Archives for category: Food

Sweet Streets of Food

March 27, 2014 //

When I travel I like to plot my list of food shops to visit on a map so that I can focus my energies in the right areas. You generally find that there are some key streets or areas that become the focus for great food places and once you wander around you find others to inspire as well.

In London, my favourite is Marylebone High Street, closely followed by Columbia Road on a Sunday. It’s Abbot Kinney in LA, La Boqueria in Barcelona and a tour of the vineyards off the beaten track in Cape Town. You get the idea.

This weekend, we were at lunching at friends who live in Clapham and it’s not generally an area I know well. But I have read about many places that seem to centre around Northcote Road and my cake-making crony was waxing lyrical about a new patisserie that had opened on her doorstep, so I went to investigate before lunch. She was right – this is one to add to your food discoveries.

Firstly, all the craft trades are well represented on the Northcote Road, with butchers (Dove & Hennessy’s), bakers (Breadstall) and cheesemongers (Hamish Johnston) all doing a great job along with the historic market which dates back to the 1860’s. But more interestingly is the fact that many new concepts are launched here. The original Jamie Oliver’s Recipease was created nearby on St John’s Road and Franco Manca is a centrally situated serving up their signature sourdough pizzas which was the first outpost of the original Brixton Village pizzeria.

Queuing for the marvellous meringues

The new place to discover is Aux Merveilleux de Fred. You can read about the history of these creations on their website, but needless to say, there is a very good reason why they translate into ‘wonderful’. The concept originated in Lille and now has two outlets in London, the second one here almost on the doorstep of my friend’s house! Here you have two perfect meringues bound together with cream and coated into a perfect ball of sweetness that seem to be incredibly popular, if you note the queue of people waiting to pay £1.70 for a mouthful of meringue. They are created in front of the customer and make the most perfect gift with beautiful boxes just like all the best French patisseries.

Les Merveilleux assembled front of house for all to see

A wonderful meringue, made at home

Luckily enough, my friend is in her own right an award winning cake maker and she told me very clearly not to buy anything from there as she had made her own, so after an indulgent long lunch we were treated to her version which disappeared in a melting moment. When you are as talented as she is, you too would conclude that you could do it yourself for a much better price, but my skills are not in that league, so know that you can find Fred’s on the Northcote Road or in South Kensington!

These meringues are only one of a few French patisserie outlets that have crept over the pond recently. The other one I have visited in the past weeks is La Patisserie des Reves at the top of Marylebone High Street (my fave – remember). This is an impressive shop with bold domes of patisserie screaming from the central table, although I have it on good authority that the pastries are not baked fresh, but only baked off, so not as wonderful as their Parisian counterparts.

Clever domes of patisserie grace the central table here

Nevertheless, they are pretty impressive and sit alongside the revival of doughnuts, the cronut imposters, the macarons and all the other classic French pastries that have been inspired by our renewed interest in baking. Thanks Mary Berry. We like this fashion and look forward to ever more concepts travelling across the channel.

A dome of Tarte Tatin

Tags Abbot Kinney, Aux Merveilleux de Fred, Franco Manca, Hamish Johnston, La Boqueria, La Patisserie des Reves, Marylebone High Street, Northcote Road, Recipease

Categories Food, Gifting, Retail

Escape to Cape Town

March 2, 2014 //

Clifton Beach, Cape Town

I made my annual pilgrimage to Cape Town as a last minute trip this year. It is always great to escape the UK weather and given the recent rain, it was fantastic to find an opportunity to get away between my other commitments and forget the real world for a short while.

It’s not just the weather that gets me on that 12 hour flight. The first reason to go is that it feels like home from home to me and that’s all down to having the most fabulous friends there who welcome me into their place with open arms. And I realised more than ever this year that they share my outlook, my way of life and my interests. We may not see each other for a year and may not even make much contact over that year but as soon as I step over the doorstep, it is as if that year in between was yesterday. That’s the best sign of friendship I can think of.

