Damian Allsop Chocolate Workshop

I had a fantastically fun, educational, and tasty morning at a chocolate workshop this morning, run by Damian Allsop, the producer of CH₂OCOLATES. He specialises in chocolates made with a water-based ganache, which he discovered helps to bring out and retain the flavours of the chocolate - and his creations really are superb. I'm snacking delightfully on my going-home-present, a bag full of a selection of different chocs, despite greedily stuffing my face with the stuff earlier!

But, of course I didn't just spend the whole time eating, I also learnt a lot, as did the other amateurs (chocolate-lovers) at the workshop (perhaps apart from my omniscient mum!). First, Damian gave an enticing introduction to the production of chocolate, from the picking of the fruit pod (which surprisingly grows on the trunk of the tree since it's too heavy to be hanging off the sides), to the extremely important but often overlooked fermentation, to drying, roasting, and finally manufacturing. As well as the scientific side, we saw some beautiful pictures of the cacao beans, still with their multicoloured hard outer skin, and then the smaller inside beans covered in a white pulp, followed by examples of the processes involved in refining the bean.

After the food-history lesson, it was time for the taste test. We started off with a fairly average supermarket-quality dark chocolate which we decided was a bit too bitter, had no fruity notes, and the different flavours weren't smoothly connected which made it unpleasant to eat. We moved up the scale, starting to get hints of fruits like tangerines, and arrived at Original Beans Cru Virunga, which was full of cherry flavours and a mouth-watering acidity, which lingered in the mouth.

Suitably warmed up, we watched Damian give a demo of making a chocolate mousse, before having a go ourselves. To get the consistency that would normally come from cream, we thickened the water with xanthan gum (a thickening agent), before combining this with our melted Cru Virunga, and folding this into a meringue mixture. Of course, being true professions, we didn't opt for the super-fast and easy electric whisk to transform liquid egg white into fluffy meringue. Nope, instead we used the good ol'fashioned hand one -  which I have to admit I slightly regretted after my arm almost fell off from exhaustion (despite whisking tips from the expert, Damian). We then left this to set in the fridge for a few hours, after a quick taster! Another group also added in a raspberry sauce to the milk-chocolate recipe, which gave it a great extra kick.

Damian showed us how to make liquorice financiers (cake), and fruit jellies (no gelatin, just a vegetable gelling agent and xanthan) as well, which were a great accompaniment to our mousses, and were fantastic topped off with spicy ginger crisps, and served immaculately in the shape of a cacao pod!

Finally, we tried everything, all in different combinations, to find which we enjoyed the most. I particularly liked the little liquorice cakes, topped with my chocolate mousse, and the apricot sauce! The whole session was thoroughly enjoyable, most definitely worth the 7 O'clock Saturday morning start, and 2 hour journey each way! Thank you Damian!

The Grill Restaurant at The Dorchester

I just got back from a wonderful evening at The Grill Restaurant at The Dorchester. The setting of the restaurant, at the grand hotel is very impressive, with gold and chandeliers blooming on the ceiling. Inside the restaurant, however, the décor had a slightly strange Scottish theme, with tartan all over the place, but it had a lovely charming atmosphere. My mum and I had a chat with Brian Hughson, the very friendly and passionate Head Chef, talking about how important it is for him to source his game and fish (the restaurant prides itself on it's game, [the meat not the amusement!]) from people who he knows, and is sure that they really care about what they do ...

... and it certainly showed! I had some delicious food. I particularly enjoyed my main. It was the best halibut that I've had for a long long time - crispy and crunchy skin, delicate flaky flesh, and thoroughly flavoursome. Accompanying it was some crispy fried squid for an extra crunch, some cute little anchovies. As well as some tasty potatoes, pickled in lemon which gave an extra depth to their flavour and complimented the fish well, and sprinkles of some groovy-looking purple cauliflower. Oh, and how could I forget?, parmesan custard. Now that's a good idea!



My starter was delicious too:  stunningly presented Aldwych goat's cheese in brik pastry, with potatoes, a sorbet made from crème fraiche and a herby sauce. The cheese rolls were great, with a definitive intense flavour which was topped off with a little shaving of parmesan. I thought the sauce was yummy as well, especially with those potatoes and sorbet!



It's probably going to sound like I'm really greedy if I talk about another course, but I'll do it anyway. This was marinaded scallops, something I've never tried before. They were very different to seared scallops, like I'm used to, and quite nice, but I think I'd prefer them just lightly cooked, because I couldn't really taste the delicate flavour, more the marinade. Also with the dish was deep fried oyster! Despite being not too keen on oyster, I thought this was very tasty, because that usually very strong taste of the sea was more subtle, and the texture was less ... slimy. The scallop crackling was also pretty cool, especially since I normally wouldn't have crackling (it's normally made from pork!).



