills.

Macerated strawberries, vanilla cream a perfect and tiny madeleine and meringue sticks was a homely ending to summer tasting menu. Summery and simple, crisp, sweet and icy and warm in its different components all led to a warm feeling of contentment and familiar satisfaction of the basics done really well.

At £48 excluding wine we are looking at good value for money compared with more central eateries of this calibre especially when considering the portion size. To give the place a more styled and slick interior would make it seem lost and out of place, and for this reason Morgan M’s is accessible, accurate and will hopefully be around for a while longer.

Come Dine Round Mine Part I

2009-08-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

Come Dine With Me has a huge following; everyone seems to be utterly seduced by the motley collective of strangers meeting at each others houses every night for a week and dining on hugely diverse types and quality food. Teens to octogenarians alike peer at the black box watching an often incohesive collective of competitors aim for the £1000 prize money; a reality TV game show like any other. But there is so much more to enjoy, the voyeuristic glimpse into a strangers home, the pressure and panic of the kitchen, the occasionally hilarious menu choices and potential for tremendous cock-ups all narrated by a frequently mocking voice. No wonder it maintains knockout ratings.

We wanted to try it for ourselves, no prizes, no video cameras, but four great food filled evenings cooked by enthusiastic and pretty knowledgeable foodies with liberal dose of competition to give the added edge of excitement and maintain the momentum.

First up was AH-H, with a few days off work and bijou residence in which to entertain he was up for the challenge. Eight of us feasted better than most if us had in a while and the effort was not wasted on anyone.

We sat down to a substantial spread of spiced rack of lamb with coriander and honey accompanied by a minty, ginger and chilli dressing. You could tell this lamb was the real deal, bought form one of Portabello’s finest flesh vendors.

Baked chicken portions rubbed with sumac, za'tar and lemon slices.

An enormous griddled peach, chard, watercress and speck salad with an orange blossom dressing. Sticky fruity and salty ham…

This belter couscous was heaped with the sweetest oven dried tomatoes, mograbiah, tarragon nigella seeds and bravely flavoured with saffron.

And lastly another more fresh salad of wafer thin slices of fennel, pomegranate seeds, parsley, feta and citrously electrified by lemon and sumac.

As if we needed more AH-H had lovingly baked perfect rounds of pistachio and cardamom shortbread.

This gutsy and extravagant Ottolenghi inspired dinner served in brimming dishes was a perfect August festival of flavours, bold and beautiful. Deep Middle Eastern colours and exotic tastes were heaped on us in an unfussy and unassuming way but underlying the casual front was lots work, lots of care and a bar set very high. I really hope round two matches the standard and I definitely look forward to three more dinners of this wickedness…

Charlie con Carne

2009-07-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

The All Star Lanes Chill Cook Off press release was passed on to me via a colleague. Upon requesting some information or even an application form I was slammed on the list and I was almost entered by accident. It was a long way off so I put it to the back of my mind.

Suddenly remembering last Thursday that ‘game on’ in a week I got to work and knocked off a couple of practice rounds with a willing guinea at my side, Friday bowels flicked us the finger, still worth it I think.

Aided by the chilli genius of chilli-con-carne.co.uk I put together a ‘seasoning’ mix. This is an ideal way to build a personal chilli recipe that can be added to an adapted as time goes on.

Mine includes:

Heap of dried Cumin a mound of dried Coriander, a tablespoon of cocoa powder, the same of paprika, splurge of cayenne pepper, large pinch of dried oregano, salt and pepper.

Be sure to mix it up stick it in a jar for a few days so that it relaxes and melds into a more homogeneous mix of spices rather than an angry hot bed of powdered bandits. Also make sure you make lots and add to it next time with more of what you like.

The biggest decision I had to make was what meat. Britons usually read chilli meat as ‘standard supermarket mince’, but upon closer inspection the discussion goes deep. I opted for braising steak for a more silky, less grainy texture. Actually chilli is such an age old recipe and there are so many variations, opinions, lore and even superstition why cant I just screw about a bit and use what I have close by and can get cheap.

