Just had a wicked lunch in Hampstead, The Old White Bear pub.
Started off in a quiet empty room which began to fill as the meal went on.
The menu was really nice and small, easy to choose from. Had some great options with smoked eel and poached egg, Bavette tagliata, Barnsley chop and girolles and a great chicken and caponata dish.
Really nice ... defo recommend this place. Bit off the beaten track for me being an east londoner....
but well worth it...
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Feature shoot
Amazing amazing!!!
Feature shoot just wrote a nice piece on Sam hofman, talented young chap that he is which had the food shoot that we did on it.
Lovely images of salmon and the food crisp explosion. Take a peek they look ace!
http://t.co/OSUwrJL
Feature shoot just wrote a nice piece on Sam hofman, talented young chap that he is which had the food shoot that we did on it.
Lovely images of salmon and the food crisp explosion. Take a peek they look ace!
http://t.co/OSUwrJL
BIG CHILL
Having already worked @ Latitude in the Giant Robot pop up kitchen, I am fondly looking forward to being re united with my tent and chairs for the Big Chill.
This one looks to be not quite as large as Latitude but still massive.
We are looking after the VIP area so it promises to be filled with some interesting people and stories I am sure.
Latitude was a mixed bag for us chefs. The prep went all according to plan, all jobs finished on time and as predicted, food quantity was spot on... until we went to pick up the hire van from Petit Forestiere.
Now I would nt normally name names, however the treatment, the service and lies merit a mention.
We had ordered four vans all to be used onsite as cold storage. Three fridge vans and one freezer van.
Now they made me and the three other boys wait.... for four hours before taking us to the vans. After four hours of waiting they took us to our vans which they were now deciding to wash.
So after we had waited for them to be cleaned i took a look in the back of the vans
Two of them were ex sainsbury vans, which had a small cold/ chilled room and 60% of the van ambient temperature. I knew these were nt suitable for the job, i asked the guys " hand on heart wil these vans hold temperature and cool the food throughout the back of these vans?" he told me "Absolutely sainsbury fill them up and leave them on standy until the next morning when the drive out and deliver. Just leave the door on the cool room open and it will chill the whole van. Oh and we have no other vans so take em or leave em. Oh and it s now 8 o clock the day before your four day event."
Nice guys thanks. So we had no choice but to take the vans. well we loaded the vans, Suspension on the vans was fu@£$d .
We had one van give out on us on the A12, the second lasted ntil the next morning and the freezer van never made it past 3 degrees even though it was set on -21. And the real joy was that as we were now 5 hours behind schedule we arrived at 4 am then to make maters worse security at the event would not let us in.
So finally rolled into position at 6 am, started work at 7 am...
after that we spent the next three days shifting food from the vans to the walk in fridge to the bar van, to the ice freezer truck. Anywhere that was cold enough.
So a warm round of applause to the worst refridgerated van company I have ever worked with in 14 years... well done chaps, and anyone reading this beware.
Oh and icing on the cake was that when we took the vans back the first thing that the guy from Forestiere said to me... not so sorry for all the hassle, or can t believe they ALL went down... no he said
and I quote: " what have you done to these vans, you know you are gonna have to pay a valeting charge!"
despite all this grief the restaurant was a success... food was great for the festival, loadsa nice compliments, approx 6000 covers in four days.
Roll on Big Chill..... come and see us if you...
This one looks to be not quite as large as Latitude but still massive.
We are looking after the VIP area so it promises to be filled with some interesting people and stories I am sure.
Latitude was a mixed bag for us chefs. The prep went all according to plan, all jobs finished on time and as predicted, food quantity was spot on... until we went to pick up the hire van from Petit Forestiere.
Now I would nt normally name names, however the treatment, the service and lies merit a mention.
We had ordered four vans all to be used onsite as cold storage. Three fridge vans and one freezer van.
Now they made me and the three other boys wait.... for four hours before taking us to the vans. After four hours of waiting they took us to our vans which they were now deciding to wash.
So after we had waited for them to be cleaned i took a look in the back of the vans
Two of them were ex sainsbury vans, which had a small cold/ chilled room and 60% of the van ambient temperature. I knew these were nt suitable for the job, i asked the guys " hand on heart wil these vans hold temperature and cool the food throughout the back of these vans?" he told me "Absolutely sainsbury fill them up and leave them on standy until the next morning when the drive out and deliver. Just leave the door on the cool room open and it will chill the whole van. Oh and we have no other vans so take em or leave em. Oh and it s now 8 o clock the day before your four day event."
