Hunan

I’ve wanted to visit Hunan ever since @Gastro1 first told me about it last summer. His description of the little menu-less family run place on Pimlico Road sounded intriguing. I love the idea of not having to worry about perusing endless choices on a menu and just plonking yourself in the hands of the chef. So when my friend Ben asked me to accompany him for a review meal, I was more than up for it.

Tucked around the corner from Sloane Square Station, this modest looking restaurant gives little hint at the delights on offer within – it has “find” calligraphied all over it. After a chat with the charming Michael Peng and a quick check that we were ok to eat everything (emphatic affirmation from Ben) we were fed an onslaught of increasingly glorious dishes. Michael’s father Mr Peng has been cooking here for over 20 years and his confidence and flair shines through in these almost ethereally tasty little platefuls. Despite the name of the restaurant, the cuisine is heavily influenced by Taiwanese food, and he’s added his own inventive twists and touches. These were present in everything from our initial nibbles of spicy peanuts and pickles to the vinegar dips and sauces accompanying each dish. The interlacing of contrasting textures, temperatures and intelligent spicing was simply astonishing.  A dish of salt and pepper green beans came hijabed in chilli-salted tempura, and a single chicken pot sticker dumpling encased in silky soft pastry had an almost charred base, adding unexpected crunch. The meaty juices teamed perfectly with a tangy vinegar dip, the very memory of which fills the mouth with lust. Slices of roast duck came next, the lacquered leaves glistening like the paint job on a new Ferrari, the meat sweet and fresh. The dishes flowed thick and fast and we were afraid of filling up because everything tasted so good. A spinach roll was surprisingly hot and crispy followed by pig’s ear and tongue, every cool mouthful an exercise in savoury gelatinous crunch.  The feeling of being in a pair of genuinely confident hands was thrilling – Mr Peng is the sort of person who has the guts to serve up crispy intestines or frogs’ legs served with fermented bamboo shoots and chilli –both of which were sublime.

Pork belly and dumpling came in a treacly sauce whistling with chilli and vinegar – Ben declared it to be the finest he’d ever tasted (and he’s eaten a lot).  Other triumphs included chicken with sticky rice, chilli squid, jellyfish and stir fried lamb smothered in a smoky chilli sauce and amplified with the tang of rice wine.

The result was an experience that left us giddy and elated with sensory overload. Mr Peng’s magic wove through every dish, pulling together a synergetic spread of flavour layers that ran the gamut from hot and garlicky to cool and crisp –all exquisitely moreish, leaving us grinning at each other like a proper pair of flavour junkies. Toffee bananas were the perfect sugar high to end on- making us forget the chilly Sloaney gloam awaiting us outdoors. I’ve lived in London for most of my life and have eaten a fair amount of Chinese food– Hunan is easily and above the best I’ve ever had.

51 Pimlico Road, London SW1W 8NE
12.30-2pm, 6.30-11pm Mon-Sat
020 7730 5712

Filed under: Uncategorized

The Avenue

Walking into the newly refurbished Avenue should really make me feel pretty sick.

This is predominantly because it’s plastered in photos of royal guards. Not royal guards doing what they’re paid to do, i.e.standing around all day doing nothing, mind you. Oh no. Its bearskin sporting royal guards engaged in all manner of hilarious and “wacky” activities like keeping fit down the gym or playing in steel pan bands, as if they’re actual real people or something. This is something I’d generally balk at, but as Tristan Welch (Launceston Place) explains, it’s a nod and a wink to the local area, we are after in the heartland of Piccadilly. I let it go, perhaps because the rest of the place is so well designed. The bar is pretty glamorous; in a clean and understated way and the floor to ceiling window lends a nice airy feel.

The menu is full of equally chilled but witty “mix and match” treats. Dishes like clam chowder, burgers and mushrooms on toast lounge comfortably alongside poached lobster, rib of beef and haunch of venison; each with the option of having a sharing sized or individual portion at half the price.

My Angus burger with Lincolnshire poacher cheese was gorgeous to the power of max. Cushioned in a seeded bun from the Hummingbird bakery, the charred smoky crust framed an almost foie like interior. Having tried the legendary Hawksmoor cheeseburger the day before, I found this to be ever so slightly more delicious. My only gripe was the home made gherkins which could have done with a tad more vinegar. A Caesar salad with home cured sardines was inspired with bites of toasted hazelnut and well seasoned leaves. The wild mushrooms on toast were another highlight, buttery sourdough piled with a medley of wild fungi and crowned with the oozing sunset of a slow cooked yolk.  Poached brill with leeks and nutmeg was well executed, if slightly dull. The cheese fondue was the real champion.  What’s not to covet about a caquelon brimming with a molten orgy of Coolea, Lincolnshire poacher cheddar and Danegeld…?  Needless to say, there was much fondue fork jousting and a bit of a Vienetta style stand off over the burnished layer of la religieuse at the base.

Ice cream came in a cornet, and had the texture of a poshed up Mister Whippy, dripping glossily with prune and Armagnac syrup and harbouring a plummy surprise at the base of the cone.

Mikko Katja from Launceston Place is at the helm here and this really comes across in the very confident and sometimes stunningly good cooking. The staff were also knowledgeable, friendly and personable, something that seems be overlooked or dismissed far too often. Having front of house with character and warmth is an essential component and for me is often the difference between a good and a great dining experience.  The Avenue has this in spades, and next time I’m uptown and in need of a proper burger or a five pound cocktail (for a limited period only) I know where I’ll be heading.

