Last Tuesdays at RIBA - Dining at The Royal Institute of British Architects

The RIBA headquarters on 66 Portland Place is unsurprisingly one of the most iconic buildings in London. Home to the Royal Institute of British Architects, it was conceived by the architect George Grey Wornum (1888 - 1957) whose design was judged the best of 3600 entries in a competition for the new RIBA headquarters. Completed in 1934, it is one of the most elegant expressions of Art Deco architecture in the City.

Unknown to many, the RIBA houses a stunning restaurant, bar and cafe which can be accessed by members and non-members alike. There are also architectural events, talks, and exhibitions as well as an extensive bookshop and library open to the public.

I was recently invited to take part in a guided tour of RIBA's latest exhibition "A Place to Call Home" which is running until the 28th April. This fascinating exhibition charts the story of the design of everyday homes in the UK. It explores the British obsession with homes and the experiments that have shaped how and where we live.

The invite coincided with "Last Tuesday" at RIBA when the Institute opens its doors after hours for everyone to enjoy. There is a wide range of special activities and events on the last Tuesday of each month at RIBA, including free guided tours, exhibitions, talks and film screenings. It is also a great opportunity for those interested in visiting RIBA's stunning Art Deco building, or simply meeting friends for a drink in the bar, or enjoying a bite to eat in the restaurant. Admission is free (some special events are charged). Visit architecture.com/programmes for full information.

After the exhibition we headed to the bar for a glass of wine and to check the available menus. There is a special menu designed for "RIBA Last Tuesday" with a selection of small plates (tapas style) which in my opinion is well priced at £3.50 per dish or 3 plates for £10. A large glass of wine (250ml) is priced at £7 and if two are purchased, the remaining bottle is given free. This works out at £14 for a bottle of wine! The restaurant also has a more substantial a la carte menu with a choice of four starters (from £5.50 to £6.50), four mains at around £18 each and four desserts priced at £5.

From the RIBA Last Tuesday menu we ordered 3 small plates including "Rillette of duck, spiced plums, and toasted croutes", "Smoked haddock and chive omelette with Wookey Hole cheddar" and "Beer battered Cornish squid with tartare sauce". These were beautifully accompanied by a couple of glasses of South African Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch (War Horse).

The a la carte menu looked too tempting to be left untouched so we made our way to RIBA's beautiful Art Deco restaurant. The restaurant is imposing, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking a gorgeous open air terrace. We started with "Seared scallops" @ £6.50 served with leeks, candied hazelnuts and black olive powder. The scallops were deliciously tender, and I enjoyed the unusual addition of candied hazelnut and olives.

The "Middle white pork belly" @ £5.75 served with black pudding and quince was also very good and had perfect crackling.

For mains, we went for "Pan-roasted Cornish pollack fillet" @ £17.95 which was accompanied by a crayfish and tarragon lasagne, salsify crisps and crayfish reduction.

The "Braised Yorkshire venison" @ £18.95 was however the better of the two mains. It was served with sauteed girolles, truffled mash and redcurrants. This was a fabulous dish.

We also had a selection of three British cheeses @ £7.50 which included Wookey Hole cheddar, Oxford Blue and Sussex camembert. They were beautifully presented and served with grapes, dried apricots, walnuts, biscuits and jam.

To finish off we shared a dessert of "Warm orange and polenta cake, passion fruit sorbet and candied orange" @ £5.50 which was also delicious.

I was surprised to find such appealing food at affordable prices in one of the most stunning locations in London. I will make sure to return and make the most of RIBA's open air terrace this coming spring and summer, to further sample their affordable wine list and food offerings. A hidden gem, recommended!

Please note - the restaurant is opened at lunch time throughout the week and on Tuesday evenings only.

The London Foodie Supper Club - Japanese Home Cooking - Reviewed by The Evening Standard

Washoku or Japanese Cooking is one of my greatest passions in life. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a Japanese home in the South American city of Sao Paulo, and have, since moving to London 20 years ago, pursued my interest to learn more about this cuisine.

