Amex 10-10-10? Unsurprisingly, that points to the Sunday just gone, and was a special one-day only eating event which took place across 10 restaurants in London. Being that I am a stakeholder (with my belly) heavily invested in the dining scene and all, this post represents my ‘contribution’ to the London Restaurant Festival (4th Oct to 18th Oct), co-founded by her belliness, Dame Maschler in 2009.

The premise is intriguing: Get 10 of the best chefs outside of London to cook with 10 of the best chefs in London. Best, being a liberally applied term. Needless to say, this has led to some rather interesting pairings, like:

1. Bosi** and Roux*** (Mr Waterside Inn) at Hibiscus …!
2. Blanc** (Le Manoir) and Loubet (former*) at Bistro Bruno Loubet at Zetter
3. Rogan* (L’Enclume) and Singh at Cinnamon Club.

I won’t reproduce the full list, since it’s already gone, but you can look here.

Oh before I go further, full disclosure, Mandate, the PR machine behind Amex 10-10-10 had seeded 10 blogs with free tickets for meals at all ten venues. I didn’t run a competition for you lovely folks, because I replied too late (number 11th I guess) , but Mandate were kind enough to offer me a freebie in any case, just days before the event… I know, I could have raffled it to a lucky reader, but I have my reasons, as follows:

It was for Anthony Demetre * and * of Wild Honey and Arbutus pairing with Tom Kerridge* of The Hand and Flowers. If you follow my twitter feed, you’ll find that I adore Arbutus-Wild Honey, in particular, the braised pig’s head – which has come off the menu in the past, but back on by popular demand – and his version of the ile flottante. Pink no less. I’ll be honest, I don’t know about The Hand & Flowers, but after this meal, I will visit soon. Anyway, I couldn’t say no to this freebie, too good to pass up.

So Tom and Anthony were both slaving away in the kitchen for this meal. We arrived at high noon on Sunday, each chef had control of an alternating course. Anthony kicked things off with the starters.

We drank our usual, a carafe of the excellent spätburgunder (German Pinot Noir) which has resided on the Arbutus wine list for as long as I can remember.

Starters by Anthony Demetre

Squid and Mackerel Burger. Parsley, razor clams and sea purslane.

The much better half started with the burger. Brimming with seafood flavours, plump and juicy. The razor clams with sea purslane were a fabulous combo. I have to say, a little saltier than I remember it to be, dangerously close to being oversalted, but strong flavours and strong seasoning were always characteristic of Demetre’s cooking. Still, it didn’t detract from the overall experience, the missus loved it and it’s a sterling starter.

Braised Pig’s Head. Potato puree, ravioli of caramalised onions.

This is my favourite dish at Arbutus. I can never work out what the ravioli of onions are wrapped with. I assume it an offal of some kind, tripe maybe? The reason I say this, is because it carried a strong flavour of offal, the onions, tasting pickled, only just about masks the strength, it can be quite abit overwhelming.

In total contrast, the pigs head, reformed into a rectagular block, a sort of pan-fried terrine was pure heaven. Heavily seasoned with fatty bits and flossy bits, only slightly smoky, a little gamey, soaking in glorious meaty flavour. Simply superb, and in my opinion, the prime reason why Demetre is where he is today, a master of fully utilising the discarded.

Second starters by Tom Kerridge

Moules Marinière with Warm Stout and Brown Bread.

I suppose this is Tom Kerridge’s flagship starter, complete with its own brown bread, from what I’ve read, is freshly made in at his kitchen in Marlow. This Michelin winning restaurant hasn’t garnered much recent press, so I approached it with zero expectations. Mussels in warm stout, served in a glass terrine jar… thankfully with the rubber vacuum seal popped. A real visual treat this one. Porridge-like, gloopy and warm. Proper grub.

Beautiful, eye-openingly so. It was a full mouthful, vivacious and viscous, well salted, buttery and barrels of mussel flavour. An armada assault on the senses, I suppose the stout had gone a long way in ensuring the full bodied taste and texture, just a real joy to eat. We really enjoyed this, and I must confess, I thought this was better than Demetre’s pig’s head. My favourite dish of this meal.

Parfait of Duck and Foie Gras with Orange Chutney and Toasted Brioche.

Yowza. What a smooth parfait. It tasted like it had been whipped by twelve tireless elves and then ferried across the heavens to imbue it with this cloud-like texture. And it was the ultra smooth texture that stood out, analogous to a melting gelato. A magnificent parfait. In terms of flavour, there were the regal fragrance of foie gras. In terms of taste, near honey sweetness, with a piercing intensity on the salt front. The competing strength of seasoning was dizzying, even though it was merely a tiny dollop, I felt it was a little too rich as I inched toward the finish. I thought something a little more floury, like the brown bread, as opposed to the sweet brioche, would fit the parfait better. Still, it didn’t stop me from finishing it.

Eventually we went on to have a further main course by Demetre, but in line with his dishes, it was so filling that we didn’t room for Kerridge’s puddings. So in light of the lack of evidence to compare, I’ll stop here.

We already know about Arbutus, Anthony’s style of cooking and choice of ingredients may split opinion, but one cannot deny that he’s created two great restaurants (and possibly a third with Les Deux Salons). I for one fall into the groupie camp. I think he has talent, and with both his restaurants winning a star each, it is a testament to what he is able to achieve with ingredients often neglected by the mainstream. The best ox cheeks & bone marrow and the best pig’s head recipe in town, in my humble opinion.

