The London Foodie Goes To Bali - Ubud (Part I)

Up in the hills, Ubud is a gorgeous Balinese town a dozen or so miles north of the capital Denpasar. At first sight, Ubud seems like a sleepy provincial town, its streets lined with banyan trees, where tourists, street-vendors and Balinese women carrying heavy goods on their heads jostle for space on the narrow pavements.

The town centre, however, reveals a plethora of temples, spas, museums and art galleries, cafes and restaurants to rival any Southeast Asian tourist destination.
  

This charming town is tiny, and its development has been sympathetic. Surrounded by a stunning landscape of mountains, rivers and terraced rice paddies, it is a great spot for hikes, cycling and photography. It also has a wide variety of small hotels of all degrees of luxury, making it a fine base for a week or more in Bali.

Where to Stay 

Uma by COMO

Uma by COMO is a 29 roomed hotel and spa set by the Barat river among the paddy fields and hills of Sanggingan, a village about 1 mile northwest of central Ubud. The hotel is part of the  Singapore-based COMO group that includes The Halkin and Metropolitan hotels in London, as well as fashion brands DKNY Jeans and Armani Exchange.

Unsurprisingly its properties also have a strong sense of style, presenting a sleekly modern and elegant design, while blending unobtrusively into the surrounding forested hillside. Each room has its own veranda and lawned garden overlooking the forest, where the ever-changing chorus of cicadas, birdsong and frog calls provide a mesmerising soundscape.

Our Veranda

Our room was one of the entry-level villas, but was nonetheless elegant.  Being mainly in white, it had a large 4 poster bed draped with mosquito nets, distressed white woodwork and a semi open-air shower, a huge bath, and lovely Venetian mirrors, as well as standard mod cons.

The resort has a fine infinity pool surrounded by trees, overlooked by the equally elegant bar and dining room. The hotel is about to be expanded to almost double the current number of rooms, with a new restaurant currently being built which will also be open to non-guests. It has an on-site spa, a yoga pavilion with classes twice a day, and  a well-equipped gym.

Breakfast at Uma by COMO was outstanding - particularly these highlights:

A wonderful laksa

A platter of tropical fruit

Breakfast nasi campur

Pancakes and fruit

One of the most endearing features of the hotel was that each suite was a separate villa.  They are scattered along various forested paths, each villa with its own wooden gate, leading into a small garden and porch, which gave a very private and intimate feel to the hotel.
    

Where to Eat

Mozaic

About 50 metres away from Uma by COMO, Mozaic is the fine-dining option in Bali, and has been included in the San Pelligrino Top 100 Restaurants of the World list. The restaurant is owned by Le Cordon Bleu graduate-chef, American Chris Salans who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris and the US, head-cheffing at some prestigious restaurants including Thomas Keller's.

The restaurant's current head chef is a Frenchman, Xavier Mauerhofer whom I was lucky enough to meet. Xavier has had an impressive career too, having worked at some of London's best restaurants for a good ten years including The Square (one of my favourite London restaurants), No. 1 Lombard Street and Sketch, as well as restaurants in Shanghai, Singapore and Beijing.

Mozaic offers 4 different tasting menus at various prices, all with an option of wine pairing at £37 or £57 per person for premium wines. We went for the Discovery Menu which uses primarily Balinese ingredients and is priced at £47 per person.

Commendably, Mozaic offers an entirely vegetarian tasting menu at £40 per person for 6 courses, as well as the Chef's Tasting Menu at £60 that uses some top ingredients like foie gras, pata negra ham and truffles. There is also a Chef's Surprise Menu priced at £83, which tempted me, but I preferred to stay local and sample the Balinese menu. 

The wine list is very impressive too with a comprehensive range of new and old world options. Like anywhere else in Bali, the wines were highly priced with the list's entry level wines starting at £35. However, to be fair, these were expensive and good, unlike many other places which offer expensive poor wine. We ordered a Portuguese Tinta Roriz 2006 from the Douro Valley priced at £37 which was well balanced, with some long, soft tannins and good red berry fruit characteristics.

The Discovery Menu is pictured below - the flavour combinations were sophisticated and exotic, I would struggle to describe them here, so I will leave you to savour the images that follow.

