A Plum Cake...

Sorry I haven't posted much this week but Paul took the camera with him to Cumbria...and if you take a look at my other blog you'll hopefully be glad that he did!

Anyway, he got back last night...happy to be home and just in time for me to photograph today's Coffee Tree delivery...

It's an upside down Golden Plum & Blueberry Cake.

There's caramel there too...it's a little like a cake version of a Tarte Tatin.

The juices from the plums & purple berries sink into the vanilla sponge and make it very moist & delicious. I've played around and made this with all sorts of fruits...it's especially good with peaches or apricots in summer...and you can also vary the flavour of the cake itself - so maybe a lemon sponge with fresh raspberries or an orange one with rhubarb...I think it would also be lovely served warm with cream as a dessert.
Whichever way I make it, it's a favourite at the coffee shop!

Enjoy your weekend....and eat well! We're off to London to revisit brand new restaurant Nopi in Soho. I was lucky enough to be invited to one of the opening nights on Monday evening...and I want Paul to try it too, so we'll be there for lunch tomorrow. I can't wait!! xo

A Fabulous Fusion of Friends & Food...

How much more alliteration can I cram into one title??

Readers of my other blog will probably have spotted that one of my favourite London restaurants is The Providores. Paul & I have loved Peter Gordon's stylish, innovative, beautiful restaurant for many years now. We even had our wedding lunch there! One of my other favourite memories of the place is when we ate there together with 4 other friends for my birthday dinner about 8 years ago. Paul told the waiting staff that I was a chef & asked if Peter was cooking & if so, would it be possible to meet him? I was absolutely mortified! This was at about 8.45pm on a busy Saturday evening. Surely no chef on earth would welcome a stranger into his domain at such a time (I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have!) Well, to my utter amazement and considerable pleasure, Mr Gordon was only too happy...he even invited me dowstairs to the kitchen, to be shown around! An incredibly generous & kind gesture. And knowing Peter a little now as I do, since he co-tutored the  Arvon food writing course I took last Summer, I realise that this generosity & warmth wasn't a one-off. The man has style!

He, together with Michael McGrath-his partner at The Providores- and 2 others, recently opened a new venture in Covent Garden, Kopapa.

Paul & I first visited a couple of weeks after opening, on Boxing Day for brunch. That's when the picture above was taken. Not a great day to test a restaurant...but we were in need of good coffee,a glass of prosecco, a plate of something tasty and full flavoured, and a pleasant space to relax.

We weren't disappointed on any of these counts. But I wanted to go back for lunch and the real Kopapa experience!

So last Wednesday, I met my good friend, Arvon compatriot & fellow blogger Hummus Boy for a late lunch in rainy, warm London. The restaurant is much lighter and more open than The Providores...more cafe-like, less intimate...with a swish dark green velvet curtain to shield diners from draughts at the door (very Salzburg!)  The Boy is a confirmed carnivore (read the fascinating recent post on his trip to Iceland a week or so ago!) so we decided on a selection from the tapas menu, to include his desired Parmesan & Bone Marrow on Toast with Chrain...and one main course:

a Tempura spicy dahl stuffed inari pocket on sugar snaps with caramelised coconut, plantain fritter, pickled green papaya & coriander (one thing about Peter Gordon's food is that the menu descriptions are novellas..and you need to be Mr Memory to recall them!) We both had work/driving to do later, so we each had a non-alcoholic Tamarillo Daiquiri to drink...

so gorgeous to look at, and sweet/sour/refreshing to the taste...it was easier to sip, as the seeds from the tamarillo caught in the straw!

