TEQUILA + MEZCAL FEST 7-8 OCT

There aren't many dates that get put in my diary months in advance and stay there, no questions asked. But Tequila and Mezcal Fest 2017 was one such marker penned date. And there's not long to wait for it now. Next weekend - Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th October - sees the festival of my dreams return to London, for two days of Mexico's finest showcased at The Boiler House in the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. Not only will over 50 of Mexico's top tequila and mezcal producers (including Patron tequila's master distiller - Francisco Alcarez - on his first ever trip to the UK) be on hand to talk you through the production, tasting and pairings of Mexico's very best drink brands, there'll also be food from temper (goat tacos), Barrio (al pastor tacos) and Cafe Pacifico (a selection of pork, beef chorizo and/or veggie tacos), mariachi bands, Mexican art, folklore dancers and even an Aztec ceremony! 

Whilst sipping on your classic tequila cocktails (Margaritas and Palomas) you can grab yourself a Mexican brunch, or get stuck into a Bloody Maria or Michelada (beer with lime and spices). Adriana Cavita from Peyotito London and Ibiza will be doing demos on how to make the perfect guacamole, and the secret behind Mexican ceviche - 12:45 on Saturday, and there will be talks and seminars on topics like "What the f*ck is mezcal" - 15:15 on Sunday, "How to make the perfect Margarita", and "The tequila masterclass" - 18:00 on Saturday. 

Saturdays sessions run from 12-4.30pm and 5.30-9.30pm and Sunday's session is 1-7pm. Tickets are £20 and include samples of tequila and mezcal and free entry to seminars and masterclasses. But I reckon the bright idea is to go VIP - for £40 a ticket you get fast track entry (which you'll want if the event's as popular as it was last year), two cocktails, two dishes, samples of tequila and mezcal, and free entry to all the seminars and masterclasses.

The currency for the festival is pesos, so get ready to change your money at the door - and a percentage of the proceeds from the festival's ticket sales will be sent to The Cruz Roja Mexicana and TOPOSMX to support the current relief efforts in Mexico following the recent devastating earthquakes. 

View Post

CLIMBING KILIMANJARO

If you follow my blog then you may be aware there hasn't been much to follow recently.... starting a new job, getting a dog, lots of summer pop ups and catering gigs and deciding to climb the highest free standing mountain in the world are all excuses I can throw into the mix. But I'm back. With a big one! And lots more to follow so keep reading over the next few weeks for new restaurant reviews, trips to Italy with Riso Gallo, Cotes du Rhone fueled evenings and more. But today's post is all about the mountain...

In August last year Lucy and I volunteered to help some friends with a pop up they were doing to raise money for a small charity called Trekstock, who support people in their 20s and 30s who have or have had cancer. Off we headed to Palm 2 in Clapton to spend the day cooking and making cocktails for 60 guests. On the night of the event we met the CEO of Trekstock, and after a couple of glasses of wine (the beginnings of all good decisions) we'd signed up to the 2017 Kilimanjaro challenge. And that was that. A year later, after a mega fundraising effort which included 5am car boot sales, our own huge Hot X BBQ pop up we put on with Hardeep Singh Kohli and Neil Rankin for 60 people on Easter Friday (which we raised £3.5k from alone), and donations from many generous family and friends, the departure date rolled around and off to Tanzania we went. The trip was organized by Trekstock through 360 Expeditions who ran the actual trek itself and arranged everything from the minute we landed at Kilimanjaro airport. Before we left we'd had all the information we needed with regards equipment, training prep and medical requirements. Everything was covered and all our questions answered. So we were good to go.

View Post

LONG LISBON WEEKEND

Every year I try and visit at least one new European city/country, as well as others I've already been to and fallen in love with. Last year was my first time in Menorca, and earlier in Spring Lucy and I headed to Lisbon for a wonderful long weekend. I totally fell for the beautiful, friendly, warm and happy capital city of Portugal. We ate like queens, saw the sights, got to the beach and came back full of happy memories. As normal, lots of research happened before and during our trip to seek out the best places to eat, drink and party so I wanted to share some of the gems we found here. 

