Food & Wine Finds

Chairman's Reserve 'The Forgotten Casks' rum

2012-01-23T17:05:00.006Z

If you've never been to Gerry's of Old Compton Street, remedy that straightaway. It's the best offie in London - not that I spend a lot of time hanging round offies - with every drink you can possibly imagine.

They also have a thing about rum, hence a monthly rum promotion which this month - as it was last month and apparently next month* - is the Chairman's Reserve 'The Forgotten Casks' from St Lucia distillers - a sumptuous rum that tastes of dark, fudgy muscovado sugar. At £26.50 (around £29 elsewhere) it's a bargain.

The story goes that the rum was produced after the company discovered a number of casks which they'd thought were lost after a fire destroyed part of the distillery in 2007. I haven't tasted the regular Chairman's Reserve so can't vouch how special they were but it did pick up a gold medal and best in class trophy at last year's International Wine and Spirit Competition. The perfect drink for the last dark days of January, anyway.

* So possibly only a new rum every three months but hey, who minds that?

Pashmak Persian fairy floss

2012-01-18T10:26:00.008Z

As one of those people who no sooner sees a weird dish or ingredient than has to try it I was never going to be able to resist the offer of Pariya Pashmak Persian fairy floss on the menu of Riverstation in Bristol this week.

As the name suggests it's a bit like candyfloss but not as wiry or sugary - more like the texture and appearance of a soft toy or cushion filling to be honest. It comes in several flavours including pistachio, chocolate, vanilla and rose and you can buy it by the bag from Harvey Nicks and branches of Ottolenghi. (And Selfridges, which stocks a saffron flavoured one, so I'm told.)

What on earth does it taste like? Well the vanilla one wasn't wildly vanilla-y but the chocolate one was rather nice - like a whipped up Galaxy or a milky mug of Cadbury's chocolate.

I can imagine making a fabulously kitsch Valentine's dessert - a sundae topped with a sprinkling of rose pashmak, perhaps, or a pavlova with a furry topping like a mad Ascot hat. You could have a lot of fun with this.

Five more blogs

2012-01-13T09:30:00.006Z

New year, new blogs. Except that I’m hardly quick off the mark. January 13th is a bit late in the day to kick off a month’s blogging. It’s been a hard few weeks though which I won’t bore you with.

Anyway great new blogs keep on appearing or at least drifting across my radar. Here are five (and a few extra links along the way just to make up for my tardiness):

Drinkster
I met wine writer Philip White in Australia last month and immediately took to his iconoclastic and thoroughly un-PC blog, Drinkster. Full of anything that takes his fancy such as this recording of Robert Wyatt’s Sea Song and an old French poster headed l’alcool empoisonne lentement. The sidebar bears his credo “relishing the power concealment brings, I refuse to hide.” Good for him.

Breakfast by the Sea
A blog I discovered through food writer and photographer Dan Lepard, written by Heather from Brighton (which is on the south coast of England for those of you who don’t know it). Nothing flashy in the way of words just simple recipes beautifully photographed. Charming.

Forever Eggsploring
I like a blogger with an obsession and David Constable’s is eggs. Not just eggs but scotch eggs. That’s right - an entire blog devoted to scotch eggs which David describes for the unenlightened as "consisting of a shelled hard-boiled egg, wrapped in a sausage meat mixture, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried". You’d think there wouldn’t be enough to sustain a blog but David has found them. He also has another food blog called David J Constable. His review of the Rainforest Cafe is memorable.

The London Review of Sandwiches
Talking of obsessions one of my favourite bloggers Helen Graves has come up with a sharply written new blog this week: the London Review of Sandwiches. No problem sourcing material for this I’d have thought simply finding the time to post. Helen’s main blog Food Stories is already regularly updated and she also blogs for AOL as well as having a pretty demanding day job. Still, as she puts it “I am sandwich loving lady”. You can’t keep a good obsession down.

Cook’n’scribble
Less of a read, I suppose, more of a business idea, this is the website/blog of American food writer Molly O’Neill who runs writing courses for food writers and bloggers. Before you jump up and down with excitement and think this would be a great excuse to go to the states the sessions are held online or via conference call over a period of weeks - great for busy bloggers whose writing has to be fitted in round the day job. She also writes a blog which addresses interesting subjects in the world of writing and other interesting blogs and podcasts like Spilled Milk and Edible Radio. Thanks to Ruth Reichl for this heads-up.

Beerd, Bristol - the new face of pubs?

2011-12-20T08:49:00.002Z

If you were going to open a new business would you send up your potential customers? Calling a beer bar Beerd and - cheekier still - getting your waitresses to wear T shirts with 'beerdy weirdy' on the back seems a high risk strategy akin to calling a new nail salon Chavs. Especially if some of your punters are not noted for their sense of humour.

So, Bath Ales' new opening in Bristol - a craft beer and pizza bar along the lines of the new places that have been opening in London (Brewdog, Craft Bar & Co and Draft House) - is a brave move and one I hope will succeed.

Its audience is obviously going to be very different from the CAMRA crowd. The airy rooms are dotted with brightly coloured tables, the bar sports bright neon hand pumps, lots of bottles and - shock, horror - keg beer. It's a student area - near the university and next to the hospital. Will they be interested in bottles of Scheider Aventinus at £7.95 a pop and small tapa style bowls of padron peppers at £4? I'm not sure.

They should go for the pizzas though our youngest, just out of uni and a pizza aficionado pronounced them underseasoned. I thought they were pretty good myself with a fantastic crust but I think I just chose a more interesting topping (prosciutto, artichoke, olive and mushroom). They were hard to cut on the somewhat slithery plates though and took a fair while to come which I'm guessing could mean a long wait on a busy evening.

Still it was only the first full day's trading and the friendly staff were eager for feedback. Apparently they'll be changing the beers regularly and they obviously know how to serve them, as you'd expect from a brewery-run operation. My half of Thornbrige Jaipur was in very good nick. And it's great to find them available in thirds for tasting as well as halves, two thirds and pints.

An interesting development. Cool beer places serving 'craft beer' rather than 'real ale' are going to be one of the hot trends for 2012, I reckon. Let's see if I'm right.

My top 10 books for Christmas

2011-12-16T09:42:00.017Z

My bookshelves are groaning under the usual end of year avalanche of books. Despite the recession there seem to have been more than ever in 2011 - and bigger ones than ever. Publishers' answer to the relentless march of the iPad and other readers seems to have been to produce larger and more lavish volumes to demonstrate that a screen can never replicate the pleasure of handling a book.

So what would I give my friends (books being the most useful of last-minute presents for the congenitally disorganised)? Here in no particular order are my top 10:

Tasting India Christine Manfield (£40 Conran Octopus)
The biggest and blingiest book of the year, this gold satin-covered tome is admittedly not one I’d pick up in a bookshop not least because its weight (about 2 1/2 kilos) would cripple you on the way home. It’s also totally impractical for a messy cook like me. BUT despite the sumptuous presentation and photography it’s no mere coffee table book, but a passionate tribute to Indian food and culture by Australian chef Christine Manfield with some surprisingly straightforward home cooks’ recipes. Including an irresistible number involving potatoes which makes it a must-buy for me. At £23.30 on amazon, the price of a modest Indian takeaway, it’s a steal.
Who should I buy it for? Anyone who loves India and Indian food.

Short and Sweet: Dan Lepard (£25, 4th Estate)
A misnomer if there ever was one. At 560 pages this book is far from short but the recipes, it’s true, are reassuringly brief. Reading Lepard, who in addition to being an cracking good writer is also a talented food photographer, is like having a friend in the kitchen. The book is peppered with really useful tips (such as that you need a lot of baking powder in a banana cake to avoid it being heavy) and explanations of techniques. It covers everything from bread to home made sweets with some irresistible savoury recipes (garlic butter and cheddar scones, anyone?) along the way. The most inspiring baking book of the year - and there have been many.
Who should I buy it for? Someone who thinks they can’t bake. (Like me). Or someone who can but wants to bake better.

Perfect: 68 essential recipes for every cook's repertoire. Felicity Cloake (Fig Tree £18.99)
Despite my dislike of ‘the perfect’ tag on recipes this is a terrific book based on Felicity Cloake’s engaging weekly columns for the Guardian where she seeks out the ideal method for many of our best loved dishes. Cloake’s rare combination of diligent digging and lightness of touch makes these absorbing reading even if you might not agree with her conclusions. (I still can’t be persuaded that tomatoes are the right topping for macaroni cheese)
Who should I buy it for? Someone who doesn’t want too many recipe books (amazingly there are such people) but wants their recipes to work first time. Recently graduated students.

The Good Cook: Simon Hopkinson (£25 BBC Books)
For me this was the TV series of the year - much to my surprise. I feared that ‘Hoppy’ would be stiff and awkward in front of the camera. Instead he was warm, reassuring and inspiring and these are the recipes he cooked. He also writes like a dream. Don’t make the mistake of doubting his word as I arrogantly did with a recipe for baked papardelle, pancetta and porcini which I thought didn’t contain enough pasta. He’s a supremely accurate recipe writer. Trust him.
Who should I buy it for? Any good cook will love it but older ones will probably have all his other books. Keen cooks under 40.

Made in Sicily: Georgio Locatelli (£30, 4th Estate)
I don’t actually own this book yet, but have flipped through the pages on amazon and fingered it longingly in bookshops and it strikes me as the Italian cookery book you’ll most want to own this year. (Hint to my nearest and dearest). Locatelli is one of London’s most talented Italian chefs and Sicilian cooking is very special, quite unlike the rest of Italy. The recipes are simple and delicious but you will need good ingredients. Insalata calda di polpo (warm octopus salad) is not going to be something you can run up from your local Tesco fish counter. Maybe download it on Kindle and take it on holiday.
Who should I buy it for? Any Italian food nut. Chef groupies.

Pieminister: a pie for all seasons, Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon (£17.99 Bantam Press)
A strong contender for comfort food book of the year this book does exactly what it says on the tin. Lots of great ideas for wacky pies like the wabbit roll (pork, rabbit and black pudding), ‘flying frying pan’ smoked haddock and cider pie and plumble (mulled wine and plum crumble) should ensure your New Year gets off to an unhealthy start. There’s even a spread on booze matching.
Who should I buy it for? Pie obsessives.

Veggiestan: a vegetable lover’s tour of the middle east. Sally Butcher (Pavilion £25)
I’m impressed by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new veg book, I must confess, but celebrities of his ilk don’t need any further endorsement. Instead buy Sally Butcher’s quirky and delightful Veggiestan for the veggie in your life. Sally owns an Iranian deli in south London and it’s her second book (the first being the equally entertaining Persia in Peckham). My copy is already full of Post-it notes marking recipes I want to try like Afghan leek pies, Armenian Green Lentil Garlic and Spinach soup and Onion, Chilli and Mint Marmalade. A refreshingly original book.
Who should I buy it for? adventurous veggie cooks. Adventurous cooks who cook for veggies

Supper Club: Kerstin Rodgers (£25 Collins)
The name Kerstin Rodgers may mean nothing to you but if you inhabit the blogosphere you’ll know her better as underground restaurateur Ms Marmitelover. This is less a cookery book than a manual on how to run a supper club and entertain your friends outrageously. (Think punk Nigella.) In contrast to Simon Hopkinson I would treat the recipes with a certain amount of caution. To give you a flavour: Chav’s White Chocolate Trifle with Malibu, Cockaleekie without the Cock, deep-fried peanut butter sandwiches .... Hugely entertaining.
Who should I buy it for? Lovers of kitsch

Couture Chocolate: William Curley (Jacqui Small £30)
Confession time. I don’t get that excited about chocolate and wouldn’t dream of making most of the recipes in this book by Britain’s foremost chocolatier William Curley but it undoubtedly wins the prize for the most beautiful book of this year (just look at the picture of Curley’s gleaming millionaires shortbread which he makes with salted caramel. Well maybe I might have just one ....). Although the techniques involved are complicated there are clear step-by-steps and some of the recipes like chestnut and sesame brownies look surprisingly straightforward. Stunning.
Who should I buy it for? Aspiring pastry chefs, chocoholics

Jellies and their Moulds Peter Brears (£12 Prospect Books)
Prospect Books in Devon is a tiny publishing house which publishes titles no other publisher in their right mind would touch. I eschewed two of this year's offerings (Tripe: a most excellent dish and Testicles: Balls in Cooking and Culture) in favour of this delightful book from last year on jelly from food historian Peter Brears. There are some charming illustrations which I can’t help but feel Ms Marmitelover would approve of.
Who should I buy it for? Jelly lovers and those who like to read cookbooks in bed

And then there’s . . .

Hawksmoor at Home (£25 Preface publishing) in which I had a hand along with my son Will Beckett, his business partner at Hawksmoor Huw Gott, chef Richard Turner and Dan Lepard, this time as photographer. I like to think I can be objective enough to say I’d want to own it even if I hadn’t been involved but clearly I’m not. It is a terrific book though, full of outrageously meaty recipes and killer cocktails along with some splendidly discursive meanderings on the origin of recipes, food traditions and ingredients for which Huw is largely responsible.
Who should I buy it for? Meat fiends. Food history geeks. (Not vegetarians. Oh no.)

And some other books I’ve already reviewed and enjoyed this year: Signe Johansen's Scandilicious, James Ramsden's Small Adventures in Cooking Niamh Shield's Comfort & Spice and Everyday and Sunday by Jane Baxter of Riverford Farm.

Is Meat Liquor as good as it’s cracked up to be?

2011-11-25T18:25:00.013Z

Maybe I expected too much. I’d been gagging to go to Meat Liquor or Meatwagon as it then was since last summer when a chef friend seemingly went down there every night to get his burger fix. And now there was a restaurant. Just off Oxford Street. With amazing cocktails. In jam jars! And deep fried pickles. Heaven!

The menu certainly reads well. I’m up for any burger called Dead Hippie (2 patties, sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions) apparently their take on the Big Mac. I loved the fact they put a whole roll of kitchen towel on the table. Yes, it’s THAT messy.

But the burger was a real disappointment. Overcooked, it tasted more like mince then chopped meat. The chips were pallid, bland and frankly McDonalds-ish. The homage had gone too far. My daughter’s chicken burger looked - and tasted - a bit like KFC. What on earth had gone wrong?

Maybe lunch is the wrong time to go (I suspect it is). Maybe you need a couple of serves of House Grog “a dangerous blend of light and dark rums with a splash of overproof rum” before you get stuck in. Maybe you should ask the ‘burgerette’ for some Pure Death Sauce. There must be some reason why everyone is raving about it except me.

Frankly if you’d come across this restaurant in say, Luton or Leicester and they’d served a burger like that you’d have thought ‘that’s not a bad burger’ but from a joint touted as serving some best trash food in London it felt like a massive let down.

Two other quibbles - the wine list while fun isn’t exactly cheap. £9.50 for a glass of Washington State riesling, even if it’s called Kung Fu Girl is going it a bit. And while the service was fine the message “‘Cheers mate’ is not an acceptable tip” on your bill is just plain cheeky. (For the record we tipped. In cash. But I didn't need to be instructed to.)

If you want a great burger, Honest Burger in Brixton Village which I checked out the other day is streets better. But what about you? Is Meat Liquor as good as the original? Meatwagon fans tell me I had an off day . . .

Five new blogs to enjoy

2011-11-20T17:05:00.012Z

I can't believe we're over half way through November already. Which makes it doubly embarrassing that I not only failed to have a blogs of the month feature in October but it's taken me this long to get one up this month too. Still, they're worth the wait . . .

For a start, who could resist a blog called Warm & Snug & Fat. Certainly not me. It's written by Amee from Co. Galway, "a graphic designer, kids books illustrator; accidental Aga enthusiast, amateur gardener & learner camera owner" as she puts it. If so she's learning very fast as these stunning images of her apple pie muffins testify. And although it's mostly baking there are other delicious things as well. Check out this homemade celery salt crusted baked potato.

I was also charmed by Mailhos Cuisine du Jardin whose author Carol - coincidentally also Irish - wrote to me to tell me about her blog. (I wish more people would do that. It makes it more of a discovery than hearing about them at second hand.) They have a smallholding in S.W.France where they grow over 100 varieties of vegetables and 75 fruit trees, all local varieties. It sounds totally idyllic. A recent post on my favourite base for tisanes, lemon verbena or verveine, also has a recipe for verbena chicken. Read on and drool.

Then there's Liza de Guia's delightful foodcurated.com which is full of very professionally shot, quirky videos about people in food. Like Erin Evenson a 'competitive home cook' who enters contests like the Food Experiments National Championship in Brooklyn for which she cooked a dish that required 150 cods tongues. A really unusual and captivating blog . . .

. . . as is Mise au Poing, a visual blog by food and interiors prop stylist Samira Buchi who lives in Switzerland. (Thanks to Trish Deseine for this one). Look at this lovely series of pictures of quinces.

And finally a rising star in the world of wine - Matt Walls, who, er, calls his blog Matt Walls Wine Blog. He used to sell wine and now writes and gives talks about it and has just been signed up by Quadrille as the latest author in their New Voices in Food series. Impressively his blog doesn't rely on pictures, just on very good writing as you can see from this recent post on California. One to watch.

Taste the Difference Dun Leire 8yo Irish Single Malt

2011-11-16T07:34:00.006Z

It's not often I feel moved to write about whisky (well, actually, slightly more often since I went to Islay a couple of months ago) but this is a real bargain.

Sainsbury's is selling its excellent Taste the Difference Dun Leire 8yo Irish Single Malt for £15 for the next three weeks instead of the launch price of £19.99

Those who poo-poo Irish whiskey as being inferior to Scotch (my late mother-in-law was always outraged if we tried to sneak one by her) would have to acknowledge that this is a fine dram by any standard. Matured in American Bourbon and Irish whiskey barrels it's made by the Cooley distillery.

My tasting note says - rather lamely, but it was the end of a long wine tasting - 'beautifully sweet and fragrant'. For a more evocative description you'll have to turn to Jim Murray's Whisky Bible which describes it as 'one of the great whiskies from Cooley, ever' and names it his Irish Single Malt of the year. At £15 it's a steal.

Sainsbury's also has a trio of Scottish whiskies in the Taste the Difference range, a 12 year old Highland, a 12 year old Speyside and (my favourite) a 12 year old Islay, all at £28.49 (though I'm waiting to see if there are special offers on those too). They're all non-chill filtered, unusual for supermarket whiskies, which adds to the complexity and flavour.

It's interesting how whisky seems to be becoming the new battleground for supermarkets. Aldi is selling a very fine 24 year old Glen Marnoch whisky in its stores next Thursday for £29.99 which might sound expensive but is probably about a third of the price you'd have to pay for a bottle of that age and provenance. There will only be a few in each branch though so get down there early.

A three course lunch at Brixton Village (all at different restaurants)

2011-11-11T21:34:00.016Z

The problem with living out of London is that you feel totally out of the loop when it comes to new openings. The whole world, it seems - certainly the whole blogging world - has been to the conglomeration of cool cafés and restaurants in Brixton Village, a place where you might once have hesitated to set foot unless you were in search of callaloo and tripe. But that's not the case, of course, and if you haven't been, as I hadn't until yesterday I strongly recommend you go.

I went with my good mate Fiona Sims (the other Fiona) which was a mistake. The original intention was to have a quick burger at Honest Burgers and return to the very interesting biodynamic wine tasting we'd been at up to then. But as there was a queue at HB we had to explore other options. Fiona favoured Elephant (Pakistani street food), I wanted to try the okonomiyaki at Okan.

We settled on Elephant (above) where we shared a spinach pakora and a veggie Thali. Being an aficionado of Bristol's Thali Cafe I don't think it quite lived up to theirs - but it was hot (in both senses of the word) freshly prepared and cheap - by London standards. (About £11.50 for the two of us). Great value.

