Food & Drink Archives - Page 3 of 7

At the Tabl: Gizzi Erskine & The Inksiders

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Farrah Kelly

Late to the trend party as ever, I’ve been pining after going to a supper club. I’m the sort of person who loves the social side of food- bonding over carving a roast or tasting a forkful of your friend’s dish is the most important part of any meal- and supper clubs are that bit more personal than your typical eat-out experience. Unfortunately, I’m also the sort of person who will have something on my ‘I must do that’ list for months, so despite it being on my radar for a good long while, I’d never got round to going to one.

Until, that is, I was invited by the very lovely Tazz along to a Tabl event. Tabl is all about making dining experiences more fun, more personal, and more social. Their website, tabl.com, is a litany of cool one-night-only pop ups, home kitchen supper clubs, and innovative food + something special mash ups. To say I jumped at the chance is to massively overstate the grace I had in accepting her invite.

So that’s how I found myself flying solo in the private dining room of Tramshed, Shoreditch, for a tattoo-inspired menu and discussion with The Inksiders and food-hero Gizzi Erskine.

Long tables lay in the centre of the dining room, with people milling around holding glasses of Brighton Gin. I knew nobody. Recognising Erin, IslandBell, from Twitter, I walked over and shyly interrupted her and her friend’s chat to introduce myself. Erin and Charlie were so sweet, and immediately accepted me as part of their evening as we got chatting about the towns we had in common and our shared love of Gizzi Erskine’s books.

Welcome drinks swigged, it was time to take our seats. Seeing a gap in the crowd surrounding Gizzi, Erin took us to meet her, we were greeted with hugs like old friends and asked to join her at the table so we could all keep chatting. As I was shaking off my fangirl, a hand tapped my shoulder. Lydia, a girl I haven’t seen for years, was right there in front of me. We freaked out, sat down together, and the meal began.

Simultaneously in reunion and making-friends mode, I chatted an laughed and swapped Twitters and took photos all night. Each dish was designed to be carved out for groups, a glowing convivial spirit of carving roast chicken and sharing out plates of salad, pouring drinks for people I hadn’t met yet. If this sounds gushing, then that’s as accurate as I could be. I loved it.

Between mains and dessert (pure salted caramel fondue with cakes for dipping- the most heart-eyes-emoji dish I’ve ever seen), there was a Q&A with Gizzi and Mo, a renowned tattoo artist. They chatted about the ink and food industries, fielding questions from the crowd as we swigged wine. Though I’m no tattoo afficianado, you could really get a feel for their passion and expertise.

Dessert rounded up and with plans to meet all four of the girls I got chatting to again, I tottered off back home feeling incredibly connected to London. Without really trying, I’d found myself alone in an awesome restaurant with food by a chef I love, met new friends and found old ones, discovered a new way of entertaining that I’m dying to do again and left full and happy. This was more social, more dinner-round-mine than any restaurant I’ve ever been to. I’m already scouring Tabl for the next opportunity to arrive alone at a dinner party and leave with new friends and a stomach full of great food.

PS- if anyone wants to hit up a supper club, shout and I will 100% come with you!

Grilled Prawn Caribbean Curry

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Farrah Kelly

Always one for heat, this Caribbean curry recipe will blow your socks off, and is a great way to try something a little fiery than a pad thai with prawns. This recipe is adapted from Atul Kochar’s Grilled Prawn Skewer with Caribbean Curry recipe (his book is a blessing from the spice gods).

Adapted to suit my slightly limited kitchen stocks (who has skewers lying around anyways?), give it a go if you fancy a heat powerhouse with a fruity edge.

Ingredients:

For grillin’:Large raw prawns, green pepper (chopped chunky) and red onion (chopped chunky too!)
For the marinade: Red or green chilli (finely chopped), tsp smoked paprika, tsp chopped thyme, two large cloves crushed garlic, tsp pepper, chopped fresh coriander, tsp ground coriander, and the squeeeeezes of half a lime.
For the sauce: Finely chopped onion, 300ml coconut milk, fennel seeds,tsp ginger (Atul says fresh, Sainsbury’s says sold out), a fine Caribbean powder (I used Suya, Atul uses Caribbean Curry Powder), 12 halved cherry tomatoes, and handful of torn coriander, salt, and chillis (Atul reckons half a Scotch Bonnet, my Sainsbury’s didn’t have that so I used 2 bird’s eye chillis).
Rice and lime to serve.

