London Food Detective

A Night with Paul A Young: Chocolate Artisan

My name is Craig. I’m 31 and I’m a chocoholic.

However, I’m not planning to go on any 10-steps programme to cure me any time soon and my recent lesson with Paul A Young has only my heightened my love of the sweet stuff.

To say I’ve been excited about Grace and I having a private class with Paul is a bit of an understatement.  We’ve been fans of his chocolate for a while, both bought each other a box of his delights for Christmas and even our recent engagement had a chocolate theme (that’s a story for another time though).

We won the lesson at the Blagger’s Banquet back in October and it’s taken a few months to get a date for the lesson and so we turned up on a cold, wet February night ready to throw ourselves into the experience.

Now I’m sure Paul does a lot of similar classes, tastings etc and you’d think that after a full day’s work the last thing he wanted was to spend four hours giving two amateurs a lesson, but you’d never know it.  From the moment we arrived he was fully engaged, enthusiastic and charming, which made the evening even more memorable.

To begin with we were led to the back of the shop and downstairs to his kitchen.  The sweet smell of melted chocolate was wafting in the air as we went down the stairs and we were confronted with a mountain of Easter Bunnies, six pans of melting chocolate (more of these later) a mound of moulds and the essential raw ingredients to create the goods.

We were given a welcome drink (glass of bubbly for me and a hot chocolate for G), an amazing slice of his new sea salted caramel chocolate brownies and were told to help ourselves to more.  We didn’t need to be asked twice…

The sea-salted caramel brownies were particularly great.

We found out that the evening was to be split in two.

The first bit was all about the process of making chocolate, learning about the business and the raw ingredients used.  

The second part was putting into practice what we’d just learnt and making Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies.

Chocolate Tasting Guide

There are three main varieties of cocoa bean:

Cirollo – the Rolls Royce of beans. Premium, expensive and widely sought after.

Trinitario – widely used, aromatic with robust flavour.

Forestero – the beans used by the big manufacturers.  Blended with premium cocoa beans by smaller producers.

Within each variety there are subtleties of flavour, depending on the origin of the bean (a Madagascan bean will taste very different from a South American one) and how it has been roasted.

The Valrohna couverture chocolate, the different varieties, the melted couverture and cocoa butter

The beans are made in to ‘couverture’, which is a combination of beans, cocoa butter and sugar.  Paul’s kitchen is full of bags of this (you can even buy this in the shop if you want), which he uses to make his chocolates.

He then took us on a journey starting at 34% caramel milk chocolate up to 100%.  The difference in taste between two similar percentage beans is remarkable. Apparently it’s the quality and origin of the bean and not the % that makes the difference.

Paul treated us to some new chocolate that he’d just imported from Mast Brothers in New York (check out their cool packaging), which was like no chocolate I’ve ever tasted.  It was smooth, fruity and utterly delectable.  Paul is about to become the UK’s first and only stockist and I’d urge any chocolate connoisseur to try some.

Nine Paul A Young Chocolate Facts

1. The majority of the couverture chocolate Paul uses is from Valrhona.
2. Paul is 100% artisan (the only one in London) and doesn’t use any machinery in producing his chocolates.
3. Paul is an honorary member of the Academy of Chocolate.
4. He only uses Billington’s sugar.
5. Cocoa butter is the most expensive ingredient.
6. He can sell over 20 litres of hot chocolate on a busy Saturday!
7. He only buys ingredients from ethically sound producers.
8. He enjoys the occasional non-premium chocolate, but made us promise not to tell anyone…
9. We’re both from the North East and even went to the same dodgy nightclub when we were younger!

On to the making

Now on to the fun part as we got to ‘temper’ our choice of chocolate and make and decorate an Easter Egg and chocolate bunnies.

Tempering is the process of cooling the melted chocolate to the right temperature for it to set properly in the mould.  If it is too hot or cold then it won’t set properly and will need re-doing.

Tempering the chocolate. Paul uses wallpaper scrapers!

Paul uses a big slab of marble to temper on.  The chocolate is poured on to the slab and then manoeuvred and manipulated around to cool it.  It is then added back into the pot and mixed around until it is almost body temperature and just starting to set.

Tools of job. Paul showed us how to do it with great speed and dexterity and then it was our turn.

Grace went first and did a surprisingly good job and kept it all on the table without too much trouble.  I was another story all together and Paul had to rescue me a couple of times to stop rivers of viscous chocolate splodging on the floor.  

Making a mess!

However it was good fun (though surprisingly hard work) and I managed to do it without too much chocolate going missing in action.

Once the tempered chocolate was poured into the moulds we had to scrape the table top down and were able to munch on the still warm chocolate. Delicious.

Decorating the eggs

Next up was decorating and sealing our eggs. We created piping bags and filled them with melted chocolate and I created a variety of unusual patterns on my egg.

The final part in the kitchen was looking at the flavours store, which Paul uses to create and develop his fabulously chocolate creations.

It was then getting close to leave and we made our way back upstairs into the main shop to wrap what we had made. 

Paul gave us a signed copy of his award winning chocolate book, took a photo of us with our bounty and gave us an extra box of chocolates (with a large helping of our favourite sea salted caramels) just in case we hadn’t quite had enough!

