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Michelin starred chef Héléne Darozze stars in “Just Like You” philanthropic film series

7 Dec

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a VERY posh lunch at The Connaught, hosted by American denim brand, Citizens of Humanity. But this wasn’t any old lunch at The Connaught, this one would be hosted by Héléne Darozze herself. The Connaught is very close to my office but I knew this lunch would take up a bit more than my lunch hour so I took the day off in preparation.

From blog

The eager beaver that I am, I was first to arrive to a Laurent Perrier Champagne reception and sat chatting to the team while the room filled up with guests for the lunch. I thought I wasn’t going to know anyone because it was mostly a fashion crowd, then a familiar face casually walked through the door, that of Mr. Douglas Blyde. I don’t think he saw me at first and I caught a look of surprise and nervousness on his face when he saw a room full of girls from the fashion industry. I said hello and sensed relief. We made it through to the private dining room and found that our name cards were sitting next to each other. We all marveled at the beautifully decorated table and opened our menus, delighted to see what it had in store for us.

From blog
From blog
From blog

Héléne was sat on a different table to us but stood up to make a short speech before lunch commenced, mostly describing how honored she felt to be a part of the campaign. During the four course lunch, we enjoyed Jerusalem artichoke “Royal-style”, confit egg yolk, Parmeggiano Reggiano emulsion and white truffle from Alba, Roasted pave of wild sea bass, caramelized salsifis and girolles and chestnut cappuccino. Everyone else has a toasted breast of corn-fed Guinea fowl for main but due to my current gluten free diet, I was supplied with a delightfully creamy mushroom risotto. I am still dreaming of the dessert – Jivara chocolate ganache with cinnamon and hazlenut gianduja biscuit. We sipped on wine from Héléne’s brothers vineyards. Douglas gave a very succinct description of the wine, which I have of course forgotten (Douglas, if you’re reading, care to refresh my memory?)

I couldn’t have wished for a more enjoyable Wednesday afternoon. I am now itching to get back to The Connaught to try some of Héléne’s other classic dishes. I also very much look forward to receiving my complimentary pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans! I will of course post a picture when I receive them.

Read more about the campaign and watch the video below:

Helene Darroze: Just Like You from Citizens of Humanity on Vimeo.

What: “Just Like You” is a yearlong philanthropic film series from fashion brand Citizens of Humanity. The campaign profiles the creative journeys of two-dozen cultural leaders who inspire the brand, all of whom are participating for charities of their choice. The project was spearheaded by CITIZENS OF HUMANITY President Amy Williams and is directed by Jared Freedman, acclaimed documentary filmmaker and Creative Director of Strategic Branding for CITIZENS OF HUMANITY.

Who:
Héléne Darozze: Legendary French Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur who was the inspiration for the character Colette in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille. This fourth generation chef remains inspired by authentic regional and seasonal flavors, in her film profile she says, “When you are responsible, just to give happiness to people who come to visit you, that’s pretty exciting.” Darozze is participating in support of charity Afghanistan Libre, which looks to improve psychological and social conditions for women in Afghanistan.

Why: Said Founder and CEO Jerome Dahan; “As the company’s name suggests, our mission is to showcase the energy and passion of creative individuals. This film series has given me the opportunity to honor people who inspire me, and it is my hope that this series will also inspire others.”

When: Two new videos and products will be released each month. Previous subjects include:

Mikhail Baryshnikov: Legendary ballet dancer who participated in support of The Baryshnikov Arts Center

Jerome Dahan: Founder of Citizens of Humanity who participated in support of le Château de Vaucelles

Where: Read more about the “Just Like You” video series and see last month;s participants Jerome Dahan and Mikahil Baryshnikov’s videos at http://www.citizensofhumanity.com/#!justlikeyou

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Morgan M Barbican

5 Feb

Last Thursday I had one of those days. You know, the kind where everything that possibly can seems to go wrong. Last time this happened, I was late for work, spilled a juice that I had just spent 10 minutes making all over the floor and when I bent down to wipe it up, the button popped off my dress.