Cod & Seafood Nabe with Soya Milk and White Miso Broth - Image by Catriona Mills

Since leaving investment banking in 2011, I moved to Tokyo for a couple of months to do Japanese food research and recipe writing. I also took private Japanese cookery classes during the day and worked at a Japanese Izakaya (casual Japanese restaurant) at night (more about these experiences here). I returned to London in early 2012 to start the Grand Diplome at Le Cordon Bleu and the Japanese Home Cooking Supper Club which I now run from my home in Islington.

Image by Catriona Mills

The supper club has recently been reviewed by The Evening Standard, you can read the full review here.

If you are interested in learning more about Japanese cuisine, beyond sushi and sashimi, and would like to attend one of the Japanese Home Cooking Supper Club events I run, take a look at The London Foodie Supper Club page for forthcoming dates or contact me on luizharaAThotmailDOTcom using the subject line JAPANESE SUPPER CLUB.

Image by Catriona Mills

Sushi Making Masterclass at Ichi Sushi & Sashimi Bar

Located at the swish Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel, Ichi Sushi & Sashimi Bar is an elegant and contemporary Japanese eatery headed by sushi chef Sadayuki Okamoto. Trained in Tokyo, Okamoto-san has had an impressive career over the last thirty years cooking the food of his homeland at some of London's top restaurants including The Four Seasons, The Ivy and The Savoy.

Okamoto-san has now decided to share some of his experiences with other Japanese food enthusiasts by hosting a series of Sushi and Sashimi Master Classes on the first Saturday of each month. Priced from a very reasonable £30 per person, the classes will run from midday to 2pm and will have a maximum of 10 participants.

I was fortunate to be invited to Ichi Sushi & Sashimi Bar recently to meet Okamoto-san, attend one of his classes and try some new dishes from his menu. The event was also hosted by the delightful Tom Harrow, the Wine Chap, who presented us with an in-depth tasting of different Japanese sakes matched to each individual dish.

We started by rolling 3 sushi rolls - Kappamaki, a kind of Hosomaki (thin cylindrical sushi) filled with cucumber. This is a simple but rather important sushi on any Japanese meal as it is traditionally consumed to clear the palate between eating raw fish and other kinds of food.

The Kappamaki was followed by Temakizushi - hand rolled sushi (conical sushi). One of the most popular types of sushi, and great to be served at intimate sushi parties with friends as each person can choose and rolls their own temaki. We rolled ours with raw salmon, avocado and spring onions. 

We also rolled Dragon Sushi - an inside-out sushi topped with a layer of thin slices of salmon (avocado can also be used), pressed down over the roll to resemble the skin of a snake or dragon and filled with asparagus. This is a beautiful sushi made it extra special by Okamoto-san's blowtorching of the top layer of salmon.

As a welcoming drink and to accompany our sushi, we had a glass of sparkling Junmai Nigori "Sawa Sawa".  A deliciously lively, sparkling cloudy sake which undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle just like Champagne.

We were then seated for dinner and served a platter from the Chef's Specials - Seared Tuna Jalapeno @ £7 - this was a refreshing and beautifully presented dish of seared slices of fatty tuna over a zingy jalapeno chilli dressing served with mizuna (crunchy Japanese green salad leaves) with a yuzu and mango vinaigrette.

A platter of sashimi followed - thick slices of salmon, tuna and yellow tail. The fish were very tender and fresh and beautifully presented. All fish served at Ichi Sushi & Sashimi Bar are purchased from Atariya, the most reputable (and also most expensive) Japanese fishmongers in London.

The nigiri sushi were next - 5 pieces containing ikura (salmon roe), salmon, tuna yellow tail and prawn. The rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned and tasted delicious. Okamoto-san uses the highly prized Koshihikari rice from Japan, the rolls royce of all Japanese rice grown primarily for the home market. In my opinion the taste and quality of the rice makes his sushi outstandingly good.

