A Very Special Night Supper Club with Martell Cognac VS

Words & Photography by Greg Klerk and Joe Plimmer

L’art de vivre – the art of living – is a wonderfully French concept: the notion that a life well lived should be a thing of beauty and elegance. For 300 years Martell Cognac has placed l’art de vivre at the heart of its eponymous spirit, adhering as closely as possible to the craftsmanship and attention to detail that its founder, Jean Martell, established in 1715.

Throughout 2015, Martell is celebrating three centuries of l’art de vivre through its Very Special Nights – festive happenings that combine fabulous food, great company and Martell Cognac. The London Foodie was thrilled to host a Martell Very Special Night Supper Club, which demonstrated just how beautifully the elegance, balance and complexity of Martell Cognac goes hand in hand with the art of gastronomy.

Cognac is made from white wine; to earn the title of ‘cognac’ it must be made from at least 90% Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche or Colombard grapes that are grown in one of the six crus surrounding the town of Cognac. The wine used to make cognac is twice distilled in copper stills to create eaux de vie, then aged for at least two years and finally blended to make cognac.

Beautiful served on its own, cognac is also tailor-made for cocktails and a Martell expert gave us a literal taste of the possibilities throughout our evening. We began with a Classic Champagne Cocktail: a perfect home for Martell VS Cognac. With dashes of Angostura bitters, a sugar cube and a top-up of G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge Champagne, it was an irresistible start to the evening.  Dating back to the mid-1800’s, the Classic Champagne Cocktail is one of the oldest cocktails, with its first written mention found in 1855 in New York. The cocktail even pre-dates the first cocktail book published in 1862.

Pissaladiere

Appropriate to the celebration of an iconic French brand like Martell Cognac, The London Foodie prepared a six-course French menu. The Classic Champagne Cocktail was served with a pissaladiere, and this was followed by Curried Mussel Veloute, Wakame Seaweed and Croutons, with which we enjoyed a Vin de Savoie Chignin-Bergeron, Domaine Jean Vullien et Fils. This lovely, dryish wine with strong pear and peach notes also worked nicely with our Premiere Entrée of Baked Camembert with Honey, Garlic and Rosemary, Brown-Sugar Roasted Ham, New Potatoes and Cornichons. All wines on the evening were expertly paired by wine merchant Laurent Faure of Le Vieux Comptoir.

A Second Entrée – Tartare of Sea Bream, Apples, Fresh Herbs and Sake – was followed by an opportunity for Martell VS Cognac to show off solo. Pale gold in colour, top notes of apple and pear layered over subtler notes of spice and almonds, with a rich, almost creamy mouth-feel. A lovely glass.

Our Plat principal & Accompaniment was Parmentierde Confit de Canard aux Cepes Duxelles et Foie Gras With Green Leaf and Herb Salad in Vinaigrette Dressing. With this we enjoyed another wine  selection, Guillaume de Pratavone Ajaccio, a spicy, medium-bodied Corsican red made from a Grenache-Sangiovese blend not uncommon in Corsica’s Ajaccio region, which is otherwise famed as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

A cheeseboard selection by Androuet Maitre Fromager of Spitafields was the perfect match for a glass of Martell Cordon Bleu, created in 1912 by Edourd Martell and long since renowned as a classic cognac. Dark and coppery, Martell Cordon Bleu has a complex nose of orchard fruits – plum, apricot, apple – interwoven with coffee and spices, most particularly cinnamon. Mellow and rich, it has a gloriously long finish.

We ended the evening with Tarte Tatin with Rosemary, Flaked Almonds and Crème Fraiche, which was served with an unusual Martell Cognac cocktail twist: a Martell & Coffee Martini, made with espresso, Martell VS Cognac and Irish cream liqueur and served in a martini glass and topped with two coffee beans.

It was a Very Special Night indeed, and one we’re sure that Jean Martell would have loved.

For recipes, cocktail ideas and further information on Martell Cognac’s 300th year anniversary, please visit www.martell.com or find them on twitter @MartellCognacUK

London Supper Club Review - Parkholme Supper Club

The supper club that keeps on giving

Words and Photography by Simeen Kadi

Alicia Weston has been running her supper club for the last 2 years. In that time she has prepared and served feasts from Georgian cold platters to Syrian banquets at her lovely home in Hackney. Each time, fourteen guests sit around her dining table to enjoy a few hours of good company and great food while Alicia produces dish after dish from her kitchen, helped by up to three committed volunteers.



