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Billingsgate Fish Market Visit

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Billingsgate Fish Market

Tuesday morning what should have been 16 of us were due to meet at the market for a guided tour of everything fishy. A few decided their beds were more inviting than an early trek across London to E14 but the majority of us were in white coats looking like doctors preparing to go on a hospital round.

We all met at Billingsgate Market Cookery School who were due to host us and show us around. At 6am when we all arrived the market had already been in full swing for a good few hours opening at 4 am and we were told that it closes down at around 7 to 7.30am ( other than Saturdays when it stops trading around 09.30am) so we needed to be quick if we wanted to see all of the sellers plying their trade. The market, whilst used by many commercial organisations (restaurants and the like) who may buy in bulk,  is also open to the public. The prices are generally half of those in traditional markets and fish mongers – this I can confirm as I usually buy my fish from Borough Market and it was clear the prices were approximately half of those charged there.

The market was not as big as I had imagined and other students who had been to other markets – specifically Tokyo being cited – commented that it was quite modest in comparison. Even so there was enough to see for a 90 minute visit and we were guided around with stops at many stalls to talk about the types of fish on offer and given advice on ensuring we understood freshness and what to look for when purchasing.

Of course there was a large array of seafood for sale as well as fish, and we inspected the Lobsters, Crabs, Prawns and all the different molluscs you could imagine. Little tips were proffered, like Lobsters with blue tails are from UK (probably Scotland) , Yellow tails were Canadian. It’s illegal in UK to sell Lobsters with Eggs but you can sell Canadian. However you would not want to buy with eggs as they are much heavier and the eggs are pretty useless other than for garnish. We were shown the difference between male and female crabs and advised there is a lot more white meat in males. Also where and how Crabs carry their eggs. You should never boil lobsters alive as it stresses them out ( surprise surprise!) so either kill them by stabbing the back of the head, or stun them by freezing them for 20 mins or so before boiling.

Skate Wing

We saw Skate Wings that still had their mottled skin on, which is not how we usually see them, and many sizes of Cod and other Cod family members. Lots of other varieties, including a Doctor fish which had a little scalpel along its body.

Some interesting throw away facts – Scallops are fascinating ! Some change sex as they mature, and some are “ hermaphrodites” in that they are both male and female in the same shell ! They also have upto a 100 eyes around their fringe or mantle.

Tilipia, whilst native to Africa and being the fourth most popular eaten fish in the USA, is farmed in Dalston in big baths ! Now that’s real hipster ! I wonder if they have beards and ride vintage bicycles whilst supping on craft beer ?

Another great discovery was the enormous chest of drawers at the end of the market that contained – wait for it- drawers upon drawers of live eels ! What a novel way of keeping them and one we were all fascinated and surprised by.

In close proximity to the eels were all the salted fish – Bacalhau- or salt cod to you and I, and many others such as haddock which is stained yellow (using turmeric) more for tradition than anything else. It did help to disguise a slightly older fish in days gone by but apparently now people just expect to see the yellow colour.

Also at the end of the market were all the frozen fish and it was explained to us that some of these are very high quality, having been caught and cooked at sea and frozen immediately on the boat, and thereafter, docking at the harbour with the freshest frozen fish possible.

We all enjoyed our morning at the Market and although it translated to a long day and some tired faces later on in the kitchens, I think we all learnt something new and hopefully were inspired to try our hands at cooking a more varied selection of fish and seafood dishes over the coming weeks and months.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 2 – Advanced Term

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This week started on the Monday with the beginnings of another Consommé. We are already suspicious of the fact that this terms Consommé will be last terms Soufflé wherein we ended up making 5 different styles and in a repetitive nature. Anyway this weeks Consomme would be Mushroom which would be served with pickled Hon Shimeji and Chervil – something we saw and tasted in a Demo last week, and personally I rather enjoyed. Monday we needed to make the base, being a mushroom broth, and Tuesday would be the clearing after infusing overnight.

We also tackled Gnocchi for the first time using baked potatoes and producing a Summer Vegetable medley that also included braised baby artichokes- the first time I had worked with them. Artichokes are a beautifully constructed vegetable and we were all admiring its qualities as we prepped them for service. 

However this was all Monday afternoon as we were cooking this week in the PM – Monday morning started with Wine, and we had tasting of 6 glasses starting at 10.30am whilst we studied Syrah, Grenache and Riesling. It’s always challenging starting the week in this way and the wines seemed to go straight to my head and I desperately needed some food before our afternoon cook as I was feeling sleepy and a bit woozy! Wines continue to be our “bete noire” and we are all anxious about the exam as there is so much to study, and each wine and grape variety is so similar to the next, sometimes with only very subtle differences. When you combine this with the fact we need to understand all the various world wine regions and comprehend how the appellations work, not only country to country, but within one country it can vary widely region to region – France you are to blame here big time ! Sacre Blu!

Tuesday morning most of our class had signed up for a trip to Billingsgate Fish Market where we had to be at 6am involving a 4am start for the majority of students. I will cover this in a separate post but you can imagine that was a long day for us all. Even so that afternoon we cleared our Broth and I think we all found it a little more difficult than the lemon jelly clearing as it was not so obvious when the crust was ready as it did not come away from the sides of the pan and did not rise like the liquid containing gelatine. Personally I think I took my broth off the heat too early as I thought we needed to do so immediately when it started steaming but I do not think my crust had adequately formed. Result- a good Consommé but not crystal clear, still tasted pretty awesome with the pickled mushrooms and chervil.

Many of our tasks this week involved 2 day preparations, starting on one day and finishing/serving the next. For examples making Madeleines – the mix on one day /baking the next, Creme Brûlée the same.

One thing for the shopping list – don’t tell the wife- is a blow torch as I had not used one before and my Creme brûlée suffered because of it. The taste of the brûlée itself was terrific and I managed to retain a great Vanilla taste but my top had bits of burnt sugar sitting alongside raw uncaramelised sugar. Maybe my topping was too thick also.

Our table of 4 also started curing a Salmon with beetroot and Orange which would not be served until Friday after curing over a 72 hour period.