Nice guys thanks. So we had no choice but to take the vans. well we loaded the vans, Suspension on the vans was fu@£$d .
We had one van give out on us on the A12, the second lasted ntil the next morning and the freezer van never made it past 3 degrees even though it was set on -21. And the real joy was that as we were now 5 hours behind schedule we arrived at 4 am then to make maters worse security at the event would not let us in.
So finally rolled into position at 6 am, started work at 7 am...
after that we spent the next three days shifting food from the vans to the walk in fridge to the bar van, to the ice freezer truck. Anywhere that was cold enough.
So a warm round of applause to the worst refridgerated van company I have ever worked with in 14 years... well done chaps, and anyone reading this beware.
Oh and icing on the cake was that when we took the vans back the first thing that the guy from Forestiere said to me... not so sorry for all the hassle, or can t believe they ALL went down... no he said
and I quote: " what have you done to these vans, you know you are gonna have to pay a valeting charge!"
despite all this grief the restaurant was a success... food was great for the festival, loadsa nice compliments, approx 6000 covers in four days.
Roll on Big Chill..... come and see us if you...
Friday, 8 July 2011
AFTER THE BBQ....
So having just finished the Big Feastival, I am now thick in the preparation for the Latitude festival.
Big Feastival was a great success, we were lucky enough to be running two stands at this event, which was taxing enough. We managed to feed nearly 3000 guest from the Redhook stand, selling Shrimp popcorn with chili Yuzu mayo. got through 300 kg of the shrimp which in three days was no mean feat.
By the end of the Sunday the shrimp was so popular that we were frying not only in our stand but also in the Canteen stand, (who had sold out of their fish and chips) four doors down.
We also had the VIP lounge which was a bar, Giant robot. We had a great selection of salads and BBQ fare galore. We had catered for 1500 pax over the three days, but got absolutely swamped, selling 1500 burgers, 800 chicken thighs, 500 sausages 60 lamb legs and 100 racks and chops....
an amazing amount of salads went: more than half a ton of ingredients...
The scary part is that Latitude will be bigger. We have a 220 seat restaurant selling anything from fresh hand made pasta to Hereford sirloin steaks. Already 900 on the book so gonna be sweating I m sure. Prep starts tomorrow...
On top of that we have a deli selling great salads, and hot meals as well as a Smouldering BBQ where we are teaming up with Big Apple Hot Dogs. Sure to be a big seller ...
the bbq will be serving beef burgers with blue cheese and relish, chicken thigh with bourbon onions and the killer sausages from Big Apple.
So an outrageous amount of meat fish and veg is winging its way towards out prep kitchen to get things off an running tomorrow.
Wish us luck.... see you there.
iain
Big Feastival was a great success, we were lucky enough to be running two stands at this event, which was taxing enough. We managed to feed nearly 3000 guest from the Redhook stand, selling Shrimp popcorn with chili Yuzu mayo. got through 300 kg of the shrimp which in three days was no mean feat.
By the end of the Sunday the shrimp was so popular that we were frying not only in our stand but also in the Canteen stand, (who had sold out of their fish and chips) four doors down.
We also had the VIP lounge which was a bar, Giant robot. We had a great selection of salads and BBQ fare galore. We had catered for 1500 pax over the three days, but got absolutely swamped, selling 1500 burgers, 800 chicken thighs, 500 sausages 60 lamb legs and 100 racks and chops....
an amazing amount of salads went: more than half a ton of ingredients...
The scary part is that Latitude will be bigger. We have a 220 seat restaurant selling anything from fresh hand made pasta to Hereford sirloin steaks. Already 900 on the book so gonna be sweating I m sure. Prep starts tomorrow...
On top of that we have a deli selling great salads, and hot meals as well as a Smouldering BBQ where we are teaming up with Big Apple Hot Dogs. Sure to be a big seller ...
the bbq will be serving beef burgers with blue cheese and relish, chicken thigh with bourbon onions and the killer sausages from Big Apple.
So an outrageous amount of meat fish and veg is winging its way towards out prep kitchen to get things off an running tomorrow.
Wish us luck.... see you there.
iain
Friday, 17 June 2011
TASTING.....
So this week was major hectic...
meetings, tastings and general madness.
Did a Giant tasting for Giant robot, all went well, a few little tweaks to sort out but thats what tastings are for... Looking forward to doing 6000 plates in 4 days in a field. 220 seat restaurant, deli and bbq.... the first of many, come to latitude to check it out.
preparing 16 dishes from your home kitchen with your little boy demanding your full attention is a real juggle. Especially when I ve got my amarettis drying out on the counter. However I did finally realise the real joys of having your own veggies growing in the garden.