The Avenue

7-9 St James’s Street

London SW1A 1EE

Tel: 0207 321 2111

Fax: 0207 321 2500

http://www.theavenue-restaurant.co.uk

Filed under: Uncategorized , restaurant reviews

Curried Cauliflower Cheese

Sometimes nothing hits the spot like a bit of rich, meaty prose. Except perhaps bastardised cauliflower cheese, that is.

In her fascinating food memoir “The Settler’s Cookbook” Yasmin Alibhai-Brown traces the long trajectory of East African Indians from her forebears who first left India in the 19^th century to work in East Africa under British rule, to life in Uganda in the 60’s and early 70’s. She paints an unflinchingly honest picture of what it was like to live under the brutality of Idi Amin’s regime and subsequent life in the UK after he kicked all the Asians out in the early seventies.

It’s easily the best food memoir I’ve read for some time and is full of captivating anecdotes interspersed with some very distinctive recipes incorporating African, British and Asian influences. I must admit that not all of them are to my taste, but it always warms my cockles to see “ghettoised” versions of indigenous classics. Something about dishes like her mother’s spicy shepherd’s pie and chilli steak speak siren-like and directly to the Anglo-Asian in me.

Inspired by these recipes and in a bid to thwart the treacherous chill, I knocked up a curried cauliflower cheese because that’s just the sort of wild and crazy person I am these days.

I like Simon Hopkinson’s method in “The Vegetarian Option”. Instead of making your basic roux and incrementally adding milk and cheese, he goes for a bread-sauce like infusion of milk, cloves, onion and bay before straining it all in. As it’s all about those flavour layers I think it’s definitely worth this extra faff-factor.  I also added a touch of homemade curry powder and some garlic to the cheese sauce before baking. This pepped it up a treat and my tastebuds were stretched both east and west in a glorious culinary tug of war.

For the curry powder

2 tbs whole coriander seeds

1 tbs whole cumin seeds

the seeds from 3 cardamom pods
2 tsp peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 whole cloves
3 dried hot red chillies, crumbled
1 tsp fenugreek

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 curry leaves

• dry roast the lot in a frying pan and then blitz in a clean coffee grinder. Keeps in an airtight jar for yonks.

for the cauliflower cheese*

1 cauliflower

salt and freshly ground white pepper

500ml full-cream milk

2 cloves

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

75g butter

50g plain flour

a little freshly grated nutmeg

200g firm cheese, grated plus extra for sprinkling on top

serves 2, generously

method

• Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower and break the curds into roughly even-sized florets.
• Add the cauliflower florets to a pan of boiling salted water and boil until almost tender (remember they will continue to cook whilst in the sauce, in the oven).
• Drain and carefully lay out on a folded tea towel; their cooking water will continue to exude for quite some minutes after draining.
• Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5.
• Put the milk, cloves, onion and bay leaf in a small saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Cook for a minute or two then cover and leave to infuse off the heat for 10 minutes or so.
• In another pan, melt the butter, (I crushed in a clove of garlic and sizzled it off at this point) and stir in the flour. Cook stirring over a low heat for a few minutes, then remove from the heat and strain in the hot milk all in one go.
• Whisk together vigorously until well amalgamated. Now, using a wooden spoon, stir continuously until the sauce begins to thicken and become very smooth. (I stirred in a tablespoon of the curry powder here)
• Leave to cook for a further 10 minutes over the merest heat; one of those heat-diffuser mats employed here would be a good idea.
• Add the cheese and stir until it has fully melted into the sauce. Season with pepper and nutmeg and taste for salt.
• Place the cauliflower in an ovenproof dish that will accommodate it snugly. Carefully pour over the sauce so that it fully coats each floret and sprinkle with the extra cheese.
• Bake in the oven for a good 25-30 minutes, or until the surface is well blistered and the sauce is bubbling nicely around the edges.

*taken from p34 of “The Vegetarian Option” by Simon Hopkinson- Quadrille Publishing Ltd.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Fernandez and Leluu

I’m not sure precisely when the “S” word became the extra hot Tabasco of conversation, but there seems to be little else right now in the arena of food that’s quite so guaranteed to elicit such a spicy torrent of opinion. Uyen and Simon are a Vietnamese and Spanish couple who cook delicious and imaginative meals in Uyen’s Eastside flat. When I mentioned that I might be going back for second helpings, I was rather condescendingly informed by some food Nazi or other that supper clubs are in fact passé. Apparently they’re just sooo 2009, according to those on the cutting edge of food fashion. Well call me Pat Butcher’s left earring, but I thought it was food not Erdem. So, yes, I spent New Year’s Eve with Fernandez and Leluu and bloody brilliant it was too.

I’d been here before. Back in the autumn, my friend Matthew and I decided to give their Vietnamese Halloween night a try, and were pleasantly surprised to realise that he lives just next door to them. Matthew is rather hard to please when it comes to food (or indeed anything) and the fact that he loved it speaks volumes. Being a lot less adventurous than I like to admit, I felt a definite twinge of the squeams at the prospect of frog’s legs – however one bite and all tentativeness swiftly fell away as I got stuck in to seriously tender, perfectly seasoned nuggets of froggy goodness. Hot and sour soup is my personal benchmark of a good Vietnamese meal, and the one served here was simply incredible. Dense with catfish, tomato and okra, the broth balanced the line between sweet, tangy, sour and salty with tightrope precision. The whole menu was spot on and definitely worth more than the £30 a head we paid. Stamped with personality, authenticity and wit – anyone that serves sashimi with double fried chips is always going to be a decent sort in my books.