Out of town, Tom Kerridge and his Michelin starred The Hand & Flowers is now on my pertinent radar. The sneak preview I gathered from this one-off special offered a glimpse of the revelatory cooking he seems capable of producing. The moules in stout is a serious dish, if it were in a London restaurant, it would have had the critics cooing in unison. Straight shooting, technically perfect, boisterous cooking – I guess the whole point of bringing the rest of the country into London kitchens is to showcase the talent that’s outside of the M25, and I liked what I tasted.

Speaking of, I still have yet to try The Royal Oak and The Sportsman, The Kitchin, and Le Manoir, Waterside, Chapter One, The Marquis ……yeah, many excursions to plan, so little belly space.

The Gist.

Arbutus
£40pp
63 Frith Street
W1D 3JW
Tel: 020 7734 4545

The Hand & Flowers
£45pp
126 West Street, Marlow
SL7 2BP
Tel: +44 (0)1628 482 277

Did you enjoy reading this? You can subscribe to the Newsletter. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

[note: you'll need flash to view the slideshow above]

Tsk, tsk… Malaysian Night – the very first of its scale – at Trafalgar Square was suppose to replicate a Pasar Malam or Night Market, but it fell way short of what many had expected. You can readCatty’s immediate reactions (plus comments from those who went) following the event. Needless to say, many who went, left early and hungry and disappointed. There was nothing but an endless sea of warm bodies rubbing up against one another to queue up at the food stalls, in vain. By 7pm, the time which you’d expect most people to show up, the stalls sold out of food. We managed a plate of rice with curry and a can of Sarsi, even so, it was rice scrapped from the bottom of the cooker, and chicken that had long since gone cold.

Shortly after the sun went down, we left and went to Baozi Inn for dinner instead… which has become abit shite…! The Zha Zhiang Mein…incredibly inedible.

So what would I have done better? I don’t know. I’m no event organiser. But I’d like to believe I’ve at least been a ‘real’ Pasar Malam before, and I feel that restaurants are the least capable candidates for turning out the kind of food at pasar malams. In effect, they just can’t whip out cut-down versions food they serve in their respective restaurants quick enough. If anything, you go to a market to get away from restaurants no? Where were the smoke-on-scene street food? Grilled fish, roti Johns, roti prathas, kuehs, teh tarik, fresh fruit juices, ABCs, stall after stall of char keuy tiaw? Didn’t see ‘em, nada.

It might be a little unfair to compare it against what we’ve got in Asia, though successful cultural markets are a result of collaborations with a plentiful number of providers and I don’t believe the comparison is limited to Malaysian night markets. Take for instance the London markets such as Broadway, which feature many weekend entrepreneurs. So I suppose that the fairly abysmal stall to customer ratio was to blame for the food running out so early on in the evening. There were simply too many mouths to feed. So the gist? Maybe the organisers should talk to more people for next year’s, now that we know there is a demand, so to speak.

I do wonder if Malaysia Kitchen had ever been to a University cultural fair organised by students. Albeit on a much modest scale, and spread over campus space, I remember my uni days when the various societies (especially the Malaysian Society) would put together campus-wide cultural events in a similar spirit such as this one, and to great effect. The beauty of such markets, were always the variety, and that’s not just the food, but other non-perishables too – something sorely lacking at Trafalgar Square.

Case in point, this Taiwanese Food Festival , managed by various Taiwanese student societies around Britain, late last year, was exemplary. In the sheer number of stalls, variety of food, the bustling atmosphere and – this is important – the smell of lots and lots of cooked food … heck it almost felt like the real thing in Taipei.

Malaysian Night at Trafalgar Square was smell-less.

Ahh memories. I did eventually bump into my buddies from Imperial at the event, whom I hadn’t seen since I left four years ago, so that was nice.

…So if you’re reading this Mr organiser, do consider a session with an M-Soc president at the nearest University when you plan M-night 2011, I suggest starting here.

Did you enjoy reading this? You can subscribe to the Newsletter. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

Last weekend I went to a one-off special billed as a “an exciting walk-through dining experience and multi-course meal charting key revolutionary periods in food history.”. It was put together by Bompass and Parr, the pre-eminent purveyors of wobbly things, along with the help of certain talented peeps from food as well as from the creative fields including Alexis Gauthier, Saf restaurant (well…), Bistrotheque, Lounge Bohemia as well as Courvoisier’s ever present spirits, and their obvious bags of riches.

So the idea was to take people across the history of food, through four or five beautifully decorated, themed rooms in a five storey Georgian building in Belgravia, from the Medieval times to the Fifties to eating off the back of a very large Iguana (a prop, not a real one).

It was a little contrived, at times it was verging on the feeling as though I have just paid to experience an elaborate walk-through marketing campaign. There was Courvoisier on everything. The event culminated with a Courvoisier bar, that served Courvoisier cocktails with a 3DTV that showed looping Courvoisier adverts. Talk about brain washing eh.

Cognac aside, for the most part, the event was entertaining. However, I was expecting it to be more of an exhibition, with food trivia presented in crazily non-obvious ways, but alas, apart from the good Doctor opening promisingly by spinning about the archaic ‘science’ that humans were believed to be made from four types of liquids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm), the theatre ended just as it begun really, style suffocating all manner of substance.