We kicked off with a fine amuse bouche of Balinese king crab with dabu dabu spices, served with cucumber emulsion and parma ham powder that set off the evening to a good start.

Kecicang - seared fresh water Sulawesi yabbies (an Australian crayfish), cauliflower, sesame, ginger flower gel and emulsion.

Kluwek - coral trout confied in coconut oil, Balinese "Kluwek" (a nut from the Indonesian Kepayang tree, also widely used in Nyonya cooking in Malaysia) infused black olive sauce and olive oil braised vegetables. The flavour imparted by the coconut oil confit was delicate but surprisingly distinct, it was a delightful and interesting way to confit fish.

Bumbu Rendang - rendang spiced oxtail tortellini with curry sweet potato, cep mushroom and parmesan emulsion. This was my favourite dish of the menu, the rendang of oxtail tortellini was rich and delicious.

Nangka - Kintamani suckling pig, young jackfruit emulsion, bok choy, ginger and curry leaf infused demi glace.

Sirsak - fresh soursop sorbet (Brazilian graviola fruit), grapefruit gelée, campari emulsion and pomelo tuile.

Kunir and Kemangi - lemon basil mousse with turmeric root sorbet and fresh pomegranate.

The food at Mozaic was highly sophisticated and beautifully flavoured. The Discovery Menu was indeed a journey of discovery into Balinese ingredients and flavours employed meticulously well by some classic French techniques. We were also offered a tray showing the primary Balinese ingredient of each of the courses were about to eat, which was a nice touch and informative. I highly recommend a visit to Mozaic when visiting Ubud - at £47 for a six-course tasting menu, this is excellent value for food of this calibre.

Kemiri at Uma by COMO

At Uma by COMO, Kemira is the restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner is currently being served. Australian Heidi Flanagan, a former London resident, is the Head Chef for both COMO properties in Ubud. We were fortunate to meet her there, and have a fantastic lunch cooked by Heidi herself.

Lunch began with a glass of Balinese sparkling wine from Hatten, a wine producer based in northern Bali, made from Chasselas Loulou and Alphonse Lavalée grapes (£6), which was surprisingly drinkable. Alcoholic beverages in Bali are taxed at around 400%, so they are very much a luxury item on the island.

We then had a very zingy and refreshing salad of grilled prawn, pomelo, palm heart & young coconut with a red chilli and lime dressing (£7.30) which was sensational, along with a Balinese spiced grilled flaked tuna, long bean & green papaya salad with shallot sambal, chilli & lime (£8.30) that was equally good.

For the main course, we had Nasi Campur, a local dish with a mixture of different meat, fish and rice elements including fish sate, beef curry, spiced grilled chicken, crispy fish, prawn & corn cake, long bean & coconut salad (£8), and Beef Rendang - spiced braised beef, tamarind & coconut curry (£11.70). Both salads and main courses were delicious, well seasoned and vibrant, and I enjoyed every single dish.

Glow at COMO Shambala Estate

A 15 minute drive from central Ubud by the Ayung River, COMO Shambala Estate is Uma's sister property. The estate is the flagship resort of the COMO Group, with the Shambala brand reflecting the owners' ethos of a 'wellness' lifestyle.

Shambala offers western and Balinese organic dishes as well as raw and vegetarian diets. It is a retreat for the weary wealthy, with 300 staff for 30 rooms, or about 10 staff per villa. We had a tour of their Royal suite which caters for heads of state and the occasional pop or movie star whom the manager would not name, in $3,200 per night splendour, or $4,300 for 2 nights as part of a package. It was utterly magnificent.

Royal Suite's open air living room

Lunch at Glow Restaurant was excellent, prepared in an open-plan kitchen in front of us by executive chef Heidi Flanagan. We started with a lovely salad of "tuna sambal matah" - spiced tuna, grilled and flaked, and served with apple aubergines, ginger, shallot and lemongrass (£15).  The Lawar Paku was another salad of minced chicken, coconut and turmeric served with fern tip, long beans and sprouts (£11), which was also delicious.

We also had a refreshing and flavoursome dish of poached chicken, mango and cucumber salad with fresh young coconut, green chilli and coriander chutney (£13.50).

