Well, it sure got cold again. I led an Ice Cream Tour this afternoon – two of the gelaterias were still crowded despite the icy wind!
- On Monday I didn’t go to Gunpowder as planned, but to Kricket and had fabulous bhel puri and an excellent butternut squash curry. Earlier that evening I went to the auction of decorated plates to raise money for free classes to help people with cancer (or their carers) learn how to cook food that tastes good. It’s an amazing project organised by Ryan Riley and supported by Sue Perkins and many others. There are more plates that will be auctioned – keep an eye on Life Kitchen’s Twitter feed to find out when or to join a class.
- The standout dish at the newly opened Allis restaurant at White City was the cauliflower “rice” with almond hummus. Normally I’d steer away from raisins in salad but this was brilliantly put together. The restaurant/bar is part of the Soho House group, but open to everyone.
- A few hours later I was sitting down to a five course meal designed by Gizzi Erskine to show off Tanqueray Ten – a summer gin. The wild mushroom risotto with Berkswell, wild garlic and shaved black truffle was superb and the accompanying No. Ten Fizz with the gin, rosolio di bergamotto and English sparkling cocktail was the best gin cocktail I’ve had (I normally drink gin neat or with soda). The grapefruit meringue tart made using gin was also exemplary. The entire menu is available for one night only on 22nd May. I suspect tickets will be on the Dalloway Terrace website soon.
- At Fortnum’s I finally sampled Callebaut’s new Ruby chocolate. I’m not sure it was one of the “best” things I ate this week but it was definitely a highlight. It tastes like good quality white chocolate with a tart fruity note. Interesting, though it is probably possible to achieve the same taste profile without patented processes.
- After the Voices at The Table reading on Thursday I demolished the most delicious chocolate chai caramel ice cream sandwich made by Happy Endings London. It’s such a pleasure to listen to people read. The next event is June 26th. If you’re interested you’ll need to sign up for the newsletter as they tend to sell out within hours of being announced.
I also tasted some of the most incredible bean to bar chocolate yesterday – all of the gold award winners in the bar categories for the Academy of Chocolate Awards – as part of the grand jury to judge the final. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out which ones they are!
This week my kitchen starts getting destroyed so I will mostly be eating the contents of my fridge and freezer – could be interesting!