The things I do for food. Sunday and I’ve signed up to the Nom Nom Nom Cooking Competition, and amazingly, was one half of the final nine teams. My cooking partner in crime is Billy of Cowfish, and we face-off against… lots of bloggers, with the grand prize of a dinner at Tsuru.

I didn’t win, I can’t cook, I almost made a fool of myself, but I did eat alot. Photo essay time folks, follow me behind the scenes to learn what made Team Cowfish+Eater tickle like clockwork. And so we go, into the kitchens of The Cookery School…..

Arrivals

So, we all got there at 9.30 am…. actually I got there at 9.30 am. Billy had been waiting for about twenty minutes, and he was so nervous that I would be a no-show. Are ya kidding? I always show up for food. Right then, breakfast is scones, cookies and brew. Ahh… right then, let’s get to work.

Sourcing Produce

We set off at around 10am to go and get our raw materials, our budget was £40, and this has to be the best part of the day, I love food markets.

Alright, so we need to pick up some really fresh produce, I haven’t gone through our menu yet, I will do so abit later, but we are starting with a fresh and summery salad.

One more of the fresh vegetables, before we move on to my favourite part, of the favourite part of the day. Hmm. So we’re serving up roast beef for mains, and we popped into The Ginger Pig for some proper bovine stuff.

Oh man, this shop really rocked hard. There’s alot of really tasty looking beef, all over the shop. It looked so good, I could have eaten it raw. Billy informed me that they did amazing sausage rolls, hmm, mid morning snack d’you think?

I don’t usually like featuring myself on the blog, but ah well, this picture is funny I think, I’m stuffing my face (and I need a haircut).

Yup didn’t even think twice about it. Picked up the £2.80 Pork and Stilton flavour….

Oh my gosh, the sausage roll is heavenly. Rich and intense flavours, the porkiness was full on and the stilton only added to flavour. There’s quite abit of oiliness, and the crust was crusty and crispy. It is really savoury and really, really good. I was hungry for more.

We also picked up some cheese from La Fromagerie, who informed me that I had to photograph the cheeses with at least ‘one person in the picture’. Too much trouble, no pictures of cheeses in that case. OK time to head back.

Cooking time

Ok so we had 2.5 hours to whip up a true storm, we’re team no.2, and we started with the desserts first. We’re making a trio of granitas.

That means we needed to squeeze all the juices as we can from the gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries, and then blast chill them. We had to take them out of the freezer every ten minutes to chip away at the ice crystals such that the final mix was a smooth one.

The roast beef, 45 minutes in the oven, and I think it came out pretty succesfully. But I have to give all the credit to Billy, he did all the magic. Can I just say that Billy is amazing in the kitchen. I was standing on the sidelines watching him work (no seriously, I really was) and I was so glad he was leading the way. I really am rubbish at cooking. But you know what they say, those who can’t, eat…

And here’s more of Billy doing more work, this time with the vegetables. We had very, very little time to plate up, about 8 minutes to be exact. And I was like what? how? where? huh? shitealicious? We managed to get the plates to the judges in time though. Phew. Ok, ok. Without further ado then, Team Cowfish+Eater presents…..

Starters: Seasonal Game Salad

Ok well, not quite game (we couldnt find any), but smoked duck in it’s place. The salad is rocket, land cress and sorrel, with radish shavings and crumblings of Sardinian Pecerino cheese, in a lemon balsamic dressing.

Mains: Roast beef with Trimmings

This one came out as expected. Roast beef, with butter infused carrots, roast potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli and peas.

And also, served with an oversized yorkshire pudding.

Pudding: Trio of Granitas

Raspberries, Blackcurrant and Gooseberry, garnished with mint leaves.

Clap, clap, clap. Billy, you are a true star, and you’re the real winner to me, watching you cook and working with you has been a real privilege, and I hope I wasn’t too much of a burden for ya mate.

Nope we didn’t win, but we didn’t win because everybody actually cooked really great food, and that was a good thing, as I found out when I tucked in….

and then the desserts….

All in all, it was a tiring day, but it was really fun. I felt strangely ‘fulfilled’ after it was done, and honestly, I didnt expect to win anything, but I was glad it was a wonderful experience.

And this shot, I love the most, everybody tucking in to the food. We live to eat folks, well at least I do.

And the winners are…

Tom Aikens was among the judges, and I regret not taking a picture with him, or indeed, making him sign my chest. Hm.

Thanks to all the wonderful people behind The Cookery School, whom without their help, I would just be double dipping with the same spoon, over and over again. (isn’t that multi dipping?)

Ok now on to the winners! And the runners-up….

…..The Ginger Gourmand and Chris ‘More Tea Vicar‘ Dreyfus.