I wanted to include chipotle chilli’s to add the smoky dimension but time was tight, so as a potentially blasphemous ruse I bought the finest chorizo I could get my hands on and added that to the mix. As far as chillies themselves were concerned I picked up a bunch of heart pumpingly hot Scotch bonnets and some more mild long sweet green chillies the type that often accompany your doner kebab.

The method (based on one kilo of meat):

Brown bite sized chunks of the steak and set aside, deglaze pan with red wine (pour over meat) fry two onions till golden, chuck in the cubed chorizo for three minutes, add about a tablespoon and a half of the seasoning, whatever chillies your using, don’t be shy - it will lose potency as time goes on. Add half a head of minced garlic and let the mixture bubble and fill the house with an eye watering, sweet and poky smell. Keep deglazing with rouge if the seasoning sticks. Add the meat after a few minutes along with two cans of chopped tomatoes and enough beef stock to cover the meat well. Let it bubble well for an hour then reduce it to low for four hours adding stock if it get too dry. When the meat is super tender stick in your beans and leave the wonder batch till tomorrow.

When ready to serve heat slowly, stir in a knob of salty butter to give it a slinky sheen. Loads of freshly chopped coriander and season. Serve it up with rice or over nachos grilled with some cheese on top and so on. I actually tried it cold in a baguette with some yogurt and cucumber, not bad...

(The esteemed panel)

The event itself was great, I met a load of passionate seasoned chilli gurus and had the fortune to win the peoples choice chilli and came third in the judges choice. Thanks everyone for the votes of confidence.

(hungry tasters)

Click Here for the Londonist review of the Chilli Cook-off 2009

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

2009-06-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Fortunately the bank holiday offered the opportunity to get out of town and disappear into one of the loveliest towns the other side of Offas Dyke. The Hay Literary festival is not like any festival that I normally frequent but with the lure of learned speakers, stand-up comedy, welsh countryside and a pale full of Old Rosie I was game. This was weekend of listening, sitting, thinking, eating and drinking. A good kind.

I stumbled across Su Perkins interviewing H. Blumenthal, Heston was elaborating on the range of olde sweets that he had been developing. Confectionary mock chewing tobacco, sweet shop scent and a modern take on the sherbet fountain in elegant traditional packaging were all in his deep bag of tricks. He next took to the larger stage in conversation with Jay Rayner who quizzed him on life at the Fat Duck, future proceedings, health and safety problems, the things that any firm follower of British chefs will have heard before.

One topic emerged that stood out, that is the potential for the ‘Hestonisation’ of restaurant food. Let me explain; Rayner said the he hoped that one day when sitting down to dinner somewhere when faced with some molecular disaster he would be forced to say ‘Heston this is all your fault, the Marie Rose ice cream is fucking butters” (not a direct quote). In food trend terms is molecular gastronomy going to become commonplace on all menus at high street chains? What will happen if it does and what does that really mean for the food that we eat when dining out? These questions are the first ones that pop into my mind and of course are the ones that are potentially very interesting in futurologists speak. Imagine a Green tomato gel, chipotle infused flat bread with avocado emulsion and triple-fried black bean puree sounds, my wanky burrito on a FD tip.

Are the realities are much more simple and as less astounding than the menus suggest? Take the snail porridge as a well known example; its dubbed ‘porridge’ because its oat based but made like risotto with knob of garlic parsley butter stirred through it for its vibrant green and savoury edge. Historically many savoury oat dishes were eaten and it is only in our minds that porridge be some treacle emblazoned sweet wintery breakfast. At another point on the molecular spectrum there is bread, the wheat based nourishment that for that for thousands of years has fed most of the non rice consuming cultures, when leavened is a complex science of active fungal fermentation combined with ground grain to produce a product so legendary it is literally biblical.

These two examples seem to highlight an interesting feature of food fashions. It seems to be play off between nomenclature and fundamentals of edible combinations. The porridge isn’t as wacky as it sounds, are verbose dressing up and wordy descriptions deviating from the more important aspects of what happens in the pan or the oven. Bread is bread and a beautiful thing but no one calls foccacia, fermented baked wheat powder with an olive oil suspension do they? But it could be interesting to see what happens...

My SPAM shame... Aporkalypse Now!

2009-05-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

Sadly I will not be the SPAM cook of 2009. A damn shame. See my recipe here.