We started with some stunning, chargrilled flatbreads and chunky, smoky aubergine babaganoush - something I could eat all day. I'll leave The Boy to describe the meat and fish elements of the meal...standouts for me included the plate of cassava chips with avocado, sriricha chili sauce (a thin, hot thai condiment) and creme fraiche (reading the Boy's blogpost of the same lunch I've noted with embarrassment that I hogged this plate to myself and he didn't even get one to try....

can you blame me?) The cassava was like a sturdy parsnip..sweet & mealy on the inside and crisp on the outside...the little prickles of heat from the chili, cooled down by the avocado and creme fraiche were perfect.
I also loved the char-grilled aubergine with tamarind caramel, pickled ginger and za'atar...

and wished again that we weren't sharing!! True to his nature, Peter (who wasn't cooking that day) had asked his chefs to send us up some complimentary dishes too...in the end, what had started as a chance for the two of us to meet up and chat about food, writing and life became a massive foodfest...we even had to push two tables together to hold all the plates! The day was made even more special when another mutual and very welcome friend joined us for coffee. Unfortunately, he'd already eaten! But we persuaded him to help us clear the table all the same!

So, Kopapa...not so much of a restaurant in feel or look as The Provs...perfect for the all-day dining approach. The food is light, bright & perfectly balanced...also priced incredibly reasonably for this standard of cooking. I loved it - I may be a little biased, but I still loved it. It's my kind of food, and I can think of no better place to while away a few hours in Covent Garden. I'm planning my next visit already!

Kopapa - 8.5/10

The Amazing Artichoke

Old Amersham has always held a special place in my heart. It's an historic and beautiful small market town....I was born and brought up very nearby and it was always a special treat to visit the interesting High Street as a child. I'd spend my pocket money in places now long gone...Scoops, The Daisy Shop...and we'd love to imagine the way it would have looked in it's heyday (not difficult - I'm sure that not much has changed, architecturally speaking!)

It is also the place that I started my professional cooking career. As a 17 year old schoolgirl, I became a Sunday 'washer-up' at the long gone but much missed (and not just by me, I'm sure) Willow Tree Restaurant. A few years later, after much more part-time work there and as a relieved 'drop-out' from university (something I've never regretted) I became Head Chef . In a lot of ways, those years were among the happiest of my working life - certainly until I owned my own business. I learned so much in those hectic, happy, affluent days of the late 1980's....and I'm forever grateful to Carol & Mark, my bosses, who placed a lot of faith in me at a young age and gave me such amazing training.

So, I still love visiting the town. And Paul & I have a good reason to do so, as it has for a few years contained one of our very favourite 'formal' restaurants, and certainly the best one outside London that we know.

The Artichoke is the place we choose if we feel like brightening up the day, as we did yesterday when we headed there for lunch. It's run by a husband and wife team, Laurie & Jackie Gear - he is the chef and she heads the front of house team.

The restaurant is small (in my day, it was a newsagents!) but beautifully designed to be light and luxurious and so never feels cramped. Service is impeccable without being intrusive, and there are touches of humour too which make customers feel welcome and at home. If you've been before, they will remember you...and any special requests or dietary requirements you may have, which is very rare outside big cities, I find. It all adds to a wonderfully pampering and relaxed experience. But it's the food that really sets it apart...

Light, fresh, seasonal, vibrant....my starter of jerusalem artichoke a la grecque, leeks, green beans,truffle mayonnaise,artichoke crisps, toasted hazelnuts and hazelnut vinaigrette will stay in my foodie memory for a long time to come. I could eat it every day.

Above is Paul's main course - breast of wild duck with spiced pastilla of confit duck leg (the little parcels on the right), butternut squash fondant, candied kumquats & pine nuts and coxes orange pippin apple sauce. He had the biggest smile on his face while eating it..and was quite quiet for once too! My main course was a picture perfect plate of white onion mousse with lots of beautiful, intricate vegetables (unfortunately I deleted the photograph!) and made such a change to the ubiquitous nondescript cheese-filled dishes that I'm usually offered. And the desserts...

the picture doesn't do justice to my plate of orange compote, vanilla ice cream, warm madelines & orange salad...which sounds fairly simple, but was a complex dish of preserved, candied and fresh oranges, with a hidden & wonderful surprise in the ice cream pyramid!

Paul hardly ever has a pudding, but succumbed to this pear & caramelised white chocolate galette with poire william sorbet - he wouldn't give me a taste, which shows how good it must have been...

The courses are not huge, but we always find that they are just enough. I hate to leave a meal feeling too full, it's something that really puts me off...and I also dislike wasting food and leaving lots on the plate. Never a problem here.