And so I was thrilled to hear they were having a New Year’s bash. Let’s face it, New Years can so often be a grisly, hit and miss affair, what with all that paying to get into your local or going to dreadful house parties and watching your friends gurn at one another. Or worse staying in and feeling like you really ought to be out having a rubbish time, just anything to get away from Alan “kill me quick” Carr.

This time there was definitely more of a party atmosphere, and for ages we all stood around talking, chatting and generally breaking down those inter-table borders. It felt like a room full of properly like-minded types, I met Luiz Hara of http://www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk and his brilliantly bonkers friends , as well as the lovely Gail of one million gold stars amongst others. The appeal of this particular supper club for me lies in the fact that the hosts are genuinely warm and welcoming, which makes going round there feel a lot more like visiting old friends, rather than just going round to some randomers for dinner. However, whilst all was a picture of fun and good times downstairs, upstairs at the end of the night was of course a total bomb wreck, which provides an inkling of just how much hard work must go into these evenings.

The flat is full of fascinating little knick knacks, there are shelves crammed with jars of tea and some stunning clothes that Uyen makes for her Carnaby Street boutique “Love Leluu”. There’s a mirror in the bathroom you can write messages on, a plastic gecko and a chest of drawers in the garden and nobody minds if you accidentally spill a tiny drop of wine or nip outside for a rolly between courses. It’s that sort of place.

Eventually we settled and were served a surprise “best of” menu which kicked off with hunks of Uyen’s dreamy home made bread and some parmesan rich pesto which Gail and I secretly polished off before anyone else could get a look in. Then came Simon’s home made terrine which he had just whipped up that morning, followed by chop-slappingly fresh sashimi with my favourite wasabi mayonnaise. We then had pasta with ragu sauce, and suffice to say I was pretty sated at this point, but we were warned there was even more to come. This turned out to be a total understatement, which came in the form of a proper roast dinner with the works – we’re talking roast chicken, lamb, vegetables and lashings of gravy. Like the most lethargically-roasted nervous breakdown, the meat just fell apart upon the merest contact, and the gravy was English granny perfect. We finished with delicate orange and vodka pannacotta, the epitome of sublime, wobbly perfection.

In terms of the food, I have to admit it was all perfectly executed, but I did personally prefer the menu on the Halloween night, just because I adore Vietnamese food. However, in terms of socialising with the other guests, this completely rocked it. I particularly loved the fact that Simon and Uyen came and ate with us for the second half of the meal. It really made it a proper experience for us, and we were glad they’d chosen the sort of menu which meant they were able to do that. I went with someone who’d never been to a supper club before and afterwards we both agreed that it was easily one of the best New Year’s celebrations we’d ever been to and can’t wait for the next one.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Coco

Cookbooks for me fall into two categories. There are the filthy ones, veritably Pollocked in grease and thumbprints with gossamer whispers of ancient garlic skin embedded in their very vertebrae. Lovingly frayed around the edges, these are the ones you want to cook from time and time again; or at least until they fall apart.

Then there are the beautiful coffee table tomes, the more pristine creatures you carry into the bedroom rather than the kitchen and lazily leaf through, inspired by the recipes but knowing deep down you’re not really ever going to traipse all over town looking for loquats and teal.

Coco manages to cleverly bridge that tricky gap between the two; it’s a handsome, meaty globe-spanning tome. It showcases the work of future chefs, chosen by the likes of Fergus Henderson, Alain Ducasse and Mario Batali. Alongside the requisite mmmm-inducing photography are recipes from these talented protégés; some of which I cannot wait to try (Skye Gyngell’s Carpaccio of salt cod with preserved lemon, chilli, capers and mixed cress for example). and some of which I know I will never, ever attempt (i.e. petit-pois millefeuille with Ibaiona ventreche, black radish vacherin and foie gras Mamia – whatever that is). Thankfully, it features a lot more of the former. There’s a section at the beginning on “world-leading masters” and a fantastic but sadly limited section at the back listing “classic dishes by master chefs” including Fergus Henderson’s roast bone marrow and parsley salad and Alain Ducasse’s Provencal garden vegetables simmered with truffle.

My only real criticism of the book is the use of terms like “arugula” or  “cilantro” or spelling “pitta” with only one T. The measurements at least, are all in grams and tablespoons, and not cups. Other than that I found much to like about it.

So when Sauce PR contacted me to ask if I could let them know of five other food bloggers to come along on a gourmet jaunt around some of the featured restaurants I was delighted.

We kicked off the evening at the fantastically revamped House of St Barnabas in Soho. The canapés were by Lyndy Redding and included intensely flavoured pea, feta and mint tartlets and beef skewers with horseradish cream, parmesan haddock goujons with a caper aioli, tuna tataki with radish, apple and mustard, steak tartare served on a game chip and extra long cheese straws. All very tasty, apart from the cheese straws which were a little under-seasoned.