For £25 it was OK (plus £5 booking fee, yikes!), though not exactly a steal. Food was decidedly a limiting factor, it was more like half a course and three snacks as opposed to four courses. The various cocktails we had on the other hand, all made with Couvoisier, were all pretty good. I came out feeling indifferent, it wasn’t exactly a satisfying meal (which I would have preferred) nor was it an all out exhibition through the times of food, instead it fell in the chasm of being a little hollow in the centre. I didn’t learn about the origin or evolution of any kind of food in particular. Instead, I came away with new found knowledge of what Courvoirsier tastes like when paired with various fruits.

Can’t knock the event for looking the part, staff were welcoming people to snap away at the meticulously created artwork, elaborate sets and creations, and all of which were mightily impressive. At the end of the day, it was fun. By the time you read this, the event would have finished, but for what it’s worth, I thought you might enjoy the snapshots…

The Doctor ‘prescribing’ a concoction to re-balance our bodily fluids (or something to that effect).

Waiting to go into the Medieval Ship.

Crossing the wobbly gang plant, to the ship. It looks like the murky waters were actually wet.

The Medieval ship, operated by Saf, a vegan restaurant, and also where we took our ‘prescription’.

I said to the good Doctor that I felt ‘laid-back’, so he me a yellow sticker which allowed me to exchange for a white wine cocktail, plus a an artichoke canape.

Next we ‘travel through time’ via a service lift to the roof top to try Alexis Gauthier’s gorgeous contribution: foie gras, a port reduction, almonds and gold leaf, shaped like a certain very recognisable chocolate.

The genius mixologists from Lounge Bohemia.

This was lush – a ‘flat’ champagne cocktail, with the fizz bursting out from the grapes! I really enjoyed this one.

On to the Fifties now, and we are having a scratch and sniff TV dinner. Nothing edible here, just olfactory tickling at work. Minty chips…

I liked this room, surely good enough to merit its own exhibition in an art gallery of some kind. It was explained to us that fifty years ago, everybody sat in front of the tv during dinner time.

And then, into the belly of a bouncy beast! Created by Andy Best & Merja Puustinen. Boing Boing.

And finally dinner time, an Iguanodon dinner in a giant Iguana, like the one constructed by Waterhouse Hawkins in 1853

Eating duck confit, puy lentils, beetroot and black champagne sauce by Bistrotheque and drinking ‘Josephine’s Tea Garden’ punch with Courvoisier, green tea, apple juice and elderflower cordial by Ben Leggett.

Finally, Bompass and Parr jelly, candied orange, iris jellies and ambergris posset. Ambergris being whale regurgitations that tasted very much like condensed milk… usually found in perfume so I’ve read, and also an aphrodisiac.

More photographs on my flickr.

Did you enjoy reading this? You can subscribe to the Newsletter. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

All text and photography on this blogpost is copyright and belongs to Kang Leong, LondonEater.com. If you repost this without my permission, bad things will happen. So please don’t do it.

Yes, the food festival that features some of London’s more famous and not-so-famous restaurants, popped up this weekend at Regent’s Park under rather dreary skies. Of course I was there. I spent 100 crowns, that’s fifty quid. Oh yeah baby. Lots of photographs after the jump.

Switch to Fullscreen Slideshow Mode.

It was a case of scoffing, sleb chef spotting and getting our hands on as many free hand outs as we could. The event was to celebrate and showcase our capital’s dining scene, there were many instantly recognizable names and abit like cherry picking vineyards to visit in wine country. With my ‘roving editor’ Marcus, we circled out the restaurant stands which we wanted to try. I’ll keep the chatter minimal on this one…

(if you are reading this before the 20th of June, there are still tickets floating about¹…)

£10 buys you a book of 20 crowns at the Taste Bank, follow the green jeans…

Fino

The first stop was to Fino for their Cochifrito suckling pig, judged² to be the 2nd best dish of the event.

14 crowns. We agreed. Fatty, melty, a cracking crackling, smothered by a thick and syrupy sauce with hints of mint. Fino is on my list now.

Smiles..

Laduree macarons.

Le Gavroche

Oh yeah, Gastronomical Royalty. Michel Roux Jr (chef) and Silvano Giraldin (manager), the leadership of two michelin starred Le Gav³.

40 crowns or twenty squids: Lobster cocktail, with summer truffle and tomato jelly. Entirely indulgent, four large slices, lots of chunky lobster meat, iceberg lettuce, the jelly was a little bitter… in hindsight this felt like a waste of money, there wasn’t real invention involved, and I could’ve done with some hot buttered brioche. Still, can’t go wrong with fresh lobster and truffle. Le Gav is still very high on my list.

Checking the Taste map.

Feeding the missus.

The Sake no Hana stand…. Alan Yau’s showing I suppose, nothing really caught my eye. The Japanese presence which intrigued me was Dinings.

Vic – Coffee Maestro, oh he really is. He’s all over town, a coffee consultant (if my info is accurate), he is in and out of Tapped and Packed alot right now, he knows his brew, if you ever spot him, tell him Mark said hello.

Dinings

You might recall me raving about Dinings⁴ last year, a Japanese restaurant opened by ex-Nobu talent Tomonari Chiba. Naturally I was excited to visit their stand at this event.