While we were there we spotted the owner bringing in a plate of something tasty for his own lunch - which turned out to be the okonomiyaki so we had to move on to Okan to try one. We bickered amiably about that too - Fi wanted tofu, I opted for pork and kimchi (wouldn't you?) and won this time. Again, good but I've had better - a bit too much gloopy sauce on top and the bottom was slightly burnt but it looked amazing and the eggy/cabbagey bit was great. £7.95.

By this time were were totally stuffed but the queues at Honest Burgers had disappeared and we couldn't miss that burger. Which was awesome - fabulously beefy with a gorgeous light bun and hopelessly moreish triple cooked chips with rosemary salt. They very sweetly divided it into two for us to share. That was £9.

So we never got back to the tasting (I went clothes shopping instead, always a bad idea when you're feeling feckless) but I think we did Brixton Village proud. You should try at least two places if you go - there are many more tempting ones as you can see above and in this review Jay Rayner wrote for the Observer and this one by Marina O'Loughlin in Metro. And some fantastic food shopping to be had around the various food and home stalls. I can't wait to go back.

NB We went on a Thursday afternoon - I suspect it gets a lot more hectic at weekends.

An Epic Breakfast at Hawksmoor Guildhall

2011-11-03T07:46:00.013Z

I debated (for about 30 seconds) whether I should blog about the new Hawksmoor Guildhall breakfast. I am, after all, intimately related to the joint owner Will Beckett ('Will’s mum' being the moniker by which I’m most commonly known these days). But I’m so fired up about the place and the food which is actually masterminded not by Will but his business partner Huw Gott and chef Richard Turner, that I couldn’t resist.

Full English takes on another meaning at Hawksmoor. Those of you who have already experienced the brunch at their first Spitalfields restaurant will be familiar with the outsize bacon chops, steaks, and HkMuffin (Hawksmoor’s cheeky take on the Egg McMuffin) which make it unnecessary to eat for the rest of the day.

All make an appearance at the new Guildhall restaurant along with British stalwarts such as kippers, omelette Arnold Bennett and - what I decided to eat before I even sat down - the Edwardian favourite devilled veal kidneys on toast (above).

Just to demonstrate I haven’t entirely abandoned my critical faculties I would say the devilling was a touch fierce for 9am in the morning, even penetrating my current cold but the kidneys were perfect, the saucing just right and the toast firm enough not to disintegrate under the onslaught. Partnered with a side of Hawksmoor hash browns (the best I’ve eaten, a must if you go there) it made a bracing start to the day.

I also sneaked a bit of the Marmalade French toast which hadn’t penetrated my radar which is served improbably but successfully with hot chocolate given the Flat White treatment. Drenched in custard spiked with Pedro Ximenez sherry it probably runs perilously close to breaching most City firms’ anti-alcohol policies.

There had been reports - and somewhat unflattering pictures - of the doughnuts which do have the unfortunate appearance of spewing something unspeakable but believe me They Are Good, oozing with creamy vanilla custard (they like custard at Hawksmoor) and fresh-tasting plum jam. I also managed a bite (just a bite - honest) of a melty chocolate Danish-cum-pain-au-chocolat, an outrageously rich toffee-pecan thingy and an almond pastry stuffed with an indecent amount of almond paste.

On the credit side I managed to resist anything boozy (French toast aside) including the new Cornflake Hardshake (cornflake milkshake with added bourbon), my favourite marmalade cocktail, which you can also order at Seven Dials, and the Bloody Mary ‘buffet’ (pic at top of post) where you can go up and mix one to your own taste, opting instead for an invigoratingly healthy orange juice blend (carrot, orange, yellow pepper and ginger) of a livid colour that might come as a bit of a shock if you have a hangover. You may want to wear your shades.

Trying very hard to be objective, I would love Hawksmoor even if I wasn’t related to it. Theres an Alice in Wonderland ‘eat me’ edge of mania about the food which owes a great deal to the inventiveness and greed of Huw and Rich. And the staff are always so incredibly friendly - though you would, I suppose, be nice to the boss’s mum wouldn’t you . . .

PS Nearly forgot to say. They also have a couple of dinner dishes they don’t do at Seven Dials and Spitalfields including veal chops and oysters, a ginormous mixed grill (to pre-order) and a seven course beef menu to share for parties of 8-10 including the outrageously good beef shin macaroni which you can find - ta-daaa - in the new Hawksmoor at Home book in which I'm proud to have played a small supporting role.

PPS Hawksmoor Guildhall is only open from Mondays to Fridays

Disclaimer: I ate at Hawksmoor - and generally do - as a guest of my son. So take maternal fondness into account.

How good are food apps?

2011-10-28T13:04:00.008+01:00

If you've got an iPad you've probably been as tempted as me by the avalanche of food apps that you can now download. But how good are they as a way of learning about ingredients, cooking techniques and recipes? I wrote about some shortly after I got my iPad. Here are the apps I've acquired more recently and how I rate them:

Donna Hay ***** (Free - for the moment)
I'd been wondering whether Donna Hay would do an app and now I've seen it can understand why it took so long. this is the most beautiful, sophisticated, mouthwatering on-line magazine around. There are some great interactive sections and some spectacular video effects as a tiered white cake gets covered with pink macarons and a whole ricotta disappears scoop by scoop off a plate. The photography is utterly stunning, the recipes have Hay's trademark style and simplicity. The first issue is free - you're bound to want to buy the second and subsequent ones.

Green Kitchen *** (£2.99)
A very pretty app designed for the iPad with an easy to navigate grid of healthy (and quite hardcore) vegetarian recipes. If I have a criticism it would be that the recipes themselves aren't quite as assured as those from established cookery writers. I like the look of the Baked Pistachio and Herb Felafel and Rustic Potato Pizza, though (rather less so the Bean Brownies . . . ) Green Kitchen also has an equally attractive website.

Baking with Dorie **** £8.99
I'm a big fan of Dorie Greenspan, a baking superstar in the states (and an incredibly nice person) and you can't fault the content of her new app. But with 20 baking lessons and over 100 videos it's a monster to download at the rather sluggish broadband speed we have at home and I lost it altogether when I was updating my iPad software and had to reload it. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have Dorie in book mode really. (Her best known is Baking: from my home to yours and her latest, which this post has reminded me to order, Around my French Table)

River Cottage Every Day *** (£1.99)
Another iPhone app that doesn't work quite so well on the iPad. It's also annoying that you have to sign up with your personal details once you've downloaded it - presumably so that you get to be on the River Cottage mailing list though if you've paid your money I think you're entitled to instant access to the content. Nice to have ideas for how to use what's in season though and I like the well shot 'how to videos' including how to prepare a pheasant, how to fillet a fish and how to build a wood-fired oven.

My kitchen table * (Free)
A sample selection of recipes from well-loved TV presenters including Mary Berry, Antonio Carluccio and Madhur Jaffrey. Designed for the iPhone and obviously based on their books it doesn't work too well on the iPad and took a fair time to download. Not especially easy to use and there are some weird anomalies like recommending Ainsley's Chilli-glazed mango with yoghurt as a good accompaniment for Antonio's pappardelle with meat sauce. And the shopping lists don't seem to come up yet. Obviously the idea is to get you to buy other apps on the back of it like Mary Berry's My Cakes and Desserts (£1.99) but I'm not sure I'd bother.

The 10 best things we ate in Paris

2011-10-20T07:48:00.018+01:00

The week we've just spent in Paris was not a great gastronomic pilgrimage. We actually went to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and to check out the flourishing natural wine scene in which we're both interested. We deliberately didn't make advance reservations or hit any two or three star restaurants, preferring the casual informality of bistros and wine bars. But we still ate well and here are - in no particular order - the 10 best dishes we had.

Steak frites at Café des Musées
Every trip to Paris should include a classic steak and chips and this was a cracker. Admittedly there was more fat than the average steak you'd get in a British restaurant but the taste was superb and the accompanying sauce béarnaise and very crisp hand-cut chips just perfect. The only thing that spoilt it were the loud Americans on a neighbouring table.

Radis beurre at Aux Deux Amis
Another French classic given a contemporary twist by including heirloom varieties at Aux Deux Amis, a tiny bistro on the Oberkampf (11e). Beautifully presented - I also love the whipped butter and the smoked sea salt. An ideal light start to a meal

Brandade and salad at Aux Deux Amis
OK, this doesn't look much but you have to trust me. Brandade which is made from salt cod normally comes as a sloppy purée you have with toast but this had been turned into a deconstructed fish pie. The old fashioned lettuce salad with it was the perfect accompaniment. I'm going to try this at home

Hake with crushed jerusalem artichokes, mint and olives at Rino
My husband who is more of a carnivore than I am probably wouldn't agree but this was the best dish at the best meal we had all week - at a tiny modern bistro in the 11th which serves a very short set-price lunch on Fridays and Saturdays for 20€ for two courses. A wonderfully subtle, imaginative combination of flavours. We ate it very slowly to make it last longer.

Red mullet with grains at Rino (top of post)
This was the first course at the same meal - red mullet with what they described as a 'soupe' of grains and lentils and some chard. Again, very clean and pure with a slightly Asian twist I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Joue de veau at Le Baratin
Le Baratin is probably Paris's most famous natural wine bistro - with a reputation for famously rude service as you can read here. But we found them politeness itself and the food was great. There were two main courses involving cheeks - ox cheek and veal cheek - both stellar. The ox cheek was better with the wine we ordered but the veal cheek was the lighter and more elegant dish.

Saucisse en cocotte at Vivant
Vivant, in the rue des Petites Ecuries in the 10th, is the new up and coming rival to Le Baratin. You can read my review here but I particularly liked this dish of robust Toulouse sausage served with all kinds of amazing root veg - beets, radish and turnips - steamed in their own juices en cocotte. Much lighter than the classic sausage and mash.

Oxtail croque at l’Avant Comptoir
We were pretty pleased with ourselves at squeezing into a small corner of the bar at Yves Camdeborde's ultra fashionable L'Avant Comptoir but it took a while for us to work out how to order. You think at first there's just the regulation charcuterie but there are lots of imaginative small dishes or tapas listed on cards that hang from the ceiling. This was my favourite - an oxtail 'croque' (fried sandwich) with horseradish chantilly (whipped cream). Totally delicious.

Poached pear at Philou
As you may have gathered we're not great ones for desserts - and were eating so much it was probably just as well - but this was a really lovely poached pear with salted caramel with some kind of baba-ish thingy we ate at a newish bistro Philou, just off the Canal St Martin.

Pistachio eclairs at Gosselin
And finally we did succumb to the pastry shops just once when we'd had a lighter than usual lunch, picking a pistachio eclair (at the back) from the multi-coloured selection at Gosselin in the rue St Honoré. So much more stylish than a cupcake. Just as well we didn't make patisserie the main focus of the trip . . .

Paris without a reservation

2011-10-17T06:34:00.009+01:00

We took a different approach to our latest trip to Paris which was not to make any reservations. Partly because we'd had to cancel two trips here already and didn't want to tempt fate by booking yet another swathe of tables we might have to cancel and partly because the plan was to visit as many small bistros and wine bars as possible. Actually I tell a lie. We booked a table for our first night but we've booked nothing else more than a day ahead. For hard to get reservations like Le Baratin we rang up earlier the same day and still got a table.

So far it's worked like a dream. There's been nowhere we haven't managed to get into including Inaki Aizpitarte's new wine bar Le Dauphin, Yves Camdeborde's L'Avant Comptoir, Vivant and Rino, a restaurant we'd spent hours trying to get a booking for our last trip without success. A lot of these don't take bookings anyway or are so small that they won't take reservations on the phone especially from tourists

It's made me think that we go about visiting cities quite the wrong way these days, frantically trying to get a reservation at the most sought after restaurants and bars. Committing ourselves to a particular time slot which might not suit us because we're doing something else more interesting at the time. Squeezing in two meals a day when we might only fancy eating one. Stressing because we'll not be able to write up the hottest restaurants on our blog or for a future feature.

What we've done is wander in and have a glass of wine and a plate of charcuterie or couple of small plates then find somewhere else to have a main course or skip that and find a gorgeous cake from some enticing patisserie. We have had some fixed price meals - mainly at lunchtime - but have then eaten lightly in the evening.

Of course it's helped that there are only two of us and that we've been here for the week which removes the sense of urgency from the exercise but even if I was staying 3 to 4 nights another time I think - hope - I'd deploy the same tactics. It's also hugely reduced the cost of eating out.

What you do need so far as Paris is concerned is to come at the right time of the week. And that, unfortunately, is not at the weekend when many restaurants are shut or insanely busy but midweek from Tuesday to Friday (Mondays are also a popular closing day). Even then Parisien restaurants have erratic opening hours so do your homework, find out when the places you might fancy going are open and have a back up plan of a restaurant you could go to nearby if you don't manage to walk in. I admit I'm lucky to have a husband who likes nothing better than devising such strategies.

You also need to be prepared to eat at lunchtime rather than in the evening and earlier than might seem comfortable - the French start lunch at 12 so 12-12.30 is a good time to get a table. The added bonus is that the lunch menu is often cheaper than the dinner one.

There's always the delightful possibility you might walk past somewhere that's not on anyone's radar, where the locals themselves eat and which is a genuine find. One of the main problems these days - and I'm guilty of this myself - is that everyone goes to the same restaurants so your fellow diners are likely to be food critics and bloggers. Is that would you really want when you're exploring a city?

So how do you handle weekends - or midweek trips - to major destinations like Paris or New York? Plan ahead, leave things to chance or a bit of both?

Lahloo Pantry: a thoroughly modern tearoom

2011-10-09T14:18:00.013+01:00

I'd better get the disclaimer out of the way first. Kate and Neil of Lahloo Tea live practically opposite me so I'm hardly likely to diss their new venture, Lahloo Pantry which opened in Bristol yesterday. But having been there at lunchtime today I can honestly say that it's brilliant - an all day café where you can drink really good tea and eat (and this is what worries me) wickedly delicious cake.

It's in a former Asian deli on Kings Road just off Boyces Avenue in Clifton village. Upstairs there's a communal table which would be fabulous for someone coming in on their own to sit and read. Downstairs, a cosy cafe with tables outside when it's fine.

You can have breakfast, lunch or tea so at 12.30 my daughter and I had lunch and breakfast respectively. A perfectly wobbly smoked haddock tart with a range of salads in her case; soft boiled eggs and soldiers in mine. Or soft boiled in theory. The kitchen was struggling with an induction hob which was turning out one egg uncooked and one hard (ironic when they'd produced cakes as perfect as these chai brulée tarts). They may have given up and be serving scrambled eggs by the time you read this.

They will apparently be doing takeaway (takeaway cake!) once the containers arrive (another glitch) and you can, of course, buy one of the very beautiful tins of tea you can see lining the walls.

If you're familiar with smart London cafés like Peyton and Byrne or Konditor and Cook you'll feel quite at home. This is a great addition to the Bristol eating out scene.

Zucca: an affordable smart London Italian

2011-10-06T08:53:00.005+01:00

Zucca’s been around for a good few months now so it’s hardly a find but because it’s off the beaten track for many London visitors - down the far end of Bermondsey Street, about a 10 minute walk from London Bridge - it might have escaped your notice.

It’s worth the detour, as Michelin says. It’s a cool contemporary restaurant serving immaculately cooked modern Italian food at more than fair prices. It's also just been listed in the top 3 Italian restaurants in Europe by the World's 50 Best - a somewhat hyperbolic accolade but one which underlines that it is something special.

We kicked off while we were waiting for the rest of our party with what must be a signature dish of ‘Zucca’ fritti (above) - perfectly cooked squash fritters intermingled with sage leaves which added a nice bitter note to what can be an oversweet and slightly bland veg.

We then grazed through a few more antipasti - carpaccio of sea bass (above - stellar), bruschetta of smoked eel, mozzarella, yellow courgettes and sorrel (yum) and san daniele, ventricina and lardo (the least interesting of the four) - all of which were under a fiver.

I wished for a moment I’d had my son’s pappardelle with hare ragu (above) which looked - and tasted - fabulous (pasta is one of the highspots at Zucca) but was more than happy with my cacciucco, a Tuscan-style fish stew with couscous. And my husband, who always orders rabbit if it’s on the menu rated his slow cooked sweet and sour rabbit as good as his own - high praise indeed ;-).

We shared a delicious crumbly walnut cake (below), an Italian spin on bakewell tart and some icecreams which were all top drawer and not too sweet.

With a bottle of Falanghina and a couple of glasses of red the bill came to £136 for 4 of us and a baby (my grandson!) who tucked heartily into his own plate of pasta. That included service for which, they make a point of stressing, they don't charge. You could easily spend that much in Jamie’s Italian and eat half as well.

This week they have a pig week which I’m sorry to be missing. Follow their tweets @SamZucca to find out what else they have on.

* Oh, and a footnote. Bermondsey Street, which is an up and coming London food destination (it's not far from Maltby street market) also houses the excellent José tapas bar so you could call in there for a sherry first. José's own restaurant, Pizarro, opens down the road next month.

Nigel Slater's seasalt chocolate snaps

2011-10-02T07:30:00.006+01:00

One of the things I like to do when I'm unwell (nothing serious, just a heavy cold) is catch up with all the food programmes I've missed on iPlayer. I didn't even realise Nigel Slater had a new series but I've just been watching him make some incredibly pretty chocolate discs topped with caramelised almonds, chopped pistachios, crushed crystallised rose petals and rubbed flakes of seasalt. Like all Nigel's recipes it's an inspired combination of ingredients and incredibly easy.

It would make a show stopping end to a dinner party, with perhaps a glass of off-dry pink sparkling wine (champagne is too dry) or - admittedly slightly kitsch - a glass of very cold pink port. You can find the recipe here.

Although I don't think Nigel is a TV natural like (unexpectedly) Simon Hopkinson he always makes food I want to eat and the idea of basing a series on complementary tastes and flavours is a great one. (The first episode was on sweet and sour, this one on surf and turf (though not quite sure how chocolate fits into that) and the next spicy and cool. There must be a book in this.

4 more blogs

2011-09-27T21:07:00.006+01:00

It's been a bumper month for new blog discoveries so I'm having difficulty restricting myself to four.

I'll cheat and count French cookery writer Trish Deseine's as one when in fact she has two. And she's not French, she's Irish but she was married to a Frenchman and she's huge in France. Big as Nigella, a well-worn comparison for which she probably won't thank me. What I particularly like about her though - and I met her this summer - is that she doesn't take herself at all seriously and writes funny self-deprecating posts like this one about what she has in her shopping basket. She also has this beautiful tumblr blog here.

Then there's Lazy Sunday - one of those scrumptious photo-led blogs I'm so jealous of created by food photographer Carole Fitzgerald. Can't remember how I came across this one - think it was through Twitter where most of my discoveries seem to take place these days. Not much in the way of text just lovely, lovely photos.

Next, Food and Think, the food section of the Smithsonian website. Full of stimulating, erudite writing of a kind that the Americans seem to be much better than us these days. Check out this piece on 'anthropomorphized' food artist Terry Border or this off-the-wall one on Five Funky Ways with a Peanut Butter Sandwich

And finally, Love & Olive Oil (above), another beautiful blog I discovered when its author, Lindsay, commented on my last post on blogging and family meals. Terrific pix and recipes like this decadent brownie pie. Brownie pie - now why didn't I think of that?

Do you cook for your family or your blog?

2011-09-23T08:27:00.013+01:00

The arguments about whether or not you should take pictures or notes in a restaurant have been well rehearsed but what about when you eat at home? Should you hold the entire meal up while you style a plate and snap away or should you end up - as I often do (above) - snatching a blurry low light image of your dinner?