My mum had some game, obviously, but unfortunately I'm a pescetarian so it's not really my thing, but she asked me to take photos of what she had, so here they are (I think it's grouse):

For dessert, I tried a very fruity berry jelly, with a refreshing buttermilk sorbet - a perfect finish to a fantastic meal!

So Restaurant

A few days ago I went to So Restaurant to enjoy my favourite food of all time: sushi. With so many Japanese restaurants around now, it's difficult to find one that really hits the spot, but the sushi here was so (pun intended) good.

There was a special 'pre-theatre menu' that I chose, which was perfect prior to seeing a dazzling performance by The Flying Karamazov Brothers, full of juggling, music, comedy ... anyway you want to hear about the food.

The tuna was absolutely fantastic, very fresh and clear tasting, with a light texture on perfectly cooked rice. The uramaki (inside-out rolls) tasted great too, although I had to add some wasabi - not hot enough for my taste-buds!

The miso soup I tried was great: not too salty , not too sweet, but a good balance. Lovely and refreshing.

On the generous set menu too was a mixed tempura. I was particularly impressed with the prawn tempura, which had a beautiful, almost scallop-like texture, together with a tweet flavour and crisp batter. I liked the inclusion of ocra in the vegetable selection, which I hadn't tried as tempura before, but I think it went very well. Accompanying the original tentsuyu dipping sauce was the restaurant's own creation of a piquant, pleasantly spicy, and slightly citrus sauce.

Overall, a fantastic meal and I hope to return as often as possible!

Cantinetta, Dean Street Townhouse, & Maltby Street Market

Despite not being in Puglia after dramatically missing our flight, we've still managed to have a delightfully foodie week. Even, a very Italian one.

On Thursday night, I went to Cantinetta, where I had some great Italian food!

I tried some salmon and sea bass carpaccio, with a strawberry vinegar dressing. I found this too acidic and overpowering, which was a shame since I couldn't taste the delicate fish.

Also as antipasta, I had some burrata with sun dried tomatoes. The cheese was wonderfully creamy, but not too runny, which was great. The tomatoes were full of flavour and went really well with the buratta.

I had some great prawns in a lovely rich garlicy sauce, with some crisp bread.

Following the seafood theme, I tasted some scallops with endive salad. The scallops were amazing because they had only been very briefly seared, so tasted very fresh.

For my main, I had a seafood risotto, which was delicious! The rice had a good bite to it, maybe slightly too much of a bite, but it was quite creamy, and fishy which was nice. I liked the chopped herbs in it.

My mum had lobster spaghetti, which was of course indulgently rich, with soft and flavoursome meat and al dente pasta.

I also had some delicious fried courgette as a chip-substitute, which were lovely and crispy.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited Dean Street Townhouse for a spot of afternoon tea. I chose some buttered crumpets, which I hadn't had for ages, so it was a nice treat. I also had some scones with clotted cream and lovely strawberry and raspberry jam - delicious!

Finally, today I visited Maltby Street Market - sort of a close (in location and food quality) rival to the incredibly well known but slightly too touristy Borough Market. It was a bit more of a trek from London Bridge, but definitely worth it. We got there a bit late (it starts shutting down at around 2pm), but bought some fantastic 17 month comte from the Borough Cheese Company, which is aged in a fort in eastern-France. I also went to Niel's Yard Dairy, where I tried some cheese called St John, which had a great tangy flavour, and was quite smelly and creamy.

From the South of France to Balham ... Hildreth Street Market

Having spent the past week in the South of France near Marseillan, sailing past oyster beds with a passionate French sailor qui s'appelle Albert, munching on some tielles (a delicious local delicacy from Sète, a slightly spicy and very fishy pie of octopus and tomato), scoffing home-made bouillabaisse ("all-in" fish soup) with its accompanying aioli, and frying fresh squid in garlic and chilli before feasting on it with a squeeze of lime, it came as more than a little shock to arrive back last night to rainy England.

However, I was not to despair, since this morning (albeit through the pounding rain) we went to sniff out Hildreth Street Market in homely Balham - perhaps hoping for a somewhat nearer equivalent to "Les Halles"! It was actually pretty good: there was an organic vegetable stall (Wild Country Organics) selling some quite obscure varieties of vegetable like sorrel, ridge cucumbers, cute yellow courgettes, and also a great, peppery mixed salad which I tried for lunch.

To accompany the salad (or was it the other way round?!) I had some paella, scooped up from one of those big dishes which was bubbling away a few moments before, with an assortment of squid, prawns, mussels and that lovely fragrant rice.