Seabass carpaccio with ponzu jelly and truffle, 8 crowns. Yeah this hit the spot, peppery, citrusy, the fragrance of truffle, the oiliness of fish and an explosion of flavours. Their ponzu-truffle jelly is Dinings’ USP. They put it on their seared wagyu nigiri at the restaurant and it is equally amazing. Shades of Nobu, but mybe just a tad sexier in my humble opinion.

Seared Wagyu sushi with foie gras. 12 Crowns. The wagyu gently blowtorched, cut very thick, with a syrupy soya sauce concoction drizzled over it. I know some say foie gras doesn’t work with rice, but I thought it was masterfully executed here. The brawny wagyu, fragrantly bovine, a real wow-factor, it tasted lively and the sweet soya sauce managing to balance against the potency of the foie gras. Loved it too.

I think a revisit to Dinings is imminent. Not everything at the restaurant is spot-on, but their truffle-ponzu sushi are really out of this world.

The Patara stand.

Girls of British Airways. Yeah…black and white.

L’Anima

Here we are, super heavyweight Italian outfit, L’Anima⁵. I am overdue a visit, and what a slick operation, one could almost sense the jive from the kitchen team. Theirs must be one of the hottest tables in London right now. They are shutting for expansion works in August, and re-opening a month after, I think I might visit in July.

Rabbit Siciliana, 8 Crowns.

Wahey, and that’s the man himself, Francesco Mazzei with iron chef Judy Joo…! She is radiant by the way…we couldn’t take our eyes off her… Note the well-positioned halos.

Odette’s

You know Bryn Williams⁶ right? His turbot, oxtail, cockles and samphire dish (representative of Wales) was the winning dish from the 1st GBM series and became one of the dishes for the Queen’s birthday bash a few years ago. He did have it on the Taste menu, but we were ten minutes late, it was served at 1.30pm, and they sold out…

…so I went for the mint, pea and Welsh rack of Lamb instead, 8 crowns. It was superb. Delicate sweet peas, and an equally delicately cooked lamb chop, juicy. Bryn trained at Le Gav, was last at Galvin at Windows and now owns Odette’s. Oh yeah definitely on my list. The turbot will not elude for much longer.

Ansley working his magic…

Modern Pantry

I must say, I know very little about Modern Pantry save for that its head chef Anna Hansen⁷ trained under the eponymous Fergus Henderson. Her chermoula baked trout, quinoa, tomatillo,preserved lemon salad was judged to be the 3rd best of the event. No doubt after this event, I have placed Modern Pantry on my list, will visit the restaurant in the coming weeks.

I was intrigued by the items on show at Taste, I can’t even place the style of cuisine, which appears to be a kind of super fusion, the best of around the world foods. Tamarind marinated miso onglet steak, tumeric, and curry leaf besan chips, 10 crowns. I’m not sure about this one, the hanger steak, rare, was excellent but the rest of the spices left it a tad too bitter. I appreciated the spiciness however, but I couldn’t say it impressed.

Still, I am intrigued by her food, it reads very well indeed, and would be interesting to see how it translates in a restaurant.

Trinity

This south London restaurant⁸ has a cult-like following, whilst the restaurant itself keeps a pretty low profile, Adam Byatt’s name is whispered by food lovers regularly, and I am quite embarrassed to say that I have yet to visit Trinity. That will soon change, of course.

Pig’s trotters, toasted poilane, fried quail egg, sauce gribiche and crackling, 12 crowns. Judged to be the best of the event, and I can see why it won, I thought it was exquisite. A whippy, mustardy white sauce, superiorly intense crackling and sweet onion tasting trotters. With a milky yolk on the toast, it was a superb congealing mess that felt abit like breakfast. Apart from the Fino suckling pig, this was definitely the most memorable from the event. It definitely wowed. Pickled gherkings (I think) helped to cut through the strength of the dish. Sweet, flossy, salty creamy. Trinity is definitely on my list now. I really want to go.

Bea’s of Bloomsbury

Introducing the new face of Bea’s… just kidding that’s Tehbus⁹.

This is Bea¹⁰.

And these are her awesome cupcakes. The cakes are moist and spongy, the icing buttery and decadent. I am way overdue a visit, and I keep promising to show up for tea and cakes but I keep missing out. I will make it there before 2010 is over…

Finally then, Mark indulging…

….and here’s my favourite snap of the event.

We also had Gary Rhodes’ baked egg tart but I didn’t think it was worth highlighting. The raisin sauce was good, but the tart was too cold, no Marcus Wareing.

Yeah it was fun, how could it not be? An afternoon’s worth of eating, drinking and people watching. There were some great food on show, I have been alerted to certain restaurants I previously didn’t think too much about, and I believe most restaurants will have come away enhancing their reputation after this event.

See you again in Taste 2011.

See the fullscreen slideshow for further highlights or view the full set of photographs on flickr.

Did you enjoy reading this? You can subscribe to the Newsletter. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

Long before supperclubs started popping up all over the capital, a certain door 83 had already been inviting strangers round for Sunday dinners, and the door has remained open for nearly three decades. Jim Haynes, 77 was born in Louisiana, relocated to Edinburgh where he opened a theatre, after which he moved south and swang it like the rest of us in London. For the last quarter of a century, he has been a Professor of Media Studies and Sexual Politics with the University of Paris, occasionally entertaining and elbow checking the odd guest at one of his Sunday dinners. To date, he estimates that roughly 130,000 people have joined his party over the years. You might have even seen him on TV recently in an after eight advert. One of the true pioneers in supperclub terms, I suppose he had long been part of social networking albeit the old fashion way rather than through the intertubes. Jim came to London for a one-night-only at one of the hottest tables in the supperclub circuit – Fernandez and Leluu and I was fortunate enough to get on the list to meet Jim, as well as Simon and Uyen – the brains behind F&L. I was really happy with it, met lots of people and perhaps ingested too much liquid courage. I have put together a photo essay to give you a flavour of the evening. Really hope you enjoy this one.