All in all, we had an amazing four hours experience, which will stay with us for a long time.  It was even better than we expected.  It was a real privilege to spend time with one of the best chocolate makers in the world and even better to know that it also helped to raise money for a great cause.

Lex Eat! A ducking brilliant supper club...

Supper clubs are something that have passed me by a bit, but they’ve become increasingly popular in the last year or two and it is easy to understand why.

Good quality amateur chefs cooking their best recipes for a bargain price and you can bring your own booze.  Throw in an eclectic mix of people and you’ve got the makings of a good night.

I’ve been meaning to give one a try for a while, so I was delighted when I got an invite from Lex of LexEat! to attend her latest supper club.

Now, reviews are meant to be impartial, but I have to own up to being a bit biased towards Lex as she often (kindly) comments on this blog and I’ve met her at a couple of food events. I’m also a big fan of her writing, as she has a warmth and self-deprecating style that I really like.

So I went along with Grace on Saturday, really wanting to enjoy the evening and it is with a big sigh of relief that I can honestly say it was excellent.

Lex’s e-mail came with a bit of a warning not to be late so we were the first to arrive at about 7.15p.m. and given a warm greeting by Lex’s partner Y and a welcome drink.

Slowly but surely the other guests started to arrive and introduced themselves. There was a real mix of people, but it soon became apparent that the majority of guests were also supper club virgins, although everyone seemed to share an interest in good food.

We were to be seated at one long communal table and as a nice touch Lex had written the menu on the brown paper tablecloth.

Table complete with menu, homemade tablecloths and delicious popcorn

Sweet potato & caramelised onion soup with feta pesto

Starter was a thick, puree-like sweet potato and caramelised onion soup, which I really enjoyed. The first taste was the sweet potato, but then the sweetness of the caramelised onion came through and lingered beautifully in the mouth.  It was accompanied by a dollop of feta cheese pesto and some freshly baked bread.

Roast duck with amaretti stuffing, roast potatoes & cavolo nero

Blood Orange & Rocket Salad

The main course was a succulent piece of duck, which was moist and full of flavour.  It came with a delicious ameretti stuffing, crisp roast potatoes, cardonero (type of cabbage) and (my favourite bit) a blood orange salad, the tangy sweetness of which worked beautifully with the duck.

I went a bit quackers for the crispy skin and I was delighted when Y brought out a massive plate of extra duck.  Seconds all round for the people sat around me!

Trio of desserts: Pear & Almond cake, lemon posset, chocolate & olive oil tart

On to dessert and after a refreshing pallet cleanser we were treated to a trio of delights. I can't really comment about the lemon posset as the the first spoonful ended up down my shirt and Grace stole the rest of it, as she declared it amazing and wanted seconds!

In compensation I was given a third of her chocolate tart, which I wolfed down. I'm a sucker for chocolate and so devoured the rich, dark chocolate goodness of the tart and loved it's sugary, crunchy crust.  Good stuff.

I almost feel like the almond & pear cake is being treated as a third class citizen, but that was also very good.  It was served warm and was a spongy, sweet treat.

It was one of the other diner's birthday and I was delighted when they were presented with a turkish delight cheesecake that had been served at previous supper clubs.  I thought it looked fantastic when i'd read the reviews and I'm pleased to report it tasted as good as it looked.

Great food, accompanied by great music

The evening ended with coffee and interesting chat and I can say my first supper club experience was thoroughly enjoyable and something I'm keen to repeat. At a suggested donation of just £20.00, it was also an absolute bargain when compared to what it would have cost to have a comparable meal in a restaurant.

I also need to say what a great job Y did as front of house.  She kept the drinks flowing, the conversation going and the great tunes playing.  She even called Grace and I a taxi at the end of the night as we'd both left our mobiles at home. Her big passion is soul and Motown music and she's part of Motor City Revue - if she's half as good a musician as host then I'm sure they'll be fab!

Finally, if you're wondering why all the different bottled beers appear in my photos, it's due to a clearout at home and me finding loads of odds bottles of beer that needed using up before I move flats in a few weeks.

Blokes eat beef @Goodman

For some reason I decided to check out Twitter on Monday morning and stumbled across a tweet from Simon of Dos Hermanos, who was advertising a spare place at the 'Blokes Eat Beef' event that they had organised at Goodman.

As a hardcore carnivore it was an invite I couldn't refuse and I was treated to one of the best meals I have had in a long time.

Simon has already posted a comprehensive review, but I just wanted to share a few additional thoughts and some slightly different photos from the event.

Frank Hederman's Smoked Salmon

As someone who isn't a big lover of fish, I almost skipped the starter of salmon so I could save space for the bovine delights to come. However, I'm glad I had it as it was easily the best I have ever tasted. 

It was served in a beautifully simple way which allowed the quality of the meaty, melt in the mouth, slightly smoked salmon shine through. Great stuff.

For me, one of the highlights of the evening was the various talks given by the suppliers. Passion is a much overused word, but it is appropriate on this occasion. It absolutely shone through from everyone: John the chef, the Catena wine rep, Frank, the vegetable suppliers and the lads promoting the Lake District beef.