Wednesday afternoon we utilised our newly gained Fish Market knowledge – HA HA – to assist in shucking Oysters – wow they are pushing the boat out money wise – and also deep fried them with some cod cheeks. Relatively easy and really tasty, with a citrus Mayo that we were allowed to make in the Magi rather than by hand. Our afternoon Demo introduced us to Puff Pastry, and we sampled a beautiful Beef Wellington and a brilliant individual Quail Pasty, think Cornish Pasty refined and utilising quail breasts. Inspired to do this at home !

Thursday and Friday the temperature in London was to hit an unusual high for the time of the year, 25/26 predicted, and we were to be in a Bread Demo all day Thursday with an all day cook making Puff Pastry on the Friday. We all know how temperature can affect the making of bread and pastry so this was to be challenging. Even more so for our teachers making the bread on Thursday whilst we just sat and sweltered watching them. They did produce some wonderfully different styles of bread which we got to taste in the afternoon after a food free morning. Kamut (an ancient grain ) produced some really tasty bread and an introduction to sourdough and the complication of “starters” – replacing traditional commercial yeast- was educational. Beetroot and Pumpkin bread should be banned from society !

Our full day cook on Friday had us working, rolling and folding our Puff Pastry (6 rolls and folds in/out of the fridge, and remember to count accurately) with the Air Con on at full blast to keep both us and our butter and pastry from melting. Somebody suggested I should stay in the fridge for the session and I could roll and fold within it, but thankfully such desperate measures were not needed. We made a Rye Bread that started with boiling lager and that rose and proved like a monster. Our dayalso involved our first attempt at domestic smoking, constructing our little smokers with tin foil and baking trays ( very Blue Peter) , and smoking mackerel Fillets (after we had filleted them ourselves of course) with Tea and Orange. The Mackerel, Rye bread and earlier prepared salmon was to be served Smorgasbord style with pickled Cucumbers and Horseradish Creme Fraiche.
It looked really impressive and I was happy with my food styling of this dish. I even managed to find something I can eat involving beetroot as the Salmon was really beautiful, both in terms of colour and taste, a shock for the Anti – beetroot League !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Puff Pastry was eventually to be used to make individual Pithiviers with an Artichoke and Green Olive filling which came out rather well and tasted great. I was happy with my first attempt at Puff especially knowing it is supposedly the most difficult pastry. But 180g of butter – really ! We get to try Puff again next week to make a Tarte Tatin so let’s see how that turns out.

I think all the students enjoyed this week and we are producing much better quality and tastier food than in previous terms – I guess that’s to be expected – but it’s satisfying when it actually happens as it’s you that has produced ut. Feeling more confident after this week – probably that will be completely shattered next week !

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Sellers – Merry Men Pop Up : This Diner not so Merry …..

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When Restaurant Story opened in Tooley Street, SE1 in 2013 I was hugely excited. Not only was Chef Tom Sellers riding high on the Hot List, but also the restaurant was being set up literally 3 minutes walk from my flat. When it received a Michelin Star within 6 months of opening I was also really pleased for Tom as I had already eaten there twice, and I was spreading the news about my new favourite local boasting that I was on trend and really in the know.

A few additional visits introducing other friends to the restaurant were hugely enjoyable and everyone I took also seemed to fall in love with it. Now it is time for Story to freshen up and presumably entertain a new look.  During this period of refurbishment Tom and his team have curated an “Event” which takes the form of a Banquet style Dinner in a space in Southwark street themed on Robin Hood And his Merry Men. Tickets for the evening were selling at £75 per head and went like hot cakes such is Mr.Sellers standing in the restaurant world.

Expectations were therefore high for my band of 4 attending Friday night, to the extent we were even considering donning  green tights to fit in with the Forest theme. Thank god we saw sense and did not ! Would not have been a pretty site. First impressions were a bit of a WOW factor as the upstairs setting had long tables set out with impressive candelabras, Antlers,  sheepskin rugs scattered around and shrubbery so abundant you felt you were expected to go tree climbing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onions and Apples were festooned around the place and the ambience was very exciting. We were a little early arriving and clearly the staff were still busying themselves in preparation, therefore I was not too perturbed in organising ourselves at this stage and approaching the bar area and organising our first drinks of the evening – a themed punch which contained Aperol,Pastis, Gin,milk of some kind and a grapefruit twist. £22 for a jug, and whilst a little sweet for my usual liking tasted quite pleasant and quite alcoholic. This had to be paid up front as apparently there was no method of toting up the drinks bill for each individual booking which I found a little strange and lacking in organisation, but OK we could let that slide.

Thereafter we sat at our table with no attention for the next 45 minutes other than the supply of a welcome drink, – Mead – another sweet offering. Again we were compelled to organise some more drinks at the bar ourselves, and sat wondering where the food was, where were the menus and indeed were disturbed by the the lack of wine menu too. All we had was a dish of butter and what looked like a pot of grain mustard to keep us company.

Suddenly a tray of bread arrived, which at least enabled us to sample the butter, which,by the way, was excellent. A waitress then finally showed some interest ( after we had stolen a wine menu from the couple next to us ) and we ordered an Italian Nebbiolo- Eugenia Bocchino 2015 which seemed quite expensive at £60, but the cheapest wine was £45 and most of the cheaper bottles had already been marked unavailable which also seemed odd. Cutting to the chase none of us liked the wine, it was extremely tannic, weak and quite unpleasant. It felt much too young. When we asked for an alternative all sorts of shenanigans ensued which resulted with me at the bar yet again being told by a young Italian female sommelier that all Nebbiolos were so tanic and we should have expected this taste, and this particular example was a best seller in Italy. She did not seem to appreciate we felt the wine was unpleasant – and for the quality, crazily overpriced – and even asked me to “cool down” when I was just reasonably explaining our dislike of the wine. I drink quite a lot of Italian wines including Nebbiolos and none had tasted this unpleasant , normally I am a fan hence I did not agree with her overview of the style.  Eventually she saw sense and agreed to take the wine back and offered us a Spanish Syrah for £45, which again was not on the menu as the featured bottle on the list was – wait for it – unavailable ! How can a wine list be so sold out and disorganised , and quite frankly so expensive with most wines around the £90 mark.