After landing late on Thursday evening and heading straight to the hotel, we were up bright and early on Friday for a morning of walking and exploring. Lisbon is called the city of seven hills and I think we tackled most of those that morning before our well earned lunch at Taberna da Rua das Flores. I'd heard lots of good things and we weren't disappointed. This cute little restaurant is in the centre of Lisbon and has a "basic", daily changing lunch menu that's chalked up on a blackboard in Portuguese, and a longer tasting menu in the evenings. After a run down of what the menu consisted of we kicked things off with queso fresco and a salty, spicy pepper sauce. The lovely proprietress had gone through all the dishes in detail and had given very accurate descriptions of what was on that day's menu. We mopped up the soft, sharp cheese and actually really salty but very delicious pepper sauce with typical Portuguese dense bread that the restaurant bought in from the village where the bread originates. 

Lucy had a salt fish and chickpea salad for mains while I went for thinly sliced and lightly fried fillets of fish (not sure which - it's one that comes to breed in the waters near the city in spring) with a side of breadcrumbs, garlic, white wine, more garlic and a raw egg yolk. Unlike anything I'd tried before or would normally order, but SO good. We loved the relaxed and local vibe at Taberna da Rua das Flores and our bill was ridiculously cheap, at around 18 euros each, including wine.

At the other end of the spectrum is Mini Bar which is one of several restaurants in Lisbon from Jose Allivez, who is ex El Bulli and known as one of the city's top chefs. Mini Bar has a tapas type menu and we went for the set menu at 39euros a head. We had the same El Bulli "olives" we'd had in Barcelona at Bodega 1900, "Ferrero Rocher" made with pate and gold leaf, oxtail with parmesan and truffles and a whole host of other nibbles and delights. Mini Bar is fun and lively and serves excellent food. Definitely book and go if you can!

Another place we loved was A Cevicheria. We were told to head there for pisco sours and ceviche, so didn't take much convincing. It's a light, bright restaurant, with a curved sit up bar and a huge octopus sculpture dominating the room. You can go for pisco sours al fresco that they serve straight out of the front of the restaurant so you don't need to go in for your fix! We nabbed one of the last available tables so we could sample their ceviches as well as their pisco sours. Both are worth going for, though if you're not a tapioca fan (neither of us are, but we'd missed it on the menu when we ordered) then maybe avoid the green gazpacho with TAPIOCA and mackerel! Such a shame as the soup it was in was delicious, but it was all a bit too frogspawny. 

What was enjoyable were the ceviches. We had "ceviche puro" - white fish, sweet potato puree, onion, tiger's milk and seaweed, that was probably the best ceviche I've ever had. Perfectly balanced flavours and quantities, we were practically licking the bowl clean. 

And tuna ceviche, with grated foie gras, beetroot tiger's milk, lychee and hazelnuts. Such an odd sounding combination on paper, but it worked so well. The foie gras got a little lost but the juicy lychee and earthiness from the beetroot were really good with the meaty tuna and tangy tiger's milk.

From modern back to traditional and a day at the beach. We jumped on a train to Cascais (four euros and forty minutes) and followed our noses (instagram searches) to a little restaurant at the top of the town called Restaurante Apeadeiro where, before we could even sit down, we were led over to the fresh fish selection and asked to choose our lunch. Having pointed at a large sea bass and ordered a starter of "prawns" to share we settled down with a carafe of 4 euro light pink wine and had the kind of Sunday lunch I wish I could eat every Sunday, especially when it's followed by a nap on the beach and a (very brief) dip in the sea.

EVERYONE we spoke to told us about the Time Out Market so we gave that a go too. About 40 different food stalls line the walls of a huge old warehouse down by the riverfront. It was buzzing in there both times we went so was a fun place to hang out. We had the obligatory custard tarts from there on day one - though if you want the real deal go to Pasteis de Belem, wait out the queue and get rewarded with the flakiest, custardy bites of deliciousness you can imagine. Returning to the Time Out Market after a failed attempt at eating at Pistolas y Corazon (apparently you need to get there at 7pm, but we were busy having dinner number one at A Cevicheria then) we had a couple of dishes - a very good pork belly and pak choi dish, and a less good, slightly bland and rubbery squid dish - probably the only dud of our whole trip. There's so much choice there though, so follow your nose, and the biggest queues.

