Category Archives: Publication

Blakes Restaurant: A dessert worth conquering, or being conquered by!

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on BespokeRSVP on 10th February 2012:

When you have a chef who’s been with the same restaurant for over 20 years cooking for you, you know that their relationship with the establishment has been a good one. And that good relationship certainly translates across to the food – the sort that you might find in the restaurant at Blakes Hotel. But don’t imagine for a second that the food has stagnated in those 20 odd years, they haven’t. The menu reflected Executive Chef Neville Campbell’s recent tour of China as well as no doubt countless other expeditions to the Far East.

Indeed the oriental influences can be seen throughout the menu as well as the rest of the hotel, which is perhaps why it works so well. As you enter the hotel, you’re immediately greeted by the floral spice of some perfume which subtly permeates the air. It’s so delicate and yet robust at the same time, transporting you to somewhere exotic. Soon, you find yourself quite intoxicated as you make your way downstairs to the restaurant where you will be greeted by their efficient but not over-zealous staff.

The dim lighting and staggered alcoves mean that you always have a sense of privacy, which is definitely a good thing, especially if you’re planning to tackle the dessert that I did, alone. But much more on that later.

First, let’s start with… well, the starter. True to character, Charlotte ordered in the Champagne for the wait which really was no time at all. Hunger had me all over the pate de Foie Gras, which, I know, I know, is not the most ethical thing in hot debate but it just tastes so damn good. Charlotte finds herself tucking into the potently aromatic salt and peppered softshell crabs, lured by memories of her own travels to the Orient.

Charlotte then travelled further down the pepper theme with a peppercorn steak for her main, served perfectly pink. I switched from French to Chinese with an aromatic duck which was rare enough to bring out the gamey flavours but done enough to suit the spice. The red meats called for a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino Tenute Silvio Nardi 2004 whose robust fruit coped well with the spice of the red meats. Its medium body also did well with the truffled mash, which was simply divine. Even Charlotte abandoned her healthy spinach to indulge in my choice of side.

Having been sumptuously fed up to this point, Charlotte and I decide to take a much needed break to enjoy the rest of our wine before attempting to make room for dessert. To be perfectly honest, in my case, that exercise was completely pointless.

When I ordered the caramel soufflé, I was told that it was a very big dessert. “How big could it be?” I thought, “I’m the sort of girl who eats two desserts after all”. Knowing this already, Charlotte informed our waitress that wouldn’t be a problem at all. Of course when it arrived, my jaw dropped as close to the floor as is hygienically possible. Charlotte’s chocolate fondant with vanilla and pistachio was in a word, dwarfed.  Around four times the size of your average dessert, this soufflé was gaining on the height of the wine glasses. Two tuile straws inserted into its centre allowed copious amounts of warm caramel to be poured inside as well as already drizzled on the outside. I was almost embarrassed to be tackling something so American in portion size but I was determined not to be conquered.

Glasses of Château d’Yquem Premier Cru Classé ’95 accompanied both our desserts but was certainly not sweet enough for my caramel soufflé. I pandered after the Royal Tokaji, Aszu Essencia ’93 while staggering through my dessert. Half way through though, I decided to give up. As fabulously pleasing to the palate as it was, it didn’t seem right some how to be indulging in this entire beast of a dessert myself. Later, I discover that a group of four had tried to tackle the same dessert earlier and hadn’t made as much of a dent as me. That fact made me strangely proud – guess my tooth is truly sweet.

The only way to finish a meal so indulgent was to enjoy a cocktail or two at the bar, which, like true sabrites, we did.

Cookery school tips from the frontline

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

In January I started the Two Term Diploma at Leiths School of Food and Wine. It seems that after 12 years at school, three years at university and six months training to be a journalist, I was back to where I started: at school. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I saved up and signed up for the course to gain a solid foundation knowledge about cooking. This, I figured, would help me to improve my writing about food and drink and focus on the finer details. The days speed by when you’re cooking all day and writing all night. I’ve already completed a month on the course – time to share a few of the things I’ve learned so far.

Speed – it comes from preparation:
The thing that I really worried about before starting the course was being able to cook at speed. At home, I cooked for pleasure and at a leisurely pace – not something chefs have the luxury of doing in the kitchen. In the first few weeks I struggled to finish on time. Then I realised that the reason why the students doing the full Diploma were so good was because they had everything they needed ready and knew what they were doing. When I started doing the same, I got a whole lot quicker.

Organisation – it’s part of your preparation:
One of the most tedious and time consuming aspects of the course is the time plan, something I haven’t had to do since Food GCSE at school. It’s basically a piece of paper with all your ingredients and instructions on, including what you should be doing when. As annoying as it is to do, it is incredibly useful in helping you to be organised. Of course, it’s no good if you don’t know what’s on it so you need to absorb as much of it as you can. In the kitchen, it should only be a frame of reference rather than something you look at every two minutes.