Then onto the minibus to Maze for the starter of Cornish red mullet, rabbit Bolognese, cuttlefish tagliatelle, squid paint and asparagus. I really wanted to love this dish. I’ve been to Maze before, the chefs table when it first opened was a groaning table of plenty and Jason Atherton is a very smart and likeable guy. However, this just didn’t curry my goat. I found the bunny ragu jarred rather aggressively with the seafood. We then went to Theo Randalls which was markedly different. The monkfish with prosciutto, artichokes, capers, parsley and charlotte potatoes was a gorgeous dish, well executed and deftly balanced.

Finally to Launceston Place for afters. I was particularly excited about this as I’ve been meaning to try their lunch menu for some time now. I was not disappointed, we were all fairly gobsmacked when presented with  a stunning  platter of desserts including a rice pudding soufflé with raspberry ripple ice cream, lavender cream with violets and raspberry, apple parfait with toffee and walnut, dark chocolate, iced milk crumble, set custard cream, caramel and praline, malt ice cream, apple tart with home made clotted cream and banana sticky toffee pudding with Guinness ice cream. All washed down with a 2004 Jurancon “Syphonie de Novembre” Domaine Cauhape, rich with the essence of peach, apricot and ripe Comice. A  perfect end to a gastro-fabulous evening.

(Thanks to Jenny from Phaidon and Danielle and Laura from Sauce for organising)

Filed under: good times

Fire & Knives

I’ve written a piece about the “Coriander Club”, a Bengali women’s allotment group for Fire & Knives. This dashing food quarterly is the brilliant new offering from Tim Hayward. I’m furtively eyeing up my copy as I type this, and I have to say it’s a truly gorgeous publication.  Printed on thick, quality paper with eye-catching visuals, the whole thing is superbly put together and I’m incredibly excited to be featured in it. In fact, if it were somehow possible to batter, deep fry it and wolf it down, I probably would.

It’s a cracking read that manages to simultaneously showcase new talent and also exciting and unusual work from more established names. This inaugural issue features (amongst others) the work of Catherine Phipps, Tom Parker Bowles, Oliver Thring, Matthew Fort and Elizabeth David. If you haven’t subscribed I would strongly urge you to do so. Personally, I adore the fact that it’s anti-slick and pap-free, that there are no recipes, no “101 ways with mince” just fresh, nourishing high calibre writing.

Word.

Filed under: publications

Mouthing off : Eating and Utterance – A talk by Simon Schama

Most days are the same. Those twenty four hour increments that ooze and bleed into weeks, into months, into clotted slabs of time. And of course I love it, snuggling under that comforting duvet of the familiar, the mesmerisingly routine. However, every once in a while, I come across one of those gorgeous sparklers of encounter, those precious acts of fate that completely snow storms the mind. You know the sort. And once the soothing fallout of hindsight resettles; the surrounding world refigures into a brilliant and alien landscape.

I had this particular epiphany about a month ago. I was sat there on the 205, shuddering and jolting down the Pentonville Road, leafing through the OFM without really absorbing any of it, my mind abuzz with little neon surges of excitement. I had just seen Simon Schama talking at King’s Place as part of the London Restaurant Festival you see, and it was quite easily up there as one of the best things I have been to since starting this blog. Jet lagged but on fantastic form he led us on a vivid jaunt through the history of food.

Filed under: good times

Slow cooked lamb curry with kitchuri

Nothing says welcome home to me as much as the heady perfume of a languidly cooked lamb curry, one that’s been muttering and grumbling away on the back burner for several hours. The scent immediately reminds me of eyeballing Mr Taj and his blood stained apron from behind the folds of my mother’s sari. I’d watch him, with the vaguely comforting smell of raw flesh in my nostrils as he’d casually feed a carefully selected leg through the electric saw, the searing whine of bone on metal a distant echo of the abattoir.

Several hours later my brother and I would relish the yielding velvet of garlicky flesh disintegrating beneath our tiny, greedy fingers, scooped up with hot flaky parathas. We’d fight over the precious pieces of rich bone marrow left in the pot, teasing them out with the ends of teaspoons and feasting on the spicy, buttery rewards.

I’ve made this with lamb but the spicing lends itself equally well to beef or mutton. Kitchuri (the origin of “kedgeree”) is a fantastic foil, a lightly spiced lentil and rice dish, it’s the ultimate comfort dish in Bengali cuisine, however it’s also one that I’ve never come across on any restaurant menu.

Filed under: good times, lunch, tea , Bengali

Crisp Bitter Melon and Stir-Fried Bengali Greens

Crisp Bitter Melon

Bitter Melon, or Karella as it’s called in Bengali is a violently bitter vegetable. To temper this and extract those mouth-puckering enzymes a good long salting is required. Once broken down into paper thin crescents, fried up crisply with cumin, chilli and salt and eaten with mouthfuls of steaming rice, it makes a delicious dish, one that’s simultaneously salty, crunchy, bitter and ever so slightly sweet. These alien looking vegetables resemble warty, tubercle-ridden cucumbers and can be found in most Asian shops and markets. This recipe works well as a side with a mild dhal as a slightly sweet foil to the bitter edge, or as the palate-rocking prelude to a more substantial feast.