Another stall which jumped out was Ms Cupake's: "The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town". I tried a great vegan Mediterranean vegetable scone. The ex-primary-school-teacher, Ms Cupcake hereslf, was wonderfully lively and enthusiastic, whose main aim isn't just to cater for vegans like herself but allow everyone to "enjoy great cakes". Having enjoyed her savoury scone very much, I'm sure I'll be popping into the bakery in Brixton to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Balham might not quite be the sunny paradise that is Southern France, but it's not far off with its food.

Pollen Street Social

For my birthday yesterday I was lucky enough to be taken to Pollen Street Social for a treat of a lunch. Jason Atherton opened his new restaurant just a few months ago, but it was packed with people, and had a great atmosphere, so it really lived up to its (social) name!

The food (as I was expecting after my mum told me that Jason had worked for the legendary, if slightly bonkers, Ferran Adrià at his restaurant elBulli in Spain which won The World's 50 Best three years running before Noma) was exceptional.

To start, I had a very interesting dish, which was like a reversal of a squid risotto. The squid has been prepared into rice-sized cuts, and combined with a cauliflower sauce as the rice base. Meanwhile, the squid was replaced with deceptive crispy clusters of rice, which were coated in squid ink, for a great crunch. Even the cauliflower was reminiscent of squid with its florets stretching out like tentacles. The brown sauce which accompanied the 'risotto' was an intense juice of roasted squid which, combined with the salty samphire, really painted a picture of the sea in my mouth.

Sticking with the seafood theme, for my mains I opted for some black bream, which is a beautifully flavoursome fish, and was wonderfully cooked with a crispy skin and moist flesh. It was quite possibly the most delicious fish I've ever had ... a taste difficult to describe but hard to forget. With the gambas, and prawn froth, alongside an earthy sauce (not sure what it was, but it tasted like mushrooms, possibly chestnut mushrooms), and tender asparagus, it was a perfect main.

Before dessert, we went to sit up at the dessert bar, where we could see our puds being impeccably prepared, from painting plates with one slick swish of a brush to pumping delicate foams from a thermo whip and topping with various herbs and sauces. Well, I chose the odd-sounding tomato and strawberry gazpacho with black olive ice cream and sweetbread. The sweet gazpacho and crispy bread contrasted well with the more salty ice cream, which tasted so strongly of olive that I could hardly believe it! Accompanied by the unbeatable fraises de bois (wild strawberries), this was a fantastic dessert.

A combination of a lively atmosphere, interesting modern art, chatty chefs, and of course scrumptious food make Pollen Street Social somewhere I hope to go back to!

North Road - Noma in London?

Last night, I had a delicious meal at North Road in Farringdon. The chef, Christoffer Hruskova, from Denmark, cooked up some fantastic dishes, perhaps inspired by the success of René Redzepi's Nordic restaurant in Copenhagen, Noma.

We were greeted by very welcoming staff, and a minimal but tasteful interior, with intriguing lights that reminded me of astronaut helmets!

As hors d'oeuvre, we were presented with a highly Noma-esque smoked quails egg, in a large egg shell. I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed with my first taste of North Road, since the eggs were cold and vinegary like they'd been preserved, as opposed to the hot melting, served over the still warm hay equivalent at Noma. My disappointment quickly vanished however, when I tried the smoked cheese and radish appetizer, beautifully presented on crispy bread, and topped with my favourite herb, dill! It was wonderfully light, and subtly smoky, with a soft crunch from the thinly-sliced radishes - deeelish.

For my starter I chose pickled mackerel, with nettles and horseradish. The mackerel on its own was lovely and yielding and just vinegary enough for my liking! I adored the horseradish 'snow', which had a really intensely pungent taste. Although, I wasn't too keen on the burnt hay covered fish, as I think it was too charcoaly, and the texture was strangely oozy, which put me off somewhat.

My main course was absolutely fantastic! I had monkfish tail and cheek, with Kent broad beans, St George mushrooms, delicious sauce made from intense (I think chestnut) mushrooms, and different greens, including samphire. The dish looked like something you might find on a forest floor, with different shades of green and brown, and tasted wonderfully earthy as well. The fish had a great, giving texture, whilst being wonderfully crispy on the outside. I loved the flavoursome mushrooms, and accompanying sauce, and the greens had great sweet and citrus tastes.

Finally, for dessert, I opted for the interesting sounding birch ice-cream and nettle 'snow'. The ice-cream was gently woody, with subtle vanilla undertones, and the nettle 'snow', which looked bizarrely like moss was in fact lovely and refreshing.

Altogether, it's a great restaurant, with exciting and scrumptious food - almost on par with Noma, and certainly easier to get to for me!