Not a good start to the evening and we had not seen or smelt a starter yet!

When food did eventually appear it was in the form of a large dish of “a fish in a sauce” which had been given to our neighbours with no explanation other than – Fish- and they were asked to take their share and pass it down to us. Now maybe some people would be happy with this style of dining but I get anxious about sharing plates even with best friends! I get concerned they will take more than their fair share of the best plates and be more generous on the not so appetising dishes. So what can you expect from strangers – and if you felt they had been greedy how do you tackle them ? You cannot start shovelling food off of their plate onto yours explaining that they need to weigh out their portion more accurately – or can you? Is this the done thing with sharing plates or has this sharing plates phenomenon in the restaurant world really gone too far now ? As one of my friends commented “ I feel like we are getting their sloppy seconds!”

Fish – useful description

The dish itself was probably smoked haddock in some kind of buttery cream sauce which was nothing special, but we did not have any idea as to its real ingredients die to the lack of menu and no word from the waiting staff other than FISH. Next up was something served up in a marrowbone, salty fish in a crumb of some sort.

Good. 20 minutes or so this style followed but with a whole array of meat dishes arriving more or less all at once with waiters giving some dishes to us directly some to our neighbours with no explanation other than “Lamb” or “ Guinea Fowl” or “Rabbit Pie”!

Were the waiters just not interested in explaining the dishes or had they not been properly briefed? I am guessing that they were all part time hired for this one event and maybe other than “Antonio” whom I recognised from STORY I am guessing none of them were part of the Sellers team. In any case I personally do not like the idea of food being plonked in front of me that I need to share with strangers, not have much idea as to what it is, and furthermore having no idea as to the number of dishes to expect making it difficult to pace your voraciousness. Lastly the dishes were nothing that special and heavily meat laden.

There was also a huge bowl of salad which was hardly touched being out of proportion to the rest of the food, and due to all dishes arriving like London Buses there was of course no room on the table, so we ended up balancing dishes on one another. Admittedly there were some hits, beef cheeks were falling apart due to the slow cook and had a nice depth of flavour and the rabbit pie was great comfort food.

After this massive intake of animals from the forest we were offered Carb rich desserts which were quite disappointing. A tiny carton of blackberries arrived to share giving us the sum total of 3 each – followed by custard and then 2 additions – brioche style bread and butter pudding and a pear tart which seemed to be on a bed of frangipani. Ice cream also arrived which we desperately tried to decipher- vanilla but with underlying taste of what – Mushroom or Beetroot ? Whatever, it was unpleasant.

My 3 lonely blackberries

Pear something…..

There it all ended with some tables seemingly in for the long haul and getting noisily drunk whilst we left somewhat underwhelmed by the whole experience. It was all a bit style over substance, with average food, expensive wine and uninterested serving staff. If this was Tom Sellers trying to make money whilst the main restaurant was being refurbished,  it was not exactly stealing from the rich and giving to the poor Robin Hood style, rather stealing from everyone to contribute to our brand new sleek and shiny new Restaurant. This could potentially damage the Story brand, and to be honest if I had never been to Story and this was my first experience of Toms food I do not think I would be racing to visit there. Friar Tuck would not have been amused !

Rating

Food – Warm Pan 2/5 (more personal care and attention required)

Service – As above

Decor – Very Hot Pan 4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tredwells – Not a Quiet Place !

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Our usual Band of four ended up in Tredwells after a recent visit to see the fantastic cinematic adventure that is “The Quiet Place ” . A highly original film, with a simple concept, but one that – especially in the second half of the film –  rapts up the tension, with hardly any respite, to the level of fingernails penetrating your best friends arm to bruise level ! I dare you to see it ! We certainly needed a drink after that !

Tredwells is a Marcus Waring venture close to Leicester Square (Seven Dials) opposite the infamous Stringfellows. Marcus will always have a special place in my heart as his restaurant in the Berkeley Hotel hosted my wedding Lunch  some 11 years ago. Tredwells is a lot less formal than his flagship restaurant, even so it boasts a Michelin Star, and this visit represented the second of mine within the last few months.

Upon entering there is a bar on the right running the length of the ground floor restaurant with seats available at the bar for even more casual dining. There are tables scattered around, all dark wood and white table clothes and some booths for parties of 4 or more. We were shown to the back of the restaurant to a very cosy looking booth and immediately felt very comfortable. Apparently – according to their website – it hosts live music on Sundays- and is quite a large space overall, comprising of 3 floors, including a lower ground floor that can accommodate upto 150 standing and 60 seated.

The menu is one of those that you scan through and feel like you would be happy with anything and everything, and after a quick discussion, and taking into consideration the time, we decided to bypass the starters (other than bread) and opt for Mains,  but with various Sides on order – a number of which had attracted our attention. We all felt we needed a drink after our nerves had been shredded at the Cinema and chose from Tredwells Selection, a Sicilian, cantina Volpi , Nero D’Avola which was, unusually, on tap, at £31 for a large Carafe. A good price and a decent wine, quite young and maybe not as powerful as I would have liked, but smooth and a little spice and fruit flavour. Easily drunk,so much so, we had to order another Carafe very shortly.

Food wise – our table soon filled up with the mains and Side dishes, and thankfully our table was large enough to accommodate all. My choice was Iberico Secreto Pork which was very unusual in its presentation arriving under a duvet of red radicchio sprinkled with White salted ricotta and using blood orange segments as little pillows. At first I was unsure as to the mix of tastes, the bitterness of the radicchio mingled with the saltiness of the cheese, and citrus cutting through from the Oranges. However the more I progressed into the meal the more I enjoyed its originality and I felt that actually this was an unusual and excellent dish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Mains sampled were the Creedy Carver Duck Breast with mushroom, Tamarind, Spelt And black garlic – good but a little salty and non existent mushroom flavour. 