The main courses were outstanding - full of herbs, well flavoured and zingy with interesting flavour profiles that were well integrated. I am not one to order salmon normally, but the grilled salmon with sumac & fennel crumbs was a highlight. It was served with a cauliflower, tomato & cucumber salad with quinoa & smoky aubergine puree (£16), which was a full meal in itself and was utterly delicious.
  

The cumin crusted lamb loin with roast barley, celery & walnut salad  was also good, served with a tahini sauce (£21).  The Mee Goreng - fresh egg noodles with seafood, vegetables, sambal & egg (£13) was very well made and beautifully presented.

For dessert, we had Es Bunga Chempaka - chapaka flower-scented ice with palm seeds, sago pearls and fresh soy milk (£8), and poached exotic fruits with spiced nut crumble and vanilla, cashew nut ice cream (£8). We also had Shambala's version of the classic banana split.

The food at Shambala Estate was at London prices which were about 5 times what you would have normally paid anywhere else in Bali. The quality and flavours were however outstanding and worth every penny in my opinion. I would highly recommend a meal at one of these two properties during any stay in Ubud (the menu at Shambala Estate is more comprehensive than at Uma's).

What to Do 

Yoga Classes

Uma by COMO offers free yoga classes for one hour each morning and afternoon, as well as a free hour-long pre-breakfast guided walk through the local rice paddies.

Yoga with a view...

Guided Tours

Uma by COMO can also arrange a driver and guide for escorted trips to the local markets, temples, volcanos and rivers. We took a three hour guided tour and downhill bike ride, which started with a visit to a local farm (Bali Pulina Agrotourism) to see and taste Indonesia's famous Kopi Luwak (civet-coffee), which is produced in Bali, Java and Sumatra.

Some brave individual noted in the 19th century that coffee berries eaten and defaecated by Asian palm civets could be washed and roasted to make drinkable coffee. First discovered by Indonesian plantation workers, the drink was rapidly taken up by their Dutch colonial masters and became popular most probably because of the novelty of the production method rather than the superior taste of the drink.

In any case, today luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling at around £300 per kilogram. In blind tastings by professionals, it has not fared well, but devotees believe the enzymatic digestion within the intestine of the civet alter the amino acid structure to make the drink richer and smoother. There are, however, concerns about the welfare implications for the civets whose droppings are so precious that they are kept  in cages and fed an unnatural diet exclusively of coffee berries (see an interesting article about this here).

At the end of our tour of the farm, we had a cup of the fabled drink for around £3.50 alongside a regular Balinese coffee, and could not but conclude that the civet's digestive processes stripped the drink of much of its aroma and flavour. 

After this, we paid a visit to the 10th century Tirta Empul temple (£4 entry). The temple was founded next to an underground spring, and pilgrims come daily to bathe in its fountains. After passing through the temple, the spring is used to irrigate the rice paddies for miles around.

Our trip ended with a downhill cycle through many small villages and miles of paddy fields with volcanic mountains on the horizon, and scores of children smiling and calling 'hello' as we passed them.

Neka Art Museum

This museum is next door to Uma by COMO, and is said to be the most comprehensive collection of traditional and modern Balinese paintings on the island. Entry costs £4, and the collection includes 6 pavilions covering Balinese painting from the 17th century onwards, as well as European and American artists and photographers who have lived and painted in Bali, and had an influence on local artists. It is well worth an hour's visit.

Travel Essentials

We flew to Denpasar, Bali via Singapore, for around £630 with Singapore Airlines. Several Gulf airlines offer return flights from the UK at similar prices.

Villa rooms at Uma by COMO cost from £140 to £268 per night. 
Jalan Raya Sanggingan
Banjar Lungsiakan
Kedewatan
Ubud, Gianyar 80571
Bali

For more information, visit their website on www.uma.como.bz.

Uma by COMO's three-hour tours with chauffeur, guide and cycling cost £70 per person.

