Eating in Attractive Surroundings

So after last week's view on eating with your fingers, I was asked to consider how attractive company impacted an eating out experience. Actually it was more about a particularly attractive barman who observed the crab crushing ritual in question and seeemed to become more attractive as the bottle of wine emptied...

I've pondered over this observation and come up with the following three scenarios:

1) Splashing out? Very attractive serving staff will be happy to help
It's very hard to say no to an Adonis like barman/waiter who is selling you the most expensive thing on the menu. Surely such a beautiful specimen would never fleece you...?

2) Perfect for crash diets - first dates seriously damage your appetite
Something about first dates generates a phantom stomach staple. All of a sudden, healthy appetites reduce to a sparrow like picking tendency and an 'oh no, I couldn't possibly eat another thing' when all you've had is a lettuce leaf. Thank goodness it's only temporary.

3) Dreadful for waistlines - beautiful thin people make you want an extra helping
How is it that fussy eaters or just people in micro skintight clothing that you know that you will never squeeze into without buying reinforced Spanx just make you eat more. It's some kind of reaction that says 'they're not eating enough so I'll do the right thing and help them out by eating their share too'  Similar behaviours occur when surrounded by teetotallers

So the moral of the story is to choose your occasion carefully, and your company to match!

Food of the week

Drop scones. I've been stunned at the number of people who don't know what drop scones are this week. Not exactly summer food but always very delicious so homework this week is to check them out

Bars of the week

PIX - Neal Street, Covent Garden (and Notting Hill too)

It's not always that easy to find decent bars in touristy zones of central London but PIX is an exception. Located at the far end of Neal Street (from Covent Garden tube), PIX is small, dark and cosy with lots of small tables and stools to perch on. Why 'PIX'? Pintxos is the Basque version of tapas which is clearly too complicated to write in full or to pronounce so they've made it much easier and just called it PIX

The pintxos/tapas are a nice touch with two prices for small and large, and easily charged back by counting up the sticks that hold them together. From calamari to chorizo to tortilla to bruschetta type offers, they're fresh and tasty and mix perfectly with the range of Spanish wines by the glass.

My only concern was that the wine glasses are orange tinted tumblers which made me slightly uneasy about whether I was drinking orange squash...



SKYLON, Royal Festival Hall, Waterloo
I love this bar. Someone reminded me about it again this week. It's so decadent and the drinks are great (albeit extortionately priced) and the view over the Thames from the floor to ceiling windows is stunning. To give you an idea of what it's like, think very exclusive, modern and beautifully designed top floor bar in a Dubai hotel. n.b. I've never eaten here but if you're in the area, make sure you pop in for a quick caipirinha.

Chok full of goodness!

Apparently, there is a campaign to have a meat free Monday to encourage general carnivores to abstain from meat once a week as it is assumed non-veggies consume animals seven days a week, thereby using up the world's resources. 

I'd rather eat whatever we fancied on the basis it's produced locally (preferably the UK) using locally produced fertilisers/feeds and in season. This alone would significantly reduce energy consumption and support the local economy. No more green beans from Kenya!

Comments welcome!

Anyway, in support of my veggie friends, a meat-free Monday and my own momentary foray into the world of vegetarianism during a particularly dark period, this week's food of the week is a vegetable, of the most interesting kind!

Food of the Week: Artichoke

The common or garden artichoke is really quite special as it's actually a member of the thistle family. Here are a few facts and a few old wives tales...

No one knows from where the artichoke hails although it's generally believed to somewhere in North Africa.

Why the weird name?
The various European names of the artichoke all ultimately come from Arabic al-kharshuf but names have evolved from kaktos (Ancient Greeks) to carduus (Romans) to carchofas (SW France - from Italian carciofo - pronounced carchofo). The english word 'artichoke' seems to come from a Northern Italian dialect of articiocco (pronounced artichocko). I met some people from Ferrara once who endorsed this last fact.

Where did it come from?

Cultivation passed from Naples to Florence in 1466, to Venice in 1480 and then to Avignon and environs from 1532. Somehow the Dutch got in on the game and brought them to Henry VIII's garden in England in 1530. But the Americans weren't sure about eating thistles until the 19th century. Now they are mainly grown in the Mediterranean basin (although we have a few here in Blighty too!)

Things you should know!

According to the Turks you should eat an artichoke a week to keep your liver healthy. According to other nutritionists, it's good for liver, gallbladder and bladder functionality so we should eat more of them.