My camera slipped out of my gym locker on Thursday morning and smashed on the floor. Attempting to hold onto my flimsy towel, I clamoured over various trainers and gym bags to collect the pieces from opposite sides of the room while toned ladies with towels on their heads stared. Luckily I was going past the Camera Exhange on my way to a meeting and picked up a new lens. But not only did I fix my broken lens later in the day, the new one wasn’t working properly when I went to my dinner that evening.

Which brings me onto dinner. I was at Morgan M Barbican with a few fellow bloggers to experience the 6 course winter tasting menu, complete with matching wines. Morgan M, for those of you who don’t know, is famous for his Islington outpost, which is currently closed for refurbishment. His French cooking is revered and his new venue in Clerkenwell has had the Islington regulars flocking.

Thursday evening was bitterly cold and I was so happy to be greeted by a warm and friendly French host who took my coat and proceeded to offer me a glass of peach and champagne. We wandered down to our table, which was situated in the Kitchen Gallery with uninterrupted views of the chefs, including Morgan himself at work.

I glanced at the menu and was excited about what was to come. The pre starter, cream of ‘Mojette’ beans with lemon confit and pesto arrived at the table. A delicate artwork of carefully constructed foods was drowned as the waiter poured a white bean sauce on top. Upon first spoonful I was in awe, beautiful soft and silky velouté with tender white beans, zesty lemon confit and rich garlicky pesto. As I placed my spoon in my practically clean bowl, the excitement about what was to come was high.

The starter arrived and the rich green colour of the pasta was offset beautifully by the Jerusalem artichoke soubise. It was a thing of beauty. I tucked in and was delighted with the subtle hint of tarragon, the crayfish and lobster delicate and not too rich – it didn’t take me long to finish my dish. The Chateau Clement-Termes 2010 wine that accompanied my starter was rather easy to sip back. A fellow blogger quite rightly pointed out that it tasted of fruit salads. I couldn’t agree more – I closed my eyes and was transported back to summer camp where I would raid the tuck shop for penny sweets and sit with friends on the grassy bank to eat them all before the afternoon session commenced.

The pre main dishes were next and we were treated to seared fillet of wild sea bass, carrot and ginger risotto in a lemon and saffron broth. The fish skin was crispy and perfectly seasoned, the flesh so tender I could have shouted for joy. The risotto had just the right crunch with a subtle hint of ginger and tang of lemon.

By the time the main course arrived, I was getting anxious. Not only was my camera not working properly and I had to manually zoom in dark light (argh!), I also had to leave to meet my boyfriend at a gig he had planned to take me to a while ago at Heaven. Don’t ask. So by the time the mains arrived, I had a few minutes to enjoy the dish before having to dash off and leave my desserts to my fellow diners. Lucky them.

The main in question was pot roasted fillet of Iken Valley venison with farci of hare and quince puree and sauce grand veneur. Why don’t restaurants serve food this beautiful anymore? I almost didn’t want to cut into my plate of food for fear that I would destroy an art work that had been so carefully and meticulously constructed. The venison was pink and tender, the farci of hare extremely rich and gamey. A few around the table thought that perhaps it was a little overpowering and I can see why they thought it but I loved every mouthful.

Extremely sad that I wouldn’t be tasting the vanilla rice pudding with orange tuille and passion fruit soufflé with passion fruit sorbet and crème anglaise that I was so looking forward to, I reluctantly fled from the table and ran to the tube. There is no way that I’m letting that pudding get away. I will be back. And next time, I’ll make sure that I don’t’ have to head off to a gay nightclub afterwards.

Morgan M Barbican
50 Long Lane
London
EC1A 9EJ

Morgan M Barbican on Urbanspoon

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Eggy bread with berries, crème fraîche and maple syrup recipe

18 Dec

Christmas party season is in full swing. Knowing that I had my work Christmas party on Friday evening, I bought all of the neccessary food supplies for the weekend on Thursday evening after work. And I’m so glad I did.

I have a huge amount of eggs in the house at the moment so thought of ways to use them up. One idea was eggy bread, something that my mum used to make me every weekend when I was younger. I adored it but for some reason I’ve never made since I flew the nest. It is best made with brioche but I used granary bread and it was still delicious.