Roasted Monkfish , Anchovy, Crispy Chicken Skin, and Asparagus was voted a 5 by its recipient, loving the saltiness of the chicken and anchovy with the beautifully cooked fleshy Monkfish.

 

 

 

Finally Gloucestershire lamb rack, chickpea, harissa, watercress and Creme fraiche. The Lamb had been prepared perfectly, a fantastic pink, great flavour, however the chickpea was adjudged a little dry as it came in a block which mystified my friend at first, not clear on its reason for being there and the style of its preparation. 

These Mains were accompanied by some great side dishes with highlights being the Lamb fat roasted Hispi cabbage, Smoked Potato and Gruyere croquettes and Truffled Mac and Cheese. Isn’t everything truffled these days ?

Hispi cabbage appears to be “de rigour” on most good restaurants menus at present but this was a punchy version having been roasted in meat fat and combining textures of chewy barley and crunchy hazelnuts on top. Very enjoyable.

The Mac and Cheese was luxuriously rich and you can never go wrong with croquettes !

Mains ranged in pricing from £18 to £33 (which was Halibut) And Sides all between £4-6.

Desserts wise the menu was quite extensive with 12 offerings and we chose a couple for sharing being the Salted Caramel soft serve with Honeycomb, and the Pump Street Chocolate Clementine and Pine Cream.

The soft serve was a bit like a glorified Mr.Whippy Tub – no bad thing- with broken chunks of Honeycomb scattered over it- more like retro comfort food than fine dining.

I do not know where Pump Street is or why this Chocolate ganache was named after it, but the taste was strong and dark and it went well with the fresh clementine purée – a bit like Clementine Humpty Dumptys perched on a chocolate wall. Could not get the pine taste in the cream, so this was maybe superfluous.

The service was very good and we felt well looked after even if the Sommeliers humour was lost on one of my French friends – I think lost in translation –  and the overall menu is comprehensive with enough attractive alternatives to entice you back to try other dishes you had no room for this time around.

Unlike the film experience we were quite loudly enjoying ourselves, and it was not out of place with the atmosphere of the restaurant – maybe being in the back helped – but certainly we would have been rapidly attracting the attention of many murderous aliens in the environment of the Quiet Place  !

Whilst a couple of things did not work, the overall quality and experience was very positive, and it would be interesting to experience the atmosphere here during a live music event. The bill came to £250 for 4 including 2 large carafes of wine, a glass of White and Water. Not cheap but not crazy money for the location and quality – I think we will be back !  Thank you Marcus.

Rating

Food 4.5 – Almost Blazingly Hot Pan 

Service 4.5 

Tredwells, 44 Upper St.Martins Lane,WC2H 9HY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A.Wong – its certainly All Right, not Wong !

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My Birthday treat was a visit to A.Wong – a High Class Chinese restaurant in Victoria that had been on my radar for some 6 months or so. Giles Coren of the Times had fawned over it and if he says it’s good who am I to disagree ! Other friends of mine had also been sending me photos of what they were eating – always a gastronomic pain in the stomach !

Andrew Wong has been one of the Hot Chefs in London over the past year or so, and this restaurant gained its first Michelin star in October 2017. It only takes 70 reservations in the evenings and 40 at lunch, and apparently can have upto 60 people on the waiting list even mid week. Mr.Wong is a busy man, presently soon to be opening his second restaurant in the City at the Bloomberg Centre. It will be larger, rumoured to accommodate 150 covers, and the concept will be a little more casual with faster moving food and clientele. In the meantime Andrew spends most of his life in Victoria and says ultimately,  even with the new location, Victoria will be his home.

Like many or most Chinese restaurants the decor in A.Wong is modest – think wood/ clean lines and a few brightly coloured chairs thrown here and there to break things up.

There exists a “Taste of China” Tasting menu for £75 and an A La Carte for the evenings. At lunch they focus on Dim Sum, whereas in the evening the only way to try the Dimsum is to order an A.Wong Dimsum basket which we promptly did. 2 of them to receive 3 pieces each. This included a wonderful Shangai steamed dumpling with ginger infused vinegar.

Shanghai dumpling – Eat it in one !

It simply exploded with flavour in your mouth with a broth bursting out of the delicate “pastry” as it literally disintegrated in your mouth – just don’t cut into it on the Steamer – Please ! You will lose all of its beautiful innards!

The other components of the basket were a Pork and Prawn Dumpling topped with Pork Crackling- can’t go wrong there in my book – and a clear shrimp dumpling with a citrus cloud ? I wondered what the cotton wool ball on top of it was supposed to be !

Next up we ordered a Crab Claw with cured scallop and wasabi from the snack menu (£9) which was a beautifully presented Crab Claw and on the side a clump of basically raw scallop in a spicy sauce, both of which were a hit.

Difficult to share the Crab Claw but somehow we managed. Lovely compacted crab meat with a crisp breadcrumb coating on the outside, which when cut into exposed the white crab meat inside.

As mains we selected the Garlic Steamed Lobster with Mung bean Noodles and Superior Soya which at £15 represented the most expensive Main dish. I did not get a look in here as my wife declared it was the softest lobster she could remember eating and quickly polished the lot off. In the meantime I had ordered Crispy Chilli caramelised, Beef Tartare And carrots.

Left – Crispy Beef – not what you maybe used to !

Right – Garlic Steamed Lobster – I did not get to taste !

You will be familiar with crispy chilli beef from your local Chinese, a glutinous – if not enjoyable – dish of sticky beef sticks ! This was a whole new ball game – almost like a light tempura surrounding the beef, only just crispy then, swimming around in the dish were its friends – petit brunoised tartare, crunchy carrots,and some yellow flowers – provenance unknown.

The 2 textures worked well together but was I missing a sauce of some kind ? Maybe ?

Another main course followed which I chose as it was on the tasting menu- Anhui province red braised fermented fish belly – upon arrival I established it was Cod fish belly. It was served with a little paintbrush and some sweet chilli sauce which we were told to paint onto the belly under the nasturtium leaves on top. Delicately prepared, with the cod difficult to pick up being so silky and soft. But delicious.