Events such as these give me the opportunity to practice and experiment. People are fairly comfortable around cameras during such events – even with my behemoth Nikon in their face – leaving me to be able to capture quite truthful circumstances, well relatively anyway. The interesting thing is of course, time and space to explore new techniques and processing methods – to do things I couldn’t do in food shoots or even by the restaurant table. In this set, I am trying to emulate the smooth tones and the delicate art of complimenting (rather than fighting) natural fill light with a single strobe. Mostly seen in Annie Leibovitz’s work and particularly her portraiture in the nineties with Kodak transparencies. I probably don’t quite have her imagination nor gift of drawing out the inner personality, then again, the setting is probably too far away from being intimate for people to drop their masks (or put on another one for that matter) en masse. But I try anyway, I like portraiture, it is something I aspire to do well in.

I have shunned the social limelight for a while now, nine months give or take, and I’m sure I’ve pissed off more than a few PR bods in the process, I pulled out of far too many. With events, it has always been about meeting people and more often than not, like-minded ones, in this case, food lovers and bloggers. I was so glad to see some faces I recognise Mark, Niamh, Euwen, Melanie, Rachelle, Emily, Kate and Billy. And then to finally to meet some of the cool creators behind some of the coolest London based blogs : Sian, Su-lin, Aaron, Tom & Jen, Denise and Luiz. At the risk of sounding like hero worship (oh hell it is), it was also a pleasure to have finally met Douglas (in real life) – I have always been an admirer and loyal subscriber of his work. At last after all these years.

And so it begins.

Warming up.

Introducing Jim.

Bubbles and conversations, Ian and Mark.

Pausing, with Aaron and Sulin.

Sharing a laugh ….this is my favourite capture of the night.

Luiz.

Billy. We caressed beef joints in a hot kitchen once. It was the best bloody piece of bovinity that had ever left a kitchen. Hah. Good times.

Got to respect the house. In the distance is what appears to be a slide viewer. Very cool. I also spotted a Canon AE-1 lying on the table somewhere. Cool too.

Douglas.

Liquid courage – You know, I forgot to get the name of our hard working cocktail conjurer. He made us all very happy.

Kate.

Spaces, Alex.

This is what happens when a camera shoots people, especially Euwen.

More spaces, from above.

All Qyped out. Sian, Rachelle and Emily.

Ahem. Intermission time. Simon breaks up the ice-breaking to bring out the food. Split-toned an accidental blur.

Ok, now for the money shots. Food was prepared by F&L, starters included spring rolls, summer rolls, prawn cocktail and a carrot & coriander salad.

And here is another angle. The dressing which came with the prawn cocktail was sublime, it was a garlic & white wine, with smoked salmon mayo. I’ll save myself from critiquing but on evidence, I can see why F&L have thus far been so well received.

And here are the mains : Fillet of Beef Carpaccio, mash in case with garlic glaze, shrooms in white wine and butter, lambs lettuce and garlic bread. Yummy as well, I wish I had more – beef was bloody, just the way I like it. I am definitely intrigued with a proper dinner, we’ll save that for another day I suppose.

After the food, the conversations resume (well they never stopped I suppose). Melanie, Denise, Niamh and Douglas.

Mark and Melanie. Mark is probably in half of all my people pictures. If he writes an autobiography someday…

Spaces – laughs, Denise.

Time for the gear to take a break.

And why is he eating alone?

Jen, Tom and Siany.

Jim with Aaron.

Jim with Simon….

…and Uyen.

Jim is ultimately quotable, and good vibes reverberate through him. I sat down with him and naively asked him if he was having a good time, to which he replied “Everyday. Otherwise, what’s the point.” Then we elbow bumped. This is reserved for the dudes, Jim only kisses the girls. In closing, Jim imparted some of his warm wisdom, and as for the reason he started his Sunday dinners:

“Thirty something years ago… wasn’t some insight or moment of incredible revelation. But I had a house guest, and her hobby was cooking… and she wanted to repay by cooking for me and my friends. So twenty came…” … and I guess the rest is history. You can watch the videos of his speech Part one and Part two, courtesy of Mark.

And some things he said which I remembered:

“After eight is abit snooty and poshy. But little did I know what I was getting into”

“It’s a long story. I got invited to be a professor…. they asked me what I want to teach and I said media studies and sexual politics.”

Pudding. Baked Croissants in White Chocolate, Whisky & Raisins with Summer Fruits.

Thanks to Jim, Sian, Simon, Uyen, Qype, After Eight and the lovely peeps whom I met on Tuesday night. It was fun, and we should do this again, and again.

And of course, thank you for being the ever patient reader, you’re the one I treasure the most, of course.

You can see the full set of photographs on my flickr account here.

PS: If you need me to take down any photos, let me know and I will do so.
PPS: Oh yes and let me know if you want to use any photos, I would feel honoured if you wanted to. All I ask is for a credit back and a link…thank you in advance.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not subscribe to my feed updates for free. Alternatively, You can subscribe via email.