The main event: the four contenders on one plate

With a selection of sides

Never has a salad looked lonelier...

The star of the show: one of the two Josper grills the steaks were cooked on

It almost goes without saying that the beef was fantastic. Beautifully cooked and full of flavour.  It was hard to pick a winner, but my (slight) favourite was the Scottish Charalais/Limosin ribeye. I'm not sure how much beef I actually consumed, but I'm pretty confident I got my 1kg quota!

I was also impressed with the sides. I'm a chunky chip man and these were crackers: crunchy (twice cooked?) on the outside and fluffy in the middle. The creamed spinach, onion rings and mushrooms were all of a high standard.

Baked Cheesecake with berry compote

Somehow I managed to find room for cheese and dessert. The cheesecake was pretty good. A crunchy biscuit base (it hadn't gone soggy like many cheesecakes), a thick creamy topping and a tangy berry compote made for a highly satisfactory end to the meal.

The other thing that I was impressed with on the night was the service. We had two waitresses serving nearly 30 blokes and they were chatty, up for a joke, but also very efficient and professional. I hope everyone was generous with the tips as they deserved every penny.

Overall, a fantastic evening and a big thanks to Dos Hermanos for organising it. I will definitely be back to Goodman on a normal evening to see if the standard remains as high!

Cuba: A quick round-up of the food...

I know it's not quite London, but thought I'd share some thoughts and photos of the food on my recent trip to Cuba.

It's fair to say that Cuba isn't known for it's food and after years of rationing, shortages and import restrictions it's completely understandable.  However, there are couple of things that I thought are worth sharing.

Paladares

The majority of restaurants are state run and offer a pretty tedious mix of pork and chicken, rice and chips.

The most inventive cooking is often found at small, family run restaurants call paladares. These often don't have menus, can be found in random places (such as on the 5th floor of a block of flats) and are limited to to just 12 covers.

When eating out we tried to stick with the paladares with a good reputation. The cooking at each of the ones we went to was good.  Nothing flash or sophisticated, but decent ingredients cooked in a simple, flavoursome way.

Below is a selection of my favourite dishes:

Chicken pancake with bechamel sauce and peach.

Twice cooked BBQ pork

Deep fried pork kiev with ham & cheese.

Chicken kebab with corn rice

Smoked pork chop with onions

'Ropa Vieja' (Old Rope) - Pork stew with olives, peppers & chilies.

The best meal was undoubtedly the smoked pork chop, which was cooked to perfection and was accompanied by a light, creamy, mustard sauce. If you ever happen to be in Cuba, then do check out 'Cocina de Liliam' the paladar it was served at.

Fruit

One of things I was most impressed with was the quality of the fruit. Due to some of the trade embargos on Cuba over the years (restricting fertilisers etc), they've been at the forefront of developing organically grown fruit and veg.

The results was some of the freshest, juiciest, refreshing fruit I've ever had.  The locally grown grapefruit, guava, melon and pineapple was wonderful.

Ice Cream

Cuban's love ice cream and the home of national ice cream maker Coppelia is reputedly the busiest ice-cream outlet in the world, serving up to 30,000 customers a day.

The 'UFO' shaped pavilion at Coppelia Park - the largest Ice-cream parlour in the world?!

Ice-cream in Cuba really is a way of life with numerous outlets selling dirt cheap 'Mr Whippy' style-cones and an Oscar nominated film being made on the subject!

Anyway, the real shame is that tourists aren't allowed into the main bit  and are instead shuffled off to a side park with only a limited selection of flavours.

Mango & Caramel Ice Cream at Coppelia

However, we made up for our disappointment at this by indulging twice daily in homemade ice cream sundaes at our hotel!

The ice cream itself was pretty good. It wasn't particularly creamy but the flavours were generally good and didn't taste of too many flavourings or preservatives (like other ice cream I've had in the Caribbean).

Overall, we had a fantastic holiday (despite the poor weather) and found Cuba to be like no other country I've ever been to.  A real place of contrasts, but with delightfully friendly people and a way of life that is unique.

Whilst I wouldn't rush back for the food there were enough reasonable paladares in Havana to eat well at if you were prepared to put in the research and travel about a bit.

St Pancras Grand, King's Cross: Grand setting, but service hits the buffers...

I was coming back down from a weekend up north and wanted somewhere to go close to King’s Cross station for Sunday lunch. I’ve been into St Pancras a few times and thought I’d check out St Pancras Grand.

It’s certainly an impressive setting. Based on the upper level of St Pancras and adjacent to the champagne bar, the restaurant is all mirrors, shiny metal and dark material and it seems to be trying to recreate the elegance of a bygone era.

It has a feel of the Orient Express about it, as it tries to get travellers to treat themselves to something a bit more exotic than a pre-packaged Pret sandwich before their departure – to be honest, it is probably more appealing for a romantic trip to Paris than a journey to Milton Keynes!

The menu comprises a number of British classics, oysters and had a special set Christmas menu (expensive at £39.95 for three courses & a ‘free’ Christmas bellini).  It is similar to a menu you might find at the Wolseley or the Ivy.  It’s quite expensive, although there are usually a number of deals available sites like Top Table.