Drumroll please, and the winners of Nom Nom Nom 2009….

They are The French Connection; with a team name like that, they gotta be winners.

Alright, so I hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes with Team Cowfish+Eater, clearly we lost because I spent too much time eating, rather than cooking, but hey did you expect any less?

The full set of photographs are on my flickr account here, so do check that one. That’s all folks.

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Held at a ‘secret’ location somewhere in London called ‘The Loft’, The Mash-up is the brainchild of Paris-based Gastro-Architect Rachel Khoo. And LondonEater brings you all the sumptious action, from behind the camera.

Expositing the underground dining scene

Much has been talked/written/blogged about regarding the exploding underground dining scene in the capital. At it’s core, it is a noble concept; the idea of someone opening up their home to strangers and offering to cook for them. One can argue that dinner parties have been going on for years and years now, some won’t really understand the fuss around it. I was speaking to a veteran dinner party host who told me the only difference was you ate with strangers who saw a piece on the internet (like this one). Anywho, that’s my John McEnroe about it; the only way to really find out what happens in one of these digs is to go to one.

Meet Rachel, Nuno, Jay-P & T-Baas.

The Mash-up concept is Rachel Khoo’s super cool idea of melding the visual and aural to enhance the dinner and give it an overall mood. The visual side of things is evident the moment you glance over at the table; rich forest green placemats and water bottle labels courtesy of T-Baas, and the audio part of it being taken care of by a mixtape in the background put together by Jay-P.

And the stage is set at The Loft – billed as the private kitchen of Chef Nuno Mendes, but in truth, it’s a really nice home. Everything open plan, with a mezzanine upper area and a ceiling that is very nearly two storeys high.

It’s a little nerve wracking with such events, and one never really knows what to expect. The vital difference between the pros and the alternatives is the mingling at the start. Believe me, it’s worringly awkward showing up to someone’s house expecting them to serve you like a restaurant patron and my conscience telling me that I really should be respecting the hospitality offered by the hostess inviting us into their personal space. This debate, I’ll probably save for twitter.

Fortunately, Rachel is as slick a hostess as they come – an ultimate multitasker, I watched as she gracefully switched gears from manning the kitchen (assisted by the lovely Caroline) to inviting people to the venue, and most importantly, making one feel right at home. (even more importantly, putting a glass of bubbly in your hands)

Garden Salad

I was actually on hand to supply pictures for the event, and I tell you, it was fascinating getting total freedom to roam around the place, photographing everything that caught my eye.

And so we go to the first course: Pick your own crudite pot, potato pebbles and lemon aioli. The pot of garden fresh vegetables in carrots, radish and whole globe artichokes, got the evening off to a rather colourful start, I really liked the lemon infused aioli and I though it was an apt compliment to the pot of vegetables.

Gazpacho!

The all green first course was a refreshing start to the meal, and by then, I was duly acquianted with the diners around the table, we also had a few sips by then, and so became suitably friendly. Something rather magical happened just as soup was served; I could see all the heads pop down, almost in sync with each other and people started slurping away ( ok well, maybe not slurp.. )

Thai spiced watermelon gazpacho with black olive bugs. Now we’re talking. This is yummy, the spiciness is kept to a relative minumum and as the soup was cool, it gave it a subtle tingle rather than a punch. Watermelon is an interesting choice, and it gave way to a smooth, light brothiness which was fruity rather than the vegetable rawness one expects from a tomato gazpacho. The black olive bugs were a kind of iced olive, almost an olive sorbet, it carried an interesting zing and gave the soup an icy spark, which I found rather exciting. Rachel did the right thing here, by seasoning the soup for spice rather than for sweetness, making it a true appetiser , instead of a pudding masquerading as one.

Fish

So far so good, the waiting time in between courses was about 15 minutes. Rather good for a two person kitchen. Rachel kept up with the wine topping up, which is always a good thing to literally keep the conversation flowing.

On to the Mains: Sustainable Halibut wrapped in banana leaves served with a pepper lime salsa, petit pois & mange tout.

The fish was fragrant, roasted whole in the banana leaves, it had this tropical quality about it. Digging in, I encountered peppers giving in a slight fruitiness to flavour which matched the oiliness and body of the fish. The fish was cooked to well and it carried a silken wetness. Personally, I would have preferred it just abit undercooked, but I’m nitpicking. Beneathe the fish sits a dollop of rice. I was a little distracted with working the camera, and so failed to jot down the details of the rice. Memory suggested a slightly coconut infused long grain and spiced with herby shavings.