The featured Umabona Room on the Shambala Estate is priced at $3,200 per night, for two bedrooms with up to four people sharing, or $4,300 for two nights as part of a 'vitality ' package.  For more information, visit the website.
www.cse.comoshambala.bz

Mozaic Restaurant
Jalan Raya Sanggingan
Ubud
Gianyar 80571
www.mozaic-bali.com

Tripping as light as air after 18 heavenly creations

Words and Photography by Su-Lin Ong

Extraordinary eating begins when convention and caution are thrown to the wind.  Tonight’s one night stand is to enter mind-stretching realms, with the lofty promise to ‘engage all the senses, to restore, challenge and enrich’.   

Too tame!   It’s a burst of adventurous fun: stones that aren’t stones, the zingiest kaleidoscopic colours, altered states of texture, and flavours that have a piercingly natural clarity. 

So this is it; when two Michelin starred chefs partner up as in the vision of Nuno Mendes at Viajante.  One of his six selected co-hosts in his Craft season which ran in April is Rasmus Kofoed of Geranium in Copenhagen.  Rasmus is the only chef in the world to hold a gold, silver and bronze medal from Bocuse d'Or. 

Geranium in the centre of Copenhagen is set high up.  Urban meets rural as you connect with the tops of trees and windmills in view.

Viajante in Bethnal Green, East London, is in the restored art deco Town Hall Hotel (see earlier review here).  I pass pubs frequented by notorious criminals the Kray brothers and streets of faceless shops to get there.

Photo: Viajante

Choosing a late sitting tonight challenges this Viajante-Geranium dinner to prove itself all the more.   Skip forward some 18 incredible creations over three hours, and it is 1.30am when we finish eating.  I feel as if I’ve taken a trip through a dream cloud and emerged supremely energized.  Buzzing.

Each dish is presented at table in modest detail by the chefs, including Mendes and Kofoed.  It’s a seamless sequence without any ceremony.  Just as well; it’s been a stupendous week – both teams must have been up all night before celebrating their leap up the league of the World’s Best Restaurants.

As for us guests, it’s tempting to play the game of guessing whose dish is whose creation.  The real joy is experiencing how the signature style of each chef weaves round each other, emerging, re-emerging, creating a harmony with some characterful clout along the way.

The menu is a mystery, and when I finally see it at the end of dinner, the descriptions are short and stripped back – incredibly liberating.  You really want to understand the ingredients and composition, but not long into the dinner, you just want to sit back, admire and say wow at every bite.  

The dinner:

Crispy twigs with sea salt aged cheese and burnt leek.  

Razor clams with edible shells.

Crabmeat, peas, nasturtium and crab shell sauce.

Milk skin lactose and squid ink.  Space-age food.

Dill stones and separate dish of lactic acid fermented vegetables with salmon roe.

Langoustine with braised chicken skin, pine and chopped radish.

Smoked bacon & walnut sourdough and potato baguettes with beurre noisette and hay smoked whipped butter.

A fluid jelly made from ham from northern Denmark, fragrant thyme and tomato water, cooked at a constant 62 degrees C.

Charred leek heart with lobster and bitter ground elder flower.

White cabbage with shoots and stems, pickled leek flower and parsley with champagne butter sauce (our preferred substitute for oysters).

Smoked bone marrow with carrot and dehydrated carrot skin.

Brill wrapped in milk skin with vanilla and samphire.

A royally red tartare made from leg and heart of lamb and smoked pork fat, red beetroot sauce, truffle & blueberry, gel of beetroot & cherry vinegar.

Meltingly delicate Iberico pork and fermented cabbage and peppers.

Reduced milk sorbet, lemon granita, smoked cucumber, salty cucumber jelly and linen seeds.

Naked trees of crispy puréed prunes and frozen dark beer and biodynamic cream infused with beechwood.

Beetroot & caraway ice cream.

Eggs of dried pine & caramel & chocolate.

Finally, petits fours of frozen oil of vanilla and cèpes mushroom truffles.

We drank Filipa Pato Bical & Arinto 2011 Beiras and Gerhard Pittnauer Alte Reben St Laurent 2009 Burgenland Austria. 

Viajante, Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, London E2 9NF, Tel. 020 7871 0461.
www.viajante.co.uk  

Geranium, Per Henrik Lings Allé 4, 8., DK-2100 Copenhagen, Tel. +45 69 96 00 20
http://geranium.dk/

Su-Lin Ong (@sloLondon) dined on behalf of The London Foodie as a guest of Nuno Mendes, Rasmus Kofoed, Viajante, EightyFour.

