Welcome to Ask Mario's October 06 Newsletter
I love best restaurant lists and the opportunities they give for ticking off how many I’ve been to. But then, according to Sudi Piggott’s ‘how to be a better foodie’, that’s standard foodie behaviour, and it goes without saying that I’ve counted off my meal hits on her list of iconic pilgrimages. Lists, in fact, are something we’re really good at on Ask Mario, too. When we responded to one request for restaurants in and around Padstow with our six of the best, our reader not only went to every one (now that’s a better foodie!), but also gave us great feedback. So, No 6, Rick Stein’s Café, Margot’s, Ripley’s and the late St Ervan Manor, you were all very enjoyable, but L’Estuaire at Rock was in top place. Also in this month’s newsletter, Richard Lutwyche makes a compelling case to become an even better foodie by shunning meat from supermarkets (Meat from Britain’s Rare Breeds), and if you thought foodies don’t do fast food, there’s both Piada and Nahm to try (see below) albeit at different ends of the price scale.
Elizabeth Carter, Editor
Sudi Pigott's new book
In this exclusive extract from Sudi Pigott's fun new book. "how to be a better foodie", discover which restaurants are the hottest tickets on the planet. Why every foodie should visit them at least once, and what to order once you get there. All you gourmets out there, start dreaming now...
Read an extract of Sudi's book
Meat
from Britain's rare breeds by Richard Lutwyche The Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Co Ltd works with approximately 50 accredited Rare Breed butchers throughout England (and slightly into Wales) supplying only pure-bred stock from local farms through local abattoirs. Richard Lutwyche, General Manager, explains why it’s so important to support rare breeds.
Read Richard's feature on Britain's rare breeds
Fast food at Nahm (London)
One of London’s best Thai restaurants has introduced a new fast lunch menu, derived from chef David Thompson’s research for a new book on Thai street and market food. David is renowned for his authentic interpretation of the region’s cooking and now, for lunch only, diners are able to enjoy a range of single plate food like rich and thick green chicken curry with crunchy roti, Chinese style poached chicken with sesame rice and yellow bean sauce, and stir-fried tiger prawns with Asian celery and sweet and sour cucumber salad. Another first for the restaurant is the inclusion of noodles, including ones with crab, stir-fried pat thai, and kanom jin a traditional lunchtime noodle with fish dumpling curry and lemon basil, or crab, prawns, chilli jam and deep-fried shallots. Lunch noon-2.30pm. 2 courses £20, 3 courses £26.
Nahm, The Halkin, 5 Halkin Street, SW1 tel: 020 7333 1234 halkin.como.bz
Italian flatbread on St John Street (London)
Go to the Romagna region of northern Italy and along the province’s roads you’ll find small cabins selling piadina a regional speciality made quite simply with flour, yeast, salt and pork fat. Rolled out thinly then baked on a flat earthenware griddle they are a delicious and very moreish snack often accompanied by prosciutto, and squaquerone (soft fresh cream cheese). Though there are a couple of restaurants in London which serve piadina (Refettorio, EC4, Aperitivo, W1), Piada specialises in them. Here, instead of lard they use extra virgin olive oil, and they’ve added some unusual toppings like smoked salmon, and chocolate and banana. The menu offers 11 savoury variations, from Uno (1) prosciutto and mozzarella, to Undici (11) with eggs, bacon, mushroom, and tomato. Prices range from £3 - £4.30. Takeaway available.
Piada, 12-14 St John Street EC1, tel: 020 7253 0472 www.piada.co.uk
Chocolate week
Chocolate Week runs from 16-22 October and is a week of pure chocolate indulgence with talks, tastings, demonstrations, launches of new chocolates, chocolate fountains, and sculptures. Those chocoholics among us will be able to find out more about chocolate, its origins, how it is made, and also taste some of the finest chocolate in the world. This year’s participants include chocolatiers such as L'Artisan du Chocolat, Chococo, Demarquette, Divine, Harrods, La Maison du Chocolat, Melt, Pierre Marcolini, Rococo, Plaisir du
Chocolat, Booja Booja, Prestat, Paul A Young Fine Chocolates, Seventypercent.com and William Curley. The Academy of Chocolate will be holding the second World Chocolate Awards and announcing the winners during the week.
www.chocolate-week.co.uk
Nathan Outlaw to stay in Cornwall (Cornwall)
In our August newsletter we reported that St Ervan Manor was up for sale and that its Michelin-starred chef Nathan Outlaw was looking to move on. Now St Ervan has closed, and after considering offers from all over the country, Nathan has decided to stay in Cornwall and move to the 18-bedroomed, harbourside Marina Villa Hotel in Fowey. In a deal that will give one of our most gifted chefs a perfect vehicle to show off his talent, the restaurant will be refurbished, kitchen equipment updated, and Restaurant Nathan Outlaw will open in January. Nathan has told us prices will be lower than at St Ervan Manor, and that he’s moving away from the tasting menu format. For more details watch this space.