The restaurant was probably around a third full and we were given a lovely table close to the jazz band that they have playing on a Sunday and were brought a basket of ok warm white bread.

I decided to keep it simple and went for the sausages and mash and Grace went for the two course Christmas menu and had turkey. We also decided to share a side of roasted winter veg.

We were served quite quickly, but from then on things went down hill.

Sausage & Mash

The sausage and mash were fine. The pork sausages were well cooked and lightly seasoned. Personally I’d prefer a coarser Cumberland sausage with more seasoning, but you can’t have everything.  The mash was good, very smooth and buttery. The red wine gravy was quite intense and reduced to quite a thick consistency. Personally I liked it and overall it was a decent, if relatively expensive sausage and mash (£12.00).

Roast Turkey with roast potatoes, brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce.

G’s turkey was also ok. A generous slab of turkey breast that was moist and had a good flavour to it. The highlight were the crispy roast potatoes, which were excellent.  The rest of the dish in G's words was 'unmemorable'.

The roasted veg was a let down.  The carrots and parsnips were bland and under seasoned and the beetroot was undercooked in the middle.

It was after the mains that things started to deteriorate service wise.

First up, there was no sign of the bellini, so I asked the waiter about it. He told us he didn’t think we wanted it (nice of him to decide for us) and so hadn’t brought it over.  As we’d finished our mains I told him not to bother!

Secondly was the delivery of our desserts.

I went for sticky toffee pudding and G for dark chocolate terrine with raspberry sorbet from the set menu.  The desserts came out about ten minutes later, but were completely different from what we ordered and so we sent them back.

Another ten minutes later they reappeared.  Things improved this time as they managed to get one of them right, but they still managed to get one wrong and so, for a second time, we sent a dessert back. There was no apology forthcoming and our waiter was distinctly unimpressed by this. You could see him complaining to one of his colleagues about us right in view of us.  Not very professional and it made us feel like we were in the wrong!

They left us with the correct one and as it was a warm dessert I had to tuck in whilst we waited for the other to appear.  It’s a good job I did, as after another ten minutes I was finished and there was still no sign of the other dessert. This time the manager came over to remove our plates (he wasn’t aware of the problem) and we had to explain that we had only received one dessert.  To be fair to him, he was very apologetic and the dessert appeared soon after, though not before we spotted our friendly waiter rolling his eyes at us again!

We finished dessert and asked for the bill. Fortunately they decided to remove the service charge (I would’ve hit the roof if they’d left it on) and the whole dessert episode completely spoiled what would’ve been an ok meal.

It seems we weren’t the only ones to experience the poor service.  On the way out I saw a guy come into the restaurant as he had a reservation.  He was asked to go back outside into the freezing cold and wait by the unmanned reservations desk for the rest of his party.  You could tell by the look on his face that this left him completely baffled!

It’s such a shame that the service let the place down, as St Pancras Grand has the potential to be a fine way to start any trip.

The Blues Kitchen, Camden: Great venue, shame about the food...

Although not a huge aficionado of blues or jazz, I've been fortunate to visit some great clubs over the years in places like Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans, as well as Ronnie Scott's here in London.  So when I heard the Blues Kitchen had opened in Camden I thought I should pay a visit, not only to sample the music, but also the food.

The first time I wandered down was in it's first week of opening and they weren't serving food yet, but I was suitably impressed by the cool decor, comfy looking booths and impressive bar to try and make it back asap.

I ended up going back on Tuesday night and the place was heaving.  There were no tables free and we had to grab a drink whilst we waited.

The layout of the place is quite unusual and it has an 'L' shaped configuration with a long, narrow strip away from the bar leading up to a stage where they have DJ's and bands every night of the week.  The walls of the place are covered with blues posters and other memorabilia and I really liked the vibe and atmosphere in the place.

After a wait of around half an hour we were shown our table and given the Southern influenced menu.

Ordering was easy: gumbo is a huge favourite of mine and I didn't have to look past the top of the menu and Grace went for a steak po'boy.  Together we ordered some sides of onion rings and sweet potato wedges.

Service was friendly and efficient and our mains were with us in about 15 minutes. 

Sadly things went downhill from there...

Blues Kitchen Gumbo

The gumbo was extremely disappointing.  Overcooked chicken, cheap smoked hotdog sausage, the okra & sweet potato were missing in action and the sauce was bland with none of the kick that you'd expect from a decent gumbo. In fact, if you were in New Orleans and served this then they'd be sticking pins in a doll of you quicker than you can say voodoo...

The Po'Boy was equally bad. A sorry, overcooked, piece of steak placed between two massive bits of bread. Sadly I've no photographic evidence to show how bad it was, but please take my word for it.  This was really disappointing. 

I wish I could say the sides were decent.  They weren't.

The onion rings had a slightly funny metallic taste and only contained a pitifully small sized ring of onion.

Some of sweet potato wedges were ok, but others were massively over seasoned.  You also got the impression that they'd been sat there a while as they were a bit mushy (which I actually quite like) and wouldn't have been for everyone's liking.

Despite the main courses we (foolishly) decided to have desserts.

