What we’re eating…
Our weekly food diary shares on-trend ingredients, fun foodie events, Insta-friendly restaurant dishes and must-try street eats.
This week we tried...
Salt & vinegar chocolate
The thought of combining fish & chips and chocolate might seem like a Willy Wonka creation gone wrong, but the Good Food team can report that it's a uniquely delicious combination. The chocolate wizards at Paul A Young have combined sweet, sour and umami flavours to create their quirky ‘chip shop’ caramel. Created by Kitchen Development Manager Hayley Parker, this crazy cocoa treat uses dark chocolate, malt vinegar, dried seaweed and Cornish sea salt to create a bite that makes your mouth water. To us, they tasted just like the last few crispy chips at the bottom of the bag from your favourite seaside chippy. We're ready for more unlikely pairings to tickle our tastebuds.
Pachanga
We've sampled stuffed cheesy pastries from all over the world, from Maltese pastizzi to piping hot Italian arancini, and we're always ready for more. This week, we sampled Turkish pachanga from Skewd in north London. A member of the borek family (a kind of filled pastry), this classic street food has been given an upmarket makeover with smoky chargrilled peppers, moreishly mellow kashar cheese, gently spiced Turkish sausage and a vibrant red pepper velouté. This golden-brown beauty is cooked over hot coals on an open fire for an authentic, crispy finish. This colourful plate is part of chef and founder Maz Demir's inventive meze menu, which reflects his travels to Anatolia. Look out for charcoal-grilled octopus, lahmacun flatbreads with minced lamb, and pan-seared scallops with coconut chips.
Whisky & tonic
When the sun starts shining and you're reaching for a standard spritz, why not switch it up and try a whisky and tonic? Australian whisky distillers Starward have developed a bold dram, aged in red wine barrels that draws influences from classic 'big reds'. The result is the Starward nova, a single malt full of subtle spice and bright red berries, perfect for sipping neat or mixing into cocktails. We tried this fruity whisky with a splash of bitter tonic and a wedge of sharp ruby grapefruit for a simple summer serve. This well-balanced thirst-quencher is the ideal mix of sweetness, zesty fruit and has a deliciously dry finish. Check out our collection of top whisky cocktail recipes for more creative drinks inspiration.
Last week we tried...
Ice cream beer
There’s nothing like an ice cream to cool you down in the summer months. But what about an ice cream beer? Yes, it’s a thing: brewers are adding lactose – milk sugar – to beer to give it a creamy, milkshake-like texture. A pioneer of the process is Leeds-based brewery Northern Monk, which makes Neapolitan Ice Cream Pale Ale. This beer was initially brewed in collaboration with Little Leeds Beerhouse in 2016, and has been released seasonally ever since. It's now moved into their regular production. Head Brewer, Brian Dickson says, ‘Lactose is a very effective way of adding mouthfeel and body to beer, so with the trend towards hazy, juicy, silky New England IPAs, it’s become ever more useful in brewing. As well as brewing taking inspiration from cuisines, and in particular desserts and sweet drinks such as milkshakes, we are seeing more beer recipes pairing lactose with fruits and vanilla, which when coupled together delivers that ice cream or milkshake character. The Neapolitan IPA was inspired by conversations about how it would be great to try recreating our favourite childhood ice cream in beer form. It was one of the first ventures into "milkshake" territory by a UK brewer.’ Our verdict? It certainly divided opinion within the Good Food team, with our head of magazines declaring it ‘a great summer beer with clear notes of vanilla and chocolate (if a little lacking in strawberry)’, while others were less convinced.
Espresso martini on tap
There’s no denying that when it comes cocktails, the espresso martini is still very much on-trend. The proof? For a start, there’s an entire festival dedicated to it (Mr Black Espresso Martini Fest, 7-11 August) and we’ve also noticed a rise in food products which use espresso martini as a flavour (espresso martini popcorn, ice cream and our very own espresso martini cocktail fancies, to name a few), but the latest evidence that everyone is loving this caffeine-fuelled cocktail is that you can now get it on tap! Yes, we’ve seen espresso martini available on tap in several pubs and bars recently, including The Joker (Brighton), Brigadiers (London) and newly opened Fugitive Motel bar & Kitchen in London’s Bethnal Green. Here, it’s known as the ‘Lo-Fi Espresso Martini’ and is made with local Climpson & Sons nitro cold brew coffee for a smooth but intense caffeine hit.