Our last meal in Lisbon was utterly bizarre and wonderful all at the same time. I'd googled "best fish restaurant Lisbon" and had come across somewhere called Ultimo Porto. We were heading back into town from the Belem custard tart mission and this recommendation seemed to be en route back to our hotel, so we decided to give it a whirl. After a terrifying uber ride to the port from Belem, which involved mounting a curb and several u-turns, the driver dropped us off in the middle of a shipping yard, shrugged at us and drove off. Slightly hesitantly we followed the map, turned the corner of a big industrial building and saw several plastic chairs and tables caged in by huge metal fences topped with barbed wire spirals. Hungry and with no local alternatives for lunch we chose a table and waited to be served, while we watched trays of raw meat and fish being brought out to the huge BBQ next to us. We were the only tourists there, surrounded by Portuguese men in suits having business meetings.... We ended up with a swordfish steak, and another fish steak - no idea what! But both were divine. Smokey from the BBQ and cooked to perfection we couldn't really believe how good the food was and how random the location! It's only open during the week for lunch, but definitely worth going to, especially if you're heading back in from/out to Belem.

Lisbon stole my heart and I can't wait to go back - it's so affordable, easy to get to and to get around, and has everything I ever want from a European city break.

View Post

A(NOTHER) WEEKEND IN PARIS

Paris - one of my favourite cities in the world. Last weekend I was back there for the third time in just over a year. This time I went with my mum, and we had the loveliest, whirlwind 36 hours (or less!) there. After an early start for one of the first Eurostar trains we headed straight to the airbnb studio I'd booked. Unfortunately our host had gone AWOL so we settled in at a local patisserie for coffees and freshly squeezed orange juice, before giving up on the airbnb host, leaving our bags with a very friendly man at his independent wine shop and setting off for a stroll around Le Marais, ducking in and out of galleries, gorgeous sun dappled squares and shops galore. I'd reserved a table at Amarante, which Lucy and I adored when we went this time last year, so meandered towards Bastille for lunch. Amarante is a tiny bistro on an otherwise residential road to the east of Bastille. But don't fooled by its random location - it's dishing up some of the best food in Paris and is 100% worth a visit. Mum and I went for the fixed lunch menu which is a steal at 19 euros for 2 courses, or 22 euros for 3. Our starters of tarama for me and liver pate for mum were perfect, followed by sublime ox cheek, greens and the jus of dreams; and fish and confit leeks for mum. I can't see myself ever visiting Paris and not eating at Amarante, and I suggest you do the same! Make sure you book though.

View Post

A WEEKEND in PROVENCE

Our weekend in Provence with Olivence revolved mostly around food - after all, we were there to try all the wonderful olive products that are made in the region. This also included two wonderful meals in two of Marseille's top restaurants where we ate meals that had been designed to showcase the wonderful olive oils we'd sampled at the different mills and groves.

First up was a meal at Les Trois Forts, which is several storeys up at the top of the Sofitel hotel, with the most incredible views out over the old port of Marseille. Though this gorgeous sunset was actually looking out towards Les Trois Forts from our walk round the Christmas market before dinner.

We were seated at a huge round table right in the middle of the restaurant and started our specially designed meal with a perfectly poached egg (which I think had been cooked in a water bath at 63 degrees), on top of wild mushrooms and a green herb sauce made with the fruite noir olive oil. 

Our main course was the star for me - expertly cooked fillets of mullet on a creamy, rich risotto a la Provence with a bouillabaisse foam that was so tasty. Drizzled with olive oil this dish was right up there. As was the huge trolley of cheese that got rolled round afterwards for us to choose from. Though having chosen cheese I missed out on the olive oil themed pudding, but we all know how I feel about puddings!

Les Trois Forts was wonderful but the real highlight of the trip was the next day when we headed to Michelin starred Une Table, Au Sud where we had a cookery lesson with France's youngest starred chef, Ludovic Turac before sampling his creations at lunch in his restaurant. We prepped some of our lunch with Ludovic then watched him make his "aioli" - a piece of squid ink and olive bread topped with cod brandade and ribbons of vegetables - such a simple dish elevated to Michelin standards. 

Lunch opened with smoked mackerel pate on crispbread and a puff pastry roll stuffed with tapenade, which was warm and light and fluffy and superb. 

We'd made the parmesan tuille for the starter which came with vegetables and citrus zest in olive oil and melted in the mouth. 

Mains was bream wrapped in vine leaves with fennel and bisque foam. It was so good - zesty and really light, and cooking the fish in the vine leaf was such a great way to keep all the juiciness in. 