Anyone who has been to a few supper clubs will know that this fairly new and personal dining style is run by people who do it for their love of cooking and entertaining. Alicia has this is spades, but she goes one step further. Since she began her supper club, she has collected more than £25,000 for Medecins sans Frontiers, the Nobel Peace Prize winning charity which delivers humanitarian and medical aid around the world. Having pioneered the concept, the Parkholme Supper Club is still the only supper club in London (please shout if I have got this wrong) which is built around charity donation. Of the £40 the guests pay to attend one of Alicia's supper clubs, £35 goes directly to Medecins Sans Frontiers, meaning that Alicia makes the remaining £5 go a very long way.



Parkholme Supper Clubs are pretty lavish affairs with multiple courses and quality ingredients. Perhaps her background in finance has proved helpful in eking out the most from £5 per head. In any case, Alicia has served up some great food at her supper clubs and continues to surprise and delight with her wide culinary range and her commitment to testing every dish until she has really nailed it. Thus, I found myself eating an elaborate dish from the Imperial court of the Qing dynasty. Titled 'Ah, sweet as honey' it is an unctuous dish of meltingly soft lamb and thirteen (secret?) ingredients, all cooked twice and with two different sauces that come together when served to deliver tangy and honey-sweet flavours which are intense, rich and very moreish. Alicia acquired the recipe from one of Beijing's renowned chefs and then practised until she had perfected it.



Half Malay and half English, Alicia grew up as a true world-citizen, having lived in eight different countries as her parents' work took them from one international posting to the next. Her own career has also meant that she has been able to immerse herself in the culture and cuisine of diverse regions of the world from Korea to the Middle East. This is what makes the Parkholme Supper Clubs really interesting as they feature home-style food, cooked from scratch from a different part of the world each time. Every recipe will have been taught first hand or handed down to Alicia by a native cook and will have been faithfully recreated until it is just as it is meant to be. Alicia and her team of volunteers make everything fresh, from the soft, pliable dough for noodle dishes to the mayonnaise for sauces - while Alicia may be working to a tight budget she can draw on committed volunteers and a local market which provides most of her fresh ingredients.

Everything else she mostly drags back in her suitcase from trips to all corners of the world. Such as the Blue Rice for Nasi Ayam Kerabu which features rice dyed with the bright blue sweetpeas.

The plan is to raise £40,000 for Medecins Sans Frontiers, after which Alicia will zero the clock and start collecting for another deserving charity. The food at the Parkholme Supper Club does not need the helping hand of worthiness, it is well worth the £40 charge on its own. But, knowing that you are giving generously to charity while still enjoying exceptional food and great company does make your heart feel good.

http://www.parkholmesupperclub.co.uk

Supper clubs are held in Hackney every two weeks. To join the mailing list, email  info@parkholmesupperclub.co.uk 

Prices are £40 per head (of which £35 goes to MSF)

Medecins Sans Frontiers www.msf.org.uk

London Supper Club Review - Scandi Supper Club with Signe Johansen

Words by Karen Yates

As everyone knows, all things Scandinavian are super cool right now, a fact (yes, fact) enhanced by the evening’s venue, the Scandinavian furniture showroom Republic of Fritz Hansen in Margaret Street, W1. Just as well there were plenty of beautiful things to look at because what must have seemed a great idea at a PR planning meeting – hosting a photo shoot and supperclub one after the other – meant that the second ran well over an hour late. Hairy trolls with long pointy hats and cruet sets that reminded me of my childhood (I’ve Swedish and Norwegian family) to the rescue, along with glasses of gløgg (mulled wine) to warm the cockles and thaw the heart. 

Signe kept her Scandi cool and offered round her superb canapés: cured salmon on just-baked rye pannekaker (little pancakes) with sour cream and pickled fennel (recipe below), plus sweet Norwegian prawns with wild dill pollen mayonnaise, lumpfish roe and pickled cucumber on sourdough crispbread. As Signe said, in Norway they eat prawns like sweets and these were certainly moreish.

Photo: Tara Fisher

Photo: Tara Fisher

Eventually, we all squeezed around an achingly trendy, retro-style table and the feast began. First Signe, who had specially created the menu using seafood from Norway, explained that this festive food is lettvint (easy), so we should just tuck in an enjoy. Which we did, with seriously good oven-baked organic sourdough bread courtesy of Bridget Hugo from Bread Bread in Brixton, who was named New Best Alchemist of the Oven at this year’s Young British Foodie Awards. 