Yup, I was there and it was brilliant. The first UK based food blogger connect conference saw 70 food lovin’ guests descend upon Levant restaurant right here in London, all of whom have a vested interest in the phenomenon that is food blogging. Most already have their own blogs, some were interested in starting up and many came from all over the world, some as far away as India, it truly transcended all kinds of boundaries and I was so glad I was there.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s all be witnesses.

28th November, 2009. This would be the first formal food blogging conference (of sorts) that I have attended, and boy was London on form – not only was it windy, it was wet and it was icy cold, Bri’ish weather innit. I got there early – 12pm – and it wasn’t until 1pm that people started flooding into the basement restaurant – Levant. I was really happy to see many faces in the community which I didn’t yet recognise. Not that I don’t enjoy hanging with the London crowd, but as a blogger, connecting with new faces has always been part of the agenda. The ice melted away swiftly, as we mingled and found common ground in food. From the outset, there was a good vibe.

We had a busy afternoon ahead of us and little time to spare. Bethany quickly gathered all the peeps when a sizeable crowd had arrived and kicked things off officially with a little speech about the afternoon. I don’t mean to turn into a sappy fool, but it was a little surreal, this blogging thing wasn’t just a solitary hobby anymore, here we were, like-minded individuals all passionate about the same thing and gathering to talk about it. Cameras and flashes everywhere, woo, historic. Right then, speech over – time to eat.

Let me introduce you to Chris – Beth’s husband – he was recording the entire event with his super swish video camera. I’m anxious to see what comes of it, I was sober throughout the entire event, but I just want to apply an advance disclaimer that there may be scenes of goofiness, and I may likely be involved.

Also the camera adds 20 pounds.

Ok guys, let’s now follow the camera and find out what went down at the first ever Food Blogger Connect.

People are only just starting to ooze into the buffet area, many are still chatting and connecting, here’s a shot of Mowie, one of the organisers mixing with the crowd. All of us had name tags, so it was ok for the boys to look below the neck when meeting someone new. Mark chose to position his nametag very south of his chest.

So here I am just joining the queue now for the buffet. In this shot, I was paying more attention to shooting the people than I was at food.

…And here’s one of the food, but nicely illuminated by the myriad of flash lights in the background. Also note the number of cameras around.

I didn’t get to talk to the chef about the spread of food, but I did catch him entertaining the crowd with his deep knowledge of Lebanese cuisine.

Naturally I was hovering where the sweets were. Dark chocolate and Baklava…

Bad boy Kang also took a sneak peek into the Goodie Bag holding area while everyone was busy filling their plates. While we’re on the topic, everybody got one and in it were an assortment of seeds by Linwoods, Unearthed pannatonne & olives, West Country Parkham mature cheddar cheese and a few boxes of Maldon salt & pepper.

And here she is, Bethany – one of the main thrusts behind FBC ’09 and here I’m just catching a shot of her running around. I’ve (virtually) known since my beginning days (that’s going back 1.5 years) but last Saturday was our first time meeting up, surreal.

Levant being in the basement meant colourful lights and a sort of darkly ambiance. Plush red silk (was it?) covered cushions everywhere, and here we just catch a shot of the bartender tending to his ladies. Among them, is Abi who runs the fantastic Rambling Restaurant, which I have put on my eat-list.

Now that everybody has found a table, the whole place was completely buzzing with chatter. I hovered around the girls (naturally), and they started pulling faces at me.

I did eventually get round to the food, and here is the obligatory shot in the dark. I really liked the breads and the hummus, but as I said earlier, it was all about the Baklava. I didn’t have much of an appetite for food though, I have to admit, my tummy was churning a little bit at the thought of my two speeches to follow after lunch. Gulp, I hope I don’t screw up.

Ahh – here we go a Kodak moment. Mint tea – warming and just a touch of sweet, just what I needed.

As we finish our meals, all of us shifted to the presentation area for the round of talks. There were four speakers for the afternoon, Jeanne & Jamie were to talk about finding your voice in blogging, Meeta was to talk about her food photography techniques, and I provided comic relief with a short presentation on how to take photos in darkness, before finishing off with a speech about social media. If you look at the top right of the picture, you can just about see Chris giving us the thumbs up!

Overall – I thought Meeta, Jamie & Jeanne really did a bang up job with their presentations. They chose to put together a content rich and comprehensive presentation of their subject material and I for one had picked up some great tips. For instance, I’ll be buying myself some white cards to bounce light off of my subjects when photographing, and I will dig abit deeper into my wardrobe to find the clothes to fit my blogging persona.

I leave you with this shot of Jeanne just starting the afternoon of talks with a description about the BloggerAid Cookbook – a cookbook put together by food bloggers from around the world and the funds of which will be donated to help the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Oh just one more, shots of Lola’s Cupcakes, with some of the goodie bag items.

All in all – I was really happy to get involved with this, and it certainly was fun to be given the chance to talk about some of the things which occupy most of my free time. If you were there, I hope you really enjoyed the show we put on for you.

So what’s happening next? As I understand it, all the content from the afternoon will be slowly uploaded to the official FBC website in the coming weeks, and you’ll be able to download all the presentation material. Also there is also a plan in place to install some sort of forum/discussion facility on the official website, so I’ll keep you up to date as and when things go online.

