Afternoon tea at the Connaught

My mother has always wanted to go for tea.  The Ritz or something like that.  Although I'm not really into sweet foods, I was also interested so offered to take her for her birthday this year.  Ideally I wanted to go to the Langham or the Goring, but as expected both were fully booked For months.  So after a bit of research I settled on the Connaught - which was a great choice!  The hotel is conveniently located in Mayfair and while the tea room is relatively small, off the entrance of the hotel, the windows are large making the room very bright and airy.

The feast began with a choice of tea - I went for Earl Grey while my mother chose Jasmine - and a selection of sandwiches and pastries.  The pastries included chocolate and caramel mousse, which was was the best, a strawberry tart, was also good, and the raspberry and pistachio one was interesting - a good interesting - to name a few.  The savory sandwich selection included foie gras in brioche, which was divine, and a mini smoked salmon sandwich.

That was followed by a selection of scones and jam.  The selection of jams was huge - we went for the safe choice with the raspberry and exotic with pineapple.  The scones were lovely - we had requested only the plain ones and they were really light and airy.  Finally came the cake and by this time I was very full.  I had to have a mouthful of each - the berry cake was not to my taste, very perfumed and overly sweet.  The chocolate cake on the other hand had a lovely deep, dark, lingering chocolate taste.  I was done with sweet food by then though, so a bite was more than enough.

I was most impressed with the service.  Not only was it impeccable, but they also gave us a lovely surprise!  In the comment section when making the online reservation, I had noted that we were celebrating my mother's birthday.  Halfway through the tea they brought over her very own chocolate and caramel mousse pastry on a plate with happy birthday written across it in chocolate.  Happy birthday mother!

Wright Brothers take 2!

So for our second visit to Wright Brothers, we went for mine and my mother's birthday.  She had said she wanted seafood, so this was the obvious choice.  We were going to meet somewhere for a drink first, but being a Friday night and raining cats and dogs, we ended up all meeting in the bar of the restaurant.  The restaurant was very accomodating and offered to seat us whenever we wanted (even though it was an hour until us reservation).  We had a quick drink and headed down to enjoy our fish feast.

When I had previously come to the resaurant, we had opted to not have a fruit de mer plate.  Mistake.  So this time it was the first thing we ordered.  You have a number of options to choose from.  We went for a selection that included fin de clare oysters, langustines, prawns, brown shrimp, crab and mussles.  The selection was amazing.  The oysters were perfectly sized and unbelievbly fresh.  The prawns were amazing, I've never had so much taste in something so small. And the crab was a real winner with everyone.

We also ordered a selection cooked food.  Rather than each having a plate, we shared everything (so we could taste everything).  The mulles marines came in a lovely sauce, delicious with the bread.  The cod with chorizo and butter beans was perfectly cooked and delicious.  But the total winner of the evening?  Fried oysters!  Hot, creamy, smooth and tasty.  I could have eaten them all night!

So once again, Wright Brothers have impressed.  And to finish?  Well, a cheese plate of Neil's Yard cheeses of course!

One pot lentil chicken!

Apologies for the lack of posts.  It has been a busy few weeks, what with festivals, flu, work and Ibiza.  I'm now back, needing a bit of rest and relaxation.  And what a better way to do it with good food...

So during the week, I like to try and take food with me for lunch to work a few times a week.  It's mainly because deciding what to eat (and we have LOADS of choice around our new office) can be super time consuming, especially since I'm so picky.  I'm also trying to be healthy and I have a feeling the lovely wraps from Doughmasters or the massive portion of chicken chili fried rice from the Japanese Canteen is not exactly low in fat.

So I've come up with this lovely, filling and relatively healthy one pot chicken meal with lentils!  It's easy to cook, so great for making on a Sunday evening, and tastes even better after a day in the fridge.  You can add as many different types of vegetables to it, whatever you have in your fridge/freezer.  I like it both served hot or cold with a handful of baby spinach leaves.

One pot chicken

Serves 4-5

6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
sprinkle of paprika
sprinkle of white pepper
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
chillies (optional)
 150 ml red wine

6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

fresh or frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, spinach, broccoli, courgette, aubergine etc, chopped into rough cubes)

1 can chickpeas

3 handfuls of brown rice

3 handfuls of puy lentils

500 ml chicken stock

1.  Marinate the chicken thighs in the olive oil, soy sauce, spices, chillies, garlic and onion.  Leave in the fridge for at least an hour, but overnight if you have time.