Filed under: lunch, sides and salads, starters , Bengali

Coconut Prawn Curry/Chingri Malai Tarkari

In his fascinating book “An Edible History Of Humanity” Tom Standage identifies the origins of the Black Death in the lucrative fourteenth century spice trade. He deftly recaptures the way in which Jani Beg, the khan of the Golden Horde attempted to deter Genoese traders from exploiting the port of Caffa for trading slaves by catapulting them with the plague ridden corpses of his own army. As the few remaining survivors fled westwards they carried the plague home with them in their ships. (For some reason this struck a particular chord with me, quite possibly because my mother’s maiden name is Beg).

Ironically, popular Western belief dictated that spices or “splinters of Paradise” as they were called, could also purify the corrupted air and offer protection from the plague. Standage discusses the Muslim curtain which blocked European access to the East and the aggressive race to bust around this stronghold and be the first to form a direct link with precious exotica such as cloves and cinnamon. He recounts the way in which Vasco da Gama and his crew of thugs savagely looted unarmed Muslim ships off the coast of India, and used the prisoners for crossbow practice. How the hands, noses and ears of these prisoners were cut off and sent ashore while the mutilated captives were bound and burnt to death in their own ships. It’s so easy for us today to just stroll casually past the glorious technicolour bounty of little screw top jars on our supermarket shelves and forget that their relationship with these shores has a long and blood-seeped history.

Filed under: lunch, tea , Bengali

An Autumn Feast/Smoked Aubergine Dhal

I’ve been ordered out of bed on a Saturday morning to conjure up a Bengali feast for a posse of aunts, uncles, cousins and their adorable yet eternally hyperactive progeny. I usually relish these big messy get togethers; the preparation even more so.

This takes place with a casual sort of precision, all the women in the kitchen gossiping and joking at once. My aunt surveys me over her glasses whilst hacking at some pui saag (otherwise known as Malabar Spinach) and gives me the usual “so when are you going to start having babies then?” ribbing. I test the dhal and mutter something about one thing at a time but they feign deafness and chatter pointedly about my cousin Mitthu in Bangladesh who’s just had a beautiful baby girl. My other aunt tells me I look a lot more attractive now that I’m finally getting a bit of meat on my bones. What none of them can work out though, is why on earth I insist on cutting my hair short like a little boy. I turn a delicate shade of plum and defensively stroke my shorn occipital bone. They talk about how beautiful, plump and “fair” Mitthu is – “she has hair down to here!” my aunt pauses mid chop to hold the knife against her sari clad arse while everyone murmurs approvingly.

A very traditional Bengali feast consists of several courses, beginning with something bitter (to wake up the palate), followed by the lentil and vegetable dishes. Next comes fish, followed by meat or chicken and finally dessert. We aren’t that formal today, but nonetheless fry up crisp slivers of bitter melon simply adorned with cumin, turmeric and plenty of garlic to start. This is followed by the Malabar spinach sautéed in panch phoran (Bengali five spice) and smoked aubergine dahl, then a coconut prawn curry, a slow cooked beef curry and kitchuri. (the word “kedgeree” originates from kitchuri but instead of fish or egg, it’s made with a mixture of lentils, rice and spices). It’s more standard to make a biryani for these big gatherings, but there’s something informal and comforting about kitchuri and it goes perfectly with the beef. We finish with some Payesh, a rich, cardamom scented Bengali rice pudding.

It’s all finger licking good and even the fussiest child eats every last loving handful. There’s much boisterous laughter and yelling over one another, the little ones surge around, fuelled up on Vimto, while the uncles tease them and talk shop – everyone sated on the rich juices of family life.

Over the next week I’ll put up all the recipes, but for starters, here’s that smoked aubergine dhal…

Filed under: lunch, sides and salads, tea , Bengali

Bacchanalian Times

I fear the gout.

It all starts on Tuesday. One of those swan song days of summer when the sun drips golden Tate & Lyle tendrils and the air shimmers above the juddering road works in its glittering, maudlin way. I slip into Racine and am transported to Parisian bistro chic. The staff are kind and pretend not to notice that I have a man’s tartan tie in lieu of a proper belt for my Oxfam coat. PR and publishing women beam at one another in the private dining area and the air tinkles with light, pleasant conversation, as bubbly and sanguine as the citrus peel-infused champagne we delicately sip upon. I talk to Clotilde Dusoulier who has recently updated Ginette Mathiot’s tome “I Know How to Cook”. She is utterly lovely, and without a smidge of the jealous measuring up, so prolific in some of the more seasoned British food bloggers I have had the vile misfortune to come across. As we sit around the table Henry Harris talks us through what we are about to receive. I’ve heard much of his culinary prowess but this is the first time I’ve had the honour. As he describes veal bones simmered for long meaty days, I get the impression that eating here could well be the culinary equivalent of reading an Ian McEwan novel, i.e. I know I’m in safe and capable hands. He is reassuringly spattered with caramel sauce. There are ten of us – an assortment of broadsheet journalists and the fabulous women from Sauce and Phaidon. I am sat opposite Tim Hayward and next to Susan Smillie from the Guardian; I haven’t seen Susan for yonks and I suddenly realise half way through the meal how incredibly loud we are being compared to everyone else. At one point I am vaguely horrified to hear my own braying Sid James-esque laugh booming above the polite murmurs of conversation around me. As gout winks at me from the opposite table I blank him and eagerly sup down the most intense fish soup, deep, briny and a fine burnt orange hue. The bourguignon is served and as I spoon the soft, wine-blackened flesh into my cosseted cakehole I swear I can feel the purine begin its stealthy calcification in my joints. I finish with crème caramel and someone else’s apple tart – I’m a firm believer in rushing selflessly to the aide of my fellow diners when they appear to be struggling (I’m nice like that). My requests to take my leftover stew home (Susan’s encouragement fuels me on) are met with bafflement and “why not?” smiles, but I brazen it out as I cannot abide waste; especially not when the pickings are this rich. Gout grins at me as I leave, waggles his crystalline fingers.