It was nice meeting all the other fishes in this tank, and I never really knew there were so many out there who wanted to know abit about taking shots in the dark. Perhaps the major problem we had for the afternoon was that we were really pressed for time, and we ran out of it for questions and a forum – still not bad for the first time, and I’m sure all the feedback will be vital for the many FBCs to come in the near future. Here’s to another smashing one in 2010.

PS: More pictures of the event on my flickr page here. There’s a shot of Chris with the camera in there I really like, but chose not to use it in this one.

Links and Thanks:

Speakers : Jeanne, Jamie and Meeta
Organisers: Hilda, Mowie, Jamie and Bethany.

I met lots of foodbloggers, and have tried my best to put together a little list, but my memory ain’t what it’s suppose to be so where I have forgotten you, my sincerest apologies:

Davina, Michelle, Carla, Food Rambler, Jassy, Georgina, Deeba, Claire, Suyin, Kavey, Paul , The Daily Spud, Sarah , Sarah & Sarah, Greedy Diva, Sarka, Katrina , Ozoz, Kerrin and finally Mark and Catty.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not subscribe to my feed updates for free. Alternatively, You can subscribe via email.

Links to other bloggers who have written up their FBC experience:

The Daily Spud
Cook Sister!
Get me cooking
The Sugar Bar
Maison Cupcake
Food For Think
Meals with Sarah
Kitchen Butterfly

Alright, an exaggeration, but I am both very proud and flattered to have been invited by my favourite Brighton foodie Beth to speak at her event – the inagural Food Bloggers Connect. This event is basically a big party for food bloggers everywhere AND also anyone who has a vested interest in Food Blogging to network, share ideas and generally to have a good meal (yup food is obviously involved).

The event will take place this Saturday 28th Nov 2009 at Levant Restaurant in London. I have been asked to do two presentations and I just want to give you a little sneak sneak of what I intend to say… also keep reading for the competition regarding the tickets to Amsterdam.

Oh, I feel so bloody nervous.

So speech number 1 will be titled “Photographs in the Dark”. It will be short and schweet at no more than 7 minutes. I’ll be running through a couple of slides and I will show you a slice of what goes through my mind when I take pictures of food. The objective is for you to walk away with some ideas of how to nail that shot in a lowly lit room. I have a few surprise items that I’m going to whip out on the spot which I hope will help liven things up abit, so if you’re going, do look out for something shiny.

Speech number two is titled “Social media & me” and it will be abit more epic. I’ll keep it succinct at no more than 12 minutes and I just would like to give you a perspective of what Social Media means to me, and what I think my role is within Social Media. If I am articulate enough to get my ideas across, then you should come away with some practical ideas on how to make blogging even more fun than it already is and for the benefit of my non-blogging readership, a snippet of my thought process behind this very blog.

I should also mention that I am probably the pleb in the speakers line-up as there will be some truly fantastic food bloggers who will be presenting their ideas as well:

1. Jeanne from Cook Sister!
2. Jamie from Life’s A Feast
3. Meeta from What’s For Lunch Honey

The presentations will allow for alot of Q&A time, so it’s going to be totally interactive, giving you the chance to comment and for us to respond, just like a blogpost I suppose. Of course, I’ll try to make faces at you and will try to keep things as relaxed as possible, we’re all suppose to have a blast at this thing.

I think it’s gonna be a smasher of an event – there are people flying in from all over the place (as far as Singapore, yikes!) and I am going to give it my all to help pimp the status of the food blogging nation.

As you can tell I’m excited. Hoorah.

So as I understand it, there are already about 70 attendees now, and there are a few more tickets flying about. If you are free from 1pm onwards on Saturday and you feel like giving me a cheer (or jeer) then do come along.

Here’s a quick summary of the deets of the event and how to get your tickets:

What Food Blogger Connect
When November 28th, 2009, 1pm to 5pm
Where Levant Restaurant, Wigmore Street W1U 1BQ
Who Everyone who is or wants to be part of the Food Blogosphere. Food Blogger connect is open to all, and you don’t have to be a long-time blogger to attend. Are you thinking of starting a food blog? This is the perfect time to come and learn how. This event is open to Non-UK Food Bloggers as well.
How much £30 for food and 1 glass of wine. This is the only fee and it covers the meal.
WHERE CAN I RSVP Go to www.rsvpit.com. The event code is 2009.

I just want to also highlight the masterminds behind this too:

Beth of Dirty Kitchen Secrets, Jamie of Life’s a Feast, Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry and Mowie of Mowielicious.

See on Saturday Tweepers!!

OK and now on to the two running competitions from my sponsors Douwe Egberts.

First up is Video 2 of 3 which is part of an ongoing competition to win a coffee hamper. (You can see video 1 here)

Love Coffee? Love that first cup steaming from your cafetiere? Then this film is for you! Douwe Egberts have been growing, roasting and supplying the finest coffees for over 250 years and have learnt a thing or two about the world’s most popular drink along the way. This is the second in a series of 3 short films that charts the fascinating story of coffee and the breakthrough that truly made coffee instant and global – the filter. We also meet Etienne, the passionate tasting master behind the last 3 decades of Douwe Egberts blends. Narrated by James Nesbitt, we really hope you’ll enjoy this and the other films in the series!

Secondly here are the details regarding the competition to win a free holiday to Amsterdam.