I did however win two SPAM pens! and seeing as though the Spammer's don't want me in their competition any more I have decided to set up my own SPAM competition. The Prize is a whole tin of SPAM and a SPAM pen.

All you have to do is post a comment below and the comment that contains the most interesting URL to SPAM related topic wins. The competition will run until a topic of genuine SPAM interest emerges.

National Sandwich Week

2009-05-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hands down my favourite traditional sandwich has to be the Breakfast Sarnie, complete with sausage, bacon, fried egg and a liberal application of ketchup. In response to The Paunch’s request for sandwich reviews in light of British Sandwich Week this mighty classic makes an appearance.

Some say that the English breakfast is wasted when compacted between two slices. How can this be when with each mouthful each of the purest cooked breakfast elements meld into one warm comforting chomp of happiness. Evocations of home, time well spent relaxing, recuperating, and ruminating all fall together when a bite is taken.

Homeliness is the key factor. Having reproduced the layered legend abroad it seems impossible to recreate the distinct flavour and feeling of one made at home, the familiarity of ingredients runs deep!

N.B. Best served piping hot Saturday through Sunday at leisure.

Corrigan's

2009-05-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

Since my last post I have been maxing out on food orientated opportunities, so much so that the excesses created a metabolic pause and a scribing hiatus. But with my face in a metaphorical bucket of icy water and frosty trickles dribbling down the back of my neck I emerge shivering but spritely after the long weekend.

My four days of food started last Thursday when I lunched at Corrigan’s Mayfair, dinnered at Huong-Viet. While Friday Saturday and Sunday all revolved around alfresco coking. BBQ-esia, at this time of year, is fast becoming a pandemic, the neighbours spread the spores of char-meat over the garden fences and whole postcodes can become embroiled in a greasy fiesta.

Nevertheless, excited as I was about Corrigan’s, the £23.50 three course menu (including 250ml of wine) sounded too good to be true. Mr. Corrigan has been heaped with praise of late, apparently ‘the food reinvents tradition and move[s] it forward without ever seeming modern for the sake of it’….

The decor is reminiscent of a 1920’s ocean liner-cum-shooting lodge. Tectonic shiny surfaces duel with silhouettes of hunting gents and woodland creatures punctuated by feather laden lamp shades – not the sleekest or intimate of venues but it probably functions better at night. The service was attentive, relaxed and not pushy in upselling wine; as is common when diners have opted for the set menu. Mr. C was there and bounded through the restaurant at one point but I hear that it his erstwhile cohort Chris McGowan who heads the kitchen team in Mayfair.

I chose the parfait, the chicken and the blue cheese mousse. Nothing was gobsmacking, the chicken was wickedly poached and juicy and the peas were really fresh but I only had one bit of samphire! The others had the cod and was probably a better all-rounder more complicated with a bit more sex appeal. Really nothing worth a rousing torrent of prose and why should there be at under £25 a head?

The pudding of pear jelly and blue cheese mousse on the other hand does get some word count. Served in a v-shaped bowl and garnished with watercress this was the love child of Mr. Dolcelatte and Mrs. Airplane-jelly. In appearance it was deceptive; the peppery frilly cress and oaty biscuit tuile perched above a cloudy jelly suspending pear lumps seemed harmless enough; a passive jelly with an odd but attractive garnish. But lurking in wait was an incredibly salty squirt of blue cheese mousse with a bluish tinge. I can see that the attempt was to provide a more savoury alternative to the chocolate fondant (akin to a cheese plate) and indeed pear and blue cheese is a tried and tested partnership. But the collision and confusion baffled and was left unfinished. On an otherwise safe set menu the cheese and jelly serves as a quirky aside to add a (unsuccessful) twist and it was trying to be ‘modern for the sake of it’.

Its difficult to feel hard done by after only spending £150 for four including service in one of London’s newer food spots. But this was trumped by my visit to Huong-Vioet the very same calorific day. Next post to come….

Jupiter Rising

2009-04-17T04:08:00.000-07:00

Chocstar gave me a bell on Wednesday after two of her friends had dropped out of the date at The Secret Ingredient. Living nearby I was straight down to Horton’s place for a six course veggie Japanese dinner for fifteen bucks. Fair going for an impromptu Wednesday evening.