With my 3-course set lunch at £25, it also offers terrific value for this level of service and well considered, perfectly executed cooking.

The Artichoke - I have a feeling it will always be on our Top 5 list. Highly recommended. 10/10

Les Deux Salons

On Saturday lunchtime, we tried a newly opened restaurant in Covent Garden that we'd read many good things about....Les Deux Salons ....we weren't disappointed.

It was opened less than 3 weeks ago by the team behind Arbutus & our great favourite Wild Honey, and the food is recognisably that of the great Anthony Demetre...

The space looks beautiful, much bigger and less intimate than the other two restaurants -it reminded me of The Wolseley. Smoked glass mirrors, french globe pendant lights, glamorous staircase and wrought iron...plus a beautiful long curved bar, one of my favourite features at Wild Honey.

We changed tables straight away - the first one had a large pillar obscuring our view (very important for nosey people watchers like us!) but this was no problem for the charming Polish waitress who served us so cheerfully and we were very happy after the switch! Beautiful, rough french linen covered the tables....a basket of good bread was brought straight away together with chilled tap water - wonderful when you don't need to ask for that but still, sadly, fairly unusual in London.

My only slight gripe would be with the menu. Not the choices, but the fact that it was printed and laminated. I just have a thing about it. It suggests to me that the same dishes will be on offer next time we visit...I so much prefer a daily changing menu and the excitement it brings.

 However, I had no complaints with the food - a salad of quinoa, broccoli, preserved lemons & bitter leaves was beautifully presented and deep in flavour. I adore preserved lemons and they lifted this dish from a simple composition to something special.

Fresh orecchiette pasta with pecorino, artichokes and pine nuts was delivered to the table in a covered copper pan....and was rich and light all once. I shared a side order of winter greens too, which I stirred in to finish up the rest of the delectable, citrussy sauce.

I also, of course, had room for dessert (I ALWAYS have room for dessert....!) and chose Tarte au Citron (without the chantilly cream, which I  think masks the flavour) which is one of my very favourite puddings. This one was wonderful - so, so lemony, with a crispy and wafer thin base and a slightly crunchy bruleed top. I had to bash the back of Paul's hand with my teaspoon to stop him 'testing' too much!

It was good value too. We always try and guess the bill, and Paul (the champion at this game usually) was over by almost £25...a lovely surprise! We will definitely be back, perhaps with a few friends who we know would enjoy it. Wild Honey is still my favourite in the group, but it's great to see such a beautiful and accomplished opening in these straitened times.

Les Deux Salons - recommended. 7.5/10

Wild about Wild Honey...

So last weekend found us in London again. We usually prefer to eat out at lunchtime when we're there...often better value, easier to find a good table and it leaves the evening free for other things...like sipping a world class margarita outside The Providores and watching the world go by, for instance!!

Wild Honey is one of our favourite lunch spots....



it's on the site of the former Drones club, and the panelling makes it look a little 'clubby' still...but it's a polished, beautiful space with a wonderful bar...which is where we always prefer to sit. Paul and I are both people watchers...a polite label for 'nosey'...and always fight about who gets to sit looking at the wall over the other person's shoulder in restaurants and who gets to look out at the room! So sitting side by side, able to see who's coming in & out, who's sitting down and being able to look out of the window at the same time as eating fantastic food is our idea of heaven!
The set price lunch menu (2 choices) at £19 is incredible value for this standard of cooking. Anthony Demetre and his team have perfected the art of simple presentation mixed with incredibly intense flavours and beautiful combinations. On this occasion I had a bowl of white bean soup...I can taste it now! The light broth was so deep and perfectly seasoned that I feel as though I could eat it for every meal a the moment. All I really needed...but I also had a salad of hazelnuts, sheep's curd, syrupy figs and bitter leaves which left me feeling light and virtuous but replete at the same time. Wines are served by the 250ml carafe, so you can choose a different one with each course if you want to...I chose a Gruner Veltliner, sparky & flinty and difficult to find a good one outside Austria. I always jump on it in a restaurant that knows wine well...and Wild Honey is one of those. The staff are always extremely efficient yet friendly, which is my ideal combination. It's somewhere we'll always go back to. A lot is made of their sister restaurant, in Soho, Arbutus. It seems to attract most of the accolades. We've been and it was fine. But for me, it's Wild Honey every time.

