If you’re vegan and missing Ikea meatballs…

Hi. So I’m back in my kitchen. And I really want to tell you about the amazing things that I tried this week because they were so good. And I’ll never get caught up if I don’t share it with you. Although I appreciate you’ve been listening for a while to the Great Taste Awards. But I will just spend five minutes. Although I have lots of fun facts about these businesses. I’m going to just tell you, yeah, just list them off in the next five minutes or so. I mentioned the pascalis peppers earlier and I just thought as we’re doing this bit on video, I would just show you the branding because it’s gorgeous. And today’s is that Giovanni Verde and so the business was founded during lockdown by my friend Serena Mariani, in memory of her nonno and the peppers are grown locally to where she grew up in Abruzzo and the green one is the one that I’m totally addicted to. And the red one is the one I went for. This is Rosso Maturo. One is a lot for me, but I know other people who love them.

After one of my mornings of Great Taste judging, I went into bear market which is right next door, and I sought for tacos at Tacos Padre. This is also run by a friend. I promise not all the businesses I promote I’m friends with but I’ve been in the industry for a long time. So Nicholas Fitzgerald runs tacos Padre and I stopped and had cauliflower tacos and the guacamole and nachos which are both topped with this salsa much which I bought earlier. It’s I mentioned it in a different blog post but it has sesame seeds, chilli and coconut which sounds random That is delicious. Basically ate all of that within a week and then had to take a break. But it is really delicious. Nick is fluent in Spanish, it’s his mother tongue, and he spent months and months in Mexico studying the cuisine so the food is just so on point and obviously I’m biased but lots of other people have given him rave reviews as well.

I ran a vegan food tour for a client this week and there is lots I could tell you about but I do want to mention firstly that Tindle has arrived in the UK. This is a Singaporean brand and they have they’re going to be supplying Sketch and other amazing restaurants and also have places like Unity Diner as well. So they were giving away free burgers in Soho Wednesday to Friday I went twice they were doing different recipes on different days. And it’s pretty impressive.

The other place if you are plant based or you know somebody who is and they are an Ikea food fan, then please go and visit Dauns which is actually opposite Unity Diner, and it is only a short walk from Liverpool Street Station. It is run by Rikard – a one man band pretty much – and really interesting products he sources that aren’t easily found in other places. The meatballs come from Sweden, and they are gluten free, made from pea protein and something else, but he serves them on this incredible white sauce with the creamiest mash and lingonberry and salad and it is just an just the mash particularly, but the meatballs as well are really, really amazing.

Apparently, IKEA sell their food so cheaply, because it gives people the perception “Oh, if this food is so cheap, everything must be cheap”, which is really clever. I think the other reason is also because it makes it a really inexpensive family meal out. And then all of a sudden you’re they’re having meatballs and somehow you end up with a picture frame or plant pot and some serving bowls just falling into a trolley that you somehow end up buying as well. So I think it’s dual purpose. But anyway, if you are a fan of the if you’re a fan of Swedish cuisine, there’s Smörrebröd, the open sandwiches, as well and I loved his toasties if you’re not familiar with a Seven Dials market, which is run by Kerb. Kerb are kind of like the Guild of Fine Food for street food. It was set up by Petra Barren who I got to know when she used to run Choc Star a mobile chocolate van, which was brilliant and she was really committed to great chocolate. Then she decided to bring together all of the community of street food traders into one place on the curbs of London streets. I think I could do a whole podcast about Petra and Kerb and street food but for now, that’s important. And they took over Seven Dials a couple of years ago, the old banana warehouse. They’ve opened cucumber alley, this kind of bit on the street between two of the spoke streets, which is snacks and sweets and desserts. So there’s Uzbeki dumplings and Mumbai sandwiches and soft serve.

I stopped to get the creme brulee crepes which were divine. The only option on the day I visited was the vanilla creme brulee. Typically they also have matcha and chocolate and it is called Boolay crepes because Sammie the founder has a five year old daughter says Brulee as Boolay is very cute. Sammie is the founder of Yolkin the Macaron ice cream sandwiches which used to have queues when they would pop up on Saturdays. She had a shop for a while as well which sadly closed this year but she’s back with the crepes which are more like a English pancakes or they’re a bit thicker. They are served in a cone filled with competition here which is so key and delicious and then topped with the sugar crust relayed only meant to taste it ate the whole thing my friend had one bite I ate the rest after already we’d already been eating the long boys do not and then I’ve had the chicken like chicken sandwich before that so yeah, that was a good day.

Finally, I just have one more thing and I know I spoke about E5 Bakehouse last week, but I stopped again this weekend and the Original Beans chocolate tart was incredible. Original beans is an amazing chocolate company that I think I’ve spoken about before if if they casting using their Cru Virunga chocolate for this particular chocolate tart. I don’t know how long it’ll be on the counter. But it was £4.50 which was incredible value for the silkiest ganache in the incredible pastry which is made of these heritage grains flour and then it was topped with the mascarpone and it was heavenly and you should visit soon. 

Okay that is it for this week. The list is on the website thenextdeliciousthing.com I hope you tell some friends about this because these are must eats, and perhaps some you know a food producer who you need to forward this to who might like to know more about the Great Taste Awards. 

If you have any questions or any comments, hit me up @thenextdeliciousthing or email thenextdeliciousthing@gmail.com 

I can’t wait to talk to you again next week. I’ve got some exciting episodes planned. Eventually a croissant escapade with some guests, a dessert exploration with some other friends, I’m going to do a dive into kombucha… but let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to discuss. Until then. I wish you very happy eating!