Filed under: good times

Who the hell is Ewan Venters?

I’ve always been a cynic, and lately like the rest of planet Earth; I’ve found myself feeling increasingly skeptical about those in power. The faltering liars who run our banks, our companies, our media and let’s face it our lives, seem to be unable to justify screwing up our society anymore. As we’re repeatedly choked and blinded by their smoke and mirrors I often find myself wondering whether or not the same chicanery lurks beneath the food and restaurant industry…

I haven’t come across any “Oz-like” figures yet, but have been introduced to a couple of key people and thankfully, the ones I’ve met so far are most definitely not a bunch of corrupt tosspots. Take Ewan Venters for example.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Hix Soho

A mobile of Fray Bentos pies gently twirls in the white high-ceilinged room as David Hasslehoff tucks into his hanger steak with baked bone marrow. A fluorescent finger part-designed by Sue Webster points the way to “Mark’s Bar” downstairs where Nicky Clarke, James Nesbitt, Joe Warwick and Monica Brown rub shoulders on mahogany leather sofas. They’re all sipping outrageously sippable negronis crafted by that mixological wizard Nick Strangeway. Mummified fish, that Damien Hirst has trapped in formaldehyde dangle from the ceiling of the Martin Brudnizki designed interior. You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped into a private members’ club, or an art gallery perhaps. This is in fact Mark Hix’s latest venture on Brewer Street, and it’s bloody brilliant.

It’s the third time I’ve been here in the past week and the place only officially opens to the public on Saturday. But when I drop in on Wednesday evening, the place is saturated with friends and family. Tonight it’s Friday and everything is half price, because they’re still not open, but nonetheless, it’s packed to the rafters. The menu reads a like a love letter to food, think Manx queenies (scallops) with wild boar bacon and herbs, ox cheek with mixed beets, horseradish and chickweed or pheasant, chanterelle and chestnut soup. And those are just the starters. Mark advises on a selection and we are soon tucking in to a luxurious Cornish fish soup, heaving with gurnard and red mullet and replete with Julian Temperley’s cider brandy. Even the bread and butter is spot on, a big rustic hug of warmth. Our cod’s cheeks, tongues and throats with girolles arrives and it is astonishingly tasty. It somehow manages to combine incredible delicacy with a meaty clout; the whole dish embroidered with a silky spring onion-flecked sauce. I shamelessly lick the plate clean.

We have “heaven and earth” which turns out to be a gigantic fluffy meatball of black pudding with apples and potatoes, it breaks open in a fug of steamy herbal goodness. Wild duck with salsify and elderberries is pure sex on toast, and my lamb and oyster pie is easily the best I’ve ever had. The salt marsh mutton, kidney and oysters combine to magnificent effect, the meat sits dense and tender in its intensely lamby gravy, under a flaky, buttery lid. It immediately falls apart upon contact with the spoon, the oysters dripping with Neptunian juices and the plump kidneys making the whole dish rock. I am temporarily possessed by the ghost of the former restaurant that occupied this site, Aaya, and find myself wanting to down the gravy from the bottom of my pie dish ramen style. The deep fried Pollack with chips and mushy peas is crisp, greaseless and spankingly fresh. It’s served with a boat of home made tartare sauce and a bottle of Sarson’s vinegar. I love that. It’s the tiny touches like this that make it feel personal and not like just another stuffy restaurant.

We drink Les Foulards Rouges, Soif du Mal, which is 70% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 100% delicious. It’s rough and cloudy with some incredible strains of apple and pear. Stuffed to eruption point, we order pudding. The stomach is begging me to stop but my tastebuds are demanding that I press on to culinary Moscow. The lemon trifle is lush, creamy and light, the limoncello notes sashay over the tongue. Defeated, we head downstairs where people are chilling out, drinking gorgeous cocktails and generally having a ball.

It’s here that we pick up on one very major problem with this place and it’s a rather serious predicament that I very much doubt they are ever going to be able to iron out. In fact, I can predict that this fault will only gradually worsen… You see, the thing is, there’s a definite hex about Hix, and once you’re in there, I’m afraid it’s very, very difficult, if not impossible to ever leave.….just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Filed under: lunch, tea

Brick Lane Curry Competition

I never win anything. And to be honest, I secretly prefer it that way. Maybe it’s the raging Brit in me, but I’m always elated when it rains and my money’s on the underdog every time. Winning just seems like something vulgar competitive types might do. Not real people. Not real people like me.

