A review of Covent Garden’s Loch Fyne Restaurant
In May 2004, the car park of the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar at Clachan in Argyll, Scotland became famous after Gordon Brown and John Prescott met there to discuss and agree who would be Tony Blair’s successor. (more…)
20 questions with chocolatier Amelia Rope
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Drive and determination.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
Keep it simple, remain focused and go for it.
Matthew Steeples answers food writer Jamie Cotter-Craig’s questions
I’m used to asking questions. So far, I’ve done over a hundred “What’s on your mantelpiece?” interviews with people ranging from champion jockey Frankie Dettori to hedge fund titan Alan Miller via glamour model Leah Newman and author Kathy Lette. (more…)
Charles Saatchi returns to the scene of the ‘throttling’
Charles Saatchi has been dining out a lot lately. With his ‘domestic goddess’ wife holed up in her sister’s flat in Mayfair, the art mogul put on an especially strong show of defiance by returning to Scott’s on Monday night to take the very same table where he allegedly ‘throttled’ Nigella Lawson.
Christian Huhnt takes his first foray into the world of supper clubs
I don’t usually find myself in the east of London. It’s not because I don’t like it but simply because it’s just an awful journey to get there from where I live. Eventually, though, a “secret” was able to convince me to make this long journey. This “secret,” I was told, could only be revealed to me if I “attended” it. Of what, you may ask, am I am rambling on about? I am talking of something called: “The Secret Supper Club.”
Next, you’ll be asking: “What the heck is a ‘supper club’?” Well, in essence, a “supper club” is essentially a dinner in the company of a bunch of total randoms. It is a bit like blind dating, although you get to speak to many more people than just the one opposite you. As I had heard and read so much about supper clubs, I became very curious about attending one. Normally these gatherings happen in someone’s own home without any professional help, but the one to which I was invited was quite something else.
This particular supper club is on another level. It is run by Lime&Tonic, an international firm of event planners and costs just £35 per head. Lime&Tonic made their philosophy to: “Save the world from boredom” according to its co-founder Stefan Cordiner and in the London supper club they operate I certainly found plenty that fascinated.
The major idea of Lime&Tonic’s take on the supper club is to make new contacts. In this case it was as far reaching as it could get. We were 14 in total. None of us knew each other beforehand, but almost everyone came as a couple or with a friend. What, I realised, made it particularly special was how wide an array of people came: Where else would a pharmaceutical product developer from Birmingham have dinner with an F-15 pilot from the US?
The “un-restaurant,” as it is also referred to by Lime&Tonic, happens every month at a “secret venue,” but never a private residence. The location is revealed to the attendees one day before the event. It’s usually held in a venue with a “unique feel” but wherever it may be, the focus is on somewhere with “authentic charm.”
Suspense and surprise is the order of the day here as the “secret menu” is not revealed until guests sit down at the table either. On arrival we were told that our chef for the night was Paul Hannagen, a good-humoured young Irish professional who established his own catering operation, Cuisson, in August 2011. His passion for his craft was infectious.
The one element of “surprise” that I found hard to deal with was the “bring your own” wine policy. Without knowing what would be served, how could I know what alcohol my wine buff companion ought to choose?
The food itself, though, was delightful. We started with some small ‘lollipops’ stuffed with chicken liver and chunks of apple as an amuse-bouche. This was followed by a ham that had been cooked for 36 hours and served in a “British farmer’s style” with mini-cauliflower, sliced carrots, a rocket salad and a truly wonderful chutney. For a main we were served salmon, cooked “hot and cold” on one side only at 44.5°C in basil oil served with marinated prawns, mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was a great dish but perhaps a little more salt could have made it perfect. The final course, equally, was a delight: chocolate fudge with Baileys ice cream and salted caramel. I was in heaven.
In general, Hannagen’s approach to slow cooking and his use of local produce reminded me very much of that of Jason Atherton at Pollen Street Social. I was therefore not surprised when he later told me that Atherton was his mentor. He did a great job and my companion and I agreed that he deserves huge success.