And so it appears Rachel can really cook. Overall, there was a slick mouthfeel, with the natural fishiness balancing well against the pepper topping, and the herbiness of the rice provided a foundation to cushion the palette. There you go Rach, not too bad at all.

Cheese before Pud

The next course was Strawberry & balsamic vinegar terrine with Petit Billy Goat’s Cheese.

Oh I loved this one. The sweetness of the strawberries came alive with the vinegar, one which is barely noticeable as it blended so well. I must confess, I’m quite new to the berry and cheese pairings and first experienced that at Sketch. It’s a successful combo with the chalky sour of the cheese meeting the tangy sweetness of the strawberry. A fresh dish that wiped the palette clean.

And finally, finally finally: the last dish of the evening: Pandan frozen frog, multi-coloured frogspawn in a chilled Darjeeling pond.

What a great description of a dish, I suppose Rachel is aiming for a big bang of a finish. Pandan is one of my favourite ingredients, popular closer to my folks than here in the smoke, and its greatest quality is the beautifully sweet and fragrant that has a calming purity, almost like a bamboo crossed with sugarcane and with the smell of forest leaves, and it makes for perfect custard infusions. Rachel has made a kind of iced custard (to make the frog); she has used tapioca pearls (used in Taiwanese pearl milk tea) for the frogspawn and she’s finished off the pond with a warming darjeeling tea. Much like a deconstructed milk tea, the strength of the tea was an excellent compliment to the custardy pandan ice, and yeah, a great finish indeed. If I were being critical, I’d say I want MORE of where that frog came from.

Three times a charm?

This write-up is in danger of sounding too much like a review, which I don’t intend it to since that wasn’t what I was there to do. But my opinion: it was a great night, Rachel was a gracious hostess; the Loft is a great venue and food was visually interesting and tasted great.

This wasn’t your average dinner; Rachel set out to create an electric menu adhering to a thematic backdrop and ambiance. I think the intermingling of the individual elements were successful. One cannot really hold these special dinners to the same set of criteria to judging proper restaurants, and I think one need to describe these dinners as a total experience. And in totality, I think she achieved what she set out to do.

You don’t have to take my one thousand words for it. Here’s the scene right at the end of the meal.

Clap. Clap Clap. I think that quite succinctly summarises the evening.

And here’s my favourite shot from the evening. You can see the entire set at Rachel’s website here.

(PS: Let me know if you need me to take down any pictures.)

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Alright, as I write this – the Girls Aloud party is on tv now before the results go live in about 10 minutes. The x-factor marketing vehicle keeps the brand turning with rossopomodoro immortalising the judges by….. pizza. Apparently, the managing director of the italian franchise absolutely loves the show and this was her way of showing her love.

Actually, food at rossopomodoro is not too bad , I’ve got a friend from Rome who says its ‘good italian’ . So there you go, I’ve yet to review the food, but I’ll have Cheryl on my pizza any day.

PS: I’m going to reply the comments to the last two posts shortly.

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There are only a few places in Europe where you can find a restaurant which does this. Fortunately for us folks in London, you can experience this at Dans le Noir. No I’m not pulling your leg, this is a genuine restaurant and a very real concept.

Explain ‘complete darkness’ to me again?

The creators emphasize that Dans le noir lets you ‘completely re-evaluate your notions of taste’ as they strip you of your sense of sight and force you to rely on your other senses to truly taste the ‘truth of the food’.

Lets demystify that a little. The concept is rather straightforward, really. When you arrive, you must put away any light emitting elements, ie, mobile phones, watches that ‘light up’ in the lockers provided in the reception area. You can also have some drinks in the completely lit bar on the 1st floor. After which, the blind waiters will guide you through to the dining room which is completely pitch black.

My experience.. twice.

I’ve actually been to this place twice and both times, it was a real….well, experience. I must say that it is quite vivid in my memory because I can still remember the smell of the food and the sounds. Oddly enough, I am surprised I remember as much as I did even though I didn’t have any ‘visual’ memories of it.

Ok, if you want to eat here, you need to book about a week in advance just so they can make arrangments. It’s partly a good thing because Dan le noir actually helps promote awareness for the blind and also help to support the community. The first thing you do is order from a surprise menu and specify if you want the meat, fish or veg menu. Part of the experience is to ‘guess’ what you are eating by trying to identify the flavours. The idea is that once you are robbed of one of your senses, the others should work hard to compensate for it, with the remaining senses becoming amplified.

The first time I closed my eyes

I put my hand on the waiter’s shoulder and he takes me into the land of the dark. I have my eyes completely wide open, but the room really is pitch black (except for this faint speck of light in the distance which I can’t make out what it is..). It feels quite jarring and almost immediately my hearing is amplified and the waiter’s voice takes on a meatier baritone.