So when I was selected to judge the Brick Lane Curry Competition I was fairly incredulous. I too was going to get my turn to be a little smug one. As the next few hours descended into a hyper real parallel celebriverse, I had a hasty sip of the frankly insane world of being papped and gawped at like a prize pakora. I was duly lined up with the other judges, Nina Wadia, Andy Varma and the Mayor of Tower Hamlets (A-listers every one of them) as we ploughed through 36 curries in what felt like no time at all. Nina suggested we pair up and it was interesting to note that our likes and dislikes were so obverse. I sensed that she hailed from a more Northern part of the sub continent as she seemed drawn to the more robustly spiced chicken and lamb dishes, but appeared to be less enamoured with my favourites the platters of vegetables and curried fish.

Despite living within gobbing distance, I’ve been put off most of the curry houses on Brick Lane in recent years. More often than not I’ve been served some generic tourist fodder, rudely spiced and adrift in its very own floatation tank of ghee. And of course, the entries included a fair representation of these pappy confections gilded with sugar or fruit, (pineapple?!?) and engineered to dulcify a timid and pusillanimous Western palate. I always find this bizarre, as most of my non-Asian friends can out-Scoville me under the table any day. Having said that, the authenticity of most of the dishes was truly “incroyable”.

Drop dead delicious plates included succulent bay and cardamom infused kofta spheres, sopping with stout, beefy gravy. The spices were almost charred and the subtlest touch of naga chilli muttered away in the background, just enough to form a deeply smoky flavour. I also swooned over a traditional fish curry, each delicately spiced steak of ruhi brimming with curried roe, the kind of grub I’ve only ever witnessed at big family get togethers. Overall the standard was up there, some of the seekh kebabs were chop and chop with the Tayyabs hallmark. However we also tasted a truly retch-inducing tandoori lamb dish. Squatly floating, Jabba-like in a lake of its own horrid juices, we both gagged simultaneously upon oral contact. It bore hardly any seasoning and tasted of nothing more than tepid, liquefied lamb fat. It was mystifyingly bad. My immediate reaction was to spit it out, but I realised the perpetual artifice that constitutes celebrity life as Nina insisted that we smile and look cheerful while desperately trying not to vomit as the cameras clicked away.

Nina was lovely, she advised me to try just a tiny morsel of everything – she’d clearly done this before. We marked each dish on presentation, texture and of course flavour.  We talked and giggled our way through most of the dishes, but when I glanced up I was met with an ocean of jostling searching glances, all analyzing our every move, trying to decode the messages transmitted from our tastebuds to the scoreboards. It made me realise the gravity of the competition – for most of these entrants our decisions would make or ruin a livelihood.

The winning dish was a torso above the rest, masterfully roasted tandoori king prawns in a stunningly well-balanced masala sauce, speckled with the ivory and emerald of coconut and chillies, the creation of the brilliant Amir Uddin from the Eastern Eye Balti House.

Later, over dinner in the winning restaurant, the Somali Mayor tells me how he grew up in Bethnal Green. As a young boy in the seventies he would see hoardes of BNP members on a daily basis standing at the top of Brick Lane chanting about “whites first” while the police turned a blind eye. I glance out of the window and try to picture what the street must have looked like then. He’d never in a million years predicted the thriving, cosmopolitan guide-book destination it’s become today. He reminisces about stones and shit and petrol bombs through letterboxes. I notice a skinny blonde guy wearing lime green jeggings with a proper 80’s flick and a wedge; the sort I’d usually mock mercilessly, chatting away and laughing with one of the neighbouring restaurant owners. Perhaps those Nathan Barley types aren’t so bad after all.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Istanbul

You’d think it might be easier to be a good Muslim in Turkey during Ramadan. Away from the seductive belly baiting on twitter, the forgetful friends who bolt bacon sarnies in front of you and the socialising that flabbily lurches from breakfast to lunch to dinner and drinks. And in a sense it is easier, what with everyone around you abstaining, the only people eating in the restaurants during the day turn out to be the other tourists, women on the rag and the sick.

However, I am on holiday and the long, sticky days tick luxuriously over. In Istanbul there are sweetcorn vendors, pide hawkers (the national version of pizza) and of course kebap shops at every turn. The bazaars are stuffed with folk offering Turkish delight in a rainbow of banana, apple, pistachio, lemon and coconut. Little boys shrilly advertise ice cold watermelon juice for just a lira (40p). The Turks know how to do mystical things to beef and lamb. I try not to gawp at the salamis and sausages, the ones that taste fiendishly porcine.

They say that fasting without the vertebra of spirituality simply equates as not eating and not drinking, very good for you physically but that’s pretty much it. Standing in the majestic Blue Mosque soaking up the reverberating call to prayer I feel ethereal and overwhelmed by waves of cleanliness and strength. Or maybe I’m just spun out from the lack of food? Either way, it’s a pretty special feeling.

@Gastro1, @MathildeCuisine, @harjmurria and @Istanbul_Eats offer some fantastic recommendations, all of which are way better than anything my crappy guide book proposes. The Lonely Planet rates a kebap joint near our hotel, which basically renders it rubbish – herds of tourists flock there for miniscule portions of fatty mutton and prices that have shot up to rival London’s. Next door however, it’s a fraction of the cost and sublime. The lamb heavily soused in garlic and herbs, toned by the thick, salted salve of the yoghurt and the crisp pickled chillies kicking in with a vinegary bite.