First up were piping-hot, super-fresh battered cod cheeks with dill, anchovy and pickled cucumber salsa. These melt-in-the-mouth beauties vanished as soon as they appeared.

Photo: Tara Fisher

Next was halibut lightly cured with lemon and elderflower for a slightly sweet flavour, served with thinly sliced pickled cucumber.

Photo: Tara Fisher

The main course was succulent roast haddock with a bacon and rye crisp topping served with salt-baked celeriac plus a spelt and kale salad with pomegranate seeds. All healthy and delicious.

Photo: Tara Fisher

We finished with glasses of Linie aquavit, Signe’s pepperkaker (traditional ginger biscuits) and ekte geitost (sweet, salty, brown goat’s cheese; an acquired taste I happen to love).

Photo: Tara Fisher

Ah, fresh fish followed by pepperkaker and brunost, the taste of a Scandinavian Christmas. All good things come to those who wait… 

Here is a recipe from the evening, specially created by Signe Johansen for the Norwegian Seafood Council. First cure the salmon, then use it to make these fabulous canapés:

Cured Norwegian salmon with a shot of Linie aquavit, rye and sour cream pannekaker and pickled fennel

‘There are endless ways to cure Norwegian salmon. Gravlaks is a classic way to do so across Scandinavia, and I love a little whisky in the cure for a seasonal twist. Norwegian Linie Aquavit can be found at Amathus Drinks. The key to this dish is a very fresh fillet of Norwegian salmon. If in doubt, freeze the fish for 24 hours to kill any bacteria, then defrost. This recipe makes enough for 12 starters or 6-8 larger portions. You can double this for festive occasions – two Norwegian salmon fillets will feed 20-24 people and make a great party standby’

Ingredients:

1.5 kg Norwegian salmon fillet, de-boned and de-scaled, cut in half
2 tbsp pink peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tsp allspice berries
100g granulated sugar
75g sea salt
2 shots whisky

Method:

Dry the salmon, check for pinbones and then put both fillet pieces side by side, skin down. Crush the pink pepper, coriander, juniper and allspice berries with a pestle and mortar, then mix in a small bowl with the sugar, salt and whisky. Spread the spiced sugar and salt in a layer on top of a fillet. Sandwich both fillet halves together. Wrap very tightly in two layers of clingfilm and put in a small roasting tin to catch the brine that escapes from the fish as it cures. Refrigerate for a minimum of 48 hours and up to 5 days if you want a stronger cure.
When the salmon has had time to cure, simply take it out of the fridge, remove the clingfilm, wipe the fillet halves clean of the spiced salt with a paper towel, pat dry and put on a board, skin down. Slice on the diagonal from the tail towards the middle of the fillet and serve.

Rye and sour cream pannekaker

The wild fennel pollen, used as a garnish is available at Global Harvest (globalharvestlimited.co.uk)
Makes 30 small pancakes

Ingredients:

150g rye flour
100g wholemeal spelt flour
5g fresh yeast or ½ tsp dried yeast
300ml sour cream
50-100ml whole milk
2 medium eggs, beaten
50g butter, melted
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt

To finish:
75g fructose (fruit sugar) or 100g caster sugar 
150ml white wine vinegar
fennel bulb, thinly sliced or use a mandolin
wild fennel pollen, to garnish 
extra sour cream or crème fraiche, to garnish

Method:

First make the little rye pancakes: in a medium-size bowl mix the flours with the yeast, sour cream and 50ml milk (you may need more milk later as the rye and spelt flours will thicken the mixture over time). Cover and set aside for 1 hour or until the mixture starts to bubble and has doubled in size.  Meanwhile, put the sugar and the vinegar in a small saucepan along with 75ml water and bring to a simmer, allowing the sugar to dissolve. Remove from the heat, cool, add the thinly sliced fennel to this mixture and cover. Set aside to pickle while you finish the pancakes.

Add the beaten eggs, melted butter, baking powder and sea salt to the bowl with the flours, yeast and sour cream, then stir thoroughly. Prepare a skillet with a little oil over a medium heat. Start frying small pancakes for a minute or so before flipping each one over. They should look dry around the edges and bubble slightly in the skillet. If in doubt, test the batter with one small pancake – if the pancake is too liquid you can always add a little more spelt flour; if it’s too dense, simply dilute with a little water or milk.

Once you’ve fried all the pancakes, set them to one side and allow to cool completely before assembling the salmon slices on each piece, followed by a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche, a curl of pickled fennel and a sprinkle of wild fennel pollen. Eat immediately with a shot of Linie aquavit to wash it all down.