Dessert was a pretty plate of pineapple in various forms, with candied black olives, but far too sweet for me.

The food at Une Table, Au Sud is innovative and absolutely delicious. They do a lunchtime menu of three courses for 32euros, which is incredible value, so if you're in Marseille it's definitely worth checking out. 

Huge thank you to Olivence, all the wonderful olive oil producers and restaurants we ate at for such a great weekend. 

View Post

OLIVE OIL in PROVENCE

Over the last 18 months I've learnt so much about olive oil - how it's produced, the difference in production in different countries and the brands that make, market and sell it. This all started with my trip to Tuscany at the end of 2015, and continued when I went to Provence at the end of last year to spend time with Olivence - the Provence Olive Oil Society which looks after five of the top olive oil producers in France. While Provence is better known for its grape growing and wine production, there are actually around 100 olive varieties grown throughout the region and the area produces some of the world's rarest and most unique types of olive oil. The five premium olive oil brands that make up Olivence have come together to push a campaign to introduce their olive oils to the UK market, and to keep the olive growing traditions of Provence alive for future generations. All five of the brands create their olive oils on small scale production, with many of them still harvesting by hand and following traditional farming and production techniques.

Our trip started with a visit to Vignolis, who are actually just outside Provence, in Rhone, in the gorgeous village of Vieux Nyons. They grow their own olives and make oil from their own harvest as well as other local farmers' harvests, producing 50% of PDO Nyons olive oil and olives. We had a wonderful olive based lunch (olive stuffed lamb, olive bread with tapenade, an olive ratatouille, spelt salad with olives and veggies) with the owners of Vignolis before touring their olive oil museum and factory, then tasting their olive oils, olives and wines.  

View Post

BARCELONA EATING

For our third holiday together this year, after a crazy fun weekend in Paris and a wonderful few days in Menorca, Lucy and I went to Barcelona to stay in the very newly opened Soho House. Most of our pre-holiday plans revolve around picking out the best spots to eat and drink, and this was no different. Apart from the fact that it being Barcelona, one of the culinary destinations of Europe, there seemed to be even more to choose from. We'd decided not to book anywhere and go with the flow, hopping from tapas bar to bar and back to tapas bar, but I sneakily made a reservation anyway as I couldn't resist what I'd seen of Bodega 1900 so after dumping our bags at the hotel we headed straight there.

Bodega 1900 is a reincarnation of the traditional bodega restaurants of the past, where the food that's served is modern versions of classic dishes. We kicked off with a vermouth or three, toasting our arrival and the start of what was to be one of my favourite weekends this year. An early start, plane journey and speedy cab ride had left us both feeling a little delicate, so we opted out of the set menu in order to choose our food ourselves. We chose well. First to the table were the "olives" - straight out of El Bulli, these spheres of olivey liquid burst into the roof of your mouth filling it with salty goodness and amazement. Once we'd got over how good they were we moved on to the rest of our choices - thin tubes of confit squid, soft and delicate and stuffed with mince, swimming in a bowl of the herb infused olive oil they'd been cooked in; "la rubia gallega" beef tenderloin cured in salt and spices, which was rich and meaty and so moreish; fresh tomato salad doused in lip lickingly good olive oil and topped with snowflakes of salt; clams "de carril" cooked in a rich tomato sauce (not pictured); and melon drenched in vermouth to finish, which Lucy kindly let me eat nearly all of! 

I'm going to say this about all of the places in this post, but if you go to Barcelona, make sure you eat at Bodega 1900. We ate a lot more than I've written about and drank a fair few vermouths etc, and I think our bill was around 70euros each - not the cheapest place we ate, but worth every cent. 

View Post

TRESCO FOOD & POP UPS

My posting this year is a bit all over the place - I still have Japan posts to go live, and a post on my trip to Zante in Greece where I've got lots of lovely places and restaurants to tell you about is still saved in my drafts. And this post today is a bit late too!! In Spring earlier this year I was invited down to Tresco on the Isles of Scilly to do three nights of A Little Lusciousness pop up restaurants. I headed down mid-May with Becca to take over one of their restaurants. We had such a lovely few days there, up early and in bed late, cooking, going for long walks, swimming and checking out the other food offerings on the island. I wanted to let you know about what goes on down there, as there's loads of stuff to do, places to eat, and at the end of September we're heading back there to another two nights of pop ups on 30th September and 1st October.