Eggy bread with berries, crème fraîche and maple syrup (Serves 2)

Ingredients

4 slices bread / brioche
2 large eggs
120ml whole milk
1/2 vanilla pod, deseeded
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 tbsp crème fraîche
100g butter
Handful of berries
Drizzle of maple syrup
Dusting of icing sugar

Method

1. Whisk the eggs, icing sugar, milk and vanilla pod seeds together in a bowl
2. Place the slices of bread in a tray and pour the mixture on top. Leave for a couple of minutes and turn over so that the dry bread soaks up the remaining egg mixture
3. Heat the butter in a pan until melted. Turn the heat down slightly and place the eggy bread into the pan. Cook on each side for three minutes, or until brown on each side
4. Place two slices on each plate. Place a handful of berries, a tbsp of crème fraîche, a dusting of icing sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

ENJOY!

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Brixton Market

25 Nov

I still feel privileged to live in London, even after six years. But some weekends I find myself tearing my hair out thinking ‘what to do?!’ I often get the feeling that I’ve done it all and there’s literally nothing new to do. Of course I’m wrong – I should probably pay more attention to Time Out.

Last weekend though, I decided to head south to Brixton to have a look around the market and grab a bite to eat. The first obstacle was the tube – I forgot to check about the consistent weekend ‘upgrade’ works that are going on until the Olympics next year. It took a while to get there but a couple of tube changes and a replacement bus later, I arrived.

I have been to Brixton a couple of times before and not really liked it. Both visits were in the evening and I hadn’t exactly felt very safe on my walk down the backstreets towards Brixton Academy – don’t ask why I decided to walk down the backstreets. But after hearing so much about the regeneration of the market and reading about all of the cafes and restaurants popping up, I decided it was time for another visit, this time during the day.

Walking down a little alleyway towards the market, I passed shops selling Jamaican artifacts, plenty of odd looking fruit and vegetables and a hairdressers where the staff were shaking their booty along to the loud Afrobeats whilst working on the customers corn rows. Everything at Brixton market is colourful, happy and vibrant. And it is changing. Nestled in between the traditional units are a plethora of new cafes and restaurants, serving fantastic food at amazing prices. My first stop was Federation Coffee where I ordered a flat white and drank it whilst watching a sit in customer draw his surroundings. During my visit I clocked a few artists, carefully constructing images focusing on the cool crowd that now frequent the market on weekends.

After walking around various restaurants, I decided that pizza would be a great option to soak up the remainders of alcohol that I had the night before. I don’t know why I even considered going anywhere other than Franco Manca, one of my favourite pizzerias in London. Having never been to the Brixton ‘branch’ before, I went and queued for twenty minutes before being seated at a cosy table inside, with the huge gleaming white pizza oven in sight. We shared two pizzas – mozzarella, anchovy, capers and olives and chorizo and mozzarella. Both were perfect – the sourdough base soft, chewy and just the right amount of charcoal smothered over the base. London needs more pizza establishments like this. And at around £6 per pizza, it doesn’t even nearly break the bank.

For pudding, we wandered back through the market to Lab G, where I ordered a hazelnut and chocolate gelato. They had run out of their signature salted caramel flavour, which I was disappointed about but the hazelnut and chocolate was exquisite. I felt a bit silly walking down the street in mid November eating a cone of gelato and my hands didn’t thank me for it but it was the perfect way to end my foodie little tour.

Brixton market is a diverse hub of shops, restaurants and cafes and is run by a mix of creatives and old local residents. The website says it all – ‘Meat!, Nail art, Fresh fish (lots of this around!), DIY, Wigs (lots of these too) and a whole lot more. It’s a brilliant place to go to get away from the most popular and sometimes too touristy London weekend markets. I’ll hopefully be back there sooner rather than later – perhaps I’ll take a trip next time I want to buy a wig whilst chewing on jerk chicken and dancing to Aftrobeat.

The market arcades are open:

Monday – Wednesday from 8am – 6pm
Thursday – Saturday from 8am – 10pm
Sundays from 10am – 5pm

Franco Manca on Urbanspoon

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tarte au citron recipe

23 Aug

Who doesn’t like a good slice of tarte au citron? The buttery, flakey pastry with the rich, sweet and tangy wobbly middle. Pour some double cream over a big slice and that’s me done. I’ll tuck myself away in a corner for a few minutes so no stray forks can interfere, while I enjoy every last morsel.