Presentation – from mise en place to plating up:
When you cook for yourself, family and friends, flavour is generally more important than presentation. But sometimes even when you put together a considered arrangement on a plate, it somehow doesn’t look like it would in a quality restaurant. Perhaps that’s because the very premise of restaurant food is that it needs to be presentable so from the outset, the food is prepared and cooked in a specific way. For example, the presentation side of fish is always cooked first, the knuckles on poultry are always trimmed, any exposed bone is always scraped clean and so on. Your beautifully presented dish really started with perfect preparation and careful cooking. That said, don’t forget to do any post-processing before you serve it.

Knife skills – practice makes perfect:
This one is probably the oldest nut of wisdom in the book but it’s very true. It’s not just about hacking a carrot any old way though, you have to roll-slice it. That is, leaving the tip of the knife on the chopping board and lifting only the heel of the knife so you can push forward and down to cut in a rolling motion. In essence you’re moving the blade through the food rather than straight down which makes chopping a lot easier and cutting yourself much less likely. Admittedly it’s not the most natural movement to start with but with practice it does work. You will need a very sharp knife and chefs’ knives are exceptionally sharp – much more so than regular knives it seems. But don’t fear your knife, you’re more likely to cut yourself while cleaning it.

Degò: Wine by trade, Italian by nature

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Published on The Prodigal Guide on 6th February 2012:

Charcuterie and Franciacorta wine glass at Dego, London

An exploration of wine led me to Degò; an Italian restaurant and wine bar that’s so far removed from its Oxford Circus surroundings it leaves you disorientated.

How do you explain its concept? “Devil’s in the detail” perhaps, which is what might be invoked when your eyes set upon its red and black theme. So potent and masculine is the colour, and all hard wood and sleek granite. Yet, there’s also a hint of femininity – the curvature of the bar upstairs, and elsewhere, all moulded around the glass of Franciacorta. Incidentally this is the sparkling wine, produced via the same method as Champagne, you really ought to indulge in. Degò has chose to stock only Franciacorta by Villa and it stocks it exclusively.

The music in the wine bar, played on a bespoke sound system, always falls in the background facilitating ample conversation. The wine selection, mostly Italian, some French and a generous few exclusive to Degò, paired with the cheese and charcuterie is equally adept. In a rather unusual fashion, the board of cold cuts is served with a sauce of sweet chilli which works surprisingly well with the La Tur.

Stairs, black marble inlaid with red, leads down to the restaurant itself where the theme continues in a more prominent fashion. Breathtaking is probably not the right word for it. Over a thousand panels of red hued leather adorn the walls, creating a womb of shimmery rouge. The low and boothy seats encourage the Casanova position – that is, a sideways seductive recline against the supple leather, one hand supporting the head and the other nursing the wine.

Steak tartare ingredients at Dego, London

And wine is as big an aspect downstairs in the restaurant as it is upstairs in the bar. A fact which was obvious from the wine coolers built into all the tables; a considered design. The food, leaning towards Venetian, is no less important and Degò has been furnished with two AA Rossettes and a place in the Good Food Guide.

The bread platter is plenty and full of choice, but don’t fill up on these. Start with the steak tartare for something a little different. Made to order at the table rather than in the kitchen, the meat is coarsely ground (it’s an Italian thing I’m told) with a perfectly balanced proportion of ingredients. And while good, it doesn’t take your breath away in quite the same manner as the scallops with hazelnut cream and Amarone apples, which looks like a sandy rockpool artfully spilled across the plate. Drink Soave La Broia D.O.C. 2009 Roccolo Grassi for its crisp, balanced lightness.

Scallops with hazelnut cream and Amarone apple at Dego, London

The veal chop serving as a main, though inspired by its Milanese counterpart, is much more generous in its portioning but no less tender. A side of frangipane potatoes, a dusting of lightly spiced crust, is a surprising addition but pairs beautifully with medium rare duck breasts and French beans. Opt this time for a dark and smokey I.G.T. Jeudi 15 2009 Vino di Anna, made by Anna Martens, the wife of Caves de Pyrène’s founder Eric Narioo.

If you can, make room for the Bigoli with duck ragu too. A buckwheat pasta with a rich, gamey sauce will surely leave you feeling wholesome and satisfied. Or indulge in their selection of desserts instead, it will give you the same pleasure.

The chocolate caramel meringue has the ginger sauce to give it a kick, though you might kick yourself for not ordering the rose parfait when romancing – it comes with a single red rose. Therein lies the detail of the whole operation. Call it cheesy if you like but really, it’s just flamboyant Italian.