Stick all your marinade ingredients in a bowl and mush up. I actually think blending this stuff wouldn’t hurt, but I just went at it with a spoon and it turned out good. Throw your prawns in and let marinade- Atul says for minimum 30 minutes.

Chop the peppers, onions, tomatoes, and chilli. Get the rice on. Glug some oil into a pan and fry the fennel seeds for a few seconds. Add the onion and ginger and cook through. Pour in coconut milk, chilli, Suya (or Caribbean Curry Powder!) and simmer away. When it’s starting to thicken up a little, add in the tomatoes and coriander, and salt to taste. Have it on a mid-high heat without a lid to speed up the thickening process.It’s done when the tomatoes get all frail and squishy, and the sauce colour darkens.

While that’s all kicking off, put your prawns, pepper and red onion under the hot grill with a good glug of oil over it. Atul uses skewers and a barbecue for this bit, but my Putney flat doesn’t stretch to a garden, nevermind a charcoal grill, so I sacked that bit off.

Pour a quick G&T/ BrewDog Punk IPA and plate up! Beside the marinading and chopping, this should only take as long as your rice needs for cooking. Get your ducks in a row first and it’d be a super quick tea.

If you’re not so hot on the spice, dial down the chilli in the sauce- maybe just use a green chilli rather than finger, birds eye or Scotch Bonnet (the most merciless of peppers). Enjoy- and let me know what you think of my first little foodie video!

Favourite Fine Dining

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Farrah Kelly

I’m definitely a fast-casual kinda girl, but equally, I am also occasionally a fancy bitch. And fancy bitches don’t spill Shake Shack cheese sauce on their new jeans, they drop a raw oyster down their blouse.

My favourite places to get that little bit of luxury- preferably around the payday period- have a lot of class, but also don’t mind if you don’t know an ile flottante from your elbow. I thought I’d round up a few of the nicest for you in case you’re scheming any hot dates or have an ASOS delivery with a cocktail dress you have no plans for yet.

Le Pont de la Tour

Out on the river, past fancy Shad Thames and within Snapchatting distance of Tower Bridge, sits Pont de la Tour. Recently refurbished, the restaurant oozes old school glam, with a more than fleeting feel of an Oriental Express First Class carriage.

Pont

Our dinner, of course, was superb. I started with oysters- fresh and sharp- and shared the duck main with my boyfriend. It’s served in two sittings- the first a succulent and perfectly pink duck breast carved out in front of us by a sweet Maitre’D- and the second and cripsy, salty confit duck leg. Both dishes were magnificent, and the theatre of food being carved in front of us had Jonathan and I practically crying with anticipation.

Staff are a little eager to please, with one chap bursting through the middle of a quick kiss to top up our water glasses, but they are endlessly polite, and knew every single thing about the wine that left us wandering out with a warm fuzzy feeling. Top marks.

Best for: Old school glamour.

PS: They also have a beautiful deli right next door, where I recently bought the best sandwich I have ever had. Go there.

Les 110 de Taillevent

French wine aficionados Taillevent recently moved to the UK to ply willing Londoners with one hundred and ten high quality wines, paired perfectly with traditional French dishes. Each item on the menu is joined by a choice of four wines, which I worked my way through with vigour.

110

Beautiful squid to start, followed by an autumnal, hearty beef cheek dish, and a dish called ‘Childhood Remembered’ for the grand dessert finale (not realising nor caring that the dessert was intended to be shared between two, I might add). Each dish is joined by a glass of wine, elegantly adorned with a little collar detailing the qualities of it’s content. If it sounds like a gimmick, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how genuine, well thought through, and delightful it actually is.

Best for: A little slice of Paris in London, subtle luxury and an unbeatable choice of vin.

Hutong

There is something undoubtedly luxurious about The Shard. Probably the sleekest building in London, swanning in with a reservation and being flown up in a lift to be greeted with a stunning view and a beautiful restaurant is hands down one of the best feelin’ fancy moments you can have.

Hutong serves incredible dim sum- their speciality of course being whole roasted duck- and orient-inspired cocktails. This is Chinese food done incredibly well, and with all the finesse you’d expect from one of the city’s most glamorous locations. When I have visited, I’ve picked a handful of dishes from the set lunch menu- making Hutong one of the most affordable luxury destinations in London. Of course, as with any fine dining destination, you can order wildly expensive meals, but if you’re savvy you can leave feeling full, happy, and none the poorer.

Best for: Northern Chinese food, cocktails, and affordable luxury.