Savoury tonic water
It wasn’t too long ago that tonic water was solely a partner to gin and came in one flavour – plain. Fast-forward to now and the number of new, flavoured tonic waters designed for gins, spirits and even to drink on their own, is staggering. From elderflower to cucumber, violet to hibiscus, these days you can find tonic water in a huge array of flavours, both sweet and more recently, savoury. In the latter camp is this Franklin & Sons rosemary tonic water with black olive. We tried it this week, paired with Cocchi Vermouth Di Torino and garnished with a sprig of rosemary and found the resulting drink utterly delicious. The aromatic, slightly sweet vermouth partners wonderfully with the savoury notes in the tonic and we think this would be a great drink to pair with meaty dishes and umami flavour profiles.
Earlier this month we tried...
Best British cheese
The prestigious British Cheese Awards has just named its 2019 Supreme Champion winner, aka Britain’s best cheese – although its influence is very much Italian. Made from sheep’s milk, this English pecorino is made by Somerset-based White Lake Cheese, making this the third year running that they’ve won the top prize. Competition was fierce too, with this year’s awards involving 900 entries from 122 makers based around the UK and Ireland. BBC Good Food Magazine editor Keith Kendrick served as a judge at The Royal Bath & West Show in Shepton Mallet, and says, ‘I always thought of pecorino as being hard and brittle and something to grate over pasta, but White Lake’s cheese is semi-hard, smooth and creamy, with a sweet nuttiness and notes of caramel. It’s outstanding – perfect with fruit. I brought some back to the office and everyone swooned over how gorgeous it was.’ All of the cheeses were scored on presentation, texture, aroma, flavour and balance, then, dependent on scores, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded.
Goat dosa
In January, our columnist Tony Naylor predicted that goat meat would be popping up on more menus this year, thanks mostly to the growing movement for sustainable eating. Most male goats in the UK are euthanised soon after birth because they can’t be used to produce milk and cheese. So, in a bid to reduce this waste, there have been campaigns (such as Goatober) to raise awareness and encourage more consumers and restaurants to put goat meat on the menu. And it seems to be working. Recently, we’ve seen goat meat around much more, including in the form of this dosa from Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen, at Lincoln Plaza London, the newest restaurant by Indian chef and BBC Saturday Kitchen favourite Cyrus Todiwala. Here, Scottish goat meat is diced and marinated in yogurt puréed with chillies, ginger, garlic, cloves, cardamom, peppercorns and caramelised onions for 24 hours before being slowly cooked until tender and saucy. It’s then wrapped in a dosa (a thin, crispy Indian lentil and rice pancake) and served with a refreshing coconut chutney and Bombay-style sambar (a vegetable and lentil soup).
Kaleido rolls
Eating healthily on the move just got a whole (or should we say roll) lot easier. This week, we tried a genius new solution to tucking into salad on the go. Laura Mimoun, founder of Kaleido, was making Vietnamese-style summer rolls for dinner one evening when she realised she could fill the rice paper not just with typical Vietnamese ingredients, but with a whole host of veg, grains and proteins to create a salad she could eat like a sandwich. The rolls are filled with different combinations of fresh, brightly coloured ingredients (resulting in an end product that looks a bit like a kaleidoscope, hence the name) and come with a sauce for dipping. We tried flavour combinations including smoked salmon, cucumber & cream cheese and feta cheese, sundried tomato, quinoa & pea pesto, both served with a lemon & olive oil dressing for dunking, plus the tamari-roasted aubergine, spring onion, sesame & chilli roll, which came with a smooth tahini sauce. Kaleido can be found at various places around London, including a pop-up in Selfridges Food Hall, but the long-term aim is to roll out (sorry) nationwide.
Earlier this month we tried...
This week we've been doing more drinking than eating as the weather warms up.
Yellow Mary
Last week, we tried a Korean-inspired kimchi bloody mary (see below), this week we’re loving another twist on the classic cocktail. We tried this ‘Yellow Mary’ at seaside restaurant The Hut in Colwell, making the most of local Isle of Wight Tomatoes. It's the golden cherry tomatoes that give the drink its unique taste with a fresher and slightly sweeter flavour than the usual red varieties. Their juice is blended with Black Cow Vodka, The Hut’s own spice mix and a hit of local Black Garlic Vodka for a refreshing, satisfyingly savoury taste. Isle of Wight tomatoes feature in the food, too, cooked down in the sauce that accompanies juicy butterflied prawns, and served raw in a panzanella salad. Indeed, local produce is key at The Hut, particularly seafood. Not surprising given the restaurant’s extremely close proximity to the water. The lobsters, served grilled with garlic butter and fries, or in spaghetti, are caught in waters that are (very literally) a stone’s throw away, as is the crab.