The artichoke genus is Cynara cardunculus. That's where the Italian artichoke liqueur gets its name

The 'choke' is the fuzzy bit that's inedible - I don't know what the arti bit is.

The Jerusalem Artichoke is an imposter - nothing to do with the artichoke at all.

How to eat

Whole, boiled and served with hollandaise, butter or aioli
Just the hearts, chopped up on a 4 seasons pizza, in pasta or pan fried with lemon and pepper

Where to eat

The Anchor & Hope in Waterloo has amazing globe artichokes when they are season. Union Market in Fulham has beautiful stuffed artichokes in their deli. Otherwise experiment with your own!


Perfect for a Meat Free Monday in July!

Muskets and Spears

It's my birthday! Well it was on Saturday actually and I spent it climbing up two beacons in Brecon without a cloud in the sky - a rare experience. I also had a conversation with someone who does Civil War re-enactments and had just bought a new musket. Always wondered who does those things.

So this week's Food of the Week ISN'T cheese!!!

The weather has finally warmed up and everything green is sprouting which means that the first of the English asparagus is now appearing in the shops n.b. make sure you buy British and not the inferior Spanish or Peruvian options!

So this week's Food of the Week IS asparagus!!!

Supposedly the highlight of the foodie calendar, the asparagus season usually lasts from St Georges Day through to midsummer but I've given you a week's notice to start preparing. In England, we eat the green asparagus but in continental Europe (particularly France, Germany and Netherlands) they eat the thicker white asparagus (n.b. ours is nicer). They eat it with tons of hollandaise sauce, pancakes, hard boiled eggs and ham. For those countries, sales of hollandaise sauce go crazy for two months - just because of the asparagus season or 'Spargelgala' .

Back in Blighty, we treat our asparagus spears like precious jewels and tend to eat them with parma ham or with butter and parmesan. Maybe even in a risotto with fresh summer peas as they come into season.

However you eat your asparagus, two things are certain.

1) it's very good for you as it's low in calories and has lots of vitamins
2) it's a diuretic and within 15-30 minutes of consumption, it makes your pee smell. Now some people say that this only affects some of the population BUT I HAVE CHECKED with Wikipedia and apparently this phenomenon affects EVERYONE but only 22% of the population have the ability to smell the  'odorous compounds'. Now you know!

Where can I find good British asparagus?

The home of British asparagus is in the Vale of Evesham. That's just round the corner from Broadway in the Cotswolds. The asparagus festival kicks off on 23 April with lots of events in May and June. You can be involved in everything from an asparagus auction to an asparagus run to a trip on an asparabus. You can even have your fortune predicted by an asparagancer and I expect there will be plenty of Morris Dancing too

See http://www.britishasparagusfestival.org/ for more details and if you need a good B&B then go to my big sister's place just down the road at http://www.oldstationhousebroadway.co.uk/

n.b. If you want to get asparagus in London, I suggest you visit the biodynamic stall at Borough and Maltby Street markets where you'll find excellent produce that hasn't seen a chemical but has been cultivated in harmony with the cycle of the moon and natural fertilisers.

And to go with your asparagus, get delicious parma ham from the affable and informative Philip in Borough and now Covent Garden market on a Saturday, and excellent parmesan from Alison in the Jubilee Market section of Borough

Restaurant of the Week

One place you are always guaranteed good seasonal British produce and who will definitely have loads of asparagus is...

The Anchor & Hope, The Cut, Waterloo

The Anchor & Hope is a sister pub to The Eagle in Farringdon and Great Queen Street in Covent Garden, all of which are great places to go.

The Anchor & Hope is different from the others as it isn't a beautiful pub from the outside. When you enter, you find two sections; the drinking area and the eating area. You can't book so to get a table in the eating area, you have to run in at 6pm and put your name down on the list with all the other pre theatre eaters. Alternatively, you can put your name down for around 7.30/8pm when the theatre crowd all disappear off but whatever you do, expect to wait a little bit. It's worth it as the food is very fresh, reasonably priced and very well prepared in a casual and unpretentious environment

You can also eat in the bar area if you can find a space. They also have lots of good wines in carafes which means you can have a bit of good white wine to start followed by a bit of good red wine without having a bottle of each. Very clever.

Anchor & Hope is very close to Waterloo tube/station and will probably set you back around £35 per head

 

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

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!