We wound off Newington green into the surrounding overgrown urban jungle; a mixture of medium density low and high-rise blocks brought to us by what is now the loving LHA. It was an exciting build up as we wandered around trying to penetrate the blocks set in perpendicular labyrinthine fashion.

We were booked into the second sitting at nine o’clock meaning that we would not be rushed at the end of our sei piatti or more appropriately, 6つの版, as the Japanese would have it. Having said that, the first sitters didn’t have to rush either as we all bunked up in the small living room together and chatted away until they had finished up and departed. We had been seated by about ten and along came the fayre:

Mixed Japanese crackers on the table to nibble until the first course arrived. It was a salad of fish and plum sauce. A combination of dried fish, sliced onion, sapped of their intense power, leaving a more subtle taste and cracking crunch and a chilled sour plum sauce. The tiny portions left me wanting and wondering.

Next came a plate that wouldn’t have been out of place horizontally in the back room of a heady house party, namely that it was a mirror but bedecked with more wholesome stuffs. A parcel of green beans and carrot batons tied with nori, a splayed open radish topped with what seemed to be lemon soaked Granny Smith apple, the sweet and sour balancing well and preventing the grim discolouration. Two green spinachy rolls with something else unidentifiable, but both fresh clean and well seasoned. Finally to end the ensemble a spinach leaf held a powerful wasabi laced grated daikon salad.

More comes; a warm potato baton and red pepper platter dressed with the Paunch and I decided was dashi, all served on elegant elongated ceramic platters.

Next – a sharing frame, yes a picture frame. This was the best of the six courses I thought. On it was a warm marinated mushroom, fragrant broccoli florets and a deep fried morsel bound with egg containing carrots various seasonings. It was at this point, as you can tell, that my brain was subject to overload and recollections become rather dim. But I do remember in the centre on the frame, where the hole is, a bowl of wasabi punctuated daikon a little less punchy that the version on the mirror course.

Now verging on full, having had in total about twenty good mouthfuls, we had a bowl of steaming rice another of exceptionally good and sweet miso and crunchy pickled cucumbers. Upon investigation Horton divulged that his miso was lacking in the paste department but was mostly the vegetable cooking waters from the previous courses. It was really spot on and it shows up the powdered supermarket sachet versions for what they are, imposters.

Pudding was the least inspiring of the six, Strawberry slices, chocolate and a sweet miso, which was interesting as a salty combatant to the sweet of fruit and chocolate and there was piping Sake unless we hadn't boozed enough.

Mr. Jupiter must spend on average six to seven hours cooking and preparing each Wednesday and he still had the energy to crack jovial anecdotes and genial quips with us after he had finished dervishing about in his small fridge-less kitchen. He told us that he got into Japanese cooking after stealing a book on the matter from his local library while bored in his early twenties….. A Cook, a Thief, don’t know if he has a wife or a lover but I salute him!

(Disclaimer: please be aware that my knowledge of Japanese cuisine is limited and may be chatting shit - excuse for lack of images is that i forgot my camera -lose)

Puccino

2009-03-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

At Ms. Marmite's on Saturday I cooked the starter of mushroom Ravioli with an onion cappuccino. If found the recipe on caterersearch and it’s by Michael Bedford the chef proprietor of the Chefs Table in Gloucestershire. Click through or see below for the recipe.

I spent the previous week force feeding my flatmates second rate pasta. My pasta machine seemed to have been swallowed by my last place of residence and has not since surfaced. Fortunately by Saturday I had honed the recipe and with the help of Marmites mini pasta machine we were good to go.

I worked out that when making fresh pasta the ratio of egg to flour isn’t as important as I first thought. Unlike pastry where measurements are key pasta dough is refreshingly simple. Mound up the flour and whack in roughly one egg per hundred grams of flour and off you go incorporating the flour gently to start with then with vigor. The eggs kind of welcome only as much flour as they need and just stop when you have the pasta consistency you want – its all in the feel. Make sure it well rested before you roll and kneed like hell till springy.