But despite there being a few decent shop bought alternatives out there, home made is definitely preferable. Having never made one before, I set out to do just that on Sunday. What I didn’t realise was just how long the process is – I completely understand why people shove one in their supermarket trolley. Not only is it 10 times quicker, it’s also around the same price. But nothing compares to home made (if done well of course) and it is oh so satisfying to see the golden pastry and wobbly lemony filling come out of the oven almost perfect.

I got my recipe from Lindsey Bareham, who wrote a piece about the delightful dessert after being inspired by Marco Pierre White’s 1987 ‘Harveys’ version, back when he was head chef. However, it wasn’t Marco that introduced us Brits to the queen of tarts, it was no other than the Roux brothers at the beginning of the 80′s. Who better to introduce this than the masters of pastry themselves. I have tried the tart both cold and at room temperature and I definitely prefer the latter. The flavours shine out more – but you can always add a drizzle of cold double cream.

If you’re thinking of making a dessert soon, I can’t recommend this enough. But it’s not for the time conscious. This dessert is one that needs love, care, attention and a good few hours. I thoroughly enjoyed my therapeutic time in the kitchen, but I enjoyed my slice smothered in cream much more.

Serves 6 to 8
Prep 35 min plus 1 hr chilling
Cook 1 hr plus 1 hr cooling

Ingredients

For the pastry:
250g plain flour plus extra for dusting
Pinch of salt
150g butter plus an extra knob, cubed
75g icing sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk

For the filling:
4 large unwaxed lemons
5 large eggs
150g caster sugar
200ml double cream
Double cream

Method

For the pastry:
1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with the salt
2. Add the butter and rub it into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
3. Sift the icing sugar over the crumbs and mix
4. Lightly whisk the whole egg and egg yolk and add to the crumbs
5. Bring everything together and knead slightly. You can add more flour if needed
6. Form into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1 hour
7. Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4
8. Grease a 22cm by 2.5cm deep flan ring with the knob of butter and dust with flour. Shake the excess flour out and place on a baking tray, lined with a baking sheet
9. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the pastry to make a 28cm circle
10.Roll the pastry over the rolling pin and place over the prepared flan ring, pressing to neatly line the ring, leaving a 1cm overhang
11.Roll your rolling pin over the flan case to cut off the excess. Cover with graseproof paper and fill with ceramic baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes
12.Separate one of the eggs required for the filling and lightly whisk the egg white with 1 tbsp water. Paint the cooked pastry case with beaten egg white to seal. Plug any holes with leftover pastry. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Lower heat to 150C/gas mark 2.

Filling:
1. Juice the lemons through a sieve to make approx 175ml and stir in the zest
2. Whisk 4 eggs and the reserved egg yolk with 150g caster sugar, continuing until the sugar disappears
3. Lightly whip the cream and stir it into the eggs. Add the lemon juice and zest.
4. Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 45-60 minutes until the tart is just set but still slightly wobbly in the middle.
5. Leave to cool for an hour before removing from the tin
6. Dust with icing sugar and serve with double cream!

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Pan fried lemon sole with samphire and parsley butter

10 Aug

Samphire is everywhere at the moment. I had it with fish at three different restaurants last week and I can’t get enough if it. So when I was getting my fish from the Waitrose fish counter at the weekend, I was very happy to see a pack of the delicious green edible plant sat next to the fish. I chose two filets of lemon sole and grabbed a pack and a lemon to go with it.

I was very looking forward to my Monday evening dinner but was left slightly disappointed with the samphire. I followed the cooking instructions on the pack but the stalks were quite hard and a small amount was inedible. Only a very small amount though so the meal was not ruined. I can’t expect cooking with a new ingredient to be perfect first time, so as with most things, practice makes perfect!