Key Lime Pie

Grace ordered Key Lime pie.  According to the menu this was a ''Southern twist on the Lemon Meringue Pie", unsurprisingly then we were expecting something that looked like a lemon meringue pie and not a bog standard slice of cheesecake. If anyone from the Blues Kitchen happens to read this review, then here is a Google image of what Key Lime Pie is meant to look like.

Mississippi Mud Pie

The menu promised marshmallow.  No marshmallow.

Instead just an ordinary slice of chocolate flavoured cheesecake.

It is a shame the food was so ordinary, as everything else about the Blues Kitchen was spot on.  Friendly service, great atmosphere, good (live) music and reasonable prices.  Hopefully we just experienced some teething troubles and the food standard will rise in the coming months, but based on this performance when I do go back I 'll make sure I've had something to eat first...

Great Queen Street, Holborn: Long Live the Queen!

A Meeting of Minds...and Food of Course!

Craig: Although I’ve been blogging on and off for nearly five years it is only in the last six months or so that I’ve been writing up my thoughts on restaurants I’ve visited.

In that time I’ve found a whole new world of people who share my passion for eating out and good food.

One of the blogs I’ve got subscribed in my RSS feed is Laissez Fare and I always enjoy reading his in-depth reviews.  We’ve been to a few of the same places and seem to have had similar experiences (see for example our thoughts on Le Gavroche here and here) and so I was delighted when he got in touch to see if I fancied meeting up for lunch.

After establishing we both work fairly close to each other we settled on Great Queen Street, Holborn, the sister restaurant to gastro-pub favourite the Anchor & Hope.

Now this is the first time I’ve ever met up with someone I’ve chatted too online and the occasion almost had a sense of a blind date to it.  Would LF be the friendly, helpful, chatty guy his online persona gives off or would he turn out to be some sort of foodie psycho?  I’m very pleased to report that it is the former, though whether the feeling is mutual you’ll have to check!

Anyway, we hit it off straight away and had a good chat before we got down to the serious business of ordering our food.  Great Queen Street is all about seasonal, hearty food and the menu reflects this with dishes like slowly braised mutton and pressed ox tongue.

After a bit of deliberation we decided the desserts sounded better than the starters, so we elected to go for a main and dessert.

I went for devilled Hereford Beef and LF chose the special of cold  room temperature slices of Old Spot pork with crab-apple jelly. We also shared a side of greens.

Laissez Fare: I had been looking forward to meeting fellow food blogger Craig Linton (London Food Detective, @craigdlinton) for a few weeks after I invited him to meet up for lunch a while back. Luckily, I wasn’t too nervous as I had already met another food blogger a few months back for lunch (see a post about that meal here).

Although it is always a bit disconcerting meeting someone you’ve emailed and tweeted with but never met in the flesh, I had the sneaking suspicion that we were going to get on, given our seemingly similar attitudes towards restaurants and food, which are of course the two most important things in the world (Mrs. LF is going to kill me if she reads this).

So, in the middle of our two places of work, Great Queen Street awaited. The little sister of some British gourmets’ favourite (and I cringe as I write the word) ‘gastropub’, GQS has no real name, no website, and no gimmicks. It is all simple wood and dim lighting inside, with informal but fairly knowledgeable staff. Like so many London restaurants today (St John and Bocca di Lupo spring to mind), the daily menu is presented on a loose sheet of paper, inferring that the menu changes daily and is probably more or less seasonal. And GQS checked all those boxes. The menus was quite traditionally British, and the simple, hearty fare sounded good to me as it had been a rather long and cold walk to get there.

Unsurprisingly, I arrived on time, and was shown to a little square table for two, where my blind, male food blogger date was to join me. It was all a bit weird, but luckily I had seen a photo of him online so more or less knew what to look for. A bit overanxious, I waved haphazardly to the next dude through the door based on just the faint outline of his face, who luckily happened to be the man himself. Phew.

After a long and enjoyable getting-to-know-you chat, we were scouring the menus like to men on a mission, trying to make wise selections in the presence of the seasoned foodie across the table. Decisions made, we continued with a very engaging and pleasant discussion, until the thing that united us finally arrived. Grub time.

Getting Down to Business

CL: They arrived pretty quickly and both looked good, so I was thankful when LF asked if I wanted to try some of his pork. Now my girlfriend found it hilarious when I told her that I was sharing food with a bloke I’d just met, but surely it makes sense for two people who love food to try each others dishes?

Main Course 1: Devilled Hereford Beef

My beef just melted in the mouth and the ‘devil’ in the title came with the accompanying stroganoff style sauce that had a satisfying curry kick to it and lifted the dish beyond a standard stew.  It was served with rice, half a boiled egg (not quite sure why) and some chopped gherkin, which gave a fresh, crunchy, acidic contrast to the beef that I really enjoyed.

I’m not normally a huge fan of cold pork as I find it can be quite dry, but this was moist and full of flavour.  I haven’t had crab-apple jelly for years and my memories of it are from school and I was surprised at how sweet it was.  I thought it worked well with the pork and made for a decent main dish.