Afterwards, wandering around Soho...which is a favourite Saturday afternoon pastime...we visited the much-talked about new bakery Cox Cookies & Cake in Brewer Street. Opened by the designer Patrick Cox, it's on the site of a former sex shop...now a dark ,hot (they hadn't had air conditioning installed yet!) glittery box of a space...handsome young men in studded leather aprons serve amazingly decorated cupcakes from a perspex topped counter. At a price. A HUGE price (to me, also a professional baker as you know...) A selection of 4 regular sized cupcakes (no prices on display) came to £14.50! But they were a present (I imagine that is what most of them will be, I can't see people buying them to take home themselves..) and therefore it really didn't matter too much!

Good luck to them I say! But I'm not sure that I'll be back....soon, anyway!

Enjoy your week xox

Return to disappointment....

Today we decided to go out for lunch (as we often do on a Sunday) and we drove in beautiful sunshine back to the village I was born in.

I only lived here until I was 6, but it holds many happy memories for me, even though the village - in common with so many small English places - has changed from being the vibrant little community with shops & post office that I remember to a purely residential place...the butcher and hairdresser now estate agents, the chemist, grocers and newsagents all private homes. But my first little school still stands on the village green, the pond is the same one I used to 'fish' in with a bamboo pole & piece of useless hanging string, and if I close my eyes I can almost see 2 tiny girls, their newborn sister in a pram, running over the harebells to play on the common by the church.

Before I drowned Paul in all this nostalgia, we stopped for lunch at a gastropub we've been to before. It's part of a small chain, we know & like the others but this one has been disappointing before so we thought we'd give it another try to see if it's changed. Sadly not. It's a beautiful, ancient building that has been renovated and decorated beautifully and sympathetically....authentic low beams, flagstoned floors, mismatched chairs, tapestry rugs and muted colours on the walls. The staff are young, efficient and friendly, there are newspapers to read and dogs are welcome (they have their own jar of biscuits on the bar) What's the problem, you may ask. In short, the most important thing....the food, of course! The menu looks and reads wonderfully (almost the most frustrating thing, it promises so much!) All the right things : Local ham hock terrine with home made piccallilli, locally reared roast pork, Organic smoked salmon with caper berries and horseradish creme fraiche....mmm. But everything was slightly wrong. I ordered 2 starters (something I often do at lunchtime) homemade hummus and pumpkin seed flatbread for my first dish, poached pear, walnut & blue cheese salad with wholegrain mustard dressing to follow., with a side order of unusual beetroot fritters with horseradish.Perfect.

The flatbread was certainly homemade, looked good (chargrilled in stripes, a nice touch) but SO oversalted - and I'm someone who loves salt - that it was almost inedible. And the hummus. My friend Rami would have had a fit of apoplexy! I don't think there was much tahini in it, no garlic, minimal lemon juice and a strange, bitty texture....almost separated. I've thought long and hard about the taste and what was wrong. I honestly think that they hadn't cooked the chickpeas.....soaked, yes, but if they'd seen boiling water I'd be very surprised. So weird. I'm just hoping (3 hours on) that there will be no toxic effects - although I obviously didn't eat much.

Salad next....really just an assembly dish, no real skills involved. Pear, blue cheese & walnuts with watercress and mustard dressing. No walnuts. Anywhere. I called the waiter over. "I think they may have forgotten to add the walnuts to my salad?" "yup, highly likely" he laughed and went to the kitchen, returning with a small bowl of nuts fresh out of the packet. Somehow the magic was lost! The beetroot fritters - more tempura really - were the best bit of my meal, although the batter was chewy and slightly tough instead of being crisp and light. The beetroot quarters themselves were lovely and the horseradish went perfectly with their earthy blandness. Hardly a meal, though.