English Wine Week
To celebrate English Wine Week (25 May-2 June) over the bank holiday weekend, English sparkling winemakers Ridgeview took over the garden at Hackney’s Mare Street Market to offer a barbecue menu paired with their wines. We tried the grilled halloumi flatbread with mint yogurt, aubergine, courgettes and peppers, matched with Ridgeview’s Bloomsbury NV, a delicious, crisp sparkling wine with citrussy aromas of melon and honey that perfectly complement the salty cheese. In fact, the Bloomsbury NV is so quaffable it was served at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Ridgeview wines are on offer at Mare Street Market year-round if you’d like to try them yourself. Ridgeview are also holding their own festival, Ridgefest, over the August bank holiday weekend with live music, vineyard tours, street food, wine tastings and more at their site overlooking the South Downs. Tickets are available online and include a glass of English sparkling wine on arrival.
Asparagus gin
Yes, you read that right; launched to mark this year’s British Asparagus Festival, currently taking place in the Vale of Evesham until 21 June, distillers Hussingtree Gin have created a gin made from this celebrated vegetable. They are among the first to successfully use asparagus as a botanical. How? Well, it took months of experimenting with distilling processes and botanical blends. Hussingtree’s Richard Meredith explains, ‘Asparagus, when distilled, delivers an earthy, nutty-sweetness on the palate. Our blend of botanicals, enhanced by local Droitwich brine salt during the distillation process, complement its characteristics beautifully.’ The result is a slightly savoury, briny-tasting gin, reminiscent of a dirty martini that lends itself well to savoury cocktails like a bloody mary.
Earlier this month we tried...
Elderflower cheese
Elderflower season is upon us (from late May to mid-June) and while you might have enjoyed its fresh, fragrant taste in cakes, cordials and even gin, this one might be new to you: elderflower cheese. The idea of combining elderflower with cheese was something we were dubious about, but after tasting this one from Quicke's, we’re on board with this spring-summer special. The six-month matured cheese combines grass-fed cows' milk with elderflowers gathered by foragers around the Quicke’s Home Farm hedgerows in Newton St Cyres, Devon, to hand-make a smooth, yet punchy, aromatic cheese that really does taste of summer pastures. Great as an interesting addition to a cheeseboard or take it on a picnic and enjoy with a glass of prosecco.
Spiced kimchi mary
Kimchi has been gaining popularity in the UK and nowadays we just can’t get enough of the stuff. Not only does it tick the boxes of being salty, spicy and acidic, it’s also good for the gut as the fermented veg breeds probiotics. You might have tried it in typical Korean dishes like bibimbap but Korean-American chef Judy Joo uses this versatile condiment in so much more at her Soho restaurant, Jinjuu. In fact, it’s in everything from soup to tacos. Highlights are the genius Philly cheesesteak mandoo – crispy fried Korean dumplings filled with braised short rib, kimchi, sharp cheddar cheese and pickled jalapeños. And to drink, a delicous twist on a bloody mary. Not thought about using kimchi in a cocktail? Well, you need to try this, made with Jinjuu’s bespoke spicy kimchi mix, celery and black pepper-infused soju (a Korean liquor), gochugaru (chilli flakes) and tomato juice. It’s served with salty prawn crisps on the side for the ultimate drink snack situation.
Squirrel pasties
With sustainable eating a hot topic right now, we’ve seen more restaurants put an emphasis on local, hyper-seasonal and foraged ingredients. London restaurant Native’s new eight-person chef’s table is a walk on the wild side, spotlighting British produce in dishes with wide and varied inspiration. The team will use only what comes in that morning, or has been foraged and preserved. We ate squirrel pasties with piccalilli (pictured), nettle and wild garlic borek, bacon dashi made with seaweed foraged from the north of Scotland, and drank wild mushroom white russians. Each meal is up to 15 courses and no two menus are ever the same. Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes and co-owner Imogen Davies deliver an eating experience imbued with their infectious enthusiasm – it’s genuine, fun and delicious.
Earlier this month we tried...
