The kitchen crew take some time out to pose
Samuel and ananas
Dinner menu (click on the image for an enlarged view)
Lastly, thought you might want to see the staff longdrop
The kitchen team consists of 7 cooks, 3 on each shift with one taking a day off. This morning we have Awa and Izianna. Carlos is meant to be here too but is at his cousins funeral. Death and illness is large part of life for people in Guludo Village and absences from work due to deatha are an alarmingly regular occurrence.
The 4 other cooks include, Angelica, Cato, Gilli and Samuel. See proud Cato below striking a valiant pose, please note the American football boots, complete with studs. This team of 7 are very proficient cooks, some of them having worked at Guludo Lodge for 7 years. Whoever first trained these guys did an amazing job, elegant mango tarts, crab ravioli, chocolate muffins are all whipped up effortlessly without the use of a recipe or electric appliances. Cleaning and food storage could do with some work, especially since we only use gas powered chest fridges that quickly become overcrowded and disorderly. I introduced clingfilm which is still taking some getting used to.
Cato
Iziania
Carlos
Gilli
The lack of electricity and running water is a headache, but consequently we only use the bare minimum of water and gas for lighting, refrigeration and cooking is more than adequate. Amazingly, one large bucket (known in Portuguese as a 'baldi’) of water (50lt) will be enough for cooking and cleaning for one day, albeit during relatively low season.
Fish is available in abundance, local fisherman arrive on the beach with their catch. Squid known as 'lula' and crab is coming out of our ears. Roughly one good sized fish is bought in a day with some lobsters and huge prawns thrown in. Compared with the produce in Pemba, this wondrous seafood is a bargain. Squid costs 50mt a kilo (£1.20), Crab 30mt and any fish comes to £2.50 per kilo.
This morning involved looking around the key shops and main market in Pemba. All supplies that can't be sourced from Guludo Village can be found in Pemba. Large supermarkets sell most dry store stapes as well as imported products. Soy sauce and pastas are available but they cost.
Seafood from local fishermen and vegetables from farming co-operatives, set up by Nema, provide most of the supplies for Guludo's restaurant. Currently no mains water or electricity is available at the lodge, but last week we heard news that power had reached Guludo Village two kilometers away. Electricity should be up an running within the next six months.
The latest Jamie Oliver concept, Union Jacks, has gone live online. Www.unionjacksrestaurants.com is the first glimpse of Oliver’s new Anglo-Italian concept, where ‘wood-fired flatbreads meet great British flavours’. Intriguing, but not as confusing as the bra advert on the homepage.An excerpt from the site says: ‘At Union Jacks, [we] want to take you on a journey of discovery through Britain and reintroduce you to familiar flavours, cooked and presented the Union Jacks way. Our incredible flatbreads and wood-fired cooking methods nod to traditions that are universally loved, and nearly all of the ingredients for the toppings are unabashedly local.’
The Union Jacks concept is an interesting symbiosis of British food trends combined with long term consumer demand for Italian cuisine. Using of the word ‘flatbreads’ rather than pizza enables the concept to straddle two cuisine types effectively without alienating one another.
Chris Bianco, founder of the renowned Pizzeria Bianco in the US, has been helping Oliver mastermind the ‘flatbread’ offering at Union Jacks and is a Director of the new Jamie Bianco Ltd. Biancio opened his first Pizzeria in 1987 and has since received wide acclaim for his ‘world class’ food. The presence of Bianco on these shores demonstrates Oliver’s aspiration to compete with the major pizza players in the UK, albeit with a British twist.
The roll-out of Franco Manca and the out of London expansion for Rossopomodoro are all clear signs that the UK pizza market is entering a more mature phase where multiple operators are concerned. It seems that Jamie wants a piece of the pie.
The Quality Chop House at the top of Farringdon Road is an age old landmark nestled among the gastro-hub surrounding Exmouth Market. It started out as a 'Progressive Working Class Caterers' serving the local manual labourers in the 1870s. The grade two listed building has remained relatively unchanged ever since, although the previous tenants had let conditions slip. A full interior renovation has the place back to its former glory with many of the original fixtures in shiny working order. A magnificent wooden refrigerator made to fit in a narrow gap between the internal staircase and kitchen has been put back to work (see above right).