The California sushi platter (or inside out sushi) containing 6 pieces of spicy tuna or crab were also delicious. A similar "Ichi Combination" can be purchased from the a la carte menu at £40 and contains 6 pieces of sashimi, 5 pieces of nigiri and 6 pieces of California roll.

We also got to try a couple of rolls from the Chef's Special Menu - Soft Shell Crab (5 pieces) @ £10 and Prawn Tempura (6 pieces) @ £9, and a piece of grilled Black Cod which were all magnificent. 

Ichi Sashimi & Sushi Bar also has a respectable list of sakes some of which we got to try on a tutored tasting by Tom Harrow, the Wine Chap. Some of my favourites were the Uragasanryu Koka Honjozo (125ml @ £12.50), a very elegant honjozo with pear on the nose and ripe, fruity pear on the palate and the Choryo Futaho, Tokubetsu Junmai (125ml @ £12.50), an aged sake with a full bodied flavour and notes of sour cherry and wood on the palate and hints of caramel and honey on the nose. 

All Sushi Masterclasses at £30 will include a welcoming glass of Choryo Sawasawa sparkling sake, a 1/2 bottle of water and an additional glass of sake with the meal. An additional flight of sakes can also be purchased to accompany all dishes in the masterclass for an extra £20.

Chef Okamoto-san will demonstrate a selection of sushi dishes and guests will create Avocado & cucumber roll, Blow-touched salmon dragon roll and Tuna belly roll. Participants will then sit down to eat the rolls they have made and share a platter of sashimi salmon, tuna and yellow tail. The meal will end with a light dessert taken from the Ichi Menu. At £30, I believe this to be very good value.

Readers of The London Foodie have been offered a 10% discount on the first two classes in April 7th and May 5th. To book, please visit: www.ichisushi.co.uk or call 0207 620 7373 or email Jose Zhang direct : jzhang@pphe.com, and if you do get to attend, please let me know how you get on.

Pom Pom Takoyaki

Takoyaki is one of my favourite street foods from Japan.  A ball-shaped dumpling made of pancake batter, and cooked in a special takoyaki pan, it is traditionally filled with diced octopus, and served garnished with pickled ginger and spring onion.  These days, it is commonly brushed with takoyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, and topped with shavings of dried bonito fish.

Originating in Osaka in the mid-1930s, it is now popular throughout Japan where it can be purchased at yatai (street food stalls), or in specialty restaurants. Very tricky to make at home with much twisting and turning required while cooking in a searingly hot pan, whenever I go to Japan I make sure to get my fill of it. On my recent trip to Nara, where the pictures below were taken, Dr G and I enjoyed some fantastic takoyaki. 

It was great then to learn of Pom Pom Takoyaki, a new venture founded by two Japanese women living in London - Hana and Tomo.  Hana has been living in the UK for over 20 years working as an interior designer while Tomo only arrived in London in 2009 after a 3 year stint at the Ritz Hotel restaurant in Paris.

Pom Pom Ladies at Work

I was lucky to meet them recently for a takoyaki masterclass and tasting.  In Japan, takoyaki is made exclusively with octopus, but Hana and Tomo have decided to take it a step further and use a variety of different fillings. 

In addition to Pom Pom Takoyaki with the traditional octopus filling, they also offer a sticky teriyaki chicken-filled Pom Pom served with sweet teriyaki sauce, a Frankfurter and bacon version with crispy onion topping aka Pom Pom Hot Dog, and also Pom Pom Potato made with curried potato, peas and cheese with curried mayonnaise.

The sweet Pom Poms are also delicious and beautifully presented. Flavours include Pom Pom Banana served with hot chocolate sauce, Pom Pom Apple made from caramelised apples and cinnamon sugar and also Pom Pom Chocolat, Pom Pom Wheatgrass and Pom Pom Coconut.