London Restaurant Review - The Terrace

Words & Photography by Felicity Spector

Holland Street, W8, is one of those roads where everything is just so: a branch of Ottolenghi. A rather smart gallery. A cobbled, winding pathway leading to a small mews, strewn with climbing roses. And now, a new neighbourhood restaurant; itself so bijou and beautifully turned out it could have come straight from the pages of Vogue Living.

The Terrace on Holland Street has been transformed by Leith’s graduate Sara Adams – the cooking talent behind the highly regarded Kensington Square Kitchen – and her husband Chris Hodgkinson, a former chartered surveyor who has clearly had a big hand in the stylish refurb.

Image courtesy of The Terrace

The kitchen is run by head chef James Kelly, who is aiming to put together a small but seasonal menu of “British inspired” dishes – it will change frequently, although customer demand seems to mean there will always be a place for a properly done steak and chips.

There are just 20 covers at The Terrace, although if there is any warm weather there’ll be double that, thanks to a rather lovely outside terrace. Chris told me there had been one outside lunch service so far, on the single day the sun managed to drag the temperatures to more springlike levels.

But on the night we visited, on the invitation of The Terrace team, it was definitely a night for sitting indoors. Everything was very comfortable, the decor a tasteful dove grey, and as I arrived, slightly late, my niece was happily enjoying a glass of sauvignon blanc. “This place is lovely!”

As we looked over the menu a waiter arrived with some slices of warm treacle soda bread, with some deliciously creamy butter: one of the best breads I’ve had for ages. A very good start indeed.

The starters all looked so tempting I decided to have two instead of a main: asparagus with an eggs mimosa style topping, followed by seared mackerel fillet with a smoked mackerel bonbon (and who could resist one of those?) with a little beetroot and blood orange salad.

My niece went for the crab on toast, with a twist of apple and fennel salad, and then sea bass with asparagus and crushed potato, mainly because she liked the sound of the blood orange hollandaise it came with.

I loved the asparagus: cooked just right, with a scattering of chopped roasted hazelnuts on top of the finely diced egg, to add a bit of texture. The crab on toast was just right, generous without being too rich.

When my mackerel arrived I wished I had taken up the waiter’s offer to upsize it to a main course portion. It was really well balanced, with a sharp tangle of beetroot and orange to cut through the oily fish, and as for the bonbon, soft, fluffy in a crunchy crumb – if only all fishcakes were as well made.

My niece made short work of the sea bass and especially loved the much-anticipated blood orange hollandaise, resolving to try making it herself at home.

I couldn’t resist a chocolate fondant for pudding, which came with a ginger creme anglaise and some honeycomb, although I prefer my chocolate pure and simple, so I asked for the fondant on its own.

There is that moment, when a fondant arrives, when you wonder if this is one of the ones which works: will there be that essential ooze when you cut into it? This one certainly didn’t disappoint: the centre spilled out onto the plate in a reassuringly liquid pool, the chocolate was dark and rich. My niece, who fancies herself a bit of a cocktail maven, asked for an Old Fashioned instead of dessert, which kept her happy.

The team take great care sourcing the best produce, much of it from local suppliers – and as much attention goes into the wine list, which they promise will be updated regularly.

All evening, we were surrounded by a sort of contented hum: the other customers, many of them locals, seemed more than happy with their new neighbourhood gaff. Service was friendly and relaxed, and prices seem reasonable for the area.

I normally only head for High Street Ken to hang out at the big Whole Foods Market down the road. Now there’s a new place worth crossing town for.


THE TERRACE
33C Holland Street
London, W8 4LX
T. +44 20 7937 9252
info@theterraceonhollandstreet.co.uk

London Restaurant Review - Brasserie Chavot

Name: Brasserie Chavot

Cost: £35-£40 per person on average for a 3-course meal excluding drinks (starters priced from £7.50 to £11.75, main courses from £16.50 to £24, and desserts from £6.50 to £7.50).

About: Few restaurants have attracted so much attention lately, and I think deservedly so in the case of Brasserie Chavot. Eric Chavot's cooking is exceptional as I found out just a couple of weeks ago. Simple, unpretentious and flavoursome, his food is some of the best brasserie-style French cooking I have experienced for a while in London.