Meatballs is a neatly branded package; a choice of five balls made of all the major meats and a courgette version come in portions of three, but you can add an extra bonus ball for a quid. Here is the clever bit - Sliders. Stick any of the above into a cutesy brioche bun bang, it's fun for everyone. Chunky sides like pappardelle (£2.95) and parmesan cream sauce (an extra £1) or creamed spinach make this diner so amenable it hurts (note: no chips). Tailoring to taste has never been so easy.
Meatballs at The Quality Chop House
92-94 Farringdon Road
London. EC1R 3EA
T: 020 3490 6228
www.meatballs.co.uk
An exciting new platform has been launched that can help discover less traditional eating out experiences. Gusta is a website that presents supper-clubs, home restaurants and underground dining across the world. Currently operating in 16 cities including New York, Buenos Aires, London, Barcelona, Singapore, Berlin, Copenhagen and Paris residents and visitors can easily access the world of alternative dining.
underground dining scene so accessible might it not detract from the appeal and excitement of more illicit eating out experiences, she the commented that: "Every underground dining experience is unique and mysterious, the act of getting there doesn't have to be. We intend to bring new and international audiences to the supper clubs on Gusta with a strong emphasis on SEO and online marketing at scale that would not be feasible for an individual club." 
Modernisation has inevitably come in to play at Syon, with the most significant change being the building of a new state-of-the-art hotel in the parkland. The Waldorf Astoria group's latest hotel hides behind Syon House in stark contrast to the 18th Century pile. The new hotel has a box fresh feel, with dark building materials and long horizontal lines reminding of traditional Japanese architecture, miles away from the neo-classic 'Adam Style' of the estate.
It's all about the produce at The Capability; Chef Streeton has made impressive use of the grounds and its purpose built growing areas to gather the best ingredients. He says that "Every chef dreams about a restaurant with the facility to grow their own ingredients; I even have a trout lake, meat and fish smoker, not to mention five beehives to work with.” Lee says he is dedicated to using as much produce as possible from the hotel’s own orchard, herb and kitchen gardens. He will grow 24 different types of vegetables picked daily, and what he can't use will be pickled and preserved. In an inspired setting, the Chef's Table is in the greenhouse where tomatoes, peppers, melons and a variety of other fruits are cultivated.
Starters included a chilled watercress soup. This was followed by Dorset snails with black pudding, wild boar bacon and garlic butter. The flavour was full-on but texturally not 100% accessible to all.
Streeton’s smoked salmon with shaved fennel was extremely oaky and thick cut. Two wines were paired along side the starters; a Sauvignon Blanc Domaine du Pont de Livier 2010 went with all the dishes except the snails, and a Spy Valley Marlborough Pinot Noir 2009 held up against the boar bacon and black pudding.
Puddings were Bakewell tart then a selection of British cheeses with Meantime beer syrup along side a Maury Grenat 2007.
Recessionary behavior, increasingly sophisticated technology, advanced urban dwelling and savvy consumerism are among the factors affecting the the way we run our lives but what affect do these have on food and restaurants? See below for a few top tips on whats hot and what we can expect to see coming our way:On Food & Cooking:
Tech:
Intangibles:
what makes it special?