I was so impressed by the quality and flavours of Hana and Tomo's Pom Poms that I decided to start serving them as canapés at my own Japanese Supper Club events. Unsurprisingly the feedback from diners has been fantastic, and I am really pleased to see one of my favourite Japanese dishes, and a relatively unknown one, become more popular in the UK. 

For more information about Pom Pom Takoyaki, prices and how to order click here. If you would like to order Pom Pom Takoyaki for a private party or corporate event, or simply to eat them at home, email hello@pompomtakoyaki.com. 

Alternatively you can meet Hana and Tomo and try out their Pom Poms on the 17th & 24th March at Hackney Homemade at St.John's church garden, off Mare Street http://www.hackneyhomemade.com/food/ or on 30th March at Brixton Sundowner Night Market. http://sundowner.b-electric.co.uk/2012/02/02/brixton-sundowner-2012/ 

Also Pom Pom Supper Club is in the pipe line, hopefully starting in April.

Learn more about Pom Pom Takoyaki on Twitter, follow them at @pompomtakoyaki.

Hana and Tomo's Pom Poms will also be available at the Japanese Supper Club at my home in Islington on 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st March 2012.

Celebrating Pancake Tuesday!

This is a small piece I wrote about Pancake Tuesday for Time Out London. Click here to learn more.

**WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE WIZARD OF OZ AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM**

The good people from Theatre Breaks have given me a couple of tickets to give away for The Wizard of Oz musical this Thursday, 23rd February 2012 at 7:30pm. This is an Andrew Lloyd Weber's production at the London Palladium in the West End. For more information about this musical click here.

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

To enter this competition, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com by midday on Wednesday 22nd February 2012. The lucky winner will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) soon after midday on the 22nd February 2012.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here in the evening of the 22nd February 2012.

Food and Wine Matching Masterclass at Corrigan's Mayfair

One of the toughest problems when planning a meal is appropriately matching its dishes with wines. Just as bad wine can completely ruin a good meal, good wine can make an otherwise fairly ordinary one into something memorable.

Years of wine tasting and a recent WSET advanced certificate have opened my eyes to this complex area. As with many food and wine related topics, it is also a rather subjective matter. There are however a few principles one should bear in mind. One of the greatest misconceptions is that fish and chicken should always be served with white wines while red meats, particularly beef, should be paired with red wines.  The main issue is not the colour but the body of the wine. Whether light, medium or full, the body or weight of both food and wine should be carefully matched. So a Provençal chicken stew could go nicely with a bottle of red Grenache, much as a lightly chilled Pinot Noir might go with a seafood platter.  

Other considerations are the acidity of the food (for example tomato dishes are high in acidity, and match acidic reds such as Sangiovese, and fish dishes served with lemon go well with acidic whites like Sauvignon Blanc). Partnering of sugar levels is also important - as with sweet sherries like Pedro Ximenez, or naturally sweet wines like Sauternes or Saussignac matching with sweet desserts like ice cream or apple tart respectively. If you are stuck for a match, remember that wines are usually made to complement the local food, so regional wines will match their cuisines 9 times out of 10.

To  help us with this task, Richard Corrigan's Mayfair has teamed up with Les Caves de Pyrènes for a series of tutored masterclasses in which some of his signature dishes are matched with accompanying wines. At £120 per person, a fine glass of Grand Cru Champagne is offered, with canapés followed by a tutored four-course tasting menu.  For most courses, two different wines are matched and thoroughly discussed.

I was fortunate to attend one of these tutored meals recently, at Richard Corrigan's private dining room in Mayfair. The restaurant feels plush, with a grand piano dominating the entrance, and a restful colour scheme of beige, brown, red and gold.  The bar is marble-topped, with large flower displays, leather armchairs, and the whole feel is discreetly elegant and expensive.