Every year I am interested to see what is new. And this year, Cape Town is the World Design Capital following in the footsteps of cities such as Turin, Helsinki and Seoul. So my expectations of this great city were high … and it didn’t disappoint. With design front of mind, I discovered Weylandts this year. I can’t figure out why I have never been there before and was pleased to find some fabulous lights for my new home. You really can’t beat the prices with the exchange rate more than ever in my favour, and the South African designs were spot on. This multi storey warehouse of beautiful stuff is well worth visiting.

It got me thinking about just why this city is so inspiring. I think it is embedded in the fact that South Africans are just so straight up and honest. Some people find that difficult to relate to but in the retail and food world, it means that you get a very true experience that is what it needs to be without having to try too hard. And because the country is so vast and isolated from others (unlike Europe, for example) businesses just get on with doing what they want to do with creativity and purpose. Finally, there is more of a culture of support than I see in other places. When a new young someone wants to put an idea into practice, they get encouragement and help rather than a queue of people hurling cynicism or trying to knock them back. It all adds up to lots of innovation and passion that translates directly to the consumer.

The big explosion over the past two years has been in coffee which I will talk about next time. So what else is there to report back on?

Firstly – Karen Dudley. She has been fronting her Kitchen for a few years now which was the restaurant of choice for Michelle Obama when she visited Cape Town. Given Karen’s philosophy and food, you can understand why. It certainly isn’t on the usual tourist path of restaurants but it is in the trendy Woodstock area so not too far off the beaten track. In the past year, Karen has published her second cookbook “Another Week in the Kitchen” and opened The Dining Room in the adjacent building.

Trolley service!

We visited for dinner and had a lovely meal hosted by the chef herself. As with her first place, it is as if you are in Karen’s home eating whatever she has prepared that day. The decor is eclectic with mismatched cutlery, plates and funky decorations. The menu is short with starters served from a trolley, a choice of two mains and desserts. The team are incredibly attentive and Karen herself just oozes interest and joy in the food that she offers.

Cosy cafe at Schoon de Companje

Coffee roasting

Lovely produce section

Another of my favourites from last year has had a makeover. Set in Stellenbosch, Schoon de Companje is the next iteration of a great bakery and cafe that I saw last year. Now the space has expanded to include butchery, coffee roasting, wines, ice cream making and produce in addition to the bakery and cafe. The whole atmosphere is cosy and relaxed with natural wood, lovely displays and a simple menu. It’s definitely worth a trip on the way to exploring the vineyards in the area.

The other discovery was a new market at the city farm in Oranjezicht. It may be small but I can see this one growing, if you pardon the pun. The stall holders focus on local produce along with some home made delicacies. It seems there is a lot of focus on gluten free, carb free and raw foods in Cape Town at the mo and here you will find people doing a good job of making yummy healthy treats as well as a central braai for tasty lunchtime eats.

Craft brewing, hand bottled and all at the back of a spacious bar and restaurant

The final place to report back on in this post is the Taproom. Once again, this new place is to be found in the Woodstock area which is most definitely the area to discover when you are out there. Here they are hand bottling home made craft beer and serving a short menu to accompany the Devils Peak liquid. It was just a very good example of the beer fashion with production there on site and open to be seen by all who visit, not as a theme park but as a real brewers. Once again it is straight forward, simple and yummy.

Tags Cape Town, Devils Peak, Karen Dudley, Schoon de Companje, Taproom, Weylandts, World Design Capital

Categories Design, Food, Restaurants, Retail, South Africa

Vending is trending

February 21, 2014 //

It seems that the vending revolution continues apace. I wrote about the Sprinkles cupcake ATM way back in March 2012 and observed the progression a year later. So it seems about time to ponder the same topic again just as there is news of even more interesting products entering the vending arena.

I was reading about the Canadians at the Winter Olympics in Sochi who seem to have got around the whole issue of limited alcohol imposed at the event. Set up in the Canadian Olympic House is a beer machine from Molson Canadian. This bright red vending machine is a great marketing stunt which only serves beer to those holding a Canadian passport. You simply swipe your passport and the fridge door opens up. Many are hailing it as the greatest thing at this year’s Winter Olympics, which is a bit of a stretch for me, but certainly it is a fun stunt.