2.  In a very hot pot, brown the chicken thighs then remove.

3.  Deglaze the pot with the red wine.  Add the remaining marinate plus the onions, garlic and sundried tomatoes.  Simmer for a few minutes

4.  Add the rice, lentils, chicken and stock to the pot and bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 45 mins or until the lentils and rice are almost tender.  If the mixture becomes too dry, add a bit of water and stir.

5.  Add the chickpeas and any vegetables.  Cover and simmer for another 5 mins or until the vegetables are tender.

6.  Serve hot or cold with a handful of salad and chopped tomatoes and sprinkled with sliced fresh coriander.

Simple Thai dinner

I've found that more and more I cook Asian dishes.  Thai, Chinese, Filipino, Indian - I just love the spices.  And coriander is a flavour I really enjoy - I even occasionally use it in scrambled eggs to jazz it up!  Yes, I know I'm strange.

The other thing is I like my food super spicy.  So this particular evening I was on my own and decided to try and cook some fish.  This is something that I hardly ever do - not because I don't like fish but because I'm never really sure how to cook it and what to do (there were a couple unfortunate incidents).  So this time, to make it as easy as possible, I used a recipe I'd made many times, but instead of adding chicken I used fish.

Fish Thai green curry
Serves 4
2 large pieces of cod (or any other white fish) cut into chunks
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
Soy sauce/fish sauce to taste
1 teaspoon cane sugar (optional)
Chillies, finely chopped (optional)
1 handful of fresh coriander
1 tablespoon vegetable
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
Rice (I like brown rice, but you can use Jasmine or any other long grain rice)


1.  Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet
2.  In a heavy pan, heat the oil.  Add the onions and fry until translucent then add the garlic.  Fry for a few more minutes.  Add the curry paste and fry for a few more minutes.
3.  Add the coconut milk and cane sugar - stir until it becomes a smooth sauce. Add the frozen peas, spinach, chillies and coriander.  Bring to a boil.
4.  Reduce to a simmer and add the fish.  Cover and simmer for 7-10 mins, until the fish is fully cooked.
5.  Taste and add soy sauce (or fish sauce) as necessary.  Serve hot over rice.

How do asparagus grow?

So a couple of weeks ago I learnt something new...how asparagus grow!  I have to say, I'd never really thought about it too much, but I suppose I thought they either came off bushes.  Like peas maybe.  Or possibly like strawberries.  Or maybe underground, like potatoes.  But that's all wrong, they grow completely differently to that!

Near my parents house, there is one of those farms where you can pick your own fruit and vegetables.  As it was late May they had asparagus and strawberries (although it is a bit early for strawberries - they are generally at their best between June and August, but they have come early this year with the hot weather).  The strawberries, as expected, come from very low bushes.  Suprisingly though, the asparagus were in a very dry looking area.  The plants are very small and the asparagus grow straight up from the grown.  Picking is a loose term for them because you actually just snap them off.  It was amazing, hundreds of asparagus around me poking up from the ground!  Within minutes we had half a kilo of them.

So to celebrate this, I had to cook a dish worthy of this delight.  The obvious choice would have been asparagus with poached eggs and holandase sauce.  But as I had some smoked salmon and I wanted something a bit more healthy, I went for asparagus and avocado toast with smoked salmon!

 Asparagus and avocado toast with smoked salmon
Serves 2
A few slices of smoked salmon
20 asparagus spears
1 large avocado (or two small)
1/4 onion, finely chopped
4 slices of bread (best for this is a whole wheat or seeded loaf)
Pinch of salt
Tabasco (optional)

1.  Scoop the avocado into a bowl and mash lightly.  Add the finely chopped onion, salt and Tabasco to taste and mix.
2.  Toast the bread then spread the avocado mixture on the slices.
3.  Lightly steam the asparagus - this takes a couple of minutes.  Do not overdo it!
4.  Layer the asparagus on the toast.
5.  Serve with the smoked salmon on the side or on top of the asparagus and ENJOY!

The bake off - happy birthday Jemma!