Special mention needs to go to the greens we ordered as a side dish, which we believed to be black cabbage (kale).  They were well cooked and retained a bit of crunch and had a creamy mustard sauce that I thought really elevated them above the ordinary.  Very good indeed.

Brown Bread & Butter

LF: Some brown bread and butter had arrived, so we both had a small piece of it. It was pretty average and there’s nothing much more to say about it. I now eagerly awaited my main.

Slices of Old Spot Pork with Crab-Apple Jelly

I had heard a lot about Old Spot pork but had never knowingly tried it, so despite some reservations about a room temperature dish (that’s how they serve it) on a cold November day, I went for it. Luckily, I was not disappointed.

It was a very simple dish with three main components. The pork was sliced to a medium thickness and the circles of fat were left in tack around the rim. It definitely had a unique full, round, mouth filling flavor that I hadn’t experienced before.

It was surprisingly interesting and had me going back for more, especially when combined with the tangy yet slightly sweet and in-season crab-apple jelly. Because the side of greens we ordered was so delicious with its naughty, slightly creamy mustard sauce, which had a nice streak of acidity, I sort of ignored the little salad that came on my plate.

This was a shame, because when I tasted it as an afterthought, I found it was actually quite good and it would have been a nice little accompaniment to the meat and jelly. Overall, then, a simple and accomplished dish.

I had ordered a glass of Beaujolais to go with my pork, thinking a soft, easy-drinking fruity wine would marry well with the flavors. It was brought out in a little ridged tumbler (like a small water glass you get in a bistro), as was Craig’s Portuguese red, which I thought was taking the minimalism a tad too far.

It’s okay to serve wine on tap into a glass like that (like a place I went to in Venice once called Da Marisa), and Beaujolais after all is a very casual wine drunk with simple food in France, but I like my wine to breathe a bit and think a normal little wine glass would have been better.

Rants aside, the wine did what I hoped it would and was a nice sipping partner for my late Old Spotted friend.

It’s worth noting that before tasting my own dish, I was quite jealous of Craig’s main course just on the looks. It reminded me of the hearty beef stroganoff my mom used to make us when I was a teenager. Luckily, he didn’t think I was a complete freak when I asked if he wanted to taste some of my dish, and even offered up a bit of his beef. The meat itself was very soft and tender, having been stewed for a long time, and the sauce it was bathing in was not bad at all. If I had to label it, I’d say it was sort of a European beef curry sauce, with its richness being supported and enhanced by a nice underlying spice (the ‘devil’ bit, I supposed) that ruminated and lingered in the mouth for a good while. I didn’t taste the rice or the egg, but the bit of meat and sauce I did have was very satisfying indeed.

Just Desserts

CL: I’d have happily ordered four out of five of the desserts and after a bit of deliberation I went for white chocolate pudding, oranges and praline.  On the waiter’s advice LF went for the bitter chocolate terrine with chestnut ice cream. 

I often get dessert jealously, but with a certain sense of smugness I can say that I definitely chose the better dessert!

White Chocolate Pudding, Oranges & Praline

The white chocolate pudding was very good.  It had the consistency of thick whipped cream, but with a rich white chocolate flavour. The oranges had been cut into slices and been gently cooked so they had just started to caramelise and worked really well with the white chocolate.

There was nothing wrong with LF’s chocolate terrine, but it wasn’t anything special either.

LF: When the desserts arrived, I thought I’d definitely ‘won’. Oh, what, you haven’t noticed my competitive streak? :)

Bitter Chocolate Terrine & Chestnut Cream

Unfortunately, just as I learned at my other recent food blogger lunch, looks can definitely be deceiving. There was nothing wrong with my bitter chocolate terrine with chestnut ice cream. The cake itself was, dense, smooth and full of nice dark chocolate flavor. I guess it was just a bit one dimensional for my taste. The side of chestnut cream worked well and had little chunks of chestnut which paired nicely with the chocolate. It wasn’t a memorable dessert though, and I definitely had reason to be jealous this time.

My companion’s dessert was head and tails better than mine (yes, he did let me have a bite). It was a gorgeous pile of thick creamy white chocolate whipped creamy looking stuff, with a thick syrupy sauce of bittersweet oranges (and orange sections too) sprinkled with a bit of praline. The citrus cut right through the cream and made for a simple but sublime combination. I loved it and wished we had ordered two. Alas, I made my peace and tried to hide my disappointment by quickly scoffing down the rest of my okay dessert.


CL: Overall, a highly enjoyable two hour, two course lunch and I would definitely go back to Great Queen Street.  I recommended it to my boss when I returned to the office and will hopefully get him to take me on our next lunchtime meeting.

Really enjoyed my first lunch with a fellow blogger and fingers crossed we’ll do it again. 

LF: I think Great Queen Street has a lot going for it. It’s paired down, simple, seasonal and hearty food was good on this occasion and I’ll definitely be back as it’s walking distance from work. I thought that £25/person for two courses plus wine was fair enough as I left full, happy and contented. But, as is usually the case, what really made the meal was the company, which in this case made for a fun, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable two hours.


Tips if You’re Eating with a Fellow Blogger for the First Time

Make sure you’ve read their recent blog posts.

Decide if you’re going to review the place individually, together or at all.

