Soho Food Feast 2013

A great day for a great cause. Some of the best restaurants in London gathered to raise money for Soho Parish Primary School. I wanted to eat everything. I pretty much did eat everything. I regret nothing. First off, fresh Jersey Royale oysters from The Wright Brothers:

The nice guys from Amalfi:

Koya‘s cod, udon and curry sauce (with a sneaky taco or two):

Treats from The Fresh Olive Company, and Ceviche‘s chilli sea bass:

Fantastic roast beef and horseradish manchets from Quo Vadis:

Kopapa were, as usual, fresh and innovative:

Fried scallops served with XO sauce and Chinese sausage from Terroirs were selling like hotcakes all day:

My favourites were sticky BBQ chicken and sweet potato fries (oh man) from Cabana:

For dessert, a slice of 10 Greek Street‘s salted caramel and chocolate tart:

Followed by some Mahón cheese with tomato jam by Brindisa:

Sake & Sushi Masterclass at Inamo

Last week, I was invited to attend an evening of sake-tasting and sushi-making hosted by Inamo, the pan-Asian restaurant on Regent Street.

Hi, Wilkes and Giulia!

While I do like sake, I can’t claim to know much about it. The masterclass was very informative. We tasted it both hot and cold… I’ve decided that I definitely like mine hot.

The other unique selling point about Inamo is its incredible interactive tables. You can order everything using these touch-sensitive tables, including food that projects onto your plate so you can see what you’re getting. Alternatively you can order a taxi, switch the camera to see what the chefs are cooking, or even change the virtual tablecloth pattern.

I love sushi, but this was my first attempt at making it. I constructed a plate of nigiri and uramaki with tuna, salmon and yellow tail. And how did they turn out? Let’s just call my style “hedious but delicious”. Here is how it is supposed to be done:

Many thanks to Inamo and Sauce PR for hosting a fun evening!

An Indulgent Weekend

This week, I received my first vegetable box from Abel & Cole, so my boyfriend had a lot to experiment with! Here are some of his results. An apple, celeriac, walnut, goats cheese and lentils salad with apple sauce and a duqqa-inspired lemon dressing.

Salmon and celeriac risotto with sprouting broccoli and roasted Jerusalem artichokes.

I’m forcing (ahem) encouraging N to blog his creations as Really Hungry Man. I’m a very lucky gal.

French Macarons

I always knew that French macarons were intimidatingly difficult to make; little did I know just how much precision and experience it would take to create a successful batch!

Giulia and I went to a macaron-making class at On Cookery Club, taught by Loretta Liu (who has been schooled in classical French cooking by the likes of Pierre Gagnaire, Frederic Bau and Alain Ducasse). Not only did we begin to learn about technique, but Loretta also taught us about the importance of really understanding your ingredients and equipment.

I am rather pleased with how my little yellow French macarons turned out but – as Loretta warned us – trying this in our own kitchens will be a whole different journey. Even seasonal changes will affect the success of a batch! I have so much more to learn…

A Fishy Weekend

Finally hit up Billingsgate Fish Market! I’d wanted to go for years, but never mustered the strength to get up before 5am on a Saturday. We scored three lobsters, clams, a red snapper, oysters, smoked haddock, and a 3.5kg hake named Jake:

Dinner was, predictably, rather fish-focused. We started with fresh oysters.

Then toast topped with Gentlemen’s Relish, smoked haddock, baby spinach and poached eggs.

Next came a soup of hake, clams and chorizo.

After all of that, we actually didn’t have any room for the grilled lobsters! So it went into a lobster linguine lunch the following day (see my Instagram shot).

…but there is always room for dessert, aka my strawberry and passionfruit mini cheesecakes.

Next on the wishlist is Smithfield Market for fresh meat and poultry. Though that one opens for trading at 3am – gulp!

One Night in Singakong

A wonderful night of dishes from Singapore and Hong Kong hosted by Jason and Cherry at School Of Wok. Each dish was clearly made with love. The authenticity was undeniable!

Soy sauce-marinated eggs with salmon roe:

Tofu with pickled vegetables in a carrot and mushroom broth:

The ngor hiang meatballs were my favourite:

Drunken chicken with goji berries:

The bak kut teh broth with pork ribs and crispy dough sticks was sensational:

Steamed sea bass:

Cereal prawns (so damn good):

Spicy fried gai lan (cabbage mustard) and vegetables:

Triple-cooked pork belly with preserved vegetables:

Mango, pomelo and sago in coconut milk:

Palm sugar pancakes with banana sauce:

Definitely check out their supper-clubs (+65 and FedByTang) if you’re in London!

Brunswick House Cafe

Brunswick House Cafe is located in an architectural salvage shop in a Georgian building, so you’re dining amidst a quirky mish-mash of furniture and housewares.

Ever the gluttons, we had three starters. Firstly, the spice roasted cauliflower with raisins, almonds and mint. Glorious.

Crispy pig’s head with garden nasturtium, quince and apple.

My favourite dish was the chervil root, squash, kale and ragstone (goat’s cheese). A simple combination that I would never have dreamt up, but will strive to recreate.

For the main course, we had the venison haunch with elderberries, girolles and hazelnuts.

The first dessert was chocolate mousse and sponge with buttered popcorn ice cream. I probably could’ve finished another gallon of that ice cream.

Homemade cow’s curd tart with plums and crumble.

I live dangerously close to the Cafe. I will definitely be back during daylight hours to try their lunch menu and photograph the unique interiors.

Bea’s Crawfish Boil

They warned me that the all-you-can-eat crawfish boil at Bea’s Diner was not for the faint-hearted. They were right, and I shall offer the same courtesy… this post is definitely not for the squeamish!

We started with delicious garlic bread. I failed to get any decent shots of said bread because the fluorescent lights of the tunnel created yellow light-leaks across most of my photos (sadface). Soon enough, they came…

The dips were addictive – comeback sauce, cocktail sauce and Cajun butter sauce. After we had eaten what felt like our body weight of crawfish, sausage, potato, garlic bread and sweetcorn, we cooled off with home-made key lime pie flavour lollies. Nom.

Things got a little weird at the end of the night. I blame those margaritas…