Doubles
On a mission to show that Caribbean food is so much more than jerk chicken, rice and peas, Sham Mahabir of Limin restaurant in London’s old Spitalfields Market is bringing an exciting festival to London this bank holiday weekend (25-27 May). Jerk & Beyond will celebrate the diversity of Caribbean food, showcasing dishes from Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, all washed down with rum cocktails. We went to a preview and tried fried plantain balls, chicken wings with scotch bonnet and mango jam, aloo pies (fried dumplings filled with potato), homemade saltfish dumplings and crispy lamb belly with a pomegranate hot sauce but our highlight was something we hadn’t had before: ‘doubles’. A common street food in Trinidad & Tobago, ‘doubles’ refers to a sandwich of fried flatbread with curried chickpeas. In this version by Limin, fluffed-up, fried flatbread is topped with spicy chickpeas and a range of accompaniments – refreshing cucumber, chutney and a pepper sauce. As for the drinks, we could sip ‘rumgria’ all day – a rum-based twist on the Sangria, it’s made with prosecco, Cointreau, grapefruit and Plantation 3 Stars rum with mint and strawberries.
Longboys
If you’re the kind of doughnut lover who likes a strong filling-to-dough ratio then we have just the thing for you. Created by ex-pastry chefs Graham Hornigold and Heather Kaniuk, Longboys in Wembley’s BoxPark specialises in long, éclair-shaped doughnuts, designed as such so that they can be loaded with delicious, creative fillings. We tried the limited-edition tiramisu flavour – coffee caramel, coffee crème pâtissière, mascarpone cream, a dusting of cocoa and milk chocolate shards in a light, fluffy, malted brioche-meets-doughnut bun, rolled in cocoa sugar. Wow. This ‘flavour of the week’ has been so popular (and we can certainly see why) that it’s being extended a little longer, so get yourself down there if you can. Fear not though – if you can’t make it there in the next week, there are plenty of other delicious flavours to try.
Food: Bigger than the Plate
The V&A’s new exhibition Food: Bigger than the Plate kicks off on 18 May, taking visitors on a journey through the cycle our food follows, from production and transport to advertising and sale, and introduces ideas for making a more sustainable system. ‘Compost’ is a section full of products made from waste from astonishingly beautiful corn husk marquetry to leather-like fabric made with pineapple fibre. Waste can generate more food too, these mushrooms (left) grown on used coffee grounds from the V&A café go back to the café to be eaten. Both sobering and hopeful, by the time you reach the end you are in no doubt as to how the industry works and how it needs to change, while marvelling at the sheer inventiveness of the people who have already started on the road to our recovery. Buy a button badge on the way out, ‘may contain nuts’ is our favourite.
Earlier this month we tried...
Tahini martini
Once an unsung hero and little-known ingredient here in the UK, tahini has seen a mammoth increase in popularity. Not only can you find this Middle Eastern sesame paste in all major supermarkets, we’re also seeing much more interesting uses for it, besides just an ingredient in hummus. We love it mixed with yogurt, lemon juice, a little garlic and some water to make a salad dressing; spread on toast, drizzled with honey and feta for breakfast and used in sweet bakes like cookies, cakes and even Eton mess (recipe coming soon to BBC Good Food). Its latest use in a martini might raise eyebrows though. As well as being gloriously fun to say, the tahini martini cocktail is on the bar menu at London’s Farmer J. Combining tahini, dates and vermouth, it's quite rich, certainly one to sip slowly, but it works, with the sweetness of the dates, nutty, smooth tahini and clean, dry vermouth balancing well together.
Wild garlic flowers
Here at Good Food HQ, wild garlic season is one of our favourite times of the year, and the whole team has been reaping the benefits of the haul of young leaves picked a few weeks ago by our Food editor Barney Desmazery in Wales. We’ve chopped it up and added to salted butter to make wild garlic butter (great for melting into pastas, risottos, scrambled eggs or used in wild garlic kievs); added it to an asparagus and goat's cheese frittata, stirred it into dhal and whizzed it into pesto. But if you’ve been out walking in the woodlands this week, you’ll notice that the wild garlic plants are starting to flower. At this stage, the older leaves lose some of their freshness and become a little waxier – they’re still edible but the younger leaves are definitely best, so we’ve turned our attention to the flowers. Usually seen in May and June, the star-shaped flowers taste just as good as the leaves – wilted into new potatoes with butter (as pictured), tossed into a salad with fresh peas and radishes, or even scattered into a salsa with capers and olive oil to sprinkle over fish, the flowers are just as versatile as the leaves.