2 more courses followed before we could go on no more. The incredible looking “goldfish” dumplings with seared foie gras, crunchy bacon/ pork on top with chive flower oil, and finally a crab and seafood filled braised leave, shallot powder and cockles.

The goldfish looked too beautiful to eat and was the most instagramable dish so far. It actually contained minced prawn which when eaten with the melting foie gras and crunchy salty pork was one of the highlights of the menu for me.

Dont know about chive flower oil, I think it was lost amongst all the other strong tastes.

The seafood dish was also quite excellent and quite a large portion, but the braised leaves difficult to cut for sharing.                                                                                           Please don’t eat me sir ! please !

Could we do dessert – but of course , not 1 but 2 !  In fact there are only 3 desserts on the menu. We chose their iconic Tea smoked banana, nut crumble and slow cooked pineapple and chocolate and also the Coconut Water Ice , blackberries, Xinjiang mulberries yoghurt and Mochi. Wow that is a mouthful just to type ! The tea smoked banana involves a golden half sphere being melted by pouring on hot chocolate and is an impressive sight. However I could not understand where the tea came in and also was confused by the different textures on the plate. Maybe my taste buds or brain had given up on me by then !

 

Having said that I really enjoyed the refreshing Coconut Ice and my wife loved the Mochi hiding within. My palate was cleansed now and the ice and berries had woken my taste buds anew.

I have not mentioned drinks , we had chosen to bypass wine as the evening had turned Chilly, and preferred some warming Sake and therefore chose some kind of a Red Dragon branded liquid with Almond undertones (if I recall correctly)  but I am not the worlds greatest expert on Sake. Just know how to drink it !

A.Wong does not represent the Chinese food you will necessarily be familiar with but is fine dining haute cuisine excellent value Michelin starred quality cooking. With a couple of small exceptions I believe the food we enjoyed was the best Chinese I had experienced in London, but appreciate it is still Western styled and not representative of the food you would eat in China. But I have visited   China  – been there, seen that, done that, and I prefer this – and Victoria is that much closer  !

Rating

Food – Blazingly Hot Pan 5 

Service – Very Hot Pan  4 ( although our Waitress was helpful and efficient again experienced a long wait for the bill )

£150 for 2

A.Wong, 70 Wilton Road, Victoria, SW1V 1DE ( 5 mins walk from Victoria Station)

 

 

Advanced Term – Week 1 – only 9 to go !!!

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April 9th and Blue C are back in class (cooking in the mornings this first week) and with the knowledge that in 10 weeks time the Course is finished – bar exam week. It’s a bit frightening – a lot frightening actually ! Chatter on our WhatsApp group implied most people were not looking forward to their return – it appears 3 weeks off has tempered the enthusiasm of many ! There is still a feeling amongst many that we have no real idea what we will do at the end of the term- some of us have even told the Teachers we will back again in September to start off from scratch all over again as we don’t want to be away from School !

However here we all are starting the final term – with the exception of one student still sunning themselves on the beach- much to the chagrin of others ! But first day was a bit of a breeze. We had all been forearmed with recipes and a brief time plan at the end of the last term, and our task was to prepare various Chinese specialties as a table of 4. We drew lots to determine which dish each student would tackle and I found myself with responsibility for Bao Buns which was quite fun. Between us we also produced some awesome sticky ribs and various other dumplings,Gyoza and Wontons. The afternoon consisted of Champagne tasting – 6 glasses – so we all went home rather happy on the Monday !

The rest of the week involved some new tasks and skills but many building on stuff we had learnt during the intermediate term. We made a Mustard Beurre Blanc which was similar to Hollandaise and involved more smoked haddock and poached eggs.

Teacher thought it was a shame my egg had burst – No I insisted I did it on purpose to make it more Instagramable ! He thought I was kidding, then said he felt cheated not being able to burst the egg himself ! 😂😂😂

We boned a quail which was similar to the chicken deboning last term but as you can imagine a little more fiddly due to its size. This exercise was amusing for me. I had seen a YouTube video from Australia demonstrating the Quail deboning which started off using scissors to cut out the backbone. When I was spotted doing this I was descended upon quickly to stop me “spatchcocking” the bird.

Stuffed Quail with Spinach and Chorizo.

When I explained that it would work I was frowned upon at first, but I insisted continuing and my end result was almost perfect. There is always more than one way to get to the end result in cooking – especially in filleting, deboning etc – and this was a good demonstration of same as my method appeared to be quicker than the rest of the class. Polenta was also on the menu and I seemed to be the only one who had prepared Polenta at home. So much so I was guiding my table on the cooking and was known as the “Polenta Whisperer” fat lot of good that did! One of my Polenta students got a better mark than I !!!

We all had terrific fun making a Lemon Jelly. It does not sound exciting but this was an exercise of pure Alchemy, or to give it its correct cooking terminology “Clearing”. The first day involved simply making the Lemon Syrup with high quality Sicilian Lemons but the second day is when magic happened.

We crushed egg shells and frothed them with egg whites and added this to the lemon syrup. Heated it up and whisked like crazy for around 6/7 minutes until the liquid started steaming and then rotated the pan on the hob to control the ever expanding crust. 

This we boiled twice and then filtered it through kitchen paper and sieve,  ending up with a crystal clear liquid to be used in 3 stages in a Dariole to magically suspend a strawberry in mid Jelly ! And this day was my birthday ! How many people end up making suspended strawberries in Lemon jelly on their birthday !

Capturing the clear liquid

After moving in and out of the fridge to gradually set up the jelly in layers, we ended up with a clear Lemon Jelly with a magnified Strawberry sitting snugly in the middle of it – we all were very excited and pleased with ourselves !

 

 

Lastly on Friday we made a Boudin Blanc – A French Sausage – that necessitated being piped into a 2 metre long pigs intestine. Unsurprisingly endless innuendo ensued and people were effectively allowed to show their skills in slipping extremely long condoms on to piping nozzles- great way to end the first week back !

2 metres of what !?

 

 

 

The never ending               Story – I mean Sausage !