Duck and Waffle

Possibly the most talked about restaurant in London- and certainly one of the coolest chefs- Dan Doherty’s Duck and Waffle is an undisputed champion of destination dining. Perched on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, by Liverpool Street Station, the restaurant is open 24-hours a day. Though I’m sure it’s fabulous at 3am, I’ve never managed to get myself out of bed for that time, but can thoroughly recommend their breakfast.

I’ve been three times now, one as a surprise from a SUPER sweet colleague when I was new and nervous to London, once for a BFFs’ birthday, and once to show off London to my visiting mother (turns out slightly afraid of heights, oops) each time it was spectacular, with early morning London mists rising to reveal the city, stretching for miles. When you have a showstopper view, you’d probably be forgiven for relaxing the quality of food, but D&W rises to challenge and plates up incredible food- the namesake being crisp, confit duck leg with freshly griddled waffle. An absolute stunner.

Best for: Breakfasts. And for taking London newbies.

Crocker’s Folly | 8 Highlights from a 12 course meal

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Farrah Kelly

An invitation to a twelve-course meal is not one I am ever, under any circumstances, going to pass up on. So when the lovely team at Zomato emailed me, I practically fell over myself in glee/desperation to get a seat on that chef’s table. Having heard so much about Crocker’s Folly from their last Zomato meet-up, I was pretty psyched to get to go myself. I hiked up to Maida Vale, swanned in late (a recurring problem) and quickly settled into my dinner.

Now. I could attempt a marathon post detailing every single dish- all glorious twelve of them- but I think I’d struggle to say something interesting and witty about each and every one, so instead I’ll give you my highlights. To be fair, there are still a lot of highlights… I guess I’m telling you to buckle in, in any case.

Highlight One: My seat.

I was sat in a little blogger’s dream- opposite Rosie from A Little Lusciousness and Grub Club extravaganza, effortlessly stylish Catherine from a Lux Life, Adrian from The Hedonist who I spent a good hour captivated by on the progression of music and cultural appropriation with, and Andrea Zagatti who saw my inability to enjoy warm desserts as a challenge. Scattered across the table were bloggers and writers I admire, and getting to stuff my face with the lot of them was a pleasure.

Highlight Two: Chicken Skin.

While it might not sound like the most naturally appetising snack, ambitious chef Damian Wawrzyniak worked his magic and presented us with a crisp, jerky-like dried chicken skin with a shot of sweet, sweet onion soup. A slightly unusual canape, yes, but an excellent introduction to the mind of a chef who loves a challenge.

Highlight Three: Gravadlax

I am all about salmon. Gravadlax, raw salmon cured all Norwegian-y, is one of my favourites. Delicately cured salmon is the kind of food I could stuff into my face all day err’y day and still buzz quietly at every mouthful. I like this stuff, we’re all on the same page, clear. What makes it a highlight at Crocker’s Folly is watching chef Damian and his glamorous assistants carve it out, fresh from the fillet, in front of you. Bonus points for asking how many slices I would like (had to restrain myself in front of new impressive people, if this was any other day I’d have wept with joy and eaten the whole fish.)

Highlight Four: All The Pretty.

JUST LOOK.

Highlight Five: The Veg.

I love a good vegetarian dish, though I’m usually too chicken to order them at a restaurant in case they turn out bland, unimaginative, or worse- soggy. We’re all sick of halloumi burgers, I get that it’s easy to whack out a pea risotto, now show me the interesting stuff you can do. Well. The things Damian can do with a cauliflower, let me tell you, are not to be sniffed at.

Highlight Six: The Josper

Tucked away in the kitchen lies a monster. As a treat, we were led downstairs to meet him- the Josper. Josper, for the uninitiated, is basically a mega grill that cooks from all angles, fuelled by charcoal and pure love. I even got to play with it myself, jeapordising the entire meal for everyone else. Damian showed me how to tell how cooked a steak is, just by giving them a prod. My action shots are CRAP so let’s move swiftly on.

Highlight Seven: The wines.

I don’t think I’ve ever had Lebanese wine before (I’ve never noticed it while swigging it anyway), so it was really nice to try something new. My favourite was the Rose (duh), which was paired with the early dishes. The wines, from the Bekaa Valley were generously poured out all evening, and I gleefully put it away.

Highlight Eight: Chocolate Sphere

This was straight up the best thing on the menu. A dark chocolate sphere that took a real bashing to open up, filled with goodies. Worth a visit on it’s own and the hero dish of the night.

Crocker’s Folly is a beautiful room- that old school Victorian feel- with a fresh and unique menu, and you won’t need twelve courses to figure that out.

Crocker’s Folly, Aberdeen Place, St John’s Wood.