If anything it’s a bigger problem because it happens more regularly. My husband has got well used to the routine, sighing wearily as I plate up “I suppose you want to take a picture of that”.

And it’s getting more of a dilemma as the standard of photography goes up. The best blogs, many of which I’ve documented, have photography that wouldn’t look out of place in a glossy magazine and having seen Jaden of Steamy Kitchen and Béatrice of La Tartine Gourmande in action at Food Blogger Connect, probably takes as long to set up. So do you cook, like a professional photographer for the shoot, and expect your nearest and dearest to eat the leftovers? Or, God forbid, cook two meals?

And what about the equipment? What used to be a sideline for many of us becomes an expensive hobby as you invest in the latest flashy digital camera - or two (one for your 'studio' shoots and a pocket sized one for restaurants and food on the go)?

I guess it depends how ambitious you are for your blog and where you see it taking you. If you’re angling for a new career in food writing and photography you’re going to have to behave like a pro with the ensuing waste that involves. I’ve been on shoots where whole meals are discarded in the bin, something I can never quite get used to.

But what about the rest of us with day jobs and partners and families to feed? Are we consigned to a nether world of mediocrity because our photography isn’t up to scratch?

I’d love to hear your views but here's one (heretical) suggestion of my own. Which is to use one of the many wizzy camera apps on your phone to create special effects - or even, if you have a Mac, play around with iphoto as I've done to the rather grotty shot above. OK it’s not going to give your readers the clearest idea of the masterpiece you’ve created but at least it looks a bit edgy.

What do you think? (Not of my photos, obviously - at least I'd rather you didn't tell me - but about the whole issue!)

Six (actually about 10) recipes to make from Comfort and Spice

2011-09-12T12:05:00.013+01:00

Publishers have odd ideas sometimes. What possessed Quadrille to call Niamh* Shields first book Comfort & Spice instead of Eat Like a Girl, the title of her hugely popular blog, I can’t imagine. It sounds like a Christmas baking book. Maybe the idea was it would appeal more to the American market? And perhaps they’re right but it in no way conjures up the discursive, leftfield tone of Niamh’s writing (you can actually hear her talking to you) or her wide-ranging choice of recipes.

What I like best about it, I must confess, are the small tips and ingredients made from scratch which, only someone as unashamedly greedy as Niamh - and I say this in the nicest possible way - would have come up with. I can’t wait to make a batch of ham salt, harissa croutons, rosepetal butter and passionfruit and lime curd (1) (All short recipes so I’m counting these as one choice.)

Probably the best section overall is the Eight Great Big Dinners . . . and what to do with the leftovers. The idea of making sausage roll style Lamb and smoky aubergine rolls (2) with leftover shoulder of lamb is genius and you should definitely try her signature two and six-hour pork belly (3) which can be turned into some wicked-sounding pork belly dumplings.

There are also some excellent tips for getting your crackling crisp which I shan’t pass on otherwise you might not buy the book . . .

Niamh’s Irish roots are evident in number of recipes out of which I’d pick the smoked salmon with potato pancakes and cucumber relish (4) using Frank Hederman smoked salmon, as she recommends, if you can get hold of it. She says she’s been making the pancakes since she was at school so they should be good.

I suspect the same is true of her simply named Prawn Curry (5) which she says all her friends now make - the downside of being generous with your recipes. It includes cloves, an interesting touch. Maybe that’s the ‘spice’ of the title’

As well as the butter I’ve mentioned, there are a number of recipes for home-made cheese including homemade paneer (6) which you could use to make her Mutter Paneer. What’s great about this book is how encouraging Niamh is. She almost knows you read a recipe, wondering if it will work then goes on to reassure you how easy it is.

Chicken and chorizo pie (er, 7. I was only supposed to pick six recipes, but never mind) is a winner too. In fact Niamh has obviously got a big thing going about chorizo which appears in rather too many recipes - my one small niggle with the book, apart from its title. But like the rest of this series it has immense charm as does its author. It would be a very good friend in the kitchen.

*Niamh is pronounced neev in Gaelic not nee-am-huh. Just in case you wondered.

Photos are from ‘Comfort and Spice’ by Niamh Shields, the fourth book in the New Voices in Food series, published by Quadrille (£14.99, paperback) Photography (C) Georgia Glynn Smith

What's hot at the London Restaurant Festival

2011-09-09T17:19:00.010+01:00

The other night I went to a dinner at Nuno Mendes' Loft Project to publicise the London Restaurant Festival which opens in just over three weeks now. Annoyingly I'm not going to be here the first week (on a wine trip to Spain so don't expect you to feel much sympathy) but I am around for what sounds like the most intriguing event - unless you happen to fancy eating your dinner suspended half a mile above London.

It's a pop-up (what else?) 'dining experience' organised by a German company called Pret a Diner which will take place in the Old Vic Tunnels which will be featuring installations from a number of artists curated by gallery owner Steve Lazarides based on the Greek legend of the Minotaur.

The three chefs involved are Nuno himself, who also owns Viajante, Matthias Schmidt of Villa Merton in Frankfurt and Juan Amador of Amador in Mannheim. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, priced £75 for three courses - not exactly cheap but cheaper than Thomas Keller's £250 French Laundry pop-up at Harrods. There will be two sittings a day at 7pm and 9pm from the 10th-25th of October. We don't see much in the way of German chefs over here which makes it good opportunity to find out what's going on over there.

Otherwise there are now some 700 restaurants offering Festival menus at four different price bands (£10, £15, £20 and £25) which you can find if you click on Book Table. (I only tell you this because I faffed around the site for 10 minutes trying to find out who was offering what. Even then you could do with a bit more info about what you get for your festival deal. Hawksmoor Seven Dials which I am shamelessly plugging because it's my son Will's restaurant is offering 2 'bridging drinks' (see their cocktail menu) and a mini chilli cheese dog or one bridging drink and a mini lobster roll, for instance.)

There are also going to be three Suppliers' Markets involving chefs' suppliers at Paddington (30th September), Waterloo (7th October) and Liverpool Street Station (14th October), an Eat Film series of screenings, signings and suppers and the annual LRF awards which are given for nicely quirky qualities such as 'bravery', 'passion' and 'fun'.

All in all a good 10 days to be in London.

Thali Café's Bombay chips

2011-09-02T17:23:00.004+01:00

It's become a bit of a ritual to head for our local Thali Café for a takeaway the first night we're back from holiday. The justification being we're too tired to shop and cook and besides, if we've been in France, which we usually have, we've had to survive two weeks without spicy food. And if we order the dairy-free, veggie thali it's healthy, we tell ourselves. Ish.

Unfortunately a new temptation lay in wait. On a sign just by the till, as alluring as the display of sweets by a supermarket checkout - Bombay potato chips.

Well, I had to try them, didn't I? In the interests of research.

And regrettably they were fab. Thinly cut from new potatoes, I would guess, dunked in pakora batter and deep fried they were probably as fattening as family pack of KFC. Good though. Oh-so good. Especially with a fresh coconut raita with (I think) mustard seeds.

And they cost just £1.95, drat them.

Just keep away.

Latest food and wine blog finds

2011-08-25T09:50:00.015+01:00

Another eclectic selection of blogs for you to dip into:

Poires au Chocolat (@poireschocolat)
One of the great blogs I discovered through participating in Food Blogger Connect the other weekend. I picked this one not only because it's a beautiful, well-written blog but because its author, Emma, has only just finished her degree at Oxford. Apparently she wants to be a pastry chef. I'm sure she'll succeed. I love the look of this Rose and Pistachio layer cake.

Best Emerging Chefs and Creators/Thinkers in the Kitchen @scoffiermag
Not the catchiest of titles, admittedly but an incredibly useful resource if you're interested in the latest hot talent round the globe. Written - surprisingly - by a Frenchman who calls himself S Coffier and intended as a precursor to a magazine. I'm slightly embarrassed to find I hadn't clocked one of his UK finds, Paul Foster of Tuddenham Mill.

Wine Woman & Song @winewomansong
Juel Mahoney has already built a formidable reputation as a wine writer through her clever and original blog Wine, Woman & Song. She recently posted a brilliantly argued riposte to my recent post about what food bloggers could learn from journalists called How to be a Blogger as a Journalist which you should definitely read if you haven't already done so. She also has an Italian wine site called Vinissima.

Turntable Kitchen @TTableKitchen
A San Francisco-based blog by Kasey and Matthew. which matches food and music. Like Wasted Time and Minted Zucchini, Pea and Lemon Cucumber salad. This, I think, is exactly what Juel (above) is on about. You need blogs to express these fresh, zany ideas. Lovely food photography too.

And finally - nothing to do with food - check out Beautiful_Libraries.com a slightly nutty site which catalogues pictures of libraries including Celebrity Libraries and Government Law libraries. A must for geeky bibliophiles. Like me. Here's mine by the way.

Six recipes to cook from . . . Everyday and Sunday

2011-08-22T07:01:00.000+01:00

Anyone who thinks that books are dead should pick up a copy of Everyday & Sunday, the latest book from Guy Watson and Jane Baxter of Riverford Farm in Devon, Britain's best known veg box supplier.

The 362 pages are packed with imaginative recipes, mostly based on the veg the farm grows. As the name of the book suggests, they're divided into everyday and weekend meals (though I'd be more than pleased to have someone cook the midweek ones for me) and is divided up month by month.

So it's useful and practical but far more than that because 'Bax', as she's known to her friends, has plenty of attitude and a vigorous, engaging writing style. The pictures (by Ed Park) which are sparingly but tellingly used as are the illustrations by Leanne Shapton that open each chapter. It's a satisfyingly chunky, well-designed book and at £12.90 - the price Amazon is currently charging for it - an absolute steal.

So, which recipes? This is a tough one - so many of them appeal - but if I'm forcing myself to pick six let's start with

* French and Runner beans with sun-dried tomatoes, olives and basil (August, p 201)
A typical Bax recipe, simple, seasonal, slightly off-piste, with the helpful advice that the beans should be blanched until 'not al dente but squeaky when bitten'. I know EXACTLY what she means. Perfect for a runner bean glut

* Corn and courgette soup (September, p 233)
Another good idea for this time of year from one of Jane's co-chefs Anna Colquhoun who used to work at Chez Panisse. Thriftily the cobs are used to make a stock then the kernels are cooked with the courgettes, blitzed and the soup topped with a herb and chilli-flavoured butter.

* Chard, mushroom and walnut tart (September, p 244)
The answer to the problem of what to serve for an interesting veggie main. Great combination of flavours. Good tip that you can bake the filling in a gratin dish rather than in a pastry case which I suspect would be equally delicious

* Quick roasted cauliflower cheese (March, p.60)
Crème fraîche, mustard and gruyère instead of fiddly bechamel, no soggy cauliflower - a clever reinvention of this family favourite.

* New potatoes with crab, chilli, parsley and lemon (June, p. 144)
I normally make this sauce, as Jane does, with pasta but the chance to combine it with new potatoes is too good to miss

* Apricot brioche pudding (July, p. 187)
I've chosen this out of the many outrageously good desserts in the book simply because I tasted it at a demo Jane, Mitch Tonks and I took part in at the Dartmouth Food Festival last year. Basically it's an apricot bread and butter pudding. Gorg.

I could easily have picked out another six. And another . . .

What's really good about this book (and its companion volume, the award-winning Riverford Farm Cook Book) is that you could go off to the farmers' market and buy whatever produce looks most appealing without any clear idea what to do with it, bring it home and find a fabulous way to cook it. Now that's what you want from a recipe book.

Henry Herbert's Scotch Eggs

2011-08-18T07:43:00.010+01:00

Henry Herbert's Scotch eggs are a thing of beauty. Not that you'd know it from this hastily snatched photo while I was interviewing him for my article in the Guardian today. He used to be head chef at the Coach & Horses in Clerkenwell where they were his signature dish.

They are served warm (if you're lucky and get to his Chipping Sodbury butcher's just as he's made them), crisp on the outside with the yolk just the right side of runny, gently oozing into the perfectly spiced sausage casing. I almost wept when I ate mine. Oh, alright, I didn't but it was good. The best Scotch egg I've ever eaten.

Apparently there was quite a buzz about them a year ago when he did a Scotch egg masterclass reported here by Cara of Gourmet Chick.

Henry also makes scrummy-looking pies, (I say looking, because I haven't got round to trying them yet), meatballs, terrines and homemade chicken kievs.

At Ruby & White in Whiteladies Road in Bristol, the other butcher I visited, they make up their own marinades which they sell in little pots for £1. I tried a Moroccan-style lemon and saffron one with a guineafowl I bought from them which was really tasty. If you had to buy the ingredients from scratch you couldn't do it for that price.

They also have lots of cheaper cuts like shin and shortrib, and veal offal such as sweetbreads and kidneys as well as supermarket-style 3 packs for £10 offers. So butchers don't have to be expensive.

With their energy and imagination I hope they'll both succeed. They're making the effort to go the extra mile with late opening hours or, in Henry's case, deliveries so it's up to us locals to use them.

Incidentally there's a great follow-up discussion on Word of Mouth about butchers here.

Adam Denton, co-owner of Ruby & White.

How to blog like a journalist

2011-08-14T08:51:00.012+01:00

The great thing about having to give a talk or make a presentation is that it forces you to collect random thoughts about the subject that you might have been having for a while. So it was with yesterday's talk on writing style I gave to the food bloggers' conference Food Blogger Connect.

The first thing you have to say - and I did - is that there's already some fantastic food writing out there from bloggers who have brought some brilliant fresh ideas and voices to the genre. And as many bloggers are now getting commissioned by national newspapers and traditional print journalists like me now blog the dividing line between the two is getting more and more blurred.

But writing for someone else involves more discipline than writing for yourself and for new bloggers or those of you who have ambitions to turn professional it may be helpful to focus on what those differences are. And how a bit of journalistic know-how might help your blog.

* Blogging is about me, journalism is about you - and them
Most blogs are self-centred. I mean that not in a pejorative way, simply that they are generally about the writer and her/his thoughts and feelings about food. Journalists are basically reporters, asking questions, gathering facts, finding individuals to quote that will add life to their piece. I think bloggers could look outwards more and be more investigative (within the obvious constraints of fitting their blogging around a full-time job).

* Journalists have to write in a style that suits the publication and the audience they're writing for
Develop the art of writing for a broader audience. Don't get too cosy chatting with a loyal, but possibly small coterie of followers. And if you get commissioned by a publication - or are looking to approach them - read it first. (A recent edition, obviously, not a two year old copy you found in a doctor's waiting room!)

* Journalists should be (though admittedly aren't always) detached, critical and impartial
Bloggers don't have to be. That's good in a way. You need a bit of attitude but sometimes I find bloggers go overboard in their praise of restaurants, products or books, especially where commercial interests are involved. In the press that would be called an advertorial.

* Journalists have to be accurate
Names, spellings and dates need to be checked, grammar cleaned up (especially commas and apostrophes). That doesn't mean you should abandon your natural writing style. Just read through what you've written and, if you're not confident about your proof-reading skills, get someone else to read it through too. Try to avoid long, rambling sentences and lengthy paragraphs, clichés and repetition. Especially of the word 'lovely'.

* Journalists have to write to length . . .
Ah, length. The bane of many new blogs. It's so tempting to tell your audience everything about that special meal you had or the best friend's wedding you went to but hold back. When I was doing the research for my talk I found some blogs that took 800-900 words to get to the point. People have short attention spans these days. If you want them to stay and read your blog - and revisit it - keep your posts short. Or short-ish. If you're commissioned to write a piece ask for the word count (how long the editor wants the piece to be) and keep it that length.

* . . . and on time
If you're given a deadline stick to it. Editors like writers who submit their copy promptly.

* Journalists need to engage the audience straightaway
That's what your editor expects. And if you don't get to the point quickly your sub-editor may rewrite your intro - possibly in a way you might not like. Draw the reader in with a startling fact or statement or by painting an evocative word picture. Or by relating the piece to a concern you know your readers share. (Like losing weight.)

* Blogging is immediate. A piece of journalism may not be published for several months.
That's actually one of the drawbacks of journalism as the editors who have to work on Christmas features in July and August will tell you. (The average lead-time for a magazine feature is around four months.) Bear in mind that some, at least, of your content needs to have enduring relevance.

Do you agree with my analysis or do you think the differences are overstated? And what have bloggers got to teach journalists?
- Plenty it appears! Look at this brilliant riposte from Juel Mahoney of Wine, Woman & Song.

Rocksalt: Posh fish in Folkestone

2011-08-04T08:57:00.028+01:00

Living in Bristol, it’s not often I contemplate lunch in Folkestone 4 1/2 hours away but once I’d heard about Sarge’s mackerel pasty, that was it.

Sarge (aka Mark Sargeant), of course, is not just any old cook. He was Gordon Ramsay’s right hand man for years but has now gone off, as so many of Ramsay’s former acolytes have, and set up a restaurant of his own called Rocksalt.

But in Folkestone, a south coast port which can hardly be described as Britain’s most glamourous seaside resort?

Albeit with a certain faded grandeur . . .

Well, turns out he comes from that neck of the woods and maybe it’s a smart move. You get the sense that Folkestone is busy reinventing itself now it has a new high speed rail link to St Pancras (just an hour). And now is a good time to go as it’s in the middle of its Triennial (of which see more below)

Anyway, That Pasty. When I first heard about the fact that it contained mackerel and sausage my reaction was *eeew*, followed by an avid curiosity to see what it tasted like. I can never resist a good pie. As you see it’s mackerel shaped and full of flaky fish with just the merest hint of something savoury and porky and the most fabulous pastry which I suspect you couldn’t possibly replicate despite the fact that the recipe is available online. At £14.50 it must be the most expensive pasty in Britain but it’s so, so worth it. Order it as a main or one between two. (If you can. Have learnt it isn't always on.)

There were some other nice things on the menu: some good nibbles such as radishes with anchovy sauce (anchovy mayo with a little cream, I’d guess) and steamed broad beans served edamame style with mint sea salt (great idea)

Smoked coley brandade with spring onions which was a bit like a mini fish pie. (Delicious)

And a superb, sweet Dover sole.

I was marginally less impressed by the steamed sea bass with samphire and fish cream mainly because I was expecting a samphire and fish cream instead of Samphire. And fish cream. And it was very slightly underdone. I like my sea bass seared. But it could have been that I was too full of pasty to appreciate it.

Red herring was not the East Anglian speciality but a very smokey mackerel tinged with beetroot. Not quite as exciting as it sounded.

And you probably won't like the Famous Folkestone whelks unless you're into whelks. Which I am. Sort of. When I'm in Folkestone at any rate.

Rhubarb fool, while pretty, was a bit too creamy and not rhubarby enough for my taste.

But elderflower and strawberry jelly was divine.

But the thing that made it such a wonderful meal was the setting. It overlooks the harbour and on a blissfully sunny day felt just like being on the Med.

I don’t think you’d want to stay in Folkestone for long, but for an overnight stay, particularly until September 25th when the Triennial ends it would be great. This was an installation in an old church (below). There are many other exhibitions and installations we were sorry we didn't have time to explore.

Rocksalt has rooms in a neighbouring building which also houses Sarge’s posh chippie. Small but nicely decorated and good value though one of them smelt slightly worryingly of fish (a Fawlty Towers kipper moment but I’m sure they’ll sort that out). Book the top room if you can.

And find time for a drink in the bar which has been cleverly designed to feel like sitting on a pebble beach.

Rocksalt is at 4-5 Fishmarket, Folkestone, Kent, CT19. Tel: 01303 884 633. A meal with wine will probably set you back around £60 a head from the a la carte menu. There's a set lunch for £14.50 for two courses, £17.50 for three.