The Netherlands is where it all started for Douwe Egberts, some 250 years ago, and we’ve been following the fascinating stories behind coffee ever since. We love hearing about your ideal endings to the coffee story – the kind of special coffee moments that you look forward to enjoying, week after week. In return for sharing, we’re inviting one lucky winner and their friend to experience where it all began. You’ll enjoy 3 nights of 4* accommodation, flights and transfers, £100 spending money and a whole host of Amsterdam’s cultural and culinary delights.

*The winner will be selected as the most original and humorous entry. Closing date is midnight, December 31st 2009.

To enter this competition visit the following : http://behindeverycup.douwe-egberts.co.uk/

Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not subscribe to my feed updates for free. Alternatively, You can subscribe via email.

Not everything gets publicised on the internet these days, especially the hyperlocal events, like this Taiwanese Food Festival which took place at Westminster Academy last weekend for example. I heard about it through my special Taiwanese counterpart. I love food fests, time for another photo essay me thinks.

Here’s what I think the premise is, this Taiwanese Food Festival rounds up the Taiwanese societies from various Universities around the country to celebrate Taiwan’s greatest gastro treasures, but first we need to exchange cash for foodie vouchers.

It is my first time at Westminister Academy, the festival took place on the uppermost floor. On my way up, I spotted the kitchen whipping up the food. That’s where the smell came from. Yummy, my tummy is growling now.

We got there early-ish – 11.30am – to beat the queue, there was a healthy crowd slowly building up. At the entrance, we were greeted by a dude wiping lyrical about Taiwan and their gastronomical gems. I stood there to listen for a few minutes, before my attention was completely diverted toward the food, of course.

True to fairground fashion, tables made for food stalls and each stall specialised in something different. I caught a rare moment when a food stall was unmanned and empty.

Before long, life would take over the stalls.

I loved being around so many people, the noise was reminiscent of the chorus within a food hall somewhere in Asia, instead of London. The atmosphere was building… and people were beginning to eat.

I don’t realise the gravity of the occasion. I’m not sure if the parents were assisting the kids or bit of both, everything smells absolutely amazing though.

I’ll try to cover the bases and the different variety of foods on sale (but not everything). The photographer in me was a little obsessed with grabbing the fleeting moments. These folks were bemused with the hunk of metal I was pointing at them, they were prepping minced pork rice, and beer.

And here, the boys were creating the atmosphere.

OK, time for me to eat. So, my mandarin is poor (at best), I can kind of read chinese (he says), I was in doubt, so I followed my nose to the most popular stall. There was a long queue waiting on this lovely lass, I fell in line.

This was what she was making – Gua Bao or Pocket Bun.

A puffy white fluff filled with slitheringly juicy braised pork cubes. I remember having this at a Night Market in Taipei, and this tasted really good.

Not everything was in English, so I ended up pointing to the stuff I wanted to eat. A little unsuccessful at times.

Crapola – they saw me.

Ah, here’s a stall selling a Taiwanese treasure: Beef noodle soup.

I managed to stay away from too much cake, but these looked so tempting. I love, love, love egg steamed cake. Looking back I probably should have tried a couple of slices of the layer cake as well.

High Noon and we are in the midst of the greatest crowd ever assembled. It was as if the entire Taiwanese community in Britain had descended upon Westminster Academy. Love it.

She is preparing glutinious rice, as a customer readies her coupons to pay…

…and here’s the finished product. Glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (I think) and otherwise known as ‘Jung Zi’. They usually come with a variety of stuffings ranging from powdered nuts, egg, braised chicken and so goes the list. This particular version had pork and chestnuts. A little bland, but with that magic chilli sauce dip it came with, it was quite delightful.

(I wear a Seiko Kinetic Artura which stopped working over the weekend, not happy, I need to mail it back to Seiko, but I don’t know if I can trust Royal Mail for that.)

I cannot help but be cheerful with this image. It is so humanistic, the boys work the floor selling their food. I wish I could read chinese but I’m sure one of you can help with the translation.

Another Taiwanese treasure – Egg infused with tea (via osmosis (I’d imagine)).

The third floor has an outside area. T’was a little gloomy, but it didn’t affect the families huddled around the tables chatting away over their food. I think the kids like the cupcakes.

Outside, there was also a stall selling Taiwanese style salt and pepper chicken. I gobble them up within seconds.

About 2pm, the crowd begins to thin and there are some warming moments for me and my camera. Oh and the dude’s white t-shirt, it reads ‘#@%$, I’m afraid of the wife’.

Let’s get a few more laughs in, it is monday afterall (at the time of writing).

And even the little guy is enjoying himself.

And so I leave you with an image which shows that the festival continues to roll along even as I leave them. Between the five of us, we tried quite alot of food. We were all alittle amazed at the quality of the food. Authenticity aside, most things were delicious and I was surprised that the organisers didn’t advertise this to a wider audience because it was a cracking event, for two hours last weekend, I believed I was in a night market in taiwan. I’ll be there again next year (the real thing and this one).

Well, I hope you enjoyed this. Photo essays are one of my favourite things to post. As you can probably tell, I love places with lots of people, especially when they are celebrating food. I think that is probably food’s most charming quality: it’s ability to bring people together. It’s times like this that I’m glad to be involved with food.

You can see the entire flickr photo gallery here.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not subscribe to my feed updates for free. Alternatively, You can subscribe via email.