We didn't have coffee or dessert (we wouldn't usually at lunchtime anyway) but left unsatisfied and frustrated. Great looking building, good location and such a dearth of  other good eating places in this very affluent area so close to London..... but so badly let down by lack of attention to detail and poor kitchen skills. At a time when even wonderful places are having to think of new ways to attract and retain customers, it seems a big mistake to actually repel them like this. We won't be back in a hurry.

Great Meal....

at Great Queen Street...

We went to the theatre on Saturday afternoon ( you can read about that here if you want!) and walked to Covent Garden from Marylebone - a gorgeous thing to do in the sunshine. We arrived about 90 minutes before the performance...just enough time to find a little place for a bite to eat and a glass of something refreshing. We've been to Great Queen Street (which, handily, is in Great Queen Street....) a few times and always enjoyed it. The cooking is rustic and beautifully thought out....fresh, unusual ingredient combinations, shared slow-cooked dishes on Sundays, wines served in chic unfussy french tumblers, efficient but informal staff....all the things we love really. We never thought we'd get a table (all the chain restaurants were packed) but, happily (for us) there was no problem at all. We could hardly believe our luck!

As we had a tight schedule, we had a combination of small plates and asked for them all at once. I had a Ticklemore (a hard goat cheese) Peashoot, Mint,& Lemon Salad with fried crunchy breadcrumbs AND a plate of cheese & biscuits (well, I didn't have dessert & shared the cheeses with Paul!) which came with home made oatcakes and a wonderful pile of sharp/sweet chutney. I also treated myself to a Margarita - still served in a tumbler, beautifully rimmed in salt (several I've had lately have omitted that - to me-essential step!) All just gorgeous. I could have stayed there all afternoon had Jeff Goldblum not been calling me from the Vaudeville Theatre (and you just CAN'T ignore Jeff!)

I'd highly recommend Great Queen Street or it's sister restaurant The Anchor & Hope in Waterloo (if you can ever get a table!) Particularly wonderful when shared with good friends, they are London eating at it's best....and London eating, I'm pleased to say, is very, very good!

Lunch at the TownHouse

We just walked back from Easter Saturday lunch at The Dean Street Town House in London's Soho. I'm SO full, wanted to write about it straight away while it's fresh in my mind. The restaurant is fairly newly opened and has received a lot of press recently. It's owned by the same company that run the amazingly luxurious Babington House hotel in Somerset...and every attention has been paid to the detail, look and feel of this gorgeous space. We sat at one of the round tables (like the one pictured above)...really comfortable, velvet upholstered chairs, beautiful linens and cutlery.

There's a special vegetarian menu (always a welcome bonus!) and it was hard to choose from the delicious sounding selection....most of which came in small or large portions, so you could mix & match the menu as you liked. I decided on Goat Curd, Beetroot & Chicory Salad to start....absolutely gorgeous, jewelled with pomegranate seeds, fresh & delicate...then a Chanterelle & Onion Tart with side orders of jersey royal new potatoes & purple sprouting broccoli. The tart was flaky & light with plenty of onion and the wonderful flavour of the wild mushrooms permeating through.

We drank a bottle of our favourite wine in the world...Isabel Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand...not often found, always ordered when we do!

I had the most divine dessert too....Peanut Shortbread with Salted Caramel Ice cream. Oh my. The shortbread was rich and salty with the crunch of peanuts and soft chocolate contrasting the texture from the middle....and the ice cream was a taste I could happily die eating!

The service was slightly slow to start with, but once we got talking to the friendly Aussie sommelier it soon thawed out. A great place to people watch (such interesting types in Soho!!) and they're open all day, including breakfast & afternoon tea. You could even get a room and stay after dinner (I always judge a place by the standards of it's bathrooms....and this one was just beautiful, all black & white with blood red velver chairs & antique mirrors....)

The Dean Street Townhouse: a feast for the stomach & the senses in Soho  8.5/10

Marble Cake, Birthday Cake....

I made this gorgeous Sour Cream Marble Cake for our local coffee shop yesterday. Sadly, because it was an order, I can't show you inside! But the batter tasted so gorgeous...

I glazed it with a simple dark chocolate ganache. It made a really big, tall cake that would be wonderful for a special tea or birthday party - I can just see it with gold candles all over it!