I ate at Rocksalt as a guest of the restaurant.

The Ledbury lunch: possibly the best bargain in London

2011-07-27T21:13:00.016+01:00

Now The Ledbury is not a find, it's a much-heralded restaurant (2 Michelin stars, no. 34 and the highest new entry in the World's top 50 restaurants) that has been around for a while. And this week wasn't the first time I've been there. But if there's a better under £30 lunch than Brett Graham's in London currently I've yet to discover it.

I was invited there by Wines of Germany as the restaurant is supporting their Riesling Week so we did stray slightly off-piste but our starter and dessert came from the set price menu

First this stunningly beautiful Asian-style dish of flame grilled mackerel with avocado, radishes and shiso (above) with a crisp Saar riesling

Then a small(ish) portion of unbelievably porky pork jowl from the tasting menu roasted with liquorice with a crisp shard of perfect crackling. That came with a glass of Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder) from Baden.

Followed by an unheralded main course of loin and shoulder of lamb with green tomato juice and aubergine glazed with black sugar and garlic, just so, I suspect, that we could try one of the other wines that sommelier Luke Robertson is particularly excited about at the moment the Triennes Les Aureliens, a Cabernet Syrah blend from Provence. Lamb is always great with aubergine - and Cabernet, for that matter. This was sublime.

And finally a pretty-as-a-picture summery dessert of whipped ewe's milk with strawberries, blueberries, lemon verbena mergines and beignets with which we drank a glorious glass of sweet riesling about which I'll be writing more on my main site next week. (My match of the week, I predict, already and it's only Wednesday.)

The set weekday lunch is £27.50 for two courses, £33.50 for 3 - Sunday lunch is £40 but that's still a fantastic bargain. Food this good costs twice as much in Paris.

The Ledbury is the perfect place to take someone for a special occasion or even to treat yourself from time to time. My fellow blogger Helen Graves of Food Stories mentioned that she goes there every three months. I think I should be doing the same.

PS Don't whatever you do skip the bread rolls out of a misplaced concern that they might spoil your appetite. They're a work of art in themselves. Warm bacon brioche rolls in the centre, crystal malt on the right. I couldn't make up my mind which I liked best so had to have both. As you would.

Heritage tomatoes from The Tomato Stall

2011-07-23T09:34:00.014+01:00

I have to thank Times journalist Alex Renton (via Twitter) for this recommendation - a firm that supplies tomatoes by post from the Isle of Wight.

Now you may think that's idiotic - tomatoes are everywhere at this time of year - but the Isle of Wight produces really tasty, sweet ones. I particularly like the idea of a 5kg family sized box (£21.50) including beef tomatoes, cherry and baby plum tomatoes and heritage tomatoes which would make a great present to take someone if you were staying for the weekend (healthier than a couple of bottles of wine . . .)

They also do prepared tomato products year-round which I spotted in a deli in Yarmouth last weekend with my mate Fiona Sims who vouches for the oak-roasted tomatoes.

Talking of tomatoes, there's a fantastic recipe for baked tomatoes and baguette with cream and anchovies by Yotam Ottolenghi in the Guardian today.

Barley Wood Sticky Toffee Apple Cake

2011-07-20T17:46:00.012+01:00

Those of you who follow this blog will know that I rarely get excited about sweet things so they have to be pretty special to inspire a post.

This one is. It's a speciality of The Ethicurean Cafe at Barley Wood Walled Garden in Wrington just outside Bristol. To my mind it's infinitely superior to the original sticky toffee pud which I find far too sweet. It's light and (obviously) appley with a caramelised topping and is served (bliss) with cinnamon infused pouring cream.

So obviously I asked for the recipe.

And obviously they said no.

Apparently it's taken them two years to get it to that stage (2 years! That's worthy of Heston) and they don't intend to reveal the secret of how it's done. Quite rightly, as it means that you have to go down there to get a fix.

There are many other good things on the menu including some rather fancy terrines and soups made with the gorgeous produce in the garden.

I should also declare an interest in that we're having our next Cheese School down there on October 30th which will include learning how to make cheese and matching cheeses with apples and cider from their fabulous orchards. So do sign up if you're free.

Some new (to me) blogs

2011-07-14T15:54:00.008+01:00

It's been a while since I flagged up any new blogs. (Actually it's been a while since I posted at all. Mea culpa. Have been rushing round Portugal and then frantically finishing a book). But here are four that appeal.

First of all a blog called Hot Meals Now from Annie Nichols who used to write the Cheat's Dinner Party series for the Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine. Not being a regular Telegraph reader I hadn't realised they'd dropped it. It happens but it's always sad to see a good column go.

There are some nice recipes on it like potato beetroot boulangère (anything involving potato is, of course, good), teradot sauce and lamb with harissa and anchovy butter. Simple but imaginative ideas. I like it.

Another Anne - a Luxembourg ex pat living in London - blogs at Anne's Kitchen, a very pretty blog with some nice recipe ideas and some goodlooking food photography (courtesy of a Canon 450D). Good web design too from a friend who runs a web design consultancy. (I'm always envious of people who've managed to escape the clutches of Blogger although I have to say that Hollow Legs new design, using a Blogger template, is pretty impressive.)

The Italian Dish - a blogger called Elaine who lives in Michigan - popped up with a comment on one of my blogs (embarrassed to say I can't remember which) a few weeks back. I checked out her own which particularly appealed because it includes drinks as well as food. Try this refreshing-looking Collinzano, a mixture of gin, Aperol and lime and lemon juice, topped up with soda. Yum.

I also love kokblog from Johanna Kindvall a Swedish graphic designer which is illustrated with her really charming line drawings. I can't wait to make her akvavit cured pork belly. I think it was Sig of Scandilicious who put me on to that one.

Interestingly all of them are women who, it strikes me, blog much more than men these days. Maybe it's because they're - we're - more willing to share our thoughts for free. Or just feel the need to connect about a subject they're passionate about. What do you reckon?

How to cook Chioggia beets without losing the stripes

2011-06-30T08:01:00.013+01:00

I came across Chioggia beets at our farmers' market in Bristol yesterday, pink stripey beetroot that the producer was so proud of he'd cut open to display. There was one bunch left which I was just about to buy when a woman shot up and said 'I'll have those'. Fortunately the stallholder still gave them to me, narrowly avoiding an unseemly scrap.

Anyway that's how beautiful these beets are so you can see I was reluctant to prepare them in any way that sacrificed the stripes. Checking the internet there seemed no guaranteed way of doing that so I consulted Twitter. Opinions differed - some said eat raw, others favoured steaming and yet others roasting them (my favourite way of cooking beets but I couldn't see how it would work in this case.)

I cleaned them up, trimmed them and sliced them finely on a mandolin then, hoping to use them raw, took a nibble. They were unpleasantly, unrescuably bitter. No beet carpaccio, then.

I decided to divide them in half and try different treatments. I salted half for half an hour (above, top, in large-holed colander) then rinsed them and dressed them with a couple of spoonfuls of lemon juice and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Just before I served them I added some extra virgin olive oil then scattered over some finely chopped spring onions, some double podded broad beans and a little chopped parsley.

The other half I blanched for a minute in boiling water (lower pic above in colander with smaller holes) then dressed in a light vinaigrette made from red wine vinegar and olive oil. Then added the extra ingredients as above.

The first method (above) kept the colour perfectly but they were still a little bitter and flavourless. The second way lost a bit of colour definition (see top of post) but tasted sweeter so I reckon that's the way to go. I also scattered over a bit of crumbled feta which finished off the dish perfectly. I’d have added a little chopped mint if I’d had some.

So there you have it. Unless you grow or have access to particularly sweet beets it seems you can’t serve them raw (and no, it’s not that I don’t like bitterness. I love the Japanese radish mooli) If you want a richer, more earthier beet-like taste you need to roast them but then you’ll get pink beets not pink stripey ones. It’s possible you could stir fry strips and not lose too much colour or make stripey beetroot crisps which would be amazing but the more heat you add and the longer you cook them the more likely you are to lose those stripes..

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I don’t intend to waste the greens. You can use them in place of chard or spinach.

*Apologies for the variable quality of the pix btw. My camera battery ran out so had to use the iphone for some of the shots!

Another great Bristol supper club

2011-06-26T11:07:00.016+01:00

Last night saw the launch of yet another Bristol supper club, this time run by food stylist and cookery book author Genevieve Taylor of An Egg a Day.

She'd taken Moorish food as her theme and cooked up an amazing feast of grilled meats and salads, spicy empanadillas, labneh and beetroot dips, pistachio meringues and fresh strawberries and - as if we weren't full enough - Portuguese custard tarts to go with a final glass of fresh mint tea (too dark to snap these by that stage).

The weather was a bit iffy so we ended up having it inside with occasional forays into her gorgeous garden which was full of enviably healthy veggies and herbs as well as the 'girls' as Gen calls her hens.

What's interesting is how different supper clubs are - which isn't so surprising when you come to think of it. Montpelier Basement, the one we've been to most regularly, is like an intimate urban bistro. An Egg a Day felt more like a private party. Brilliant food in both cases, though. It's a good way to eat in Bristol.

Gen is thinking of having another supper in September. Follow her blog for dates.

Six recipes to cook from ... Small Adventures in Cooking

2011-06-16T08:05:00.007+01:00

Just as I had to declare an interest in Signe Johansen’s book last month so I have to confess that I’m a bit partial to James Ramsden’s Small Adventures in Cooking. James, like Sig, was one of the students who gravitated my way through my Beyond Baked Beans cooking project and became one of the co-authors of The Ultimate Student Cookbook. And now he too has his first book.

What I’ve always admired about James is that he’s a writer first and a cook second which is not to say that he isn’t a good cook just that he’s a very, very good writer with an enviable lightness of touch and deft turn of phrase that has already established him as one of Britain’s best young food writers. (He’s already written for The Times, Guardian and the FT.) So Small Adventures in Cooking - the title is intended to convey going just slightly off the beaten track - is not just a useful collection of recipes but a companion in bed and a friend in the kitchen.

It only arrived yesterday so I haven’t got round to cooking from it but this is what I plan to make. (All the recipes have Twitter hashtags so you can compare notes with fellow tweeters that have made them.)

Beetroot soup and goats curd p99
It was a bit of a standing joke when we were working on BBB that James would always come up with a beetroot recipe so here you have one. I’ve actually tasted it at his supper club and it’s delicious.

Lamb neck fillets with harissa and chickpea salad p24
James’s cooking takes full account of the fact that people (especially blokes of his age) don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen and this is one of those bish, bash, bosh recipes that conjures up a deliciously big-flavoured plateful of food in minutes #lambneck

Grilled aubergine with tahini and pomegranate p100
I never think of James as a veggie but, as he argues, starters are a vital course. “Diving into the main sometimes feels just wrong like going into the cinema just as the film starts”. Easy, tasty colourful - what more do you want? #grilledauberginesalad

Rabbit with mustard and cream p110
“When frost kisses the windowpanes and your breath hangs on the air this is the time to stuff yourself to the gullet with robust food” So speaks a lad who was brought up in deepest Yorkshire. A classic French bistro dish made with cider rather than wine. Simon Hopkinsonesque comfort food of a high order #mustardrabbit

Cardamom, rum and banana ice cream topping p36
Anything with cardamom rocks my boat and this sounds a fantastic topping for chocolate ice cream, as James suggests. Definitely trying this one. #icecreamtoppings

And in the same vein, Breakfast Raita p83 - bananas, cardamom, yoghurt, honey and raisins which doesn’t have a hashtag so I’m giving it one #breakfastraita. Love it.

There are also some useful pages with tips on, for instance, prepping, tasting and seasoning and on making mistakes. "Things will go awry" says James, reassuringly. “We all do it. The best thing to do is to laugh and get on with it. Eat some toast. Drink more wine. Ultimately this is just food”

Amen to that. A great first book, perfect for the student generation James was first writing for when they leave uni and start to want to make more impressive and flashy food. And for James, surely a stepping stone to higher things? A household name in 5 years I bet you.

You can also follow James on his blog and even eat his food at his underground supper club The Secret Larder.

Hotel d'Angleterre, Chalons-en-Champagne

2011-06-12T10:26:00.012+01:00

This week must be about the sixth or seventh time we've been to the Hotel d'Angleterre, a solidly bourgeois hotel in Chalons-en-Champagne, the least glamorous town of the Champagne district. It's main virtue is that it's a brilliantly based pitstop for breaking your journey between the Channel Tunnel and the south of France - or Alsace for that matter where we've been this past week. (It's about 3 hours from the tunnel.)

It's much less flashy - and less touristy - than Reims and Epernay - a rather nice provincial town of the type you still find in parts of France that aren't served by a nearby Ryanair airport. That makes it sound staid but it's not entirely that - just look at this 'happening' which we caught the tail end of as part of a weekend of street theatre.

The other virtue of the hotel is that the food is good and that's by no means a given in today's France. There's a one star Michelin star restaurant named after the proprietor Jacky Michel but like the locals we always eat in the brasserie Les Temps Changent where you can get a fixed price menu for 21 euros (VAT and service included). Basically Michelin standard food using less expensive or leftover ingredients as I've pointed out here*.

They also have the most spectacularly lavish brunch-style breakfast which we don't normally bother with but decided to this time as we knew we were unlikely to get any lunch.

A useful base if you want to tour Champagne, obviously too. Rooms are from 95€, breakfast a slightly pricey 16€ a head but as I say it would last you all day ...

* Just in case you were wondering why I've blogged about them twice, no it wasn't a freebie - we paid our own way and they had no idea I was a journalist!

Da Polpo's Piadina Meatball Smash

2011-06-05T10:16:00.001+01:00

The moment I heard that Da Polpo was majoring on meatballs I knew I’d be in there like a flash and 24 hours after the soft opening - or ‘preview’ as owner Russell Norman likes to call it (“soft opening always sounds a bit flaccid”) - I was.

I didn't even know that they were offering what was in effect a meatball sandwich - a piece of flatbread wrapped round a helping of sloppy meatballs which they’re calling a Piadana meatball smash. That might sound counterintuitive - I mean why make mince into meatballs only to pull them apart again but believe me it works. Especially with a sprinkling of cheese, which presumably accounts for the fact they cost almost twice as much as having the meatballs on their own.

I admit the photo doesn’t do it justice. I would make the excuse that I don’t like to spend too much time snapping away at table - and I don’t - but the fact is that my fellow blogger London Eater’s photo is far, far more professional and gives you a much better idea just how enticing this dish is. I didn’t even think of opening up the bread and breaking open the meatballs. Duh!

Oh and it was also insanely good with a fennel, curly endive and almond salad which you should order as a side.

Anyway I’m sure we’re going to be hearing a lot more about meatballs which have been a craze in New York for a while. 2011, the year of the meatball. You heard it here first. Well, probably about 21st. Whatever. Meatballs rock.

PS To fill in those of you who don’t follow the London restaurant scene obsessively, Da Polpo is the latest in a clever series of small, very cool Venetian-inspired restaurants which include Polpo, Polpetto and - just a few weeks ago - Spuntino. This is the biggest so far - and you can book which you can’t in Polpetto and Spuntino or in the evening at Polpo.

Champagne on ice - but not as you know it

2011-06-01T18:09:00.010+01:00

It’s taken me a week or so to blog about Moet’s new Ice Imperial which was recently launched in London, I suspect because I still can’t quite make up my mind what I think about it. It’s a champagne designed to be served on the rocks - yes, that’s right - poured over ice cubes. To achieve that it’s a good deal sweeter than the standard Moet non vintage - a demi-sec, but with more structure than that style of champagne generally has, thanks to a higher than usual percentage of pinot noir. It’s served in a large Riedel-style Chianti glass with precisely five ice cubes and is designed to be drunk by the pool.

My first reaction is predictably snotty. A cynical marketing exercise designed to appeal to footballers’ wives, rich Russians and the entire cast of TOWIE*. It’s only available for the moment in one bar in London and - mysteriously - about 10 in the Bournemouth area which apparently has the most expensive real estate in Britain outside London. (I’m doubtful about that but can see there might not be many other distractions in that part of the world. Apart from pools and yachts.)

On the other hand Moet’s winemaker Benoit Gouez is a serious kind of a guy and a talented winemaker and the champagne is, when served as cold as it should be, frankly delicious. Especially with odd bits of fruit, citrus peel or other flavourings dropped into it which Moët is encouraging. (Gouez admits to liking it with ginger). It’s clearly designed to appeal to young drinkers who find conventional champagne too dry - and why not?

Because it's ridiculously expensive at £50-60 a bottle you might argue, and you'd be right. But when was champagne ever cheap? Strikes me that Moet is simply taking a leaf out of the book of the spirits producers and making a premium product available to a very few people to ramp up demand. Up to you if you want to spend your money that way.

I can’t help wondering though if you couldn't achieve the same effect with a very cold bottle of Moscato d’Asti at about an eighth of the price. Or a bottle of demi-sec Cava and a dash of sugar syrup. Worth a try . . .

*The Only Way is Essex - cult UK reality TV series

Crab croquetas and Cava at José's

2011-05-26T18:37:00.008+01:00

I was invited to a preview of Jose Pizarro's new tapas bar José last night and having seen a selection of his recipes in Observer Food Monthly and the Times (for which it's almost worth breaching the paywall) didn't hesitate to get down there. Any excuse to eat croquetas, especially these awesome crab and basil ones which must be one of the best tapas in London. Note there isn't a single crack in them. Notice too how many of them there were left on the plate. They were wolfed down by the ravening hordes of journos and bloggers the moment they left the kitchen.

I started off drinking manzanilla sherry but switched to a vintage Cava Imperial from Gramona as soon as I realised how good it was. Quite the best Cava I've ever tasted. Ironically I ran into it again at the Berry Bros & Rudd tasting where they've just taken Gramona on though they list different cuvées. José's list normally features the 2006 Brut Nature Gran Reserva (available at Berry's for £16.95)

The rest of the list, which was devised by wine writer Tim Atkin and wine buyer Jo Ahearne is equally interesting. A great selection of sherries and some good Spanish wines - everything available by the glass.

José used to be head chef at Brindisa but has wanted to do his own thing for a while. His choice of Bermondsey which used to be pretty dodgy, might be regarded as surprising but it's fast becoming a foodie mecca. In the same street there's the much-lauded Zucca and a couple of streets away the new Maltby Street market.

PS Almost forgot - the tortillas were great too. Try the spinach and ham one if it's on.

José opens on June 1st 2011 at 104 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UB (020 7403 4902).

The other side of Stokes Croft

2011-05-22T10:14:00.013+01:00

After the riots last month it would be easy to dismiss Bristol's Stokes Croft as a no-go area but yesterday it showed its sunny side in a festival that had everyone out on the streets in the most peaceable possible way.

We went down to check out the Str-eat stalls in the Bear Pit. No, we didn't know what the Bear Pit was either and it seemed uncool to ask but it's the huge recessed paved area in the middle of the St James roundabout in front of Debenhams and the Premier Inn. There wasn't much action around lunchtime (they surface late in those parts) so we drifted up Cheltenham road where people were milling round happily in the sun and ended up at The Runcible Spoon, a new café we'd heard good things about.

It was great. Good sarnies and stuff on toast (I had beef and horseradish, my husband pressed brisket and piccalilli - surely this summer's most ubiquitous pickle? - and some first rate chips that tasted like deep-fried roasties.

It was really well-priced as you can see from the blackboard. (A gin and tonic, should we have fancied one, was just £3. We stuck to cider.)

There was a large wall of graffiti opposite complaining about the new Tesco which provoked all the trouble, urging locals to boycott it. Which seems to me exactly the right way to deal with it rather than smashing windows which hurts the very local traders the protesters claim to be protecting. If you don't like it, don't shop there. Simple. And vote out the councillors who put it there.