Whole globe artichoke
Wild garlic isn’t the only ingredient we’re excited about right now. We’ve been celebrating the best of this bountiful season at newly opened restaurant and botanical bar Hello Darling in London’s Waterloo, which focuses on floral, botanical cocktails and simple, seasonal, tapas-style dishes that ‘celebrate the noble vegetable’. The kitchen is headed up by ex-MasterChef winner Natalie Coleman and our highlights include the asparagus with wild garlic, pearl barley, broad beans and peas – a glorious sea of green with lots of fresh flavours – and the crispy halloumi with slow-roasted tomato ragu. And to start, we had a sneak peek of the veg still to come this year. British-grown globe artichokes typically don’t appear until June, but we’ve noticed whole globe artichokes springing up on restaurant menus already, most imported from Italy, or Spain like this one. We had this one served with aioli for dipping. Spotted globe artichokes at your local greengrocer? Check out our guide on how to store, prepare and cook them.
Earlier this month we tried...
Nettles
Tender, young nettle leaves (furry rather than in full stinging fury) are in season. That means green is the colour for pasta, soba noodles, gnocchi and gnudi, as well as being an alternative flavour in pesto, a filling for pies and used to add colour to soups and risottos. This vibrant green pasta dish is currently on the menu at Italian restaurant Trullo in London’s Highbury & Islington and its sister restaurant Padella in London Bridge. Spinach tagliarini (somewhere between spaghetti and tagliatelle) and nettles are flavoured with nutmeg and parmesan and served with an egg yolk to stir in. If you want to use nettles yourself, pick them carefully (wear gloves) from places where they will be clean and uncontaminated (beware dog-walking areas), and use them much like you would spinach. As soon as you cook them the sting will disappear. For more information on foraging your own, check out our beginner's guide to foraging.
Chifa cuisine
If you’ve been to Peru, particularly to capital Lima, you may well have heard of ‘chifa’. The word given to the fusion of Chinese and Peruvian cuisines, ‘chifa’ (said to originate from the Cantonese ‘to cook rice’) emerged as a result of immigration from China to Peru from around 1920 onwards. Now, you can try it in London. Chef John Javier (ex Momofuku Seiobo) spent the last few years developing chifa dishes and techniques, and has brought them to his new menu at Pachamama East in London’s Shoreditch. Combining mostly Peruvian and Chinese as well as other world influences, the menu comprises dishes like this zingy seabass ceviche with sesame, soy and nori and Javier’s ‘duck on rice’, which he explains: ‘Arroz chaufa is another traditional dish that incorporates elements from Chinese and Peruvian culture. Essentially, it's a fried rice using Peruvian ingredients like turmeric and cumin. In flavour, it's similar to a paella but has the texture of its Chinese counterpart. Fried rice has always been one of my favourite things to cook and I'm really proud of the version we serve.’ And he should be, it’s delicious, served in a smooth saffron sauce and topped with crispy duck. Other Cantonese-inspired dishes on the menu include prawn toast and mapo tofu, as well as the classic chifa dish, Lomo Saltado.
Erişte
It’s not just the Italians who excel at pasta. We’ve been at modern Turkish restaurant Kyseri in London’s Fitzrovia, which has become arguably most known for its pastas, and we can see why. You may have already heard of manti, the Turkish pasta dumplings traditionally filled with spiced minced lamb and served in a yogurt sauce. Well, the manti at Kyseri slightly veers from tradition – filled with deeply savoury beef and beautifully contrasting tangy, slightly-sweet sour cherries, these satisfying pasta parcels come in a pool of creamy yogurt sauce and tomato-chilli butter, sprinkled with toasted pine-nuts. And it’s so good that it took extreme self-control not to lick the plate clean. Perhaps lesser known but equally delicious is erişte – a Turkish egg pasta, shaped in short strips, a little like broken up taglietelle. At Kyseri, it’s cooked just enough to remain al dente, then served with braised greens, sage and walnuts, then topped with Tulum cheese (a Turkish goat's milk cheese) and an egg yolk. The result is a dish that tasted to us like a pasta version of spanakopita. In other words, dreamy. Can’t make it down to Kyseri? Find head chef Selin Kiazim’s recipes (including the manti) in this month’s magazine, on sale now.
Meal provided by Pachamama East.
Missed an entry in our food diary? Find out what we've eaten previously...
What we ate in April 2019
What we ate in March 2019
What we ate in February 2019
What we ate in January 2019
What we ate in December 2018
What we ate in November 2018
What we ate in October 2018
What we ate in September 2018
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