It's adapted - once more - from Baked. I can't recommend this book highly enough, constant ideas & surprises. The original recipe was for a bundt cake, but my customers prefer plain round ones so that's how I made it. It probably took an extra half hour to cook this way, but I'll reproduce the recipe as it was originally and leave it to you!

Sour Cream Marble Bundt Cake

{from Baked - New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito}

For the chocolate swirl:

6oz good, dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

For the sour cream cake:

3 1/2 cups all purpose (plain) flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

16 floz (about 450ml) sour cream

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Grease the inside of a 10"(23cm) bundt pan & preheat oven to 350 degrees

To make the chocolate swirl, melt the chocolate over simmering water (again, I used a microwave but carefully!) and when completely smooth, whisk in the cocoa powder, remove bowl from heat & set aside

Sift flour, baking powder & soda & salt together and set aside.

Cream the butter until smooth (I use an electric hand mixer but a stand mixer - or wooden spoon if you're strong! - are also good) Scrape down the bowl & add the sugar, beating until the mixture is smooth & fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each in well & scraping down the bowl in between. Add the sour cream & vanilla and beat until just incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, scraping down the bowl in between & only beat until each addition is just incorporated. Don't overmix.

Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the chocolate swirl bowl & mix gently to make a smooth chocolate batter. Spread half the remaining cake batter into the prepared pan, then dollop the chocolate mixture on top of the plain, leaving some plain batter peeking through. Pour the remaining plain mixture on top & pull a butter knife through the whole lot, swirling gently to create a marbled effect. Bake in the centre of the oven for approx 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through. Check by inserting a skewer or cocktail stick into the middle of the cake - it should come out clean when cooked!

Cool in the pan,on a wire rack, for 30 minutes then loosen the edges with a knife and invert onto the wire rack before leaving to cool completely.

I made my glaze from about 1 cup dark chocolate, 1/4 cup double (heavy) cream & 1/4 stick butter which I gently melted together over a very low heat until shiny & smooth. Again you could do this over simmering water or in a microwave.

This morning I went over to a local restaurant that I supply - Annie Bailey's to build an 18th birthday brownie cake for a party at lunchtime today...

It takes quite a while to build one of these, using chocolate sauce as 'mortar' - but I think you'll agree it's worth it. I love the roman numeral candles especially (found on our Autumn trip to the States) and the long thin ones are sparklers...

Wish I could see it all lit up....but after a quick cup of coffee with my friends up there, I was off home!

No more baking today....time to relax!

Enjoy your weekend xox

Polpo - Venice in London!

One of the nicest restaurants I've been to recently is this new one in London's Soho district.

Polpo is the most Italian restaurant I've ever visited outside Italy itself. It's small and takes no reservations in the evening - which may be a problem for some - but on a freezing cold Saturday in January it was just the place for us! We sat at the zinc topped bar, just to the right of the entrance. From here, you can feel the buzz and hum of the whole restaurant and get to chat to the friendly barstaff (the day we were there, a lovely Canadian girl who was really knowledgeable about Italian wines....very handy!) The menu , beautifully printed on the rustic paper mat in front of you, is the same throughout, whether you are at the bar or a more formal table...and changes regularly, sometimes daily according to what's good that day. It's made up of 'little dishes' or cichetti - the Venetian version of tapas, I suppose, together with more substantial meat or fish and what looked like amazing desserts including my favourite 'Affogato' or espresso poured over vanilla icecream. We got no further than the cichetti however, this time., You order as many as you like, when you want them...highlights for us were a divine white bean & sage puree on charred sourdough toast & 'sarde in saor', a Venetian speciality of fresh sardines, soused in an oniony sweet/sour vinegar marinade and served at room temperature. But it was all really, really good! Very reasonably priced too, especially for London. We left pleasantly full and just over £40 lighter...including tip.

Polpo has everything the best Venetian baccari do, except the amazing views and the Grand Canal outside it's door. But with a couple of glasses of good, chilled Prosecco and a plate of wonderful food I hardly noticed!

POLPO - bravissimo!  8.5/10