The last drinks fridge that caught press attention that I remember was the raw milk dispenser set up by Hook & Son at Selfridges. Sadly with all the rules and regulations surrounding the sale of raw milk, this was stopped by the FSA shortly after its installation and thankfully the prosecution of both parties has now been dropped. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see a natural healthy product handled so well by such a great retailer as Selfridges. What a shame it wasn’t able to carry on for longer.

The demand for healthier options is growing and thus it is where the market is progressing, especially through innovative vending companies like HUMAN (Help Unite Mankind And Nutrition) healthy vending. Last year, they were listed as the 7th fastest growing company in Los Angeles by the LA Business Journal. Their machines use a conveyer belt dispenser, as opposed to the more traditional coil, which allows them to serve a wider variety of product and they focus on healthier choices such as protein bars, shakes, trail mix, teas and milk with many organic products amongst the mix. Many of their machines are equipped with LCD screens which are used to promote the health benefits or for advertising and they are all more efficient ensuring up to 50% energy savings. There are currently about 2000 machines in circulation across the USA with a huge expansion plan on the way across all sorts of sectors but the really interesting thing is how they have appealed to schools and will hopefully transform the way that our kids eat. Oh, and by the way, the company donates 10% of their profits to a charitable arm that supports the fight against the causes of obesity and malnutrition. No wonder both the CEO, Sean Kelly, and the company are receiving praise and getting recognised by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine amongst others.

I hope the franchise comes to the UK soon. It is a great way of developing the vending concept to improve the food offer in many, many places.

Tags ATM, healthy vending, Hook & Son, Molson Canadian fridge, raw milk, vending machines

Categories Food, Marketing

Crazy for ketchup

January 21, 2014 //

You know the joke… from Pulp Fiction…

“Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, squishes him… and says, catch up!” – Mia Wallace [Uma Thurman]

Ember Yard smoked Basque beef burger with idiazabal and chorizo ketchup

I was reminded of it this week because there is clearly a ketchup revolution going on. It started with the Ben Tish’s chorizo ketchup before Christmas which literally transformed a rather basic burger into something oh so much better. That then got me thinking about where else I had an alternative ketchup moment. It has certainly featured strongly on Masterchef the Professionals menus with broccoli ketchup created for the UK show this season and shrimp tomato ketchup on the Australian version. Both were made at the mystery box stage when the contents were from the waste bin. It just goes to show how cost effective such a relish can be. Then I went back to our meal at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and realised that ketchup features strongly on his menu, with both cockle ketchup on the fish main and also mushroom ketchup accompanying all his steaks.

Tomato ketchup started life neither as ketchup nor from tomatoes. In fact it was a Chinese pickled fish sauce called ketsiap which then evolved through Malaysia into ketchap before landing some 200 years or so later into the Heinz version we know of today. The meaty mushroom ketchup is probably more true to the original concept and I guess that’s why Heston chose to focus on that at Dinner which harks back to an historic 18th century recipe. It reminds me of a somewhat senior colleague I used to work with who always had a bottle to accompany every single meal he ate, but I guess under Heston it can be brought back into the 21st century.

As if to prove the point, the latest version I tasted was this weekend when we tried the somewhat underwhelming Foxlow restaurant. It is fascinating to wonder why we didn’t get excited about this place. The menu is interesting, the drinks creative, the staff friendly enough and the decor was OK, but somehow the whole experience didn’t connect.

But what did wow was the kimchi ketchup. This little pot of perfection certainly had a kick and was the ideal accompaniment to cut through the fatty meat-centric mains. Talk about finding a ketchup that hits the spot of today’s trends.

Tags Ben Tish, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Ember Yard, Foxlow, kimchi ketchup, mushroom ketchup, tomato ketchup

Categories Food, Restaurants

Sweet Streets of Food

Escape to Cape Town

Vending is trending

Crazy for ketchup

Recent thoughts

Categories

Follow me