Ingredients

2 skin on lemon sole fillets
1 garlic clove
1 red chilli
2 knobs of butter
4 tsp fresh or or frozen parsley
90g samphire
Salt and black pepper to season
Juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Make the parsley, garlic and chilli butter by placing into a food processor and blitzing until smooth. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Preheat a pan on a medium heat for the fish – season the skin of the fish with salt and black pepper.
5. Melt a knob of butter in another pan and place the samphire in to wilt. Cook on a medium heat for 4 minutes, or until soft. You still want a little bit of a crunch.
6. As soon as the samphire is in the pan, place the fish skin side down into the other hot pan and season with black pepper. Cook for around three minutes, add the parsley butter and a squeeze of lemon and flip the fish over to cook on the flesh side for 30 seconds.
7. Place the samphire on the plate and top with the fish.
8. Serve with buttered potatoes and seasonal veg – yum!

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Maille pop up supper club

8 Aug

I have had a battle with mustard over the years. After trying that powdered English stuff that used to be popular about 20 years ago, I abstained from putting myself through the misery again. That is until someone persuaded me to try a dollop of Maille mustard with a salad a couple of years ago. I didn’t love it straight away but it was a lot more pleasurable than my first experience.

I was invited to the Maille mustard pop up in Shoreditch, which was hosted by Ms Marmite Lover a few weeks ago and couldn’t say no – partly because I wanted to try the new range, which includes honey mustard and mayonnaise with a hint of mustard and partly because I was allowed to take a guest and my boyfriend is the biggest mustard fan.

We turned up to Spitalfields market on a Friday evening and I was surprised to see a small pop up located just in front of the main entrance. It looked beautiful and featured stained wood with beautifully packaged Maille products decorating. The boutique was inspired by those of Paris and Dijon and gave us diners a real insight into the world of mustard. We were seated around the bar and offered a ‘Mustardy Mary’ to start us off. I couldn’t drink this – despite one of my favourite foods being delicious, juicy tomatoes, as soon as I put the juice version to my lips, a slightly unpleasant gag takes place. So I had to apologise and make my excuses.

We were also treated to a Gravadlax, honey mustard and red endive canape before the cooking got underway. It was totally and utterly lip smackingly beautiful – I would probably go so far as to say that it was one of the best canapes I have ever had. The honey mustard is the newest addition to Maille’s mustard range. I’d love to try it glazed on roast chicken – the thought is making my mouth water a little bit.

Next up was a whole artichoke. Now, I don’t think I was the only person that had never tried it before – there were a few confused faces around. Luckily, Marmite showed us how to eat it – slather the Dijon mustard on the bottom, place your chops around it and get the fleshy bit out with your teeth. I was in heaven – what a simple but delicious dish.

The main arrived and I was pleased to see smoked haddock with wholegrain mustard, cheese and Asian greens. Smoked haddock isn’t usually one of my favourite pieces of fish but it was tasty. The mustard and cheese worked so well together. Simply smother the fish with mustard, add a sprinkle of cheese and bake it in the oven.

I was a bit nervous about the dessert – Mostarda tutti frutti ice cream with berries, mint sugar and mustard candy floss. But all worries were diminished when I placed the spoon in my mouth. I particularly enjoyed the candy floss and just loved learning that Marmite has her very own candy floss machine. Who else?

As if dessert was not enough, we were also treated to a fantastic cheese board with Moustardier, Charollais, Langres, Comté and palmiers.

I had a great evening – the wine flowed, my fellow diners were lovely and we had a good old laugh. Maille has a large range of mustards, sauces, vinegars and mayonnaise, which you can see here.

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Malmaison London – hotel and brasserie

8 Aug

Malmaison hotels ‘dare to be different’, or so they claim. I was intrigued before my stay and wanted to see how. Upon entering the dimly lit and darkly coloured reception area, I got the gist of what was to come. A rude painting hangs above the stairs that go down to the brasserie and the black and red decor sets the scene.

photo

I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge kingside bed, plasma screen TV, CD and DVD player in the room. The hotel staff had even left two bars of Flake ‘allure’ on the bed. The bathroom was sleek but there were no stand out features – except of course the toiletries that you are encouraged to use and take home with you. The fact that they provide you with a bottle of massage oil tells you a little bit about the ways in which the hotel group ‘dares’ to be different.