Just up the road there's a great vintage clothes and antiques shop and cafe called Cox and Baloney where you can buy pretty teapots and cake. And, hire Babycham glasses, apparently. That too is very Stokes Croft. And very Bristol.

Six recipes to cook from . . . Scandilicious

2011-05-13T22:12:00.008+01:00

OK, I have a bit of a problem here. I’ve known Sig (aka Signe Johansen) for about 4 years. She came to me as an intern, contributed recipes to my website, was one of the co-authors of The Ultimate Student Cookbook and has subsequently collaborated with me on a number of other projects. She’s clever, funny and a loyal friend so I can hardly be objective about her new book Scandilicious: Secrets of Scandinavian cooking. I think it’s brilliant but then I would, wouldn’t I?

So I was trying to think of a way of drawing your attention to it that didn’t involve gushing along in this vein for several more paragraphs and then I hit on it: just pick out the recipes I most want to cook because that’s what you buy a book for really, isn’t it? So here they are:

Goat’s cheese smørbrød with radish and rosehip p 80
I recognise the inspiration for this from the girls’ outing we had to Copenhagen last summer along with two fellow food writers - an absolute blast. The whole section on smørbrød (open sandwiches) is good but this is a particularly stylish version - and an imaginative substitution of smoked sea salt and goats cheese for the Danish smoked cheese rygeost

Jarlsberg and fennel muffins p63
Sig has serial enthusiasms when it comes to ingredients and this incorporates two of them, Marmite and spelt flour. A really moreish savoury muffin topped with cheese - another Sig passion, come to that.

Janssons frestelse aka Jansson’s temptation p163
An outrageously indulgent dish of potatoes, pickled anchovies (or rather sprats, as Sig rightly points out) and cream. One of the world’s best potato dishes

Norwegian meatballs p 168
I’ve actually made these myself and they’re awesome. The secret is the seasoning - dominated by allspice - and soaking the bread in milk and yoghurt which gives them a light-as-air texture. Don’t forget the meatball gravy (even though I wouldn’t necessarily use brown cheese - a regular bone of contention between Sig and myself)

Vanilla and sour cream waffles p 53
I’ve heard Sig waffle on about waffles many a time but at last she’s been persuaded to reveal the time-honoured family recipe. I’m afraid you may have to buy a waffle iron as a result. Incidentally don’t miss her tips for making vanilla-infused honey - a must-have in every storecupboard.

Lemon and nutmeg krumkaker (ice cream cornets) p 188
I remember being immensely impressed that Sig also made her own ice cream cornets - and her own ice cream without using a freezer - a trick she learnt from her stage at Heston Blumenthal’s food lab. I think I’d fill them with the banana and cardamom ice cream (p 187) but then it might have to be the blackcurrant . . .

I could have picked out many more recipes but in a nutshell the great thing about this book is that it manages to be both healthy and indulgent and introduces you to Scandinavian cooking, and especially baking, in a totally unintimidating way.

So what are you waiting for? Just buy it.

Rosé in magnum

2011-05-07T06:56:00.007+01:00

I sometimes forget the wine element of this blog but yesterday I came across such a great bottle I had to share it with you. It's called AIX rosé and comes in a magnum.

Everyone fell on it at the Majestic tasting it was shown at yesterday, not least because it actually tasted good which is more than you can say for a lot of rosé. At £19.99 it's not cheap - but then Provençal rosé rarely is - but has the most delicious crisp wild-strawberry scented fruit.

The only problem I anticipate is how you would chill it unless you've got one of those huge American style fridges or a chest freezer into which you could pop it for 20 minutes or so (but don't for heaven's sake forget it). Certainly it would be hard to find a bucket large enough and if your fridge is like my fridge when I have people round - already chock full of food.

Anyway, if you want some I'd get in quick. When I tweeted about it yesterday, one Majestic branch - in Market Harborough, as it happens - said they'd sold out within 'minutes' of putting the wine on display. Don't know if that's hype or the kind of thing that happens in Market Harborough but you might want to check your local branch has it in before you drive down there. It doesn't appear on the website at the time of writing.

While on the subject of rosé there's a good bargain in the Co-op at the moment which you can read about in my selection of summer drinks in the Guardian today: the Les Crouzes Old Vine Cinsault Rosé. I hadn't expected the piece to come out so soon and it is in fact only £4.19 until Tuesday which makes it even better value.

Penguin Great Food: a fatally collectable series

2011-04-15T08:03:00.011+01:00

As if I didn't have enough cookbooks already along comes Penguin with 20 that I want to buy. They've reissued 20 classic food books from writers over the centuries from Gervase Markham in 1615 to Alice Waters in a new series called Great Food. And even though I've got books by Waters, Claudia Roden and Elizabeth David - also included in the series - I know I'm going to want them too.

That won't be cheap. At £6.99 a pop I shall fork out £139.80 over the coming months (well actually I won't thanks to the fact that I've managed to inveigle Penguin into sending me four to review and I shall probably weaken and end up buying others on Amazon). But the handbag-sized volumes are so neat (perfect for whipping out on the train/bus/tube) and the embossed and, in some instances, gilded covers so glorious that it would be a shame not to own them all. Wouldn't it?

Penguin knows all about collectability of course having created the magnificent King Penguin series which I wish I owned but would probably cost a fortune to acquire now. So I'm actually saving money by buying them when they're first published. Aren't I?

How else would I know how to make oyster ketchup (from Isabella Beeton's The Campaign for Domestic Happiness) or what to pay my Under Butler? Or how to Make a Medicine for a Disorder of the Bowels (Hannah Glasse)? The invaluable skill of making aqua composita (Gervase Markham's The Well Kept Kitchen - nice to see that in modern print) or to make Eliza Acton's salmon pudding (from The Elegant Economist)? That sounds nice, actually.

Interestingly historic cookbook authors seem to be all the rage. Quadrille has also brought out a version of Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery in its new series Classic Voices in Food but has taken a different approach by producing a 636 page much clunkier volume. How do I know it's clunky? Because I bought it, of course. Just to compare with the Penguin series, you understand . . .

* Incidentally Penguin's publicist Pen Vogler, who describes herself as "an enthusiastic but not very good cook" is cooking her way through the series on this tumblr blog. With admirable honesty about any recipe's failings

Blogs of the month - April 2011

2011-04-08T18:42:00.008+01:00

I don’t know quite how it happened but I failed to post my blogs of the month last month. Which has meant that Closet Cooking, Crumbs, Paris by Mouth and The Wine Detective have all had a good run. (Fortunately they’re assiduous updaters so you won’t, I trust, have got bored. And nor have I but it’s time to move on . . .

This month’s quartet are:

Fort on Food
Matthew Fort used to be my editor on The Guardian so I suppose I’m biased but I do think he’s a terrific writer which makes it slightly ironic he’s now better known as a TV pundit. Anyway this new blog gives free range to his erudite and witty musings on ingredients such as asparagus, restaurants and pubs. He’s also a fine cook and writes a good simple recipe.

They Draw and Cook
I owe a fair number of my best blog finds to Twitter and this, which was flagged up by MiMi of Meemalee's Kitchen (a pretty good blog in itself), is an absolutely charming site* which features recipes illustrated by different artists. It was set up by brother and sister Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell who are both illustrators. They come from all over the world from the UK (see this lovely recipe for marmalade flapjacks) to Russia. A great way to encourage kids and teenagers to cook.
(* can't get it to update on my blogroll because I think it's technically a site rather than a blog. But do check it out.)

The Way we Ate
Another offbeat blog this time from photographers Noah Fecks and Paul Wagtouicz who make, shoot and post recipes from old issues of Gourmet Magazine, mixed in with ads from the period. I love this Gourmet cover from April 1951. It really underlines what an act of vandalism it was pulling the plug on such a great institution.

Cumbriafoodie
Cumbriafoodie came to my attention for managing to recreate Heston’s iconic new dish ‘meat fruit’ (a chicken liver parfait encased in what appears to be a mandarin but is actually a mandarin flavoured jelly made to look like mandarin peel) Anyway he obviously knows his molecular gastronomy and eats out in all the top places. I’m sure I read at one stage that he was a nuclear scientist but that may have been my imagination. Pretty clever anyway.

Stappj - the perfect aperitivo

2011-04-06T16:14:00.007+01:00

Even wine writers have booze-free days. Correct that. All wine writers should have booze-free days but the dilemma is what to drink at Picpoul (or whatever) o'clock. Which in my case is usually about 7pm when I wind down and think about cooking.

Up to now my favourite drink has been a tonic made in the same style as a G & T - i.e. with loads of ice and a good slice of lemon or lime but tonic always seems slightly sickly without the balancing bitterness of gin. (You can - and I do - add a dash of Angostura bitters but it's not the same)

Anyway the other day my friend Elly, patron of the wonderful Pear Café and underground restaurateur extraordinaire brought along this cute little six pack of a an alcohol-free Italian aperitivo called Stappj Bitter which admittedly sounds more Eastern European than Italian but which is a marvel.

It's a lurid vermilion red which probably owes more to E numbers than nature and tastes remarkably like Campari. Serve it cold in a chilled martini glass with a twist of orange peel and you've got yourself a hell of a cool drink.

It's available in Bristol from Licata in Picton Street and Gloucester Road at the knockdown price of £2.50 for six.

Trealy Farm charcuterie

2011-03-31T07:55:00.011+01:00

I used to be a bit sniffy about British charcuterie. It didn't seem quite right - surely only the French and Italians had the centuries-old know-how to do it properly? And for a while all the samples of rather bland British salami and sausage I tasted bore this out.

But there's no reason why we shouldn't do it well - we have great raw materials for a start - and I'm increasingly impressed by the local charcuterie I'm tasting

Last Sunday at the Love Food Spring Festival was a case in point. There was a stall from Monmouthshire-based Trealy Farm including a very tasty venison salami, a brilliant soft chilli-spiked black pudding (for eating cold rather than cooking) and one of the best garlic sausages I've ever tasted - apparently much admired by Raymond Blanc in his recent series. They also won the title of Best UK Food Producer in last year's Observer Food Awards.

I've also had some really authentic French-style country paté recently (ironically from an Italian, Vincent Castellano who sells in Bristol's Wednesday farmers' market). There's also Bath Pig which specialises in chorizo and former chef and forager Andrew Sartain's Wild Food Larder.

Given the charcuterie craze in restaurants and wine bars at the moment they should do well.

Hansen & Lydersen smoked salmon

2011-03-25T08:51:00.004Z

I tasted some fantastic smoked salmon this week at The Albion in Islington. Actually I didn't order it so it was half demolished by the time I got to try it. As you can see from the photo.

It came from Hansen & Lydersen who are hardly new kids on the block having been smokers in Norway since 1923 but the youngest scion of the family, Ole Hansen, has now set up in Stoke Newington. Although the fish appears to receive quite robust treatment (they use, they say, 100% pure juniper, beech wood flour and chips from smoked products specialist Dansk Traemel and smoke the salmon for a minimum of 10 hours) the end result is very delicate subtle cure.

I think it rivals Frank Hederman and Ummera, up to now my favourite smokers.

They don't sell it vac packed as they think it destroys the quality. You can buy sides or fillets through Hubbub which organises an online service for independent shops in that part of North London

Spuntino - a place not to take your friends

2011-03-23T08:05:00.005Z

One visit to Russell Norman’s new bar Spuntino and I was smitten so why on earth should I say you shouldn’t take your friends? Because you’ll stand a much better chance of getting a seat if you don’t, that’s why.

I swung by at 6.30pm on the offchance and got sat straight at the bar. That’s the way to do it according to Norman - good advice in a place that only has 26 covers.

Those of you who are familiar with Polpo and Polpetto will feel entirely at home with the carafe wine and cichetti (bar snacks) formula which sees some tempting new variants on the theme.

I had to try the much hyped Truffled Egg Toast - a truffley sort of Buck’s Rarebit - and wasn’t disappointed but also liked the fresh, zesty duck ham (duck ham?), pecorino and mint salad with peashoots and the look of my neighbour’s stack of Brick Lane salt beef. Other dishes that have received plaudits are the house pickles, egg and soldiers, lardo and caperberry crostini, eggplant chips with fennel yoghurt and, above all apparently, the mac and cheese which I failed to order. Drat!

Even so the food is not entirely what you go for. All Norman’s restaurants are cool but this is ubercool in a part of town - the sleazy side of Soho - that is definitely on the up. There are no reservations, no phoneline. There isn't even a name over the door. (It's at no 61 Rupert Street just off Shaftesbury Avenue.)

My only gripe is that the minimum amount of water you can buy is a 75cl bottle - not so good for sole diners for whom this is otherwise the perfect venue.

Incidentally I never mind eating by myself, especially at the bar. Do you feel the same way?

St John Custard Doughnuts

2011-03-20T08:36:00.004Z

Not having a particularly sweet tooth (yes, weird, I know) I don't often blog about cakes but these custard doughnuts I spotted at the St John Bakery in Druid Street yesterday are simply awesome.

Thank god I didn't try to eat them in the street. As you bite in a fountain of vanilla-flavoured custard cascades over your chin. Real vanilla of course - you can see the specks. The doughnuts are featherlight and not too sweet, freshly dusted in sugar as they should be. This has to be the most perfect doughnut ever and I've eaten some of the concoctions at New York's legendary Donut Plant. (The carrot cake doughnut is particularly fine)

I'm sure they'll serve them at the new St John Hotel which opens on April 2nd and which will reputedly be serving home-baked breakfast buns. Maybe even for elevenses or for the afternoon Little Bun Moment . . . Can't wait.

(The St John Bakery opens on Saturday mornings in Druid Street from 9-2. More about this happy hunting ground shortly.)

McDo et le Crumble Pom' Fruits Rouges

2011-03-16T18:52:00.009Z

I never thought I'd find myself saying this but I spent several hours in McDonalds last week. Quite happily.

It turned out to be the only place in Agde (in the Languedoc) where I could get a fast broadband connection or 'weefee' as they pronounce it in France. It was quiet, it was clean and the coffee was actually quite good.

Even more surprising they had something edible, a red fruit crumble to which I became strangely addicted. It wasn't too sweet and the crumble topping actually tasted quite buttery.

I didn't go as far as to have a meal there but you know I was almost tempted. They had burgers topped with goats cheese (though I can't find that on the French McDonald's site). And fat chips aka 'Les Deluxe Potatoes' rather than the usual pallid string fries. Not to mention a 'p'tite salade de saison avec son nouveau mélange hivernal et sa vinaigrette à l'huile de noisette' which all sounds very Michelin-ish though admittedly almost anything sounds better in French.

Was I so pathetically grateful to get online that I overlooked McDonald's usual shortcomings or has it actually improved? Or is it just French McDos? Have you been in one lately?

Pitney farm shop - the farm shop we'd all love to have on our doorstep

2011-03-03T21:00:00.011Z

I’ve been too busy to blog much lately but really wanted to tell you about this fantastic farm shop I went to in Somerset a week or so ago. Not that all of you will find it convenient to get to it but it represents everything a farm shop should be.

It’s run by Lizzie and Rob Walrond who farm their 100 acre farm, Glebe Farm, organically. They have pigs, sheep, cows and laying hens and all their meat is slaughtered locally. They also have a wide variety of organic vegetables as well as - enterprisingly - ingredients like risotto rice and spelt flour which are sometimes hard to find in rural areas.

I bought a joint of beef off them purely on the basis of the name: it's called a 'bread and butter cut' and is apparently designed for slow roasting though I haven't tried it out yet. There’s a good diagram of where it comes from here.

I also bought bacon, a big lettuce, Russian kale - which was delicious and unusually tender (they only pick the tips) and some intensely flavoured (and lethally fart-inducing) Jerusalem artichokes. And I didn't buy the swede but for some reason took a picture of it.

They actually pressed some free eggs on us because they have so many. Apparently conventional egg producers have eggs all year round because they keep the hens under artificial light throughout the winter but organically reared hens lay off until the spring and then go crazy. So if you have an organic flock nearby up your egg purchases to help out the farmer.

Glebe Farm is right in the depths of the Somerset countryside, 9 miles south of Glastonbury but they have directions on the site and it's well-signposted from the main road (the B3153).

While you’re in that neck of the woods you could also go and visit - as we did - Julian Temperley’s Somerset Distillery and the Brown and Forrest smokery where we had some great smoked eel. And we missed it but Moor Beer, to which a beer-loving friend of mine is addicted, is apparently in the same village. You could actually drive round and pick up everything you need for a weekly shop.

The only dampener on the day was that it poured practically non-stop hence the dark, gloomy pictures. But I can imagine it's heaven out there in the summer.

There's a fascinating account of the manors of Pitney which date back to the early 13th century here.

Let's hear it for farm shops - have you got a good one near you?

A mushroom that tastes like a scallop

2011-02-20T12:13:00.005Z

We've been eating a lot of mushrooms lately thanks to our enterprising greengrocer Reg the Veg (yes, it is called that). I've been enjoying the blewitts but yesterday we were really blown away by a mushroom I'd never heard of called eryngi.

Apparently it's a type of oyster mushroom which is also known as King Trumpet or French Horn mushroom I discover from Wikipedia. (You do have to hand it to them. They have an instant answer for everything)

They have more flavour than most of the oyster mushrooms I've tasted but, more importantly, a lovely firm texture. I cut them into scallop-shaped rounds, seasoned them and fried them briefly in a little oil and butter and they were absolutely delicious - a brilliant veggie substitute for scallops.

We had them with braised fennel* and buttered spinach*, also from Reg which I have to say is right up there with the best London greengrocers (although they could do with updating their website ;-) If you live in Bristol you should use them.

A creamy fennel purée or creamed spinach would have been even better but I couldn't be bothered to go and buy cream . . .

Is this the best under £10 'steak' in London?

2011-02-16T11:27:00.009Z

I'd heard good things about the The Opera Tavern which has recently been taken over by the people who run the excellent tapas bars Salt Yard and Dehesa. Often this is a problem as you go with inflated expectations and then grumble away when things don't live up to the hype.

But not here - even though I didn't have the strongly recommended ham.

Instead I had this brilliant dish (above) of grilled Iberico presa with caper, shallots and lemon which tasted not like pork but like a really tasty tender steak. It wasn't a huge helping but if you have a few other tapas - which I had - it's plenty. And at £8 a portion it's a steal. Presa by the way is a shoulder cut which makes the tenderness even more surprising.

I also tried some Gorgonzola and date croquetas (good with the manzanilla sherry I was drinking but even better with a Palo Cortado I would think) . . .

. . . a sweet-sour salad of pickled salsify, chestnuts and Roosevelt potatoes with winter truffle tasting - a nice fresh contrast among the other rich dishes . . .

. . .and an 'Italian-style Scotch egg' made with Parmesan which I didn't think surpassed the classic version but was good nonetheless. (You do get a whole egg. I just ate half of it before I remembered to snap it.)

This is a perfect pit-stop in the heart of Covent Garden - ideal for a pre-theatre meal or a post-work drink and snack. The desserts looked pretty fab too.

You can see my post about the wine I drank here.

Heston's Amazing Ice-Cream Machine

2011-02-09T23:11:00.005Z

There's more than a touch of Willy Wonka about Heston Blumenthal so it's no surprise to find that he's about to introduce a £35,000 custom-made ice-cream trolley in his new restaurant Dinner.

I got a sneak preview last night* where it was sitting in a corner of the private dining room which opens on March 1st. It looks like an outsize Kenwood chef and belches liquid nitrogen. The ice cream freezes in seconds. (You can read more about the technique here)

It's scooped into handmade sugar cones (delicious) and topped with almond praline and what looked like hundreds and thousands but tasted more like those palate-cleansing sweets you get at the end of an Indian meal.

