le vrai Grand Fromage!

After an interesting week pondering whether or not it is OK to recommend unpasteurised cheese to pregnant women (as apparently someone has proved that it's safe to do so) I've decided to gloss over the point completely and focus on ...

this week's Food of the Week which is cheese - again!

For some time now, I've been frequenting Mons French cheese stall at Borough Market. I never go there with a specific cheese in mind but just ask what's good, and every time they come up trumps. If you like your cheese mouldy, smelly and oozing in perfect ripeness, Mons is the place for you!

So what's the difference?

Whether it's cow's milk, ewe's milk or goat's milk cheese, the Mons team always know what's in season and if it's not quite right, they won't sell it. I've had Vacherin Mont d'Or to Langres (also known as brain cheese) right through to chestnut leaf wrapped goats cheeses and a multitude of blue cheeses. Every one of them has been delicious and as a result, I don't have any pictures of Mons packaging - just the latest chunk of very mouldy goats cheese!

Mons is actually a specialist family run cheese shop in France that is famous for supplying top hotels and restaurants worldwide.  The Mons family are also experts in the cheese ageing process so they know what they're doing

Where can I find Mons?

Borough market is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at London Bridge. The Mons stall is located in the Jubilee market (the new section of Borough)

http://www.mons-fromages.com/

Restaurant of the Week

Livebait, The Cut, Waterloo

Lots of people ask me where they can find a good fish restaurant in London. I always suggest Livebait as it's one of the most consistently good fish restaurants I know. I particularly like the Waterloo branch as it's easy to get to and it always reminds me of a Victorian toilet with all the tiles inside, apart from it's much cleaner but the tiles make it very cool

I also think it's one of the few fish restaurants which gives decent value for money whether you are looking for sea bream, prawns, cod or sea bass. Here you can get everything!

http://www.livebaitrestaurants.co.uk/

Livebait can be found in Waterloo, Covent Garden, Liverpool and Manchester (yes really!) and will probably set you back around £30-40 per head

Le Grand Fromage

Week 12 - sorry no post last week as I was a bit busy


This week's Food of the Week is more of a Food Shop of the Week!

La Fromagerie on Moxon Street, off Marylebone High Street, is [to everyone's great surprise] a cheese shop. But it also sells beautiful charcuterie, chocolates, cakes, wines, butters and just about every 'nice' food thing under the sun. You can even have lunch or parties there
So what's the difference?

Unlike a standard deli, it sells a few really good things and there is practically no deli clutter of gimmicky things that no one really wants hanging around. It's all about quality. It also has a tasting cafe where you can choose examples of the foods that are on sale in the shop.
Be prepared for one very strange thing though! The cheese area is kept closed by a sliding glass door and you're asked to make an orderly queue (I wonder if a Brit is responsible for this novel idea) to take your turn inside the inner sanctum.

Where can I find La Fromagerie?

Moxon Street just off Marylebone High St. Helpfully it's next door to Ginger Pig butchers and round the corner from the very nice Sunday farmers market (10am-2pm) so there's plenty of other things to see



Restaurant of the Week

The Providores, Marylebone High Street (a short walk from Baker St or Bond St tubes)
http://www.theprovidores.co.uk/
So whilst you're in the area, go and visit The Providores. It's one of the few restaurants that made fusion work and produces great twists on Pacific Rim food so it's really quite different from other restaurants. My favourite is the downstairs tapa room which is all about casual dining on benches or little tables. I've never made it to Sunday brunch here but have been told that it's excellent and well worth a short queue.

Upstairs is more about fine dining with white tablecloths - great if you're looking to impress someone!

The genius behind Providores is Peter Gordon, a very nice New Zealander who produced the most amazing canapes at a young chef event I attended a long time ago. I was fortunate to be talking to a larger than life chef who had a great knack for attracting the canapes over to our end of the room and it goes down as one of my best food experiences!!!

If you're in the area, just find a reason to pop in and you will be sure to have a great meal and you won't break the bank as it's about £20-40 per head

n.b. one of the founding members of The Providores, Anna Hansen, has gone on to open The Modern Pantry in Farringdon where you will find more fusion style cuisine..

Sweet Talking Mexican Mum

Week 10

If you haven't already checked out http://www.ted.com/, make sure you do it asap. It's a one stop shop for excellent 15 minute lectures from industry leaders in 'T'echnology, 'E'ntertainment and 'D'esign (i.e. just about everything)

Why do I mention it now? TED has recently granted Jamie Oliver $100,000 to enable his wish for everyone to '...help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.'

I don't agree with everything Jamie says or does but I do respect the fact that he stands up and makes things happen. And it's worth 18 minutes of your time to listen to his empassioned speech about the perils of our current eating habits.

On a lighter note, don't forget it's Mother's Day on Sunday!!!

If you're looking for a small gift that Mum will definitely like, try this week's Food of the Week!

Burnt Sugar Fudge

So this is definitely one to be eaten in moderation. I don't have an enormous sweet tooth but when I tried their crumbly stem ginger fudge I promptly consumed 50g in approximately 60 seconds (and yes that is my last piece in the photo!). The non-uniform chunks of fudge are just the perfect combination of crumbly and solid and there's been no scrimping on the stem ginger which is great for ginger fans or anyone with a cold!