London Supper Club Review - Two Hungry Girls

Words & Photography by Simeen Kadi

Leigh and Shuwen are the Two Hungry Girls and they are on a mission. Since their first supper club launched in February this year they have brought their own take on Modern Chinese and South East Asian cuisine to the London dining scene. With supper clubs hosted about once a month at their home in North London, and occasionally at other venues, tickets sell fast and the quality of their cooking is the main reason why. And, as the Two Hungry Girls also host dinners in aid of the charity Action Against Hunger, helping bring nutrition and hygiene to poor communities in Africa, it is a double-win for diners.

The venue seats two tables of eight which allows you to get to know your fellow diners and is also buzzy enough to feel like a convivial dinner party. The food is mostly served ‘home style’, meaning large platters and bowls are passed around the table and shared.

To start, we were served a Lychee Liqueur, a shot glass containing a peeled lychee filled with lychee wine and lemongrass - a refreshing and aromatic aperitif.

Then came the Cold Silken Tofu with Century Egg Sauce, an ingenious dish offering the intense flavour of Century egg as a sauce, rather than the slightly scary vision of a sliced green and black boiled egg  – the most common way this Chinese delicacy is served. The sauce was smooth and rich, combined with sesame paste, poured over the silken tofu and then studded with chillies.

Poached Chicken with Two Hungry Girls Sauce was chicken delicately cooked in stock and annointed with a sauce zinging with ginger and spring onions. Lettuce came alongside to make our own fresh wraps.

The Two Hungry Girls were determined none of their guests would go hungry and delivered a third starter, 5-spiced Sichuan Peppercorn Gressingham Duck Mantou Buns. Mantou is the Chinese word for steamed buns, says Wikipedia, and these were pillow-soft and stuffed with tender shreds of duck confit. It was Gressingham duck, known for its low fat and tender meat, owing to the free range treatment the birds get on farms in Suffolk and Norfolk. And, as Gressingham is a cross-breed of Wild Mallard and Pekin, it is perfect for Chinese roast and braised duck dishes. The shredded duck legs in the buns were rich with five spice, Sichuan pepper, ginger and garlic and the slices ofGranny Smith apple stuffed into the buns provided the perfect contrast. Another classic Chinese dish executed with a great twist.



For me, the highlight of the savoury courses was the Slow-Braised Pork Belly, rich nuggets of meat which were sticky with a reduction of soy. The meat was dense and unctuous with the sweetness of caramelisation contrasting the salty soy. I could have eaten a lot more of it.

Photo courtesy of Edible Experiences

Shrimp, Cabbage and Vermicelli was fine, with a light sauce and perfectly cooked shrimps. I think probably one dish too many and the one I would sacrifice to save guests from feeling overly full.

Next came the Teochew-style Braised Gressingham Duck which was tender slices of whole duck which had been slow braised in light soy, five spice and ginger. The meat was delicate and beautifully aromatic and came with boiled egg halves dipped in soy sauce.



Aubergine and Bamboo with Dried Shrimp and Garlic Vinaigrette came next. Known as Brinjal in Malay and Indian cooking, the aubergine was yielding and well flavoured with chilli and garlic and a dipping sauce of garlic and vinegar came alongside.



The final main dish did not disappoint, even though we were all dangerously full by now. Deep Fried Mackerel with Lemongrass Sambal delivered nuggets of fleshy mackerel wrapped in a banana leaf with a zesty and spicy sambal and slices of lime. The sambal was a perfect foil for the mackerel, lightening its rich fishiness and providing a sharp contrast.



Both the desserts were superb and beautifully presented. This might have something to do with the fact that Leigh is a trained patissiere and has worked at some of the city's most respected restaurants before setting up her own cake and pastry making classes. The Soya Bean Milk Pannacotta and Black  Sesame Sauce was one of the creamiest, silkiest pannacottas I have tasted and came surrounded by the earthy sesame sauce and a croquant of caramelised peanuts.



And the profiteroles were even better –  light pastry filled with fragrant coconut ice cream and covered with salted caramel fondant. This was a delicious fusion of East and West and a beautiful ending to the meal.



Details: Look for Two Hungry Girls on www.edibleexperiences.com and Facebook

Cost: £29 per head of which £12 went to Action Against Hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk. BYO wine with pairing suggestions from www.Grogger.co.uk

Likes: Delicious and well executed cooking served in an informal, dinner party setting. Plus a chance to do some good for world hunger.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: Expertly cooked Chinese and Malay cooking at a very reasonable price by two passionate and lovely cooks (and their helpers!) at a very reasonable price, especially when a donation to charity is included.