 

The Demonstrations for the week were all clearly a step up from the previous term and gave us some insight as to what we will be cooking over the coming weeks. Assiette of rabbit was fascinating and we were shown sweetbreads (which is a personal favourite of mine ) and of which I am no stranger to preparing. An incredible Vegetable sides Demo got us to think about the products which often take up 75% of your plate in a restaurant, this included a decadent Potato Fondant and introduction to an Espuna Gun that produces Foams by using Nitric Acid – that was a new one for all of us. Consommés, Essences and Jus were all on the menu – we are getting into Masterchef territory, but are we ready for it ?

How do you FoodStyle a can Of Heinz Tomato Soup?

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Last week we were given a list of food that would be available for styling and photography for the next instalment of our Food Styling course at Leiths. It was a little uninspiring to say the least – Ice Cream, Tomato Soup, Granola and a Hamburger. We were told there would be little in terms of props and we should consider how best to position/assemble the food for our photograph that should entice the viewer to want to eat the product involved. We were expected to research a little and look elsewhere to see how these foods are depicted in their most tantalising form possible – and of course I started to think about it on the way to the class from the pub. A 10 minute walk – now that’s preparation !

Basically the set up was that one kitchen was available with 4 workstations,  with each of the 4 products on one station, and we were to take it in turns with 4/5 of us around the bench for 20 minutes on each product. No real advice was being given and we were basically left to our own devices. My first port of call was Ice Cream followed by Granola. Whilst a few bowls were available with cutlery little else was there to add to the picture. There was some fruit available with the Ice Cream, and Yoghurt and Nuts with a few different types of Granola on the next table.

After an initial complete blank on what to do next I set to work and saw that most people were trying to photograph their concoction in the bowl on the chopping board at the work station. I decided there was better light in the Dining Room next door, which also gave a few more options on surfaces and natural props IE a stray glass water jug etc.

I was not entirely excited by my results on these first 2 products,  but tried to ensure there was enough interest going on in the photograph outside of whatever vehicle was actually holding the food, using blur on the Ice Cream to ensure the viewer was focused on the main event ! Here are the results :

I then moved on to Soup – not just Soup – but Heinz Tomato Soup ! I was already thinking about Campbell’s Soup Tins and Andy Warhol, thinking the Tins themselves maybe more interesting than the product it was holding – especially as there only a few simple white bowls available. I noticed there were a few herbs, bread and wooden boards available as props, but then suddenly – Inspiration ! The next table had little aluminium tins – in the form of miniature buckets – available as props,  the type which are usually used to put French Fries in for serving, or alternatively condiments. I thought if I grabbed a few of those and filled them with Soup this would make a more original photo.

I played with various ideas before coming up with the main picture above-  which I must admit I was quite proud of – especially bearing in mind my lack of preparation and the lack of possibilities regards props. To give an idea of the process involved to arrive at the final picture here are a few earlier test photos that helped lead me in the right direction :

 

The photo above with the stripes as a surface was actually a Leiths apron which I stole and spread out on the bench as a tablecloth ! I think the final photo is the best and works with the close cropping and just a little of the wooden board peeking through at the bottom !

So what you ask happened to the Hamburger !? Well firstly you had to fry it and dress it with the usual “ Hamburgery “ condiments. All fine. Then my photos were terrible as I stupidly fried the bread roll and this flattened it and it went out of shape. By then I was also hungry having had a few pints in the pub and no dinner, so I decided the best course of action was to cut my losses and just eat it ! Needs must, and food styling is exhausting work giving you a huge appetite ! 😂

So that was the end of the styling class and also represented the last evening course, with only the professional shoot scheduled this weekend to conclude the Course. Overall I was underwhelmed by the sparse content of the course and lack of one to one critique and advice. I felt you were largely left to do your own thing and only received any form of individual tuition if you chased the Teacher around insisting on feedback – not what you would expect for the cost of the course. The photographer who attended on the third evening did not engage very much with the students and even appeared not to know much about some of the photos and techniques we were questioning him about. Hence this weekend I have actually cancelled my scheduled shoot as I do not wish to spend 4 hours away from home to receive one photo on food I have had to prepare and style. I have a good enough knowledge of my Camera to do this at home Myself, and time is precious with many other homework assignments connected with the main Leiths Diploma Course which require fulfilling presently. I will be contacting Leiths to provide them with my thoughts – and speaking to other students attending – it appears this is the underlying feeling of most involved.

I did learn a little on the 6 week course – and hopefully my photos show this – but I shall continue any further food styling at home, and of course, the eating of any food due to be photographed, but hopefully in the correct order ! Photo Eat not Eat – Photo. 🤔

 

 

Duck and Waffle Local – Waffled Out !

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More often than not we are a group of four friends that visit various restaurants, concerts,shows and events etc and it regularly falls to me to organise such events. Be it the original recommendation or suggestion of a Concert/show/Restaurant through to the purchasing of the tickets. The most complicated issue is usually syncing our dairies to determine a date we can all make it as we all have other life commitments, whether they be work, family or others to take account of. A recent example of this was one of us trying to organise a one week holiday recently and complaining that there was not one clear 7 day period in her diary over the next 3 months that she could find where there was no event already booked. Therefore the only way to proceed with a holiday would involve her having to miss out on one of our forthcoming reserved nights out. This was not necessarily a criticism- almost the opposite- in that I have managed to fill our diaries with a plethora of interesting events over the coming months.

Being the designated Entertainment officer comes with responsibilities and unsurprisingly requires being relatively well organised. Last night was one of those times wherein my organisation went awry and the panic button had to be hit. In short I had told everybody we were attending a show at the Globe Theatre on the Southbank at 19.30 and had booked a restaurant close by to coincide with the end of the show. At 18.50 I was leaving home to attend this event when I realised I had not printed off the tickets. Found the e-tickets on my phone, sent them to print, and as I stood there viewing them spewing out of the printer I realised that in fact they were for a performance a week later, and realised the show I thought we were to see a week later WAS, IN FACT, TONIGHT !  (Emma Rices quite brilliant, emotional and evocative Brief Encounter) It was of course in a completely different location, at The Empire Cinema, Haymarket. Panic ensued with urgent texts being sent out followed by phone calls to divert everyone en route to the correct location. Cutting a long story short , miraculously we all managed to arrive within a minute or so before the show started, all a little stressed out, and one of us having had to make a dash in killer heels from the nearest underground, whilst another was diverting an Uber and also clambering out of the car when it became stuck in traffic to sprint the last few hundred meters. My friends were extremely thankful for my small screw up…..