Located on plush Conduit Street, the restaurant is elegant with a stunning mosaic tiled floor, red leather seats, and chandeliers galore. Service is friendly and well measured and despite all the glitter, it does not feel stuffy but rather is a good place for a special occasion dinner or lunch after a morning's shopping.

What We Ate: A good steak tartare is always a favourite, and this is what I ordered - Chavot's steak tartare (£9.50) was beautifully seasoned and delicious, despite the slightly unimaginative presentation.

Dr G's deep fried soft shell crab with whipped aioli (£11) was as light as air and greaseless like the best tempura I have tried in Japan. The saffron-infused aioli was a novel accompaniment, which worked well.

For main course, we shared a daube de boeuf, garniture grand-mere (£19.50).   This was a rich, slow-cooked piece of beef in a richly concentrated broth, with 'grandmother's garnish' of lardons and chopped herbs.

I had the beef ribeye with bearnaise sauce (£24). Perfectly cooked, and accompanied by a piece of roast bone marrow - the perfect steak and frites (£3.75).

For dessert, we had the Mont Blanc (£7.50) - a delightful concoction of blackcurrant, plain white meringue and chestnut ice cream.

We also had the rhum baba (£6.50) - the pastry was well made, firm on the outside, soft and airy inside, having soaked up the intensely flavoured rum syrup,  and served with thin shavings of fresh pineapple and a quenelle of Chantilly cream.  A French classic, expertly rendered.

What We Drank: We were in the capable hands of the sommelier that evening who made all the choices for us, we were not disappointed. We started with a glass of Moët et Chandon Champagne (£13.70 per glass) and then had four different wines (2 whites and 2 reds) to partner our dishes. 

The glass of 2012 Chateau Clement Termes, Gaillac (£5.50 per glass), a blend of mainly Mauzac and Muscadelle, was rich, full-bodied and with a distinct pear-drop note on the nose. It stood up nicely to my steak tartare, an unusual but excellent choice.

For Dr G's deep fried soft shell crab, he had a glass of 2008 Aladame Montagny Premier Cru (£12 per glass), by celebrated winemaker Stéphane Aladame, one of the rising stars of the younger generation of French vignerons. We thought this was a well made wine with pronounced minerality, although somewhat austere.

For the main courses, we had a glass of Le Main Martin, Vieilles Vignes, Bordeaux (£7.50 per glass).  A blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this had a good weight of black fruits and cherries, and hints of dried herbs. 

We also had a glass of Le Grain de Folie 2011, Fronton, Chateau Plaisance (£6.50 per glass). Made from the Negrette black-skinned grape native to this part of southwest France, blended with Gamay, it was soft and round, with raspberry fruit and a silky finish.
  

Likes: the deep-fried soft shell crab was to die for, the rhum baba was also very good as was the rib-eye steak, bone-marrow and frites combination. I enjoyed the unusual but well-chosen wines selected by the resident sommelier.

Dislikes: it would be nice to be offered some bread with meals, a basket of bread is currently charged at £2.25.

Verdict: Great central location in plush setting, with some impeccable French brasserie-style cooking by Eric Chavot. Reasonably priced and highly recommended.

Belazu Foundation – a win-win solution for charity-minded foodies

Words by Simeen Kadi

Fancy eating at some of London’s best restaurants while helping children get a solid start in life through education? Join the Belazu supper club and you could do just that. While you may be familiar with the Belazu brand of olives and other delicious Mediterranean sauces and condiments, the company’s foundation has been quietly working in the background to support some of the communities from which they source their ingredients.

George Bennell, founder of The Fresh Olive Company and Belazu, set up the Belazu Foundation to help children and women in the rural, Berber regions of Morocco receive an education and be better prepared to earn an independent living. Belazu matches funds raised by the foundation through events like their supper clubs.

Recently, around 80 diners enjoyed a multi-course dinner at Hix of Mayfair in the company of George Bennel of Belazu and Mark Hix himself, with all profits from the evening going to the foundation.

We started with some excellent smoked salmon which Hix smokes on the roof of Selfridges, I was reliably informed. The charcuterie was Mediterranean in flavour but made by Moons Green in Kent.