If you don't like ginger, there's always crumbly chocolate fudge, crumbly fudge with sea salt and the original crumbly fudge to try.

So what's the difference?

They've just got the texture and the flavours perfectly balanced. It's exactly how fudge should be.



Unfortunately it doesn't have any particular nutritional benefits (apart from there being no artificial things in it) but is probably very good for anyone planning to run a marathon or climb a mountain (this beats Kendal Mint Cake hands down!)

Best Way to Serve

After dinner, with coffee

Where can I buy Burnt Sugar fudge and what's it going to do to my bank balance?

Price: around £2 for 105g

Burnt Sugar Fudge is available from Waitrose, Whole Foods, Borough Market, Oxfam (it uses Fair Trade sugar) and delis and farmshops across the country

Restaurant of the Week

Wahaca

This week's choice is Wahaca; a restaurant that's all about Mexican Market Food.

Wahaca chef and co-founder is Thomasina Miers, a previous winner of Masterchef who spent a year in Mexico investigating their market food. What we get in return for that year of research is a series of Mexican inspired dishes that are sourced as ethically and locally as possible. Insodoing, you'll find ingredients ranging from Devon chillies to British field mushrooms to MSC* certified herrings from off the Hastings coast

So finally we have a decent Mexican in London which makes the most of our own local ingredients!

*MSC = Marine Stewardship Council who work with partners to encourage sustainable fishing practices

www.wahaca.co.uk

Why is it good?

1) Great locations - just off Charing Cross, Westfield, Canary Wharf

2) The food is great with really fresh flavours - you can choose from lots of small plates to share to bigger more substantial ones. And the margaritas are pretty good too

3) It's quick, good value for money with excellent service in a buzzy yet comfortable environment (particularly at Westfield)

n.b. you can't reserve tables so be prepared to wait a little, particularly at the Charing Cross branch

Is Life Ever Fair?

Week 9

Finally, it's stopped raining and the world is a beautiful place.

Or is it? We're now in the middle of Fairtrade fortnight (22 Feb - 7 March) - a topic that is so important yet so often misunderstood.

Fairtrade has become the generic word for produce that 'gives back' to the producer. Or should that just be 'fairly traded'? Other certifications include Rainforest Alliance which is perceived to be about saving the rainforest (take another look at what they do!) and organic apparently means no chemicals added. So what's biodynamic? What's Soil Association? What's Red Tractor? What's Freedom Food vs Free Range?

We've all come to look at different seals as 'safe' badges without really understanding what they mean. Are they all good for the producer? Maybe. Are they all sustainable? No. Is one better than the other? Depends.

Is it better to have a Fairtrade biscuit made in Malawi than a flapjack from a small producer in Kent?
Is it better to pay a fixed premium for a product that is in little demand or to encourage farmers to diversify?

Are organic green beans from Kenya better than non-organic green beans from the farm down the road?

Ultimately, it's about knowing where your food comes from and understanding what all these certifications really mean - and no one is making it particularly easy. Exploitation isn't the answer. Neither is shipping products thousands of miles when you can get better from round the corner. And ultimately, if it's not commercially sustainable, then there's no point at all. Food for thought...

So, on a slightly different note this week's Food of the Week is...

Meat!

It's taken me a lifetime to work it out but finally I've realised that
a) good meat usually comes from a [good] butcher

b) it's better to buy hunks of meat rather than specific cuts because it's much cheaper and less likely to have been interfered with.

Ginger Pig is my favourite butcher of the moment. It's not just about pork (although that's where it all started) and you will find all meats from traditional breeds as well as charcuterie products in their shop. It's always busy so there's a big turnover of meat which assures me of its freshness (vs other butchers who have little on show and get things out the freezer). Ginger Pig's meat is tender and full of flavour and everyone notices the difference when they eat it.

So what's the difference?

Ginger Pig refuses to feed their livestock bought in artificial foods containing unnecessary proteins. Instead they grow their own barley, wheat, oats etc which is fed to the animals. Because everything is natural, the animals grow slower and are slaughtered between one and three months later than those reared on industrial farms.

Overall, Ginger Pig oversees every element of the rearing process from planting the seeds for the fodder, through to breeding, feeding, slaughtering and butchering right through to selling the product in their shops, and apparently no one else does that in the UK.

Best Way to Serve

Depends on what you're eating! Their butterfly lamb chops are beautiful, as is their beef fillet (great for a carpaccio) and their ham (pinker than any other ham I've seen!)

Where can I buy them and what's it going to do to my bank balance?

Price: tbc according to what you purchase

Ginger Pig has shops at Marylebone, Hackney, Waterloo (at Greensmiths), Borough Market and Pickering in North Yorkshire

www.thegingerpig.co.uk

Restaurant of the Week

Sacred Cafe

This week's choice is Sacred Cafe, with branches on Ganton Street and Kingly Court (near Carnaby Street), Westfield and Torrington Street.

It's actually more of a bar than a restaurant but the reasons for including it are as follows:

Why is it good?

It's possibly the best place for a decent cup of tea in London that won't cost the earth! Apparently it's Antipodean style.

As well as fresh brewed ice teas and the usual chai lattes, Sacred Cafe has a range of long leaf loose teas as this is a teabag free zone. All served in a 'so chintzy it's cool' teapot!