What this has to do with Duck and Waffle Local ? Well it explains how we found ourselves in the Haymarket at 9.15, after the show, without a restaurant booking and feeling extremely hungry for a steak or similar as quickly as possible. Piling into the restaurant (which was a few doors down from the Cinema) we were told a table would be available within 5 minutes and we should grab a drink at the bar and we would be called over imminently. We all needed a drink, so there were no arguements there.

What caught our attention immediately were the speedy cocktails and wines which they had available on tap! These included one of my favs, or close to it, namely Duck and Stormy ( see what they did there?) upon arrival it was not quite what I had hoped for, and involved a light instead of dark rum with added coconut, but being somewhat parched I made quick work of this and were then guided to a table by our waitress – the lovely and so helpful Lucy.

The menu is apparently a casual take on some of their iconic dishes from the main restaurant located in Heron Tower in the City. The conception of this relatively new location was to do away with the 2 month waiting list at HQ and have a fast and quality restaurant experience based on their love affair with the Duck.

It certainly has many Duck orientated offerings,including, on the starters, dry fried Duck tongues with Sichuan spices £5 and a duck jam doughnut for £7. Unfortunately we skipped all starters on this visit and went straight to mains as a quick and large intake of Carbs were a priority for us all.

I felt I had to partake in their iconic Duck and Waffle dish which involves Confit duck leg, fried duck egg and a mustard and maple syrup, of course on top of a waffle. 

Independantly each part of this dish were more than acceptable, albeit not the best duck confit I have experienced, but this combination is a little sweet and sickly and a waffle as a main does not work for me. I think it’s a very American idea and maybe our transatlantic friends like this combination ( I am sure Trump has one or two every night in bed whilst watching his 100 TVs) but it was not something I will be ordering again !

Other mains ordered included the Duck Burger which also involved duck leg – crispy this time – crushed noodles,miso mayonnaise and spiced slaw. These seem to have gone down well ( albeit with a question mark over the inclusion of noodles) with lots of rosemary dusted duck fat chips, which I was also stealing in preference to my main course as the chips were indeed very good.

A scotch rib eye with grilled chicory, marmite hollandaise, shallot crumble and watercress completed our mains. This was ordered rare and was voted as quite excellent and exactly prepared to order. The mayonnaise lived up to Marmites usual standard of being loved or hated – in this case hated. Tasted very yeasty and ruined what could have been an enjoyable mayonnaise, and not something you would want to pollute your RibEye with.

This came with a side order of grilled tenderstem broccoli with chilli garlic and lemon Creme fraiche which very well seasoned and had a good crunch to it. 

We washed all this down with a couple of bottles of Peirano Estate 2014 Six Clones Merlot from California. This was recommended by Lucy and was 100% merlot grape, a bright ruby red with hints of cherry, vanilla and spice and was enjoyed by all. Retailing here at £55 – one of the most expensive wines on a very short list.

Desserts – we were unsure what to order – only three choices, so we were told they would prepare a sharing dessert for us. This basically involved two plates of Waffles – one with Vanilla fudge and salted caramel , the other with banana,peanut butter, strawberry and Chantilly Cream. 2 Elvis inspired heart attacks on a plate and not too different to what you might experience from a waffle stand on Oxford Street. Ok if you like that sort of thing ! Admittedly we managed to more or less polish off all between the 4 of us, but by then we were well and truly waffled out !

The bill for 4 came to £250 but as mentioned above it involved 2 quite expensive bottles of wine and a few cocktails – all in all it was not bad value. I would not rush back to experience their signature dish, but the Steak was highly rated and the service was quick, helpful, lively and friendly. Lucy even came to say goodbye as she was going off shift. Not a bad experience,as a walk in,when you have totally screwed up arrangements for the evening, and me, personally, trying to recover a  situation I had totally d**ked up !

Rating –

Food –  Hot Pan 3/5

Service – Blazingly Hot Pan 5/5 ( thank you Lucy) 

Duck and Waffle Local, 52 Haymarket, St. James Market, SW1Y 4RP.

Les 110 De Taillevent – 110 Green Bottles hanging on the wall !

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A couple of my very best friends have been badgering me to visit this restaurant for a year or so and realised the only way to ensure I would pay a visit was to book it and take me. Hence I found myself in this very traditional English style building, just off Cavendish Square – once a Coutts and Co Bank – on a Friday evening with three good friends to determine what all the fuss was about.

The restaurant calls itself a Brasserie and is the London offshoot of a well established 2 Michelin star Restaurant in Paris (named Le Taillevent) which apparently was the inspiration for the film Ratatouille. The claim to fame in the London branch is that it has 110 wines to try by the glass that compares to the average “fancy” restaurant offering of on average around 6. It also prides itself on pairing wines with the food, and the menu itself is a jigsaw of food listings which can then be paired with a choice of 4 different wines in different price brackets ranging from around £8 a glass to in excess of £20 enabling you to very much choose the exclusivity or rarity of the wine you wish to enjoy with your food.

It is quite an original concept and to my knowledge nothing else in London can compete with such an offering. To overcome this daunting but impressive looking menu – which would involve long decision making processes – 2 of our party( myself included) decided to opt for the Tasting Menu (£59) with pairing wines at an additional £45. The other 2 present went off piste and chose their own wines. So we had a situation with the 2 Brits present doing preordained Tasting – we cannot be bothered to choose the wines – and my 2 French friends doing their own thing – what this says about the respective Nationalities I am unsure, other than us Brits know nothing about wine and prefer to leave it the experts, and our friends from across the Channel apparently do!

To the food – as mentioned above we opted for the tasting menu which on the face it looked exceptional value bearing in mind we would enjoy 4 Courses followed by 2 desserts.

