Category Archives: Foodepedia

Little Dish Favourites Cookbook

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Published on Foodepedia on 30th August 2010:

You may know Little Dish as the company that makes fresh, healthy food for kids using only natural ingredients, an idea which has no doubt been of endless help to busy mums and dads everywhere. Well, they have now released their first collection of recipes, the ‘Little Dish Favourites Cookbook’.

Little Dish Favourites reads like a children’s book except, instead of stories, it’s a series of recipes tracking the journey of a child’s life from weaning onwards. That means recipes beginning with carrot purée to aubergine parmigiana and Eton mess. But unlike most cookbooks, there are no images of what the dishes look like, just endearing illustrations of little titbits. Actually, hidden amongst the drawings and recipes, there are a few witty poems too.

The book has been written by Hillary Graves, the co-founder of Little Dish, and it’s been designed with the busy parent in mind. As a mother herself, Graves has gone through the journey with her children and shared some very interesting and helpful hints on what the new parent should expect in this book. There is also the added bonus that after consulting with a paediatric dietician, Little Dish recipes have been tried and tested with Graves’ own children.

This looks like the perfect first family cookbook.

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Perfume Diaries Afternoon Tea preview

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Published on Foodepedia on 27th August 2010:

Eric Lanard decorating cake

“Champagne! Champagne for everyone!” Dahling, that’s how things roll at Harrods.

Well, at least that’s the way things went down when Foodepedia was invited to attend a cake making master-class this week with celebrity Patissier, Eric Lanlard, at Harrod’s Poggenpohl Kitchens. The event was the tasty preview of the Perfume Diaries Afternoon Tea opening at Harrods next week, not that we needed an excuse to indulge of course.

Eric Lanlard showed us how to make Grace and Shot St. Honoré, both part of the Perfume Diaries Afternoon Tea, as well as the chocolate and raspberry cake available from his Battersea emporium, Cake Boy.

Eric Lanard decorating cake

Grace was the orange and lavender almond cake, inspired by the home of perfume, Grasse. It’s so rich and luxurious that you almost have to stop mid-bite to savour the flavours, except then you start to miss the taste in your mouth and would inevitably hurry on to finish the rest.

Shot St. Honoré was an Eton mess with a difference. Layers of meringue, vanilla cream, raspberry and lychee were topped with a rose petal mousse and served with a pipette of lemongrass and coconut. Discovering the different flavours was a journey in itself.

The intense experience of the chocolate and raspberry cake is pretty self-explanatory, even the shiver down your spine as the chocolate ganache melts on your tongue with just the faintest bit of raspberry sours.

They say that around three quarters of what we think we’re tasting actually comes from our sense of smell. If that were indeed the case then this selection of delights would be truly intoxicating.

The Perfume Diaries Afternoon Tea will be open to the public from the 2nd of September until the 2nd of October at the Georgian Restaurant, Harrods. The Perfume Diaries exhibition will be open on the Fourth Floor at Harrods from the 28th of August.

For more information, visit www.harrods.com

A delicious way to earn a living

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Published on Foodepedia on 22nd August 2010:

The late Michael Bateman, a prolific writer and food enthusiast, was probably the father of modern food journalism. When he started out in the 50s, it was considered a topic of little worth, but a topic he nevertheless continued to champion throughout his life. ‘A delicious way to earn a living’ is a collection of his food writings from early on in his career to when he became Food Editor at The Independent on Sunday.

Inside this food journalist’s bible, you can find column musings, serious investigations and recipes, all interwoven with Bateman’s own food illustrations. How could any food journalist be taken seriously without having first read at least a portion of this book? Perhaps what is most surprising, for those strangers to Bateman, is the range of topics it covers. It’s possible to find everything from ethical eating to a guide to prison food, offering a very refreshing change for those who thought food writing was just recipes and reviews. This is certainly an encompassing selection from a man who took lengths to exhaust the topic of food via a multitude of angles.