Know what the person you’re meeting looks like, so you don’t look slightly crazy by asking the other single diners in the restaurant if they are the person you are meant to be meeting.

Choose who is going to take the photos and then share them after.  Compare embarrassing stories of partners/friends/restaurant staff getting annoyed at you insisting photographing everything.

Despite funny looks from other diners, it is perfectly acceptable to request to try the other person’s food.

LF: I couldn’t have said it better myself! :)

Blaggers Banquet: The Review!

If you've any interest in food in London and are on Twitter or check out any food related blogs then you can't have failed to hear about this event over the last few weeks.

Conceived (like all the best ideas) after a drunken conversation between Niamh from Eat Like a Girl and Huw from Hawksmoor Restaurant, the Blaggers' Banquet was held on Sunday evening after an intense few weeks of blagging by the London food blogging community.

You can read more about the background to this fantastic event here and check out the photo album on Flickr as well. There's a good pic of the back of my head here.

I'm sure lots of people will be writing reviews of the evening, but I thought I'd share some random thoughts and memories of the evening.

The reception:

Smiles and a fabulous warm welcome.  A glass of champagne (well, ok, maybe two or three), canapes (I was loving the goats cheese and pomegranate) and an interesting chat about the work that Action for Hunger does, which was a great reminder about why we were all there. 

The Food:

The food was wholesome and plentiful.  The highlights for me were the hearty beef stew and the chocolate fondant dessert.

The beef in the stew just melted in the mouth and had a good kick to it, which was a nice surprise. It was served with fantastic sourdough bread from St John's, which was perfect for mopping up the juices. I probably overdid it on this, as I had three portions and didn't realise we were also getting the buffalo steaks and the lamb! 

As I proved later on in the auction, I'm a bit of a chocolate fiend, so I also loved the chocolate fondant dessert.  Crusty on top and gooey in the middle - just what I want from a fondant...

The Volunteers & Other Guests:

There was a great atmosphere from the start of the event and huge thanks must go to all the volunteers.  They went about the job with enthusiasm, energy and dedication and nothing was too much trouble.  Our drinks were constantly filled up, any requests promptly dealt with and everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves, which rubbed off on the diners.

I also thought the seating arrangements made for a good atmosphere as well.  People were sat together on large tables and we had to plate the food ourselves and this encouraged conversation.  I got chatting with some great people (hello Caroline from Sugar Grain and @rudduss) and the evening seemed to fly by.

The Auction:

I've attended quite a few charity auctions and sometimes they can really drag on, but I thought @Tim Hayward did a fantastic job.  He kept a good pace, made it amusing and most importantly got a good price for all the items.

The auction had some fantastic lots and I purposely didn't have too much to drink because a: I wasn't feeling 100% and b: I've a habit of bidding for things I don't really want. 

As an aside, I once nearly paid £2000 for a holiday that I couldn't afford and didn't really want, after having far too much champagne at an event, because I thought the other person bidding could afford more.  Luckily after 5 minutes goading from the auctioneer the other person put in another bid and I've never breathed a bigger sigh of relief!  Anyway, I digress...

In the end I was delighted to win two chocolate related lots. First up, a tour for 5 people with Chocolate Ecstasy Tours round Chelsea.  Grace is going to take four of her friends as a Christmas present, which should be a real treat for them.  I just hope she brings me some chocolates back!

The second one was a private chocolate making lesson for two people with Paul A Young. I absolutely adore his chocolates (especially his white chocolate, sesame seeds and sea salt bar) and so the chance to get a lesson with him is fantastic.

Other items are also being auctioned off over the next month or so at a special eBay site and it sounds like there are some more fantastic things to be won and they could make ideal Christmas presents.

The Goody Bags:

As if the food and drink wasn't enough, on the way out we were given a packed canvas bag full of goodies.  I can't list everything that was in there but I particularly enjoyed the following:

• The Firefly Grapefruit & Passion fruit drink.
• Caroline's (from above) fantastic Elderflower marshmallows. We'll definitely be popping down to Covent Garden to get some more!
• The Sheen Suppers chocolates.
• The Bar King Chihuahua Chilli Nuts.

Well Done and Thank You!

So in summary, the Blaggers' Banquet was a great night and hopefully it will raise thousands of pounds for Action Against Hunger.  A final figure will be announced after the online auction has finished.

A massive thank you must go to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make the evening a success and to everyone who donated items (you can find a full list here).  They proved not only that they've got the blagging skills, but that they've also got the cooking and hospitality ones as well. 

Hopefully it was worth all the effort and that people will consider making it an annual event!

Corrigan's, Mayfair

Going out for Sunday lunch has always been a big tradition with my family and my passion for eating out developed when I was growing up.  My parents would always be on the look out for new places to go and try and we'd travel long distances in the North East if we heard of a particularly good place to go.

Therefore, whenever my parents come down to visit me, I always try to take them somewhere that they will enjoy and can tell their friends about when they go home. 

On previous visits I've taken them to the Ivy and the Gherkin, but this was the first time they'd been down for Sunday lunch, so after some advice via Twitter I plumped for Corrigan's in Mayfair.