The first offering were some beautifully light cheese gougeres that almost needed to be tethered to the serving plate to stop them gravitating to the ceiling they were so light.

This was followed by the first course on the tasting menu being a very seasonal pea veloute which arrived as bright green tiny spheres accompanied by a few girrolles, baby gem and pea shoots with a little pecorino ravioli balanced in the middle, with the vibrant,almost kryptonite, pea veloute poured in at the table. I love a good pea – very underrated when at their seasonal prime – and this was a fantastic concoction, sweet tiny balls of joy with a little bit of hidden hazelnut somewhere inside to give a crunch and change in texture.

Next up was the restaurants most iconic dish, that of Spelt Lobster Risotto. Again we had waiters pouring the final accompaniment at the table, this time being an earthy lobster bisque which gave the dish a lot of punch and depth of flavour. The spelt had a lovely chewiness to it and the lobster claw floating in the middle was sweet and the whole dish came together perfectly.

This was followed by Scottish Cod with steamed broccoli, yuzu and a Beurre Blanc. A tiny portion of the B.B. was poured out on the side of the plate by the waiter, upon him disappearing we all emptied out the pot that had been left on the side onto our plates – who does not want a full portion of beurre blanc – especially when it was this good. There was a wonderful “zingy” Strong citrus flavour coming from the Yuzu, and the Cod – it appeared to be cooked but not cooked. Almost translucent- not a good sign for fish cooking- falling apart and incredibly delicate and gorgeous. On enquiringly on the cooking method, it was, as I suspected, poached, but to my surprise in buttermilk. Outstanding.

The final savoury Course was a Surf and Turf which always worries me – I don’t usually enjoy the 2 on the same plate together – but I need not have been concerned. This was Veal rump that was coupled with langoustine, one separately on the side, and strangely enough one langoustine in the centre of the veal too – they cannot have been cooked together like that ? The langoustine was meltingly soft and I would have thought only took 1 minute or so to prepare hence my question of preparation together.  Interestingly enough a langoustine bisque also mingled on the plate with a Veal jus – it was surf and turf on a another level. We had a brassica element to the plate here too, namely small cuts of cauliflower sitting on a cauliflower purée that was infused with vanilla. I am not a huge cauliflower fan but the vanilla hit and the crunchiness of the roasted or pan fried cauliflower with the soft purée also was a hit. Cauliflower seems to be making a huge comeback presently and is being prepared in all sorts of inventive ways – I could be becoming a fan !

 


 

Wines – I have not mentioned the Wine but it involved a very original selection wherein our Sommelier was enjoying playing tricks with us and getting us to blind taste some. We had a wonderfully light red 2014 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre with the cod, and a Moroccan 2012 Syrah produced by French wine makers Thalvin and Graillot with the Veal which none of us could get close to on a blind taste and I would defy anyone ! Closest we got to was South African.

Desserts – first up was Mandarin which came with pistachio and vanilla, gold leaf on top,  and a sort of mandarin soup to go with it. We were told to smash the mandarin immediately and to get all of the tastes together which we did not need to be asked twice to do.

This was followed by a chocolate dessert that involved peanut caramelia, a cocoa sorbet and a light shard of chocolate that disintegrated upon touch. Effectively this was a high quality chocolate peanut magnum, but I was always a fan of those, so enjoying a higher quality version worked for me.

By now all of us were feeling somewhat overindulged, the portion sizes for such a tasting menu were quite generous and we were struggling to finish our magnums. I would say this is one if the best value tasting menus I am aware of in London presently, especially when lined up against Simon Rogan at Roganic and the like. The quality of every dish was exceptional and if you do not go for the wine pairing you are coming away having experienced 6 amazing dishes for less than £10 a plate – in Central London !

The service was also spot on, not too intrusive, but there when it was needed, and this helped to establish a relaxed atmosphere rather than what potentially could be a stuffy location.

I would highly recommend this location and intend to visit again soon to try the A La Carte  offerings. This was a case where I should have listened to my friends earlier, maybe there are trendier spots,and a lot more recent openings to try out, but Taillevent is offering modern/classic perfectly prepared food at extremely competitive prices. Faultless.

Rating :

Food – Blazingly Hot Pan

Service – Blazingly Hot Pan 

Les 110 de Taillevent, 16 Cavendish Square, Marylebone,W1G 9DD.

 

 

I made Croissants !

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Today I attended a 3 hour baking course at Bread Ahead in Borough Market which was basically a Croissant workshop.

To make proper Croissants – or so I learnt today – you are involved in a 2 day process. First day you need to make the dough which needs to rest in the fridge for at least 8 hours IE overnight. Only this lengthy period will give you the acidity in the dough that you need to make a proper croissant . This base dough is a mix of 500g strong plain flour, 12g of fine sea salt, 55g of caster sugar,40g of softened butter,30g of fresh yeast,140g of full fat milk and 140g of water.

Due to the fact that this was only a 3 hour class we were all provided with a base that had been made the night before (using the above ingredients)  and we started working from this position.

So we were basically rolling and folding – akin to making flaky pastry – I do not intend to give the full process here ,  but from the pictures below I hope you get the idea:

Pastry rolled out and butter placed in the centre

3 x Folds performed

 

Sectioning  the pastry into long triangles ready for rolling and then into shape before proving

Baking !!! Hurrah !

 

Ok this course was £80 for 3 hours, so from one point of view it was the most expensive Croissant I have ever eaten – £6.66 per Croissant – but it was a good fun experience and Manuel also treated us to Pain au Raison and Pain au Chicolate and he was brilliant, funny,amusing and educational all at the same time.

And the fact that he decided my lamination was best in class has nothing to do with the fact that I thought he was a brilliant teacher ! (I also did not let on I was a Leiths student and a should know better, albeit I admitted I had made flaky pastry before which nobody else owned up to 😂😉)

So my 12 Croissants were a hit and now the challenge is to make them at home over a 2 day period to see if I can replicate the taste and the lamination. But first I need to eat 12 Croissants as I am not sure I can handle 24 going forward 👍…..