The lunch was tutored by Les Caves de Pyrènes, an independent wine importer based in Guildford, Surrey which is a supporter of wines that are hand-made and naturally expressive of their origins. On this occasion, the tasting was about natural wines from the New World.  Natural wines are made with minimal chemical and technological intervention in growing the grapes and turning them into wine. They can be organically or biodynamically grown, are hand-picked, and have no added sugars, foreign yeasts or adjustments for acidity. They have minimal  or no fining and filtration or added sulphites.  My experience of natural wines has been mixed, and some have not been successes.

At Corrigan's Mayfair, we kicked off with a delectable platter of canapés served with a glass of Paul Dethune Grand Cru Champagne - a fine biscuit nose making for a very good start indeed. This was followed by an excellent starter of lobster raviolo with shellfish broth, served with sea purslane. The broth was intensely flavoured yet delicate, and the pasta generously filled with chunks of lobster that were well matched with the salty, crunchy sea purslane.

To match, we had 2009 Testalonga El Bandito Cortez from Swartland, South Africa - a wine made from old Chenin bush vines, and made the old-fashioned way by foot pressing!  It was a delightful wine, but in my opinion the better match with the food was the 2009 Pyramid Valley, Fields of Fire, Chardonnay from New Zealand. With a wonderful nose of nuts, green figs and vegetal notes, this wine had a lovely richness and minerality with good acidity and texture.

Our next course was a red wine braised brill served with confit cabbage, celeriac & razor clam.  I loved the presentation of this dish, and the artistry and flavour combinations resulting from braising white fish with red wine, and the two types of shell fish.

To accompany this dish, we were served a glass of 2010 Carignan Reserva from Villalobos, Colchagua, Chile (served slightly chilled).  This was a pleasingly light red almost like a dark rosé, aged in French oak, with clean fruit flavours. The better match, however, was the 2010 Pinot Noir from Louis-Antoine Luyt, Maule, Chile. A tiny winery in the Maule Valley, the French wine maker Luyt is the only significant wine maker in Chile following the rigorously anti-industrial approach to wine making  implicit in natural wine.  His efforts have paid off, with his 2010 Pinot Noir showing a lovely depth of redcurrant fruit with light tannins - it was a perfect match to the brill.

The Goosnargh chicken with wild mushrooms and English leeks was next - a very succulent piece of corn-fed chicken from Goosnargh in Lancashire (championed by Gordon Ramsay), served with an intensely creamy mushroom sauce.  This was the Rolls Royce of chicken dishes, served with a glass of 2010 Burnt Cottage Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand.  Central Otago is highly prized for its pinots, and this one did not disappoint, with aromas of red fruit and orange peel, and a pleasing natural acidity. Equally good was the 2010 Wildman Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, Australia - complex and refined, it had a velvety richness while remaining bone-dry.

For dessert, we had rhubarb crumble soufflé, served with a delicious stem-ginger ice cream.  This was a light and refreshing dessert with a good balance of tart and sweet, but how to partner a wine with this combination?  Once again, the tutor came up with the goods, proposing a glass of 2010 Framingham Noble Riesling from Marlborough, New Zealand.  A botrytised sweet wine, it had the high acidity characteristic of Riesling, giving a refreshing quality that perfectly matched the astringency of the soufflé.

If you would like to learn more about the subject of matching food and wine, Corrigan's Mayfair will be holding further masterclasses on this theme on Friday 2nd March (dinner), Saturday 21st April (lunch), and Friday 4th May (dinner).  To learn more about these events, which can also be purchased as a gift, click here www.corrigansmayfair.com/classes, or contact privatedining@corrigansmayfair.com.

Cost: £120 per person for champagne & canapés followed by a tutored four course tasting menu including all wines.

Likes: Some of the best natural wines I have ever tried.  Having a tutored event makes for a very special gastronomic and educational occasion. Very elegant restaurant, friendly service.

Dislikes: None

Verdict: Top notch food matched with excellent natural wines, in very elegant surroundings.  Although at £120 per person it cannot be regarded as inexpensive, for cutting edge wine and food with an expert to teach about natural wines and how to partner them with food, I think this is excellent value. Very highly recommended.