After mains of English rose veal, sweetbreads and rosemary-skewered lamb’s hearts we heard from George about the progress the foundation is making with children in Morocco. 

Over 4 million people in Morocco live in poverty, with 3 million of them living in rural areas.  In these rural communities, as many as 66% of 15-24 year olds are entirely uneducated. While Belazu helps these communities economically by buying ingredients such as Argan oil, The Belazu Foundation complements this by raising funds and donating money directly into the communities, working closely with teachers and local women.

The informal atmosphere and the excellent wines that flowed all evening made for a lively night in the company of fellow foodies. Helping give children a chance of a better life through education while still having a great evening out is a model that we can all get behind. The Belazu Foundation hosts dinners at top restaurants in London every month and has already dined at Quo Vadis, Terroirs and even on the Towpath in Hackney.

Read more about the Foundation and join the supper club http://www.belazu.com/about-us/the-belazu-foundation/ 

The Mal on Sunday

Words and Photography by Marina Benjamin

The Malmaison Hotel in London’s Charterhouse Square must be one of the loveliest locations in the capital – and still pretty much an open secret. So if you’re keen to be on the inside of a good thing, go read this review somewhere quiet. Better still, pull down the lid of your laptop like a clam shell and then burrow beneath it. Because you might not feel like sharing.

I confess that I didn’t expect the new Mal on Sunday brunch to be quite the treat that it is. Mainly I was put off by the all-you-can-eat buffet, or ‘Chef’s Table’, where you can snaffle up as many cold cuts, pates, smoked fishes, salads, chutneys and cheeses as you like – to say nothing of the frying station, where omelets, pancakes and waffles can be rustled up in minutes. And all this before calling in your main. But, in fact, the bounty of this brunch is a beautifully managed thing; staggered through a procession of meandering courses, consumed at leisure; with friendly staff in attendance; and in the company of well-mannered customers, many of them with children. I can’t think of a nicer way to while away the hours of a weekend afternoon, eating, talking and reading the papers. Malmaison has hit on a winning formula, it seems; and it is all about gentle surfeit, not greedy grab’n’go. Cornucopia, not pig’s trough.

The hotel restaurant is in the basement, and despite having light wells that admit shafts of sunlight from the street, the feel is cosy and club-able, more nightclub than dining room. The club privée effect is enhanced by deep velvety chairs and banquettes, which is very accommodating for ye olde hangover. Perhaps that’s why Bloody Mary’s feature so prominently on the menu?

My 10 year-old girl was in her element, revelling in the wealth of choice available, particularly when a freshly pressed waffle arrived, encircled with maple syrup and topped with berries. Inside it were melting M&Ms. Yes, it was custom-made, and yes, I did say maple syrup and M&Ms.

But she’s only 10, and her parents were at least trying to fly the flag for moderation – slowly sipping Mercier champagne (you order by the glass for £10.50), while in His case spooning up some fresh-tasting red pepper and tomato soup, and in Hers, nibbling at a plate of cured meats and fish and smoky fire-roasted vegetables.

My girl ordered steak frites for her main course and received a juicy piece of mallet-struck meat, pink and tender in the middle, accompanied by proper French Fries that were thin rather than stringy, and with a nubbly crisp crust that gave way to a hot potato-y middle. I’m ashamed to say that I pilfered more than a few of these golden batons, and also used the excuse of cutting up her meat to divert a number of delicious mouthfuls my way. But that was only because my wild mushroom risotto was the least accomplished of our mains. Though nicely bosky and oozing aniseed flavour from tarragon, texturally it was wrong, too clumpy and richly cloying for my liking.

King of the main courses was His fishcake – a light and fluffy affair, topped with buttery wilted spinach and a poached egg and dripping with creamy grain-mustard sauce. The flavours in this dish hit 11 and balanced out beautifully, leaving an after-taste of luxurious silkiness in the mouth.  I have no idea why anyone would order a Sunday roast here, which, of course, you can, the main courses all being ‘classics’. But the top and tails of this particular outing aspire to greater refinement.