There are special Iftar (the fast breaker) menus everywhere. We dine outdoors at Antiochia as the sun descends. The menu is incredible, the mixed mezze slips down a treat. We eat fresh tzatziki, dreamy home-made yoghurt forked through with dill and cucumber, spooned up with chips of oven-fresh lavash flatbread. A portion of kerik salatasi – crushed olives with tangles of fresh thyme, oregano, garlic and pin pricks of chilli is outstanding. A dish of muammara, a scarlet slurry of walnuts, red peppers, spices and pomegranate is smoky and deep. The tender imam bayaldi* very nearly has me passing out with pleasure too.

We split an elegantly spiced veal chop, peppered with garlic, sumac and chilli and I sip on Şalgam Suyu – a spicy fermented turnip/carrot drink, just to register the expression of sheer disgust on my fiancé’s face when he catches a waft of it (it’s an acquired taste). He cries out as if physically attacked when I convince him to sample a bit. The owners find this hysterical. It’s a sibling run place, Jale Balci the sister is a well-respected food writer. One of the brothers sports a proper handlebar moustache, the sort that wouldn’t look out of place on a Friday night in Dalston.

After wandering the humming late night streets of Beyoglu we fall into a tiny speakeasy down a narrow side street. The top floor is a tiny, heaving room, saturated with the city’s beautiful young things partying the night away. Everyone’s smoking hookahs and the DJ spins some demented folk choons set to an obese bass line, the Troggs, Chamillionaire and Heaven 17. There’s no self-consciousness here though and no attitude – just a serious mission for good times. There’s a little fat man in the corner who’s clearly coming up. The rain seeps in through the cracks in the makeshift roof and mingles with the sweat as our senses are nourished with tune after tune and everyone gets on down.

*literally means “the Imam fainted” due to unfeasible deliciousness.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Roast Grouse, Giblet Gravy, Bread Sauce and Game Chips

About a month ago a very lovely friend presented me with a couple of grouse from Allen’s of Mayfair.  I was excited, having never eaten the stuff before. I tend to associate grouse with the very posh and faintly eccentric. My pal is both, as well as huge hearted and a brilliant laugh. Although they came ready prepped, all trussed up with streaky slices, I still had to rip out the gizzard, heart and liver. There were no neat little plastic giblet bags in these cavities. There was a lot of blood. Relishing in my own squeamishness, I tore off the claws and talons and hid them in the bin, like a filthy secret.

Filed under: tea

The Ledbury – Lunch with the Champion

The chef gently cradles the fuzzy purple sphere, as if presenting his first born. He beams at us.

“It’s a peach” he explains, before slicing it open to reveal the juicy indigo flesh that bleeds softly into a pale white heart. We’ve just had one of the most spectacular lunches in the history of ever and now 30 year old head chef Brett Graham is introducing us to his tiny kitchen. He bounds into the back room and proudly pulls out a tray of green leaves from beneath a sodium lamp. I stare at him.

“Don’t worry, it’s not weed” he laughs. “These are my herbs”.

Filed under: lunch

Tequila lunch at Hix Oyster and Chop house

A fresh email plops into the inbox. You are invited to a tequila lunch with Mark Hix on Thursday it casually says. I re-read it a few times. The words “Hix” “lunch” and “tequila” reverberate in my nosh-addled mind like strobe lighting. I call my mates, but this is no wind up. Apparently there is a God. I feel awash with happiness, like I’ve won the culinary lottery.

It’s an Inspirit Brands event  and strolling through the City sunshine to the Oyster and Chop House, even the suits emit thin-lipped smiles at one another, like vicious little paper cuts. It’s one of those days when you fall all over in love again with this skanky old town. It’s one of those days, when all you want to do is stand outside and drink chilled lemon verbena cocktails mixed by a world champion bartender, the citrusy leaves plucked fresh from his garden that morning. Which is precisely what we do.

I try not to gawp at Cleo Rocos wobbling exotically around on her crutches like the ornithological walking wounded (she’s suffering from a brutally agonising knee injury, but laughs and jokes throughout our lunch). I’m introduced to Sam Galsworthy of Sipsmith, Alice Lascelles of Imbibe Magazine, Stuart Ekins of Inspirit Brands, Peter Prescott and Nick Strangeway amongst others. They ask me what I do. I feel vaguely embarrassed – not everyone gets blogging. I have another cocktail, it slips down dangerously easily with its non-alcoholic tang, every little gulpful a fizz of lemon sherbet. They’re all so warm and it’s so luxuriously hot I feel relaxed and as if I’m amongst friends, rather than feeling like the unexpected item in the bagging area.

Filed under: good times

From Blogging to Flogging – Part 2

I’ve written up the lowdown on yesterday’s antics at the UKFBA food stall. Once again, those lovely folk at Channel 4 food have published it here:

http://blogs.channel4.com/food/2009/08/14/from-blogging-to-flogging-part-two/

I whined a lot about being tired the next day, but emails like the one below made it all seem so worthwhile:

To: juie1@hotmail.com
Subject: Cheesecake
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:55:47 +0100

Hi there

I’m the person who bought your last cheesecake slice!  It was truly delicious and I ate it sitting on the kerb in the sunshine.

Little did you know that I had been feeling pretty rough that day and had popped out the office for some fresh air; your lovely nature and fab cooking was all the healing I needed.  Returning to the office sans headache was wonderful!

Thank you for being there

Love, light, peace and blessings

=)

A huge thank you to Sig for being such a fantastic fellow trades-woman and to everyone who came down to see us!

Filed under: Uncategorized