We have close ties to one of the most respected restaurants in the area, called “Il Falco di Riva Alta” with whom we exchange recipes and swap ideas - Sabrina, their head chef comes over to help with new recipes. We are creating new dishes too, new generation twists on the classics - our Italian Kitchen Burger uses award winning beef but comes with provolone cheese and Pancetta on a handmade roll specially imported for us from Italy. All our desserts and cakes are either hand-made on the premises by our chefs or by one of London’s top bakeries to our own special recipes and delivered daily. We really feel that there is no other upper mid-market Italian eatery providing the same quality of food at the prices we offer.
choices. Our Antipasti comes on olive wood boards with mixed meats like salame felino, mortadella, coppa, prosciutto crudo all from Emilia Romagna of course and carefully chosen. We have kept things simple and hope that the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves. We have tried to offer something for everyone. I know that Italian food can be carb heavy so we have lighter salads, soups and some freshly made sandwiches. We recognise that to be successful we have to get as much trade out of each day as possible so we serve breakfasts. You can get Italian style pancakes, our take on more classic full cooked choices, fresh pastries etc…
e is the open kitchen with its wood-stone oven and all the produce we use on display. We also sell lots of ingredients and products that are not available from supermarkets - cheese, wine, meat and olive oil can all be bought here. Sales have far surpassed our original expectations. Our Lavazza Tierra coffee bar is also a great feature, we do take-away coffee all day. We really are a multi-functional outfit, that can be used by customers for whatever purpose. If you want a full service dining experience of the highest quality with wine and a Grappa to finish, great, but equally, we want to serve those who want a cappuccino and pastry in the morning. Our ‘Scuola Pizza’ is very exciting, we run sessions teaching people how to make pizza our way and they get hands-on with the dough and toppings.
Food service is a shitty term with horrid connotations. I live within spitting distance of most major fast-food chain restaurants and some days the combined smell is enough to turn my stomach. But a surprising number of chain operators exist that buck the trend of producing unhealthy pallid scrot. Home-grown concepts that are lovingly attended and produce food that is affordable, healthy and properly cooked. Pho (pronounced 'fer' FYI), the brainchild of Stephen and Juliette Wall, is one such emerging brand.
Pho is a noodle soup that comes piping hot in a generously sized bowl. Most commonly pho contains beef or chicken and rice noodles in a delicious broth. Accompaniments like basil, bean sprouts and limes come with the dish and are added by the diner. Pho is said to have originated from Vietnamese, French and Chinese origins, one theory being that the classic French pot-au-feu was a European precursor.
I asked Stephen how he feels their concept fits into the UK market with such a strong representation of Vietnamese restaurants run by a large Vietnamese community and whether there is much lost in translation when adapting a traditional cuisine to western palettes. In reply he made it clear that Pho does 'not want to compete with the likes of those on the pho mile (Kingsland Road) but instead occupy the mass market, sitting alongside the Wahacas, Busabas and Wagamamas. We see Pho as a concise operation with a specialised menu that appeals to a wide audience. The only adaptation we have had to make for western tastes is improve the quality of the meat we use. On the street in Hanoi its not unusual to get big lumps of unidentifiable meat in your bowl of pho and we have had to tweak this.'
few things and do them well. The starters are mainly spring and summer rolls, pork and lemongrass meatballs and Bahn Xeo, a traditional Vietnamese crepe. Mains consist of Gio, a hearty crunchy salad in a variety of flavours and Pho Xao, wok fried flat noodles served with a choice of three toppings - beef, prawn and chicken or tofu and mushroom. Pho, the main event, can be ordered in a variety of combinations and with a load of additional extras, lime, chilli, basil etc. to tweak and customise the pho according to preference. Another noodle dish called Bun Noodles, is a deep filled bowl that comes with fresh herbs, crunchy carrot, mooli and a choice of hot toppings, garnished with roasted peanuts, fried shallots and a veggie spring roll. The last on the list of main courses is a mild and creamy Cari or curry that comes with chicken, prawn or tofu. Prices of all mains are around the £7-9 mark and are ample in size.
The first Pho outpost opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005 but it was not until regulars, Tom and Ed Martin, gastro-pub gurus joined Pho as investors in April 2007 having heard of the Wall's planned roll-out. Their investment enabled the opening of the second site at Great Titchfield Street. Pho now have 5 outlets, with one in Brighton and 2 more units planned to open by the end of the 2011. If Mr and Mrs Wall stick to the original vision and maintain standards there is no reason why Pho can't become a household name with food that is not at all reminiscent of the bilious toot evoked by the sound of food service.
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