It felt like I was watching a movie. At first, all fine and dandy.. and then whoosh… the person on screen turns into a fantasy character like a Gandalf or something. ‘Welcome to a brand new world’… sorry for the dramatics, but it’s just to emphasize the point that I felt disorientated.

Decor

I can hear my friends’ voice coming from in front of me. Never really noticed she had such a sexy, smouldering voice. At this point, our waiter starts telling us where the cutlery is and he tells me that he has placed a bottle of water in front of me. So I reach out and start feeling for a bottle.

As my hand runs across the table, I feel the edges, the creaks, the items on it and the crinkly wood. I begin to imagine what the decor would look like: I hear the creaking floorboards, so I can only assume wooden floors as well. My perception of space starts to take on a life of its own as my imagination starts running free, constructing a image as I absorb my senses. All the subtle background noises, like tapping shoes, clicking heels, the chatter suddenly become part of the decor and in my mind, that information helped to build an image of the space, almost abit like the way you construct a scene in your head while you are reading a book.

What an interesting experience! At this point, I also started to notice the music, a spanish guitar in the background and someone singing in spanish. Without really trying, I could really feel my hearing slowly getting more astute, even though at this point, my head was still spinning a little but I was slowly adapting to the change.

Thumb in glass

Finally I found the bottle. It seems my mate had adjusted to the changes long before I did. In order to measure how much to pour, the waiter advised us to stick our finger in the glass to fill to the satisfactory level. At first this simple task seemed so daunting, but eventually, I got used to it and got into the swing of things.

Starting to eat blind

The starters arrive. The waiter tells me where he is and which direction he’s going to serve me from and I have to reply so that he knows where I am as well. All throughout this time, I notice that we were talking alot more to maintain that connection with the people around us, abit like a mass conference call, save for the fact that the other party is actually right in front of you.

Anyway, the starters were what I can describe as four parcels of food. Oh, I did try with cutlery at first but all I kept doing was stab either the table or the plate. So I ditched that and proceded to use my fingers to feel the plate for what ever was on it. So the first one felt gooey and moist. Two of them felt dry, like it’s been deep fried. And the last one had a gooey middle bit, encrusted in pastry.

I try each one in succession. The first one definitely was some sort of stuffed ravioli.. I wasn’t really sure what was inside, pumpkin maybe? And another meat… venison? The smell was quite strong, but I couldn’t seem to place it at all. The same went for the rest of the other starters, I kind of knew, but at the same time, didn’t really know what I was scoffing.

At this point, I think I was still very concious of the fact that I was eating blind.

Strong smell Mains

I must say, everything smells so much stronger. To the point where some of the dishes were a little overpowering. The mains is definitely lamb. Lamb in a thick sauce with lentil beans I believe it is. The smell of lamb was so strong that it stank. And it was abit on the spicy side too. I really did try to use my cutlery, but in the end I was just using my hands to pick the food up. I didn’t know if I managed to finish everything on my plate, but I did poke around just to make sure.

Phew, I think I survived that. The jarring feeling of not being able to see has kind of left me now and I was feeling more comfortable relying on the remaining senses. I was also reaching out to try and poke my friend. I think I got her in the eye a couple of times.

Dessert and back to the light

Oh yeah, dessert was pleasant. It tasted like chocolate mousse, but it was really grainy instead of a smooth texture. You know, this was fun, definitely an experience, but I’m really ready to head back to the light again.

Hand back on the waiter’s broad shoulders and before long that faint speck of light in the distance, slowly got brighter and brighter…

…Wow, I felt like I was transported into another world altogether. At the reception area, I was glad to get back to reality, yet at the same time, my mind couldn’t help but play back the experience I had in the dark room. At times, it was jarring. Eating became a challenge (especially when I was trying to nick my mate’s food from her plate) and I noticed chatter and noise can actually be rather interesting things to tune in to.

In terms of discovering the ‘truth of food’, I must admit the food is full of pretty distinctly contrasting flavours, though I found it hard to identify what they actually were. When we were shown the menu at the end, some of our guesses were right and some weren’t. At least I managed the major ingredients, ie the lamb.

1400 words of continuous writing with no pictures, that is a record for me! Is it worth it? Well, 2 courses start from £32 and 3 courses can be had at £38. This does not include drinks or service so it’s alittle on the pricy side. However, something like this, you really go for the experience and not just the food alone. Jay Rayner panned the food during his visit, but I actually thought the food was alright. I was so distracted by the fact that I couldn’t see it, my mind just didnt really concentrate on whether it was actually spot-on cooking or not.

You only live once and you’ve got to try this out if you’ve not already done so. An experience, you’re unlikely to forget.

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