A guest post by Simeen Kadi
Simeen Kadi is a technology marketer and a bonne vivante. She has recently begun sharing her dining and drinking exploits as a guest reviewer, writing about food, cocktails and fun times from around the world. Simeen lives in and is in love with London.

London Supper Club Review – Leluu Supper Club

One of the pioneers of the supper club movement in the UK, British-Vietnamese Uyen Luu is the brains behind Leluu Supper Club, an offshoot of the late Fernandez & Leluu (F&L) of Hackney, London.

I visited F&L countless times over the last two years and reviewed Uyen’s food and hospitality here, here and here. Evenings at F&L were always fun, with plenty of excellent food, laughter and great company. I met some of my dearest friends at F&L and spent many a night sharing meals and chatting with other diners.

Some might argue that with new supper clubs and pop-ups being launched every other day, the novelty factor is dwindling. I disagree, and if anything, nearly 3 years after the first supper clubs appeared in London, I still keep meeting people who have never experienced a supper club and would like to try one but do not know how to go about finding them.

Recently however, there were a few worrying comments that were made by friends who visited some of these new supper clubs. These varied from having to wait for hours to be served tiny amounts of food to experiencing uncaring or unprofessional service, at sometimes inappropriate venues. I would hope that if a supper club host decides to open his/her home to the public and charge for the experience, they will have worked these issues through before launching, and be confident that they can feed and provide a fun atmosphere and venue to their diners. It is true that a supper club is not a restaurant, but if I am being charged £35 for food (equivalent to what several one-Michelin starred restaurants are charging for a three course meal in London), I would expect my host to demonstrate pretty good standards of cooking and hosting skills. With so many supper clubs in London these days, some of which have been around for nearly 3 years, there is really no excuse for shoddy food or service.

So I was looking forward to returning to Uyen’s home and experiencing her new supper club incarnation Leluu Supper Club because:

1. I knew I was going to be really well fed

2. Her home and supper club are beautiful

3. It is the most professional set up of any supper club I have been

4. I really enjoy meeting the diners who frequent her supper club

5. It is a very good night out

Accompanying me on the day was Dr G, and my friends Julie Vu and her partner Ryan, owners of the Vietnamese City Caphe, my favourite lunch spot in the City. We arrived at Uyen’s to be greeted with a glass of wine, making our way to her garden to mingle and chat with the other diners until dinner was served at 8pm.

I was pleased that Uyen decided to give a more Vietnamese focus to her supper club since the demise of F&L, as I feel she provides Vietnamese dishes that are not normally found in London restaurants. Uyen will serve up to 8 courses at her supper club and if like me, you love having many different flavours and textures in your meals (as opposed to just quantity), you will be sure to find them there. Some of the delicious dishes we were served included:

Homemade Grey Feather Back Fish Cakes with Dill, Ong Choi and Chilli dip

Summer Rolls with Poached Pork Belly, Prawns, Perilla, Cockscombe, Garden Mint, Coriander and Vermicelli

Bun Bo Hue - Spicy Lemongrass & Pig's Trotter Soup with Beef, Perilla, Banana Blossom & Sweet Basil

Chicken Salad with Carrot, Banana Blossom and Hot Mint

Bo La Lot - Sirloin Steak with Lemongrass & Sesame, wrapped in Betel Leaf

Yam Noodles with Tofu, Carrots, Ong Choi, Shiitake Mushrooms and Peanuts

Banh Xeo - Coconut & Beer Crepes with Pork, Prawns & Beansprouts

Tapioca Pearls and Banana in Coconut Milk

We had a great table at Leluu Supper Club, a mix of American tourists (mother, daughter and friend) who had arrived in London on that day, a delightful Parisian couple who were sitting next to me with their Mexican friend (and if you are reading this, please get in touch for that Peruvian meal!), and my friends Julie and Ryan, and Dr G.

I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at Leluu Supper Club, and if you are a supper club supporter as I am, there is no better place to experience this than at Uyen’s.

Cost: minimum donation of £35 per person, BYO.

Likes: best Vietnamese food in London, stylish venue, great night out. Vietnamese cooking classes.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: One of the best supper clubs in London, Leluu Supper Club exemplifies why this movement is here to stay. Excellent food, gorgeous venue, great host. If you haven’t experienced it, just go. Highly recommended.