The meal over, we ended up downing Patrón XO Cafe shots together while happily exchanging numbers. Though I may have been sceptical in the beginning, this concept is brilliant. I am very much looking forward to attend the next Secret Supper Club soon.
For more details about Lime&Tonic and their supper clubs, go to: http://www.limeandtonic.com/london/en/
For more details about Paul Cuisson, go to: http://www.cuisson.co.uk
Christian Huhnt reports on recent changes at Cassis restaurant
As I work in the arts and also collect wines, I find Cassis Bistro in South Kensington most comfortable as here I find myself surrounded by great works by Julian Opie, Gary Hume and Henri Matisse alongside as a humongous and well-stocked wine rack at the back of the restaurant. Cassis is part of Marlon Abela’s restaurant group, Marc, which also includes The Greenhouse, Umu, Morello Bistro and Morton’s.
It was with anticipation, therefore, that I accepted an invitation to celebrate the arrival of Cassis’s new head chef, “le nouveau moteur de cuisine,” Massimiliano Blasone. Wait a minute: “Blasone”? That doesn’t sound to French to me. And indeed, he isn’t. This Italian chef made his name at Heinz Beck’s Michelin-starred Apsleys at The Lanesborough Hotel on Hyde Park Corner.
The first thing that I asked myself was: “What is an Italian chef doing in a French kitchen?” More importantly: “What is an Italian chef doing in a restaurant that has made its goal,” according to their own marketing material, “to deliver: The finest Provençal cuisine in London?”
After consulting the restaurant’s PR she told me the new idea is to “cook Provençal cuisine with an Italian influence.” What the heck? Why not add a Nigerian limbo dancer making sushi or a Muslim serving pork pies?
Continuing, she told me that the former chef had left as he’d decided to open his own restaurant. I recall once having a delightful lunch when that particular chef was still at Cassis, roughly one year ago, and remember how tasteful and typically Provençal it actually was.
Starting, as ever, with the drinks, I let the waiter choose my first one. He gave me a “Cassis Collins” which is supposedly the house cocktail. A mix of gin, crème de cassis soda, blackcurrant purée and lemon juice. Sadly, I could only really taste the lemon and overall it was too watery. It tasted as if it had been mixed 30-minutes prior to my arrival.
I quickly changed to an Italian classic, a Negroni, which was strong but cool. This was far more impressive. Steffen Timm, my companion and food connoisseur, went for a non-alcoholic cocktail with the notion to spare his palate for tasting the food later on, but while sipping at it he almost got a sugar shock and therefore turned to the booze too.
While sat at the bar, I found myself surrounded by some delightful locals and regulars. Things were most definitely on the up. After nibbling one grissini after another, finally the food arrived, but it came at such a speed that I struggled to keep up. Not even finished with a typically Italian dish of tagliatelle con tartufo bianco, the kind waiter offered me some superb raw tuna served in a Middle East Asian style with bulgur. Having barely swallowed this, the next dishes presented to me were a pumpkin tortellini with truffles, followed by oysters with sour cream and cucumber. Quail’s eggs with truffles, a lamb saddle with ratatouille (which was probably the only ‘kind-of-Provençal’ canapé) and finally some perfectly made risotto with yet more truffles brought things to a crescendo. My love affair with truffles is well known and some readers may recall my sharing that with you in my review of Honky Tonk. I must say, however, that this particular dish was more reminiscent of something that one might find in a chic restaurant in St Tropez than in the Provençal settings I am used to.
Although Cassis is delightful and I enjoyed an evening of conversation and company, sadly, this new kitchen seems to have lost its ethos and now lacks the authentic Provençal character that made it so good. I urge the management to return to the quintessentially rustic and traditional roots that first made the place so appealing.
Cassis Bistro, 232 – 236 Brompton Road, London, SW3 2BB. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7581 1101. Website: http://www.cassisbistro.co.uk
One of the Brown-Forman family of booze barons who is now making it on his own. This Laguna Beach resident sold his tequila brand for a profit of $10 million in 2007 and is now educating the world in the Right way to drink gin.