What was more interesting was the so called cappuccino that I flooded the raviolis with and seemed to go down well. It was smooth, creamy and properly unhealthy.

You have to sweat the onion in loads of butter for ages on low (longer then the recipe suggests) until soft gooey the add in equal parts double cream, milk and stock. Slowly reduce for half an hour, blitz, strain and just heat it up again when needed and blitz to a snazzy froth.

The Basil puree didn’t work as I expected it to. I think a professional grade pacojet would have been useful. But blanch and refresh basil leaves squeeze out as much water as possible then liquidize with some Parmesan and pine kernels. Probably easier to do a massive batch and freeze as it will liquidize better in bulk.

A mushroom filling speaks for itself but stick in anything you want but with the onion froth (calling it a cappuccino is a bit poncy) it works really well.

Will hopefully be producing more stand alone courses at Marmites soon so watch this space…

Ingredients (serves four)

200g pasta dough
1 egg yolk
60g basil purée

For the onion cappuccino
2 onions chopped
100g butter
1/2 pint of double cream
1/2 pint of milk
1/2 pint of stock

For the mushroom filling
oil
18 shrooms chopped coarsely
5 shallots, chopped
50g unsalted butter
1 bunch of flat parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
Salt and pepper

For the filling, heat oil in a pan until very hot then add the mushrooms and sear for a few minutes. Add the shallots and butter. When the shallots have softened add the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Leave to cool.

Callooh Callay

2009-03-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

I am almost loath to share what I am about to share. This is mainly due to a selfish desire to keep this gem under wraps, like many good things over exposure may just be its downfall. Nevermind its only Bar!

This was my second visit to Callooh Callay on Rivington Street, London’s East end. The first time I went there was to meet manager and curator Richard Wynn (formerly of Lounge Lover and less exotically Pitcher & Piano). At ten in the morning after the opening press night one can excuse the state of the place and the stench of spilled spirits. I can also therefore be excused my conclusion jumping; surmising that this would be just another faddy Shoreditch booze hole with too many Nathan Barley’s who would probably only go twice.

Maybe it was my mood by I got it really wrong. Last Friday I went straight from work arriving at the worst time for bar frequentation, the weekly drinking equivalent of Diwali. Luckily was there to meet someone much more knowledgeable about drinks than most and he advised my drinks choices and had secured us some seating. But it was the decor that hit me first before the alcool. As suggested by the name Callooh Callay, made up words by Lewis Carol in the poem Jabberwocky, I entered in to a bizarre mashup of furniture and nick-knackery, but not the really standard oh so common mismatched school room chairs oft seen these days. This stuff has clearly been chosen with more of an eye for style and some cash. The tape wall, cassettes set into resin makeup a whole wall and tile the lav. Half a bath makes a cosy two seater, and an army of gramophones line the bar awaiting to be filled with the signature house cocktail (see menu). The nonsensical nature of Lewis poem has been successively translated into interior architecture, smooth.

Drinkwise I first sipped on the ingeniously named Anise ‘N’ Nephew (ingredients: Wray and Nephew overproof rum, Absinthe, Velvet Falnernum, pineapple and lime with a star anise garnish), no idea what Velvet Falnernum is but the mixture of the overproof rum, with its musky outlandish smell beaten down by the freshness of the fruit and polished by the anise in an awesome concoction built upon by the strength of the absinth. And what a great name, using the Wray and Nephew rum and star anise – its worthy of a tabloid hack.

The Ale of Two Cities was probably the most wacky liquid to have ever passed my lips. Served in a baby tankard it is the colour of a milky ale with a generous head to match. No hops in sight however as this sweet velvety innovation is vodka based! (ingredients: 42 Below Vodka, Punt e Mes, Angostura Bitters, apple, lime, Wild nettle cordial and malt syrup) nutty.

The food I have yet to sample but as the light bites and bar snacks do look appealing although not as technically compiled as the drinks list. I will definitely be returning but I suggest you don’t tell too many other people about it…..

Molecular Gastriconomy

2009-03-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday the esteemed three Michelin starred restaurant The Fat Duck closed its doors and sealed its reservations book. Heston’s decision came about due to customers complaining about dodgy stomachs and vomiting – the shits. Fair enough, happens all the time. I have been hit by the runs after a tuna steak at a restaurant and it’s pretty easy to do to yourself or someone else through the food we eat especially if you’re creating haute cuisine for hundreds of ingredients many of them raw.