We arrived at the brasserie for dinner and perused the menu. Due to the location (Farringdon), I imagine that the biggest customers are business men, which is probably why it wasn’t busy on a Friday evening. I turned the menu over and saw that Maldon Oysters are one of the suppliers, but became confused as I turned the menu over again and they were nowhere to be seen. I asked the waitress who told us that they are suppliers but they only occasionally have them on the menu. She went away and returned 5 minutes later to tell us that the Fox & Anchor a few doors down (a traditional London watering hole with a boutique hotel upstairs, also a part of the Malmaison group) had some in the kitchen and they would be sending six over especially for us. Now that’s service for you.

Alongside the Maldon Oysters (£2.30 each), we also ordered the seared scallops (£7.95) for starter, which were lovely and tender. We weren’t so sure about the raisins in the cous cous but overall it was a pleasant, delicate dish.

For mains we ordered the pan fried sea bream with samphire special (£16.95), alongside the Donald Russell aged entrecôte steak (£20.95), which I ordered medium rare. Samphire has become very fashionable of late – I have had it a few times at restaurants recently and even cooked with it at home. The samphire that came with the sea bream at Malmaison was slightly too salty. It’s a sea vegetable so is naturally very salty but I imagine the chef probably added extra. It also wasn’t as crunchy as I would have liked but the fish was delicious and cooked perfectly. The steak was just slightly too over done for me – it was pink in the middle but I would say it was more medium-well done. Nevertheless I enjoyed it, especially the rich herby béarnaise sauce that came with it in a beautiful little copper pot.

We shared a rocket and parmesan salad and a portion of chips (£3.50 each) with our mains and both were good. The chips were not piping hot when they arrived at the table, which is always a bit of a bug bear of mine but the rocket salad was delicious. It was great to see a bottle of Monti sabini vorroni olive oil on our table – we drizzled a bit over the rocket salad to top it off.

Despite being pretty full, we ordered a white chocolate cheesecake (£5.95) and an affoato (£3.95) to share for dessert. The cheesecake arrived and I was a little disappointed. It didn’t look homemade (I forgot to ask whether it was made in the restaurant kitchens) and it wasn’t as creamy and tempting as other recent cheesecakes that I have eaten in restaurants. The macerated raspberry that was on the side was a bit too tart for me. Overall, not a winner. The affogato was delicious and the ice cream had beautiful specks of vanilla pod in it.

As if we hadn’t already eaten enough food, the cheese trolley made an appearance at the end (£8.50 for a selection). Oh dear I thought. We had a small selection of Epoisse, Golden Cross, Marual and Soft bath. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, but particularly the Golden Cross Goats cheese. I love cheese trollies and I was so happy to see such a well stocked one at the Malmaison Brasserie. The waiter was also very knowledgeable and a pleasure to listen to.

After a very comfortable nights sleep in the large air conditioned room, we wandered down to the Brasserie for breakfast (included in the price of the room at weekends) and it was full so we had to wait 20 minutes for a table. When we were eventually seated, a pot of tea and a cup of coffee were brought over to us straight away before we ordered the waffle with nutella and grilled banana and eggs benedict. I had to ask for the nutella when the waffle arrived but it came shortly after, melted in a copper pot. Delicious. The eggs benedict was also very good, extremely moreish and actually just the right size for breakfast.

After a quick read of the newspapers provided by the Brasserie, we handed our key back to the receptionist and left – full, satisfied and rested.

Malmaison also has a private dining room, The Butchers Block. Read about London Eater’s experience here.

Food For Think was a guest at Malmaison London.

Superior Doubles from £265 per night.

Brasserie de Malmaison on Urbanspoon

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The Wright Brothers, Soho

15 Jun

The first time I went to The Wright Brothers on Kingly Street was shortly after it had opened at the end of last year. The food arrived and I took my camera out of it’s case to capture the delights in front of me but was mortified to find that the lens had miraculously broken.

A few months later and I’m back. I have scraped my shoe, moved on and purchase a new lens. I’m not bitter at all.

I went this week for an early dinner with my dad who works in London a couple of days a week. I love meeting him for dinner and it’s always a comfort having a member of your family to be able to do this with in a city away from home.