Had a good bit of news today when Photographer Sam Hofman sent through the final images from the shoot we did a few weeks ago.
Love the pics, very different to what I usually do but I want more... hooked.
Let me know what you think......
meetings, tastings and general madness.
Did a Giant tasting for Giant robot, all went well, a few little tweaks to sort out but thats what tastings are for... Looking forward to doing 6000 plates in 4 days in a field. 220 seat restaurant, deli and bbq.... the first of many, come to latitude to check it out.
Had a good bit of news today when Photographer Sam Hofman sent through the final images from the shoot we did a few weeks ago.
Love the pics, very different to what I usually do but I want more... hooked.
Monday, 30 May 2011
The Shoot!
Had an truly interesting day on Saturday. Started at 7am in the prep kitchen finishing off bits and pieces, purees etc for the pictures. Then I sped over to Clapton and met Sam in his studio.
We set up and got started, I laid out my wares... My palette so to speak.
Our initial idea changed and morphed and we had to really push to make the first images work. I had my restaurant head on rather than my image head. It took us a while to get there but it was worth it and looked amazing.
We did this cured salmon with apple blossom, campari sauce/ jelly and pea salad, totally different from what I'd thought in my last post.
The shot worked a treat and we did a few options and breathed a huge sigh....
The second shot was along the same lines as we planned... We were using fruit and veg crisps to make a sort of stack, any way we changed this slightly and explosively... nothing more I can say yet.... It looks killer... love the final image...
The crisps and my foot looked quite cool so here s a snap....
In short a truly educational day from my point of view. So much detail to capture, such a methodical and delicate process... I want more....
Watch this space
Our initial idea changed and morphed and we had to really push to make the first images work. I had my restaurant head on rather than my image head. It took us a while to get there but it was worth it and looked amazing.
We did this cured salmon with apple blossom, campari sauce/ jelly and pea salad, totally different from what I'd thought in my last post.
The shot worked a treat and we did a few options and breathed a huge sigh....
The second shot was along the same lines as we planned... We were using fruit and veg crisps to make a sort of stack, any way we changed this slightly and explosively... nothing more I can say yet.... It looks killer... love the final image...
In short a truly educational day from my point of view. So much detail to capture, such a methodical and delicate process... I want more....
Watch this space
Friday, 27 May 2011
Salmon, beetroot and apple blossom
Here is a pic of a rough mock up of one shot for the test tomorrow.
Should be an interesting day, got a bit of a manic morning but really looking forward to it.
Still needs a pea puree and a couple of touches but looking promising... just need Sam to work his magic too.
Should be an interesting day, got a bit of a manic morning but really looking forward to it.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Corned Beef Pie
Had a killer Corned beef pie last night. Super simple and the best use of corned beef.
1 tin of Corned beef
4 peeled potatoes
2 white onions
1 pack of puff pastry
1 egg
1 tbs Bovril
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.
Take the onions and potatoes and cut them to a dice of roughly 1 cm. Slightly bigger is fine. Place them into the water and simmer until soft and tender. Strain the potatoes and onions out reserving some of the cooking liquid. Now cut the Corned beef into similar sized chunks.
Arrange the potatoes and onions in a baking dish then throw on the corned beef and splash with the cooking liquid just to give it a bit of juice. Finally spoon on the bovril making it drizzle all over the filling.
If you have a pie funnel, place it in the centre of the dish.
Take the puff pastry and arrange it over the filling, there should be too much pastry so arrange it with lots of frills and ruffles. Score the pastry and egg wash. Now bake this in a pre heated oven at 200 C for 15 to minutes, until the pastry is golden and crackling.
Super comfort food....
1 tin of Corned beef
4 peeled potatoes
2 white onions
1 pack of puff pastry
1 egg
1 tbs Bovril
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.
Take the onions and potatoes and cut them to a dice of roughly 1 cm. Slightly bigger is fine. Place them into the water and simmer until soft and tender. Strain the potatoes and onions out reserving some of the cooking liquid. Now cut the Corned beef into similar sized chunks.
Arrange the potatoes and onions in a baking dish then throw on the corned beef and splash with the cooking liquid just to give it a bit of juice. Finally spoon on the bovril making it drizzle all over the filling.
If you have a pie funnel, place it in the centre of the dish.
Take the puff pastry and arrange it over the filling, there should be too much pastry so arrange it with lots of frills and ruffles. Score the pastry and egg wash. Now bake this in a pre heated oven at 200 C for 15 to minutes, until the pastry is golden and crackling.
Super comfort food....
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