Ashley Palmer-Watts, Heston's right hand man who heads up the kitchen at Dinner, isn't quite sure how it's going to be received. "I suspect it will be chaos" he said cheerfully.

Liquid nitrogen is not a recent invention by the way. One of Heston's culinary heroes Mrs Agnes B Marshall was advocating its use in kitchens and hospitals as far back as the end of the 19th century.

* For a blow-by-blow account of what we ate and drank visit my website matchingfoodandwine.com

February's blogs of the month

2011-02-04T17:31:00.009Z

Being in the middle of a book project (don’t ask!) I haven’t had much time for dipping into blogs over the last few weeks so I’ve shamelessly picked up on some recommendations from fellow bloggers and tweeters for you to follow.

Crumbs
Recently flagged up by cookery publisher Quadrille, a clever blog written by two sisters and fellow journos Claire and Lucy (though Claire seems to do most of the posting). It’s mainly for harassed mothers of young children hence the highly practical division of the recipes into 5, 10 and 20 minutes and ‘a little bit longer’. including - and I like this one - slack mummy soup. Very sparky writing - there must be a book in this (which Quadrille has no doubt snapped up).

Closet Cooking
I nicked this one from my mate James Ramsden who drew attention to the Jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) post in his weekly round-up. It’s one of those amazing blogs that seems to have come from nowhere created by a young Canadian called Kevin simply because he ‘came to realize that my meals were boring’. As you can see from his posts and pix they are far from it now. As his 5288 followers (at the time of writing) seem to testify

The Wine Detective
Diligently updated and well-informed blog from award-winning writer Sarah Ahmed. As she openly points out she specialises in the Loire, Australia, South Africa and Portugal (most of us wine hacks try and give the impression we’re on top of everything) so if you’re particularly interested in what’s happening on the wine scene in those countries follow her on her blog or on Twitter where she tweets as @sarahwine.

Paris by Mouth
We’re hoping to reschedule the trip to Paris we had to postpone just before Christmas so I’ll be keeping an eye on this excellent collaborative blog which has the current lowdown on the city's food scene. It’s also got some great guides so if you want to check out the latest in wine bars, for example, (which we do) or where to go for oysters (ditto) you can find it there.

Time for a chicken kiev revival?

2011-01-23T15:02:00.007Z

I had possibly the weirdest meal of the year (meaning the last 12 months, not 2011) this week at Borscht'n'Tears, a Knightsbridge restaurant I thought had vanished into the mists of time.

It appears not. It's apparently a favourite hangout for fun-loving Russians who have such a good time that they regularly destroy the furniture. (When I complained that my chair seemed about to fall apart the surly manager said "Everyone is dronk when they come here")

They do however do a mean Chicken Kiev, a dish that used to be the star of the M & S chill counter. It actually got so bland that I think even M & S ready meal fans got fed up with it and seems to have fallen into disfavour but you can see from the pic that this is a very fine specimen, stuffed with garlic (well you can't see that but take my word for it) and fried to a lovely crisp mahogany brown. It even has the wing bone left in in the classic manner.

Now I can't really recommend you to try it as my colleague felt very sick the next day. But surely some trendsetting restaurateur will take the hint and bring it back? (Or if you want to attempt one yourself - and I think I might - here are some useful hints from Times cook Lindsey Bareham)

Have you had a chicken kiev lately - or ever made one? Would you like to see it back on restaurant menus?

Frijolemole - my sneaky new addiction

2011-01-13T08:54:00.011Z

My husband, who likes a good bargain, came back with a tub of Tesco's Frijolemole yesterday which is on a 2 for £2 deal. And I have to admit it's brilliant for a ready-made spread.

In the words of the package it's a 'creamy chickpea and cannellini bean dip with coriander, chilli and cumin' and has a really good chilli and coriander kick. Of course once you look on the back there's a lengthy list of ingredients but none is particularly noxious (it's based on mayo and sour cream). And it hit the spot perfectly smothered on crostini with an early evening glass of South African Sauvignon Blanc.

I thought the name Frijolemole was conjured up by Tesco's marketing department, but apparently not. Even Delia has a version but when you tot up the ingredients it would probably cost at least as much to make. Possibly worth it for a party, though if you get the frijolemole habit. Or when the price goes up as it inevitably will.

The product was a winner in the 2010 Quality Food Awards btw so it's not just me.

Smacked cucumber and other Sichuanese delicacies

2011-01-09T16:42:00.020Z

I had one of my best Chinese meals ever last week with food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, award-winning author of Sichuan Cookery. I guess it's partly because I've never had really good Sichuanese food before but it was certainly up there with some of the great Cantonese meals I had in Hong Kong before the handover. (Which makes me sound like an old colonial hand. I simply went on a short visit there back in 1995)

We'd been talking for a while about getting together to taste Chinese food and wine (you'll have to wait a couple of weeks for that report) but it was the dishes at Bar Shu, the Soho restaurant where she acts as consultant that really grabbed me. Mind you, if someone like Fuchsia can't order the most interesting dishes on the menu who can?

Top of the list, partly because of the name but also it's great to see such an underrated vegetable given star billing was a dish of smacked cucumber with Sichuan preserved vegetable, rice vinegar and sesame paste (above). Fuchsia says she hasn't got a recipe for that version yet but I suspect it will be in her next book and you can apparently find a slightly fierier Hunanese version in her Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook.

We also ate (among other things) Northern Sichuan pea-starch jelly in a spicy black bean sauce . . .

. . . preserved duck eggs. I was slightly worried about these but they were delicious - like a very delicate-tasting hard-boiled egg . . .

. . . Numbing and hot sliced beef spiked with Sichuan pepper which creates a tingling sensation on the palate . . .

. . . mapo doufu or pock-marked old woman’s beancurd - an unflattering description for a really tasty dish . . .

. . . stuffed beancurd in a fish-fragrant sauce (would never have thought I could get so excited by beancurd) . . .

. . . and fragrant chicken with chillies which despite the scary-looking quantity of chillies was not searingly hot. You had to fish into them to find the little nuggets of chicken.

The real revelation was how varied the dishes were - what Fuchsia aptly described as a 'roller-coaster ride'. Not easy for wine but a really great way to eat Chinese. And cucumber for that matter.

* I ate at Bar Shu as a guest of the restaurant.

A clever wheeze from Toptable Spotlight

2011-01-05T12:24:00.008Z

I have to admit I’ve never been a big fan of the restaurant booking site Top Table. The deals never seem good enough or the restaurants interesting enough to tempt me. But they’ve launched a clever new scheme called Toptable Spotlight where they put up a cut price deal each Wednesday with a really big discount.

Today they kick off with one of my favourite restaurants Rowley Leigh’s Le Café Anglais. Favourite because I love the style of food, they have a great wine list, you can take anyone of any age there (I often eat there with my daughter) and it’s within walking distance of Paddington station so I can easily make it for lunch or supper before staggering home to Bristol.

You can buy £40 of food for £20 which is a good deal because it’s not tied - as these offers normally are - to the early evening or lunchtime (when you can admittedly already get a 2 course meal for £18.50). And you can use the voucher at any time over the next six months. (Apparently 12 now, they say)

The only snag is you can only use one voucher per table which makes it rather more useful for two than for four or more. It also doesn’t include the service charge or - more obviously - wine and ‘can’t be used in conjunction with any other offer’ so presumably not for the fixed price lunchtime deals.

The deal stays open for 36 hours (another 23 hours 37 minutes at the time of writing) and there will be another one somewhere else next week.

January's blogroll (2011)

2011-01-02T11:43:00.006Z

New Year, new blogs. I hope you enjoy this regular feature as much as I do. It’s fun dipping into a few blogs on a regular basis and really getting to know them. I can always tell the ones I enjoy most when I miss them and have to go hunting for them. (Yes, I know I should have put them on an RSS feed or Google Reader but as you’ll see from the last post I’ve just discovered the app Blogshelf which is a much more gratifying way of reading them).

Things Organised Neatly
Discovered (just a few minutes ago) through Twitter thanks to Paris-based cookery writer Trish Deseine, this stunning Tumblr hosted blog created by US design student Austin Radcliffe isn’t restricted to food but shows pictures of perfectly placed objects. My life is so far from this you wouldn’t believe but I can dream . . .

Smitten Kitchen
Many of you will already be familiar with this blog from one of the States’ big food blogging stars Deb who "likes bourbon, artichokes, things that taste like burnt sugar and baked goods with funny names" but it’s worth flagging up for those of you who don’t. A good read, great recipe ideas and drool-over photography. What more do you want? (A book? There will be one in 2012)

Lobstersquad
One good blog leads to another and I discovered Lobstersquad through an interview with Deb in Serious Eats. It’s written and charmingly illustrated by Spanish illustrator Ximena Maier who lives in Scotland (och! That must be hard given the weather this winter. However she must have lived or worked in Britain or Spain - her English is perfect - so maybe she’s used to it.) Some really nice ideas such as a quick way of cooking red cabbage in a pressure cooker.

Love that Languedoc
As I’ve mentioned before we have a house in the Languedoc and this is a new - or new to me - wine blog I’ve discovered by another young American Ryan O’Connell who makes wine with his parents at Domaine O'Vineyards (love the name!) Not that regularly updated but an object lesson for wineries on how to use social media. He’s also published an interesting ebook on their appellation Cabardès.

Food apps on iPhone and iPad

2010-12-29T11:22:00.011Z

I’ve spent a fair of time over the last few days playing with (er, researching) apps on my iPad and it’s amazing how many there are (3066 in the Lifestyle section alone)

What got me started was Mitch Tonks excellent Eat Fish (£1.79 until Dec 31st) which includes a series of videos on techniques such as pinboning, skinning, scaleing and filleting as well as information about what fish is in season and ‘fish facts’ and recipes for different fish.

Jamie O, as you'd expect, is there though I'm more impressed by his Jamie's Recipes than the free 30 minute meal timer to encourage you to buy his latest book which I note he doesn't promote on his site.

So, more surprisingly, is Antonio Carluccio whose Simple Cooking you can download for £3.99 (you could do with a sample video to decide whether to buy it) and Nigella fans can have access to the Voluptuous One’s Quick Collection for £2.99 until January 3rd (£4.99 after that).

Then there’s Flipboard, an app which enables you to create a stylish-looking magazine of the sites that most interest you (including a brilliant full-colour version of Twitter that shows your followees’(if that’s the right word) photos. You can also download excerpts from Bon Appetit but they frustratingly only give you a teaser on many items. For the whole story you have to go through to the website with an invitation to subscribe.

I prefer the approach of Food and Wine which enables you to download a couple of full sample issues (iPad is potentially a great way to subscribe to overseas food mags without having to wait for them to come through the post) and Epicurious’s Epi which is more like an e-zine. (You can see how they plan to make their money from the PEARfect dishes section sponsored by USA pears.) It also gives you the opportunity to sync your recipe box (for £1.19) if you’re an existing Epicurious fan.

Blogshelf (£2.99) which I discovered through Sarah of Bray’s Cottage, I suspect will become addictive. It’s a great way to keep up with your favourite blogs giving them glossy magazine values. The American site Serious Eats* comes pre-loaded and you can add whatever other blogs you like - the more visual the better.

And there are cookbooks too. Not so much from ibooks (can that survive?) but from the more extensive Kindle store where you can pick up books for free though I have to say Classic Cookbooks - 12 books on cooking before 1800 - is pretty indecipherable and I’m not sure I want 250 Slow Cooker Recipes even at 74p. But it’s worth downloading samples of books you might be interested in buying like The Food Stylists Handbook (hmmm, not on the basis of the download). Note Kindle editions may be different from the standard version and may not be much cheaper than a real live book.

Of much more interest is the stunningly photographed The Photo Cookbook and The Photo Cookbook - Baking with their crystal clear step by steps - a great buy for just £2.99 (through the App store)

I have two worries about all this. One is actually cooking from my iPad. Judging by the bespattered state of my cookbooks there’s a fair chance I’ll manage to destroy it by spilling boiling hot stock all over it.

And it does make me wonder if we’ll actually have food mags and cookery books in five years time. I hope so - I still think that books are nicer to handle - but I fear it means even more focus on celebrity titles that can spawn apps. What do you reckon?

*I've just discovered Serious Eats has its own list of iPhone and iPad apps including back issues of the late, lamented Gourmet magazine - more distracting apps for you to browse!

Sipsmith Sloe Gin 2009

2010-12-22T11:52:00.004Z

There's something about this weather that makes you turn to spirits. I've drunk . . . er, sipped . . . more whisky, Somerset Cider Brandy and rum in the last week than I have all year.

And now, just in time for Christmas, sloe gin. A new one - so far as I'm aware - from the excellent Sipsmith microdistillery in south London. At 29% ABV it's a few degrees higher in alcohol than Bramley & Gage, Plymouth or Gordons (all 26%), rich, fruity and ever so slightly medicinal. (I'm sure it's doing my cough good)

If you haven't tried it with Stilton - or even better Stichelton - you haven't lived.

Only a 50cl bottle which makes it expensive at around £21-22 though Majestic is apparently selling it at £20 (not on their website). You can also buy it for around £25-26 in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols or online from The Whisky Exchange but obviously not until after Christmas.

Worth every penny though. A great last minute present.

Hobbs House G-Stone

2010-12-19T14:38:00.013Z

To be frank, G-Stone sounds more like a sex toy than a loaf but it's my favourite new bread.

Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery brought it along to Cheese School the other night. It's a small but perfectly formed stoneground loaf, moist and malty that's apparently made from - and I quote the website - coarsely ground wholemeal wheat flour, organic cut wheat, sea salt, yeast, planet-friendly organic palm fat (love that!), organic molasses and water. You can see its lovely crumbly texture below and on the slideshow-style pix on their website. It's great with cheese - especially cheddar but I'm enjoying it with honey at breakfast too.

I topped up my supplies in the Better Food Company's new Whiteladies Road store (below) yesterday but you can also buy it on-line as part of a bread selection along with the Hobbs House Shepherds Loaf which Trethowans Dairy uses for its legendary cheese toasties (which I've now worked out how to make at home). Last orders for Christmas are on Wednesday 22nd (I would have thought weather permitting) but you could always buy someone an online gift voucher.

It underlines what a brilliant place Bristol is for bread - the best city outside London I'd have said.

Oh, and apparently the reason it's called G stone is that it was named after a Hobbs House baker, Graham, who helped create it. And the fact that it's shaped like a stone. Quite prosaic really . . .

The brilliant Bristol Cider Shop

2010-12-14T10:39:00.005Z

Just two weeks before the end of the year I stumbled upon one of my best Bristol finds of 2010, the new Cider Shop on Christmas Steps. And would you believe one of the owners is called Peter Snowman? You couldn’t make it up.

Anyway great story. He and his partner Nick Davis came up with the idea a few months ago when they were sitting drinking cider in The Orchard. They wondered why there wasn’t a cider shop in Bristol, the heart of cider country and with very little knowledge of either cider or retail (Peter worked for the Prince’s Trust, Nick was a tree surgeon) decided to set one up - in the front room of Peter’s cottage.

Amazingly they got a licence and managed to open three weeks after that, stocking bottles from small artisanal producers from within 50 miles of Bristol and a changing selection of cider on draught. All are made from juice rather than concentrate. I tried three: West Croft Cider’s Janet’s Jungle Juice (6.5%) a pure, fresh appley medium dry cider, the crisp dry Wilkins Farmhouse (6%) and a pure fragrant Hecks Blakeney Red perry which were all terrific. Most are under £2 a pint.

You can bring in your own container or buy one from them or buy by the bottle. They’ll deliver larger orders locally for parties and if you’re stuck for a present and live in the Bristol area they even do cider hampers. They should have a fully functioning website early in the New Year. (At the moment they don't even take credit cards! Now remedied - see comment below)

You can keep track of what they're up to on their Facebook page

Dream custard creams from Hart's Bakery

2010-12-11T18:15:00.006Z

Bristol is already unfairly well-provided with artisan bakeries but here's another one from Laura Hart who used to bake the fantastic bread and cakes at Lido and before that at Q.V. and Bordeaux Quay.

I met her today at the Made in Bristol Craft Fair where she was running a joint pop-up tea and biscuits stall with Kate Gover of Lahloo Tea. She'd baked some amazing-looking mince pies and these delicious heart-shaped custard creams which tasted almost exactly as I remember them when I was a child, only crumblier and slightly less sweet. (Apparently the secret is using Bird's Custard Powder in the filling.)

She also sells her bread, croissants and cakes in Hampton Lane (just off Cotham Hill) from 8am to lunchtime Monday to Friday and normally has a stand outside Planet Pizza in Gloucester Road from 9am to lunchtime on Saturdays.

You can keep tabs on any other outlets via her website www.hartsbakery.co.uk

The Gay Hussar's Crispy Roast Duck

2010-12-09T16:08:00.010Z

I went to a press lunch at The Gay Hussar this week and was relieved to find that it was almost exactly the same as when I last went 10 years or so ago to interview the manager John Wrobel (who I seem to remember was a Pole). It was opened in 1953 by the late Victor Sassi - there's a great account of its colourful history here)

It's one of those restaurants that's more about the ambiance than the food. For years, long before the days of New Labour, it was the haunt of Labour politicians and union bosses although there was a bloke sitting next to me who looked like the kind of MP who would have a duck pond so maybe the Tories frequent it these days. You can see why chaps like it. It's a clubby, congenial sort of place with cosy red walls lined with books and caricatures of its famous patrons.

The highlight of the menu is, as it always was, the roast duck which I suspect, given its extreme crispness, is actually deep-fried. It's served with red cabbage, apple slices and a slightly soupy mixture of potatoes and apple and is absolutely delicious.

The other dishes aren't really in the same league though I have to admit the goulash soup really hit the spot on a freezing cold day. And was surprisingly authentic given that the chef is Portuguese . . .

At £18.50 for two courses the Gay Hussar represents great value for a Siberian winter lunch. Save it for a post-Christmas treat.

* It's now currently owned by The Restaurant Partnership, the same company that owns Elena's L'Etoile

December's blogs of the month

2010-12-04T15:52:00.009Z

Another month, four more blogs. I was vaguely thinking of selecting ones which were full of brilliant decorating ideas, Christmas recipes and helpful gift suggestions but the ones I turned up were all pretty dull. (Example: “Christmas hampers are becoming more popular and are given by both companies and people to say thank you to, or to spoil the recipient.” If you know of one that’s a tad more exciting do add a link in the comments box.

Anissa Helou’s blog
I’m obsessed with Lebanese food since my visit last month so three of this month’s picks are middle-east related. This one is by Lebanese-born, London-based Anissa Helou who also leads tours to the Lebanon and Syria. Her blog benefits greatly from this insider knowledge but is far from romanticised. Those of a squeamish disposition may want to skip the vlogs on live butchery in Damascus and turn to the many absorbing posts on pastries and . . um . . belly-dancing instead.

Dirty Kitchen Secrets
It may sound a bit dodgy but this is the lovely blog of 'corporate dropout' Bethany Kehdy - another Lebanese expat living in the UK. Lots of enticing Lebanese recipes including this to-die-for Lebanese dip which I'm lining up for Christmas. Very useful guide to Lebanese ingredients too.

Salad Club
Hardly a ‘find’ as this well-regarded blog won the best blog at the Observer Food Monthly Awards a few weeks ago. Written by two Sarf London girls Ellie and Rosie it’s full of bright ideas, good writing and some great technicolour pix obviously processed with some fiendishly clever app I haven't managed to upload on my iphone yet. Reason for including them this time? Ellie has recently been to Syria and Beirut so I can really relate to her evocative post about Syrian food.

Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman
Not about food for once but a highly personal, compulsively readable blog from author and journalist Jane Alexander about life on, er, Exmoor with her husband (beer-writer Adrian Tierney-Jones), son and ‘delinquent terrier’ (Asbo Jack). I ran into her recently at a beer dinner (as you do) and she talks just like she writes. A very funny lady.

Jolly good Royal Air Force tea

2010-12-02T17:01:00.007Z

Continuing in presents vein here's a terrific gift for any buffer or tea lover of your acquaintance: a tin of Royal Air Force Tea. It's selected and packaged by the enterprising Henrietta Lovell of the Rare Tea Company inspired by a marvellous video she made for the Guardian.

As you'd expect it's a full-bodied black tea of backbone and character (no namby-pamby green tea for our chaps) but manages to be wonderfully fragrant and subtle as well. A million miles from the standard builders brew.

According to Henrietta's website it's blended from teas from the Makaibari Estate in Darjeeling and Satemwa Estate on Thyolo Mountain in Malawi. You can see the fine big leaves once you've strained the tea.

I also learnt from the enclosed leaflet that you shouldn't refill the pot once you've poured the tea but leave the leaves dry and then heat a freshly-filled kettle to just below boiling point and re-infuse them. They can be used at least twice which makes the purchase price of £5 for 50g less costly than it might otherwise appear (though 10% of the price you pay goes to the RAF Association Wings Appeal)

She also supplies refill boxes which means you can not only buy it as a gift but keep some for yourself. How could you not when it's "Calming in times of national peril and fortifying when courage is required"? And jolly refreshing to boot.

Somerset 20 year old cider brandy

2010-12-01T17:17:00.006Z

Maybe because the temperatures have been sub-zero all week but I can't think of a better thing to drink right now than Julian Temperley's Somerset 20 year old cider brandy.

I admit I'm already a Temperley fan. I've been tasting his brandies which are the nearest thing Britain has to Calvados (some would say better) for some 15 or so years now. I particularly like the 3 year old and 5 year old but have had my reservations about the 10 and 15 year old which I've always felt lose some of that lovely natural West Country apple flavour that makes the younger brandies so seductive.

Julian insisted it was there in the 20 year old - and so it is, in spades. But more like a baked apple stuffed with vanilla-scented brown sugar and laced with brandy. It would make the perfect nightcap for this icy weather though I must admit I'm sitting here sipping it at 5.30 in the afternoon and it's warming me through far more effectively than the three layers of jumpers I have had on today.

The only downside? At £46 from the distillery's online shop it's not cheap but they only make one barrel each year so it has rarity value. And it would make the perfect present for a hard-to-please dad or grandad. (Yes obviously mums and grannies would like it too but it's the men who are always so hard to buy for). You can also find it in Fortnum & Mason.

My two favourite restaurants in Beirut

2010-11-25T08:29:00.017Z

On the basis of a brief 24 hours acquaintanceship with Beirut I’m going to stick my neck out and say that Tawlet and Seza must be two of the most exciting restaurants in the city. They also happen to be a stone’s throw from each other in the upcoming neighbourhood of Mar Mikhael and each has a kitchen run by women.

Tawlet Souk el Tayeb which opened last year (2009), is the brainchild of food writer Kamal Mouzawak (above) who founded the farmers’ market seven years ago. it was created to showcase the produce from the market and Lebanon’s different regional cooking traditions but also to show how food can unite this war-ravaged country. "It’s about bringing people together who have killed each other for so many years around a common culture and cuisine." as Mouzawak, who heads up Slow Food in the Lebanon, puts it.

Each day a different group of women comes in and cooks the food from their region. On Saturdays there’s a lunchtime buffet which features some 12-15 dishes from all over the country.

The day we were there that included a coarse babaganoush salad with tomatoes, onion and pepper, bastouma (preserved beef rolls stuffed with cheese), aubergines stuffed with garlic, pepper and walnuts, roast cauliflower salad, spicy little sausages and cubes of raw lamb and liver. Like all Lebanese food, colourful, inventive and delicious.

They also stock a wide range of Lebanese wines.

Seza (above) was opened a couple of months ago by Seza Haleblian who describes herself modestly as a ‘good home cook'.

She was looking for something to do because her husband has to spend a lot of time away travelling. “My friends used to always say when they came round to dinner ‘When can we come back?’ I wanted to create a real home-style restaurant but to make dishes that are difficult to make at home.“

Having just had lunch at Tawlet we couldn’t do more than taste a couple of dishes which included some open stuffed dumplings called manti that were served with tomato sauce, yoghurt and sumac, lentil patties and kibbeh with sweet potatoes followed by the most stunning-looking plate of desserts which included a rice pudding with vanilla and cinnamon, a semolina dessert topped with pistachios and grated coconut (meghli) and some Syrian, or I guess Armenian-style - pastries.

Other dishes Seza recommended were the imam bayeldi, itch (a kind of tabbouleh), frogs legs with garlic, coriander and lemon and cabbage leaves and vegetables stuffed with meat and rice (sarma). Oh, and possibly less appealing, patcha a soup made with sheeps feet and veal. Armenian food she says is generally a touch spicier than Lebanese - with more use of pepper.

Such inspiring food makes you want to get straight into the kitchen yourself. I can’t wait to go back.

Tawlet (00 96 (0)1 448129 ) Beirut, sector 79 naher street, n˚ 12 (Jisr el hadid) Chalhoub building, n˚ 22 - Ground floor
Seza (00 96 (0)1 570711) Patriarch Arida Street, Mar Mikhael.

Have you been to Beirut and if so do you have any favourite restaurants to share?

November's blogs of the month

2010-11-11T09:30:00.004Z

I seem to have less and less time to look at blogs which is a shame as they’re more and more worth dipping into. Here are four that appeal this month:

simplysplendiferous.com
I can’t remember who mentioned this the other day on Twitter (maybe @eatlikeagirl) but they referred to the great illustrations - and they are. it’s written - and drawn - by Ailbhe, a ‘Dublin-born, London-based graphic designer' and she describes it as ‘a blog about cooking, eating, design and art’. Totally charming

Stir the Pots
A slightly geeky food blog I was put onto by Dan Lepard, mainly but not exclusively about bread (of which there are mouthwatering photographs) but also good goss about chefs and the food business. Jeremy Shapiro, the author, is the head chef of a private gentleman's club in New York. “It's so private, I can't share the name.” Go on - tell us, Jezza!

Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook
The beautifully photographed blog of Lucy Vanel who lives in Lyon in France, full of notes, musings and stunning images. PS how on earth does she get her Blogger blog to look like that? She must be a technical whiz too.

Chocolate Shavings
Confession time. I’m not that into chocolate. I’m one of the rare people who can have a box in the house and take over a week to eat them. But I can see the appeal and if you’re a chocoholic I urge you to take a look at Chocolate Shavings which is written by a Canadian recipe developer, food writer and photographer (can’t find her name online). Yes, more beautiful photos. Sigh.

Chateau Tour du Haut Moulin 1999: a classy old claret

2010-11-07T21:24:00.005Z

I've been ignoring the title of this blog lately which is, of course, Food AND Wine Finds. Trouble is most of my wine reviews go elsewhere. The bargain bottles into Credit Crunch Drinking. The stellar wine matches into Matching Food & Wine and natural wines into my new blog Wine Naturally.

So this blog mops up the rest - bottles like Chateau Tour du Haut Moulin 1999 which are neither cheap, natural or particularly amazing with some dish I've just eaten. But brilliant value for money.

I speak as someone who (somewhat embarrassingly for a wine writer) doesn't have a big thing about Bordeaux. So maybe Bordeaux aficionados won't rate it but I think it's remarkable for the price. The fruit is still vivid, the texture beautifully velvety. When I tasted it at a chef friend's the other day I thought it was at least twice the retail price which is a surprisingly modest £15.99 from Averys of Bristol.

Absolutely worth a try.

Chinese Canteen at The Folk House

2010-11-05T06:23:00.007Z

Another night, another . . . what shall I call it? Pop-up? Guest chef? Theme night? The nomenclature of these impromptu events is getting complicated. Anyway it was a Chinese meal at Bristol's Folk House Café cooked by Lily Wang who is apparently the stepmum of Claire who's a partner in the Cotham wine bar Flinty Red (to fill you in on the local connections). She was born in Beijing but has lived all over China and the food was mainly (I think) Sichuanese.

It was the sort of food you never find in a restaurant - hearty, home-style Chinese cooking. The seasoning was fascinating. There was a platter of fresh vegetables with a yellow bean dip, some green beans with ginger and sesame what was described as beef jerky but which was more like a dry fried beef with spices (star anise was the top note). Really delicious.

I wasn't mad on the soup (egg with edible tree fungus) which was rather glutinous for Western tastes but the fried dumplings - pork and vegetable - were to die for, fragrant and stuffed with filling. I could have stopped there but there was still braised beef (a hearty beef stew with, surprisingly, potatoes), hot and spicy bean curd (possibly home-made), kaofu an earthy dish of mushrooms and bran and chicken rice. Aaaah. The chicken rice. I could eat that every night for a week for supper.

The meal finished with some deep-fried mashed pumpkin balls - hard to imagine from the menu but which were a bit like those banana fritters you used to have in Chinese restaurants. Only nicer.

It felt a privilege to get to eat food like this, so tasty, so wholesome - very much in keeping with the ethos of the Folk House Cafe. Apparently they're planning other evenings including a jazz night and a Persian feast. They have a Facebook page if you want to know what's on.

PS According to Lily “eating a good meal is as worthy as reading a good book, because people can understand the world from the food.” How true.

Jamie’s Italian is brilliant, but . . .

2010-11-02T09:59:00.006Z

I finally got to my nearest Jamie’s Italian, some 2 years after it opened in Bath. To be honest the tales of the queues had put me off and I probably would have postponed the experience yet again had I not manage to blag a table courtesy of the local Milsom Place PR. (I know. I shouldn’t. But wouldn’t you given the chance?*)

There seemed to be plenty of people ready to brave the hour to an hour and a quarter's wait for a table, happily paying for the pleasure by ordering drinks from the bar (which I'm assuming weren't free).

Is it worth it? Well, yes, if you’re patient it is. It’s far, far better than any other chain I’ve been to from the point of view of food and service and brilliant value for money.

I ordered a ‘plank’ of seasonal meat antipasti (£6.95, above)- easily enough for a meal - which consisted of Tuscan fennel salami, pistachio mortadella, San Daniele prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, pecorino and chilli jam, olives and a great little salad of pickled root veg described by my server as ‘dry coleslaw’ (Jamie’s is wonderfully unintimidating). Followed by a ‘small’ (actually quite large) portion of pasta (though not the advertised pappardelle) with a chunky rustic rabbit sauce (also £6.95) which you’d be hard pushed to get in Italy for the price.

You could - and of course I’m going to - quibble. They should warn you when you’re dining alone that the bread basket (£3.50) is big enough for a table of 4. I suspect the focaccia had been baked the previous day. The wine by the glass could have been fresher and I think they could do better than their rather flabby house Chardonnay which is served from a Tetrapak carton (no problem with that other than its effect on the contents)

And I do wonder if all these queues are strictly necessary. There were a couple of empty tables around me for at least half my meal and they apparently close the top floor during the afternoon when you might stand a chance of getting in without an hour's wait. Could it be that queuing is part of the schtick?

But it’s good, honest, generous food served by incredibly friendly staff. You could take anyone there from a 2 year old to an 82 year old. Not many restaurants out of London offer that - particularly at the price. Good old Jamie.

* I did pay in full for my meal though, in case you were wondering . . .

Have you been to a Jamie's Italian and what did you think?

An underground supper at Montpelier Basement

2010-10-31T11:38:00.017Z

There have been one or two pop-ups and underground restaurants already in Bristol but none looks more likely to succeed than Montpelier Basement, a new fortnightly supper club run by Elly and Dan.

It would be hard to find a couple who are more into their food. Elly’s day job is running an excellent local café and Dan blogs as Essex Eating (which is where he lived before Elly lured him out west). And rather than show us round the flat they showed us their cookbook collection. It was arranged by colour which prompted a big debate about how you should catalogue your cookbooks. (I arrange mine by subject, some do it by author or size. How about you?)

Since it was nearly Hallowe’en Dan had fixed up a projector which threw old black and white horror movies on the wall.

The menu was pumpkin themed - a fact which I’d cunningly concealed from my husband who would have almost certainly decided he didn’t want to come if he'd known. In fact he raved about the food which he pronounced better than many restaurants we’d been to recently. Which it was.

We kicked off with gougères made with Gorwydd Caerphilly and topped with a sprinkling of coarse-ground toasted pumpkin seeds. There were little bowls of pumpkin soup with deep fried sage and brown butter, beautifully fresh Cornish haddock with a pumpkin crust and shredded leeks, perfectly cooked onglet, with pumpkin jam and polenta chips and a great vegetarian option of mushroom and Ogleshield tatin with thyme, chestnuts and squash which I also managed to sneak a slice of.

The meal finished with spiced pumpkin and pecan cake with maple mascarpone, honey and toasted nuts and - how did we find room for it? - a final cheese course of Welsh rarebit fingers.

They’d obviously put a huge amount of thought into constructing the menu which was beautifully balanced and not at all heavy, despite the number of courses. (You can see how incredibly well organised they were from the checklist below.) We all told them they were mad to ask for a donation of just £20 a head for the food which was worth at least double that.

I hope some of the recipes will appear on their respective blogs (Elly has a new one here) particularly the pumpkin seed mix, the absolutely awesome polenta chips, the tatin and the cake.

In the meantime you can find one of their recipes in Xanthe Clay’s column in the Telegraph - she went to their first supper a couple of weeks ago.

The next two events are on the 13th and 27th of November. To keep track of ones after that follow @montpelierbsmt on Twitter or their ning page or email them at montpelierbsmtATgmailDOTcom

Waitrose’s flash new cookery school

2010-10-29T09:01:00.010+01:00

Whatever’s happened to Waitrose? It seems to have woken up one morning and decided it was Harvey Nichols. It used to be just the supermarket arm of sober, sensible ‘never knowingly undersold’ John Lewis. Then suddenly it behaves as if it’s won the lottery splashing round money on expensive campaigns with Heston and Delia and setting up the flashest cookery school I’ve ever seen over its now massive flagship store in Finchley Road.

I got a sneak preview last week when I went in for a wine tasting and was absolutely bowled over. The space! The equipment! The cookery theatre! The staff - all proper chefs in their own right. The head of the cookery school Gordon McDermott used to run Rick Stein’s Cookery School in Padstow. The head chef James Bennington was head chef and won a Michelin star at La Trompette. The pastry chef, James Campbell used to be Head Pastry Chef for the Mandarin Oriental. And so on. They’re all absurdly over-qualified.

If you want to see what it all looks like there’s a video - a video, not just boring old words - about the school on the Waitrose website together with details of the courses that are coming up over the next two months. One day courses at £175 include Michelin star cookery, knife skills and - slightly oddly at this price - Boxing Day leftovers. You can also do knife skills as an afternoon course (£105) along with courses on afternoon tea, cupcakes (groan) and macaroons. Evening classes are the same price and demos such as the art of making and cooking perfect pasta, risotto and gnocchi are £65.

If someone had told me 5 years ago that Waitrose would be doing this I'd have thought they were barmy. Forget it - I’m booking myself in.

Where to stay and eat in Dartmouth

2010-10-25T17:52:00.012+01:00

I’ve spent the last few days at the Dartmouth Food Festival - mainly giving talks so I didn't have much of a chance to scout around and make new discoveries but enough time to confirm my existing impression that it's a brilliant place to spend a weekend. And a great place to eat and drink.

It helped, of course that the weather was gorgeous - sunny and crisp - and that we were put up by one of the festival sponsors Coast & Country Cottages in a luxury pad that overlooked the Dart Marina (thanks, guys!). In our few idle moments we could kid ourselves we were members of the yachting set, sitting in our picture window (above) watching the ferry chug gently across the Dart. It was heaven.

We also ate a couple of great meals at local chef Mitch Tonks’ two restaurants The Seahorse and Rockfish both of which I strongly recommend. Rockfish is the newer - an upmarket but family-friendly chippy that occupies what looks like a converted beach hut on the front and just has the most brilliant fish and chips I’ve ever tasted. Super-fresh plaice (don't be put off by the picture below: the crumbs didn't look that orange), perfectly cooked chips and super-sloppy mushy peas to dunk them into. Although you could go overboard with flash seafood like lobster there are some really inexpensive options like breaded whiting for just £3 and the portions of chips were easily enough for two. We got away with a bill of £35 with wine.

The Seahorse is pricier and more upmarket with a serious wine list but it’s not remotely stuffy. Fish again is the main draw but if you’ve already OD’d on that there are other options like a rib of Devon beef to share and the wonderfully decadent wild mushroom and truffle linguini we had as a starter. They also have fixed price deals at lunchtime which are quite a bit cheaper. (£15 for 2 courses or £20 for 3.)

We also ended up one evening in the bar of a local boutique hotel called Browns (above) which has a tapas night every Friday which you can read about on my food and wine matching website here. It was a particularly friendly place and I imagine a good place to stay if you want to be more central. (The Marina is about 10 minutes walk away - though on the flat rather than up one of the precipitous hills that surround Dartmouth.)

Talking of hills I should also mention a good B & B we’ve been to a couple of times before called Mounthaven Guest House right up above the town which is very comfortable. We’ve never managed to book one of the front rooms that have an amazing view over the estuary but the owners, Rose and Shaun thoughtfully give you the best table for breakfast overlooking the same view if you've had the back room.

We’re lucky that Dartmouth is only a couple of hours from Bristol which makes it ideal for a short get-away-from-it break but now we know it so well I think we’d make the effort if we lived further afield. Although it’s a popular tourist destination it’s not overcrowded, particularly at this time of year, and it’s part of a wonderfully unspoilt bit of countryside and coastline.

(Another company that does rentals in the area is Blue Chip Holidays which sponsored the festival wine and cheese tastings I was giving along with local wine merchant Red & White.)

Blogs of the month

2010-10-21T07:53:00.003+01:00

A very late blogs of the month post due to a long overdue holiday which I should have announced before I went away (for those of you who might have thought I'd abandoned this blog).

Anyway here are four to enjoy:

Ideas in Food
Food science and flavour combining are hugely popular right now, especially in the US so dip into this fascinating blog - and book - from Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot who met when they were working at Clio in Boston and now have a restaurant consultancy business. There are some fascinating posts - most recently what to do with grilled outer leek leaves and how to poach oysters at 48° and still retain the briny taste. Fascinating reading.

Eggs on the roof
A charming, quirky, beautifully written and photographed blog from Oxford-based journalist, writer and broadcaster Charlie Lee-Potter. The title apparently stems from her childhood when her mum's best friend told her that if she threw an egg over the top of their house, it would never break . . . Mainly but not exclusively about food but well worth reading even when it isn't

Extra-Relish
And another gorgeous looking blog from food photographer and writer Pascale Cumberbatch. Oddly, like Charlie, she lives in - or rather just outside Oxford. And also photographs landscapes and scenery. I love her intermingling of colour and black and white photography. Beautiful.

Jim's Loire
Jim is Jim Budd, a British wine writer who spends half his time in London and the rest in the Loire and Lisbon (long story. Don't ask.) Anyway he's a mine of information on what is happening in the Loire vineyards and to small producers all over France. (Like me he's very interested in natural wine.) He's also a fearless exposer of wine scams through his site investdrinks.org. Good bloke.

Ivory Coast Chocolate

2010-09-21T08:25:00.007+01:00

I've written before about my predeliction for plain chocolate bars (about my only concession to chocoholism) and here's my latest find which comes - astonishingly - from Tesco.