The plan was to meet for Oysters, which is why I suggested The Wright Brothers. Their sister restaurant, Oyster & Porterhouse in Borough market has long been suggested as one of the best spots for Oysters in London and the same can be said of their newest venture. We were lucky that it had been a beautiful day so the evening was warm. We snagged a seat in Kingly Court and realised that outside seating areas in Central London are rare.

We ordered 9 of the Spéciale de claire, which slid down the throat a real treat. For main I ordered the roast Hake with chick peas and my dad the seafood linguine. I ordered a side of seasonal vegetables, which happened to be green beans. My favourite. They were perfect – slightly crunchy and deliciously buttery.

I was happy to see that the Hake fillet was large when it arrived. I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t leave full, having not ordered a side of potatoes, but it turned out that I didn’t need them. It was slightly over seasoned and the skin wasn’t quite as crispy as I would have hoped but it was crispy enough to demolish, which of course I did. The texture of the chick peas was a welcome addition and added a punch of extra flavour.

The seafood linguine was exquisite. Al dente linguine with a rich lobser bisque and a perfect amount of seafood. I recently had this dish at another London restaurant and was disappointed with it – the sauce was far too rich and there was hardy any seafood present. The Wright Brothers definitely got the ratios right.

The only niggle of the evening was when a lone diner asked to sit next to us. That was fine but then she asked if she could smoke. I panicked and said yes. After all, she was allowed and there was no where else for her to sit. All of the memories of disgusting cigarette smoke blowing into your mouth when chewing flew back to me. Luckily I didn’t even notice when she lit up.

We chose not to have a dessert, partly as I had the chocolate and hazelnut pot last time I went and wasn’t overly impressed but also because we wanted to head to Bar Italia for a coffee.

With three floors inside, a bustling open kitchen, cosy candlelit indoor eating for those chilly evenings and outdoor table seating for glorious mild summer nights, The Wright Brothers Soho is a restaurant for all seasons. The food is simple and it’s cooked so well that is leaves you wanting to go back for more.

The menu is small but I’m not complaining as it means that all of the fish is fresh daily. And it’s sustainable too – most of it sourced from small Cornish day boats. I like knowing that next time I go back, there will be something different on the menu.

The bill came to £61.80 (including service) for a bread basket, 2 starters, 2 mains and 2 glasses of wine.

The Wright Brothers
13 Kingly Street and
G7/G8 Kingly Court
Carnaby
London
W1B 5PW

020 7434 3611

Wright Brothers (Soho) on Urbanspoon

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Lime friand recipe

31 May

I have two sources of inspiration for this recipe. The first is 15 year old Conor McLean who beat me to win Britain’s Best Dish. He made a fantastic vanilla friand dessert and during the process, I realised that I had never made one. The second inspiration is The Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit. This book gave me the idea for my dessert on Britain’s Best Dish. I love it. Literally weeks before it was released, I was wishing that I could have a book that would tell me what flavours go together. Then, voila, it appeared.

The complete idea for my dessert was lime friand with lemon and ginger sorbet, candied ginger and a tuille biscuit. In reality, making such a dish for two people isn’t really worth it but its an idea that i’ll hold onto for future dinner parties!

I started making the elements of the dessert about a month ago. First was the candied ginger, then the lemon and ginger sorbet. I never got around to making the friand, much to my boyfriends annoyance – he has asked me at least twice a week over the last month where his friand is. I couldn’t make any more excuses so I set to work in the kitchen and I’m so glad to say that it was easier and took less time than expected. It was one of the best things I have baked in a long time!

Unfortunately, I didn’t store the candied ginger in a good enough air tight container so I had to throw it away and I didn’t make the tuille biscuit. But, the friand and sorbet dessert was a delicious end to dinner.

Lime Friand

Lime friand

Ingredients (Makes 6)

2 egg whites
60g butter, melted
65g ground almond
40g icing sugar
20g plain flour
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
6 blanched almonds

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease a small cupcake pan

1. Whisk the egg whites until slightly stiff and foamy
2. Add melted butter and ground almonds
Sift the icing sugar and flour into the bowl, add the lime juice and zest and mix until just combined
3. Pour the mixture into the moulds and place an almond on the top of each cake
4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the top has browned. Make sure that a skewer comes out clean when inserted

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