The problems at the FD are potentially threefold. Loss of revenue after a weeks closure (a minimum of approx. £150/cover x 80 covers/day x 11 services/week = £ 132,000). Loss of prestige and loss of future custom, all potentially ruinous for a gastro-hero in these tight times. Fortunately the Blumenthal breadwinner The Hind’s Head across the road is still open to paying customers but the financial dent must still be massive. Seemingly Heston has a big problem on this plate.

Maybe not so… how much press has the incident attracted, loads. The BBC, Independent etc. and these were the first two Google hits after the FD’s own site. The tone taken by most of the articles I have read are not particularly accusatory, some even sympathetic. Clearly immediate action was necessary to prevent further incidents of gastric irritation and nothing can change what has happened.

I fully believe the FD’s hygiene standards are of the very highest and negligence on this account probably wasn’t the cause. Hygiene tests will probably be returned unresolved and the case will never be solved. The eager, well rested thirty or so brigade will return to the kitchen itching to get the burners cranked. The public has been reminded what a good chap Blumenthal is, publicity has never been higher, the diners who spent a twenty four hours or so hugging the porcelain will hopefully still remember their dinner as being as magnificent as the bill and the kitchen will have never been cleaner.

See Heston explain

Underground Supper Club

2009-02-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

The most wonderful thing happens when you come across something that has been mulling around your head that actually exists and is more accessible than you had thought. For me Supper clubs are it!

The whole notion of announcing your dinner, designing a menu, sourcing the ingredients, finding a venue, getting willing helpers, hoping people will come, and not cocking it up is in some micro-way the same as having you own restaurant. With a lot less risk. If you think of all the chefs that you admire and have seen in the flesh doing what they do best ever wondered if you could do the same? You can and people do.

I got in touch with the now infamous Ms. Marmitelover via her blog The English can Cook soon after her first week in business. She welcomed my request to help immediately and off to Kiburn I went. Now on its fourth Saturday Ms. Marmitelover is transporting her diners to Mexico by way of Brondesbury. Other unique dining experiences such as Horton Jupiter’s in Newington Green proves the abundance.

(Marmites homely culinary HQ)

Many supper clubs are popping up all over the place, and long may they thrive. At a time when cash is tight, people are more knowledgeable about food and the abilty to quickly disseminate information via t’internet the climate is perfect for a move away from more traditional food experiences.

Its not that the proprietors of these supper clubs want to undermine the restaurant industry in some anarchic way but are increasingly finding that the reaction they get from the diner is that it offers so much more that just a more reasonably priced meal. Social exchange with like mined others, an insight in the home of others etc.

Being given a whole set menu designed by an enthusiast is, in my mind, vastly better than the tedium of glaring at monotonous bound menu with needless subdivisions that are based more on price and fashion with a keen eye for the profit margin. Also if you in someone else’s house being served by their friends and family who cares if the service is not attentive and timing is not too rigorous. The informality and personalisation irons out all the usual gripes of conventional dining.

Seek and devour your local supper club… feed the phenomenon!

Spam Scotch Egg

2009-02-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

Spam Scotch Eggs. (Makes 4)

One can Spam chopped as finely as possible
4 eggs soft boiled
3 Spring onions finely sliced
One clove Garlic pureed
Flour
Whisked egg
Breadcrumbs
Oil for frying

First make the Spammy meat mixture, mix the very finely chopped Spam with one egg the spring onions and garlic with a pinch of salt.

Place mixture on a lightly oiled sheet of clingfilm in a circle roughly 7” in diameter. Place the soft boiled egg on top. Gather the clingfilm at the corners and pull up engulfing the egg in the meat mixture. Twist clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the parcels to firm up.

Place flour breadcrumbs and whisked egg in three different flat containers. When rested carefully unwrap the eggs in Spam and coat in flour then egg and finally the bread crumbs. Rest aging for another 30 minutes. Fry in 2cm of oil until golden, drain on kitchen paper and much while still warm…no one will know you used Spam….