The book reads like a collection of clippings from his long career, but without dates or publication details, it also feels like a collection of short stories. There are no chapters, just portion after portion of food exaltation. For anyone with a passion for food, this book really is a must. Whether you’re a novice or a connoisseur, the book will educate as well as entertain. What’s more, the book is an easy read and gives a fabulous insight into how food and food writing in Britain has changed between the 50s and 80s. It is also probably one of few books for which the foreword is also the author’s obituary. A regrettable fact indeed.

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JING launches Nilgiri Black

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Published on Foodepedia on 19th August 2010:

Mixologist with cocktail

Tea! Oh glorious tea!

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a big fan of the stuff and there are few weekends when I’m not sitting somewhere with a pot to myself. So what better way to spend a Tuesday evening than to attend the launch of a new tea from JING, supplier to Michelin restaurants and five star hotels?

The little soiree took place at The Cinnamon Club, Westminster, where the evening can only be described as tealicious with tea cocktails, tea friendly canapés and of course the all important cup of tea.

Curious about what it is?

The new addition, bolstering JING’s already burgeoning portfolio of teas, is a black tea from the Coonoor Tea Estate in Nilgiri, India, aptly named Nilgiri Black. If brewed for a couple of minutes, it tastes super light and fresh like a green tea. If left a little longer, it would become heavy quite quickly but perhaps not enough to require milk. Although in a cocktail, it’s probably not quite fragrant enough to beat off the competition from Earl Grey. Still, I think the Nilgiri Black would make a nice cup of chai.

Guess what I will be trying out in my teapot this weekend? Makes a change from my usual Sikkim TGFOP I suppose. (that’s ‘tippy golden flowery orange pekoe’ and not ‘too good for ordinary people’)

Namo

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Published on Foodepedia on 18th August 2010:

178 Victoria Park Road, London E9 7HD www.namo.co.uk

How many restaurants can lay claim to a Banksy on their wall? The answer is probably not many. But Namo, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of leafy Victoria Park, can boast one. Well, almost one as it’s been partially painted over and graffitied on since it’s inception.

Inside is a whole different story. Namo, the second restaurant of husband and wife team Colin and Linh, is tastefully decorated with just a hint of the orient, playing host to a surprising mix of young families and trendy youths.

It seemed appropriate to time my visit to a menu change, given that the restaurant is already five years old.

Crispy courgette flowers and steam stuffed baby squid were complaisant introductions to the menu – they were just European enough to be familiar without defecting from the aim of trying out the Vietnamese cuisine. There were also more traditional options to choose from like Pho or ‘la lot’ wrapped beef. The courgette flowers arrived with a chilli dipping sauce placing it firmly on Vietnamese terrain. The baby squid, stuffed with pork and prawn, also had a sprinkle or two of chilli. The two offered an indescribable blend of flavours to the palate and a touch of spice.

For the main, Saigon pork and Vietnamese fish in claypot were ordered, both with a side of leaf wrapped coconut rice and vegetables.

The coconut rice is something you could happily have on its own. The leafy parcels opened up to sweet coconutty rice mixed with savoury vegetables, a combination that was really quite moreish. Mackerel pieces in a caramelised ginger sauce made up the fish in claypot. It was simple, uncomplicated and complemented the rice very nicely. The Saigon pork, though, turned out to be Saigon beef.

As it happens, Namo had a particularly busy lunch service and ran out of pork. You would have thought that they’d ask if a change of order was required before bringing it to the table. Luckily I had no quarrels with eating beef and the flavours weren’t half bad. The deep fried sprinklings of vermicelli topping seemed a little excessive but the beef was seriously tender and you could certainly taste the spices in the sauce.

At this point, the meal was sitting quite heavily and yet there was some how room for dessert. Banana fritters with coconut ice cream was ordered but apple fritters with coconut ice cream arrived – the meal replacement service strikes again! The restaurant was clearly still having some teething problems.

Namo didn’t serve up the fresh and overtly health conscious Vietnamese cuisine I had anticipated and the relaxed approach to orders was rather disappointing. But to its credit, the food that was ultimately served up was wholesome enough and certainly enjoyed by the hoards of locals that seem to flood in around 8pm. And the coconut ice cream was definitely a nice way to round off a heavy meal.