The Marina Villa Hotel, Esplanade, Fowey, Cornwall, tel: 01726 833315 www.themarinahotel.co.uk
Essence, recipes from Le Champignon Sauvage, David Everitt-Matthias (Ask Mario Book Reviews)
Occasionally, just occasionally, a cookery book of real note comes along. Such is the case with this wonderful book. It’s a restaurant recipe book from one of the UK’s premier chefs, so is more of a cook’s book than a cookbook. The recipes, which contain techniques that only a very practiced hand can hope to attempt is, in our opinion, too advanced for the average domestic set-up. However, it is an inspirational cookery book of the highest order and one that will be of immense interest to professional chefs and serious food lovers. The book focuses strongly on the use of wild foods and, to emphasise this, there’s a useful illustrated wild food glossary. Featured ingredients include alexanders (vichyssoise), ground elder (risotto), and gorse flowers (ice cream).
Essence, recipes from le Champignon Sauvage
David Everitt-Mathias
Foreword by Gordon Ramsay
Hardback £25
Publ: Absolute Press/October 2006
ISBN 1 904573 52 5
Meat & Two Veg, Fiona Beckett (Ask Mario Book Reviews)
Following in the style of Fiona Beckett’s other highly popular books, including Sausage & Mash, this is a book crammed with mouth-watering main course recipes based on the familiar British concept of meat with two different vegetables. Focusing on a selection of grills, roasts and casseroles, the recipes are an assembly of uncomplicated and totally delicious comfort foods, ones that should be easy to recreate at home with a minimum of fuss. Ingredients are readily available and the method is explained in layman’s terms. In addition, each meat recipe is matched by suggested vegetable accompaniments a section at the rear of the book features recipes for the latter, such as ‘not-at-all-boring peas and carrots’ to go with individual shepherd’s pies. The majority of the recipes are accompanied by great photographs from Glenfiddich Award winner Jason Lowe.
Meat & Two Veg
Fiona Beckett
Paperback £12.99
Pub: Absolute Press/October 24 2006
ISBN 1 904573 54 1
Grower’s Market, Leanne Kitchen (Ask Mario Book Reviews)
There are over 200 recipes in this book that’s a celebration of fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts and the revival of interest in locally grown and handpicked fresh seasonal produce. This is more than a cookbook as there’s practical information on how to select and prepare fresh produce, with advice on storage, basic cooking techniques, nutritional information and companion foods. The layout is perplexing if you just flick through. It’s only when you chance upon the contents page that all’s made clear. Fruit come first and these are divided by type, citrus followed by soft then stone, tropical, pome (apple, pear, quince), then nuts and finally vegetables which again are subdivided into roots and tubers followed by stems, shoots and bulbs, flowers (artichoke, broccoli, cauliflower), leaves, fruit vegetables, seeds and pods, fungi and finally herbs. After a short history and background information on each there’s a selection of recipes. For potato, you get recipes for masala, croquettes, cake, crisp wedges, gnocchi with pancetta and sage; while for broccoli there’s broccoli and ricotta soufflé, and broccoli and almond stir-fry; onion: and for onion: onion and thyme marmalade, and stifatho (beef and onion stew). The recipes are unusual, but as the book tries to cover such a wide spectrum of produce it can’t be that comprehensive and one is left with the impression that this works more as a useful reference book rather than a cookbook, but hopefully one to inspire creativity.
Grower’s Market
Leanne Kitchen
Paperback £18.99
Pub: Murdoch Books/October 2006
ISBN 1 921208 69 4
Bill Granger Every Day, Bill Granger (Ask Mario Book Reviews)
Bill Granger is a self-taught chef who runs three landmark Sydney restaurants - ‘bills’. This book applies his straightforward stylish approach to cooking in his home kitchen, taking the reader through a typical week in the Granger household, from packed school lunches on Monday to a relaxed big breakfast on Sunday. And whether it’s it some quick nourishing comfort food mid-week, a Saturday night dinner party, or finger food to accompany drinks, this book comes up with delicious suggestions, all lavishly illustrated by stunning reportage-style photographs. The majority of the recipes are easy to follow and, with only one or two exceptions, ingredients are readily identifiable and available in the UK.
Bill Granger Every Day
Bill Granger
Hardback £19.99
Pub: Murdoch Books/October 2006
ISBN 1 74045 858 3
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