It's a 74% bar from the Ivory Coast and costs just 82p which is an absolute steal. It's dark, rich and mellow with a slightly fudgy texture, much less smooth than a bar like Lindt Excellence. Normally I don't like bars that are higher than 70% but it wears its extra cocoa solids lightly. I found in the small print on the back it was produced in France.

Will this appeal as much to those of you are chocolate obsessives? Maybe it won't be sweet or smooth enough but at this price you can afford to find out. I suspect it would make an amazing chocolate mousse.

PS I wondered whether to write about this here or on my Frugal Cook blog which you might like to visit if you're in search of bargains or suggestions of what to do with them

Report on the Organic Food Festival

2010-09-13T17:13:00.016+01:00

One of the pleasures of wandering around a food festival is the new discoveries you make of products or producers you didn’t know about and this weekend’s Organic Food Festival, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary, was no exception.

My only niggle is that I was overcharged twice. The Real Boar Co were charging £8 for 100g of Wild Boar Salami with Red Wine rather than the £6.50 they charge on their site (which at £65.00 a kilo is already quite enough in my opinion) while Healthy Oils, which imports the Naturalmente couscous range, charged £2 for a 300g bag of spelt couscous that cost me £1.60 recently in the Bristol deli Source.

The whole idea of a show like this is to encourage people to buy organic not to rip them off. Give the two stands the benefit of the doubt and say it was an error but this sort of overpricing gives the organic movement a bad name.

Focussing on the positive here are the discoveries I think are worth tracking down:

Laverstoke Organic Ale
I knew Laverstoke Park made very good mozzarella but didn’t know they produced beer (or milk, come to that). I tasted it with some trepidation as sometimes people who don't make beer for a living are a bit half-hearted about it but it was a good full-on malty brew. There’s an interesting insight here about how they approach it

Pertwood organic muesli with fruit and seeds
This won the cereals category in the Organic Food Awards. I’m not sure it could quite wean me off my current favourite cereal, Rude Health but it's a close thing.

Caws Cenarth Golden Cenarth - the cheese that won the dairy category. I've written about it on my cheese blog. A terrific cheese.

Sulphur-free Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m really interested in ‘natural’ wines which involve using next to no additives in the winemaking process. Normally they don’t come cheap but this characterful South African cab from organic specialist Vintage Roots is just £6.99. I actually like it better than their ‘Crazy by Nature' Cosmo Red which picked up the prize for best organic wine.

Clipper’s organic Assam tea
Which is Fairtrade too. Strong and fragrant - everything you want from a breakfast tea (and apparently Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s favourite tea to boot). Winner of the best non-alcoholic drinks category

Bertinet’s Sourdough Bread
The winner of the baked goods category (see picture at the top of this post). I’ve already raved about this but those of you who haven’t tried it should remedy that asap. It’s now available in Selfridges Food Hall and some Riverford organic veg boxes as well as direct from the Bertinets website and Bath Cookery School.

Super Souk Kitchen

2010-09-10T15:13:00.014+01:00

Souk Kitchen seems to have been about to open for a very long time but the wait is worth it. It’s a well-situated caff in Bristol opposite the Tobacco Factory and just down the road from Aldi should you feel like topping up on your supplies of bratwurst.

The way to go, given the generosity of the portions, is either to graze through plates of mezze or have a single main. We mistakenly did both - and shared a fantastically good flourless chocolate, Turkish coffee and cardamom cake (below) which left me feeling as if I needed to go and lie down for a couple of days. (My husband frogmarched me off for a bracing walk but I still had to hit the Gaviscon. My fault for being such a pig.)

We barely scratched the surface of the mezze which in addition to the usual suspects (hummus, tzatziki and tabouleh) included Egyptian-spiced lentils with seasoned yoghurt and crispy onions (the yoghurt tastes homemade and is great), loubyeh (green beans with a spicy tomato sauce), an Afghan boulanee (a sort of spiced potato samosa with tamarind relish, below) and a baby gem, radish and feta salad with a saka jabin dressing which was perfectly nice but not quite as exciting as the rest.

My tagine of spiced lamb meatballs with a ‘cracked egg’ was terrific, delicately spiced with a luxuriantly rich tomato sauce though the accompanying couscous was a bit soggy. My husband had the equally good grilled chicken with lemon, chilli and za’atar, which given the calorific overload I almost wish I'd ordered instead.

They also sell a small selection of middle-eastern ingredients like pomegranate molasses and barberries together with some free recipe sheets to tempt you to make the dish you’ve just eaten, including the chocolate cake (below). Money from some of the dishes goes to Action against Hunger which is good to see and the restaurant is a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Finally they do an interesting-looking breakfast menu which is served until 5pm. Should appeal to the large local student population - though grilled sardines may be a bit beyond them even at that hour . . .

All in all a great - and very reasonably priced - addition to the Bristol dining scene. The energetic proprietors apparently open a new chippy Fishminister on Whiteladies Road in a few weeks’ time. I’ll be interested to see what spin they put on that.

We ate at Souk Kitchen as guests of the restaurant.

The Realm of Fig and Quince

2010-09-08T17:58:00.008+01:00

I love high summer but think this is my favourite time of year for fruit. Apples and pears are less glamourous than berries but disappoint less too. Plums when they're ripe are a treat and seem to have been particularly good this year and then there's figs and quince, the subjects of this quirky and endearing book by Dutch author Ria Loohuizen.

I'm not going to even pretend that this is a 'must have' book - although who strictly needs cookery books these days with all the recipes on the internet - but it's the kind of book that restores your faith in publishing. It contains recipes and information you'd never find elsewhere*, it's celebrity-free, it is modestly priced (£9.99) and it would make a perfect gift for a friend with a fig tree or to accompany a bagful of quince you'd managed to pick up at the farmers' market.

I judge a book by how many recipes I want to cook and there are plenty of them here - oddly, mostly the sweet ones. (I don't have a terribly sweet tooth). They're divided up by country or region: I love the sound of Figs in Madeira with Rice Pudding, Figs in Wine with a Mascarpone Foam made with grappa and Fig Sauce with Balsamic Vinegar which sounds to me like the perfect accompaniment for duck. Quince dishes that appeal include Guineafowl with Quinces, a French recipe cooked with honey, cider and cream, Quince Aioli and an Algerian recipe for Chicken with Quince and Cardamom.

Some of the nicest suggestions are the simplest ones: "Fresh figs should be eaten as simply as possible" says Loohuizen. "At most sprinkle pomegranate seeds over them for a contrast in texture, marinate them for an hour in orange juice, orange flower water or Grand Marnier and dust them in ground cardamom". To a cardamom addict that sounds perfect heaven.

I'm less grabbed by the sound of the fish and fig recipes but to be fair I haven't given them a try and I'm surprised there's not more on the heavenly combinations of these two fruits and cheese.

If you're heading for the Abergavenny Food Festival the weekend after next you'll be able to buy it direct from the publisher Tom Jaine of Prospect Books who publishes many comparably off-the-wall titles. (Recipes from Corsica by Rolli Lucarotti is another I've been dipping into). He usually does a deal for festivalgoers which will no doubt tempt you to splurge more than you intend.

* the essay on sugar is fascinating

Melito - the new Pret?

2010-09-05T21:35:00.006+01:00

With a daughter working near Oxford Circus I frequently find myself casting around for somewhere to have a quick lunch with her. Scandinavian Kitchen, though I like it, is a bit of a hike, Polpo, a great favourite, just a shade too far but now along comes Melito, just north of Oxford Circus which is pretty well the perfect solution.

Actually I can't think why no-one thought of it before. It's a cross between a pizzeria and a salad bar selling 'Roman-style' pizza by the slice so you don't spend your afternoon in a great carb-induced slump. You either buy a couple of pieces (from £2.95) or, as we did, a focaccia sandwich. Mine was stuffed with goats cheese, red pepper, rocket and pesto, a pitch-perfect combination with a lovely thin crisp crust. We also shared a small chicken caesar salad (£2.75) - just in the interests of research, you understand - which was equally impressive for the price.

What I like about it is that the food hasn't been sitting in some chill cabinet for the best part of a day which is the kiss of death to flavour and texture.

They also have free wi-fi which makes it a good place for catching up on your mail so long as you manage to avoid getting pizza crumbs over your keyboard.

Whoever owns it is bound to be thinking of rolling out a chain so watch out for one opening near you. It sure as hell beats Pret.

September’s Blogs of the Month

2010-09-03T08:55:00.003+01:00

Can’t believe it’s September already - where has the summer gone? Here are four blogs for you to dip into. With pleasure, I hope.

The Kitchn
The Kitchn (no idea why they dropped the ‘e’) is one of those incredibly glossy, massively successful American blogs that has taken blogging into a new commercial stratosphere. It even has a ‘mission statement’, a team and a goal “To connect people to the resources they need to improve their homes, while reducing their reliance on stuff.” (I can buy into that.) But it’s good and there’s more than of a sense of humour lurking there than you might think at first glance. Like this post on Daniel Craig as an 007 Ice Lolly. It also has some highly practical posts like this one on Tips and Recipes for Clearing out your Fridge which appeals to the frugal soul in me.

Hollow Legs
From her tweets you’d think Lizzie was permanently on a bender but her energetically updated blog suggests otherwise. She can cook, she can eat and she can write, all well. She even makes creamed corn - a dish I loathe - sound appetising. She’s always up for a bet, witness this steak-eating contest at my son’s restaurant Hawksmoor so don’t take her on unless you’re sure of your ground . . .

Been Doon So Long
This is hardly a blog in the conventional sense. Iconoclastic winemaker Randall Grahm adapts his discursive writing style not one iota for the shortened attention span we all seem to be suffering from (he included 26 footnotes in a recent post) but what he has to say is always stimulating and thought-provoking. He doesn’t post that often so Randophiles should also follow him on Twitter. Or read his splendid book.

The Traveler’s Lunchbox
Yet another American blog: this one - as the name suggests - on food and travel. It’s beautifully photographed and written by inveterate traveller and ‘sociolinguist’ Melissa Kronenthal. I’ve been wanting to go to Saigon for an age but want to still more after reading her recent post Saigon Seductions. You wouldn’t find a better piece in Saveur

Muscadet: the perfect seafood white

2010-08-31T21:07:00.008+01:00

Muscadet was one of the first serious wines I tasted. Well, perhaps not exactly 'serious' but 'authentic'. I was introduced to it by a Labour peeress, no less, who took me to her favourite wine merchant, The Old Chelsea Wine Stores in Lamb's Conduit Street. I was young and very impressionable and thought it was utterly amazing to buy wine that way.

Since then I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie which is generally held to be the best of the Muscadet appellations although, like many French wines, it's not that fashionable these days. But it has many virtues, not least of which is that it's a terrific seafood wine, particularly with oysters and the classic plateau de fruits de mer. And it's very good with sushi.

This is one I picked up the other day in Oddbins, a 2009 from Domaine de la Foliette. It's fabulously crisp and clean - just a perfect bracing drink for the dog days of summer. The Domaine is a member of the Terra Vitis association which means that the wine is produced sustainably with respect for the environment. It's also just 12% ABV, an alcohol level you all too rarely see these days.

It sells in Oddbins for £8.99 a bottle or £7.19 if you buy a case. I'm not sure I'd want that many but it's good to have a bottle or two in your wine rack.

Tart's the place for cake

2010-08-28T16:48:00.008+01:00

I've been meaning to go to Tart for a while, not least because of the name.

It's at the bottom end of the Gloucester Road in Bristol - not the first place you'd think of searching for a high-end café and cake shop. (It's got much more of a hippyish vibe. It's the place I go to buy cheap pulses and spices.)

Anyway Tart seems to be doing very nicely thankyou. On a Friday lunchtime it was rammed to the gills with yummy mummies and their offspring tucking into tarts (obviously) - and a fair amount of cake. There's a special atmosphere when you walk through the door that's quite out of keeping with its surroundings. It feels a bit Chocolat, if you've seen the film - not quite real.

The best thing they do is a Tart Teatime Plate, a selection from their cakes of the day. We shared one (above) which included a fabulously crumbly carrot cake (so crumbly it kept falling over inelegantly, as you can see), a spicy (cinnamon) Tunisian orange cake, a pretty good chocolate cake and a slice of one of the best Bakewell tarts I've ever eaten - all for £5.70 a head including tea. A much better deal than the champagne tea which costs a silly £17.95 a head.

Breakfast also sounds good - they do a mushroom and caramelised onion rarebit which I feel has got to be tried.

And - clever idea - they sell ready-made sweet and savoury pastry at 50p a 100g to take away and make your own tarts. As if you'd want to if you lived on their doorstep, which I'm relieved in many ways that I don't. I'd be in there all the bloody time.

I should say I ate in Tart as a guest of the restaurant but don't let that put you off. It really is good.

Tetsuya's truffle salt

2010-08-26T08:45:00.007+01:00

It's ironic that having just written a post on the 10 storecupboard ingredients you couldn't live without on my Frugal Cook blog I should come across something that's far from essential but sorely tempting. I mean, truffle salt for heaven's sake! Do you need it?

Well, no you don't but that doesn't mean you wouldn't want it. As one of the readers of my Facebook page commented "I think that a luxury item or two is fine... especially when you live on a tight budget most of the time." Couldn't agree more.

It's made - or rather blended - under the supervision of the Australian chef Tetsuya, better known for his pan-Asian style of cooking.

I was sent some the other day to try and sprinkled it over some cheap steak which I have to say it absolutely transformed, making it taste fabulously savoury and, er, truffley. It also - and this was even more interesting - made the rather rustic red wine I was drinking taste amazingly soft and velvety.

I imagine it would also taste stellar with roast chicken or in mash. Or to season a mushroom risotto.

I also tried the black truffle salsa which I thought was less useful. According to Tetsuya's website you're supposed to stir it into pasta or scrambled eggs which I admit would probably taste nice but would turn them a yukky grey. Or mix it with butter and parmesan, again tasty but not great-looking.

They also sent a vinaigrette for oysters which apparently has "gained a cult following among [Tetsuya's] restaurant patrons". I haven't yet laid my hands on an oyster to taste it with but it seemed rather oily and underseasoned to me. And a vinaigrette just for oysters? Definitely a product you could live without.

The products are imported by a company called The Food Emporium and are also available in John Lewis Food halls at Bluewater and Oxford Street, Fortnum and Mason's, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.

The truffle salt is - wince - £19.95 for 100g - but a little goes a long way. It would make a great present for a foodie friend - or for yourself if you feel like giving yourself a treat.

Cook - or rather don’t cook

2010-08-23T20:44:00.007+01:00

A new shop’s opened up on the Whiteladies road in Bristol on the unlikely site of the former Britannia building society. It’s called Cook and it looks a bit like a farm shop. Apart from the fact that it’s full not of fresh produce but freezers.

I must admit we went in in a highly sceptical frame of mind. It’s packed with frozen dishes to take away none of which look particularly inspiring in their frozen form.

It looked like a chain and it turns out it is - with a startling 32 branches mainly in such genteel home counties outposts as Haywards Heath and Tunbridge Wells.

We thought we’d buy a couple of their dishes to try and you know what? They were jolly good - and I feel jolly is the right word. A bit like a 1970s dinner party - but none the worse for that. You’d be pleased if your friends cooked as well. You’d be ecstatic to have food this good in the average pub (as well you might since they apparently supply pubs and restaurants too)

One was a Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Butternut Lasagne (£3.75 for one) with a really good wild mushroom taste. The other a dish of Liver, Bacon and Onions (£2.85) with a proper gravy. I couldn't fault them for the price.

The blurb in the free 'Cook Book' or catalogue they give away says “most of our customers are good cooks who appreciate good food but Cook exists for those two or three nights a week when frankly you have got better things to do than cook and you want to serve a meal that is as good as your own cooking.” They single out new parents, the elderly and people who are suffering from ill-health as target customers to whom I would add students (assuming their parents are willing to sub them a delivery) and anyone living on their own.

The only criticism I’d make is that their ‘best before’ dates seem a bit lengthy. I remember from my days running a frozen food service (Frozen Assets!) that cooked meals were best eaten within 3 months of freezing. The date on the liver was May 2011 - 9 months away.

If you don't live near one of their shops you can order the range online.

How often do you order food from a takeaway and would you use one like this?

Polpetto: a Polpo clone but none the worse for that

2010-08-21T07:31:00.002+01:00

If you like Polpo (which I do) you’ll like its new sister restaurant Polpetto. If you don’t you probably won’t, not least because it’s even more cramped. But it is a clone, so much so that I wondered for a moment if the menu was identical.

Not so said owner Russell Norman pointing out that only a handful of dishes are on the Polpo menu including pizza bianco and ham hock and parsley terrina. But it’s the same Venetian-inspired small-plates-wine-by-the-glass-formula - noisy and buzzy (even on day 1). Only the location on the first floor of the legendary French House in Dean Street is different and even then it's still Soho.

Overwhelmed by the choice we handed the task to him and got bombarded with plates to try.

My favourite was a brilliant osso buco (below) with perfectly cooked saffron risotto, “not very Polpo” as Russell put it (on the grounds that it was a bigger than usual helping rather than it was untypical in style). I also loved the roll of salty smoked swordfish stuffed with lemon and dill ricotta, cured pork shoulder and pickled pepper pizzetta, fennel salami and fig bruschetta and duck and porcini meatball. (Yes, singular. Order more than one.)

Not everything hit the mark - for me at any rate. Marinated sardines, pinenuts and raisins, the classic Venetian (sarde in saor) is one of those dishes that just doesn’t travel - or at least not in this rather messy incarnation. Ditto the cuttlefish in ink although I liked the combination with white polenta (which needs to be ordered separately).

The fryer was having an off day. Zucchini fries were soft and pallid and a heavenly sounding crispy soft shell crab with parmesan batter disappointingly soggy and short on parmesan.

But that’s what soft openings are for and the prices (50% off) reflected the fact that the menu was being put through its paces. The Polpo gang are pros and I’m sure they’ll iron out any inconsistencies. Polpetto is already better - and more welcoming - than most Venetian bacaros. I suspect it will be just as hard to get into as its older sibling. *Sigh*.

Polpetto opens next Monday, August 23rd. You can only book at lunchtime (020 7734 1969). And, as I say, it’s tiny (28 seats).

Thali Cafe's Tiffin Tin

2010-08-17T14:46:00.009+01:00

I have a bit of a history with the Thali Café. They opened round the corner a few months ago and deluged us with leaflets urging us to come in. We went, loved it and tried to go again. Whatever time we tried to book they were full.

I suggested they should set aside a few tables for walk-in customers as many restaurants do. They rather sniffily suggested I book a week ahead - for a caff, for goodness sake. So I decided to give up on them and felt very cross about the whole thing.

But then I got an urge for their fresh coriander and coconut chutney (which is amazing) and I found myself down there buying one of their multi-tier tiffin tins for a pricey £20. Which isn't as bad as it sounds as it included an initial order of a vegetable thali and subsequently you just take your container along and get it filled up. The first refill is apparently at half price but I don't know if they will remember and I can't prove I haven't been back in the meantime.

Anyway £7 for a veggie feast that's big enough for two is good in anyone's book. It currently includes - and I quote from their website - Yellow Tarka Dahl Subji (north Indian vegetables), Thoran (vegetables cooked in coconut and spices), Tomato & Tamarind chutney and Rice & Keralan Salad though the picture below, which I took a few weeks ago, seemed to include a vegetable curry. It's also much lighter, more fragrant and less oily than the average takeaway and I have to say a great way to avoid excess packaging.

So, I've found a way to get my thali fix and they've regained a customer. I still think they should set a few tables aside though . . .