First things first.... Tresco is one of five inhabited islands that make up the Isles of Scilly. They're off the end of Cornwall and you can fly there from various places including Exeter, Newquay and Land's End. We took the overnight sleeper train from Paddington to Penzance, in the hope of catching the first flight over to St Mary's (the main island) the next morning but our plans were scuppered by bad weather, so we hopped on the ferry that goes to islands instead. Finally arriving where we needed to be it was a bit of a mad dash to get everything ready in time for that evening's pop up and we couldn't have done it without the help of the amazing chefs who work at the Flying Boat Club. They'd prepped a load of the food for us carefully following my not so clear instructions, so that when we walked into the kitchen at 2pm on day 1 of pop ups it wasn't as bonkers as we'd thought it would be.

 

The first three nights were pop up nights so we got our heads down and got cooking. We did manage to get out of the kitchen for a couple of hours at lunchtime each day and enjoy this amazing views from the garden of the house we were staying in.

The menu for each night's pop up was the same - canapés of Tresco beef steak tartare on rye bread, sweetcorn and ricotta mini fritters and cucumber pickled mackerel on a beetroot crisp.

 

The starter was local Bryher crab with a brown crab mayo and island tomatoes.

Mains were pulled lamb with island vegetables in a veal and artichoke broth, served with herb drenched island new potatoes.

And pudding was Cornish strawberries in many forms, basil ice cream and shortbread. And platters of Cornish cheese.

Once we'd done all the pop ups we had two days to roam the island (it's tiny - one mile wide and two miles long, and there are no cars), and to eat in the three restaurants that are there.

 

 

 

The three options for eating out are: the pub - The New Inn, the restaurant on the other side of the island which has a wood fired oven - The Ruin, and the restaurant that we took over - The Flying Boat Club. Being in need of a drink post pop ups we started our eating-in-all-the-options mission with Sunday lunch at the The New Inn. We shared started of tuna sashimi, fried whitebait and potted Tresco partridge but it was the mains that really shone. Becca had beautifully fresh and perfectly cooked Bryher lobster, which was probably plucked from the sea that very morning, while I had the Tresco beef ribeye steak. With chips. And an ale!

 

 

After a mosey round the north end of the island where we saw a rare owl which had got lost and shouldn't have been on the Scillys, a quick powernap and a drink or three with some friends who were on Tresco, we headed to my favourite restaurant on the island, The Ruin, for dinner. The Ruin has a beautiful decked outside area that looks over the beach on to the bay, though we sat inside for feast number two of the day. For starters we shared Cornish crab arancini which were gooey and delicious and so fresh, and wood fired Cornish scallops with garlic butter and charred corn. Cooked to perfection and so flavoursome, I couldn't choose between the two to pick my favourite.

 

Mains were a wood fired speck, Portobello mushroom and truffle infused mascarpone pizza on a garlic butter base, which Becca declared was the best white pizza she'd ever eaten. And whole wood fired sea bream with wood roasted baby leeks and gremolata, which wasn't far off the best whole roasted fish I've ever eaten!

With very full and happy tummies we wandered home, sad that this was our last night on the island. On our last day I headed over to the Tresco Island Spa for the most relaxing and indulgent Ila energising and detoxifying body renewal scrub. I normally only really treat myself to getting my nails done, so to be scrubbed and rubbed and massaged for a full hour was absolute bliss and something I'm very much planning on doing after my pop ups when I'm there again later this year.

 
Feeling utterly refreshed it was time for our last meal on the island, at The Flying Boat Club. They've upgraded the menu since we were there, so you can't get what we ate now, but we really enjoyed our curry battered fish with mango raita and beef shin (?) on toast for starters. As we shared everything throughout the trip we didn't stop with our mains of local mackerel with beetroot puree and chargrilled chicken sandwich. We may or may not have shared a chocolate brownie to bid farewell to a wonderful few days on the most amazing island I know.

 

 

 
Tresco is the most stunning place I've been, with so many fun activities and a plethora of locally sourced, delicious food. For info on holidays there check their website, and if you fancy a weekend away, why not come down at the end of September for a bit of A Little Lusciousness on Tresco.... see you there?!

 

View Post