The set menu was a reasonably priced £27 for 3 courses, with a £10 supplement for the beef. They also had a slightly annoying £2 cover charge and I couldn't understand why they just didn't make the price £29.

The room was large and busy with a good vibe.  They had some unusual feather covered light shades and carvings of deer and game on the walls and it made for a nice setting.  We were seated right at the back of the room and the three of us were squeezed round a table that probably was only meant for two.  It wasn't a huge problem, but the table did become cramped when our mains were served.

The menu had a choice of six options for each course (though no vegetarian option!) and I went for the country terrine and the beef.  My parents both had rabbit to start, followed by black bream for mam and lamb for dad.

The country terrine was a perfectly good terrine, although I found the accompanying orange marmalade a little bit tart and slightly overpowering. A reasonable start though.

Both parents enjoyed the rabbit.  The meat was tender and cooked beautifully pink and the deep fried breadcrumbs provided a good crunch and contrast to the rabbit and egg.  There was also a little bit of blue cheese on top, which just added a bit of extra flavour.

There was no messing with my roast beef main.  Just two thick, rare, slices of rib of beef, served with an excellent yorkshire pud and a tasty, thick gravy (though some people may have found it a bit greasy, I thought it was just right) and horseradish cream. A classic dish, well executed.

All the mains were served with really crunchy roast potatoes with a pillowy soft centre.  Dad complained they hadn't been turned and so one side was more well done than the other, but I suppose it is a matter of personal preference. Vegetables were buttered carrots and green beens.

Dad really enjoyed the lamb, which came with a pepper salsa. Again it was just a lovely piece of meat, well cooked and simply presented and dad scoffed up every bit.

Mam was equally pleased with her black bream (no photo - sorry) and pronounced it a 'lovely, delicate piece of fish'.

Onto desserts and first up, mam went for a chocolate delice with hazelnut ice cream.  After the previous day's ice cream, I thought she may have been 'chocolated' out, but no, she wolfed down every bit and declared it excellent.

I went for sticky toffee pudding and it was slightly disappointing.  I found it a bit stodgy and lacking in fruit.  I would have preferred a flatter, squarer piece that soaked up the toffee sauce a bit better, as the centre was a little dry. I would've also liked the option of custard or ice cream to accompany it.

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The picture doesn't really do justice to the last dessert. It was eggy bread with poached pears and chocolate sauce.  The waiter brought out a cauldron of chocolate sauce and my dad insisted on three scoops, which totally smothered the rest of the dessert. It was worth it though as he savoured every mouthful and loved the poached pears and chocolate.  I don't think i've seen him enjoy a dessert as much.

Whilst we were having dessert Richard Corrigan came out from the kitchen and said hello to a few diners and sat with one table.  He seemed a very friendly, affable guy and the restaurant seemed to reflect this ethos.

Overall, i'd rate it as a very good set menu lunch.  Excellent ingredients, well cooked and served in an unpretentious way.  I would definitely return next time I want to impress someone with a reasonable value Sunday lunch.  You can see why the place has received a number of plaudits and though there's still room for improvement, overall I left full and impressed.

 

The Icecreamists at Selfridges, Mayfair

I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so when I was at Selfridges recently for my Pierre Koffman visit I was intrigued to see the Icecreamists 'God Save the Cream' installation.

The Icecreamists claim to be 'Liberating the world one lick at a time' and 'Agents of Cool' and the pop up cafe certainly has a wow factor.  Dark walls with bright neon pink writing on the walls, over the top furniture and the Queen driving an ice cream van!

Such a cool (no pun intended) place needs a product to match and I took Grace the week after to see if the ice cream was as good as the place looks.

The menu, also in bright pink, has 16 flavours to choose from and a number of specials.  These range from an ice cream hot chocolate to a decadent selection of pink champagne ice lollies.  These come in at an eye watering £39.99!

On my first visit I stuck to the simple tub of up to three flavours for £4.99.

Narrowing my choice to three was tough, but with the servers allowing you a taste of them in advance I finally settled on chocolate, dulche de leche and a berry sorbet.  G went for liquorice, rose water and dulche de leche.

The quality of all them was superb: rich, creamy, full of flavour and with a velvety smooth texture.  We probably didn't choose the best combination as we both thought the dulche de leche was slightly over powered by the other two.

The portion didn't look the biggest, but due to the quality of the ice cream it was surprisingly filling - there were no ice crystals and very little air, which you tend to find in bad ice cream.

As soon as we finished we decided we must return before it closes on the 1st November. 

This I duly did with my parents, who've been down visiting from the North East. I persuaded my mum to share one of the ice cream cocktails and went for 'The Chocoholic'.  At £16.99 it was by far the most expensive ice cream i've ever had, but boy it was good.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, as the top hat it came in was about six inches deep and it was full of dark and white chocolate ice cream, fruit, whipped cream and hazelnuts.  On the side came a glass of warm dark chocolate sauce that just added to the indulgence.

I wish i'd taken a pic of my mum's face as she tucked into it, as I don't think i've ever seen her enjoy something so much. It took about 20 minutes to get through it, but every spoonful was an indulgent delight.

If you want to wow someone or have a taste for ice cream then clear your diary and get down there before it closes on the 1st November.