Chinese New Year with Ken Hom

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Published on BespokeRSVP on 19th January 2012:

Billions of people around the world will be welcoming in the Year of the Dragon in Chinese New Year celebrations this year on the 23rd of January. The celebrations can go on for as long as 15 days, with different traditions followed each day, or can be as small as a family gathering on New Year’s Eve.

In my family the celebrations have always involved copious amounts of food, including dumplings and stir-fry (an amalgamation of our northern and southern China influences), and watching the CCTV (that’s China Central Television) New Year Gala.

Whatever the celebration though, it will always involve food – it’s just such an integral part of Chinese culture. So to celebrate a little on the Bespoke Blog, we decided to explore the Chinese New Year with Ken Hom OBE, one of the most internationally renouned personalities in Chinese cuisine.

Hom came to prominence in the UK when he was commissioned to do a TV series on Chinese cooking for the BBC in 1984. It was greatly received as it was the first time that food was cooked in real time and of course it was a very healthy and different way of cooking. The TV series was syndicated worldwide, with many more series and accompanying books produced since.

Hom took some time out from his busy schedule (currently in Brazil) to answer our questions…

What do you think Chinese New Year is all about? It is all about celebrating with family and friends, especially over meals. It is also a time of family reunion and looking forward to the New Year.

Do you have any family traditions when celebrating Chinese New Year? I remember we cleaned our house before New Year’s Eve and talked about planning the family dinner.

Are there any dishes that are Chinese New Year essentials? Yes, dried oysters with sea moss…. Good things and prosperity. A whole fish for prosperity and dumplings for good luck.

How are you celebrating Chinese New Year this year? With friends in London

What’s your outlook for the year ahead and are there any new projects coming up? So far it looks good as I am filming a new series for television. I am supporting Action Against Hunger, and I will be supporting the Prostate Cancer Charity for the London Marathon. And who knows what else the year will bring?

Are there any ingredients which are must haves for Asian inspired dishes for the Year of the Dragon? It would be the usual dishes but we are always weary about the Year of the Dragon because it will be a strong year with consequences for many years to follow! But I am positive!

How to cook like Heston

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Published on Love Food on 11th January 2012:

Also syndicated on Yahoo Lifestyle UK&Ireland and Yahoo News Singapore on 11th January 2012:

Perfect steak, rocket, parmesan, triple cooked chips

My friend Oli had been extolling the virtues of Heston Blumenthal for years – ever since he went to the Fat Duck for his 21st birthday in fact, where everything was “amazing” and “incredible” and “so good”. He raved about it for weeks, months even. When I went to Blumenthal’s lecture during Bristol University’s Centenary, I finally understood why.

Blumenthal showed us video clips of The Fat Duck dishes being created and explained the concept and science behind it all; very apt considering we were sitting in the University’s physics department and was accompanied by the lecturer who Blumenthal was working with. Every single thing that was plated up was done in a very specific way, meticulously, and every aspect of the eating experience (taste, texture, sight, sound, and smell) was covered.

Back in my kitchen

Garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and olive oil

I considered the prospect of cooking like Heston. Having just started the Two Term Diploma at Leiths School of Food and Wine, I was fairly confident that the recipes weren’t going to be too taxing. After all, they were intended for the home cook. My only worry was the store cupboard of equipment that I’d need in order to attempt the tackle.

Sure enough, looking over the recipes a few days earlier, three of the four recipes were eliminated. Does the average household really own a pressure cooker or mincer? So it was on to the “boring old steak”.

Weighty matters

It seems that the average weight of sirloin in Waitrose lingers around the 200/300g mark, a healthy serving but short of the 400/500g which the recipe asks for. I opted for one which had “seriously good marbling” but fell shy of 300g, vowing to adjust the cooking time to the lower end of the range.

Perfect steaks cooking

Usually taking liberties with recipes, I followed this one to the T. The steak was brought to room temperature and air dried, the ingredients for the dressing were prepared and ready to go, the hot olive oil was rolling and the pan was smoking. As soon as the steak hit the pan, there was an explosion of sizzling followed by momentary silence every 15 seconds or so when it’s being flipped. While the steak started to take on a gentle colouring, I worked to avoid the spitting oil. Two minutes later, the ordeal was over and the steak rested happily on the wire rack as I made the dressing.

Dinner’s ready

Sitting down to dinner less than 20 minutes later, my friend and I evaluated my hard work served up with a side of triple cooked chips (whatever else?).

Parmesan over perfect steaks and rocket

The steak was on the side of rare but not at all bloody and where it was slightly more well done, it was somehow still tender. Despite the heavy usage of olive oil, the lemon and rosemary in the dressing lightened the whole affair and gave it a refreshing aromatic twist. I wondered if I hadn’t flipped the steaks, the dressing would have still made it work. But for a few minutes of work, the reward was certainly worthy.

The chips proved to be a bit of a distraction though – my friend would happily have had just a helping of those.