Next came a Mediterranean-style pause. Even the sun shone, a novelty amid this Spring’s wind and bluster. As our thoughts turned to things cheesy, I finished off a smooth-tasting glass of Argentine Malbec, while He enjoyed a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc full of watermelon and peachy zing. The cheese board was not especially extensive. But it was nicely crafted; it even included a buttery Lancashire Bomb, which you don’t come across all that often. We chose a ripe slice of goaty log, some tangy yarg and a creamy French blue, and we had some grape chutney and quince on the side.

My girl claimed she still had room for pudding but I didn’t quite believe her, until she polished off the last of the cheese. We sampled small glasses of Portuguese Tawny port and some ‘sticky’ Chardonnay form the à la carte menu. These came in dinky 50ml glasses – just enough to form a judgement  and then confirm it. The sticky Chardonnay was new to me, and a very pleasant discovery to boot. It was sweet as Muscat but with the dignity of a Sancerre, and not sticky like maple, that smacks you up front with sugar, more sticky like toffee, well-rounded and ending on a slightly burnt note. 

Speaking of toffee, the sticky toffee pudding I shared with my girl was airy and light, its hot caramel sauce spiked with chopped pecans, and its side of vanilla ice-cream served at just the right temperature. Meanwhile, He ordered an equally light and perfectly brûléed crème (appearing on the menu with all three accents) that didn’t really need the cinnamon spiced madeleine clinging to its side like a shy sibling.

The Mal on Sunday was altogether a delight. We spent three hours there, grazing rather than gorging, and left the table feeling pleasantly sated. The good news – and remember, ssshhhhh! – is that Malmaison’s quality brunch rings in at a mere £19.95 per head, and only £7.95 for children under 12. Even with drinks we spent little more than £100. This is exceptionally good value for money anywhere. But in austerity London it is little short of a steal.

Young Chefs to Watch: Rising Star Aaron Ashmore

Words & Photography by Simeen Kadi

At 21 Aaron Ashmore has achieved more than most. He has worked in the kitchens of Angela Hartnett’s Murano, competed in Masterchef, The Professionals, making it to the tough semi-finals and, more recently, bagged himself a highly prized place in the kitchen of Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. And all this has happened not simply through Aaron’s steely determination and commitment to hard graft – but because he is a very good cook.

While at the Berkeley his skill is put to good use in delivering Marcus Wareing’s culinary vision, I recently had the chance to experience Aaron’s cooking in a 7-course meal devised entirely by him. Helped by his friend Michal Majewski, another aspiring chef currently at the Ritz, Aaron showed 40 diners some deft culinary technique and flavour combinations. The evening was organised by Grub Club, a new dining venture on the London scene which aims to connect new, creative chefs with food lovers at pop-ups in interesting and unused venues around the capital.

Our first course was Smoked Egg, Cod Brandade and Hazelnuts with the egg yolk smoked just enough so as not to be too heavy when mixed into the brandade – the flavours matching beautifully. The hazelnuts were there to take away some of the richness.

Cured salmon came with a topping of ikura sprinkled with horseradish and a slick of grassy olive oil. The chicken was the best dish for me, the meat poached so it was moist and full of flavour. It came in a baked potato consommé which has to be my favourite way of enjoying a baked potato – all the earthy flavour with none of the stodgy carbs. The dish was helped along with generous shavings of truffle.

A crisply fried cube of spiced pulled pork worked very well with thin slices of fennel and a crackling hat.

The first dessert of pineapple, chilli and Prosecco was too heavy on the Prosecco cream with not enough chilli; a good enough pudding but not as exciting as it sounded on the menu. 
Then came a dish of marinated cubes of watermelon with a cucumber and lemon sorbet. Refreshing and clean flavours which belied the work put into achieving it.

Finally, we had a rich chocolate cream spiced with cardamom and served with a ginger and caramel tuile. The banana and peanuts were a good flavour addition but were slightly too blunt served in their natural state – but a lovely sweet all the same.

To match the meal, we enjoyed wines from Domaine Saint Hilaire, a wine estate and gorgeous Bed & Breakfast in the Languedoc owned by a British family. Son Daniel James was on hand to give us a light-hearted introduction to the wines.

Add to the mix some amazing card tricks from the magic genius Darius Ziatabari and we had all the makings of a great night out.

Find out more about Grub Club here
Follow Aaron Ashmore on @a_ashmore