This post is a little late, but still worth posting!  The idea of the bake off came from a somewhat drunken royal wedding day.  A friend of mine gave me a large amount of preserved cherries.  The question was what to do with them?  Well let's use them for a bake off of course - the challange was this:  Cook something for Jemma's birthday party that incorporates the cherries.  The contestants, myself (of course!) and my university friend Craig.

Now because we came up with this idea while drunk, I never thought it would actually happen.  But while I lay in bed waking up slowly the next morning, I hear Craig rush out to the shop at 9:30am.  He is gone for ages, and when he finally comes and I heard bang, crash, bang in the kitchen.  Could it be?  Yes, he was already steps ahead of me, with his ingredients bought and his cake well on it's way.  Right, it's time to get up and get cooking!

Craig decided to go for an ice cream cake.  His cake consisted of a layer of chocolate cake, a layer of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and another layer of chocolate cake, all encased in icing and decorated with smarties and cherries.  Ambitious and brave!  It started well, the cake layers were baked and looked impressive.  Now for the ice cream - onto one of the layers (with lots of foil and a bit of mess) then into the freezer.  An hour later, the ice cream had not set.  A second hour later and still not set...

In the mean time, I began on mine - I decided to go for a berry pavlova.  Not only can I not pronounce it properly, but I'd never made pr even eaten one.  The idea of course came from Saturday Kitchen a few weeks back.  I don't have an electric mixer and really I should have been put off when I read online that this should not be attempted by hand.  But instead this just made it more of a challange!  So in go the egg whites and I whisk.  And whisk.  And whisk.  Add sugar and whisk more.  More sugar, more whisking.  Over an hour later, and with a sore arm, I'm beginning to get peaks.  A bit more whisking then into the oven.  180C for an hour and then turn the oven off and leave it to cool in the oven for hours.  All I can do now is hope that the merange is light and fluffy!

At this point the tension and fighting talk meant we needed to get out of the house to break the tension.  So out to the park for some lunch and relaxing.  Nice!

A couple of hours later back in the house and finally the ice cream had sort of set.  So second later of cake on top and quickly on with the icing before the ice cream melts.  Then on with the decoration and back into the freezer.  I have to say, at this point the cake was looking very impressive and I was begining to doubt my ability to win.  So I pick up my game.  Out come the cherries, which need destoning.  Then I find some strawberries and raspberries in the fridge and throw those in too.  Lightly mix the fruit with the greek yogurt, add a touch of sugar and it's ready to go!

The journey to the party, which was a good 30 mins taxi ride was interesting. Craig asked the taxi driver to make sure the cake got there as quickly as possible.  We get there sacely and Craig convinces someone who works at the pub to put his cake in the freezer for safe keeping.  Now all we can do is wait until showtime.  About an hour later, there's bad news.  The freezer that Craig's cake is in is actually a fridge and it's melting quickly.  So out it comes and it's judgement time!

Little did we know there were two categories - best looking and best tasting.  The ice cream cake wins best looking while the pavlova wins best tasting!  So it's a tie.  I'll get you next time Craig...

Oooooh Udon!

Koya got quite a lot of promotion when it opened.  Lots of people went and lots of people waited outside to get in.  And lots of people enjoyed it.  It's mainly udon with a few other specialities.  They make udon in house, when the udon runs out, that's it for the day.  Even if you walk by now, there are still queues outside.  So finally I gave in.

My friend an I showed up around 2pm (after my hair appointment.  Note:  do not go here if you are unable to hold your hair back - it makes eating very difficult!)  Although there was a queue outside, it moved really quickly and we were inside in less than 5 minutes.  The decor is minimal and wooden.  Fits in with my thoughts of Japan.

There are so many different types of udon:  Hot udon in hot broth.  Cold udon with sauce - to dip or to pour.  Cold udon with hot  broth.  There is also donburi - food served over rice with a side of miso soup.  And a large selection of side dishes such as roast duck, fish and chips, pork belly and a selection of salads and pickles.

My friend and I went for vegetable tempura and hot udon with hot broth - smoked haddock udon and mushroom and walnut miso udon.  The smoked haddock udon was really good - full of flavour with a generous helping of fish.  The mushroom and walnut miso was also good, albeit a bit bland after a while. Both felt very healthy and satisfying.  I have to say I was disappointed by the tempura - the batter, although it looked good, was a bit too greasy for my liking. I guess though, if you are going to a specialist udon restaurant, then stick to udon!